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My first 3 challenges this year were all about prepping for kayak season: lose some wt (dropped from 178 to 168), develop core, general strength conditioning and flexibility through daily exercise (everyday except 1 since Dec 28, 2015). I also wanted to quit smoking (quit Mar 11) and improve my career work performance (developed and used a daily planning spreadsheet every workday since Jan 22). My first major kayak trip this year will be around the 3rd week of April, and I feel I am physically well prepared for it. So far, my battle log has dealt with how I am changing my life through habit formation (Duhiggs process). I've already created and kept the major habit changes I wanted to develop at this point. I've now added a new section which focuses on achieving a "bucket list" of desires/goals I want to achieve. The quests below align w/ the 4 desires I am currently focusing on. Stronger - Get Lean and Mean Quest 1 - The Lean Part: cut the crap. I have a target date of May 30 to reduce my wt from its current 168lb to less than 165.0 (must hit in the 163's 3 days in a row). I've already created the habits of eating a salad 6 days/wk and protein shake 7 days/wk. For this quest, I have 3 objectives: (Vacation days are exempt for all of these) 1. No crap (cookies, candies, cakes, ice cream, etc) after 8pm 6 days/wk (w/ the exception of 2 jelly beans) 2. Eat crap a maximum of 2 times at work during the entire time period of this challenge. 3. Max of 1 small bite size candy per day from the candy bowls at home. Things to track - daily crap intake Quest 2 - The Mean Part: lots of pushing and pulling. I have 2 strength targets by June 30: 10 perfect form bench presses w/ 135lbs and 4 perfect form pullups. I'm currently at 5 perfect form + 3 sloppy 135lb bench presses and 2 sloppy pullups. For this quest, I have 2 objectives: 1. Brutal chest/tricep focus w/o's w/ a goal of completing 7 perfect form bench presses w/ 135lbs 2. Brutal back/bicep focus w/o's w a goal of completing 2 perfect form pullups in a row. Things to track - w/o intensities Faster - Breath Easy Quest 3 - Continue NOS. To reach my full potential at the fasted pace, I have to be able to be able to breath easily. NOS stands for "No Smoking" and my quit date was Mar 11, 2016 (using Wellbutrin to assist). Continuing NOS is my overriding priority right now. Even though its been 16 days since I quit, I need to continue daily focus on this or a trigger could easily derail all my efforts. Things to track - Days of NOS Smarter - Be an even more nerdy engineer Quest 4 - Build a Dynasty Dynasty is a modeling program used where I work to simulate hydraulic systems. I've wanted to learn this for many years to further my technical growth, but I've never done so. I have set a target date of Oct 30, 2016 to be able to create a basic Dynasty model and simulation. For this challenge, I have 2 objectives: 1. Sign up for Dynasty modeling classes at work. 2. Spend a minimum of 8 hours this challenge learning the basics. Things to track - Hours spent on program and my progress

Well on 12/2, I got the Respawn email and honestly, it was at that point, I realized I'd died. Let me explain - no there is too much, let me sum up. This year I have been slipping back into old bad habits (a trip to Culver's here, a trip to Fritz's for a concrete with Reese's cups there). The only thing I have ENTIRELY given up and stayed true to for more than four years is "no soda/sweetened drinks of any kind". So there is a solid, long-term win. In the past four years I've kept off 55lbs and at one time, had lost as much as 70lbs. I'm clocking in about 225 right now and should weigh about 185 so clearly there is some work left to do. The hard hat needs to be put back on. Yes keeping off 55lbs for that long, is a great thing. But it's also like getting most of your epic gear in WoW but you're still waiting for the head/chest piece to drop. A bit about me. I'm a husband/dad and turning 45 next week. How I've gotten healthier is by eating Primal, not strict Paleo (though those things are getting closer in definition now), and by increasing my movement. Early on, for a bit, I did CrossFit but it wasn't something sustainable for me. So how did I "die" and need to respawn? I think, looking back at the combat log, I just lost heart, let my buffs fade and then stopped doing my "dailies" of a healthy life. The thing is that life never stops. Temptation never stops. Those bosses never stop swinging. And when I did, well ... I fell. Its pretty simple. I stopped, the bosses didn't. I die. "Don't stand in the fire" I went from having lost 70-75lbs to now only having kept off 55. I took a big hit. But like Rocky said, "It's not how hard you hit, but how hard you can GET HIT and KEEP MOVING FORWARD." This past week I've been "standing in the graveyard" deciding whether or not to rez. Yesterday, I was laying in bed before I got up for the day and I thought of that quote above again too. I thought of "life and its temptations" just like they were standing there in the room, watching me, taunting me, telling me I couldn't get back up and face them. I thought of being a fat kid back in high school, being made fun of without my shirt on in gym class when we had to play "shirts and skins" for basketball. I remember the laughing and that hurt. I could nearly hear that the old temptations were saying, "You can't get back up again. This respawn thing is stupid. Just a gimmick. You made some headway for awhile but you're still gonna fall down. Just. Like. You always. Do." And I thought about it. Then I eased my legs over the bed's edge. Put my feet on the floor. And slowly, deliberately. I stood up and said, "I'm still standin'. I'm still breathin'. I can still move. So I'm still gonna fight". So my plan: Tighten up the eating, cutting out the crap-ola again.For awhile, until it becomes habit and I get a "feel" for it again, I will track my macronutrients on Paleotrack.comGoals are: To keep my carbs under 50g per day which should be fairly easy to do with going back to eating meat and veggies mainly.Start moving again. This morning I started with kettlebells - something I wanted to get into for awhile. This should be fun!So today I wanted to log in and put this there. Maybe it will help somebody else. Maybe it's just me. But I needed to share it. Thanks for making a way to do so.