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Last month, I hit my one year anniversary with the Rebellion. Two respawns later, and I haven't progressed one bit with my goals to lose weight and become a healthier person. I'm still so freaking unhappy with myself. I'm still embarrassed to see myself in photos, because I know the person I see there isn't the person I could be. I need this respawn for myself. In my previous tries I always managed to start off well, and taper off. Sometimes, I was just feeling depressed or anxious, and skipped a workout or ate an unhealthy meal because I told myself I deserved a break. Other times, I gave in to social pressure and temptation. Drinking too much (especially of the wrong carb heavy things) and letting my dietary goals go off the rails when I've been drinking are definitely chief among my problems. So, today is respawn day. And I'm going to celebrate because I'm going to be positive about this and feel good about myself. I'm going to put my best foot forward by starting a four week challenge and getting a battle log started. I'm going to be a bad-freaking-ass assassin dammit.

It's been quite a while since I posted on the forums. I spend a log of time on social media and lost in my own thoughts, but I need a space to work through the cluster quark that is my life. I have a lot of stuff going on - personally, professionally, emotionally, physically. My plan is for most of the entries here to have some structure, but some may turn into just a stream of consciousness. I plan to update at least twice a week, probably never on weekends. At first, the posts maybe more, possibly multiple a day. This morning, I hit a 'new' all time high on the scale. I knew it was coming, but it's still devastating, at least emotionally. Hence, the respawn. I'm starting at the beginning. Approaching this as if it's the first time I've turned on a new game and must work through the tutorial. I see a new character. I see a new class. I need something different because status quo is status done. Name: Raidne Current Race: Dwarf Current Profession: Rebel Goal Profession: Assassin I've been sitting on the Ranger team for a while. However, I've made not progress or real changes. Time to try a different approach.

"Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken." -Frank Herbert, Dune --- Hey, all-- It's my first challenge since my Birthday Respawn, and I'm super excited for some structure in my NF life. Slowly (so slowly), I've built a really good water drinking habit (96 oz per day), workout habit (2 bodyweight workouts per week) and sleep habit (at least 8 hours every night). So I'd like to stretch just a little farther and get a little better. I feel impatient for improvement because I feel like I've been stalled out, but I'm trying to find the middle path between stalled out and burned out. I just finished a really big month of change (lots of travel and learning) and re-read Dune for the umpteenth time, so I figured that would be the theme for my challenge. September 26 - October 23 Here's the short version (full agonizing detail to follow): Diet/Fitness SPICE MUST FLOW: Eat a vegetable or fruit with lunch 3 days a week, as a side (e.g. a cup of roasted/steamed veggies, an apple, 2 slices of melon, a cup of baby carrots). BENE GESSERIT TRAINING: Complete the NF Mindset module. (currently on Quest 3: Find Your Big Why). SWORDMASTER TRAINING: Complete the NF Bodyweight Level 3 workout 3 times per week. (currently doing 2/week). Level Up My Life MENTAT TRAINING: Finish my PHP class (I am at 17% completion). EDITED: Reach 50% completion on the class and finish my first Drupal 8 module. --- Details/concerns: 1) SPICE MUST FLOW: I work from home and have been really stressed lately looking for a new job. This has led to a sad amount of macaroni and cheese lunches. Some day, I will have fancy, healthy, protein-rich lunches, but for now, this still seems a little bit challenging (mostly because I have tried a variation of this challenge before without success). I made it a smaller challenge than I have in the past (only three days per week) and I'm enlisting the help of my partner. Worst case, I'll steam some frozen veggies! 2) BENE GESSERIT TRAINING: I respawned back in JULY but have been slow to work through the various NF Academy modules. I will focus on getting through those--I was struggling to find quests I could believe in and going through the rest of the Mindset Module would get me in the right headspace. Called this BG training because they are masters of the mindset. 3) SWORDMASTER TRAINING: I've been reliably doing 2 workouts/week for several months now. I've been wanting to move up to 3/week but felt like I didn't quite have the momentum behind me....until now! LQ/MENTAT TRAINING: I also have been struggling to get through this PHP class I'm taking online, mostly because I only give it a few minutes every night. I really need to get through this class. I'll feel better about myself when I've done it, and bonus, I'll know something I didn't know before and will be far more employable! I'm going to be setting aside larger chunks of time to focus on this, instead of leaving it to the end of the day. The last two diet/fitness quests and my LQ will all take extra time I don't currently spend. I will proactively schedule the NF and PHP studying times, and I have already scheduled in my workouts. I've recently started playing an addictive phone game, and that might need to go, or perhaps I will use it as a motivator. I also need to plan so that I make sure we have veggies/fruit around for lunches.

After last challenge where I tried to respawn in a more unstructured manner and didn't quite get it, I realized that I need some more structure to help guide me. For this reason I am going to more fully take advantage of the NF Academy, with a Star Trek overlay, because it's the 50th anniversary! As I join Starfleet Academy I'll explore all the major divisions, with a mentor from each to help me learn the ropes: Command - Kirk A Starship captain has to be physically fit in order to take on whatever challenges come his way. I will be working on the Nerd Fitness Academy level 3 workouts, working up to doing them 3x per week. Science - Spock The science division is all about making observations and testing hypotheses. This will be a key part of my challenge. I am going to try to identify triggers for my bad habits, and try implementing good habits to replace them. Medical - McCoy I'm doing a lot of my training as a ship surgeon (starting my surgery rotation in a couple weeks), so Dr. McCoy is here to help me keep some balance. Although the medical training can be quite intense, it's important to make time for my own health too. So I'm going to give myself permission to take some time to relax in between my school responsibilities and my health goals. Engineering - Scotty The engineering division takes care of starship maintenance and fuel supply. You need good fuel to keep the ship going warp speed. I'm going back to square 1 on nutrition and slowly building new habits into my diet. I'll be following the NFA diet levels, and trying to progress through them as I succeed. Helmsman - Sulu As a ship's pilot, you need to be flexible enough to get out of some sticky situations. To work on my flexibility I will stretch for 10 min at least 3 times/week. Communications - Uhura Communication is key to receiving help when you're in trouble and for staying accountable. I haven't used the Academy facebook page since I signed up, but I think the extra level of accountability will help. I don't know for sure what's holding me back, but by the end of the challenge I'm going to join it and make at least one post. Navigation - Chekov A navigator's job is to plan where we're going and how we're going to get there. For this part of the challenge I will re-read at least 2 topics from the academy each week, and plan which Academy challenges to try to tackle. The mini-challenge will also fall under this category. This challenge does have a lot of parts, but I think the structure will really help me get back on track. Also most of the goals are designed to build slowly, so that I can make small, manageable changes. Here we "boldly go"!

I'm back after a long, long hiatus. I've been active on the FB group and on my own but haven't done a challenge in now, literally and sadly, years. I used to be an assassin but rebel fits me better at this point. I'm starting small so it's achievable. I rocked my first couple of challenges and then stepped it up too much, couldn't achieve my goals and stopped because I was obviously the biggest failure of anyone who had ever failed. Now a new state, a new job, and a new baby later I'm starting from scratch. 1. NFBW 2x a week 2. 2 glasses of water every day 3. Check my work email and my voicemail at least once a week (I avoid both which isn't good for anyone)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ~ Intro ~ *Third time editing this hoLy c r o w * What's Going On: We have one more possible help for the Bad FeelingsTM, but don't get to order until early October. I'm really hoping that it works. But this Challenge won't be about that. This Challenge is about trying to get better at living with the Bad FeelingsTM and managing them. Which I've been trying to do pretty much all year and so far, not so much. But I'm trying again because I understand there's a chance they might not ever go away, and I need to be able to function. So I'm re-visiting what I know helps a bit, and also giving some new things a try. The main goal is to hang on and be productive instead of floating in this interim of waiting for potential solutions. There's also heckofalot of school stuff right now. Which is added stress that won't dissipate until it's done, so I really do have to at least manage well enough to actually get some effective studying done. Um...it's basically guaranteed there will be a lot of back-and-forth in this thread from reasonably cheerful to mega-angst to "I-don't-want-to-be-here" and all that...I try to refrain from posting that stuff but sometimes it feels better to tell someone...still, will be trying to manage that better too now the Challenge has officially begun. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ~ Set-Up ~ Okay, one of the shows I've recently been sucked into is Voltron: Legendary Defender. A friend watched it with serious enthusiasm, but I thought it sounded corny and stupid even if the fanart she was posting was fabulous. Then an acquaintance started to watch it and complained for the first half or so of the series, but then her tone changed and before long she was really into this show an just completely won-over. So I watched it with my brother and we thoroughly enjoyed it, even if there was a nasty cliffhanger. Several weeks later, I'm being buried under plot ideas for fanfictions. Thought I had avoided that, but no such luck. Anyway, in Voltron, you've got your villain, Sendak, who takes over basically the entire universe and proceeds to rule for 10,000 years. After a certain point, all resistance stops and he's just left to do his thing. Then these five adorable Earth children rescue a guy who just got back from having been abducted by aliens, find a gigantic blue robot-lion, wind up on a foreign planet, find four more giant robot lions, and become the main resisting force against the villain and his army of really cute but also hideously evil minions. So we've got teenagers piloting colorful cats around space while they fight evil purple koala-cats. Sounds intense, right? These kids are called Paladins and, for the next four weeks at least, that's my class, too. Each Paladin has different skills, flaws, strengths, weaknesses...they also each have their own Lion that they can operate independently, as well as a unique weapon. The coolest thing, though, is when they form Voltron. It takes all five of them to do that, so if even one is missing, or out of sync with the others, it's just not happening. Similarly, it's going to take all of my goals working together to make any real, solid progress. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ~ The Challenge ~ Each week, there will be a new Villain to fight, each one stronger than the last. For every Task I complete, I earn Attack Points, which lower enemy Health. In turn, failure to complete Tasks earns Attack Points for the enemy, lowering my Health Points. There are also Bonuses to be unlocked, which will come especially handy in later Battles. Scoring: Task Completed = +1 AP Task Failed = -1HP Combo - two or more Paladins' full Task Lists completed. = +5AP per Paladin Form Voltron - all tasks complete. +25AP Bayard Bonus - Paladin's Bonus Task Completed. = +10AP Coran Bonus Quest - +10HP. Can be stacked. Paladin's HP are tallied independently. Voltron's is their cumulative total. HP does not reset between Battles, but may be recovered through Bonus Tasks. If a Paladin reaches 0HP, they are Unconscious until the next day, and a -5AP penalty is incurred. If all Paladins lose consciousness, Voltron falls and the Overall Challenge Score goes down. Downtime: Even Paladins of Voltron can't always be fighting Battles! Saturdays and Sundays are Permitted Rest Days. All non-essential Tasks are optional. There are Five Permissible Days of Weekday Leave which can be used at any time, but not consecutively. If by some miracle an enemy is defeated early, Idk man didn't plan for that. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ~ Goals ~ Keith: The Red Paladin. Guardian of the Spirit of Fire. Said to fight like a Galra Soldier, his Primary Trait is his skill in battle, and the fierce conditioning required. He will represent the 'Body' quests: Walk two miles Workout 100 oz water Track food Do not cause injury Bayard Bonus: Run One Mile Pidge: The Green Paladin. Guardian of the Spirit of Forest. Pidge's Defining Trait is her intellect, particularly concerning her affinity for all things technical. She will represent 'Mind' Quests. Study Math Study French Study Spanish Study Italian Study Code Bayard Bonus: Memorize Times Tables Lance: The Blue Paladin.Guardian of the Spirit of Water. *info* 'Spirit' Quests. Plot/Write One Story Plot/Write One Fanfic Practice Hobby Journal Yoga Bayard Bonus: Organize Writing Life Hunk: The Gold Paladin. Guardian of the Spirit of Land. *info* 'Soul' Quests. 5 Bible Chapters Time in Prayer Keep up with Friends Read "Do Hard Things" Practice ASL Bayard Bonus: Complete new SaltLight Routine. Shiro: *Image Later* Week One: Reading Challenge Week Two: Improve Handwriting Week Three: Improve Posture Week Four: Positivity Challenge Coran Bonus: Clean Bedroom Clean Kitchen Clean Bathroom _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Will finish later because I really need to get to work and also find some food*

Feeling: I lied, I'm not actually feeling like I can do it; however, I don't want this battle log to begin on a depressing note. I just finished writing my Big Why (in bullet points, because that's how I think) and I thought I'd share. I think I went deep enough with these as Steve suggests. Why am I focusing on fitness and healthy living? Why did I spend money to be in the Academy? I want to be able to look at myself in the mirror, see all the hard work I’ve done, and feel proud. I want to always be able to sit on the floor without it being a struggle to get up and down. I especially, and even most importantly, want to be an advocate for animals by showing people that you can be a healthy, strong vegan. My main quest right now is to work on both my physical (get strong) and mental health (get happy ). So here are the 5 measurable ways in which I've chosen to get there. 1. I will move to Seattle by November 1st. 2. I will run The CAT Running 5K on Saturday October 15th. 3. I will run The Black Cat 5-mile run on Saturday October 22nd. 4. I will go to a concert by myself. 5. I will eat 1 vegetable a day. LOOT: For completing all 5 of my measurable goals by November 1st I will get to go to Goodwill and find 2 small things for my apartment. So there we have it folx. I will try to update every day and will also try to keep this as light-hearted as possible. Even though I'm feeling pretty shitty at the moment. Not to end on a bad note, I know things will get better. I will get stronger and healthier. I CAN do it!

~*~ The Cracked Belle ~*~ A Respawned Raconteur-Adventurer Challenge Intro for many years, I was "jtggodqos" on the forums. I struggled with many things -- one of which was trying to still be an angsty teen-like whiner while I had long-since graduated college. for the last two years or so, I've been MIA. I left. I didn't stop working on fitness; I just stopped being here on the forums. then about one year ago, I relocated -- and my world changed. I moved about 1,200 miles away from everything I knew, and I fell apart. but it's time to rebuild, to respawn. and I'm coming back as a Raconteur-Adventurer, it seems -- or a glorified Bard, lol. a full and fun narrative is posted over at Adventures in Badassery (my NF Epic Quest). Challenge Goals Diet: keep around my caloric amount (1600) and type (low-carb) goals. caloric amount can average out between a few days (1700 day one, 1500 day two, etc). Fitness: at least 20 minutes of non-commuting activity every day (even just walking on the evil dreadmill). typically in the morning on the dreadmill, depending on pain and energy. Learning: spend 10 minutes working on Spanish every day. typically via Duolingo on the commute to work. Creating: spend at least 30 minutes working on my NaNoWriMo four days a week. typically on the commute home three (Tue, thu, Fri?) days a week, then one day during the weekend. Sharing: write two scheduled/topic-based posts a week. typically on the commute home two (Mon & Wed) days a week. Where I Live on the Web Current NF Thread Adventures in Badassery (NF Epic Quest) WordPress Blog Twitter Instagram Fitbit MyFitnessPal

For about 6 months I was hardcore Nerd Fitness, leveling up, working out, improving my life, and all that jazz. Then somehow it all faded away without me noticing. And here I am several months later realizing that I'm no longer working out or leveling up. It snuck up on me! There wasn't one thing that made me stop, it was a slow slide back into my old life. Which is more sinister than a sudden drop in activity. But I'm ready to jump back in! And this time there won't be a learning curve because I've already immersed myself in NF once before! I'm going to do a 30-day challenge to kickstart my respawn. I will get up at 7am every day and do something physical by 8:30am. Some days this will be a full bodyweight workout, other days it'll be a walk around the neighborhood.

The Fall Out: I joined back in April and dropped off the face of the forum just a couple of weeks later. It's not surprising; my life became super busy. For May, I mostly kept to my plans of diet and exercise, but they didn't hold up when June arrived and I was completely burned out from traveling out of state every weekend the previous month. Since then, I waffled between watching what I was eating and exercising. By August, I gave it all up. I think I started out with too much change in a short period of time. The Call to Change: For the past two weeks, I've just been focusing on my eating habits. They were always pretty abysmal, with hardly a green veggie in sight and snacking for every little problem I ran into. But now, I carefully monitor how I'm feeling: am I hungry or just bored? I also plan out my lunches and dinners. I successfully meal prepped my lunches for the past two weekends for the following work week. It's great to just grab and go in the mornings, not having to worry about time or be tempted to buy lunch on a whim. I also found out that I'm sensitive to dairy, since I'm not pounding my face with food so often I can't pinpoint what's exactly making my tummy upset. This has made a significant change in my body. Last week, there was some serious distention in my abdomen and my pants would be tight. But this week, I actually, for a lack of better descriptor, "look skinny." My abs are not flat, but the distention is hardly noticeable (only after eating usually) and my pants fit comfortably; not digging into my belly. But not every day has been perfect; I still love cheese and milk, so on days where I have cheese on my sandwich and milk cooked into my oatmeal, I notice I feel "fuller" than the days I went without. I haven't had ice cream since I noticed my sensitivity; I miss it. lol. Future Plans: I was going to just stick with eating well and keeping up the meal planning for the rest of September and then get into exercising starting October. I want to do bodyweight workouts to start with. They were challenging when I started them back in April! Unrelated to fitness, per say, I am writing in my planner again and want to keep it up for the rest of the year (I stopped using it right when I fell through with my last diet and exercise plans). I think it helps me stay on track because I can reference it when I'm feeling overwhelmed and see the cute designs and encouraging words I wrote when I was feeling better. It's like a little pep talk from my past self. lol. Question time! Obviously, my eating habits dictated what happened to my body and how I felt about it. Would keeping up this type of habit result in my abs getting flatter? Or do I need to exercise to see more change? Or is this a "every body is different" type of question and answer? If you made it to the end, congratulations! I'm really humbled that you wanted to read my little story of getting back on track! I don't have much, but here is a cute puppy as a reward.

Less than a month ago, I quit my lovely but underpaid and stressful job to focus on improving my health (which had gone downhill over the last three years) and building my freelance career. I've done a few half-finished challenges with NF before but drifted away before the end of each. This challenge, I'm starting from square one and accepting that all the progress I made in earlier challenges has been lost. The main goal? Log what I do. Food (not calories), work, exercise, household chores, cool things that happened, etc. I have a hard time remembering anything I did unless it's been recorded and that leads me to believe I'm not accomplishing anything in life. So I'll be aiming to upload a short update each day/every other day during this challenge. I found in earlier challenges that recording this data also leads to me making better choices overall, so hopefully that'll be the case again. I also might be participating in Inktober again this year, so that can be a bonus challenge! I'll be posting my art over at http://VerdantSpirit.tumblr.com

Hello everyone, I've decided to get back into the fitness game again. I'm going through a new chapter in my life in a new place. (yay law school!) I want to do it right this time since I now have a goal that I want to shoot for. This time around I want to try going to the gym and I will be starting with Stronglifts. I had started it during the summer but I let work and preparing for school get in the way. I want to meet some people who can keep me accountable and get some supportive friends. (always need those right?) This time, I think it is going to go better. Wish me luck!

I'm not really sure about posting here, but I'm not in the current 4-week challenge. and I don't feel like where I'm at right now "fits" with my battlelog. Oh, and I've been gone for months and months. So. I'm back now, at least today I am. And I'm narcissistic insecure enough that I feel like I have to make an awkward post about it. And I titled it "broken." Because that's how I feel. But I bet the next thread I start will be titled "repairing." -g.

Journal 1 out of 29 I was doing so good, then I crashed and burned when just school "prep" took the life out of me. And reason why I didn't just move on to a new challenge, I had the worries and anxiety of starting or continuing goals I broke. So my plan here, is just to journal daily. Anything really. My goal is to try to do every single day on here or in one of my real life journals. Just to give me an idea where I'm at for the next 29 days. So yeah, I finally wrote it.

Start of the Challenge: August 22, 2016 DIET PLUS GOALS Frequency - everyday Log: food and drinks water sleep FITNESS GOALS Frequency - everyday for 30 days Do the Darebee Foundation Workout. LEVEL UP YOUR LIFE GOAL Be a financial advisor. End of the Challenge: September 20, 2016 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I downloaded an app called Water Log which reminds me every hour to drink water plus they have a challenge program where I could set a daily goal. Except for the water log, all other logs will be recorded on my Bullet Journal. I will try to update this thread everyday.

Okay, the bitch is back...seriously this time! Last challenge I moved on day one, in an RV that shall forever be known as "The Money Pit", back to where I have always considered to be "home", but unfortunately the location we originally found came with it's own game of "fireworks or gunshots?" so we had to find somewhere else to park, which is not as easy as it sounds if you need it long term! I also had to find a job, figure out bills with all the unexpected expenses that have come up in the last month, and not kill my wife in the process (which is the real challenge for me right now!) I also didn't have my own internet access so needless to say I wasn't on here much...I need to get back on track because my entire life has pretty much gone to hell, especially this last month, but the prior 3 certainly lead up to it as well... Some positive things... We did find a place to park the RV long term I have my own internet access now I did finish my course! All that's left now is to take the CDM exam I have a job, just need to get my background check back and I can start...oddly enough, it's the only position I applied and got an interview for that was Dietary Management, all the rest were accounting positions...they are even going to pay for me to take the exam, which is 399.00 Not much more can go wrong with TMP, I don't want to say that too loud though, or it may decide to prove me wrong (in which case I give up and am getting an apartment!) Bad news, my laptop went kaput and I have to share with the wife now *sighs, not that she uses it much, but I prefered my own settings and layout...oh well, better than nothing Goals...I need goals...I'm so all over the place right now...it's been so long since I haven't been doing some sort of 'homework' I don't even know where to begin... I live in an RV, I don't have the funds just yet to join a gym, no room for equipment, I do have my kettlebells though, need to work on finding something I can do in my limited space, I need to get out and move more instead of sitting around and then taking out my aggravation on those around me, I need to study for the CDM exam so I'm ready...overall I need to figure out a routine that works for me and I can live with in this new venture. Movement and strength training...figure out what works with what I have Participate in the mini's! Find a routine that works for me...this is also going to include a social aspect since I want to be involved with some of the things that I used to do before, like Holiday Helpers and Pride Unofficial part of my challenge is remember to update here and check in with those I am following...I miss that, it got rather difficult with my wife and her "I just want to be included in every aspect of your life" that was driving me crazy and smothering me...I didn't really feel like I could freely express myself and still not sure how to deal with that...hopefully it will be better once I get back to work...

Last challenge was a bit of a wreck - I hurt my back and got completely off my diet. So it's time to start fresh. Also I'm back in school again, so that will change things a lot. Especially because I start clinical rotations this year which means long hours and feeling incompetent, but hopefully also a lot of learning and fun along the way! So it is certainly a respawn in a few different senses. For that reason I'm going back to basics: Ugh, that's a bad gif... Anyway Diet: I really need to fix my relationship with food, and I believe that will come down to being more mindful. The trouble is, I'm not really sure what form this will take. So my quest for this challenge is to try to develop some mindfulness around eating. Basically I will still follow a paleoish basic structure, but will work on paying attention to my body and hunger level, forgiving myself quickly when I mess up, and slowing down my eating in general. This is more a challenge of discovery than sticking to a specific goal Walking: I enjoy walking and I usually find it pretty easy to work into my day, so I will continue my goal of walking 10000 steps/day Strength: My back is still not 100% so my goal is to keep doing my rehab core strengthening exercises, and then add on other bodyweight/minichallenge exercises as my back permits. I think these will be good to focus on as I get into the back to school mode. These first 6 weeks shouldn't be so bad schedule-wise, but then I head into my surgery rotation, so I expect next challenge will involve a fair amount of self-care haha. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Let's get this party started!

Hi folks, I'm another lapsed NF participant jumping back into the fray! Last time I struggled to stay on top of things, but now I'm feeling confident with a good set of achievable goals and a decent battle plan for overcoming expected obstacles. Diet: No more than one proper cuppa (that is, extra strong with milk and three sugars) per day. The ultimate goal here is to reduce my overall love/need for sugar by learning to enjoy less sugary drinks until my go-to cuppa seems just unpleasantly sweet. Track meals every day. Something I've struggled with in the past due to forgetfulness. The plan is to keep my tracking book in the car so I have to update it before I can go anywhere. Fitness: Don't skip a day! I alternate doing academy workouts with missions on Zombies Run. I've have failed this in the past due to my irregular work schedule and just plain forgetfulness, so I will overcome by planning ahead the best time to do my fitness for the day and then ACTUALLY doing it at that time. Complete at least one academy quest every week. I just love ticking off those quests! I've got a lot of minor ones I could easily cross off if I just concentrated on them properly rather than trying to do half a dozen at a time. Life: Daily tidy-up of my side of the bedroom. I tend to just let things get messy and do a big tidy-up when it got out of hand. It was fine when I had a whole bedroom to myself, but since moving in with my darling boyfriend I have less space to make a mess in, so even a small mess is very annoying! Good luck everyone

So, I dropped off the face of the Earth 8-9 months ago. While I have had some grand adventures (archery lessons, rock climbing, mud runs, and joining a dojang), I have kind of lacked focus, and definitely missed you Rebels. Anywho, not sure how challenging a challenge this is going to be, especially signing up a week late, but I want to ease back into things and get back on track. Goals! I has them! Taekwondo I finally joined a dojang in June, fulfilling a lifelong desire to study martial arts. I just picked up yellow belt (8th gup) last week, so I have a whole new slew of forms, one-steps, and memorization to work on before December testing. Goal 1. Attend at least two classes per week Goal 2. Learn/practice Dan Gun tul at least four days a week Food I don't have a specific food goal, but I want to spend some dedicated time each day reminding myself why it is important to me to pursue my athletic goals, including weight loss. I feel like this will help me more with willpower than a set of dietary rules right now. Goal 3: Spend at least 10 minutes a day answering the reflection questions from I Deserve a Donut.

Ok. Challenge recap. Dismal failure due to tweaking my back during a Krav Maga exercise. I did exercise by walking though; so not as bad as it could have been. I need to be more conscious of my running form for next time. Monkey Tamers: I did much better last time. I had a more detailed plan so for the next challenge I'm going back to that.

It's been about a year since I last posted, and it's been a very rough year financially in which all my willpower points have been invested in keeping my head above water, which unfortunately means I have had no willpower to spend elsewhere. Things are finally looking up so I am attempting to climb back on the wagon. Slowly, carefully because my anxiety is pointing out that I am still financially insecure - new job pays well but is temporary so I have to consider it could disappear at any time. All the same I'm taking advantage of this island of stability to try and relaunch my quest. Though my relaunched quest does have a large "towards financial stability" component. I've created my character and you can see her here https://www.nerdfitness.com/character/127951 Becka

Better Late than Never Challenge #6- September 12 - October 22 Well, its been a while....almost a year if I'm not mistaken, and I considered not even bothering to start anything since there was only 3 or so days left of this challenge, but I figured the "I'll do it tomorrow" mindset was what got me into this mess in the first place so I might as well just buck up and post something for this challenge, and try to continue it through the next. Life got pretty bad for a while, from terrible teaching classes and relationships to family trouble and just about everything in between, my real life seemed set on kicking me while I was down. Pass a few hard months and I finally started to get my work and romantic lives together but my health and fitness really started to decline. A few more months pass and I'm in a happy relationship and work is going much, much better but my health and fitness is the worst its ever been. So I'm getting back on here in hopes that the community and accountability will help me get back into the best physical shape of my life, like I was the last time I was a very active user on here. I know the new challenges are 4 weeks but since I'm coming in at the last minute I'm planning on just continuing mine through the break and into the next challenge roughly about 6 weeks in total, anyway without further ado: Goal One: Go to the gym/workout 3x per week ____/18 One of the reason that my fitness started to decline was that I just stopped going to the gym, and working out really at all. Video games and just watching Netflix became what I did when I got home instead of working on my body. Its time to fix that and take control of my life again. Goal Two: Loose 6lbs and 2%BF Start: 172.3lbs Goal: 166lbs Start: 22.1% BF Goal: >20% Not shockingly when you're not exercising or eating right you tend to gain weight I'm currently the heaviest I've ever been lbs wise and my BF is a very sad 22%. I've got a long way to go to get it back down to where I was and where I want to be. Goal Three: Record all food intake in MFP (MyFitnessPal) for 6 weeks _____/ 42 I need to get my diet back in order to get to where I want to be. So the goal is to just get into the habit of logging my food, good or bad, in MFP. Hopefully that will help and seeing the calories will help me make better choices. Goal Four: Read Spartan Fit ___/1 Reading about diet and exercise and the Spartan mindset is sure to help, so instead of watching TV at night I'm going to try and read this book. Loot: New workout Shoes $$$ towards a Spartan Race Dip Belt New Book (Level Up Your Life) Throwing Knives Starting Photos: [Incoming] Starting Measurements: Abs/Waist: 33.25 Arms (unflex/flex): 12.5/13.5 Calf:14 Chest: 40 Hip: 34 Shoulders: 46.5 Thigh (R/L): 22/22 Butt: 40 Neck: 14

~*~ The Cracked Belle ~*~ A Respawned Raconteur-Adventurer Challenge Intro for many years, I was "jtggodqos" on the forums. I struggled with many things -- one of which was trying to still be an angsty teen-like whiner while I had long-since graduated college. for the last two years or so, I've been MIA. I left. I didn't stop working on fitness; I just stopped being here on the forums. then about one year ago, I relocated -- and my world changed. I moved about 2,000 away from everything I knew, and I fell apart. but it's time to rebuild, to respawn. and I'm coming back as a Raconteur-Adventurer, it seems -- or a glorified Bard, lol. Challenge Goals see my "Adventures in Badassery" post (Epic Quest) for details about the end-goals. Repeatedly study German 10 minutes twice a day do something physical six times each week work one chapter of LaPorte’s "The Fire Starter Sessions" every odd-numbered day submit an application to at least two jobs I want daily One-Time Tasks create blog topics list create blog writing schedule Long-Term Goals get my license back take written test submit court paperwork finalize plans to get my car up here get back on SNAP get necessary information from Brian compile information and submit follow-up with caseworker Where I Live on the Web Current NF Thread Adventures in Badassery (NF Epic Quest) WordPress Blog Twitter Instagram Fitbit MyFitnessPal

I seem to be stuck in a cycle of respawn after respawn. I really need to get my life together. Things have been going well, but were super stressful. I have finally reached a point where I should be able to get things back under control. I graduated from LSU with my MLIS on August 5th. I am getting married Sunday, September 18th to a really great guy that I adore. He makes up for all my worst weaknesses and supports me in all that I do. My job is okay. It can still be stressful at times, and I have applied at two other places that I'd like to work at. I'm getting along well with the kids, for a bit the stress was getting to me and I'd snap at them over stupid stuff. Now that I've a whole lot less stress in my life I'm much calmer and easy going with them. They still have times that they stress me out to the max, and I still fuss at them, but not nearly as much and not over stupid things. I've learnt that getting some alone time to do stuff on my own is important, so there are weekends when I do my own thing without Matt or the girls. And that's fine. I used to think I was supposed to spend all my weekend time with them, but now I can see I need time for me too. So that means it's time to respawn and get my health on track. I did a physical appointment back in the beginning of July and the findings are that I'm in great shape other than three things. I plan to focus on areas to help me with these three things. Problem #1 I'm obese. I weigh in at nearly 330 pounds. This means I have trouble with shortness of breath, getting up stairs, and moving for long periods of time. My goal for weight is to get between 140 and 180. I say in between those numbers because I want to feel healthy, not hit a particular weight goal. I know that this is a long term goal, so I'm trying to break it into reasonable amounts. For now I want to focus on getting my weight below 300. I know that loosing 30 pounds in a month probably won't happen, but I want to try for it anyways. Goal 1: Lose 30 pounds by my wedding. To do this I will buy a scale. I will stop drinking soda and fast food from my diet. Will I hit 30 pounds, not likely, but this will be a big step in the right direction. Problem #2 I have super low iron. My doctor has told me to get on an iron pill. I also know that this can e solved by eating more greens and drinking less soda. However, until my iron levels come back up I need to stay on the iron pill. From what I've read, this low iron could be the source of a great many of my general health problems. I feel tired and sluggish a lot of the time. It is a real possibility that the reason for this is the low iron. One of the things iron does is help build red blood cells. Blood cells deliver oxygen. Low iron means low levels of oxygen. Symptoms of low iron are: feeling weak and tired, dizziness, grumpy and cranky, headaches, look pale, short of breath, trouble concentrating. I have all of these problems. I'm hoping that getting my iron levels up will help me get them all to go away. Goal 2: Get the iron up. Every day I will take my iron pill. I will also increase my intake of iron rich foods, such as spinach, raisins, eggs, beans, and liver. I'm still doing research on what the best iron increasing foods are. I will also stop drinking soda as mentioned in goal 1. Problem #3 I have high blood pressure. My blood pressure is really high. I have what's considered Stage 1 high blood pressure. My numbers usually fall between 140 and 160 for the top number, and 85 to 95 for the lower number. It's supposed to be less than 120 over 80. There are lots of different factors causing it. Stress. Being overweight. Lack of physical activity. Salt. And so on. As i just graduated, I've reduced a lot of my stress right there. My job has changed slightly which is less stress, and if I really want I can find a job else where, I just have to keep applying. Some stress areas I can't get rid of. I love Matt and the kids even though they drive me crazy at times. Same with the cats. I want to strangle the little jerks when they treat me like a trampoline and sink their claws in, but I still love them. The weight will come off slowly, so for this goal I will focus on exercising more. Goal 3: Move it. I will exercise 5 days a week. I am going to pick one of the nerd fitness workouts to do on three days a week and will walk the other two days each week. I play Pokemon Go, so I can head to the small town near where I live and circle the block hitting pokestops. I will have to pack a change of clothes to put on after work, otherwise, I'll go home and change into my pajamas instead of workout clothing and not get a workout done. For the mornings I do the Nerd Fitness workouts I can wake up when Matt's alarm goes off before mine and get things done then. Personal Goal: Me time. For my personal goal I want to get 30 minutes of 'me time' each day. This can be relaxing in my library, getting a manicure, or playing pokemon on my ds. What ever the case may be, it will 30 minutes of stress free time that does not involve social obligations, kids, or Matt. It will allow me to de-stress and relax. I'm going to try to remember to post here daily about how things are going. This time I need to keep on track and get healthy. If I don't start now things will just continue to get worse. I don't want my health to keep deteriorating. I want to get healthier and better.

Lucky fire dragon has no plan After many ambitious challenges, some successful, some not so much, I am at a point where I don't have any plan and don't even feel like one - very unusual, but let's bear with it and see where the tides might take me, I'm confident it'll be a good place as long as I keep my head up For those who don't know me yet, I'm a 40 year old mother of three, working part time as healing practitioner and spiritual coach. I love pole dancing and have worked myself up to Level 2+ (which is still beginners but posh enough to look impressive to non-polers ), have dabbled a bit in aerial hoop and very basic gymnastic rings exercises, love singing and travelling, which I'm going to get to do in the second half of this challenge, travel that is, with my dear family to our lovely family in beautiful South Africa. Pole dance has hit a summer low in my motivation right now, which I decided is okay, but being lazy while munching all the yummies on our holiday won't be okay, so I'll have to do something, even it's not totally structured through and aiming for specific things. So here is my no-plan-plan for the coming 4 weeks 1. Get some clue I'm pulling myself towards myself and will actually count my calorie intake for the two weeks that I am still here in all detail with my fitbit app. I have no clue right now how much I take in, so how will I know what I need to burn in order for it to be balanced? Right, gotta get a clue Will report total of each day here for accountability. So far I won't judge or aim for a maximum, just tracking to know my present habits. 2. Burn some, no matter how I'll start with setting my goal at burning 2000 kcal / day and might have to adapt in the coming weeks, depending what point 1 will show... It doesn't matter how I do it as long as by midnight 2000 kcal are burned up. It's like the shopaholic girl wondering about money - either she has to spend less or make more, spending less doesn't work for her, so she opts for making more. I don't feel like limiting myself too much during holiday and family fun times, so I'll just have to burn some more let's hope I'm better at it than she is at making money Ideas to draw from for all the burns: - walking - hooping - running - rope skipping - yoga - pole dance - pilates - darebee or other workouts -... (to be extended) 3. Get clearer This is threefold: I want to keep my meditations going in the mornings which will be easy during the first two weeks as I am doing them together with some clients of mine via webinar (isn't technology awesome ) but I'd like to keep it going afterwards on my own as well. Writing diary to my Larger Self counts as well as that gets me into a happy, constructive and calm state just the same. The other parts are physical: I want to pick up some eye training again. Had a book on it a while ago, but it had too few real exercises for my taste so I got myself this great book on the Bates method by Nathan Oxenfeld "Give up your glasses for good" and since then it is lying there and simply doesn't move into my knowledge by osmosis, I might have to actually read it I don't even wear glasses, but do have a slight short sightedness that worsens when I stare at screens too long, read too much or get tired. So I'd like to catch it before I really need glasses, plus I think life would be a lot brighter with clear focus... AND I want to spot all the pretty birds and antelopes in South Africa So I'll read 15 min / day in this book and/or do exercises from it And last but not least: hydration! So helpful and yet when I don't track it I don't do it. 2 Liters of water will do for most days, sometimes I could do with more, but if I do those 2 every day I'll call it a yay For easy tracking meditation 0/28 eye training 0/28 2liters of water 0/28 Oh, and it would be awesome to take part in the mini again, of course Oh, oh, AND I will keep my improved work habits up and tackle the tougher things early on with the Monkey Tamers United again. To be absolutely recommended!! So let the games begin... Best of success everyone, let's have some FUN