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Welcome to my challenge. As always, my challenges follow the roadmap laid out for the year in my battlelog. Each challenge focuses on some aspect that either helps support my roadmap journey or pushes me closer to the goal. I am only getting further from my goal at this point. I just got back from my annual family trip to the Minnesota State Fair. I refuse to get on the scale until after zero week. I was already at my highest weight since 2021 and I do not want to know what it is now after spending the weekend eating fatty foods on a stick did not help. That was following a busy summer of 'quality time' with the kids before they all went back to school. Quality time involved A LOT of eating out, eating pizza, eating ice cream, and other things instead of going to the gym. But now, it's empty nest season! It's now just DDG and myself. I am both excited for all the time hanging out with DDG but also a little sad to not be able to hang out with Peach. It's hard to adjust to having both kids gone. My challenges always sort of revolved around their schedule between my house and their dad's. I'd buy different groceries if Peach was at my house or not. But it's time for a whole new phase in my life. This challenge is all about settling into our own routine and also getting back to good habits. DDG and I both hoping to reverse some bad decisions recently and get healthier for a long life together. Nothing new here for goals, just the same daily and weekly goals from my roadmap. It works if I work it. The goals... Daily goals: Start the day with water Fast 15 hours Eat a freggy Move Read Tidy Log food Follow daily meal plan - which allows for 4 pieces of chocolate a day Weekly Goals: 150 minutes cardio 2 Strength workouts stretch 2x Batch cook Weekly Mean planning

After some personal battles combined with the start of the school year requiring me to adjust my routine, I am ready to get back at it... for real this time. My goals for this challenge remain the same as the last, although some specifics have changes. I will be channeling great warriors, both mythical and real, as my guides, such as Kratos, King Leonidas, Geralt, Achilles, Beowulf, and more. STRONGER: GOAL: By the end of this challenge, I will have increased my physical strength by at least 10% as measured by an increase in number of reps to failure of kettlebell single-arm overhead press. HOW: I will pick "heavy things" up and put them back down for at least 20 minutes, three days a week; this will include mostly kettlebell training with some "greasing the groove" using resistance bands, random heavy objects, and my kids. Training will look like this: Sunday -- Benchmark (single arm overhead press to failure, count reps; 30 minute run, note distance) Monday -- Five rounds of: 200 meter run kettlebell clean and press x 2 each side goblet squat x 5 two-handed kettlebell swing x 20 rest 2 minutes Tuesday -- 30 minute run; record time Wednesday -- 5-10 rounds of: 30 seconds one-handed swing with left hand 30 seconds rest 30 seconds one-handed swing with right hand 30 seconds rest Turkish get-ups Thursday -- 30 minute run; improve previous distance Friday -- 15-45 minutes of: clean with left hand press with left hand one arm front squat with left hand one handed swing with left hand park the kettlebell, recover, repeat with right hand Saturday -- Distance run on trails; mark distance and pace FASTER: GOAL: By the end of this challenge, I will be able to run a sub-30 minute 5k as measured by a 5k run. HOW: I will run for 30 minutes at least two days a week, with a distance/endurance run at least one day a week and sprint/speed intervals at least one day a week (see 200 m run above). SMARTER: GOALS: By the end of the challenge, I will increase my daily use of Duolingo; I will increase my daily reading habit by at least 5 minutes a day; I will learn at least one new thing daily. HOW: I will set a reminder to complete at least the daily requirements to achieve a 30 day streak on Duolingo I will set aside at least 30 minutes of reading time daily I will use apps such as Humane and Kinnu to learn new information, as well as the NPR app and podcasts. CALMER: GOAL: By the end of the challenge, I will improve my mental health by reducing my angry reactions to stress. HOW: I will use a meditation app to increase my meditation/contemplative prayer practice from 10 minutes to 15 minutes. I will take 30 minute mindful walks to help clear my mind. I will write down what I am grateful for and create daily affirmations using the 5 Minute Journal app. I will practice a relaxing breathing technique (short inhale through nose, long exhale through mouth) and apply this technique in moments of stress and frustration. I will listen to music that elevates my mood.

Guess who has a new obsession?? I'm in Volume 4 — no spoilers! In between crying over RWBY and working on my novel, I'm setting out to stick to a simple workout routine: Run on Tuesday and Thursday, starting at 15 minutes and increasing by 5 minutes each week Do 20mins of yoga on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (let's hear it, Yogang!!) Hike or go for a 30+ minute walk on Saturday I didn't run this morning so, uh, we'll start on Thursday! I will be getting a shiny new notebook (in an excellent Yang flame color) as a DIY planner for the next quarter, which is the end of week 3. I will be tracking all of my exercise in this new notebook!! (And before it arrives I'll note it in my current planner.) I may also design and print a RWBY sticker for the front of it — I need to check and see if the Makers' Space on campus does clear die cut stickers. Since it's a yellow-orange, doing a silhouette of Yang would be great, though I also considered covering part of it with black tape for Blake (my favorite, though Yang is really vying for favorite right now). But then if I do the two of them I feel like I need to do a section for Ruby and Weiss because I really do love Ruby and Weiss a lot too, maybe the inside covers? And at that point I need more craft materials and I have a strict hobby budget I'm drawing from for this... Anyway, there's my relevant notebook gif. 😂 As I am only in Volume 4 it is challenging to find gifs for this challenge...I will be accepting submissions as long as they occur prior to Volume 4 Episode 10! (Yes, I will update you as I progress through the show.)

Hi all My partner has mentioned NF on and off for the last couple years, but with a kind nudge from GP, it's time to focus on my health so I took the plunge and joined up. Since I'm starting late into the challenge, I picked things I've already been working, plus I signed up for Walk to Mordor. Goals for the rest of this challenge: 1. Take all my medication every day. 2. 1km a day (or 7km a week) for 'Walk to Mordor' 3. Achieve 7 hours of sleeps using my CPAP every night. Looking forward to getting to know everyone --Limey

Hi all! I recently respawned and am hoping for some accountability and support during my second try at an epic quest. My first attempt petered out before it even left the Shire so to speak, so I want to actually make this one count. Never done a challenge before or even been on the forums, so lets give it a try!! I was tempted to make this themed around LOTR (it being my favorite nerd thing of all time), but in all honesty my fitness icon is Aloy from the Horizon series. Yes, yes, video game character and can therefore do anything/everything, but the thought that I could have even a smidgen of athleticism like hers inspires me greatly. My overall epic quest is weight loss, but in the meantime I might as well train like Aloy and get healthier in the process. Those giant robot dinosaurs aren't going to spear themselves, after all! Quests for the Challenge Timeframe: 1) As soon as my local pools open up again next week (curse you, annual maintenance), start swimming again 2x/week. I've been missing it so much ever since I took a break for summer vacation nonsense, and I am desperate to get back in the water. I worry that combining it with my strength training will burn me out, but I'm also hopeful that starting slow will help ease me into it. I used to go 3x/week, but I hadn't been doing anything on the days in between - that will hopefully be different this go around. 2) Attempt the level 1 workout Boss Battle by challenge week 4. I started following a 3x/week strength training plan using the NF Academy stuff, rotating between level 1 A and B, followed by the Water level yoga to cool down. It was a sporadic start but I have consistently done this schedule for 3 straight weeks - this is longer than I've ever lasted in a fitness routine! I'm excited where it will lead, but I'm also half-expecting burn-out to set in any day. 3) Continue daily food logs in MFP. 4) Eat fast food 1 or fewer times per week. If it does get to more than 1 time, pick a healthier option than my normal go-to (ex. grilled chicken instead of breaded, etc). 5) At least once before the 5 weeks are out, dust off my bow and go to my local archery park. I haven't taken my bow out of its case since my 5yo was born. Every time I play Horizon I want to get back into it, and now that my kid is finally in real school now is that time. 6) Continue journaling at least every other day (I use the Hero's Journal Legend of Istoria – anybody else??), cataloging successes and attempts. Hopefully I'm not aiming for too much/too little this challenge, but like I said I've never done one before, so we will see! I wish everyone the best of luck as the challenge begins!!

I’m Ranger Hal. I hike, snowshoe, scramble, climb, and do search and rescue. I was doing pretty good about getting out regularly until the beginning of August. Then for various reasons, I just sort of stopped. So I need to get started again. So here's the plan. 1. Walk 2. Put away outdoor gear (unless it's drying out) 3. Wash dishes 4. Leave for work by 9am For anyone that was following the backpack project, I did finally buy the pattern. I have started ordering some of the materials. So the plan is to continue obtaining materials and get some cheap fabric to do a mock-up to make sure I'm happy with it before I use the expensive outdoor fabrics.

It’s running season again! Zero week is an intense one for me, with school startup and a concert with the choir I just joined - a three-night run of pretty challenging repertoire on two weeks’ rehearsal. Adding another weekly rehearsal has me feeling a little overscheduled, but I’m also loving it So Much. Choral music is great intellectual and creative stimulation for me, plus the social angle is nice. Saturday game has wrapped up so we’re doing board games once or twice a month instead of ttrpg every two weeks. Goals (only the creek is my photo) Jump rope 15 minutes per week (15 points/week) Run every week (15 points/week) Stretch at least every second day (5 points/week) I might add some life goals but I’m having trouble formulating anything. All I can think of are educational strategies and weird harmonies, haha.

I’m Ranger Hal. I hike, snowshoe, scramble, climb (in theory, although not recently), and do search and rescue. My current goal is to workout enough to be able to keep up with the other people who want to do those things. There have been a number of trips over the last few years where I have either been turned away because the leader didn’t think my conditioning level was where it needed to be or I decided not to even ask because I didn’t think I could keep up. Last challenge was good. I walked/hiked/scrambled almost 138 miles. I want to keep that up and continue training hikes mostly in Zone 3. It makes me feel slow, but that's okay. Eventually, I should get faster, right? Group trips and SAR are going to be Zone Whatever because that's how they go. Also, I need to start thinking about a new pack. My trusty REI Crestrail (no longer in production) is getting worn in a few spots (in spite of minor repairs I've made in the past). I have this grand idea of sewing my own pack. Store bought packs often don't have the features I want, have features I don't like, or simply aren't built to carry the loads I might have to carry (I mean, most ordinary backpackers aren't going to strap an extra 15 lb of rescue gear to their pack in addition to their personal gear) without being a giant expedition to Denali size pack. I think it would be cool to make a pack that has exactly the features I want. I even have a pattern in mind to start from (but which I will likely want to modify a fair amount). But before I order the pattern, I have decided I need to finish two previous sewing projects. One is very minor. Just sew the button back onto a pair of office pants. The other is a bit more involved (but way less than sewing an entire pack). Pants are annoying. I hate pants shopping. They don't fit right. Especially hiking pants. But I did find a pair of men's pants that I like reasonably well. The only problem is that the waist is a couple of inches too big. So I bought a pair, took off the waist band and cut it shorter, and put the waist band back on. It was reasonably successful and they're currently my favorite pair of hiking pants. So I bought a second pair, but I haven't modified them yet. So that the second project, to take a couple of inches off the waist band of the hiking pants. So that's my challenge. Hike lots (preferably in Zone 3), fix two pairs of pants, and buy the pack pattern. I will try to continue sharing pictures of the flowers and stuff I find on trips. Y'all seemed to enjoy them last challenge and it helped me identify them because I want to learn the names of more plants and stuff.

Where did last challenge go? Over the last year of lyme recovery, moving countries, immigration, living out of the camper full time for a while, buying this property from my mom, working on all of the huge giant renovations, getting the farm set up, welcoming 43 new animals to the farm, getting a puppy, dealing with a super wet season and so many unexpected things with these animals already - fitness has really been kicked off the top tier for priorities. I've kept up with a lot of the basics really well, like walks, scheduling, food, etc., and have been getting in a ton of movement just doing all this farm work, but it's definitely been a period of lower fitness for me all around. And it's time to change that. I've found that it's very easy to feel like fitness should go on the backburner until all of these urgent issues are taken care of - but also that as soon as one urgent issue is solved 3 more pop up and put themselves as a higher priority than fitness. And you know what? There are very few of these projects that are actually an urgent priority over my longterm health and fitness. It's like putting myself on the backburner has become my new habit/default. So how do I stop? Well, first, I have to let go of a lot of things and accept that me going to the gym or doing goals for me are all more important than getting those projects done earlier. I'm going to be 40 in under 12 weeks now, and I won't lie that that hasn't had an influence on taking a hard look at how my life is going, and I'm realizing that I'm not where I want to be health and fitness wise, and that by putting it off, I'm wasting some pretty important years for muscle building and improving bone density - and for things I don't actually need or think are important (like the house renos). So while I'm totally fine with turning 40, and this isn't a panic thing - I WOULD like to enter my 40's on the right foot fitness wise, setting boundaries with myself and others, and feeling like an adult. Just kiddingggg I will never feel like an adult. But I wanna be strong and fit again. So when starting on any activity before I've completed my goals for the day, the question I have to ask myself is "is this priority over my fitness?" Putting a few more details under spoiler just because it's probably more than anyone needs to read 😂 GOAL NUMBER ONE: TRAINING My week will look something like this, starting every morning with a 20+ (20-40 is average) walk up the mountain next to my house, and ending the night with some light bedtime yoga - whatever feels good, really. Those two anchor points have always been really good to me, so solidifying them here. WEEK 2 EDIT: Totally changing this, instead of splitting out how many times I need to do each thing, I'm going to loosely follow along with kdubs programming at his gym + my own deadlift day, with the goal of also making it to work out with him in person 2x a month. It's just far enough away where it's difficult to get to regularly, but 2x a month sounds ACTUALLY realistic. I'm also running into the problem again where I love programming, but I program for a full time job... so programming for myself at the end of the day is exhausting. I can take these workouts and modify them for my abilities and it will take so much thinking off my plate, so I'm stoked. So: Walking 7x Yoga 7x Training of some sort 6x GOATS I did say this was still Spezzy and the goats, right? 5) Get the goats out of the cellar and into their permanent barn with their new fencing set up. This means we have to finish the barn (finish the roof including shingling, gutters, water catchment, prime/paint, finish the doors, bring in another couple of tons of sand into the yard, and do a lot of land clearing (the space we have for them has a lot of plants that are toxic to goats, of course) - so this will be my main project for the entire challenge, and nothing else. 6) Train Huckleberry - 10 min in the morning, 10 min at night. Every single day. I know he's not a goat but he's eventually going to be spending a lot of time with the goats and be in charge of helping herd them, and we can't start that training until he learns to mind his little manners. WORK / PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT 7) Spellbooks (Scheduling) - Check in with Rurik each night and plan the next day. Do a longer planning session each weekend for the upcoming week. This one is going to even more important than ever - my secondary role at work is changing big time, and while I'm thrilled for it, it's going to require some weird schedules. So it's going to be a lot of practicing boundaries and sticking to what I said I was going to do when, or I could easily just end up working 24/7. 8 ) Work habits: This is more of a reminder goal than anything. Headphones, door closed, treadmill (fix treadmill this week so treadmill can be a goal) 9) Certification - I'm working on a nutrition certification I need to do by the end of this year in order to keep my training certs (you have to do continued education every so often to keep them). I'd like to have started by the end of this challenge, even if it's only a chapter in. Alright, that's it! I'll leave you with a few fun pictures of things going on here at the farm! I ordered a kettlebell and they sent me 2: Last challenge we got the chickens set up completely outside, so now there are 2 sections of the coop, where one section is for the babies and one section is for the hens. This way they can live next to each other and when the babies are old enough, it should make flock integration easier. Most importantly, it saves me about 20-30 minutes in the morning and evening and is a safer set up for the birds (where they were previously was way more humid than we thought so it was growing mold overnight and I was changing bedding 2x a day 😳 ). My puppy has disappeared and a grown ass dog has appeared in his place (he's only 5 months 😭) Felix is taking his job as big brother and farm dog very seriously And here is Rurik and one of our hens: And our babies first cuddle puddle in their new coop Yes I know the camera is upside down I am too lazy to flip it Okay byeeeeeeeee PS bonus goal update here at least 4x a week

Jedi is BACK!! And SOOO excited about this challenge that I started it immediately. After a nightmare-worthy 8 months of stress and anxiety, I’m back in a better situation and better headspace. I’m so much less stressed and I’m much happier. My last challenge left off early because I ended up moving very abruptly. I don’t like moving that abruptly, but it was necessary. Most (though not all) of my stuff is unpacked again and I’m settling into my parents house very smoothly. Now I want to start getting moving and cooking again. Back to basics, essentially. But the basics are where we have to start. I’m excited enough that I’m doing a zero week challenge too, so that’s where we are right now! All of my tracking will be in my bullet journal, I’ll try uploading pictures of it over the course of the challenge. Goals are as follows: Ankle Stretches Daily My ankle has been acting up a LOT in the past couple of weeks. It’s been hurting and weak a LOT, so I’m hoping that putting together a quick workout/stretch session that I can do daily will help strengthen everything. 2-3 Bottles of Water per Day My water drinking amounts have dropped significantly so I’m going to slowly start increasing how much water I drink. I don’t want to up it all at once because, frankly, the constant bathroom visits are annoying. Meal Prep 2 Meals/week My goal is to prepare breakfasts and lunches for myself every week. I have access to an incredible air fryer, and I can meal prep some great healthy stuff from recipe folks on Tiktok and similar. Cook 1 Meal/Week Now that I’m back in a good mental space I’d also like to start cooking for the family again. I’ll be cooking at least once a week. Doesn’t have to be healthy yet, but just to start getting back into the habit. Work out 2x/Week I’m going to test out Obe Fitness so I can work on dance fitness and yoga and other similar things. I’m excited about that, actually. They have a 30 day free trial that I’m going to avail myself of too. Time to build my foundation back up! I can do this! PLUS ULTRA ❤️

Hi folks, hope everyone's been keeping well. I've had a week off challenging for the big 4-0 which I'm glad has finally come and gone! Surprisingly I weighed in this morning and haven't put too much on, though I have also started this challenge very hungover after birthday celebrations, and I have to do a night shift tonight at least the hangover meant I had a day nap so think I'll be able to power through, and it's working from home at least. So my last challenge went well and my general formula of walking/food/sleep seems to be working - I think I'll make a few tweaks, but largely follow the pattern. I've also been terrible at keeping up my physio this last week, so am hoping a new challenge will improve that. I think the one main thing I need to figure out is getting a sleep pattern that is more consistent, rather than just aiming for being in bed 8.5hrs before my alarm. I generally get up ~7am when I'm in the office, ~8am wfh and then whenever I wake up at the weekend if I don't have anything on. I also have a tendency to stay up late because I'm a night owl and am usually just more awake the later it gets. I want to see if I can more consistently get up ~7am through the week and do something meaningful before work on the wfh days so it doesn't feel like wasted time. Mondays I'll do the weights that I usually do after work, and maybe the other days I can do a fitness video or cycle. Or might start doing the weights twice a week. Will see how it goes, but I think it'll be measured by being in bed by 10:30pm, and light off by 11pm to allow for some reading. So the challenge (I think I was still doing calculations for total points based on 6 week challenges instead of 5, so have probably been underselling myself for quite a while!): FOOD Under 1600 calories for the day = 10pts Overeating one meal = 0pts Overeaty nonsense = -10pts Maximum = 350pts SLEEP In bed by 10:30pm/lights off at 11pm = 5pts Getting up at 7am = 5pts This was far too confusing so changing it to: In bed by 10:30 with lights off at 11pm = 10pts Maximum = 350pts but much more likely about half of this EXERCISE Walking 45mins per day, minimum 20min continuous = 10pts Walking 30mins per day, minimum 10min continuous = 5pts Home weights/youtube workout/cycling = 5pts Missing physio 3x per week = -10pts Maximum = technically infinite if I just do a ton of exercise, but assuming 3 per week on top of the walking = 425pts Total maximum = 1135pts, with pass rate of 750pts (giving myself hopeful leeway for the sleep trial to be a failure!)

JuiceeTarget breathed slowly and turned off the commlink with a final click of a switch. His smile showed a cautious excitement. He turned his attention to a small box in front of him. The Nutri-recycler in front of him had a panel off and exposed wiring. JuiceeTarget looked over at the spare parts bin and rummaged around. His eyes lit up as he found a part and deftly put it into a socket with a few scorch marks around it. "There, that should do it. I should have done this weeks ago." He methodically put the machine back together and walked it over to the ship's galley. Pulling out a cable, he hooked it back into the wall unit and waited until he heard a slight hum. He nodded with slight grin, putting the Nutri-recycler back in place. Sitting on a chair, he closed his eyes and sighed. The spaceship smelled of recycled air and sweat. He opened his eyes and walked to the cooler. He glanced at the NutriGoo™ packets, but shook his head and reached for the vegetable basket and went to the hydroponics wing. The kale was green and healthy. It was just looking ready for the first harvest. Taking his clippers from his belt, he grabbed ten leaves and walked back to the kitchen. He chopped the leaves and grabbed some garlic and one of the last shallots. "I'm glad I planted more of these, I should make sure I have enough garlic planted as well." He cooked up the kale with the alliums. He finished with the synthetic white wine (that was almost good enough) then he ate it with a quickly heated protein patty. Afterward cleaning up, he grabbed a NutriGoo™ packet and sucked on it while sitting at the comm station again. He took a long moment before turning the commlink back on with a loud thunk of the switch. "This is JuiceeTarget on 519. Any souls listening on this channel?" It was a good fortyfive seconds of static, JuiceeTarget kept his countenance still throughout, betraying nothing at this extended static. But then his face came alive with the reply, "We hear you JT, glad to have you back. How was dinner?" Getting back into the NF forums was a little harder than I thought. I feel like I didn't do as well as I wanted to last time, but probably did as well as I could. I feel like I can continue building on what I did last challenge: - Eat the good stuff first - Try to fill up on fruits, veggies, and protein shakes before moving to more processed foods. - Be okay with eating sweet treats as long as I've eaten good stuff first - The idea is to not feel deprived, but still eat better in tiny steps - Exercise all the days - This includes 30 minute walks every day - Days I work in the office I should get into the gymn twice in a week - Days I work from home include either GMB or Apple Fitness 3 days a week - Meditate - Meditate every day I take the bus - Can include knitting as meditation - Try to fit yoga nidra into my practice - Communicate - Keep up on the NF forums - Give myself slack for vacation the first week of the challenge - Find a sneaky way to journal more - Write more short stories like above We are going on vacation next week. Yes that will throw things off, but I can still be mindful of what I am eating, do walking and swimming, and see if the hotel has a gym I can partake of one or two days. That will be my goal for that week, to not completely derail. In the end, my last challenge saw me starting some habits and this is going to be me solidifying them. Wish me luck

I have no idea how I managed to fail the previous challenge and yet make more progress in my fitness journey than I have in quite some time. In short. I did not stick to any of the goals I had set (mainly nutrition and sleep) and wasn’t around to post updates, yet here I am as it’s just wrapped up, having quit smoking and two days into working out again with the dumbbells at home. Then it hit me. I’ve been low-key obsessing over the recently released System Shock remake. If it doesn’t ring any bells, System Shock 1 and 2 set the foundation for what would later be called an “immersive sim”: a first person perspective with tons of options and a sandbox-style map that offers multiple ways to approach and solve problems. The people who made it would then go on to produce the Thief series, what was going to be System Shock 3 ended up becoming the Deus Ex series, then there’s the Bioshock series that openly admits drawing inspiration from System Shock. Oh, and in case it wasn’t obvious from the first video, System Shock also gave us one of the most enduring videogame villains of all time in SHODAN, very much the blueprint for Portal’s GlaDOS. Anyway, I’ve missed this open ended approach in my games, without being spoon fed solutions through arrows, pointers, maps and pop ups (don’t even get me started on the ever-longer cutscenes, I fired up a game, not a movie goddamit!). This very same freedom of choice was what drew me to the tabletop RPG hobby and probably a big selling point for my recent turn towards the OSR. And apparently all of this is kind of what I’ve been doing recently, taking a different path than what I originally intended but still somehow advancing towards my goal. That said, it seems to me I probably need to be somewhat looser with my goals, or at least my intended plan of how to reach said goals. Life happens. It is the Ranger way Introducing a new format for the updates of this challenge MAN More of a vibe check kind, if I’m honest. How well I did on the nutrition part (intuitive eating?), whether I did a workout, got enough sleep etc. Looser and more narrative-based. MACHINE The hard number crunch bit. Tracking my weight (using today’s 98,8kg as a benchmark) at least on a weekly basis, every Monday. Throw in a waist measurement for good measure (get it?) as that’s the spot where I tend to gather all the excess mass.

I'm enjoying this song It's a good reminder that right now, this life I'm living is the good life. Goal 1: Enjoy the summer I love summer! And where I live, the summer weather has been fantastic. Sunny and warm, but not happy. I want to enjoy it. Spend time gardening, long walks, reading outside, geocaching, and all the other pleasures that summer offers. Goal 2: Being low-key My clothes are getting a bit tight. That's a win in the area where I'm building muscle! But not so much with the belly fat. Measured my waist and belly, and I have gained weight there. Instead of a big plan and focusing all my energy at losing weight, this time I'm just going to be low key about, Make wise choices. Track fiber and protein. Use my eating skills. Focus on strength. Not tracking this, just sort of an awareness. It won't happen all the time, just an acknowledgment that I need to make some subtle changes. I will measure once a week to see how it's going. I don't care if all I do is maintain, I just want to stop the gain. 1 day MFP protein and fiber tracking= C 2 day =B 3 day = A Goal 3: Going with what works: I've been focusing on getting 20 oz of water in the morning. That seems to help my workouts, so I want to keep up with this habit Light in the morning: When I read my Bible in the morning sit outside, or at least at the couch with the blinds open. Sometimes maybe when I feel like it I will go for a morning walk. Keep up with my workouts Add : Water goal 32 oz by 2 pm (if I have smoothie this can be 26 oz) Goal 4: Deep Sleep I've been experimenting to see if I could improve the deep sleep numbers on my Fitbit. One thing that seems to help is spending a few minutes before I sleep deep breathing so I will try and do that most nights. Also, I've been workout on this 3; 2;1; formula 3 hours before bed stop eating 2 hours no drinking(maybe sips but nothing big 1 hour no screen The 3:2;1; is a guideline more than a rule, sometimes exceptions happen, just something to shoot for because I know it helps Side Quests; Stain fence finish vacation planning have day long geocaching adventure clean deck buy frames for pictures

Welcome to my challenge. As always, my challenges follow the roadmap laid out for the year in my battlelog. Each challenge focuses on some aspect that either helps support my roadmap journey or pushes me closer to the goal. Things that are not working... Life is busy right now. I'm struggling with finding time to be on the site, to post, and to follow and support all you lovely people. I'm even struggling to keep up with my personal spreadsheet where I track everything related to my challenges and my roadmap. For those that know me know how serious that is. Many of the things keeping me busy are also roadblocks that make my goals more difficult. My youngest, Peach, is going off to college in a few weeks so we've been spending a lot of time working on a bucket list of things to do together, most of which involve food. My oldest, Qbert, is also returning to school in a few weeks and we have our own bucket list. Things that are working.... Some things are going well. I just recently joined a new gym and have plans to start working with a personal trainer. I've been to the gym twice so far and finally got back under the bar and got some barbell training in. It felt absolutely great to do that again. DDG also joined the gym and plans to take advantage of it. The gym has a walking path inside so we now have an option when there are heat advisories and over the winter when our usual path is too icy. This challenge specifically focuses on a strategy to keep from going off the rails when life gets crazy. It's very easy when I hit some roadblock for it to affect more than one meal or more than one day. It's like the gift that keeps on giving. So I'm taking Ted Lasso's advice and just going to be a goldfish. Any slip up or mistake, or even planned outing or cheat, is just that, one slip up or mistake. It doesn't have to lead to 5 or 3 days of eating sweets and treats. I need to keep focusing on my daily and weekly goals even though I'm also making choices to enjoy life. Every day is a new day. Every meal is a new choice. Every snack is a new opportunity to make good choices. Just keep swimming The goals... The goals are not new. These are the daily and weekly goals from my roadmap. Last challenge I worked on a meal plan system that keeps me accountable like logging food but I don't actually have to log food. When I followed it, it worked well. Daily goals: Start the day with water Fast 15 hours Eat a freggy Move Read Tidy Log food Follow daily meal plan Weekly Goals: 150 minutes cardio 2 Strength workouts stretch 2x Batch cook Weekly Mean planning And for good measure...

So, this is not a ‘summer’ challenge, I am deviating slightly from the Seasons theme I have been, mostly, following this year. As much as I’d like to keep the theme, honestly right now what excites me, what motivates me, is a narrative challenge. I never really thought of planner stickers before, aside from the ones that came with my Legend Planner, but thanks to a little inspiration from @Sovalis, I had a poke around, bought a couple of cheap packets of stickers and the frustrating beginnings of my narrative ideas that were not really getting anywhere or good enough finally clicked. Yup. This challenge is inspired by stickers. My 8 year old self would be proud. Oh, and just to change it up EVEN MORE, I am rebelling against my own rebellion in starting on Mondays. Just for this challenge. For now. But Sunday is the day it makes most sense for me to meal prep, and generally reset for the week ahead. So, I am trialing a Sunday start. It means that I only have Saturday as my make-up day for studies, UNLESS I decide to be lenient. I am hoping not to need it. This is also a BOSS BATTLE challenge. It is going to be tough. I will have to will have to hit at minimum of just over 80% of my goals to win. This is intentional. My goals are simple and small, but I know they will work. There is nothing knew, really. Go to the gym 2 x week, run 2 x week. Meal prep. Go for my daily walk. STUDY and hand in my edited, final, submission of research. How well I do in zero week determines whether I am at a disadvantage or advantage in the coming fight. If I do poorly, the attacker gets what is known in Dungeons and Dragons terms as a SURPRISE ROUND, dealing either 5HP (1 goal missed) or 10 HP (2 or more goals missed). This increases the % of my goals I need to hit in order to avoid failing – if I’m hitting, I’m not getting hit (this is where the D&D analogy deviates). In narrative as well as IRL, failing has consequences! * *For real, if I fail this challenge, I am setting myself a forfeit. Not sure what yet. Ideas welcome! And a reward if I DO defeat him, because that will mean I have been at least mostly consistent for an entire 6 weeks. I told you this challenge was not going to be easy! The enemy wants to take me down. If I am knocked unconscious, that means IRL I have eaten like an idiot, not losing weight and behind on my work. I HAVE BEEN CAPTURED BY THE ENEMY, The empire who wants me to stay unhealthy and unfulfilled. Starting Stats: I start with 545 HP. The enemy can deal a maximum damage of 1086 HP, or 1096 HP if he gets the full damage on 0 week. This means I need to hit at least 50% of my goals to avoid failing. The enemy has 610 HP. I can deal a maximum damage of 762 HP across the challenge. That means I have to hit at least 80% of my goals to defeat him, across all 6 weeks. The nitty gritty details of my HP/damage dealt that I’m using to score this challenge but that most people will not find interesting:

Jarric vs Mountain Before I talk about what I'm doing this challenge, it's important to remember my plans for the year, so here's my 2023 road map. This challenge has a lot of exciting things happening right at the end of it. Firstly, I'll be running Man vs Mountain on 2nd September. It's a 22 mile run up and back down Mount Snowdon in Wales, including probably some abseiling and lake wading and that kind of stuff. I'm really looking forward to it, but it's scary to think about how little training time I have left after working towards this for 9 months! Secondly, from September I'll be going part time. That won't affect much this challenge, except that I'll be trying to clear stuff at work in anticipating of having fewer hours to do things in, but I'm really excited that I'll be working a 4-day week Goals-wise, last challenge was pretty good so I'm not changing much. Let's get into it. The chronologist [+2 SAN] Get to work (either physically in the office, or sat at my desk at home) by 08:35 on work days. This is goal went very poorly last challenge in one way, and really quite well in another. I'd been late for work a couple of times, and really wanted to nip that in the bud before it becomes something that I become known for. I start work at 08:45, so the goal of being ready 10 minutes early allows me to get sorted, log in, and actually be working by that time. What actually happened is I barely ever hit my goal time of 08:35, but I always got in by 08:45, so it sort of worked? I want to do better this month, and so I'm going to do something I've never done before. I'm going to set a reward for a goal. If I achieve at least 80% success on this challenge goal, I get to buy these: Aren't they pretty? My elven cleric of Aphrodite, Psyche, has a lot of rose-themed weapons thanks to a visit to a temple to Aphrodite, and these would be perfect for her. The decisionist [+2 CON] I started cutting last challenge, looking to lose 0.75% of my total body weight each week. The plan is simple; I'll track calories every day, weigh myself weekly, and adjust my weekly calorie target based on the week's results. I've also refined an old method I used to have - each week I'll divide my weekly calorie target by 8, giving me 7 daily targets and then a buffer that I can spend throughout the week. Each day I'll write down how much I used from my buffer, and try to keep enough buffer left to finish on track for the week. I've put together a spreadsheet with my goal weights, and here's where we'll be up the the end of the challenge: Date Target Actual Change Actual kg 26/06/2023 180 180 81.65 03/07/2023 178.65 180 0 81.65 10/07/2023 177.310125 180 0 81.65 17/07/2023 175.9802991 182 2 82.55 24/07/2023 174.6604468 178 -4 80.74 31/07/2023 173.3504935 07/08/2023 172.0503648 14/08/2023 170.759987 21/08/2023 170.759987 28/08/2023 170.759987 As you can see, I'm planning to stop cutting just before Man vs Mountain, to make sure it doesn't interfere with the race too much. Having said that, I'm also behind on the weight target, so we'll see how that goes. Scoring for this goal will just be based on whether or not I tracked every day, regardless of whether I manage to hit my calories perfectly or not. The muscle [+1 CON] 2 shakes per day, every day. Over the last 2 challenges I've been experimenting with a recovery shake after my workouts, and last challenge I also added in creatine to my routine. Both seem to be working a bit, though it's really hard to tell. I'm going to stick with them, and try to be mindful of how/if they're helping. De vertaler [+1 INT] I'm cloning the translator this challenge, and splitting him into two goals. The first is to work on Dutch, using Duolingo, every day. I really liked being able to speak a little Dutch in The Netherlands this year, but it would be nice if I understood a whole lot more. I may very well be going back for another Strong Viking next year (or maybe an Iron Viking), so I want to build on this. Le traducteur [+1 INT] I'm cloning the translator this challenge, and splitting him into two goals. The second is to work on French, using Duolingo, every day. Next year I'll be going to Paris for a week to see a bit of the Olympics (which I believe starts 1 year today), so I want to get as good as possible at French before then. My French is already a lot better than my Dutch, so it'll be interesting to see how far I can take it. The face [+1 SAN] Brush my teeth, twice every day. I did excellently on this last challenge, and I had a very positive dentist visit towards the end of the month, so I want to make sure I keep it up. As my goals haven't changed, I'll be starting them in zero week, so lets go!

I spent last challenge focusing on bouncing back after time off of my healthy habits and plenty of social events. I have one event to start this challenge off and then it should be fairly quiet so here's to not having to use what I learned last challenge. I think I have the journal thing down so I'm not going to bother with tracking. It's part of my tracking other things so it'll be continued whether I like it or not. Money: Limit spending - pay off debt. Don’t spend money on silly wants. Focus on needs and bills. Set some aside for emergencies and put the rest towards debt. I'm tracking in the PvP No Spend Summer but I'm also going to track here for added accountability and daily reminders to myself Nutrition: Eat at least 1 serving of veg per day, stay as close to MFP goal as possible (within reason). Pay attention to hunger cues and be mindful while eating - eat slowly, savor each bite, and listen to my body. Eat fruit for dessert and whenever I have a sweet tooth craving. Workout: Stick to strength 3x/week and light cardio 2x/week with daily doggie walks (weather pending). Update/change workouts as necessary to keep self interested and active. Spiritual: At least ONE daily spiritual ritual. Stir intentions into coffee, pull Tarot or Oracle, do a spell, cleanse, give offerings, etc. Self-love: Notice a positive thing about myself and really appreciate it, no matter how small/simple/insignificant it may seem OR do something for myself as an act of love (foot soak, hair mask, face mask, etc.) Something I don’t do often, but that shows love and care for myself when I need a little boost. By the end of this challenge I want to be Reborn. Not just "oh, I resumed my habits and checked the box" while thinking actively about said habits but "I am a healthy person who lives this way" and just acts without thought in said healthy manner. I'm nearly there, I think, and this is simply to solidify it.

My main goal is weight loss, for health reasons as well as I want to look good (to me) naked. I'm in a struggle with this goal because it doesn't get easier when you get older. I don’t want this to be a focus for the rest of my life, I want to build some habits/routines so it becomes second nature and I don’t have to think about it. I also want to be around to watch my grandkids grow up and be able to do things with them, as well as things I enjoy as I get older, and I enjoy a lot of things! I work from home as an accountant. I have a full time job and a few side gigs, making sure I have enough movement in my day is important because it's very easy to lose track of time and I feel better when I move more! The Struggle is real! I'm going to take the time to do what I need to do, also making sure I get enough off-time, put in the work and effort that hopefully will lead to lower numbers on the scale as well as other health markers that are important. The Struggle... ( S )teps - Hitting my 7500 steps a day goal ( T )rack - using Cronometer ( R )est - Sleep (7 hours a night) ( U )nder - Stay under calorie goal ( G )o - Do things in life you enjoy, 5ks, ride motorcycles or bicycles, travel. ( G )uitar - practice 5 days a week ( L )ift - Lift some semi-heavy things (I have nerve damage in my neck, so some limitations) ( E )xercise - Exercise, on days I don’t lift things I do cardio Checking in to hold myself accountable is key to this being successful, I don't want to have to post bad news here. Update - Daily Done - 🌈 Not Done - ❄️ I want to get my granddaughter's item I've been crocheting since before Xmas, finished. Yes, I’m still working on it. I want to get my bicycle fixed (tires are flat, not a tough fix) and take advantage of the bike trails around this area when the heat isn’t so bad. I want to take advantage of the fact I have a pool in my backyard. I want to take advantage of a lake less than half a mile from my house and the paddleboard in my garage. My personal life may be falling apart, I am doing my best to keep me from doing the same…therapy is a big part of this, journaling is another part. I'm going to continue doing this, as well as working on getting back to me and what I need in my life.

I'm back! Actually, I've been back from Greece since August 2nd, and my respawn was supposed to be from that moment on. Not having to go to work and both the missus and the kids being home as well meant that there was still a lot of eating out, eating in, snacking, ice cream and little movement going on, though. So that's why the respawn was postponed until I had to start work again. And even then it's taken me almost an entire week to get the thread up. Mainly because I'm a lazy bum that fires up a video game when finally getting some PC time instead of doing more productive stuff first... 😇 Anyway, I'm back for half a challenge (and have been logging again since last Wednesday). So what will I be doing these next two weeks? Ahem. Sorry. But yeah, really just the same thing I've been doing in previous challenges. So here's a recap: Bad Poor Ok Good Excellent Frequency Notes Intermittent fasting < 14 hours ≥ 14 hours ≥ 16 hours ≥ 17 hours ≥ 20 hours Daily Calorie intake > 4000 cal > 3000 cal ≤ 3000 cal ≤ 2400 cal ≤ 2000 cal Daily Ballpark figures are good enough Weight up > 0.8 kg up > 0.2 kg up ≤ 0.2 kg down ≥ 0.4 kg down ≥ 0.8 kg Weekly Established at weekly weigh-in Curfew ≥ 1.15 am ≥ 0.45 am < 0.45 am < 0.20 am < 0.00 am Daily Add 2 hours before non-working days Sleep < 5h 30m < 6 hours ≥ 6 hours ≥ 6h 30m ≥ 7 hours Daily Fitbit numbers - naps count for half Avg. sleep < 6 hours ≥ 6 hours ≥ 6h 15m ≥ 6h 30m ≥ 6h 45m Weekly Fitbit numbers - naps count for half Steps < 6.000 ≥ 6.000 ≥ 8.000 ≥ 10.000 ≥ 12.000 Daily Fitbit numbers Avg. steps < 9.000 ≥ 9.000 ≥ 10.000 ≥ 11.000 ≥ 12.000 Weekly Fitbit numbers Workouts < 2 ≥ 2 ≥ 3 ≥ 4 ≥ 5 Weekly Mini-workouts: 1/10 per exercise Distance < 15 km ≥ 15 km ≥ 20 km ≥ 25 km ≥ 30 km Weekly Walk to Mordor distance

Hi friends! My name is Sky, I just celebrated my seventh year on the forums, and I am a first-time mom about to start the second trimester with my Little Bean. I'm late to this challenge because we recently had a scare where I had a subchorionic hematoma and thought I was miscarrying, but we had everything checked this week and Bean and I are both just fine. So now that my heart rate has somewhat returned to normal, I'm ready to make a plan for the next few weeks - or at least start checking in here again. My theme for this challenge is finding strong mothers, primarily in fiction, whom I resonate with and want to be like as I figure out my new role as a mom. I do not resonate with "mommy culture" in any way, and I am not a person who has dreamed of parenthood my whole life - but the "saccharine suburban mom" thing is absolutely not the only way to be a terrific mom and it's totally okay that that's not who I see myself becoming. I'm going to look for other examples of great moms who inspire me and do badass things as they raise their kids, love their spouses and serve their communities. I'm supposed to rest a lot and limit my activity for the next couple of weeks while the hematoma heals, so my initial goals will likely be around identity, mindset, and some nutrition. (I have gnarly indigestion and reflux at the moment and I'm trying to figure out what's triggering it so I can ease off of that. I also need to up my calcium and get more fruits and veggies, as usual.) I'm struggling to be patient with myself and struggling to accept help from my husband, so I'm trying to work on that too. After I'm more healed, I really really really want to reintroduce some walks and gentle yoga, because I have essentially not exercise for three months and I'm both antsy and weak. And while I'm resting, I'm going to think about (and solicit suggestions for!) badass fictional moms and mother figures. Love you guys and so excited to dive into gently ease my way into this challenge!

"Maerad, where have you been?!" you might be asking if you felt my absence last challenge. Well, I knew I'd be back, but I also knew I burned out - not just because I set myself up for failure last challenge with all athletic goals and no drive to face them all (malicious masochism not confirmed). But there's obviously been a lot of emotional situations going on in my life siphoning what life power I have. Not to mention I hit the one year mark of being on Nerd Fitness Forums and my brain decided to go haywire because I didn't fix all my problems in a single year. What rational-minded person would expect that? 😅 Then again, that's not my rational brain complaining. Anyway, I need to sift through my skills and abilities in hopes of figuring out how to proceed well through my second year on the forums. If I were a strategist, I could do a roadmap, but I'll stick to my haphazard chaotic style that ends up echoing what I see other people doing and trying to rely on what went well for me already. Feel free to announce yourself as Rory or Amy in the follow comments. 😉 I don't think I'll actually use Doctor Who as a challenge theme. I just liked that I could borrow the title for my challenge and wanted to revel in that measure of joy. 😅 I do have a notion of what my challenge will look like, and I promise to have it up soon, but I wanted to make a small post today just to say that I am here and I am excited. (Also that I did a set of Hinge Health stretches before eating lunch. I have managed to stay afloat with that for at least two sessions a week, though I hope to challenge myself to maintain a more regular habit of it) I am so very excited for this challenge! Hope you are, too! Sincerely, Maerad

Hello Again Rebels, Long time no see and it was me and not you. I've been away for several years after having gotten my health in a much better place, thanks in large part to this community. I lost 100 lbs in a year and 2 weeks (that 2 week still gets under my skin) and radically changed my life. Once I was in a better place I left the Rebellion for a while. It's been nearly 6 years since I've been around, and alot has changed for me, some for the better, some for the worse. I've found myself in a rough place and I need to get back in control of my health. I'm hoping that surrounding myself with a community focused on improving can help me as I get back to work on improving me. Time for a major respawn! 1. I've lost a couple lbs, but last month I matched my heaviest weight of 300lbs. Over this last winter I had a very bad case of Covid and was dealing with it for quite a while. I was on an oxygen machine for over 6 months. While effectively on bed rest, stressed, not moving, and eating my feelings, I gained alot of weight and lost what fitness I'd managed to maintain. Last summer I was hiking up and down mountains, now I can barely make a flight of stairs without huffing. While my fitness and health hadn't stayed at the level it was when I left the rebellion even prior to getting sick, I was fairly happy with... me. I still can't do many of the activities I would like to do. I just don't have that level of fitness anymore and breathing is still not as easy as it should be, but those are the exact reasons I'm working to get healthier again. I'm going to be working on walking to Mordor. Well actually I'm following along with Bilbo to the Lonely Mountain first, but those journeys will take much more than a 5 week challenge to complete. I'm just doing daily walking to try to get healthier and tracking my distance. Shooting for a absolute minimum of 1 mile a day and building up from there. Unfortunately I'm going to have to be doing it inside on the treadmill for a little while as wildfire season has started here in Montana and my weak lungs do not like the smoke. I much prefer walking out in the mountains (especially if there are fish to catch). I've had some family recommend a 30 day yoga for beginners thing on Prime Video that I'm going to work on too, but idk that it's an official part of the challenge for me. I would like to get more limber. 2. My nutrition has slacked and I want to improve that again. I do cook healthy whole food for many meals, and do really enjoy cooking. I cook mostly at a level 4 of the nerd fitness diet, just with liquid calories, and not tracking, so I hope to make it back to there over this challenge, starting back at level 1. My wife has several diet needs that I have to cook for, so our dinner is usually quite healthy, but I've been eating badly for breakfast and lunch. And working form home I snack far too much. I don't want to add on too many changes at once, but I think I will also be doing some intermittent fasting. I had great luck with it in the past and only eat breakfast about half the time anyway. Will just have a coffee in the morning (working on cutting out sugar from it, but that's gonna take a little bit), and then eat lunch and dinner. No eating before 11am or after 7pm. 3. In addition to decline if fitness and weight gain, I also fell back into an old bad habit with weed. No more smoking since the covid, but I've eaten too many edibles too often. Before covid, I did smoke almost daily and it was already a friction point between me and my wife. I recently ate the last of what I had and will not be buying any more! Ever. Period! I've tried quitting (smoking) weed a couple times in the past with some success lasing for months, but always came back to it eventually. Many people say it is not addictive, but I know for a fact that I have been, ... no I am addicted to marijuana. It is legal where I live but it's not good for me. While I don't drink much, maybe 1 drink a week, I've had more in the past when I took breaks from smoking. I don't want to replace 1 vice with another so the goal for this 5 weeks is sobriety. There's many other things in my life I'd like to work on improving, but for now I need to rebuild a healthy foundation to stand on while I juggle life. Next challenge I'll hopefully be able to build off of progress built in this challenge, and leapfrog on to additional improvements. I feel like I'm jumping back into a survival game were the other players are already geared up and established. I need to get my basics back, with which to rebuild and achieve more advanced tools and achievements. Time to grind! 5-Week Challenge TLDR: Fitness: Daily Walking, min of 1 mile a day. Goal of 30 miles minimum. Nutrition: Starting with the NF diet from lvl 1 "Help, I'm Clueless", and intermittent fasting skipping breakfast. Goal of reaching lvl 4 by end of the challenge. No weed, no drinks. Goal of 100%. No slip-ups.

Hey there, Came back to the forums mid last challenge after quite a bit of a break. Similar goals to last challenge, with some minor modifications. 1) Drink Water, not Beer. Track Water Consumption. 🟩= >2.4 Liters 🟨 = 1.8-2.4 Liters 🟥= <1.8 Liters Track Alcohol Consumption. ⭐= 0 alcoholic drinks 🟩= 1-2 alcoholic drinks 🟨 = 3-4 alcoholic drinks 🟥= 5+ alcoholic drinks 2) Walk Track daily steps. 🟩= 10K+ steps 🟨 = 7.5K - 10K steps 🟥= <10K steps Not an official goal, but acknowledgement that we are in the process of buying a house and much effort will be spent decluttering/packing to prepare for closing end of August and actual moving of things through month of September. Work stress is something also to be managed since we are doing budget for next year which is an eternally painful process

Some mood musique We had some interesting discussions about French dietary habits last challenge (small portions, variety, satiety, quality, etc) that made me want to try a little French-themed experiment this challenge. It may seem like I have a lot of goals (especially after the last extremely simplified challenge), but some of these goals are things I do pretty well anyway and am just adding it to round out the theme. 🍞 Boulangerie An important aspect of French cuisine is fresh, quality ingredients, especially BREAD 😍. Sure, vegetables too, but we will work up to those. My goal is to bake my own bread twice during the challenge. I have no idea how long I should expect a loaf to last, and I don't want to overwhelm, so two is a good goal to start. The bread does not have to be French -- in fact, I can almost guarantee the first one will be focaccia -- but baguette may happen if I am ambitious. 🍰 Patisserie Desserts are de rigeur in France, even among the svelte, but portion sizes are miniscule compared to American servings. So my goal is to keep desserts to French standard portion sizes - two or three good bites. The best way to make this portion size feel satisfying is of course to take smaller bites and savor a quality dessert (no prepackaged cookies, trail mix, or other low quality "junk foods"). A square of dark chocolate is fine. 🛶 La TraverSeine There is an annual rowing event on the Seine in Paris in early September. Kayaks, canoes, even dragon boats may enter for the 15k "explore" event or 26k competition. The route goes under some 30 Parisian bridges and past most of the tourist traps: Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame, etc etc. I...will not be going 😂. But, for fun I will pretend to be training for the event by indoor rowing twice a week (minimum) and actually kayaking at least once (hopefully the Poker Run mid-August). 🎨 La Louvre Continue my exploration of pen and ink art via the Inktober52 Instagram challenge. We are on week 29 (I think?) and I haven't missed a week yet! ⚜️ Lingua Franca Maintain my streak of foreign language practice on Duolingo (currently at 209 days).