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After completing a true Whole30 back in January, I'm ready for action. Main Goal: Drop body fat percentage by 10%. Not going to happen overnight, and that's okay with me. Here's the plan to get that started and going. Goal #1 (+3 CON): Stay eating Whole30. I came off the Whole30 at the end of January and never should have. So I'm going back. I started last Monday and plan on keeping it going through the entire challenge. I plan to follow a good deal of their recommendations about meal-planning too, not just the required rules, with Steve's advice for losing fat tossed in (more fats on rest days, more carbs on workout days). Goal #2 (+3 STA): SLEEP. Eating Whole30 has greatly improved my sleep, but not completely. I plan on GETTING up and going to bed at the same time every night. 5:30am was when I naturally woke up (hungry) during the last two weeks of January, and I'd like to get in bed BEFORE 9pm to help regulate my sleep cycle even more. Goal #3 (+3 STR): Exercise. Three times a week. I'm going to pick up on my strength training routine where I left off. Goal #4 (+3 DEX): Correcting my posture, all of it. Pick up and continue with my anterior pelvic tilt stretch routine and do it EVERY. DAY. I also plan on adding some general posture therapy into it as well. It came from an article about how you can reset your balance or something to the Earth itself using simple baby movements. I wish I could find the article, but alas, the Google Machine is failing me. I will be adding posts with some starting stats, a link to my challenge spreadsheet for added accountability, and the routine for APT/posture and workouts.

The last few challenges, that didn't go so well, made me realize that I have lost focus on my main goal of improving my Karate kicks. It's time to go back to my roots and focus this challenge on making my kicks better. 1. Focus, focus focus on improving my kicks by kicking every day. If I want to continue improving my kicks and I really do, I need to kick more often. I need to do at least 1 side thrust kick and 1 roundhouse kick for each leg, each day. I know, anyone can do 4 kicks a day but I want to be able to do this every day and not have any excuses that I'm too sore or too tired to do them. 2. Work dem hips 4 times a week. Did I really just type work dem hips??? I guess I did. I need to have my hips and glutes working at peak performance. My kicks are always better when I work my hips and glutes and this time, I need to do some type of hip and or glute workout 4 times a week. This workout can consist of: The 2-minute workout for strong and powerful glutes or Cheechoe's awesome hip routine or Some evil workout plan of my own that includes lying side leg raises, glute bridges, band shuffles and other goodies to get awaken the hip and butt muscles. The nice thing about the hip workout is, every time I do Cheechoe's hip routine, I am also getting in my daily kicks! I like combinations! 3. Without the core, everything else falls apart right? 3 times a week. The hara, the center of the body or the core, no matter what you call it, I need some more so that I can move from it. Move from your hara my Sensei told me many times and push the knot of your obi forward. Needless to say, when I tighten my lower abs, my kata and kihon really improves. Not only does my posture get better, I move from lower body and not my chest and shoulders. What's the point you ask? The point is, I need to get my abs and lower back in better shape and I will work them 3 times a week. I am seeing planks, v-sits, cable crunches, dead lifts and other fun stuff happening with this part of my challenge. Life goal: Find some Zen! I really need to relax. I am letting too many things stress me out and I need to find some Zen to find my happy place. The goal is to mediate 3 times a week for at least 2 minutes but longer if possible. As always, this is subject to change.....

Hi guys This challenge for me (my second, just moved up from recruit!) is about losing as much fat as it is possible to lose in a sustainable manner. I weigh 172lb, and according to my estimations, I should weigh no more than 156. I have made a huge impact in my fitness level by taking up jogging, but I'd like to start branching out, as well as generally doing more. I also have huge issues with coordination, posture, flexibility etc, and if these got improved along the way, it would be a great thing. Last challenge I aimed fairly low, as I wanted to really make sure I would stick with it. This challenge I'm aiming higher! Anyway, my challenges are as follows: Main Quest: To weigh no more than 156lb Quest 1: Food I want to follow my complicated food and drink plan, which consists of this: Monday and Tuesday: <1900 calories. No alcohol. Wed, Thurs, Sat, Sun: <1900 calories which may include up to two UK units of alcohol. Friday (date night): < 2400 calories which may include up to six units of alcohol. NB if I stick to diet and exercise plans and at week three have lost less than 3lb, I will drop to <1500 and <2000 respectively. Also, not doing paleo as am veggie. Measurement: A= ≥ Stick to this strictly throughout all 6 weeks, B= Up to 6 days where I didn't stick to this overall. C= Up to 12 days where I didn't stick to it overall. Reward: A = +2 CHA, +2 CON, +1 STA Quest 2: Exercise. Follow my complicated routine of: Every week 1x 1.5 mile run 1x 3 mile run 1x 5.6 mile run 1x 20 minutes boxing 1x Yoga 30 mins 1x core bag work out 1x sit ups and stretches (warm up, down, energising and posture stretches) 1x NFBWW 7 x toe touchers 7x (press ups to failure x3) Measurement: A= Do all of these things each week, B = Do at least seven of these things each week, C = do at least six of these things each week. Reward: A = +1 STR, +2 STA, +1 DEX, +1 CHA Quest 3: Balance Stand on one leg (my right) during the time it takes to boil the kettle EVERY TIME. Stand on one leg (my left) after flushing the toilet during the time it takes to stop Measurement: A = Perfect, B = Follow to at least week 4, C = Follow to at least week 3. Reward: A = +2 DEX Life Quest: Code for ten minutes at least five days a week and at least one hour on one day. Measurement: A = Perfect score, B = At least four days of ten minutes and at least 30 on one, C = at least three days at ten minutes and one at twenty. Reward: A = +3 WIS

Hey. I'm putting in a lot of desk hours, and my posture is just horrible. I work or read a bit, only to find my chin is 45 degrees lower than it should be. A lot of the stuff I've found about improving posture seems to be "just try harder and do better", which, as Steve says, isn't really all that helpful. I try to be mindful, but when I get engrossed in something, it's hard to keep an eye on my alignment. I don't have much back pain yet, but I can see it looming, not to mention I don't want to shrink into a tiny question mark as I age, like my great-aunts. any advice?

Time for my 7th challenge already! Since my first challenge I've become stronger, got more endurance and increased my self-image. However, over the past few months my muscles became shorter due to all the climbing I do, so time for a stretching challenge! Waanie's stretching challenge Main goal: Become more flexible and work on a better posture. First quest: Do yoga every morning Just 10 minutes is enough, as long as I do something every morning. These will be my main stretching workouts. I started doing yoga every morning this week, and I feel like it is doable. However, we'll see what happens if I have to work early in the morning next week again. Second quest: Do posture exercises twice a week I want to do these exercises twice a week. The second half is glute- and core strength, and the second half is shoulder stretches. I won't have a foam roller available during the second half of this challenge, so I have to think of adequate exercises that replace the foam rolling. Third quest: Walk at least every hour when not asleep Sitting still for a long time is horrible for almost all muscles. So both at home and at work, I should make sure to keep moving. Getting a cup of tea, going to the toilet, writing on the white board are all viable options for this goal. I'm not sure yet which tool is most useful for this. I have currently installed workrave on my working computer, but I don't like it very much since I also do a lot of work on paper. Suggestions are welcome . The only exception I'll make are meetings for my work that take more than an hour. And that's it for now . I'll keep track of my progress in this first post. Week 1: Q1 7/7 Q2 2/2 Q3 7/7

Hello all! I didn't want to introduce myself until I was sure I was gonna stick around, and now, very nearly at the end of my first six week challenge, I'm confident that I'm a rebel for good! So, hi! *waves* I'm Sam, a 24-year-old from North Yorkshire, England. Work as a French tutor and live with my lovely partner of 5 years, whom I'm marrying this summer. I love birdwatching, Joss Whedon's entire oeuvre, spending as much time outside as possible, Harry Potter, craft, reading, and lately, getting fit. I also love cheese and beer. In terms of fitness, I was always a geeky child who came top in everything except sport, which I'd come bottom in, so instantly dismissed. As such, I never learnt sports, participated in PE or anything in school, or indeed thought about the fact that I have a physical body! I always felt like a mind trapped in a useless and limiting body; I'm guessing I'm not the only one... Anyway, last year (in March), I realised that I was really really out of shape, with the true fact of the matter being that I'd never been in shape. I could hardly run ten paces without gasping, had no strength anywhere in my body, and was a couple of stone overweight. Something sort of clicked in my head and I realised that I didn't want to be this completely useless lump forever, particularly given that I also hated how I looked. Also, being broke, I didn't want to pay any money to go to the gym or anything. So I started running. At first I couldn't even run 5 minutes without nearly chucking up, but after very very sloooooowly building up to it, I can now run 6 miles without stopping in a go. I'm about a stone overweight (12 stone 4 (172lb), a BMI calculator reckons I should be no more than 11 stone 2 (156lb), but I am a wide person in terms of skeleton and have large hips/breasts so I'm taking it with a pinch of salt) and would now describe myself as reasonably fit, but I still want so much more. I have really really terrible coordination. As in, I genuinely injure myself fairly frequently just by walking into things/misjudging distance etc, and the more exercise I do, the more I keep getting silly injuries. Both my knees are covered in scars and scabs from falling over so many times. I also have rubbish posture (spent my entire childhood being abnormally tall; thankfully stopped growing when I was about twelve but still stoop naturally) which not only makes me look unattractive but I think good posture would also help with the whole moving naturally thing. So, my plans are generally to develop a routine to lose weight, and come up with some sort of a system to improve my coordination and posture as I definitely need it. Any advice would be very much welcome as I need to work out what to work on for my next 6 week challenge! Also, does anyone know when the next 6 week challenge will start? Thanks for reading if you got this far! Looking forward to meeting you all! tldr: 24yo Brit wants to improve coordination, posture, general strength and fitness and lose a stone. Looking forward to joining in with the community.

Hello. y.werin, martial artist, 2nd time challengee, 1st time monk. So I am very injury prone and only slightly flexible. I also think too much. Terribly analytical I am. I thus decided to address this. Originally I was just going to look at things from a posture point of view, y'know, practice kamae, find weak points, address strength and flexibility and movement requirements, etc, etc (I may be oversimplifying my original idea, by which I mean I am). However, on reflection I thought this might provide a jolly decent opportunity to get my head in to gear over several things that I am rubbish at (in the sense that I am rubbish at remembering/bothering to do them). These are things that I have long flirted with, but never made any sort of commitment to. That's right, flexibility, mobility, OS and meditation, I like you and I'm going to put a ring on it (in a metaphorical sense; my wife is ring-bearer in the whole real life sense). So details. What? OS, min. 4/week.Yoga, min. 2/weekMobility Set, going for DailyBalance Work, also dailyEvening Stretch Set, min. 3/weekMeditation, min 3/week Why? To reduce my injury potential and help fix all the kinks from my many previous ones.To (hypothetically) increase my speed, agility and general health, as well as my general strength and flexibility.To work with an idea of relaxed tension and, by extension, develop better positional engagement for both stability and the generation of power. That looks pretty daunting to me now that I've laid it out like that, particularly alongside my MA training and other workouts, but really it's not as big an investment (time-wise) as I've built it up in my head to be (I have now done the maths). Feedback, Input, Insults all graciously accepted.

[Note: This post is brought to you by Thesaurus.com! “Making net-savvy hipsters sound smarter than they really are since 1995.â€] Mode of Incitation In the past, my motivation for my challenges has been a fear that my son might actually look up to me someday, and I wanted to feel like I had a right to that kind of admiration. The thought of the words “I want to be like my dad†made me cringe, because I’ve known since the day he was born that he can be so much better than that. The truth of the matter, though, is that I don’t have any control over what he’ll look up to, or aspire to become when he grows up. He’ll have to figure that out for himself, for better or worse, just like I did. In the mean time, I can make myself a role model to him in another way; by becoming my own hero. My motivation is to seek the limits of my own potential, and to become the person I’ve always wanted to be... because I can. That’s an example that anyone can get behind. Main Quest: Become My Own Hero As you may already be aware, I was recently involved in an accident that resulted in the development of certain abilities that might generally be considered beyond what a human should be capable of... you might say they’re “superhumanâ€, but I prefer to think of myself as an “Exoticly Skilled Person†or Esper, for short. I read someplace that great power comes with great responsibility, so learning to live with my new skills and how best to utilize them has become something of a focal point for me. Like any red-blooded American nerd, I would prefer to take my powers on the road and go all Don Quixote on the world’s collective butt, but I’m not the sort to just tilt headlong into a windmill without thinking things through a bit. If I’m going to sally forth righting all wrongs and what-not, I’ve got some prep-work to do! Indomitable Aspect (+3 CON, +2 CHA) What criminal would cower in fear at the sight of a man hunched and bent from the combination of too many hours at a desk and an improperly balanced physique? In order for my dramatic entrances to have the proper psychological impact, I’ll need to tighten up my posture, get my shoulders pinned back, and straighten out my neck to make each of my 71 inches count for all their worth. 3 min Posture correcting stretch/exercise routine 10x/week, NOT ALL AT ONCE!!! Metacarpus Mount (+2.5 DEX, +2.5 STR) In the hero game, hands and feet are often interchangeable depending on the circumstances, so it behooves a newcomer to feel as at home with his weight on one as the other. 5:00 Hand balancing practice 5x/week (starting with Crow Stance) Ferocious Fixity (+4 WIS, +1 STA) Sometimes things get rough, and then they get real rough. That’s just life, even if you’re not trying to defend the innocent from the forces of evil, so heroes in particular need to have more than average commitment to the task at hand. NEVER SAY DIE! Stick to the scheduled physical activities for EACH AND EVERY WEEKDAY. 1 point/day that all goals are hit. Details are tracked in the battle log, but the basic pattern looks like this: Warmup -> Workout/Breakdance -> Stretch/Massage -> Meditation Aspirations to Assassination I call myself a part-time assassin, and yet I have NEVER completed an Assassin's Guild mini challenge. I'm doing it now. No points here, since the mini's are self-rewarding. (Come to think of it, I've never completed a Ranger's Guild mini, either, but that's a problem for another day) Let’s get quixotic! [Edit: format errors, BEGONE!]

I figured out that before I can really start playing the NF game to Level Up, I have to hit the boring pre-game tutorial called Posture. I've got to do it though, because my posture and alignment issues have crept up over the past 5yrs or so to cause a lot of pain and discomfort, and any time I try other exercises I just get injured because my posture muscles majorly suck.

I skipped last challenge as I was too busy to make goals & track stuff and just had to get on with life and doing stuff! Fortunately things have calmed down since then. Main Quest: Grow a Healthy Snowdrop Baby I am finally pregnant with what will hopefully be my first baby. Goal: Eat enough protein Goal: Take medicines/vitamins every day This one is proving hard as I can't swallow whole tablets and the multi-vitamin tablet (that I have bought 3 packs of) makes me immediately start retching if I so much as taste the inside of one of the tablets. In fact, just thinking about it is making me feel sick! Goal: Do deep breathing every couple of hours Side Quest: Regular posture checking Since being extremely ill a few weeks ago, my posture has gone to pot. I need to go back to noticing & adjusting my standing posture at least 10 times a day (preferably more - whenever I remember). Side Quest 2: Find something else to occupy my brain I don't have much going on at work, so my mind is obsessing over the exciting news. From previous experience, it isn't emotionally healthy to think about it all day, every day, so I want to find a decent distraction. I'm not sure what this will be at the moment, as I feel extremely lethargic, often very fatigued and somewhat nauseous, but I need there to be something! I figure I can have a second side quest as the diet-related one is in my life quest I haven't thought about grading yet, but I'm not feeling all that great so maybe that's something for later!

So. This rucking challenge ends in Boston with the ruck. I've been toying with the idea of not doing a challenge because I keep dropping out because busy. Holy hell did moving ever turn my last challenge sideways. I decided instead to do a challenge and just have the Boston/ruck nerds to beat me up if I didn't keep a lively and up to date challenge. You can sign up here if you'd like to punch me in the face if I drop out of the challenge... I've got a few things I'm going to be addressing over the next 6 weeks. Wake the fuck up, asshole Roll that shit up Eat, motherfucker Squat.Tons of people think that last one's a dirty word too. No one in here does though, right? RIGHT? I've gotta make breakfast and do a few things. I'll expand this post during breakfast, or on lunch or something. ----------------------------------- Here we are, after breakfast making. Have some explanatory stuff: When I work, I'll be up pretty early, having a quick breakfast and whatnot. This only applies to days that I don't work. Or weekends. I'd like to keep things consistent. I'm going to set my alarm for 6:30. We'll see how that goes. I may need to extend it earlier as it gets later in the summer depending on how work goes. I might have to start leaving at 7 some mornings, so in those cases, it's a 6am wakeup. I'm not doing anything fancy with it. I'd just like to start using some different hours of my day, and I'm pretty consistently falling asleep early, so now let's wake up early also. This is mostly a matter of posture. As in mine's getting pretty terrible, not that I'm/other people are posturing. My shoulders are getting pretty rounded. My hips are doing whatever they want (up to and including lying) so we've got to get this shit under control again. This is a two-part event: Practice Perfect Posture and Mobilize Malicious Muscles. I'm going to keep note of how many times a day I have to remind my shoulders not to be douchebags, etc and we're going to do some push/pull penance. This just means that if I have to correct my posture 18 times, there's 9 each pushups and pullups that need to happen. I'll probably be doing push/pull ups like 90 times each. And I'm going to mobilize a couple times a week. Food. I like food. But I'm not sure anymore that I'm shoving enough down my steak hole. I've downloaded mfp and installed it on my phone again. So we're going to keep track religiously again. I'm setting a soft target of 3300. I have the macros divided and conquered in MFP, but those are a little less important than getting the 3300 in. If I'm keeping track throughout the day, I'm pretty good at making sure my next food grab will balance the macros a little better, so I'm not too concerned about coming in on macro targets. As an example, yesterday: Calories: 3210, Fat: 117g/117g, Carbs: 291g/394g, Protein: 232g/219g pretty nearly perfect. On Saturday, I did a bunch of heavy sets to determine approximately what a training max should be for this cycle and these are the terms I've settled on: Squat: 330 lbs Bench: 165 lbs Dead: 350 lbs OHP: 110 lbs I'm going to be running a 4 day a week, pretty vanilla Texas Method. It's going to look like this: Monday: Volume -> Squat, Bench/Press, Rows *Tuesday: Accessory -> Shrugs, RDL, Curls Wednesday: Light -> Front Squat, Press/Bench Friday: Intensity -> Squat, Bench/Press, Dead, Curls *(Saturday) I think. I have it written down somewhere so I'll edit if I find that this isn't what I wrote down. Days that are asterisked are my ruck days. I think that's everything? Let the 75th Hunger Games begin and may the odds be ever in your favour! _____________________________________________________________________________________________ For as long as I remember, here are quick links to each of the daily recaps! Week 1: Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap | Day 3 Recap | Day 4 Recap | Day 5 Recap | Weekend Update Week 2: Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap | Day 3 Recap | Day 4 Recap | Day 5 Recap | Weekend Update Week 3: Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap | Day 3 Recap | Day 4 Recap | Day 5 Recap | Weekend Update

Liberator's 3rd Challenge: Building habits for a Beautiful Back & a Masterful Mind #1 AM Gratitude StatementsLove writing these things! I aim for three a day but it gets hard to stop at just three. 5 minutes daily AM#2 AM Meditation and Yoga Practice and Light Therapy10 minute daily AM meditation with red light 5 minute daily AM yoga routine - sun salutations A x5 5 minute daily AM back stretches and chest openers & foam roller #3 DietCarb Nite Solution w/Bulletproof coffeeHigh fat, med protein and ultra-low carb; 30g w/weekly carb nite refeedCurrent: size 8, weight 145-150lbGoal: size 6, weight 140-145lb#4 PostureAll Day Posture work; mindfulness awareness of my shoulder blades to open chest.I need a reminder to fix my posture when I am sitting; a poster, a bracelet, a thing on my finger… something visual…A photo of Kelly Starrett telling me to "organize" perhaps #5 Strength Weight-lifting 2x week 20 minutes after workMonday or Tuesday then Thursday or Friday at School/WorkBig Five WorkoutChest Press - 60lb inc to 75lbPull Down -85lb inc to 100lbRowing - 85lb inc to 100lbShoulder Press - 25lb inc to 40lbLeg Press - 275lb inc to 325lb5:00 PM Home Workout (for off days)50 squats50 lounges 50 jumping jacks25 pushups Side Quests: Organization & PlanningThe biggest challenge for me in my life is organization.Creating habits & Planning to get more out of lifeUse Identity Statement: I am organized and focused 1 - Create Daily routines2 - Declutter & Organize my home3 - Address Health Issues: Skin/Allergies4 - Plan Summer of Awesome 2014; Rome?, Chicago?, Savanna?, ??? 5 - Review and address Bucket List Items Grading A = 6-7 times per weekB = 4-5 times per weekC = 3-2 times per weekD = once per week RewardsNew Spring Clothes in a size 6 Massage(Need to add something awesome here!)

In this challenge I want to focus on building some health habits that I plan on taking forward into my future challenges. They may seem like small things to shoot for but if I do them on a consistent basis then I will see greater changes over time. On a similar note, at the end of last challenge ARock10 and I joined forces to start an Accountability Group for better posture called Upward Spiral. So along with the main challenge, I will be working with others in the group to work on posture. Main Quest: 1)Follow the HASFit Warrior workout everyday (Typically 1 day of rest each week) (+2 STR +3 STA) This one is mostly on here so I can expose more people to HASFit. Darkfoxx tipped me off to this website and I have really enjoyed the workouts I have tried so far. Easy to follow and so far, doesn’t require a lot of equipment. 2)Post on 10 other people posts 2x per week (+2 CHA) This may seem like an odd goal, but I find that when I post more on other people’s challenges, it not only makes me less selfish in that I am thinking of others but it also inspires me when I see their success. So if you want me to post on your challenge, leave me a note below. If 10 people don’t respond, I will read through everyone’s posts and you might randomly see me post on there. Darkfoxx Why Not AlexCold Tenaciousglee Quickdraw dhert Starpuck ARock10 Northlander Shadowlion 3)Do Prohands workout 3x per week and Posture work 5x per week. (+3 DEX) As a climber, I got a set of Prohands for Christmas a few years ago. The problem is I have not consistently used them despite having one in my car and one at work. So this challenge is about consistently using them. I know it will only help my climbing abilities if I do. The second part of this is related to the Upward Spiral accountability group. As I sit at a desk most days for work, I need to do the stretches to undo the bad habits my body is learning from sitting. Side Quests: 4)Build a standing desk at home (+2 WIS) I talked about doing this last challenge and really need to do it so that I don’t go from sitting at work to sitting at home. Part of wisdom is not only knowing the right thing to do but also to be able to apply that knowledge. 5)Cook 1 new Paleo meal each week (+2 CON + 1 CHA) This is a carryover from last challenge since I did not complete it. I got a bunch of recipes to try, but I need to plan better to make a meal each week. It was perfect timing this week with the Supermarket Sweep post. I might have to take Steve up on his challenge.

Mission: Catch Cheetara I happen to have come of age to start noticing girls at exactly the time that Thundercats was a big deal, and so this fast and strong gal was probably my first (non-human) crush. She can hit thirty seconds to the mile, but only for a little while, so I have a chance if I can go the distance. I am signing up for the Scenic City Trail Half Marathon on 26 April 2014. I have been following a very conservative race training plan based on this one (warning PDF file). It started very low-mileage for me, but I am choosing slow-but-steady this time because I have developed chronic-use injuries while training for races in the past. 1. I will run following the training plan 3x/week and take care of my body. Small deviations outside of my control will be tolerated. I will do self-care with stretching and rolling as necessary. 2. I will do resistance training 3x/week. My current plan is a warm-up and then at least three circuit sets: a. Warm up i. Windmills ii. Neck rolls iii. Burpees b. Bodyweight Squats -- getting better form before I load weight again c. Pushups progression. Current plan: i. Diamond (can already do 3x15 with good form) ii. One arm extended, holding dumbbell (trying to get good form) iii. One arm extended, hand up on a bench (possible next step) d. Chin ups and variations e. One arm dumbbell snatch (or snatch and press) f. Single-leg BW glute bridges or split stance dumbbell deadlift 3. I will eat to the plan: six days regular, no more than one day for treats, all mostly following the "paleo" principles in Lean Ape Living. I will count impulsive eating in servings per day to avoid binging on failure. Treat day will be pre-planned to fall on a heavy exercise day, preferably one with a long run and resistance training. Treat day will not be an excuse to go crazy once per week. Six days per week I will: a. Avoid added sugar, corn syrup, grains (corn, wheat, rice), potatoes, liquid calories, and snacks. Minimize if not eliminate. b. Moderate dairy (some cheese, some yogurt), moderate fruit (dried and fresh). c. Maximize whole vegetables (like spinach, broccoli, bell peppers, carrots, onions, green beans, peas).

Hey Rebels. I started NF in March 2013. First progress pic was in June 2013 and it shows me hunched over with a forward neck. I'm not working on a computer as much now as then but want to improve my posture because it will help with other things in my life, too. Started doing Egoscue exercises for my neck a week ago. Would like to have a group to encourage each other to do exercises, share progress photos and other ideas for posture improvement. Who's in?

I’ve been in a bit of a funk the last couple of months and have managed to get up to ~170 pounds/~35% body fat. It’s frustrating – very frustrating – but I know it’s my own doing. It’s a constant struggle for me to focus on getting healthy versus getting skinny, but I’m working on it. I’m doing my best to start 2014 off right! My main quest is for this challenge is to build some good habits. It’s easy for me to get discouraged when I don’t see my body changing quickly, even when I know I’m being unrealistic. So, I’m using this challenge as an opportunity to focus on habits versus my body. Goals/Habits 1) Yoga 2) Fruits and veggies 3) Food log 4) Posture Attend yoga classes. I have not been exercising like I should. I keep getting overly excited, burning myself out, and then not starting up again…until the next time I get overly ambitious. I need to get into the habit of exercising regularly. Fortunately, I found a great yoga studio and it’s on my way home, which is really important for me. I’ll be going three times a week, Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays. Tomorrow will be my first class. (STR +3, DEX +1, STA +1) Eat two fruits and/or veggies at every meal. I’ve been sorely slacking in the fruit and veggie department. To get back into the habit of including them, I’ll be eating two fruits/veggies at every meal. That’s either two whole pieces or two cups. And it has to be two different fruits/veggies, not just a double serving. (CON +4) Keep a daily food log. I have never been successful when I’ve tried to limit and track my calories/food intake. That being said, I feel that I need to get into the habit of seeing/tracking what I eat every day. So I will be keeping a food log (using my Fitbit account). Though my goal is to eat no more than 2000 calories and no more than 150 grams of carbs a day, that’s not what I’m tracking. I just want to have a realistic idea of how much I’m eating every day. (WIS +3) Sit and stand with proper posture. I used to be the girl that received daily compliments on how lovely my posture was. That is not the case anymore. I want to redevelop the habit so that it’s not something I have to think about anymore. (CHA +3)

My watchword for 2014 is FREEDOM. This idea encapsulates many elements, such as: freedom of body (long-term goal: perfect posture, suppleness)freedom of mind (forgiveness, joyfulness, gratitude)freedom of time and space (minimalism, spending time wisely)My goals for this first challenge are mainly to build on my Quest for Perfect Posture, with the aim of improving my overall physical health. My side-quests are to support freedom in space and mind. 0. Maintain current posture progress Continue to vigilantly check that I am standing up straight, my head is up, and that when bending over to perform tasks (e.g. when using the sink) I keep a straight back. This still doesn't come naturally or as habit, and if I don't set it as a goal, I fear I may slip back. However, it's a no-points goal for this challenge. 1. Sit up straight - STR +4 When I sit down, don't slouch my lower back for at least 30 seconds. My plan is to try to build up this time over the challenge. When seated during a task (e.g. watching the television, at the computer), periodically check if my shoulders are tense and consciously relax them. 2. Run with a better posture - STA +3 This goal is two-fold: go to the gym at least twice a weekon my cardio exercises, be as conscious as possible of keeping my shoulders relaxed (and not adopting my traditional round-shouldered, hunched running style) 3. Look after my teeth and body - CON +4 I did really well last challenge at avoiding sugary foods, and cleaning my teeth. With Christmas finally out of the way, I want to cut out the sugar while at work again, with the intention of losing some weight in the process. 4. Use it or lose it - decluttering goal - WIS +2 Make strides in reducing toiletries (by using my many portable shower gels, shampoos etc that I have accumulated) and make-up. If I haven't brought myself to at least try using a bathroom cupboard item during this challenge, then it has to go! I also want to reduce all my stuff that is currently lurking in drawers (not clothes, but things like stationery). 5. Stay off facebook - CHA +2 I've just de-activated my facebook account. Excluding requests to participate in one group's discussion if necessary (as a referee for my club), I want to stay off this entirely. This goal is for my peace of mind and to free up some time!

Main Quest - Improve my base health Fitness Quest - Reverse weight gain and start to get fit again Life Quest - Rapidly increase my knowledge-base In previous challenges, I've noticed I: often want to completely change goals after 3 weeks, based on changing priorities have been too overwhelmed to complete everything I challenge myself to do, due to life circumstances So I have identified I need to: be less reactive, in general focus on smaller goals So here goes on the latter... 1. Look after my teeth - CON +4 My gums have been bleeding a lot recently when cleaning my teeth. - no sugary food at work - no more hot chocolate drinks (max: 3 over a weekend if needed, none during the week) - clean teeth twice a day - use mouthwash twice a week I will substitute lemon & ginger tea or hot water at work for hot chocolate drinks. I need to come up with a strategy for morning teeth cleaning, as I've always believed it's bad to clean teeth right after eating, but I don't have all that much time in the morning. 2. Stand up straight - STA +3 A continuation of my posture challenges. Monitor at least 10 times a day and adjust if I'm not stood up straight and head is kept up. Next level: maintain straight back when I'm bending over (e.g. in kitchen doing washing up or bathroom cleaning teeth), and while walking up & down stairs. 3. Take my asthma medicine regularly - CON +2 I've never really got into taking 'the brown inhaler' but apparently my life will be better for it. Take it twice a day (morning & night), every day. 4. Start exercising again - DEX +3 Gym twice a week. 5. Keep learning - WIS +3 After "sharpening the saw" in the last challenge, I feel that there's so much more I want and need to learn to level up in my career. Perhaps I should have been doing this 5 or 10 years ago, but what the heck, we are where we are! I won't specify in advance what I want to study, as it may change over time. However, I am signed up to two Coursera courses (Algorithms Part 2 and Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence), both of which I would like to absorb.

I am an absolute amateur at Yoga - My experience include's roughly 2 years of attempting yoga routines on my Wii Fit balance board, on and off - never on a consistent basis. Most recently, my experience has been with p90x's Yoga routine, which is a lot more intense. One thing I like about doing yoga on the Wii,Balance Board, is that is measures my center of balance and can track, to a certain degree of accuracy, the form i am using or shifting my weight properly. I have noticed however, that when I do certain poses the way the instructor on p90x says to do it, on a Wii Balance Board, it says my balance is off, or I am using the wrong form. Which is a more accurate, in telling me what the correct form is. I am eager to learn more yoga, as I believe it will help with my posture (something that is drastically needed), and I have a strong hypothesis that it can make improvements to my golf game. Does anyone else have an experience like that, using yoga to make improvements in other areas such as sports?

Hey gang, I'm thinking about adding a "stand up straighter" type goal to my next challenge and I'm looking for tips on how to make it Measurable. I found this article with some good ideas, but most of them are generic and involve asking my trainer. Problem is, I don't have a trainer. I work out at home. I also sit at a desk most of the day, though I do have ample opportunity to stand as well. Has anyone attempted this and come up with a good way to measure improvement? I saw another post on these boards that suggested setting a timer to go off throughout the day and if you had good posture when the timer went off, you got a point. Progress was measured based on the number of points accrued each day. Thanks!

Hello my new friends. HungusAmongUs here. A little late but I've decided that this challenge will be to finally get into the mode of sticking to my "back-to-human" goals. This challenge will be all about eliminating anything that isn't supposed to be there, and building the things that are. That may sound cryptic, but to give you a clearer idea, I'm talking about parasites. I've been doing quite a bit of research on the topic of helminthes (worm parasites) and candida (fungal parasites), and the stuff is pretty terrifying. Now the reason that I've picked up an interest in this, is because I lose weight quickly, and I eat a MASSIVE amount regularly (probably the same as two people my size). For someone on a tight budget as myself, and being somewhat health conscious, you're probably thinking, that situation sounds unhealthy and expensive. (I'd be happy to delve into the bit of research that I've done in the future). So a conscious effort on sticking to a regimen and diet is going to take precedence. I'm also wanting to get back to basics when it comes to things like posture and musculature. Having had a few back and rib injuries, I'm looking to correct these problems and years of poor posture from sitting in cars, sitting in western style furniture, and walking with shoes (barefoot running anyone?). I'm no hunchback of Notre Dame, but I tend to slouch and that affects the confidence (gotta up those charisma points eh?) So entire the 6 week Challenge, and the beginning of my quest to REAL ULTIMATE POWER! Starting Stats: Level 1 | STR 2 | DEX 3 | STA 2 | CON 1 | WIS 3 | CHA 4 Goal 1 (DIET): PALEO/ ANTI-PARASITE. Turns out the two go pretty hand in hand, Paleo keeps the blood sugars down (a good offensive tactic against candida). I will be supplementing with daily intake of food grade Diatomaceous Earth/Psyllium Husk shakes, and taking Black Walnut Oil and Worm Wood extract (It's like a cloud of samurai with razor sharp katana's followed by an asteroid shower, and throw in some chemical warfare). This goal is essentially a daily regimen (some slacking on the weekends when i hang out with family ). (7x Regimen weekly will yield:: +2CON, +2WIS) Goal 2 (FITNESS): CORE. Daily Chi Gong, Yoga, and Core work out. Repairing the back and ribs, the goal is perfect posture - 1 hour a day. (Points available:: +2STR, +2STA) Goal 3 (FITNESS): BATTLE WEIGHT. Gain 10 Pounds of Muscle. Goal (according to Adonis Index) 175 lbs. (Compound Exercises 3 Days on 1 day off:: +1STR, +2DEX) Goal 4 (LIFE): MOVE OUT. Fix up my pops condo, sell all my junk, handover the amex, and leave town. (All or nothing:: +1WIS, +2CHA, +1CON). Time to start living, time for adventure! Wish me luck.