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"You are the architect of your own imprisonment." -some self help book I read once, probably One of my favorite anime, Chihayafuru, got a 3rd season after several years and is airing now. In a recent episode, the protagonist is in a funk because she has a tough choice to make and she doesn't know what to do. One of the side characters tells her that every time you line up the shoes left outside the door, you accumulate a single instance of good luck. Since she's been doing it every day, she's got a ton of luck accumulated in her life. She tells the protagonist that when all else fails, accumulating good luck through small actions, one by one, seems like a good way to live your life. That episode aired a couple of months ago, but it really stuck with me. The quote above really stuck with me too. Most of the things in my life that I'm frustrated with are entirely my own fault. They're completely within my power to act on. I've built the prison I'm in. I may not know the exact path to improving things, but I agree with miss side character that instead of getting caught up by my uncertainty, I should focus on small daily actions. You can call it karma, or putting good energy into the universe, or just building a foundation of healthy habits...but it's all functionally the same idea. Things like picking up a piece of trash when I'm leaving a room, sending a quick message to a coworker to let them know where I am with something I'm working on, etc. all add up and create momentum in life, even if you don't know what you're building momentum for. Challenge Goals: Report here regularly about what kind of positive small actions I've taken to accumulate my good luck/momentum/whatever you want to call it. I might experiment with putting beads in a jar as a visual tool to represent actions I'm taking, but idk if that'll actually work. Get back into the habit of using a bullet journal or any form of daily to do list that works for me. I'm aiming for every weekday. Experiment with 1 screen free day per week - by screen free I mean social media/video game/tv/internet browsing free, not necessarily actually screen free (e.g. if I want to watch an ukulele tutorial and work on playing something, that's fine) Do extra pullup work 2x/week after Crossfit...this is already a habit, but I feel like it's worth listing and tracking for a challenge while I get back into it after a break during the holidays Mobility - go to a weekly yoga class Driving Identify driving schools where I can find someone to teach me to parallel park - bonus points if I actually contact them and set something up Practice driving places: Somewhere in CA during start of challenge? Cafe nearby that I've never personally driven to Park where I go when I want to ride my bike Parking lot by the water

I was considering just continuing to post in my last challenge thread through the end of the year, but I'll cooperate. I already wrote my challenge for the new year, but I don't really want to do much challenging for the next few weeks, so I think I'm just going to continue un-challenging for now. My intention is not to do nothing, but rather to try to do stuff that feels like the right stuff to do at the time. That could be relaxing and taking time to bask or it could be annoying chores. I guess you could say it's sort of like intuitive eating, but instead it's just intuitive challenging. (AKA just existing??) Here are some things generally on my mind that I may or may not end up doing. 🤷‍♀️ Make an appointment with the damn shin doctor Call customer service about an order I returned but didn't get the full refund for Brainstorm/research potentially starting a board game meetup closer to me Finish ordering/prepping Christmas presents Do a yoga class. Weekly? - did one, might do more Go see some Xmas lights Done! Learn an Xmas song on the uke Work on job stuff Read some books Sit outside Walk Experiment with a screen-free day (or at least a tv/internet browsing/video game free day) Some possible guiding questions: What feels good? What would a healthy person do? What would a guardian do? What would a person I admire do?

Captain Rangerbrain, reporting for duty! My last challenge was all about paying more attention to what I actually WANT to be doing with my time. I thought it would be more about relaxing and video games and maybe some domestic rangering, but it turns out that it's mainly studying Japanese and going to Crossfit a million times a week. So, I embraced that! And I actually do feel a little more relaxed and content with my day-to-day choices and routines. That said, there are still things I want to work on that will help me relax, either physically or mentally. And also pullups. Historically, I have about 673 goals every challenge and I can't say this challenge will be any better. I loosely chose goals that relate to relaxing, but also I couldn't narrow it down, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 1. Mobility Goal: Pick a mobility option each week and do the thing In Week 1 I'm going to do a 7 day mobility challenge. Does anybody else want to do this with me??? 7 days in a row of any mobility option you want to do. Weeks 2-5 I'll choose as I go, but options include: 3x weekly yoga videos at home Sign up for actual yoga membership at place nearby for the month and start going Do MWOD free trial and do at least 4 videos that week Do weekly 45 minute gymnastics stretching video + at least 40 minutes of other freeform stretching throughout the week 2 & 3: Self-Directed Exercise Goal: Pullups + Walking Walk or at least sit outside daily, even just 5 minutes Do pullup work 2x/week 4: Driving Goal: Drive somewhere new 1x/week It doesn't have to be far or hard, just somewhere I've never driven before 5: Food goals Goal: Weekly Rotating Food Goal Options include: Don't multitask while I eat (eat slowly) Protein with every meal Freggies with every meal Eat whole grains with every meal Protein AND colorful freggies with every meal Limit "dessert" foods to 1x/day, with one day where I skip them entirely Play "the hunger games" against my gut and refuse to eat until I'm really certain I'm actually hungry Bonus goals: Weekly relaxation activity (bubble bath, massage, reading outside in the grass, whatever) Job activities To Do: Make an appointment with orthopedist about my shin issues Get out on my damn bike Figure out what I'm doing with swimming Get a car wash There are probably other to-do-list items I can't think of right now, so TBD Final Goal List: Weekly choose-your-own mobility goal Pullup work 2x/week Walk/get outside daily Drive one new place/week Rotating weekly food goal I think my prize for the challenge will be an accupressure mat, which I've been curious about for a long time and theoretically should also support the relaxing. I might switch it up and get a hammock to sling up on trees instead though. I win with an 80% success rate. I might also consider setting some mini-prizes later on for the bonus goals, etc.

The laundry = THE GRIND. But also, the laundry = the ANTI-grind? A bunch of vaguely connected thoughts are motivating this challenge: I've noticed that I struggle with the in-between moments. I'm good at starting and ending stuff, but not so much at the long sludge in the middle. I struggle with transitions - if my routine gets disrupted even a little, I'm thrown way off! After a vacation, I take a long time to get back to normal. I've recently gotten bad at just enjoying my free time when I have it - I'm always looking for something to do instead. But on the other hand choosing to spend my free time doing Japanese homework might just be because I LIKE doing Japanese homework? Maybe Japanese homework is the fun thing and "I should really play that video game" is actually the chore but I'm not in tune with myself well enough to know which it is?? I cannot do a relax?? I'm kind of scattered and unfocused - like I'm doing my usual 100 rangerbrain activities, but also I've been meaning to schedule a doctor's appointment for months and just keep forgetting?? I cannot get myself to use my BuJo to save my life. That kind of stuff. _______________ So this challenge is about doing the things, but it's also about giving myself permission to NOT do the things. It's about getting back into the swing of things that have dropped off ("the laundry"), but also about embracing the times when I don't have to do stuff and just enjoying being a person (ALSO "the laundry"). It's about trying to chill the F out. It's about asking myself "what do I WANT to do?" both in the short term and the long term. It's about asking "who am I?" but also about saying "who cares - I'm gonna go play outside." Goals Start doing pullup stuff after Crossfit again. Probably continue doing pushup stuff too, but maybe not if doing both feels like too much. Walk every day, even if it's just 5 minutes (weather allowing - darn thunderstorms) and/or sit outside, even just on the balcony Meal prep one super tasty thing for each week, and if then do it again if I run out of it DO WHAT I WANT (sub-goal: What do I want??) Context for goal #3 Some other non-goals to explore: Put my bike in my car and go for a ride during a weekday when the trails are less crowded Go hike somewhere Start doing calf raises throughout the day Do more stretching, dangit Do some job stuff

Hey all! I'm still feeling super non-challengey, and I really enjoyed my non-challenge last time around - I needed the break! I'm also sick, so that's not helping. But I also feel like it's time to start doing the things again even if I don't feel like it. Rest is good, but quitting is not! I've been noticing that I just have no energy for things lately, and I don't know why? I'm objectively not doing anything much different. The areas where I'm succeeding are where I have things like Crossfit or Japanese class with outer accountability, but my ability to drive my free time effectively is...weakening? I used to do workouts on my own 3x/week, run weekly, go to aikido 1-2 times/week, walk almost daily, AND do yoga or other stretching work several times a week! So this challenge is going to be all about energy management! 1. Health & Fitness I've got Cfit + some extra pushup/pullup work under control! So I'll keep doing those things but they won't be goals. Un-challenge-related, I'd like to add dip strength training into that extra work too. A) I need to pay more attention to mobility. I feel SO MUCH BETTER when I'm doing more mobility work, in any form. Every morning, I'd like to do a basic 4 minute sequence of forward fold stretches that usually helps me loosen up my hamstrings. I'm feeling stiffer than EVER and the basic 4 minute routine is a really good way to start building momentum to fix that. I'd like to keep working through Yoga With Adrienne's 30 day challenge videos once I'm not sick anymore. Once I've done them all, my plan is to start exploring classes at the nearby studio again. IDEALLY I'll finish the 18 videos I still have to do during this challenge. That's 5, 5, 4, 4 videos assuming I don't feel better in time to do any this week. C) I need to start paying attention to sugar again. To start, limit dessert foods to once/day and have at least one day a week with no desserts at all. For every no sugar day, I can put a few dollars into savings towards anything I want to spend it on. If I miss the no sugar day in a given week, I have to take those dollars back out. 2. Learning My eventual goal is to build a habit of spending 5 hours/week on learning (1 hour/weekday) BUT to start I just want to spend ANY amount of time every week day on learning. Japanese class honestly might be taking up 5 hours/week anyway, but I want to be deliberate about this and make it a goal anyway. The learning can be anything, not just Japanese. One thing I need to do still is find a swim instructor. I asked my cfit coach but she said I should just check with nearby rec centers directly, so I'll do that. 3. Energy Management There are a few things I need to experiment with here to feel more energetic during the day: The main time I have to spend outdoors on weekdays is after 4pm when I finish work, BUT between Japanese and Crossfit I'm already booked during that time on 4/5 days. It's important to my well being to be able to go sit outside (weather allowing) or go on a long walk or do SOMETHING out of the apartment, so I want to experiment with moving Cfit to the morning 1-2 days/week. Bedtime is another possible factor. I used to do an offline@9 goal where I'd sign off electronics and 9 and just read or do other things like that if I wasn't actually ready for bed. I'm not sure 9 is the right time anymore, but I'd like to experiment with it more. ESPECIALLY if I'm waking up early for Cfit. OR I could try to get that outdoor time early in the day...wake up and go on a walk first thing, or use my lunch break to walk like I used to. I haven't been successful with that since I started working from home, so morning cfit is probably more realistic though. Reduce screen time overall and do pretty much ANYTHING else...although this will be hard since I'm playing through Kingdom Hearts 3 right now. I'll focus on doing the learning/outdoor time first (adding) instead of subtracting the screen time, but reduced screen time is the goal. It's not really a SMART goal yet, so....I'll pick one thing to try each day and try it. If I do the thing, it counts. 4. Adventure I need to get out in the world more - even once a week is fine. Lots of stuff can count for this, but tagging along with my boyfriend to things he initiates doesn't count. Meetups, social outings, etc. Anything new for the learning goal - trying a class, going to a new place, etc. Trying something new (e.g. I've never had a massage before and I've been meaning to try one!) Visiting interesting places in DC or around town 5. General To Dos: Continue dealing with dentist stuff until resolved (tooth pain, then wisdom teeth removal) Make and go to a doc appointment to consult about vertigo issues Do taxes (gather docs, decide who to file with, do the thing) Clean out my Google Inbox inbox before they get rid of the service in March and force me to switch back to Gmail

Lately, I've had energy?? For the longest time, I was tired and foggy daily. I've been the type of person who can easily take 3 naps a day. But lately, if I take a nap it's out of habit (or procrastination) rather than any actual need for a nap?? I have no idea what's going on, but I'm ON FIRE these days. So I'm going to run with that. Last challenge, I restarted aikido AND started doing crossfit. I also signed up for a Japanese class that starts in 2 weeks or so. ALL THE THINGS. Regular fitness: 7 mobility mornings/week (20 sessions over the challenge earns me some sort of mobility reward - a class, a tool, etc.) 2 Crossfit sessions/week 2 Aikido sessions/week 1 Startbodyweight session/week 1 smaller muscle session/week (little stuff for muscles in hips, feet, etc.) - this can be combined with the startbodyweight session or broken up throughout the week 2-3 GST stretching sessions per week Walk 16 miles/week (12 to pass, but 16 earns $10 towards hiking/backpacking gear) Run weekly (shins allowing) Mobility Supplementation: Toe touch sequence daily Shoulder stretching daily Squat movement daily Yoga weekly? Soft tissue work as often as possible/needed "Triathalon" Goals GET MY FRIGGIN' BIKE TUNED UP AND RIDE IT ALREADY. SHEESH. Go swimming 3 times Other Goals: Stand OR sit on the floor to work 3 hrs/workday Do something weekly to connect with my father Continue to check off tasks on the nutrition program I started last challenge Put on clothes by 9AM on weekdays

Growing up, I wasn't very active. I never understood the rules well enough to actually play well in ballgames, I have a lazy eye so my depth perception was bad, I wasn't on a sports team like a lot of other kids, and I was terrible at running. Those were the stories I told myself. I would DREAD the "1 mile run" fitness test in school for WEEKS leading up to the event. And it wasn't just baseless dread - after the mile, I would have crazy DOMS for days afterwards, because running a mile was just so much more exertion than I was used to. I would always finish late and miserable, and any time anyone tried to encourage me I was certain they were making fun of me. All in all, not a fun experience. It was a great relief when high school Fitness class came around, because it meant strength training on machines instead of ballgames. 4 days a week, we would work 2 muscle groups + abs and cardio. But even then, the cardio was up to us so I got cozy with the stairclimber. Soon I found myself proudly walking up hills and stairs next to people who were out of breath. But that mile run still happened, and I still dreaded it even as my times improved. I was still not passing the test by any means. One day as the mile was approaching, I was out on the track with a few of my friends during Fitness, and I whined to my soccer-playing friend that I was "just not very athletic." She scrunched up her face at me and said something like "Of course you're athletic! You work harder than almost anyone else in this class. Everyone else is always trying to find ways to slack off. And you're really strong. Just because you're not that fast doesn't mean you're not athletic." !?!?!?!? Just like that, my story changed. It was obvious that she was right. Suddenly, my bad mile time didn't mean that I was unathletic. It just meant that I didn't do a lot of running. My lack of success in sports didn't mean I was unathletic; it just meant that I didn't play a lot of sports. It didn't mean I suddenly became a workout machine or anything, but that comment from my friend set me on a different path. As a person who was athletic, I chose to voluntarily take Fitness after I had filled the requirements, even waking up an hour early to go to school. As a person who was athletic, I got to do workout videos with my school principal when he showed up on those mornings. As a person who was athletic, I continued finding ways to exercise as I entered college, doing things like going on 45 minute walks around the hilly campus, taking pilates classes, doing 45 consecutive pushups, and trying different workout videos. I'm not sure that I would have done ANY of those things if my friend hadn't made that comment that day in high school. Slowly but surely, she set me on the path to where I am today, doing so much athletic stuff that I'm running out of time to do it all! I wasn't always working out super consistently or anything, but I was always trying to do SOMETHING to work on that athletic side of me. Slowly but surely, that road let me here. And so I need to remind myself that if I'm patient and I stay on the road, I will get to where I'm heading. If I can't do every single thing I want to do right now, it doesn't mean I won't get there. If I can't fit everything into the week, it's ok because I'm still on the road. It's all about the story you tell yourself. Challenge Details A lot of this will be continued from my last challenge. Or at least to be expected based on my last challenge. I'll be traveling for a lot of this week, and maybe even next week, so some of it might not launch fully until Week 2. PILLAR 1: Flexibility If I do yoga or other flexibility work, I feel about 60% better even if I do nothing else. I feel good in my body. I don't feel stiff. I feel more in tune with my needs. GST stretch sessions - 3 sessions, 45 minutes each. NEW Mobility mornings - every morning, I want to do some sort of movement. It can be yoga, MWOD, GST-based, or something else entirely. If I hit at least 14 sessions over the course of the challenge, I can pick up some kind of cool mobility tool or yoga classes or comfy pants or something like that as a reward. Ideally I also want to do some stretching before bed too, but I'm not making that a goal this time. NEW Standing - I got myself a standing desk a while back to try to force myself to stand while I work, but now I just end up working on the couch. Which is murdering my back much worse than a sitting desk would. So my goal is to just try to accumulate a measly 3 hours at the standing desk each day. PILLAR 2: Walking I work from home and don't have a very active social life. If I don't deliberately take the time to walk, I do not walk. Ever. And I really like walking and hiking. It's also just really important for basic health because people are meant to walk. Walk 16 miles per week (2 miles weekdays, 3 miles weekends) - this only counts deliberate walks and not overall steps/distance, although TBH there's not a huge difference. PASS: 12 miles. EXTRA CREDIT: 20 miles. For each week I do extra credit, I can put $10 towards hiking/backpacking gear goals. ROADMAP: Start rucking again now that I have a better backpack for it, begin exploring local hiking trails more. PILLAR 3: Strength Pretty self explanatory. I seem to naturally be pretty strong and I like doing strength work, but I have a lot of recovery to do after wrist surgery set me back. 3-4 sessions/week - 2 Crossfit and 1-2 Startbodyweight (I'll be joining the Crossfit box I visited last challenge once I'm done traveling) PILLAR 4: Food Kind of a mess, tbh. I don't even know where to begin here. But my belly is doing things that I do not like. Paleo-ish works, but it sends me into that diet mindset that eventually backfires?? But also it really works?? Last challenge I tried aiming for 5 freggies/day and didn't do so well at it. I'm trying a nutrition program that gives you 1 task per week. If you do it 6 days in a row, you get the next task. If you don't, you have to repeat it and succeed before you move on. So I'll just focus on that for now. I miiiight still count freggies though. We'll see. Each successful task = $10 towards a kitchen gadget. I've got a measly $10 accumulated from my goals last challenge. Triathaloning I can't really swim or ride a bike competently, and shin issues keep setting me back in my running. So I want to work on upskilling these three areas. Run at least weekly - I'll be testing out a new custom orthotic as soon as I get the call saying it's ready, so I'm hoping that will help deal with some of my leg issues and let me increase my running towards a more standard program. Swimming - Travel week(s) excluded, I'll continue trying to flail swim once/week while somehow also breathing. At the end of the challenge, I'll evaluate whether I should just sign up for lessons. Cycling - I don't think the reclining bike work is doing me any good, so I'm thinking of dropping it. I still need to get my bike tuned up. After that, I just want to get out on it at least 2x this challenge. Simple. Other Do 1 thing/week to connect with my father. It has to require actual effort on my part. Take 1 hr/week to work on some form of personal development (non-fitness skill, etc.) I'll be starting up at the Aikido place I found last challenge, but it's not actually a goal Prioritization This is a lot of things and it's very likely I won't be able to do everything every week. Priority #1 will be the things I'm paying for - so, Crossfit and aikido. Beyond that, a lot of things are kind of equal. I think I'll generally prioritize hitting at least 3 strength sessions/week. Followed by getting in all of my GST sessions. Walking is easy right now because it's only 1x/week, but if (FINGERS CROSSED) I can start to increase my frequency, I'll probably prioritize above walking. And doing some sort of walking for the day is more important than covering a specific distance. But it's also about listening to my body, so if I feel stiff, I might prioritize flexibility above walking. Etc.

I HAVE SO MANY THINGS TO SHARE Overview Since I first started doing challenges, I've known there are sort of "4 pillars" of fitness that I thrive under - walking, eating primalish, yoga/mobility work, and strength training. Every one of my challenges includes these in some way or another, although the eating is a big question mark right now. Last challenge, I was overall pretty good. I did a ton of work on reducing stiffness and increasing mobility, and I was overall very active. Last challenge, I also confessed my secret dream of doing a triathalon despite wobbly cycling, an inability to breathe while I swim, and constant running injuries. I made less progress in these areas. So like any good ranger, I am working on goals related to these three areas on top of my 4 pillars. I also had wrist surgery last October after struggling with wrist pain for a little over a year. That whole process really forced me to cut back on pushups / dips and I've seen a huge reduction in overall strength, which is frustrating. On top of that, I'm also trying to get back into Aikido, which I stopped doing after I moved in August / had to have wrist surgery. And of course I might as well throw some sort of non-fitness goal in there too, right??? Is this way more things than is reasonable? Yes. But a baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do. Honestly, I'm frustrated with how weak I feel. And I'm waaaaay overly scared of trying new things (like going to a pool I've never used before). So I'm going to try to embrace the baby mindset and accept that I am where I am, but I've gotta do the things anyway. PILLAR 1: Flexibility If I do yoga or other flexibility work, I feel about 60% better even if I do nothing else. I feel good in my body. I don't feel stiff. I feel more in tune with my needs. I've done 18/30 days of this year's Yoga With Adrienne Challenge. I want to finish the remaining 12 videos this month. Continue slowly integrating MWOD stuff into my routine and reading Becoming a Supple Leopard. No specific goal here other than to keep trying to do the sessions regularly. Continue doing GST videos 2x/week (45 minutes each), skipping yoga on GST days ROADMAP: At the end of the month when these things are done, I can: A - pick up the third and final GST stretching video, B - Sign up for some in person yoga classes, and/or C - Do a 14 day mobility challenge using either Becoming a Supple Leopard or Ready to Run. PILLAR 2: Walking I work from home and don't have a very active social life. If I don't deliberately take the time to walk, I do not walk. Ever. And I really like walking and hiking. It's also just really important for basic health because people are meant to walk. Walk 16 miles per week (2 miles weekdays, 3 miles weekends) - this only counts deliberate walks and not overall steps/distance, although TBH there's not a huge difference. PASS: 12 miles. EXTRA CREDIT: 20 miles. For each week I do extra credit, I can put $10 towards hiking/backpacking gear goals. ROADMAP: Start rucking again now that I have a better backpack for it, begin exploring local hiking trails more. PILLAR 3: Strength Pretty self explanatory. I seem to naturally be pretty strong and I like doing strength work, but I have a lot of recovery to do after surgery, etc. Do at least 2 startbodyweight sessions per week, and do at least pullups and pushups in a 3rd session (exception - for Zero week I'll just do 2 sessions and an OCR workout without the extra push/pull work) ROADMAP: After a month or so of consistency, re-evaluate whether I want to push forward or switch tactics. Options include: Keep going until I feel stuck on startbodyweight (aiming for 3x/week?) Redo/finally complete GMB Elements program Look into actual lifting at a real gym Look into GST foundations program Look into GMB integral strength program Intro class at local crossfit place (there's one where the coach is also a certified running coach) PILLAR 4: Food Kind of a mess, tbh. I don't even know where to begin here. I'm doing a lot of slow and mindful exploration right now, so it's hard to set a concrete goal. Eat 5 servings of freggies/day. PASS: 3 veggies specifically. EXTRA CREDIT: 3 consecutive days. For any 3 consecutive days, I accumulate $10 towards a kitchen gadget or fancy food of some sort. I may need to recalibrate this as I go. Triathaloning The big challenge here is just getting out and doing a couple things that make me nervous. Once I've done them I'll be fine, but that initial 20s of courage keeps stopping me up. From there, it's a matter of establishing the basic skills. It may require lessons - tbd. Take my bike in for that tuneup and go on at least one real outdoor ride (I've been delaying because it's winter, but it's not actually really snowy at all here so I can go out.) Weekly cycling session, increasing by 5 minutes total time each week Go swimming. Just get there and figure out how to use the swimming facility. It doesn't even matter what I do. Just do it at least one time. Continue trying to run without injuring myself Get running gait analysis on the 12th to help diagnose form issues ROADMAP: Start working towards 2.5 hours of aerobic work per week to establish a good base Aikido Visit the 2 closest dojos and observe sessions - either sign up for one of those or explore the other dojos in the area. By the end of the challenge, my goal is to know where I want to practice and to sign up somewhere. Non-Fitness I already meditate/practice Japanese through duolingo daily, but I feel like I don't spend enough time on self improvement / learning outside of fitness. FRUGAL FEBRUARY. I do this every year and have already started for the month. No extra purchases at all allowed for the month. Exceptions: Book I already preordered that comes out on Feb 6th & 1 REI purchase since I have a $20 gift card that is going to expire and I want to use it Spend 2 hours/week on some sort of personal development - I have a bunch of things it can be and for now I'll just choose freely based on what I feel like doing - whittling or other creative exploration, work related reading, python, harmonica practice, etc. Do 1 thing/week to connect with my father Prioritization This is a lot of things, so there will be times when I can't do them all. I definitely want to make strength work priority #1. If it's a choice between that and something else, I'll prioritize the workout. Everything else is about even. Flexibility work is even with walking. Aikido is even with swimming and getting a bike tuneup. Running is a slight priority over cycling, but they're about the same.

So. I'm not feeling very hype-y at all. My cat is sick and I'm really sad. But fortunately I thought through this challenge back when I WAS feeling more hype-y a few weeks ago. We all know that the key to success is doing the thing even when the hype is not there, so I decided to do the thing even though I'm not feeling inspired at all. There are a ton of things I want to do. I feel like I've been slowly losing fitness for the last 1.5 years as I dealt with wrist pain and eventually surgery that prevented me from continuing with the stuff I was working on. Last week, I was finally able to do 3x10 pushups again, so I think my wrist is in a place where I can start doing a lot of the stuff I was working on again. But beyond bodyweight strength training, there's so much I want to do. A few of those things happen to be the things that you do in a triathalon - running, swimming, and riding a bike. I've had a secret desire to do at least a mini-triathalon for a while, and I feel like now is the time to start working on that more seriously. I've been working on running and have a million issues there. I HAVE a bike but mainly just wobble when I ride it. And I worked on my swimming skills with lessons this past summer, but I still haven't quite figured out how to breathe while I'm swimming. So in terms of dreaming bigger, being able to do all three of these things is a big effort. I'm in CA until Friday, and then I'll be back in VA. I don't really intend to start full challenge stuff until I've gone back to VA. Goals: Do Adrienne's new 30 day yoga challenge in January Start a 30 day paleo challenge when I'm back in VA Take my bike to a bike shop for a tune up. Ride an exercise bike at least once/week until weather allows for outdoor riding. Explore options for things like local bike clubs. Find a pool where I can go to practice swimming. Determine whether I'm comfortable working by myself or need a teacher to help me advance. Find teacher if needed. If not, practice at least weekly on my own one I've found a place that works for me. Continue running but make it easy - just use the treadmill if I don't feel like dealing with the winter weather. Work on getting back up to 5K in whatever way agrees most with my legs. Continue doing 3x/week workouts. Maybe 2x bodyweight strength and 1x some local fitness class or bootcamp. Details may vary. Do 1 small thing/week to connect with/ be nice to my father

For those just tuning in, I'm Raxie! I'm returning to the boards after taking a hiatus for my wedding, honeymoon and Thanksgiving... all of which basically happened in rapid succession. It's been an AMAZING couple of months, but my brain, and my life, are in need of severe decluttering. Confession: I have a ridiculous case of Rangerbrain. I cannot. stop. wanting. to do. ALL. THE. THINGS. If I enjoy something, I try to make it so I can work it into my workout schedule (tried boxing at Camp Nerd Fitness and loved it? TAKE A BOXING CLASS! Decided rucking is great training for hiking? RUCK EVERY DAY. Went to a Nerd Meetup at the DC Spartan Race and decided it looked amazingly fun? TRAIN FOR 100 SPARTANS! Oh, and do it all at the same time!!!!). Seriously I am out of freaking control. OUT OF CONTROL! I am getting burned out and need to chillllll outtttt. I've basically made a list of all the things I want to do, and what is most easily attainable, while keeping in mind that going after a goal now doesn't mean I can't, for example, sign up for a spartan at a later date and switch my training over to focus on that for a bit. The idea here is I need to focus on something, not everything. After some brain storming I came to the conclusion that the two most important things to me right now are lifting and dance. I did ballet for 15 years when I was a kid, and then stopped when I went to college. Taking private ballroom lessons for my first dance at my wedding reignited my love of it, and I am completely obsessing over it. So I'm going to build a SIMPLE schedule around training to improve my dancing, and actual dance classes. I really want to get good at it and I haven't felt so great about myself and had so much fun in an incredibly long time. I will never be able to fully give up lifting because it is so fundamental to me and my training now, but I will *GASP* lower my number of lifting days a week from 3 to 2. (And I need to keep telling myself this is OK). It's going to be OK. So here's the goals: Fitness Goal 1: Dance! 2-3 dance classes a week, depending on holiday and work schedule. Fitness Goal 2: Lift! 2-3 lifting sessions a week, depending on dance schedule Fitness Goal 3: Accessory Work 1 Cardio Dance session a week 1 Ballet Barre session a week 3 ROM WODs a week Life Goal: Don't eat like an a-hole Declutter my belly. Self explanatory. Grading Post my plan for the week every Sunday or Monday. At the end of the week - did I do it or no? If I do it all 4 weeks, LEVEL UP.. If not, reassess and try again next time I know this is harsh, but I'm going super simple this challenge so I'll have to really slack to not meet my goals.

The Rangers and people from other guilds, that have been around for a while (at least 2 years i just checked) could know that, in my past, i have dedicated a few challenges in a row to prepping for my first StrongViking Beast obstacle run in the start of 2016. Those were pretty successful challenges, so now i'm summoning the strength of that format again. Because, frankly, things need to be done. You can also say i'm slowly starting to get frightened a bit by the endeavor i have set upon. For the people that don't know, a few facts: *** * T-minus: ~ 23 weeks / 154 days *** * Rat Race Dirty Weekend 2018 *** * UK obstacle run *** * 20 miles *** * 200 obstacles *** * Meeting all the Epic Nerds IRL for the first time!!! There are a couple of things i want to accomplish before that time, and one way or the other i tried to put it all into a spreadsheet which i will upkeep daily. (WIP) A little explanation about all the things: Weeks / Days: Countdowntimers to keep me focused on the time left KCAL/d: I want to be just under 2000 KCAL a day, this is just under maintenance, which will allow me to lose some fat, and keep up with working out. I need to lose some weight to be able to handle all the bodyweight related exercises better, like hanging pulling jumping etc. etc. Protein/d: I don't want to lose the muscle i have built the last couple of years, so protein will be the most important nutrient that i will keep my eye on. Doing 160+ a day is just a little under 2gr/lbs of bodyweight. Drinking/d: I know this is not going to be much of a problem (especially compared to 2 years ago), but i know that if i don't mention this here a few days will be lost due to excessive drinking. Now i rate this on a scale of no / mindful / less than mindful. This gives me some leeway to enjoy the occasional beer. Cause a challenge has to be hard, but you don't need to set yourself up for failure, especially when the drawback (of a single beer) is that low. This untraining of my beer-habit also makes me a bit afraid of the race itself, i owe it to some people to thoroughly enjoy several beers on friday and saturday that i really am getting a bit scared of having to do the 20 miles and 200 obstacles while having a major beer-induced headache. Eat healthy/d: B/L/D a.k.a. Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner. These are the only moments i will eat. The only exception here will be stuff around workout like PWO, recovery drinks and protein shakes. Again this will be scored for doing the best i can. "Best option" means that there was no way i could have eaten healthier given the circumstance at that moment. "Mindfully" means that there might have been a better option which i didn't take but i made a conscious choice not to have that, but also chose not to take the worst option. This is a choice i frequently have to make. I'm not one for meal prepping (yet). And i also don't want to give my kids a bad example by doing some extreme dieting and in their presence i will eat normally but try to do so as healthy as possible. No CC: No Candy no Cooky, no inbetween snacking. This means i just eat at B/L/D and nothing else. This should bring a halt to several of my weaknesses. Especially the one that hit's me after snoozing on the couch, somehow i always wake up with such a sweettooth and stuff my face with cookies or candy just before i go to bed. It will also help in not accumulating those small extra KCALs throughout the day. Lift / Run / Crossfit: These are the workouts i'm gonna do, and my goal is to give them equal attention. I always leaned on lifting more than running, and combining running with lifting was pretty doable. Now that i have CF in the mix it's hard to give running the proper attention. That's why i decided i'm gonna lay down a bit on the lifting and sacrifice one lifting workout for one extra running workout. Even the lifting workout will be geared towards the Rat Race. I'm gonna keep on doing the juggernaut program, and i will do a workout of DL/BP and SQ/OHP + 2 accessory exercises. This program will be written out coming weekend. This also goes for the running workout. I'm gonna go look for a plan that get's me to run about 10 miles within my ~20 weeks i've got. Extra Reps: I just like the idea of doing extra. So this is the excuse to do extra reps, and i'm going to categorize them as hard medium and easy. Hard ones are things i can only do a few of, like pullups. Medium are things like pushups, i can push those out a lot more. And easy ones are the things that i feel i could do all day (and actually have done so), like jumping jacks and mountain climbers. Scoring points are as follows, per rep: Hard 10 points / medium 5 points / easy 1 point. Weight / BF%: These will be here to record how my overall weight and BF% will transition throughout my prep. OSM: OSM a.k.a. Awesome. An awesome day, where i have been completely focused or something else significant happened, will be noted here. I'm hoping a lot of x'es in this column. Comments on missed goals and OSM days: Part of the pressure of accountability, if i fuck up, i have to come clean. Tell how and why i fucked up a goal. On the other hand, this is the place to gloat about awesome days too! So if you want to be part of this success please add some accountability. Nag my ass over things i haven't done or when i tell you i don't feel up to working out. Challenge me (that won't work i can assure you) or find some other way to get under my skin. I'm hoping with the help of you all this will be another good (set of) challenge(s) and i will get my butt in gear to kick ass on the Rat Race. May the lord have mercy on my body So...

Welcome to the Rowdy Raven! Pull up a chair, hear a tale or two... or maybe snag a bit of juicy gossip. If you're looking for a good meal or a stout ale, you're in the right place. If it's riches, fame or glory you're after, well in that case... There's a fella upstairs; black cloak, thick beard and eyes that can pierce steel. He might have a task or two for ya -if you've got the skill to handle it. Years ago, a friend once told me: Stop just admiring all these awesome women characters you get so into, and be one for yourself. As I am still riding quite high on the RPG/D&D creativity wave, I thought; what better way to do that, than to create my own real world adventure to go on. Here's the next catch though... what is a tabletop adventure without a party? So I am throwing out my Looking for Group /yell and offering this. Having a hard time with challenges lately? Know that you want to keep up on NF, but updating your own thread is being a bear? Need a little extra motivation to remember to log in and poke about? Then come to the Rowdy Raven and meet up with a few other young adventurers that want to change the world- starting with themselves! I will be putting together an adventure to help motivate myself into becoming the hero I so often admire in my games, books, movies, and anime. Using real world goals to theme a fantasy narrative! I've no idea how well this will come together, but I am excited to venture out and become! "The table upstairs huh? Alright... well, I guess I should go see this man... Right. Ok. Going now..." "and... ok, going now!" "For real this time, I am heading up to talk to the man!!"

I'm continuing my tradition of posting a new challenge before I actually post a challenge summary in the preivous one. During last challenge, I moved from NY to VA and I'm still figuring out how to adjust. I need some new habits and routines! I read an article a while back describing habit forming as slowly wearing grooves into something. Each time you repeat the thing you're deepening the groove, which eventually becomes deep enough that it's an ingrained habit. So, it's time for NTB's New Groove(s)! A little background: All of these habits have slipped a weeee bit since I moved. I'm still doing them, but not all of them are as consistent as they were before the move. So I want to do a few things this challenge to fix that: Miniquest: Whip up a spreadsheet and track the habits on the above list to help get back in the groove of doing them Miniquest: Continue exploring and getting familiar with the area, through a to do list of things to check out Main Quest: Establish a lunchtime routine to go along with my morning and evening routines (at least for work days). I think building this in will help me squeeze in some of the habits (like going on a walk) that aren't as ingrained here as they were in NY. I'm still tinkering with what I want to happen during my lunchtime routine, but to start I'm thinking: Get sort of fresh air, either by taking a walk or at least going out onto the balcony for a few minutes, or even going on a run if it makes sense for the day Some sort of stretching, which could be a number of things: A full yoga routine, GMB's Focused Flexibility, freeform stretching, GST Foundations mobility course Possibly doing some meditation? I usually meditate at night but it could be interesting to see how meditation helps me focus during the day. Possibly some sort of quick check in for the guardian habit - asking "am I acting like a guardian?" or something to that effect

AHHH YOU GUYS. It was so hard to pick a challenge focus this time. Background: So next up is Challenge #7 - the tomato strikes back. I turn bright red when I exert myself, because I'm a tomato and cardio is just this endless battle. I've been struggling with running for years now. I can run a 5K distance but I struggle to run more than 1-2x/week or increase my weekly mileage above the 4-5 mile range without getting shin splints. I'm very consistent in my running, but I keep getting stuck. So last challenge, I started to shift towards running 3x/week by splitting up the mileage across runs and focusing on using a 180BPM cadence to see if that helps with shin splints. I want to keep working on 3x/week runs this challenge. Most running advice says you need at least 3x MINIMUM to improve, so I'll see if that's true. Here are the deets: Run/walk 3x/week for 20 minutes, getting used to the 180BPM cadence Continue to experiment with factors like running surface, shoe lacing, etc, to see how my shins do If my legs bother me or I can't run for other reasons, try to sub in another form of cardio to take its place so I maintain the habit of doing something 3x/week (biking outside or on a machine, jumping, burpees, etc.) Step 1 is to get used to the cadence so it feels less awkward. Step 2 is to be able to run 20 minutes 3x/week at that cadence without needing to walk. Step 3 is to increase one of those runs to 5K distance ASAP so that I don't lose my distance there. Step 4 is to start to experiment with total weekly distance, sprinting, hill work, and other types of running workouts once I have the base in place. Eventually, I'd like to be able to run a 10K distance for OCR purposes, run a 30-minute 5K, and run an 8 minute mile time for shorter runs. Mini-Challenge 1: Hiking As part of cardio-type activities, I'd like to do more hiking. Hiking is quite possibly one of my favorite physical activities, but I don't do it that often these days. It's crazy good for you and it's fun and low impact. It's also a good way to explore. So! I'd like to go on 1 hike/week during this challenge, both in my current area and in the new area. If I succeed at doing all 4 hikes, I can reward myself with a hiking backpack to encourage even more hiking. I have fantasies about doing cooler dayhikes and things, so this is a good place to start. Mini-Challenge 2: TO DO LIST EXTRAVAGANZA SEPARATELY I'm moving at either the end of Week 1 or Week 2 of this challenge, so there are a million things to do. I'll do a separate mass of to dos before and after the move. BEFORE: Cancel internet Cancel electricity Do the thing with the forwarding address?? List a bunch of furniture on sale via Craigslist and flyers at my apartment Get letter from Aikido sensei confirming my current number of practice hours Figure out what to do with my furniture if I can't sell it, and how the hell to get it out of my apartment anyway (I'm on the 3rd floor of an apartment and there are only stairs) Set up a lunch or something with local coworker-types Get in at least one bootcamp class so I can say bye to peeps there Contact my wrist doctor about anything I need in advance to be able to smoothly transfer info to a doc in the new location Donate other stuff I'm not keeping Continue with swimming lessons / make sure to inform instructor about move coming up Use my actual apartment pool at least once Hit up some of the items on my bucket list BBQ pub Italian place Local bargain store people love Cool burger place in nearby town Try running at a park that's supposed to have some soft trails Maaaaybe the racetrack? But also apparently there have been a lot of horse deaths there this year so I might just boycott. There are some other things but I don't have the list in front of me so I'll update it later AFTER: Find the local library and get set up with it Update address with work Find good places to run both right outside my front door and farther away Find a good place to ride my bike Find an asian market/grocery store Find a wrist doctor Find a place where I can practice swimming Find someone I can potentially trust to cut my hair Find a local farmer's market Find a good lunchtime/after work walking route Explore local fitness options...yoga, gyms, aikido, bootcampy classes, etc. I will not be able to do much until after my wrist is dealt with, but individual classes should be doable in the short term.) Mini Challenge 3: Minimalist Food Leading up to the move, I've got some pantry items to use up. I can get very overzealous about trying new recipes and foods, but I should focus on working my way through what I have and keeping it simple otherwise. I'll also end up going out a few times with coworkers/aikido peeps/to finish up my list of things to do locally, so I want to avoid overbuying food. After the move will be a big adjustment, because my boyfriend doesn't cook and eats out for all meals and we'll have to find some middle ground that does not involve the expansion of MY middle. So it makes sense to try to keep things simple and minimal while we adjust too. So, some guidelines: Only cook recipes I have successfully cooked before (or that are very simple - like I can try a new sauce on some chicken or something if it just involves mixing some things together and cooking it a normal way) One exception...I have a quiche recipe I've already planned to make this coming week to use up some canned green chiles. Finish as much as I can from the freezer/pantry before the move and plan meals off of those items, filling in foods only as needed to round out the meal Keep grocery shopping simple after the move (at least for the first 2 weeks) and try to avoid getting starry-eyed over the excitement of new grocery stores to explore ???

So here we are again. I'm a bit late posting this challenge. I had two other challenge ideas to choose from for this round, and they were both great, but I haven't been feeling it enough to take the plunge. I took my longest break from working out in AGES over the past two weeks. I had a headache/spine pain issue for a week, during which I managed one sort of half workout before accepting that I couldn't handle working out in that state. Then by the time it faded I was on vacation without a plan because I hadn't known if I would recover enough to even be able to do ANYTHING so I wasn't prepared. I managed two runs during the two week period, and that's it. And the first week was 100% justified, but the second week was on me. And that's really sort of infuriating. I worked out 3x/week + runs EVERY WEEK for an entire year last year, even on vacation. and this year I just can't seem to get it together. Yeah, I have a wrist problem that's getting in the way, but that's not enough to account for all of the trouble I've been having. And when I don't work out, I start to feel terrible. I feel weak and my life feels out of control and my emotions feel out of control and every little thing feels like it can break me apart. I feel like I'm just going to keep slipping until I totally lose all of my progress completely. I start to feel like my whole life is coming apart. And I'm not ok with that. So today I did a bodyweight workout at home. And this song came on. And I pushed through. And it was a start. A lot of the problem is just mental. I'm frustrated with the things getting in the way of progress, so I avoid doing even the things I CAN do, and that makes my progress even worse. It's a vicious cycle. So this is going to be my challenge theme instead of the other stuff I was planning. My body keeps telling me no. I feel tired and bloated. My wrist hollers if I try to put weight on it. My shins rebel when I increase running mileage. I want to take about 200 naps per day and drown all of my problems in tv and sleeping. But screw that. I felt on top of the world when my workouts were going well, and I'm not going to let my body's creaking take that away from me. So this challenge is all about refusing to be defeated. If my last challenge was about channelling some inner peace, then this challenge is about channelling some SCREW THIS. The Year So Far For my challenges this year, I decided to focus on one single habit per challenge instead of doing the usual 3+ goals / challenge. There are 10 challenges in 2017 so I can potentially establish 10 new healthy habits over the course of the year. Challenge 1 - walking daily / aiming for 16 miles/week - is still going strong. I score usually in the 12-16 mile range per week and I walk most days, which is acceptable. Challenge 2 - morning routine - this took a while beyond the actual duration of the challenge, but I have a kickass morning routine now. I started doing it again as soon as I got home from vacation, which is the sign of a great routine. And I even did a modified version of it while I was ON VACATION, which is an even greater sign that it's the right thing for me. Challenge 3 - I had a smoothie for breakfast and a salad for lunch every day to see if this would create a healthy basis for the rest of my eating. It unfortunately didn't stick because I started experimenting with skipping breakfast instead, which I prefer and have continued doing since I started. Challenge 4 - Guardian. I focused on being productive at work and approaching my mental wellbeing from the perspective of the guardian archetype. Getting work done = being a guardian for people. Being a guardian = personal fulfillment. It's been hit or miss, but it does help on the days that I do it. I do a little mantra on work mornings to help focus on being a guardian, and I think this one will get more effective as I continue to practice it. Today I went on a walk and stopped to pull some cardboard out of the street that was in the path of the cars. #guardianedit Challenge 5 - I was feeling frustrated and negative instead of celebrating my accomplishments, so I banned any updates that weren't basking. I could only talk about the things that I basked in and I couldn't talk about the things I was feeling down on myself about. This made a big impact on me and helped me reset my mindset. Now of course I feel frustrated by the vacation/sickness break and I'm sharing that as part of the explanation for this challenge, but I ALSO plan to continue basking as a habit going forward. Challenge 6...this challenge. See below. It feels silly to approach this challenge since I already had this habit down. And I still work out weekly, so it's not exactly...NOT a habit either. I feel sort of ashamed to be tackling this again. Or rather, I feel like I'm breaking the imaginary "rules" of my 10 new habits experiment. Which is silly. And, y'know, a master has failed more times than a beginner has even tried. So my goal is to work out 3x/week. Work out = bodyweight, HIIT, or other strength training. Yoga, running, etc. are all good but not workouts in this context. I want AT LEAST 2 of those workouts to be my standard bodyweight routine. The 3rd is usually bootcamp class, but since I haven't been going to that lately, I might sub in a basic BBWW for that 3rd.

Last challenge, @Tanktimus the Encourager and @fleaball had an interesting discussion about rewiring your brain by picking an archetype that you want to emulate. It wasn't immediately obvious to me what kind of archetype I would pick if I followed the process, so I thought about it for a while and eventually realized that all of the archetypes I thought of had one thing in common: they were guardians. And when I had that realization, a lot of other things clicked into place: I scored "guardian" on the reebok be more human test a while back (I think) I keep coming back to the mantra "courage, honor, self restraint" I ALMOST NEVER get angry about anything and avoid conflict, except if someone is mean to my little sister or something So it works. The qualities of a guardian I admire and want to emulate include: A relentless, headstrong commitment to hard work and self improvement - to the point of stubborn refusal to compromise on any goal Faith that if they trust the process and do the work they will gain the skills they need Genuinely interested in and attentive to other people (as long as they're not trying to enter a forbidden realm) In their developmental years, they learn & grow alongside peers on the same journey, engaging actively in their training As they gain skill, they gladly guide & nurture others and think nothing of it Takes delight in the simple things in life. A happy day is just talking and being heard, and confirming our present happiness. Driven by the urge to help others Peaceful/zen except when defending others or facing obstacles Completely willing to fight with people when provoked Loyal to their people Honest Brave despite fears. Always. Focused outward - interested in other people and events around them and being in the world as their primary way of interacting with the world Physically balanced between strength/agility/endurance Examples of guardians: Pretty much every Tamora Pierce heroine ever, but especially Alanna from The Lioness Quartet and Kel from The Protector of the Small Dragons. Dragons protecting princesses and elder/mother dragons looking after their tribe/family The leader/seer/healer of a tribe who makes decisions based on how to protect their people Keepers of lore/wisdom/secrets/hidden places who do their jobs at all costs Monsters guarding the entrances to hidden realms Knights Priestesses Gargoyles? Background Every challenge this year, I am focusing on just one new habit. There are 10 challenges in the year, so by the end of the year I'll have TEN NEW HEALTHY HABITS. Challenge 1: Walk every day and/or aim for 16 miles per week Challenge 2: Morning routines Challenge 3: Eat a smoothie for breakfast and a salad for lunch every day Also, my theme for this year is honesty. That doesn't just mean honest in the sense of not lying. It means facing into things when I'm feeling the urge to withdraw because I'm self-conscious. It means being true to myself even when I want to act differently because I'm afraid people won't like me. It means showing up and doing the work even though I want to procrastinate or avoid it because something stresses me out. It means honestly making the effort. It means listening to my body and listening to my heart. It means feeling my feelings. I feel like 70% of my anxiety in life comes from situations in which I'm not being fully honest. And if I can learn to embrace that honesty, I can drastically improve my life. @Ensi made a comment a while back about how she just needs to be honest and brave, and I still think about that. Courage, honor, self restraint. Challenge Goal So in general this challenge is about getting into the habit of acting like a guardian. But obviously I need something more specific than that to work towards. So, two things: 1. Start every morning with a mantra/affirmation/whatever that I am a guardian, to help set the tone for the day 2. Work. I started working from home full time in April, and I've been struggling with switching to and from work mode. I'm also working on a very stressful project at the moment that has me really nervous and self-conscious. So, like a guardian, I want to face into the work. I want to relentlessly and uncompromisingly work hard every work day. I want to stop delaying the hardest things for last because of stress. I want to be driven by how I can help other people with my work. Honesty. Courage, honor, self restraint. And so on. Other Things So, they aren't goals, but I'll also talk about a million other fitness/health things that I work on, including: Aikido Running GMB Elements program Bodyweight strength workouts OCRs Yoga Food habits - eating primalish Reading Mediation Spending challenges Previous challenge habits: walking, morning routines, smoothie/salads Icebreaker I read a book a while back about a family that gave up sugar, including honey, fruit juice, and artificial sweeteners, for an entire year. Once per month, they would have a dessert that contained sugar. But that's it. Each family member could also pick a single thing with sugar in it to keep for the year. They chose things like wine, soda, and jelly. So I'm curious. If you had to do a challenge where you could only eat one thing with sugar for a WHOLE YEAR, what would you pick? I'm personally torn between ketchup and tea lattes.

In which NTB reveals how obsessive she can be! I could probably also call this Operation Rangerbrain. A year or two ago, back before I joined NF, I filled out a spiral-bound notebook with an elaborate plan to better myself that I called Operation STOBAL, or Stop Being a Loser. At that point in my life, I really did feel down about where I was in a billion different areas of basic humaning. I have come a very long way since then. I can say pretty confidently that I have indeed stopped being / feeling like a loser. I went back several months ago and I was REALLY PLEASED at how much I'd done in every category, even though I was no longer filling out the log pages I'd set up. But there are still some pieces of the plan for me to tackle, and I've been wanting to close them out for a few challenges now. I REALLY liked my last challenge where I focused on just one goal, and I'm going to keep doing that for most challenges from now on, but I'm going to do this first. Once I've made enough headway into each category (and I don't expect to do EVERYTHING during this next month), I can officially close out Operation STOBAL and advance to my next self-improvement project (Project BEC - Be Even Cooler). ____ There were a bunch of categories in the original STOBAL plan, including exercise. I've got that one under control so I didn't include it here. 1. Driving I was a very late bloomer with learning to drive and being comfortable on the road. I've mastered most of my STOBAL driving goals (highways, driving at night, fear of parking garages, etc.), but I still need to learn how to parallel park. It's not even that I was BAD at it when I was learning to drive. It just wasn't on the CA test so I practiced it like twice and never did it again, so I need to figure out how to practice. I don't really want to practice on real cars?? Goal: Just figure out HOW to practice parallel parking. I don't even have to actually do it. 2. Cooking I can cook fairly well but I'm a big recipe follower. I really like the idea of learning more meals by heart. I've made some progress on this - I cook a MEAN chicken breast and can make a few things from memory, but I'd like to expand my list. Goal: Make sure I have a few things I know by heart (esp. a few things that don't require any special tools, so that I can cook them at my parents' when I'm there for 2 weeks in December) 3. Friends I suck at making friends as an adult. BUT I sort of made friends with someone in my aikido class, and I get out and socialize more than I used to. I make efforts to visit my college friends even though they rarely visit me. I've also gone to a bunch of different meetups this year. I've identified a few guidelines to stick to Don't approach encounters with new people too eager to make friends, just enjoy them for what they are Keep going to nerd meetups and especially game meetups Contact / text friends and family more often Goal: Contact friends I may be able to see in CA EARLY on the trip for once 4. Grooming I've always been kind of bad at / inattentive to looking nice, and it never bothered me much, but it's something I started to care about more a few years ago. I've made big strides - konmari'd my wardrobe, read some fashion blogs and started strategizing about what looks good on me, gotten in better shape, started going to a curly hair stylist and learned to manage my hair better, and gotten very slightly better at nail care. Slightly. So, I have two goals here. Goal: Learn 2 simple hairstyles that I can use for when my hair is messy (at least one for work) Goal: Just figure out how often people actually need to file their nails and then start doing it at that frequency. I have no idea?? 5. Reading It ebbs and flows, but I've been doing pretty well in past months. I hit my goodreads goal with flying colors! I still don't read as voraciously as I used to and I'd still like to make more headway on my unread books, but I'm pretty good about reading most nights. Goal: Read as many of those friggin' library books as a I can before I leave for CA, and then read regularly while I'm in CA 6. Writing I really enjoyed NaNoWriMo the few times I've participated, but I've also realized writing stories isn't my strength or my passion the way I kind of wish it were. I love reading, and writing can be fun sometimes, but I don't actually have the desire or a reason to try to write regularly. I did start journaling a while back, though I lost the habit (and a few months of entries) when my hard drive failed. So I didn't really achieve anything with this category, but I realized that it didn't need to be a category? Goal: journal at least 1x/week during challenge 7. Education I set this goal with career-related stuff and general ed-style stuff in mind. I took a Coursera MOOC and an online course I got my work to pay for, but that's about all. I've gotten less interested in reading career-related stuff. I realized I didn't actually want to do a lot of the things on my list for this category. But there are plenty of things I want to learn. I took an online cooking course! I am looking into swimming (running into schedule issues with travel). I study Aikido. I read nonfiction way more often than I used to (which was never). I've been studying French on Duolingo very consistently. Goal: Identify things I am actually interested in learning and read / plan to learn about them - fitness and food, Spanish/French/Japanese, fermenting food, chi running workshop, Adobe illustrator, etc. 8. Hobbies I started whittling but haven't spend a whole lot of time on it. Goal: Finish or make progress on a whittling project before going to CA (since I can't exactly bring knives on the plane) 9. Finances I'm doing awesome on financial goals and paying off my student loans / paying myself first, but I'm also getting too spendy with leftover funds and food. I stuck to a grocery budget better than usual as part of a recent challenge, but I did not do so well this past month. Goal: Try to get food costs under control - eat out of my freezer, buy cheap meats, etc. I'll be in CA for two weeks, which means fewer groceries but more eating out. So I'd like to just try to keep that balanced. Challenge Schedule

This challenge, I am going to do the dreaded thing...a sleep challenge. The thing is, I sleep OKAY. Most nights I manage 7 hours, sometimes 6 on bad nights. But when I sleep naturally, I sleep 7.5 hours. I read all these things about how important getting your FULL amount of sleep is and how it affects just about everything. I'm often really groggy. I'm alert for maybe 2 hours after waking up, and then I get sleepy. I am a napper who could easily take 3 naps a day if schedules allowed. And I pretty much only have the mental clarity to really talk well with other people when I'm NOT tired. So in theory, if I get enough sleep, my workouts will have more energy, I will have more willpower to resist junk food, and I'll be better at talking to people. That's why I'm taking this on. Here are the goals: Goal 1: Get enough sleep (7.5 hours a night is my natural pattern) I already get up fairly early, so I have to work on inching back bedtime. I struggle with that, so I've avoided doing a sleep challenge up until now. But with constant travel and running around, it just feels like time. So on most nights, I'll aim to... Sign off of my computer at 9ish Meditate, do any chores or reading I feel like for a while to unwind Try to sleep by 10ish but it's ok to stay up doing non-screen things if I can't sleep. On bootcamp days when I wake up at 5 instead of 6, it will be more like 7 hours of sleep vs. the ideal 7.5. I won't worry about that for now...I'll just try to stick to the routine above. Travel's going to fuck me up because my boyfriend is a night owl, so I'm just going to ignore that can of worms for now too. Goal 2: Do whatever the hell exercises I feel like. Do them with love. Do a lot of them. Last week I added in an extra workout (4 vs. my usual 3) and I LOVED IT. I'm generally aiming for the same 3 workouts per week, but I'll try to get in that 4th workout when I can. I'll continue running once a week, with at least an hour of yoga required before I'm allowed to run again. I'll continue working on focused flexibility. If I get through my Aikido test in November without crying, I can buy a sledgehammer and I might start doing some shovelglove. Yadda yadda. I'm not tracking or scoring any of this. I've done 3 workouts per week since January, and I have no intention of breaking my streak now with the end of the year so close. ...And that's IT. "What??" you say, "You usually have like 20 elaborate steps for every goal!" I decided enough was enough for now. I don't need to lay out the workout goals, because I've got those down. As for food, my food vibes have been terrible since July. But last week I just suddenly hit the right buttons and started getting back on track again after watching some meal prep videos on YouTube. I think SEEING healthy food and reminding myself what a healthy diet looks and feels like did more for me that scoring or tracking or any of that nonsense. If there's anything I've learned by experimenting with different kinds of tracking this year, it's that I KNOW when I'm eating healthy and when I'm not. I don't want to keep fighting myself and feeling guilty, so I'm just going to go with the flow while I'm feeling it. If the switch turns back off, I'll go back to scoring food. In the long run, this makes sense. I don't want to track food for the rest of my life. I generally want to eat paleo/primal because that feels best for my body, but I'm going rogue and not setting any goals about it for a while. There are times when variances make sense, and it's hard to capture that in a scoresheet. So I'm just going to keep learning how to eat in a sustainably healthy way. Let's do an icebreaker! Do any of you have any weird sleep habits or sleep experiences? I'm a cuddly sleeper so I have to hug either a stuffed animal or a blanket or a pillow when I sleep

So last week for the second year in a row I got to spend an amazing 5 days (+2 extra in Atlanta) in the woods with THE MOST AMAZING NERDS ON THE PLANET! Camp was yet again one of the most mind blowing experiences of my life, and the things I learned and the people I met and reconnected with will stay with me always. There's a hashtag on social media we use #CNF365 to represent bringing all the goodness we got there into our every day lives. My goals this challenge, and until the end of the year, are to do this hashtag justice. October is also going to be in INSANE month for me. I'll be going to Maine to check out wedding venues, then traveling for work for a few days, and then going on a southwest vacation with Mr. Raxie to hit up some national parks, followed by hopping by Camp Ranger Fitness with Tank and Wolfie, and visiting some nerds in Austin and Dallas in the next zero week. So really, I don't have many "normal" days this upcoming month. It will be interesting. So I'm going to keep things kind of flexible as in I have to do things a number of times per challenge - not per week. I also realized at camp that part of my blah feelings lately have been that I have a great habit base set up right now for my work outs, and now that I've been doing it for so long I need something fresh and new. So I'm going to be forcing myself into doing archery once a month from now on (I LOVE ARCHERY I just never let myself find the time to do it) and also try to check out boxing at my gym which I absolutely fell in love with thanks to @Cheechoe and her amazing classes! I've never taken any fighting classes before but somehow after that first class I found myself taking kung fu, Tai Quan Do, and self defense. This isn't something I think will turn into my number one thing (I love lifting too much) but I definitely want to explore my options here at home with getting it in as a fun side activity! Maybe eventually even once a week. Here are my goals for the entire challenge this time around: 11 SL workouts 2 Boxing lessons 1 Archery session 4 mobility focus days (with brand spankin new Kate G stuffs for my hips and more ROMWOD!) 4 Zombies, Row! workouts 16 meditation sessions Start my travel blog I've been wanting to start FOR EVER. And add an entry about CNF 2016 that I'll share with you guys too! But here's my real goal this challenge, which isn't something trackable. It's more about attitude towards MY LOVELY TRIBE OF NERDS. So confession: when I first joined Nerd Fitness in 2013 I did my best to keep my real self separate from my NF self. I didn't post any pictures, I wouldn't tell anyone my real name, but I did make progress. Then in 2015 I started making real friendships with some of you guys, added some of you on facebook, and started really diving into the community. I signed up for camp, came back, and was like screw it I will add everyone on facebook and post pictures of myself here and I DON'T CARE. But a small part of me has still kind of been like, my nerd tribe is separate from my "real" life - if someone called me Raxie on my facebook page (outside of the camp page) I was like OH GOD WHAT IF MY COWORKERS SEE THAT... or something I honestly don't know what I was afraid of. But after this year at camp, and the most unbelievable trip to Hawaii earlier this year with other nerds I am finally ready to admit it. You guys are my tribe and my people - my REAL life people. And you all do nothing but support me and help me along in this amazing journey. So, I will keep these connections open and I will approach fitness with the attitude that I am doing it with this amazing group of people who can call me Raxie all they damn please - because you all have leveled up my life. Even those of you I haven't had much interaction with - you've helped this community be what it is AND THANK YOU FOR THAT. I'm going to start being more honest with myself this challenge about all of that. If my "real life" friends and coworkers aren't cool with me being me, putting my health and fitness first, and loving some amazing folks I met on the internet that's too damn bad. And that's freakin that. I think this attitude will also help me get out of my blahs, because it will help me be less self conscious about diving head first into fitness and all the stuff I have grown to love over the past 3 years being a rebel here. So yeah, here we go!

So, I’ve been sort of overwhelmed. I can’t seem make myself stick to any of my goals except the ones that are super ingrained habits at this point. This is partially because I don’t wanna and partially because I am travelling several times a month and it’s preventing me from sticking to a normal routine like I have in the past. This challenge, I want to address those two issues. I’m going to address the “I don’t wanna” by actually setting a main goal for the rest of the year, which I haven’t really done in many challenges now. I’ll also address it with some of the things I’m doing this challenge. I’ll address the travel issues with a specific plan below. Main goal: I want to get back to my pre-Paris weight by mid-December when I go stay with my parents for the holidays. That’s only -5 lbs, so it should be very doable. I got stuck between two different challenge ideas for how to fix my problems, so decided I might as well do both of them. Part 1 – Catheters and Bedpans Part 2 – With Love Part 3 – The Goals Part 4 – Travel Protocols So that’s all the goal stuff! Now let’s do something fun - an icebreaker! I shared one of my favorite bloggers, and I’m curious about all of your favorites. Who is your favorite blogger, or if you don’t follow blogs, who is your favorite general internet person?

My goals this challenge won't be much different from previous and I'm keeping them quite simple. So I'm picking a silly theme to keep it interesting. I got the idea from the person I do most of my obstacle and mud runs with. She nicknamed me "The Machine" a while back and whenever I complete a tough obstacle at a race she always shouts "You're a machine" at me. Possibly just to embarrass me. Race season is nearly over now and I want to make sure that next year I come back even stronger. Next May I have my first ever 20 mile OCR, and I've never even run close to 20 miles before! Remind me again why I'm doing this? So I've got to start increasing my mileage and getting myself prepared for whatever 20 miles of an obstacle course race looks like. Like this, apparently: Goal 1: Endurance Racer (running) Run a minimum 3 times a week. Must do 1 long run a week. Goal 2: Mini Submarine (swimming) Swim at minimum of once a week Goal 3: Tank (strength) Strength Train a minimum of twice a week. Do chin ups whenever possible. Go climbing when possible This challenge I'm going to try and do a better job of keeping track of each goal each week, as I tend to start off with a good plan for my goals, but it all gets ignored by about week 2! I'll aim to do proper write ups each week with analysis of each goal. For the Rebellion! Chaaarge! Weekly Trackers: Week 0 Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

I'm on a Pokemon journey seeking true power in the wild and mysterious corners of Kanto (superimposed on my town). For the story so far see my battle log. I sure love my points systems, averages, targets and grading. I want to set a goal, laser focus and smash it. But right now that's not the most effective approach. I have a well-established fitness routine and it's more important to try to balance my mental and physical effort to avoid burnout than to tick off a checklist. So I will be grading each week on effort rather than points. My routine: M - lift T - / W - lift, shopping T - gym/aqua, kickboxing F - nature walk, lift S - gym/aqua S - / The first week of the challenge I'll be returning from travel on Tuesday and having to work extra time to catch up, so my only goal will be to bounce back from that. I made and froze 2 meals and the ingredients for another batch to give myself a head start. My workout buddy has a weekly general workout program for the gym now, so we can go any time rather than being constrained by class times, though I'm still hoping to get to some aqua classes. I'd like to do some more pull exercises on the machines to balance out the amount of pushing and sitting at a desk I do. Also a bit of mobility work on my feet is becoming a necessity, and I've got an itch to go rucking. And the garden needs attention. Should be a fun/crazy time!

highly, highly recommend this to dystopian and sci-fi fans Crake saw the direction humanity was going, and took steps to change it. I can see the direction I would go in (if it wasn't for starting NF), and am taking steps to change it. No spoiler's ahead, just doing what Crake did- Keep What Works, Toss What Doesn't Work, and Make Necessary Changes. Part 1: Keep What Works Lift heavy things 3 times a week: Continue increasing working weight amounts and tracking it on my spreadsheet. Ride 2 times a week: Last day of this month's challenge is a local horse show, and both pony and I need to be ready for it. More jumping exercises, more bending exercises, and remembering to keep my elbows back! First day of next month's challenge is a hunter's pace, and I'd like to see him load up easier. Ideally, we'll go on another trail ride the first or second week of august to prep for this. Lights out by 11pm: this got fudged several times because I'd want to stay up later and read, and towards the end of last month we just ignored the bedtime alarm all together. MUST SLEEP. Read 5 times a week: was 4 times last month, and that was easily done. Now, the caveat is that if it is past 11, I can't say "well, I already missed bedtime so what is another 1/2 hour of reading". This is assisted by the muscle relaxers I've been (unfortunately) needing to take to knock the pain down enough to sleep. I usually pass out in 10-15 minutes of taking them. Part 2: Toss What Doesn't Work Cycling: I could not for the life of me get into cycling last month. Part of this is fibro-pain related, and part is not making it a priority. Well, newsflash, we have a 60 mile ride in less than 6 weeks. So I need to be ready. I am going to plan out some rides and times and stick to it, gosh darn it! However, it is not a part of this month's challenge specifically under cycling. See below: active for 20-30 minutes Single serving of dinner: really quite a cake walk. leveling up in nutrition this month. See below: Veg with 2 and 50oz water. Sunscreen: I went about this one all wrong last month. Good-smelling non-greasy sunscreen is not a loot, it's an incentive to do the right thing. Since I wasn't cycling and riding outside, I wasn't putting it on. The biggest change is from listening to a Freakonomics podcast about childhood obesity. Well, sunscreen now will help me avoid skin cancer in the future. Instant feedback be damned. I bought Hawaiian Tropic Sport today, and will set using it as bonus points. Part 3: Make Necessary Changes Active 20-30m 4 times a week: Instead of doing nothing on my non-lift days, I'd will do something (cycle, yoga, walk, etc). This is separate from horsebackriding. Also, I cannot triple up on a day off of work (i.e. ride, lift, and yoga; not that that is likely to happen cause after riding and lifting I am **tired** but ya know) and then sit on the couch after work. However, I am giving myself a little leeway for really painful and/or ehausting days. Veg with 2 meals per day: 1 meal per day was easy last month. However, I only counted when it was a side of veg, and not a serving (i.e. a load of spinach and roasted red pepper on my burger). Drink 50 oz water per day: I drink mostly water, but don't drink a lot when I am at work for some reason. Not this month! Dessert: Single serving of dessert was a snap. Changing point system for +2 if no dessert of healthy dessert, +1 for a single serving of dessert, 0 if extra. Meditate 4 times per week: Following along Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project, my hubs and I chose "themes" for each month. July is mindfullness. Also, I enjoyed meditating for the mini last month. Bonus- on time for work: I really like being on time for rounds. Even if they aren't that useful in and of themselves, I like not walking in just as the team is done talking. I'll also be tracking my pain levels, since I'm pseudo-journaling daily now, and since Rangerbrain is a very real thing. Other things to take into consideration this month: Week zero will be used to get a head start on these habits, but points will not count. Week 1 will have be flying to NY for some CE, wrapped within a vacation. 2 days in NYC, 1 day touring the place I grew up, 2 days of CE, and meeting up with a friend who just moved to CT. Last night in NYC we may go to a Brazilian steakhouse. ::drools:: Week 2 will NOT be awful because the office manager WILL let me take a day off. 5 days straight with 10 hour shifts and 1 hour drive each way is brutal. I will be a giant ball of pain. I am supposed to work 3 days a week. 5 days in a row should not happen. So it won't. Cause I said so. Last day week 4 is the horse show Last day of the next week 0 is the 60 mile ride I'm wishing for a good challenge!

Or maybe a Spartan king? I figured I’d continue with the pattern of animated movies about felines. I’m going to be travelling to Paris during Week 1, from 7/16 – 7/24. So, I’m going to treat this week (Week 0) as my Week 1 and Week 1 as my Week 0. (A Cat in Paris also tempted me as a theme topic. And Aristocats is set in Paris too. There are so many animated Paris movies.) My goals are pretty much the same as they have been the past two challenges. Goal 1: Maintain Fitness 3 workouts/week (usually 1 bootcamp and 2 at home bodyweight workouts) Run 1x/week + ankle alphabets before and after. I’m working on 3.7 miles right now, and trying to get up as close to 5 miles as I can before the Spartan next month. Walk 16 miles/week (64 over course of challenge) Goal 2: Movement Focus (Spartan Prep) I’m done with sets of burpees. The moment I was able to achieve 30 in a row, I lost interest in doing these. So, I’m switching to a grease the groove approach. I’ll do the remaining 350 burpees I owe from the past two challenges over the course of this one. Climb stuff – I dropped this completely last challenge, but I should at least try to practice climbing stuff in preparation for my fear of heights. Mainly the jungle gym at the park. I’ve thought about trying bouldering at a rock gym, but that might be pushing it. That’s the sort of thing I’d love to try, but I’d rather have a friend along for. While I’m at the park, I might as well use the monkey bars. Goal 3: Food Part A: Maintain What Works (23 points/week) Don’t eat after 8pm (or within 3 hours of bedtime) (-1 point for failure). Exceptions on Thursdays where workouts and Aikido coincide. Don’t eat more than 1 bad food/meal in a day. Desserts are counted separately from meals in most cases. (-1 point for failure) Eat primalish most of the time (19 meals / week allows for 2 variance meals) (-1 point per failure, +1 point for extra primal meal) Aim for primal snacks on 4 days/week and then non-primal snacks ok 3 days per week (out of 4 points/week) Aim for at least 1 primal meal and 1 50% meal per day when travelling or hosting (-1 point per failure, +1 per success) Plan/prep meals over the weekend and prep/freeze meals for weeks when this doesn’t happen (+1 point when done successfully) Write down bad reactions to food choices in an ongoing spreadsheet to dissuade myself from making that choice a second time. Not connected to any points. Doing this is slowly starting to help me make better choices. Slowly. Part B: Conscious Eating Think about what I’m about to do before eating something. Ideally, pause and take a few deep breaths. If I eat something unhealthy, recognize and acknowledge that I’m about to sell out my future self. (4 points per day – 3 meals and snacks) Part C: Cholesterol Management SomethingSomething The nature of this goal will depend on what the doctor says about the bloodwork I’m getting done on the 13th. I probably won’t be able to hear the results from her until I’m back from Paris. So for Week 0 (my Week 1) I’ll just keep aiming for 25g of fiber per day. Then I’ll evaluate and decide on this goal after I get back and hear what the doctor says. Goal 4: Be a Mighty King (life goal sort of) This is where I try to stretch things to somehow fit my theme. Kings need to see things from a variety from perspectives, so I’m going to do the same. I want to spend 4 hours/week standing when I would not have otherwise and 2 hours/week sitting on the ground instead of on furniture. There's a communal standing desk at work, so I should be able to get the standing done easily during the 3 days I'm in the office if I do about 1.5 hours each day. 2 hours of sitting on the ground will probably happen at home while reading or watching TV. I'll probably break this down into 30 minutes 4 days a week. I chose this goal because I have a lot of posture issues and muscle imbalances related to sitting, but I never had the same issues when I used to always sit on the floor because on the floor you naturally fidget a lot more. It's more natural. And the standing has some obvious benefits as well. Bonus Goals: These earn me extra points, but they cannot take priority over my main goals. Meditate daily (7 per week) Yoga 4 times per week, of any length Clean the sink before bed 4 times per week NEW Sleepy Sundays – try to get things done (grocery shopping, workouts, etc.) before Sunday, so I can spend Sunday resting instead of running around stressed. Be in bed by 10pm so I start the week off with enough rest. I really liked sleepy Sundays last challenge, so I’d like to try to make it a habit. Travel Protocols: While I’m in Paris, I’ll be anxious enough already with worrying about not speaking the language and whether the French people all hate me. So there's no need to worry about trying to eat a certain way, or I’d go crazy. So, my goals are simple. I'm not scoring them since it's my Week 0, but I would like to at least maintain the workout/meditation streaks I have going currently. 3 workouts. They can be short, but do something even if it’s just a 15 minute BBWW in the hotel room Meditate daily (hopefully I can maintain my headspace streak while using the WiFi at the hotel) MAYBE 1 run if there’s a treadmill at the hotel and I feel comfortable enough to use it. Try to stretch every morning/evening or maybe squeeze in a yoga video once or twice. I always forget to stretch on trips and then turn into Frankenstein, and I would like to avoid that this time.

So I was panicking for a little there, worrying about what I was going to do to replace kettlebells when classes end for the summer - I couldn't find another reasonably priced class that I was interested in. But I've decided to just roll with it, and change things up for the summer, and become more of a Scout/Druid hybrid. I'll still attempt to get some 'Belling in a home, to prevent total annihilation come Fall, but the focus this summer will be logging miles (biking and walking) and improving flexibility (yoga). And that's okay. Goal the First: Bike Commute! I've been mostly bike commuting since the start of May, and probably averaging a little under 4x per week. The aim is to bike EVERY day that I work, although realistically weather and needing a car directly after work interfere on occasion. For the length of this challenge,I should be working on 18 days. I'm going to allow myself to make up for any missed days additional rides, evenings and weekends. A = 18 B = 15 C = 12 D = 9 F = <9 +3 END Goal the Second: Be Bendy and Strong! My usual workout routine includes kettlebell classes, 2x per week. That will be wrapping up at the end of June, so I'm transitioning to a yoga-based workout schedule during this challenge. There's a $5 drop in "Yoga in the Park" that runs after work, 3x per week, weather permitting, and incidentally is right on my route home. Between both activities, I'm aiming for 2-3 workouts per week. A = 10 B = 8 C = 6 D = 4 F = <4 +2 DEX, +2 STR, +2 INT Goal the Third: Walk a bunch! It's time to resurrect the step goal. It's (generally) gorgeous out, it's light out late, and I have hour long lunches once again. The target is 70,000 steps per week. I'm hoping Hiroro is still up for our Weekend Step Challenges!? A = 280,000 B = 255,000 C = 230,000 D = 205,000 F = <200,000 +2 END Goal the Fourth: Eat so good. The usual metrics - if I can actually follow this, I have wonderous success! The plan is designed for one YAYFOOD day per week, plus two misses on one of the items, which gives me a little wiggle room if I feel like I need more calories or carbs on a workout day... or just need some flexibility for no terribly good reason Carbs >100g Protein >80g Calories >1800Kcal 3pts per item per day, 16 points per week A = 64 B = 56 C = 48 D = 40 F = <36 +1CON +2CHA BONUS GOAL I have a bad habit of ghosting from the forums in the middle of a challenge, so I'm adding a check-in goal: 6x per week:Comment on someone else's thread 3x per week:Update my own thread A = 36 B = 30 C = 24 D = 18 F = <18