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Time for a new challenge! Fitness goal one is a continuation of a goal from last challenge: to do yoga 3x/week for the whole month. Now, though, I'm upping the ante to 5x/week, because my real goal is every day, but this gives me a little wiggle room for when life gets in the way. Self forgiveness is good. Fitness goal two is also a continuation: this one was eating veggies with at least two meals a day. I'm going to up this to three servings per day, though this could occur in any permutation (so I could have two at lunch and one at dinner, for example). Fitness goal three: more taking control of my diet. I will strive to eat 14 meals a week with no grains (and grainy snacks would have to attach themselves to a meal). Life goal: finish my rewrite, for real this time. I'll be breaking this down into subgoals for myself, but I'll start here.When I'm having trouble sticking to my goals, I think about the laying brick analogy in the incredible Wait But Why series on procrastination (which you really must read if you haven't). This month, I'm focusing on laying bricks one day, one meal, one workout at a time. Because laying bricks one at a time is the only way you can build a house.

I guess you know me. But I'll hang out with the recruits again, so I'll introduce myself a little for everybody who stumbles into my thread. ^^ I'm 28 years old and I'm still studying to become a teacher. I also have a bachelors degree in German linguistics, arts and philosophy - which doesn't count anything for getting a job. Before I started studying I worked for one year with old people and decided to learn to live on my own. So yeah my path is a little crocked. I always have been a dreamer and I also fight the procrastination dragon from time to time. Especially when tests are involved, because I always have been struggling with writers blocks and exam nerves. But recently I have been doing well and I guess consulting someone about this was the right decision. I guess I'm a monk druid, because a lot of my goals are more druid. But I'm also into HEMA and swordmanship and I'm much to streight forward for the druids. I love to meet new people, travelling, trying out new recipes, reading books... Oh, and I'm from Germany. Main Quest: I want to lose the five kilos I gained during the last birthdayparty-vacation-marathon. Also I want to finish my art project and keep the momentum of my last challenge. I managed to get things done and kept the procrastination dragon at bay. This challenge will consist of two parts, because I’ll be in Italy for two weeks and have to focus on different things during the two parts of my challenge. September 14 until Oktober 4: Hunt for achievements! LIVING ARTIST: Draw/Sketch/Paint … on at least 18 out of 21 days LOGBOOK: Write on your portfolio on 9 consecutive days ADVENTURER: Go for a walk on at least 15 out of 21 days MASTER TRAVELLER: Don’t pack unnecessary stuff and use everything you take with you on your trip beside the first-aid kit GOURMET: Try out three unknown recipes or food PREARRANGEMENTS: Take care of the library books before September 12 Oktober 5 until Oktober 25: Perform some more combos I’ll need 30 combos to slay the procrastination dragon. Explanation: I figured out, that I should focus on these aspects almost every day to get going. I’ll try to do one thing for every of this four aspects daily and create combos this way. I also learned that you can do more things and feel less exhausted, when you change the context a few times a day and do different things instead of focusing on one thing a day. Like cleaning for several hours. Combo of 4 = Winning combo Combo of 3 = small combo Combo of 5 = finishing move Get Artsy! List Study time! List Be Healthy! List (Mostly Exercise) Do Housework! List Do something FUN/Something for yourself-list Side Quest: Learn to delegate I’ll be giving my boyfriend and his friend – who is currently staying with us until he finds a flat – a chance to participate in taking care of the household tasks. Therefore I’ll be designing a board where the tasks are listed and update it once a week. Exemplary tasks

Hi everyone, I’m back. This challenge is still under construction. I’ll add some detailed information and proper measurements later. Life Goal: Holding my weight (jay!) and keep fighting the procrastination dragon to get things done. Quest 1: Create some Combos to fight the dragon! After my last test on July 31, I’ll have a free summer again until October. Until than I want to work on my studies from home, do the housework (a lot piled up before the tests), keep my fitness momentum and get artsy. I figured out, that I should focus on these aspects almost every day to get going. So this time I’ll try out something new. One of the time management methods was about monitoring what you are doing daily. Instead I’ll try to do one thing for every of this four aspects daily and create combos this way. Combo of 4 = Winning combo Combo of 3 = small combo So a challenge has 42 43 days. So I would be aiming for 42 43 combos. But I know how hard it has been for me to practice art and getting in exercise the last few weeks. Of course this had something to do with the exams and university related stress. I really can’t figure out for what time of combos I should aim for. And I’ll be away for 10 days during the challenge. I’m still deciding, if I try to make small combos on these days, or if I don’t count these and try to add the ten days in the break time. Goal: Do at least 43 combos during the challenge. Small combos also count. At least 40 big combos for an A. Already managed 12 combos. 28%28% Get Artsy! List Study time! List Be Healthy! List Do Housework! List Quest 2: Practice Tai Chi. I won’t have any Tai Chi lessons until October. So I have to practice at home to not forget every exercise we were taught. And I lent some books with new exercises and want to work through them. Goal: Practice at least six hours Tai Chi during until the end of the challenge. 10 of 360 minutes so far. 0.02%0.02% Side Quest: Don’t be shy and show some ******* art! Last challenge I was encouraged by BlackTezca to practice some art again. Seeing her sketches really made me want to pick up this hobby again. And I should really improve my skills, because I want to finish my major subject one day. But somehow I got shy about my own art and stopped drawing regularly. Picking out one of my paintings for a small student exhibition was really hard for me. At the moment I hate my art and I hate, that my skills are diminishing. So I want to show at least five pictures here. And perhaps join an artsy accountability group or create one. 5 or more pictures = A, 4 = B, 3 = C, less is fail.

***This thread may slip to dark areas, like depression or suicidal thinking, so as a warning, it may shake things. And though I may sound harsh and judgemental, please remember, it's not towards you at all, but my inner things. I wouldn't think such things about anyone else <3*** I let things slip even more, to the point it starts to look really hopeless. Before, if I had did my best, and started crunching things, I would've been able to pull through the studies. Now, with another major paper not getting done, and two other assignments being due this week of the challenge, I'm nearly done for. I feel like I'm drifting in a river, floating gently, towards a waterfall. Until about a week ago, I tried to swim against the current, trying to finish schoolwork, at least trying to do something, though feeling worried and anxious. But now, I'm simply floating. Yes, I need to get the schoolwork that affects someone else's marks done, and then... I hope I can go. Not that fixing things is not possible: I could if I wanted to: focus in this moment, do the assignments, work on my shortcomings and faults, like procrastination, lack of sparks in my life, all that stuff. I feel it's too little and too late; that I would need so much more than I am now to do turn this around. I have no mental scars, like abuse or rape or anything major like that, just feel like a piece of sh*t, and that all that I have failed until now, and which I judge myself is a big pile of little pieces of gravel, and it all together is too much to bear. About suicide, so in spoilers: So, tl;dr My problems feel so big, I feel I don't want or can't solve, so I want to get rid of them. Now, I don't want to go like this: wasting my time away, nothing much to show after this life, finishing it half-baked.. All the little things, like hugs, and the rare occasions I've made someone's day, and when I've felt in peace and free, like moments with nature, or time spent with friends, it is encouraging. Things that have helped in the past: 1) The Zen Habits 1000 cuts Fearkiller, on 26 Feb 2014 - 10:46 PM, said: 200 points, 3-4 things a day. Adding that 5 min of streching, or every 5000 steps over the daily 10k I usually get, are worth one point. 2) Positive, beautiful, grateful things in my life (3 daily) http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/26507-3-things/ http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/24603-pvs-the-honorable-order-of-rebellious-appraising-yeomen/ Like those threads. And from the members, at least Liberator does this, whose gratitude statements are beautiful! Vnv nation, Assemblage 23, Rotersand... I am grateful for great music. 3) Due diligence - Seek out all the deadlines of assignments into one sheet, hang it to a wall, and decide how much I can do, and arrange the rest http://calnewport.com/blog/2011/11/11/if-youre-busy-youre-doing-something-wrong-the-surprisingly-relaxed-lives-of-elite-achievers/ Things that help - Leechblock - Firefox addons that blocks sites you want for a certain time. Reduces distraction and procrastination. Aiming to use it daily. - I have to stop worrying. I don't know yet how, maybe that's another goal. - Go to sleep at 10 pm, so the next day isn't such a grind.

My last challenge was a mixed bag and a learning experience. I started strongly in all areas and then lost track. For my exercise goal - life got in the way a bit. For my habit goal – I didn’t get to it being a habit and then lost it altogether For my Food goal – I started brightly, but due to the way I had step-up the challenge I changed direction after 2 weeks and lost touch with the goal. For my inertia goal – inertia got the better of me for the most part but I managed to take a couple of baby steps. My challenge this time around is basically the same as the last challenge – if the goals were important enough last time they should still be important now. I am still trying to work out how to make them work more effectively this time – I haven’t quite figured this out yet, but the challenge must start regardless of whether I have this finalised or not. Goal 1: Exercise every day, including: 3x week Parallettes, 2x week getting moving and having fun. In the last challenge I set myself the goal of 3x week parallettes and 2x week moving and having fun. I did fairly well with both, averaging about 60% on my parallettes goal and 75% on my getting moving goal. Even though I wasn’t entirely successful with this goal I want to step it up a bit by aiming for some exercise every day, just so that I am maintaining the minimum and not letting myself go completely. I will set the minimum as 25 air-squats or 2x 1minute plank. I will aim to reach my main goals by planning my week ahead. Planned activities: 3x parallettes Leg workout 1x Frisbee session Yoga Just a warmup 25 air squats 2x 1 minute planks Hiking Goal 2: Maintain habits - Sleep 8 hours a night and get up to my alarm everyday in the morning. (Edit: It occured to me that the getting up is the part I want to prioritise. I get about 8 hours sleep a night but I don't want to mark myself down if for whatever reason I cannot get 8 hours sleep but do get up to my alarm) The maintain habits title of this goal is a little deceptive as it is really a ‘keep trying to build a habit’ goal as I have never quite got this part of my challenges up to something which I would describe as a habit. Last challenge I started well but dropped to an overall average of 1 day out of 3 by the end. Much better than 0 day out of 3 but something which I aim to be the foundation on which I aim to build the other aspects of my challenge. Habit formation: Can I incorporate some sort of reward to make this stick? Practice: Doing the same thing over and over again leads to the creation of a habit. At the moment I have practised not getting up to my alarm many times and therefore it is my fall-back option. Clearly getting up in the morning to my alarm would be great practise towards forming this habit, but this goes against my current programming, which is why I have this goal to try and change it. Therefore this challenge I will practise in the evening my getting up routine. This a bit bizarre and will feel weird, but if I can get the feeling of getting up ingrained into me then it will make the whole thing easier in the morning – at least in principle. Goal 3: Food – Drink a protein shake every morning. My food goal in the last challenge was planned to be specific at first and then undergo a re-evaluation. What resulted was 2 weeks of everything going well then the re-evaluation after which I did nothing. With this in mind my goal will now be a specific one: drink a protein shake every morning. This is a bit of a weak food goal for me as I am not sure if I really need to add additional protein to my diet. My gut feeling says yes, but I am probably not so far off in reality. Either way I feel that this is not detrimental and will at least be a positive on days when I have been doing parallettes or sprinting. I can also do it and record it easily, which are important criteria. I plan to use this as a first positive step towards shoring up my diet and can be a model for specific food changes in subsequent challenges. Strategy: Make the protein shake the night before. Goal 4: Life Goal (overcoming inertia) - Finish the data analysis for my project so that I can send it off for the next step. Daily small steps. I have a project I worked on for a long time that has never been finished due to overwhelming inertia that arises from it being connected to a bad period of my life, a terrible working environment surrounded by people who basically pschologically abused me. It wasn't nice and I didn't know how to deal with it. I have now escaped the environment but find myself unable to tackle the project as it is still connected to all of these feelings. On the other hand not completing the project is one of the things that keeps me up at night. I want to be a finisher and I want to complete the project for myself regardless of what comes out of it at the end. I just need to get it off my back so I can stop thinking about it. I know what I need to do, but I need to get myself back into it (it is a year since I have touched it), do some data analysis and then send it on to someone who can do the next step. It makes me sad and uncomfortable just thinking about this goal, so I really do need to get it done so that I can get back on with my life. This introduction is pasted directly from my last challenge where I didn’t manage to overcome inertia in this area. I need a better strategy for how to do this and maybe some sort of reward structure to make it fun and try to distance it from the problem at the root of it. For the benefit of my confidence and psychology I really need to make some in-roads here.

So, the basis for this is that I'm pelted with schoolwork, out of shape, tired, but that's not the point. The point is how procrastination and frittering away time bleeds into everything: I have something I need to do. Say, an assignment. Say then I don't do it, because I watched read-webcomics, watched youtube, [insert blank]. Then I start to worry about it, more and more. The constant worrying and procrastination kills productivity something awful, and the stress compounds. I felt a bit like crying at the end, just because I couldn't pull it off, because my time went all to the wrong places all the time. I don't want to keep doing this. My aim is to work a chunk at a time, focusing clearly on one thing, and not worry about it the rest of the time. 1) Set an amount, say 4 hours per day, stick to it, and during that time, do the work. “When walking, walk. When eating, eat. Above all, don't dawdle.†~Zen proverb 2) The Zen Habits 1000 cuts Fearkiller, on 26 Feb 2014 - 10:46 PM, said: 200 points, 3-4 things a day. 3) Find an half an hour for drawing every day. Basic shading excercises, drawing a bent wire, legos, wooden blocks, and basically just stuff all around me.

New Challenge: Hocus Focus Hello Nerd Fitness! I've tried a few nerd challenges before, and like many of my fitness endeavors, have fallen by the wayside of distraction and procrastination. This time I'm hoping that isolating one of the root causes will help. I am trying to be more aware of when I get distracted and pulled into oblivion so would love suggestions. My job (resident physician) is inherently full of distractions, so I NEED to hone my ability to deal with the noise and remain productive. Some options: - I have removed games, facebook, pinterest from my phone homepage - No facebook for Lent (will help me stop comparing to others) - I will practice something mindful once a week Fitness goal: Move more!- walk or body weights or new yoga or stretching or an extra flight of stairs- ANYTHING, daily Food goal: I have given up cheeses for Lent (my true food addiction- I can say no to chocolate before I can say no to cheese). In keeping with the distractions goal, I will to eat without screens 2/3 meals per day at least. I'd love to hear suggestions as I go along. I hope posting will keep me more accountable.

If you have been following me for a few challenges, you may remember a few references to an upcoming Top Secret Mission (TSM). Well, it is getting down to the wire, and I need to have preparations more than 90% completed by the end of this challenge. The most logical thing for me to do is focus this challenge around preparing for the TSM! Here is the catch: the TSM is a surprise for hubby’s birthday – he is hitting one of the big round numbers this year. Even though he has not yet shown the inclination to come on Nerd Fitness (no matter how much I have encouraged him), I can’t post details in case he does. It is, after all, a Top Secret Mission. Not to worry, however, all will be revealed by the 7th of November on this thread, so you just need to endure a bit of suspense, and a bit of torturous clue-dropping. Here is the training and preparation plan devised: Goal 1: Agents Must Be Ready for Any Physical Challenge- Build greater fitness with well-rounded physical training. Parts of the TSM will be physically demanding, and I must be in the best shape I have been in for years to have the greatest success with the mission. I am going to devote a minimum of 20 minutes (30 minutes preferred), 6 days a week, to physical workouts. These will be at least 2 days of a bodyweight workout (a REAL BWW, not a mishmash of occasional sets throughout the day), 2 days of an aerobic workout, and 2 days of a long (at least 20 minutes) yoga routine. I will grade myself on frequency and duration of the workouts, keeping the appropriate types, and pushing myself. I have complete freedom to change the exact BWW, yoga routines, and kind of aerobic exercise. I am also free to change the days of the week on which I do different workouts, though I am going to try to stick with this routine: Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Rest BWW Aerobic Yoga BWW Aerobic Yoga Since one of my problems in past challenges has been muscle fatigue after pushing myself on bodyweight workouts, I think this will help me have enough time in between to fully recover, while not having so many recovery days or needing to do such light workouts that I make little improvement. Possible Points: +2 STR, +2 STA, +2 DEX Goal 2: Agents Must Be Mentally Strong – Improve mental outlook and calm The demands of preparing for the TSM while still meeting the responsibilities of family, work, husband and friends, while ALSO keeping it all secret can be emotionally and mentally draining. I will continue the work I have been doing in positivity and meditation, with slight changes. -Ask myself 3 positive-focus questions at least once a day (2 or 3 times is better). I do not need to write or post them, just think about them. (I will still try to post some whenever I do make an update J ) -Spend at least 3 minutes in meditation daily. May be all at once, or broken into shorter chunks. Bonus: Complete the 7-day Positivity Challenge before the challenge ends. This means that for 7 consecutive days, I will have been successful at not engaging any negative thoughts. When a negative thought comes up, if I redirect my focus or attitude within 1 minute, that is still considered positive. (See the 16:30 minute mark in the video below) Possible Points: +1 CON, +2 CHA Goal 3: Defeat Enemies That Could Destroy the Mission- Weaken the evil Procrastinista & her Fear Machine There is SO much that has to happen for the TSM to be successful, and so many other things that have to happen before the Mission occurs, that procrastination could cause major failure. It is not quite ALL the things that need to happen, but it is a lot. For this goal, I am undertaking the “Conquering Fear†challenge. I can not remember where I first saw it (I thought it was in an NF email…), and both a search of my inbox and the internet did not locate it again. Essentially, the idea is to do something that scares you or that you have been putting off every day for 30 days. I am altering it a little to make room for a bad day here and there, and to make it last 6 weeks. My version: On at least 6 days each week during the challenge, I will do either something that I have been putting off, or something that I am afraid of. Some of these things may repeat (for instance, I can call a friend I have not contacted for a long time on 3 separate days and count it three times), but I may not count the same thing for consecutive days. The things may be long or short. It is the habit that is important. Possible Points: +1 CON, +1 CHA, +1 STA Life Goal: Complete Top Secret Mission Plans One cannot embark on a mission without plans – at least, not if one expects the mission to be successful. This goal will track the TSM plan progress on a progress bar in my sig file, with the goal being 90% completion or higher by the end of the challenge. I am in the process of making up a comprehensive list of everything left to do. As I check things off, I will update the progress bar and – if possible – give you a euphemistic (story-line) update on what I accomplished. Possible Points: +3 WIS Now, to launch this challenge:

Hiya I'm Kumamon, 23, girl, graduating from uni this Nov/Dec. So I've finally decided to use the progress bar. 100 points a level, keepin it simple. Goals: Eat paleo but include whole wheat pasta. 3 meals. (+3) Exercise 10k steps (+1)12k steps (+1) workout (+3) Sleep 7.5 hours (+1) no screens 1hr before bed (+1) GTD write down 3-5 things to do (+1)complete to-do list (+3)Here we go Let's have a little fun today.

I'm still pretty stoked to have finished the last challenge. My grades were A, C, C - not stellar, but getting all the way to the end without giving up is a pretty big deal for me. I can see the difference in my fitness, and I really feel like I'm working on building permanent habits rather than my usual 'crash diet and binge' cycle. So here I am amongst the Adventurers - challenge number two - COME ON! MAIN QUEST:- To be a good role model for my son in having a healthy relationship with food and being able to exercise with him (and keep up with him!) I'm working towards modelling the same behaviour around food and fitness that I want my son to have when he's an adult. My parenting mantra is 'Kids don't do what you say, they do what you do'. Well, I don't want him to be a serial dieter like me, and I'd like him to see exercise as part of a normal adult life. It's also important to me that he sees me working hard at a career that is meaningful to me - basically just leading a balanced life. So all of these goals feed in to that... Goal - Do some exercise that I enjoy at a moderate to high intensity for half an hour three times a week This is continued from last challenge. Once again, I'm only going to do things I enjoy because I think that's the best way to make this stick when I'm starting out. I've failed many times before by using willpower to bully myself into doing things and then giving up, whereas the exercise habit from last challenge seems to be sticking. I've decided not to 'extend' this goal i.e. I've kept it exactly the same as last challenge. It's still such a big change for me compared to before my first challenge and I want to really establish this habit before I push further with it. Also my food goal went badly last time, so I'm going to focus on improving my score there, while maintaining my exercise score. A - Three times a week B - Twice a week C - Once a week FAIL - No exercise beyond my usual long walks Goal - No eating apart from planned meals and snacks [edited from 'No eating between meals on weekdays' - changing goal after Week One] A - Stick to plan B - One small lapse during the week C - Two lapses or a major lapse during the week D - No change from current habits FAIL - I only grade it as a 'Fail' if I stop checking in and being accountable Goal - Life Challenge/Side Quest - Procrastination vs Taking A Break. I'm working from home and struggling with productivity. I have a bad habit of avoiding taking a 'proper' break away from the computer but then wasting a load of time on the internet. I know that if I take a 'proper' break like exercise, or practising guitar or going for a walk, doing some stretches or meditating - then after doing these things I work better, my mind is clearer - and it's better for my eyes too. I've figured out a simple scoring system for the working day to take positive breaks. I have a target score of +50 points per working day (I'm only keeping score during working hours). I can score +100 by just getting a reasonable amount of work done and taking two or three positive breaks during the day. Whereas a whole working day spent wasting time on the internet while eating junk food takes me into negative numbers... I have a spreadsheet for tracking but it this scoring system doesn't work for me over the course of the challenge then I'll adjust it as I go. A - score 50 points per day or over and record every day's score B - stay in positive numbers over the course of a week and record every day's score C - write down the score every day regardless of what the score is - measuring and being aware of what my habits are and staying accountable here is still a passing grade D - skipping a few days of writing down the score FAIL - consistently not recording my habits and not checking in with scores here

Hi friends, Are you a procrastinator? (If yes, then fitness didn't help) I am an extreme procrastinator, right now, instead of just write this post and publish it, I started surfing on Internet. So, writing this took me about 20 minutes. I have been on Martial Arts before, not for long time, but enough to know that it builds self-discipline and helps people. So, I was wondering, does it happen with fitness? I know it can change people’s life, but what happen beyond the gym and your appearance? And I wonder if any of you could share tiny stories about how fitness improved your productivity and self-discipline to motivate me Best regards

Hi I'm QofC and I'm back for my third challenge! I am currently living in Tomsk, Russia teaching English to what seems like most of the city. I am starting my challenge on January 2nd. Main Goal: Increase my self confidence! Motivation: I want to feel good about myself and eliminate the areas that make me feel like a failure. Confidence Boosters: Study Russian: Study Russian everyday, starting with 10 minutes a day and increasing 10 minutes every week. Why? This will boost my confidence because I will be able to communicate with people much more easily and I have little wins when I understand words that I studied. How? Part of my studying must include my flashcards. I can also count time spent on Bliu-Bliu, Lang-8, making flashcards, or working on my Big Book of Russian Grammar. Grading: After two exceptions I drop a letter grade for everyday I miss. In the event of extenuating circumstances I must study my flashcards at minimum and make up the additional time within the week. WIS +4 Be Polished: Be dressed and polished within an hour of waking up. Why? When I am well dressed, and I know I'm well dressed, I feel better about myself and clothing usually gives me a confidence boost. Also I won't feel like I'm not well dressed for work. How? Polished means that I am thoughtfully dressed for the day, with make-up, jewelry, my hair done, my nails done and scent. Smelling nice is a treat for myself. The only exceptions are days when I am sick. Grading: I will allow myself two exceptions. Afterwards I drop a letter grade for everyday that I miss. CHA +4 Be Prepared: Be completely prepared for classes two days in advance. Why? I always feel like a terrible teacher and person when I procrastinate on lesson planning and ultimately have a hastily put together or unplanned lesson. How? This means that I have my lesson plans written out, all printed material is printed, and all necessary materials are gathered. The only exception would be when I gust lecture because I don't often know the topic until a day or two in advance. I think I will have around 36 classes to prepare for, I will know for sure when my holiday break ends. Grading: I will allow myself one additional exception. For every non-exception class I miss I drop a letter grade. WIS +2 CHA +2 Side Quest: Practice a handstand for five minutes everyday. On days when being upside down is not an option I must sit and quietly think about handstands or practice floor planks. Grading: For everyday I miss I drop a letter grade. STR +3 Rewards: If I get an A for my Russian I will buy myself a Russian book to read. If I get an A for the first two weeks of being polished I will buy myself a new hair clip. If I get an A for being prepared I will buy myself new sock yarn. If I post 60 posts I get to change my name to something more fitting with new me! Давайте Ñделаем Ñто! Let's do this!

I half-failed in my previous attempt at a 6 week challenge, I stopped completely after about a week when people started cutting into my workout times. I think I was trying to move too fast, too soon. However, it wasn't all for nothing. In the time since I began my first quest, I have partially achieved some of my goals. 1. I have dramatically cut down my smoking to about 7 cigarettes per day. This may seem like a lot, but a month ago on August 13th, I was smoking a pack and a half to two a day. That is equivalent to 30-40 cigarettes in a 24 hour period. and 2. I did not drink pop or eat junk food during my challenge. This is considered a win. Didn't even miss them. However, with the exception of the first two days, I still only eat once per day. I hear the phrase all the time "Just eat when you're hungry". But that only happens once a day. A Special K bar and I'm good for at least 8 hours. Not healthy, and considered a failure from me. Main Quest - My main quest is, in the next few months, that I want to reduce the stress I hold in, and finish laying the ground work that my previous challenge started. Quest 1: Quit smoking (take 2) I still smoke. But I believe quitting has become an achievable goal. I will still grade this pass/fail, but it will be determined on whether or not I am still smoking at the end of the 6 weeks or not rather than the second I put one to my lips.. Quest 2: Exercising Beginner Training For Parkour (MWF) Follow suggested routine according to the article to the best of my ability. Just the beginner's parkour this time. The everyday training last time made me lose motivation because my schedule felt so full. I am a beginner. I need to slow down and try not to take everything on all at once. Grading will depend on whether or not I stick to it, and how many days I am able to work out in the time remaining. Still no pull up bar in my home, however I will replace that with more push ups and stretches with my pilates bands to compensate. Quest 3: Breakfast, Lunch Dinner Eat 3 smaller meals. Whether I'm hungry or not, I never eat breakfast. Something as simple as a hard boiled egg can go a long way to fixing my eating schedule. Will be graded on how many times per week I am successful. Life Side Quest: Tone down procrastination. I am a heavy procrastinator. I know I'm not the only one. My goal with this quest is to do some of the things that I've been putting off to make my life better. These things are: 1. Get a job. 2. Spend more time with my dad. (I only visit him 1-2 times a month and I really should get to know him better. Parents had a messy divorce that, 10 years later still affects me, my parents, and my 3 siblings.) 3. Clean my room. (and keep it clean) 4. (Unfortunately) put my black cat Nero up for adoption. I can't afford to feed him for very much longer. 5. Write at least 2 chapters of my novel idea. 6. Start and finish the halbred for my Denmark Cosplay. Motivation: Youmacon is on Halloween. I want to be able to go there and be able to walk around the convention without getting winded, or be tempted to just run into the fast food joints and scarf down a ton of dollar cheese burgers. I am stronger than that. Height: 5'7" Weight: 230lbs Hip: 49.5 inches Bust: 47 inches Waist: 39 inches Neck: 14 inches Pants size: 16

Well, I squeaked into day 1 just in time, and even managed to achieve today's goals! Thanks to my amazing friend (in real life) TheHalfie for telling me about Nerd Fitness long enough in advance that I had ample time to procrastinate about completing my post until the last moment! (This might be something for next challenge.) But I'm thrilled to be here and give six weeks a chance to retrain my habit patterns. With my new goals in place, I'm off on my mission to find balance. Here's the July 29 rundown. WIN: work up at 5:30am. (That'll be a point thanks.) WIN: yoga workout (yup, that's another point for day 1) WIN: No caffeine and NO gluten (boom -- 2 points) Side quest: totally unpacked my bags from a weekend away. Side quest score. 4 points, and priceless satisfaction. Ok Day 2, I'm ready for you.

Whoops, I originally posted in the wrong challenge sub forum... I decided to migrate over to the Rangers side of the house as I think it’ll be good fit for this challenge! I am very excited about this one; the last one really motivated me and kept me focused (I’m an instant gratification kind of person, so that’s a big deal). Love this community! So, for a quick overview… I am active duty Navy and have been in South Carolina for several weeks for school and it’s been sort of a “vacationâ€, if you will, from my life and work(ship). It has been very easy to fit in workouts because my schedule is very cut and dry and I have no other distractions (i.e. boyfriend, dogs, roommate, beer. ..Skyrim doesn’t count.) . The overall idea here is, upon my return, to adapt working out to my constantly fluctuating ship schedule and to, in general, make better use of my time. I am the type of person who always wishes they had more hours in the day as I lay on the floor daydreaming for 2 hours after work. Enough of that! Here are my goals… 1. Pass the Navy Physical Readiness Test with an overall Excellent! The test is coming up May 20th. In order to pass with an Excellent I need to accomplish the following: Curl-ups- 87 w/in 2 minutes (Not my strong point…) Push-ups- 39 w/in 2 minutes (Definitely not my strong point but they set the bar pretty low…) 1.5 mile run- 13:15 (My strong point, hurray!) I will accomplish this by: A. Adding the “100 push-ups†sets at the beginning of my lift days (M,W,F). I will have to deal with the loss of gains I may have in OHP and Bench. B. On rest days (T, Th), I will time myself for 2 minutes and do sit-ups till failure and the P90X Ab Ripper X video. I would like to do the timed curl-ups every day, maybe every morning, but twice a week will suffice for now. C. At least one day every weekend I will run 1.5 miles. 2. Continue the SL 5x5 program! As I will be returning to my ship, I simply want to maintain consistency here. I will go to the gym even if it’s packed with giant meatheads that intimidate me. I will go to the gym even if I’m at work till its dark outside and I’ll get stuck in traffic. I will go to the gym even if I’ve been invited over to a friends house after work/have something “better†to do. Also, I will maintain proper form and ask for help if I feel like I’m slacking! 3. Fuel my body the right way! I will maintain a healthy weight by eating a balanced, clean diet full of variety! Specifics: A. Define “cleanâ€: Keep the majority of meals simple and with at least one meat/protein and one veggie/fruit per meal. I will stray away from anything frozen or boxed. B. Meal plan! I will make a flexible plan for meals for the entire week every Sunday, and buy groceries according to that. I’m going to set myself up for success by pre-marinating and freezing meats, pre-slicing frequently-used veggies, and divvying up snacks into baggies for grab-and-go. C. Juice during the weekdays! I am going to convince my bf to let me adopt his juicer and then make one green concoction every morning! I should pre-assort veggies and fruits according to recipe so I can do this quickly in the mornings. Also, I’d like to primarily use veggies/fruits that I don’t care to eat raw…i.e. ginger, pears, grapes, beets, kale. Since it’s his juicer, I should expect to be making 2 green concoctions every morning… 4. Less procrastination…more domination! A. Get my damn motorcycle license! Call and make the appt, get it approved through my command, go to said appt, pass…That’s all there is to it!! B. Make one piece of art per week. This can include drawing, painting or completing some kind of craft. Get those creative juices flowing! I’d like to post what I do here maybe for accountability…we’ll see. Overall: Juice each morning. Eat clean. Craft once a week. Get my bike license. M-Pushups/ Lift T-Curl-ups/Abs (along with divisional PT) W-Pushups/ Lift Th-Curl-ups/Abs (along with command PT) Fri-Pushups/ Lift Sa-Active rest (or run) Sun-Active rest/(or run)/ Meal planning & grocery shopping (Excluding duty days) Wish me luck and I am open to feedback!