Search the Community

Hej team, I'm Bonaventa and I'm respawning with my first challenge ever. To make things more interesting I have an exceptionally crazy work week ahead and a long weekend away at the start of it. I choose to see this start as a good challenge to get out if my own way and jump start this new season of my life. I am a NF member for about 3 years now and have improved a lot since then. Less sugar by a lot, regular exercise is a thing in my life and my mindset has shifted a ton. Last year was a hurricane of events and I have been struggeling to maintain... everything. Weight-wise I maintained my level but in a quite unhealthy way. So this has to stop. Game plan: Up my EAT by going to the gym twice a week instead of once and make two Wednesday yoga classes a month in addition to the weekly Monday class. Up the NEAT by going for a walk every lunch break and play more with cats. Eat a proper dinner. Actually take the time and cook something nice for myself. Limit the sugar intake at work by drinking more. Aim to drink one kettle before lunch and one after (~3litres together). Go to sleep by half past ten the latest during work days. If possible, take make up off and put night cream on. I think that's enough goals to focus on for now. Let's see how this goes next week with all the meetings and expo prep to do before taking days off but I'm positive! #babysteps

In October of 2017, I turned 40 and I wasn't happy. I was over 300 pounds and leading a lifestyle that would surely end prematurely. I was diagnosed prediabetic at my last check-up and was told that I had shortened my life expectancy because of the lifestyle I was leading. So, in January of 2018, I set a goal to make 2018 the #YearOfBrian. I was committed to getting healthy. In February, I joined a meal delivery program for men and got a gym membership. In 5 months, I lost 50 pounds. I was feeling good but I was getting tired of eating the same processed, frozen food day in and day out. I knew there had to be a better way to lose the last 50 pounds. I began researching and came across the paleo diet and nerd fitness. I got to level 5 in 2 months and then August came. I work in higher education and August is the start of the grueling preparations for the upcoming school year. Fast forward to December 2018, I am now 41, and I did not achieve the goal that I set in December 2017. I did not follow the academy like I originally wanted. Life happened. I fell back in to old habits. My nutrition was non-existent. I was making excuses for not going to the gym. The stress of work and life were taking a toll on me and I reverted back to what I always did to manage stress; I turned to food for comfort. Not all was lost, however. In the year, I did manage to lose and keep off 30 pounds. I have been meeting with a chiropractor for the last 6 months. I never had my spine looked at after my car accident. In June, I saw an advertisement, on Facebook, of all places, for a local chiropractor who would do x-rays, an evaluation, and set up a treatment plan all for an initial visit fee of $25. I did it and learned my spine has severe subluxations and I had a pinched nerve in my lumbar region. After 35 visits, I can feel and see the results. Time to respawn!! I have reset all my quests in the Academy, changed my class to Rebel (from Warrior), and my new big why is, "To live a healthier life past 40." I am not going to focus on pounds lost or gained but how I feel and what I can learn in the academy and elsewhere.

I used to have a different log, but it's been so long that I literally don't remember what I called it. Since I'm restarting everything else, I might as well restart this too. I'm in Alaska. I'm 31 years old. I'm about to graduate university with a degree in Elementary Education (because nothing gets steps in like chasing first-graders.) I've got a pretty stocky build - being the type to put on both muscle and fat easily. So.....that's the brief. Motivation / Perseverance is a tricky thing for me. I have some fitness goals, but nothing dire will happen if I don't achieve them - and without that sense of impending doom, I don't especially care about keeping to personal commitments. Nobody is affected but myself. I'm not loot-oriented (well, I am, but being in charge of my own loot...hasn't worked.) I'm very mildly vanity-oriented. Which is where the respawn comes in. Since I graduate in 8 weeks, and photos are inevitable, I've set myself an 8-week goal of dropping 12 lbs. That'll get me to 165 lbs. There's a midpoint goal (in 5 weeks) of participating in the Fairbanks Beat Beethoven Run - where people who run a 5k in 31 min or less get a free ticket to any one performance by the Fairbanks Symphony. I don't do much running or cardio, other than as a warm-up, but I do love the symphony here. So I'm researching how to best train for that. That's where I'm at. I've got the goals, I've got the little paper calendar with stickers to track days I work out and weekly weigh-ins to check progress. If all goes well, my graduation photos will look like something I'll actually want to share.

Hi, I'm Waanie, and was active here a looooong time ago (5 years is long ago, right? ). The rebellion helped me get out of depression and to get my life on track again, to a point where I became too busy for it ^^. Currently I'm low on energy again, so I have plenty of time and not a lot to do. Because of my fond memories of this place, I decided to start here again. Now, I know that we're technically halfway a challenge. However, I wanted to start now and not wait in order to set a baseline for future challenges. Long term goal: get energetic again I know, it is very non-S.M.A.R.T., but hey, what works that works. In time, I want to enjoy the things in my life again, and that is very strongly correlated to the amount of energy I have. Normally, I want to do so many things and learn so many things, but currently everything is just "meh". Challenge goals: 1. Walk at least 25km per week Spring is starting, so going outside is nice and healthy. I will use Pokemon Go to track my distance and use it also for some accountability. 2. Do yoga at least 4 times per week All the walking, sitting and just existing wreaks havoc on my hips if I don't do anything about it. I could try to sit on the couch less, but instead I prefer a "positive" goal like yoga to keep me limber. I usually follow along on youtube, so that I don't have to think too much. 3. Stretch and/or foam roll calves every evening The restless legs are real! If I don't want cold, restless feet at night, I need to somehow get rid of the tension in my calves. That's it! Happy challenge .

Oh heeeeyyy guys! Only been, like, FOREVER since the last time I showed my face around here. A year and a half if I remember correctly. I'll catch you guys up a little bit before getting to my respawn challenge. 2018 was a fucking year - there was a lot of growing up and self acceptance. Certain events earlier in the year forced me to do some serious introspection: figuring out who the fuck I am, who I want to be, what I’m willing to accept in my life, what I absolutely will not put up with, and where I want to go from here. For the most part I think I’ve figured it out, and things have been a lot better since doing so. Summer and fall went smoothly and everything was going well, but as we all know, life likes to take us by surprise. In November I got laid off, but thankfully I was only unemployed for a month and a half. I love my new job - it’s definitely one of the better ones that I’ve had, even if I had to accept a bit of a pay cut. It’s also way closer to me. I had an 80mi round trip commute at my last job, and this one is only 12mi. Literally the next town over from where I live. It’s super convenient. As far as fitness goes, when I left you at the end of 2017 I was at my heaviest - almost 180lb. I put myself on an intermittent fasting plan, and over the the course of 6-8mo I lost ~30lb. I did gain back a few pounds over this past holiday season (so much delicious, delicious food), but it doesn’t bother me. When I started my journey with NF in Oct 2014, I was 152lb. I was miserable about it and the goal was to get back to my high school weight (139lb). While getting back to that weight would be pretty cool, it's definitely not my goal any more and I can honestly say that I have no problem being in the low 150s. In fact, I’m pretty fuckin comfortable in/with my body right now. Seeing how my mindset and views have changed over the last 4.5yrs is mind blowing; I never thought I’d get to the point where I actually kind of love myself and my body. That just about catches you all up on my absence, so on to my respawn challenge! Usually I like to have a theme or something, but I’m going to be keeping it pretty simple so I don’t get distracted.. 2018 involved a lot of mental growth, so I'm dedicating 2019 to physical growth - fitness, hard skills, and putting plans into place. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Self care: Journaling There were a lot of anxiety attacks and depressive episodes over the course of last year. I get overwhelmed with my own thoughts very easily, and it consumes me. I used to journal regularly back in the day, and that’s something I want to make a habit again. Getting stuff out on paper just makes everything that much more manageable for me. Frees my mind up a little bit. Usually I find a blank sheet in one of the many random journals I have, but I bought myself a new notebook so that I can start this habit fresh. *Goal: Write in journal at least 4x/wk. Can be anything from a few words to a few pages and everything in between. I just need to get something out in order to manage my stress level. Diet: Water No soda I’ve managed to cut down my energy drink intake a lot (oh Redbull, how I miss you), and some of my soda intake. Now I need to work on increasing my water intake. I joke that I’m a cactus and don’t need much water, but I know I really should be better about it. Now I need to cut out that soda habit completely - end of story. *Goal: Drink 60oz of water 3x/wk (Mon, Wed, Fri) *Goal: Stop. Drinking. Soda. C'mon Ruth, it's not that fuckin hard. Use that stubbornness for something good for you. Fitness: Routine While I spent a lot of time reigning in my diet and getting the weight off, I never got back to working out. Other than urban exploring (which, to be fair, does involve a lot of walking, stairs, and climbing of stuff), I haven’t done shit. I’ve been feeling really weak and easily winded lately and it’s driving me nuts, so fitness is going to be a big focus. *Goal: Full body routine 3x/wk (Beginner bodyweight or NF kettlebell) Skills: Photography Since getting back into the afore mentioned urban exploring a few years ago, I have taken up photography a fair bit as well. They kind of go hand in hand. Christmas 2017 I was gifted a lightly used Nikon D3300 and kit lens so that I could take my photos up a notch (I had been using my phone). I bought a guidebook so that I could learn to use it, and eventually learn to use the manual settings. While I did figure out how to use the camera in auto mode, I never got around to learning manual. For the last few months I haven’t even touched the camera, if I’m totally honest. I just haven’t been out and about, but I want to get back to using it and picking up the skills to use it properly even when not exploring. *Goal: Each week learn a new step/skill and perform 3 practice sessions (at least). At end of 4 weeks, review each skill/technique. (Zero week will be used to break down the guidebook into weekly skills/techniques.) Week 1, Chapters 1&2 - A.) Back to basics: reset camera to factory settings, then update to book recommended settings. B.) Back to Basics 2: Get a feel for the camera in it's 'out of the box' form to use as a control. Can compare photos down the road as I learn more. Week 2, Chapter 3 - Auto Modes: take some time to try out the auto modes available on the camera. Week 3, Chapter 4 - Professional Modes A: begin practicing using the manual settings and adjustments Week 4, Chapter 4 - Professional Modes B: continue practicing using the manual settings and adjustments Zero Week - Review Other: Updates Keeping up with my challenges in the past has always been difficult for me for whatever reason. So, I’m going to try and correct that by setting aside specific times each week that I will use to update. You may or may not see me update outside of these times, I can’t promise anything. In addition, I’m going to set aside tentative times during the week to try to catch up with everyone else. *Goal: Challenge updates on Mondays and Thursdays @ 7pm (I will start typing up my updates at 7, so expect posts after 7:30pm) *Soft goal: Catch up with others on Sundays and Wednesdays xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I still have a bit of finalizing to do on the side, so I will not be counting zero week towards the challenge. Anything that I do end up doing this week is a bonus. Down the road I would like to count zero weeks as part of the challenge, but I find that it's a good time for me to do planning. I try to start while the current challenge is going on, but then I get distracted/excited and Ranger BrainTM kicks in. So, at least for the first few challenges that I'm back for, zero week will be a planning week and continuation of the last challenge.

It has been a year and few weeks since last I visited. A lot has happened since then. One major move from the Rockies to New England and a massive change in career and lifestyle. What drove me here? What else but a job my husband took. It's been an interesting, albeit stressful, year, gaining 40 pounds along the way. I finally got back to some semblance of eating healthier in November. It's been going great and I have lost 21 pounds by eating a ketosis diet! Yaay me! I'm here again to take the next step as I have plateaued so I'm looking for motivation, success stories and an exercise plan to regularly follow as much as I can given my wacky work schedule as an assistant volleyball coach. Outside of tossing balls in the gym, I've been pretty sedentary. Time to get off my lazy butt and work out regularly and get to that next mile stone --- another 20 pounds. Eating is nailed down. Somehow, I managed to dig deep and work through most of the rough mental days that would have ordinarily led me to eating fast food, ice cream, and mindless snacking. I haven't been perfect. A snack here and there, a meal, a whole day, a whole week even, but always managing to reel in the mindless gnashing and getting back on track sooner, and for much longer than in the past. I'd say 80% of the time I've been right on target. I finally found that discipline I needed. It's not easy. It's a constant battle, and I know now it will never ever go away. It is a demon that lurks just beneath the surface and I have to fight it always. Part of this shift was a mental resignation to accept the process of what it takes to lose weight, to know my goal, but to focus on the present. One big motivation was looking at the scale everyday. On a ketosis diet, the weight melts off. It is amazing how much weight you see falling off your body in the first week, sometimes two weeks! 8-15 pounds sometimes! Once the initial 'cleansing' passes, the weight levels off to a more normal level 1-2 pounds a week what I think is actual fat loss. Those first two weeks are critical to keep the motivation going, at least for me. Instant gratification that I'm losing weight!! I ramble.... Time to start exercising. One of the perks of working for a university is free access to the weight room, and exercise classes. Time to take advantage of this benefit. I've signed up, I only need to show up. First week Complete at least 2 body weight sets four times a week Morning yoga daily complete one spinning class First 2 body weight sets completed tonight. woohoo! Next Yoga in the morning Tuesday morning spin class Check out my actual journal for progress should you be interested.

Hello, friends! I used to be an active member about 3-4 years ago, but sadly dropped off the forum as time went on. However, I really missed the community here and have some new workout goals to meet, and so I decided to come back! A bit about myself: I'm a 26 year-old attorney (graduated in 2017) who is trying to make a significant career shift by applying to the United States Marines Corp! I would still be a lawyer, but the work I'd be doing if I get in is the kind of work I want to do. Why the Marines? Well, why not? The physical standards for Marines are arguably the toughest out of all of the service branches, and I really like that they want their attorneys to be as in shape as any infantry officer. I also want to be a resource to and for women in the military, and the best way to do this is by being there. My long-term goals: 1) apply and get accepted to Officer Candidate School (OCS) by passing a Physical Fitness Test (PFT) 2) pass OCS and get my commission 3) be able to max out on pull-ups (12 for female Marines) 4) live a healthier, happier life 5) become more knowledgeable about Stoicism 6) continue developing and improving my language skills (Polish and French) Goals for this challenge: Physical goals: 1) Get to at least 2 consecutive pull-ups. I am currently able to do 1 pull-up without assistance. The minimum requirement is 4, starting 1 January 2019. This means I have to figure out how to do 4 consecutively by the time the selection board meets to select candidates in mid-March. My short-term goal is to be able to do 2 consecutive pull-ups consistently by the end of the challenge. • How to accomplish this? - "Greasing the groove" by doing assisted (resistance band) pull-ups whenever I walk by my pull-up bar as well as making them the focus of my strength building workouts Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 2) Rehab the knee and get better at running again I sprained my knee back in November, and it's finally recovered. It was a minor sprain (grade 1, no surgery needed, just a compression sleeve on the knee and no running or excessive lower body movement), and after 4 weeks of recovery, it's better! However, I don't want to do too much too soon and resprain my knee, so my goal for this challenge is to incorporate running just twice a week back into my workout schedule, as well as walking more regularly. My goal is to get back down to my 8 minute mile, 24:21 3 mile time for my PFT. • How am I going to accomplish this? - Do one sprint session a week and one 1-2 mile run a week to build up the strength in my knee again. - Walk whenever possible, and take breaks to take walks if necessary at work - Take the stairs at the office!!! - Slowly integrate squats (both bodyweight and with weight) back into my workouts to strengthen my knee 3) continue building core strength Crunches are a PFT requirement. I'd like to be able to max out and get a full score on crunches for my PFT (110 in 2 minutes) • How am I going to accomplish this? - Have a family member hold my feet while I practice crunches in 1 or 2 minute sessions to improve abdominal strength 4 times a week. If no family member is free, stick my feet under some furniture and go! Intellectual goals: 1) Practice my language skills and continue to improve I used to have near-native fluency in French. Sadly, a lack of practice is causing me to forget a lot of what I know! I'm also learning Polish so I can communicate with my mom's side of the family more (my grandmother speaks no English) as well as connect more with my culture and heritage. • How am I going to accomplish this? - Practice Polish on Duolingo for at least 5 minutes a day every day. Duolingo is far from perfect, but I've learned a lot in the past couplele of months and I want to keep improving! - Read at least 1 news article in French per week and 1 book or short story in French this month. I have a subscription to the Monde (French newspaper) and a couple of French novels in my house! I have no excuse for missing this goal. 2) Build a healthy mindset by studying and implementing Stoic practices I'm a recent student of Stoic philosophy (I've been teaching myself since this summer), and while I've read a lot, it's time to start implementing what I've learned. For this month, I'm going to focus on practicing gratitude (an important Stoic practice!) as well as practicing reframing my more negative thoughts and habits • How am I going to accomplish this? - I have included a gratitude page in my bullet journal for the month of January! I'm going to write down 1 thing I'm grateful for each and every day this month - Stay up-to-date with the Stoic philosophy podcasts I listen to, and make sure I'm actively listening and absorbing what I'm hearing - Practice mindfulness every day. If I encounter a stress point or obstacle, approach it rationally rather than immediately getting stressed out 3) Clean up my diet... Again The holidays got me again! Snacks and sweets everywhere, and I am particularly susceptible to dark chocolate and praline pecans that just happen to be in the house (and unfortunately, I can't just get rid of them. My mom bought them and I'm still living with my parents because living costs are high here in MA and because if I get into the Marines, there's no point in moving if I'm going to Quantico in 6 months!). I need to cut down on my snacking and eat cleaner again. • How am I going to accomplish this? - Replace my snacking habits with a specific time of day to enjoy a piece of chocolate or dessert - EDIT: new mini challenge: drink a minimum of 2L (or 64 Oz) of water a day! Other things of note: I have 2 formal events this month: a med school formal and a black tie wedding! I need to make sure I don't go off track because of travelling. I'm excited for this challenge! EDIT: I've gotten rid of the food tracker portion of my challenge because it takes a lot of time and I don't have a scale to measure foods accurately. It also just isn't very practical while I'm at work to spend time inputting recipes or trying to figure out how to eyeball my homemade food. I've also edited the crunches portion so I can stick my feet under furniture to practice crunches.

Hey ya all! Whimsy here. Been a member since 2017 but have never joined a challenge until now. Was active at the start, accomplishing quest after quest then ultimately ran out of steam and just stopped. ^^' This time I decided to join the challenge to give myself a sense of accountability and a feeling of friendly competitiveness. As for the title of my post, it is my mantra this year. Self-Awareness. I know I am overweight and I have formed bad habits. Self-Acceptance. I accept those as simply facts about myself. Facts that are not gonna go away or disappear magically no matter how much I wish them to do so. Change. And so I'm going to give my all taking the steps I know I need to do in order to change them for my own sake. It will be hard, I have tried changing numerous times in the past only to give up and bury my head in the proverbial sand. But this time, I am armed with the knowledge I have learned from those past tries and this burning feeling in me that is getting stronger and stronger each day I give in to my procrastination and bad habit of self-denial. My main goals these year are: 1. Fitness Goals - Lose more or less 66 lbs. 2. Diet Goals - Avoid unhealthy carbs (cakes, fast food, bread) and stick to my meal plan which involves eating more veggies and drinking more water. 3. Skin Care and Beauty Goals - Be consistent with drinking 2 mugs of warm water after waking up. Follow my daily beauty rituals. 4. Work/Money Goals - Since I work freelance, I need to be consistent with my working schedule. The past year I have been admittedly lazy, working only when I want to or only when I need money for something. This year I'm gonna make it so I work 6 days a week, 8 hrs a day. This is so I can save up money and be able to travel. In line with those main goals, my goals for this 4 week challenge are as follows: 1. Fitness Goal: -Workout consistently. -4x Full Body Strength Training/Week. -Yoga Everyday. Lighter yoga focused more on stretching during the days I have strength training. -Guided Meditation every morning. 2. Diet Goal: -Substitute quinoa instead of eating white rice. -Pace my meals. No eating/drinking after 2 hrs of every meal. -Restrain myself from buying and eating cookies and cakes. -More veggies and lean meat. -Be aware of the food I eat and drink. -No eating after 7pm. 3. Skin Care and Beauty Goals: -Drink 2 mugs of warm water after waking up everyday. -Wait 45 minutes before eating breakfast. - Maintain daily, weekly and monthly beauty rituals. 4. Work/Money Goals: -Work 6 days a week, 8 hrs a day. Adjusting my working time as needed as long as I get to work 8 hrs a day. -Save and appropriate money on the list of things/activities you need to save up on. 5. Additional Goal: -Sleep 6-7 hrs per night. Sleep early, wake up early.

I'm Back!!! Wow, has it really been a couple years since I've been here?!? So much oddness has gone on in the time since we all last were together. Ups, downs, lots of things going sideways but every so often you need to revisit things that have worked in the past. At least until I figure out exactly how everything is going to go with this, it's best to start with what I've got planned and what I want to do. Why didn't I just stay in the car?! Over the course of 2018 I had run my life with one New Year's Resolution: to be at least 12 lbs lighter than I was when I started the year. Jan 1 2018 I was 336.2... when I started this year I was at 322 even, a total loss of 14.2 lbs! That was exciting because I was able to keep up that goal for the entire year and keep it. My overall goal right now for 2019 is to do the same, be 12 pounds lighter at the end of the year to bring me to 310 while working on getting myself down to a more personally acceptable weight. With this respawn point I think it's time to actually start this year's weight loss with doing some actual work (somehow I lost the 14 pounds by shear luck/minor motivation/Pokemon Go/less snacking). Let's get down to some action! Goal 1: Caliber vs. Momentum Since I've just been lollygagging my way through 2018 I really didn't get to doing much activity-wise except for the few weeks both prior to and post moving back to my old stomping grounds in Metro Detroit. Minus the occasional walk at the local park with our dog (well, former dog ) I didn't really do all too much to work my body over the year. Time to change all that. Whether it be homebound or at the workout center in my complex (yeah, have one of those, NEVER used it) I need to get moving a minimum of twice a week. Yes, I could push myself to doing more but let's start simply and realistically. Goal 2: Caliber vs. the Kung Pao Chicken Food!! The great and glorious.... mixed blessing. We all need fuel to keep ourselves going but with the varieties that are out there it's sometimes (LOTS of times) difficult to keep myself on the straight and narrow. With a direct plan of finding, getting together and trying one new meal a week is a goal that will help me hone my cooking skills again (as long as I can stop burning Eggs in a Basket) Goal 3: Calibre vs. the Money Pit DEBT!!! Why does it always have to be debt?! Snakes, debt, same thing Dr. Jones! They are both mean, deadly and tend to bite you right on the backside when you're not looking. So, minor thing and this'll take more time that just one challenge but it'll be to do things that will help improve my credit score as well as reduce my overall debt. The start of this challenge will be great for this for several reasons that are occurring now. More on that later!

After years on and off the Nerdfitness train this year I have decided will be the year. This isn't exactly my first challenge, or rather my first attempted challenge, but it will be my first completed one. The Main Quest AKA Big Bold Year Long goals Lose weight I will lose 1 kg a month for the year (ie. end each month 1kg lighter than I started it) I will eat Keto/Paleo most of the time Grow Strong/Learn to fight I will continue with MMA/Grappling training I will do something physical each day (Darebee challenges, Zombies 5k etc) I will start taking hikes with a weight in my backpack Adventure I will go on 100 different walks with my dog, ie: 100 walks that are different in some way, some new path or another direction I will learn a new skill Stability I will feel financially stable and not worry each month if we have enough for the next pay check I will work together with my wife when it comes to money stuff rather than feel it is all my burden I will set aside money for my goals each month I will start a IPS account (personal pension saving) The current quest log AKA What I will do this challenge to work on the main quest Start Keto and keep it until the end of the month Complete the Darebee 30 days of change Go to MMA training every session where I don't have a conflicting RC meeting Check in to the YNAB budget every day The side quests Check in here every other day Set up work goals Loot Bonsai wire I am going to need all the accountability I can get on this. In the past I have failed at checking in and then failed at completing the quests.

CHALLENGE INTRO: It's welcome back to Alexifer for a(nother) re-spawn this year! Since my last efforts to re-engage with the Nerd Fitness community in 2016, there have been some significant changes including a new job with a convenient and free gym and a perfect 30-45 minutes in the morning that I have started to spend there. I've also been dealing with plantar fasciitis with orthotics and a great excuse to buy new running shoes, but there's no running in my future any more (hiking is A-OK though!). I had a great year in 2018, and there are some things in my past that I would like to revisit and attempt to incorporate into my everyday life in 2019, including getting back to some of my fitness PRs. This challenge is to kick-start 2019 and get this re-spawn headed in the right direction! With that said... onto the goals! DIET 1: 20 days no alcohol in January! Drinking has always been my Achilles heel when it comes to diet, and for the majority of 2018 I was able to stick to weekend-only drinking. I am great at tracking this in my planner, but I would really like to re-focus on this for January. DIET 2: 3L of water every day! Summer in Australia here, so 3L of water is seriously necessary. It also means I have less room for other drinkables, such as the above... It also means drinking during the work day, which means at least I get up to refill my bottle and go to the bathroom... EXERCISE: 2x strength days/week I have been going to the gym 5x/week pretty consistently for the last 3 months, but I want to re-focus on strength gains. 2 days/week are classes at the gym which I love, 3 other days have so far been me using Fitbit Coach, which is fine but isn't going to get me back to my strength PRs. I want 2 of my free days to go to working towards these PRs. LEVEL UP LIFE 1: Small talk with strangers 1x/week One of my yearly goals is to work on making new relationships, and part of being able to make small talk. I'm pretty shocking at starting it, so that's part of what I'm going to focus on in this re-spawn! LEVEL UP LIFE 2: Revamp Meetup profile, pick a group and diarise. I've decided I don't need to GO in January, because I already have a busy schedule this month, however that would be best. I will go to this alone and also work on my small talk there. I have a few hobbies and a few groups I'm interested in, this is partly just to DO it. Mini-Challenge: Post Updates Weekly! I have a great self-accountability and a lot of built in tracking with my planner, however I would really like to re-engage with the Nerd Fitness community! I’ll post how my week went, along with any Ranger side challenge updates, every Sunday AEST (so, Saturday for American folk). This might seem like a lot of goals, but they are all really manageable and can easily be done. I am hopeful that I'll come to mid-Jan and feel like I should really be upgrading my challenges, but that just means I'll be ready and raring for February Week 1 Update: 12 Jan I have successfully completed both diet and exercise goals for this week! The alcohol one is cumulative but I am well on track. I started Strong 5x5 at the gym for two of my workouts, and as you may know they have you start very light. It was great, because I hadn’t worked out for a week or so, and before that there hadn’t been any lifting, so DOMS were minimal (but still there, ha). For my life goal progress, I don’t think I spoke with any strangers but I was certainly more open with people at work, and had a great conversation with someone who I always seem to have lunch with at the same time in the kitchen... just little things for the moment, so I would certainly count this week as a win. I’ve been browsing Meetup, and did revamp my profile (well, updated the photo?), but I have not yet picked something. I’d like to join the badminton one but the Saturday sessions seem to fill up quick so I’ll have to bite the bullet on that one soon! And my mini challenge is now complete

*plunks* well, THAT was the most fun year I never want to have again. 2018 was... a rough, gross, terrible year for me, even apart from the general chaos that seems to have sprung forth the last few years in everyone's collective lives. It started out with losing my grandpa suddenly to massive heart failure the day I got back home from family holidays that he and Grandma didn't make it down for, and I wound up unemployed due to budget cuts at my local school district (I didn't get laid off, but it was a situation where I felt like if I didn't take the buyout offer I was looking at the possibility of getting laid off and not getting a nice jump off point for finding a new job with said buyout. They let us know that if 4 people didn't quit, layoffs were coming.) And unemployment / job hunting is much less fun than it sounds, and I'm aware that it even sounds like shit. On top of which general shittyness, my ADHD, anxiety and depression all decided to have a party. Thankfully, in November I found a decent paying job, the first one I've ever had that actually uses even part of my degree (that piece of paper I'm still paying for? Yeah, that one) about 45 minutes from where I live, and today I found what I hope will be my new apartment in that town if all goes well with my application to said apartment. So I'm cautiously optimistic that maybe, possibly, hopefully 2019 might be slightly less horrific. So as long as nothing else blows up in my face and draws my entire attention again, I'll look forward to actually respawning with challenges here in the new year.

I started in the academy on Thursday, July 12th. The gulf between the idea and the action was too large for an unassisted jump with an encumbrance penalty. Rolled a critical fail on engaging support systems. The truth is, if the mind is not ready. Is not REALLY ready, then the encumbrance will grow with each new pair of underpants collected. This time, I learned that I can't do it in isolation, and that I MUST get the mind and spirit ready before anything else can follow. I may be back here again. Each time, I'll try to add an item to the list. Life before Death. Strength before Weakness. Journey before Destination. Hard earned, hard fought, and harder won. Grows river-long before it's done Each step, each breath, each hill traversed Must be purchased from the first to the final leap and land taking vic'try in the hand The lessons learned here stand declared For next respawn to be prepared. The List of Respawn Knowledge 1. Do it because you WANT it, for yourself, and nobody else. 2. It's dangerous to go alone. Bring allies.

THE SILVER ARCHER: BOOK THREE Chapter 4: Chrysalis There was frost on the etched glass of the window where I sat, my arms wrapped around my knees, watching students hurrying through the light cold rain to classes. My stiff new uniform vest dug into the soft skin under my arms, but I didn't move, because I didn't mind. This uniform had been tailored just for me, as opposed to the straight-cut, hand-me-down uniform I was wearing; and once it softened up with use, it would be much more comfortable than what I had before. My fingers came up to touch the silver arrow pin on my right chest again. Just over a week ago, my mentor, Mistral, had teared up proudly as she pinned it on my brand-new vest and whispered "Well done". My time of study in the Temple Academy was almost complete. When I first received my powers of healing and clarity from the Silver Bow, I could only channel them to the arrows I fired from the Bow; but even though I quickly realized that the power flowed through me and I could both generate and control it, the guidance I had received from Mistral and others during my studies had greatly increased what I could do. For my final examination, I had demonstrated my understanding of my studies by creating a visual representation of the theories and practices they had taught me - all by pulling and generating the powerful light into shapes and movement that they could see. It was more than I ever dreamed I could do. And when Mistral pinned that arrow on my chest, she was finally telling me that I was ready - I was sufficiently prepared to leave the Academy and go out into the world. I hugged my knees tighter into my chest and rested my forehead on them. I had been lulled for a week into thinking this was all over - I went to the tailor in town to get my new uniform; I bought new white shirts and bloused trousers, and indulged in some new dark skirts and dresses; I spent several days lavishly buying gifts for my family, for the upcoming celebration of the King's birthday; and since I didn't have to report to my committee, I spent many of the days sleeping well past daybreak and staying up to read or play long into the night. But the truth was that my work was far from over. The list of things I had to complete before I could receive the rest of my insignia and be formally discharged was long, and many of the tasks required deep thought and many days of work. I only had three weeks left to complete them. The younger mentors who weren't far removed from the Academy themselves had warned me that it was easy to lapse into this mindset when the examination was over - and that I would regret it if I gave in. I turned my head to look out the window again, and rested my hand against the glass to watch the fog slowly puff out around it. I had no motivation to get up and go back to my room to start writing or diagramming. All I wanted was to sleep. I had been sitting that way for nearly ten minutes when a soft alarm began to rise in the back of my mind and I frowned. Something was wrong. The frost - the frost was now inside the window. But - I looked outside and it was still raining, still above freezing. The temperature in my little alcove was dropping faster than the temperature outside. With a gasp I jerked my hand back and looked at it; and sure enough, delicate traces of frost had begun curl around my fingers and etch themselves into my palm. "No!" I spun around and grabbed for my Bow, but I had left it back in my room; and sure enough, in the deserted hallway before me stood the ghostly apparition of the Dark Elf, my nemesis, Caranthir Aranwas, his white hair spilling gracefully down his back and his silvery robes cascading around his slender body. He had returned. Before I could move he had lunged across the hallway and slammed my throat to the glass with one of his graceful, ice-strong hands. "What's the matter, Eldarwen?" he murmured, his breath a wintry wind against my neck as he drew near, probing my eyes with his pale blue-white ones. I struggled against his grip but felt his power slowly locking me into place as he calmly, gently traced the edge of my face with his other hand, leaned back to gaze at my new uniform and smirked as my breath thinned to a gurgle. "You are surprised to see me in this place, my beloved? Well, you shouldn't be. When you think I'm far away in the forest I'm right beside you. I hear your thoughts as you hear mine. We are more -" he rested his other hand at my waist "- intimately connected than you admit to yourself." "What do you want?" I choked, trying to kick at him and gagging in frustration as he easily swept aside. "Why here? Why now?" "Why not now?" he arched his eyebrows and shrugged lightly. "You have completed a great feat, Eldarwen, and I commend you. But your training is not yet complete - you are not a fully fledged archer of the Movement. You are so much more vulnerable in these days than you realize. You feel safe and powerful and do not realize that you are like a fragile caterpillar in your chrysalis - changing, growing, becoming something beautiful and strong; but you aren't there yet, my beloved." He tightened his grip just a bit more so the edges of my vision began to fade. All I saw as I fought to suck for air was his long, slim face close to mine, slack and passive, but burning behind with desire and hatred. "If I take you down now, you will forever be a half-blown dream, a glimpse of greatness never realized." A bit of his apathy slipped away and a cruel smile rose to his eyes. "Come with me now, beloved. Come to the forest and let me give you rest. You've poured your soul into these silly assignments, this system with all its rules and shame, for far too long. You were born to be free, to rule, my queen. Come with me. Let all this go. Leave it behind and come, take your rest. I know you, Eldarwen, and I see the exhaustion in your eyes. I will free you from all this. Just let go, come with me, come to be my queen, as I've always wanted. Do you hear? I have always wanted you. Come with me." My consciousness was fading ... I had to ... do something ... find a way to pry his hand from my throat, I realized sluggishly, struggling to keep my eyes open. My hands were still free - yes, both of them; they were still free. I could - Thought faded but instinct took over. Clumsily I lifted a hand as if to grab his wrist; but when he feinted away, my other hand shot up and connected with his neck. He cried out in agony as the white-hot power pierced his neck and seared his flesh, stumbling backward and releasing my throat. I hung on, bringing my other hand up to hold his shoulder and support myself as I gasped for air, and summoning all my strength to pour the light into his body. He gripped my arms with his own powers but I held on despite the icy hot pain. "You have no power over me, Caranthir Aranwas," I snarled, bringing my own face close to his. "Your words will not sway me from my purpose and your seduction will not lure me from my duties. I am the Silver Archer, the Arrow-Healer. Even in this, even in these last few days between my past and my future, I am more than you will ever be and I am stronger than you will ever know. I am bound by love to protect my people, to free the helpless from your power, to bring the captives back home. I will not allow you to stop me and I will not allow my weakness to become your power. I will defeat you and I will succeed!" I let go of his neck and he sagged to the ground, bleeding, great drops of his mercury-blood splashing and sizzling to the floor. But I knew he was not vanquished, only weakened; and as he rocked back and lifted his hands to fire a blast of ice and fire at my heart, I smashed my hands against his and forced my own powers down his arms, watching his terrified face with grim satisfaction as the light illuminated him vein by vein, traveling back to his own heart. "No, stop, have mercy," he cried; but I did not stop. "When have you shown me mercy?" I cried. "When have you tried to help me? To protect me? No, Aranwas, I will assert my power over you at every turn and remind you every day of my life that you do not control me, you will not conquer me, and you will bow to my will and my mission!" With a tremendous effort, he tore his hands away from me and fell backward just before my powers reached his heart; and with a snarl and a cry, he stumbled to his feet, met my eyes for one glaring moment, then turned and vanished through the wall, leaving blood and a burning smell behind. I took a deep shivering breath and fell to my knees in the hall. The Dark Elf had returned. I was not safe. Now I could see the danger lying in wait for me during this silent, liminal time before I left the Academy. I was not free yet and I was not safe from defeat or failure. There were still powers waiting to attack me if I gave in to my fatigue and apathy. Setting my jaw, I got to my feet and went to retrieve my cloak from the windowsill. I was determined to complete this transformation and resist the temptation to sleep this time away. If I wanted to emerge prepared to take my place in the Movement, I had to keep fighting, keep practicing, keep pressing forward. I headed toward the stairs toward my room. I would not leave my Bow behind again.

OH HAI THAR FRIENDS, IT ME, ROWAN Back on the boards, and I wanna stay this time so I'm gonna be real, REAL low-key, but I'm here! :) Been a while, and I've been doing 4-week challenges for a few solid months now, but they've all been getting me back to a baseline that I needed to reestablish after QUITTING THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY FOR REAL THIS TIME this past April and then immediately sinking into a several month long depression (WHICH DID IN FACT LIFT). Here's a little picture of how things are as of right now: Age: 29 Weight: 150 lb (this is usually where my body ends up when I'm not taking any sort of actions - not a bad baseline, which I'm grateful for) Height: 5 foot 6? 7? Job: 35 hours a week, sedentary but with opportunity to move around. 1 hour break. Current strong habits: drawing daily, reading the news, brushing my teeth, journaling, writing down all my spending, writing down everything i eat, going to bed at midnight, saving money, being RADICAL Current meh habits: daily pushups, flossing, drinking 3 glasses of water a day Bad habits I want to eventually address: tons of screen time, drinking lots of coffee, listen to 4-5 podcasts per day, eating lots of takeout, drinking lots of beers, spending lots of money, sitting a lot (god my hamstrings), Next-level goals: vigorous workout twice a week, pack three lunches a week at my job, compose and draw a 30-page comic, return to meditating, bring bodyweight back down to 145, read book 1 of the Baroque Trilogy, make a cookbook-faithful Julia Child Boeuf Bourgignon Big And Fancy Goals: punch a pull-up in the face, start running again, return to being an active member of the NF boards, bring my body weight down to 135, quit drinking coffee Talismans, Resources and Allies: a health-friendly workplace, an affordable gym right near my work, good insurance, a bicycle, a good circle of friends, a supportive family, a decent apartment with a kitchen, a room large enough to work out in, a crock pot, a foam roller, Nerd Fitness, a Nintendo Switch, start going back to Parkour, etc etc etc. WHEW alright then. I guess I can't do all of that in a month, so here's the plan. 1. Dry December! I recently tallied up all the data from the last two months of food logs, and I was consuming in excess of 60 alcoholic beverages per month, most of those being pints at this cool local bar I hang out at sometimes (any other Way Station nerds out there?) That's a lot of burrs. So, I'm gonna take that off the menu this month, with planned variances for a few festive parties with friends who are notorious for making extremely fancy cocktails or hosting with 30-year old bottles of wine. Replacing that will be a huge collection of teas, sparkling waters and also regular water. 2. Movement Practice! I am currently kiinda solid on doing 12 knee pushups and 5 squats per day, but the sedentary nature of my job is really doing a number on me so I am gonna supplement that this month with a few minutes of cat/cow and 10 leg swings. I usually do this in the "wellness room" during my lunch break. 3. Floosssiiingggg. Ugh. As I write this I am suffering from an infected tooth that has resulted in a swollen lymph node, so this is kind of...urgent. My dental hygiene has not always been the best, and I'm really proud of myself for building a daily brushing practice over the last year, but dang the flossing feels like a whole different beast. 4. And finally, one workout per week. I canceled my old gym in anticipation of joining the new one that is in a location that i will actually use, but I have a month left so I want to try going to a workout class once a week. It galls my pride a little to feel like going to a class is going to be the best way to make sure I actually go and sweat, but that's where I'm at right now. : / Maintenance: brush teeth daily, draw daily, check the news daily And that's it! I realize today is already day 2 of the challenge, so just let me say that I did NOTHING yesterday due to just barely surviving after a delayed red-eye flight back from California, and today I still have to draw and floss. But! I will update tomorrow, and go around and follow erryone, and I'm really glad to be back and I'm gonna try really hard not to vanish this time :) EXCELSIOR!

My primary goal right now is to lose some fat by improving the quality and decreasing the quantity of what I eat. To that end, I need to do some general food logging right now, to establish a baseline for what a "normal" amount of food is. I've calculated that my maintenance calories are about 1700/day right now. That's my goal for the next week or two, to get used to the amount. Previously, I'd assumed that maintenance was about 2000, but I've been doing a very slapdash sort of calculation for the last few weeks to keep myself around 2000 cals, and not seen any weight loss - in fact, a slight gain. If 1700 is correct, that would make sense. I also need to increase my water intake, as I'm perpetually thirsty, and it gives me a headache. Living in the Los Angeles heat, it's important to stay hydrated... ETA: I didn't weigh myself right away, but I'm taking a guess that my starting weight is about 244 lbs. (Averaging the weighing I did a few weeks ago with the one from a few days after I started logging, which was actually about 4 lbs lighter.) Goal for this week: 1700/day 7/23 almond butter cookie (190 cal) cup of coffee w/creamer and splenda (~50 cal) ~4 cups of kimchee rice with egg (600 cal?) Tangerine La Croix Diet Coke snack crackers (150 cal) salmon + bok choi + rice (~650 cal) total: 1640 water: ~30oz (total liquid intake: ~58oz)

Hey all, My name is Nic. I used to be an active member of this forum a few years back and then I just... Fell off the grid. When I was last active, I was in my first year of law school. While I maintained a basic level of fitness, I basically just coasted, relying on genetics to keep me relatively okay looking. It wasn't until after law school (okay, after the bar exam) that I started taking fitness seriously again. Why? Because I decided that I wanted to join the Marine Corps, and they have strict physical standards-- even for their attorneys! Over the past 6 months I've made huge strides. I've gone from not being able to run 3 miles at all-- or at least without stopping-- to being able to run 3 miles in 24:21! I can now do 1 full pull-up, which I haven't been able to do since I was 13. It's been crazy. Unfortunately, I wasn't selected for Officer Candidate School because while 1 pull-up is the current minimum requirement for female Marines, the standard is increasing to 4 pull-ups as the minimum, and my lack of upper body strength is what's holding me back from chasing my dreams. My quest to get into Marine shape has brought me back to the Rebellion. It's not just my fitness goals though. I have missed the supportive community here, and I decided that now was a perfect time to jump back in and be an active member again. I'm resetting my level and am eager to start the next 4 week challenge! It's good to be back in the Rebellion again.

Hey there, I finally made it back again (again) and aim to stick around for a bit longer again, squeeeee This will be a proper respawn as not only did I take a break on forums, my less to little training slimmed down to none, which still shocks me tremendously and my body lost any hard achieved slimness instead (which kind of makes sense) It got so bad, I finally did the thing and set foot into a fitness studio (gasp). Not that there is anything wrong with regular fitness studios, but they really aren't my thing at all, so this is my first time contract with a studio ever. In my defense it's a pretty cool fitness studio though. It's got all those different stations for circuit training, free weights, boxing bag to punch, sling trainer or whatever it's called for assisted pull ups or rows, ropes to swing, medicine balls, and the like. There's only two treadmills and two rowing machines for warm up, no other machines and the mood is very different to what I have glimpsed from in regular studios. So I decided to give it a go Main reason is that hubby goes there (or used to and is respawning with me now) and we can go together, yay. For starters the trainer took an hour to show me around and spot me on the currently set up circuit training, plus he weighed me with one of those fancy things, taking body fat percentage etc and ... well, it confirmed what I already knew: too much fat, not too much muscle and too little water to top it off, meh. My metabolic age would be 7 years older than I am In numbers: weight 70,5kg of which 24,7kg is fat (35%) and 43,5 kg is muscle the water percentage was at 46,4 % which is apparently way too little for women My BMI is at 25,6 All in all this doesn't seem so horrible, but being someone who used to be underweight while eating whatever I wanted for half my life, it feels horribly wrong. Time to get active again! I've done it before (am practically at the weight again I had when I started with pole training in 2013), so I can do it again. I can't afford pole classes right now and am frustrated how much I can't do anymore, so why not try a different tack. Action Plan for workouts is simply: - go to the fitness studio 2x / week and workout with the circuit training for at least 2 rounds (until I manage 3, then 3 rounds) This isn't very much, but I figured, if I keep it that simple, but really do it for the next 3 months, when it comes time to step on that fancy scale again, numbers should look different already. Best of all, I should feel different! If not in size, at least in stamina and strength again. Ideally, I will expand this to a third workout per week at home with the pole and see how I can get myself to have some fun there again. For now I'm glad if running up the stairs to catch the phone doesn't have me wheezing Now I know diet is the bigger part for the weight balance and to have a simple strategy there, I will PROCRASTINATE. Sneaky, right? Something I am good at anyway Seriously though, counting calories is simply not my thing, I don't keep up with it and I can't believe it as a necessity. Rather I will focus on what to eat and especially when to eat instead of counting how much. You can't call it intermittent fasting really, it's not as drastic as that, I'm rather easing into it somewhat. Action Plan for improving my food intake: - eat less often, meaning max 3 meals / day and having at least 12 hours no food intake over night, ideally more - eat more healthy fats and veggies, meaning feeling full with less carbs - drink at least 2 Liters of water / day I started doing this (not the water part, but the other two) for about 10 days now and went from an average of 73 kg down to 71 kg (the 70,5 at the fitness studio were a happy surprise low) with a few cm circumference less as well. Both came off within the first few days and have stagnated since. I want to see what happens over a longer time. The third ingredient for this challenge is upping my pride, joy and happiness. For some reason I keep slipping into phases of procrastination, distraction and waste time where I had originally planned some cool (or necessary) action. This is very unsatisfying long term. I feel guilty about it, frustrated with myself and in my bad mood look for more distractions to make myself feel better. Late at night I am full of good intentions and ambitious plans, once the kids are at school and I would have the time to get started, it all fades away into various modes of procrastination and hiding. It's become a habit and it's time to kick it! That's all there is to it. So the third part of my challenge will be counting battle points against the procrastination monster: - every time I am tempted to not do something (delay or skip or whatever) and do it anyway it's a point for me - every time I don't do something I know I would prefer having done, the procrastination monster wins a point First win: I finally set up a challenge again

I got in the best shape of my life while being fairly active here. Then life happened, I got sick, depression hit, fast forward 3 years and I found myself 40 pounds heavier and not the happiest I've ever been. I decided to get back into fitness towards the end of 2017, I started doing crossfit and loved it. Went too hard, too fast and developed tendonitis in both my knees. Took a break, started working out again at my own pace, started doing keto and I lost 15 pounds in 4 months. Then I got sick....again, was traveling a lot for work, started dating someone, and stopped taking care of myself. I have managed to gain 5 pounds back in the last 3 months, and I want to put a stop to it and baby step my way back into health. Researching keto and intermittent fasting I found myself back here again. I'm ready to get back, I know what I need to do, and what works. My body needs a lot of healing and I know it's going to fight me, so I need my mind to do some of the heavy lifting until I feel better again, I hope to find here some of the motivation and accountability that helped me in the past. Also I need to work on stress management as some of the ailments I'm currently dealing with are exasperated by stress. For the next 2 weeks my plan is to do the following until the next challenge starts: DIET Intermittent Fasting Keto Diet Fitness Strength training 4x a week at least for 30mins Start running again 10-15 mins at a time 3x a week Life/Stress Management Sleep at least 7 hours 5x a week Research stress management techniques I'm excited to be back in the community and look forward to starting the new challenge in a couple of weeks.

Ugh. Okay. Once more with feeling. This is probably my third or fourth big "I'm gonna do it!" thread here and... well, they haven't been successful before. But I have knowledge and experience from all those attempts before to help me push through and make lasting positive changes this time! I'm Elliott. I'm a writer, a reader, a dork, and into various nerdy stuff. What I'm not into is exercise and shoving anything but carbs into my mouth. Well, that's not entirely true. I just don't much care for it. It's easier to just sit on the couch and veg with some junk food, or to call for pizza instead of cooking something healthy. But it doesn't matter that it's easier, it's not doing me any favors. I have various medical complications and old injuries that doing this is just... it's not good. So, gotta do The Thing and retrain myself! The Plan So. I have a plan. Ish. I'm working on a plan: Exercise and Food and Mental Stuff. Thoughts on Exercise: My left leg and low back are pretty weak, well, weaker than normal, after a back injury in 2015. It's left me with muscle and nerve damage from my low back down my leg. So, I need to work on building up strength in my trunk and legs, so they can work normally again. I also need to stretch and gain flexibility in general, to help my muscles keep from seizing. I get massive spasm storms that lock up my leg and pretty much immobilize me from the waist down. It's gotten better in the last few months, which I cautiously and tentatively say might correlate to the fact that I'm intaking more marijuana and CBD products (yay, legal state!). Not gonna say it's the cause for the lessening symptoms, but *might* be related. Plain and simple, I need to lose weight. That will help a lot with my joints and cardiovascular health. My blood pressure is stupid high, and if I don't want to be on medication for it for the rest of my life (I'm only 27!), I need to lose weight and try to manage my BP that way. Food and exercise might make enough of an impact to keep away from the pills. So, moving forward: Strength training and cardio with input from trainer(s) and physical therapist. Start walking more in general. Take the stairs instead of the elevators, when possible. Park further from the door when going shopping. Do yoga or stretches at home and after workouts. Maybe swim for low impact exercise? Thoughts on Food: I really, really like sugar and carbs. Which is unfortunate. I've found that keto/low carb can work for me, if I can just fkin' stick to it, so that might be a good way for me to attack my crappy diet. But I also know that going head-first and cold turkey tends to be the worst way for me to do it. So maybe moderation as I get used to being at the gym and working out, then focusing on reining in my food more? More good veggies, better protein sources, and fewer carbs/sugars seems to be a good way to approach things. Drink! More! Water! The plan: Drink more water - aiming for like, a gallon a day? I don't know. But more water instead of soda. Eat more veggies and proteins and rely less on carbs to fill out a meal. Cook more at home, when possible, to have more of a handle on what I'm eating. Then, when I have a better rhythm of things, go lower carb and focus more on veggies and good proteins. Batch cook when possible. Thoughts on Mental Stuff: This one's more nebulous because I'm just three bags of cats in a trench coat. I'm super anxious and have depression and mania (yay, bipolar disorder), and I'm generally a low-spoons kind of person. So, to free up spell slots: Prepare gym bag the night before, so I'm not stressed in the morning Practice better sleep hygiene and get to bed at a regular hour Maybe some short meditation, maybe yoga? Might work well in the Exercise column. Set actual schedules for stuff so I don't lose track of time and fall into a pit of not doing things. Batch cook on high spoon days so I don't have to on low spoon days (and so I can't justify takeout so often). Maybe eventually start journaling? Actually schedule writing time so I feel (and am) more productive. Track-able metrics: Blood pressure, can be tracked Physical bodily measurements Weight Occurrence of muscle spasm storms (needs to be journaled, though) Fringe/Intangible metrics: Feelings on whether I'm okay with the progress so far How my joints feel on the day to day How my clothes fit Goals Short term goals: Create and support a gym habit. Shooting for 3x a week and working up to 5 to 7x a week. Drink water. Shooting for between 1/2 - 1 gallon a day. Sleep better. Shooting for bedtime at 10pm and waking up at 7ish. Eat better. Incorporate more veggies and proteins into my meals and cut reliance on carbs and sugars. Intermediate term goals: Gain range of motion in my hip Lose enough weight to require smaller clothes - aiming for size 20/22 by Yule (-2 sizes) Push for a 25-minute 5K (last time I ran I got to 28 minutes, because I'm slow, but I think I can do it!) Longer term goals Lose weight - I want to lose 30 lbs by the end of January, but that means I gotta *do the thing!* maybe define more of these as I go Ultimately, lose weight, gain muscle, increase endurance for walking/jogging. But I gotta actually break that down into measurable, attainable benchmarks. So here goes!

Since I left for vacation on August 4th my life has been put through the spin cycle and I’ve been out of whack. For various reasons I stopped lifting, my junk food intake has gone up, and my depression and anxiety seem to be back in a rough way. Tasks have been piling up and there were times I felt like I was drowning. I decided to embrace the darkness instead of pushing back. Though the darkness of laziness, fear, and indecision can be warm and comforting in the short term, it was extremely damaging on my psyche. Over the last two weeks, I’ve decide to make a change and get my life back. I made a list the things keeping me from moving forward and started taking them on, one by one, slowly but surely. I know it’s going to take some time but I’m starting to remember who I am and who I want to become. I am a Skald, the Norse warrior poet, though I’m using the word poet here VERY loosely. I want to start lifting again and writing more. I want to work on consuming less and producing more. The last two challenges I went overboard, giving myself more objectives than I could handle, and even adding some non-challenge related challenges. This time I will keep it simple. Mobility work 3x per week. The goal here is to spend 10-15 minutes, 3x times a week to stretch and roll out my muscles. It’s something I hate doing but know it needs to get done. Write 5x per week. Though the goal is to write for at least 10 mins/200 words every day I don’t want to overload myself and the point of failure. Small wins lead to bigger wins. This can be a blog post, writing in my journal, or responding to someone on the form. It can be in a notebook, on the computer/phone, or on a scrap piece of paper I throw away. It doesn’t matter. As long as I write, it counts. “But, Joe, I thought you wanted to start lifting again?” I do and I will but it will be outside the focus of this challenge. Since I’m going on vacation in a week I now I won’t do any working out, no matter how much I tell myself I will not. This way I can focus on other objectives and work on adding in the lifting next challenge. Right now I want to focus on what I know I can do anywhere: stretching and writing.

This is one of the many times i have looked at this forum and actualy made a thread. Respawning sort of became a habbit, i keep having these good intentions but i am failling in actually sticking to them. So far my weightloss journey has been a lot of let downs and faillures. I really want this to change and recently i hit my low point. I went on a 30 minute walk and when i came back everything hurt i was out of breath and needed 30 minutes to recover. This was bad... i have never had this happen before. For me this was a sign i need to lose weight and get healthier. So i decided to come back here, and start over. I am doing everything from zero and try to get back into it.

Ola rebels! So it's been over 2 years since my last challenge... First of all, thank you Mera for giving me the final push to get back on NF! This respawn challenge is centered around FOOD! I'm suffering from an auto-immune condition and when I indulge in foods that don't agree with me for too long, my symptoms start to flare up or, as I see it, my body tells me "AHEM! THIS SUCKS!" So here we are! Main Quest. Auto-immune friendly diet. Every meal, every day. - That's basically no cereals, no legumes, no dairy and of course, the usual nasties, alcohol and coffee. But what CAN I eat you ask! LOTS and LOTS of VEGGIES! As well as fruits, animal proteins (though for me that's mostly eggs, yum!), and nuts and seeds in moderation. - I get 1 cheat meal / week, but gluten, dairy and alcohol are off-limit. - This quest isn't pass or fail, I'm just aiming for the highest percentage. Side Quest 1. Breathe and stretch. Stretching every evening helps me sleep better and it also improves circulation in my legs. So what am I waiting for?! - To get a complete I'll have to stretch at least 5 evenings each week. Side Quest 2. Move a little. Although this challenge is mostly about getting healthier through diet, I also want to slowly ease back into my favourite exercises. - To complete this quest I have to practice yoga or ballet barre once a week (or try new classes in my neighbourhood). Life Quest. Face the bureaucratic monster! I've recently moved to Portugal. I've had 3 holiday-like weeks, now it's time to get my health care status sorted! It will take hours of queuing, desperate attempts at making myself understood (my knowledge of Portuguese is basically non-existent for now), and likely visits to all local administration offices. I'm tired just thinking about it. But I need my medicine. So... let's do this? - To complete this quest, I *only* need to get A SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER. This time around I feel like adding some music to my challenge to stay motivated. Let's do this everyone! Good luck on your challenges! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=846cjX0ZTrk

Hi guys, happy fall!! (FINALLY am I right?!!?!) (Kinda maybe??) I have been waiting for this challenge for probably longer than I even know. If you’re new here or coming back from a prolonged chaos-moment (which I feel in my very soul) TL;DR, over the past 4 months I’ve completely uprooted my life - sold a house in the south, separated amicably from my partner of over a decade, tossed most of my belongings, packed up the remainder, and moved 800 miles north to find a new path. I’ve successfully set myself on fire and come out the other side heavily charred but also very much alive, and for that I’m hella grateful. I won't lie, it's been a struggle. On the one hand, most everything is new and different and a little jangly, and there are a staggering amount of variables and unknowns. But on the other hand, the world is my frickin’ oyster.... I actually have some goals this time around that AREN’T just like.... Don’t die or lose your everlovin’ sanity. SHOCKING, I know. Anyways. 1 >> f i t n e s s [edit to reflect rangerly adaptation] I'm going to hold off on getting back into lifting for a while while I deal with Big Change, and plus my nutrition is NOWHERE near where it needs to be to sustain that, so I'm going to focus on two things: 1. Yoga/mobility 2. Getting OUTSIDE (and hiking and taking pictures!) My goal right now is to do home yoga/stretching/mobility work 2-3 times a week, and to get out into the actual wilds once a week, weather permitting! 2 >> f o o d i n g [edit to reflect rangerly adaptation] Make sure I eat enough. No tracking, no worries, just get good nutrition. Don't drink like an asshole. There we go~ 3 >> t a s k s One of my biggest issues with all of the change is how much free time I have. As aforementioned I’m unemployed, and while I WILDLY deserve a month or two to decompress and re-set my compass, it’s also gently unnerving for someone who exists best with a bit of structure. So each week I’m going to give myself a to-do list for stuff I need to do - or want to do! - write something, do some maintenance around the house, visit a hiking trail, batch-cook some food.... It’ll vary obvs but it’ll also give me something to set my sights on instead of floating aimlessly through the V O I D. Especially with this is work on my narrative. I'll be posting bits and pieces as I go... <3 4 >> s t a y c h i l l My lizard brain has been getting the best of me lately. I'm having some trouble adjusting to so much change, and at times it overtakes me... I'm going to do my best to check in here daily, and try to be mindful enough to minimize my stress and anxiety. OK I AM READY. TO RANGER ON!!! <3

. . . . . . . . Yeah, so, back in February, my depression and anxiety got...way out of hand, and i ran from...as many places as i could, really. Things got really bad, and i spent a lot of time wishful-thinking about suicide. Realized i have some resentment issues, some abandonment issues, some undefined issues. Thoughts and feelings about the world, about myself, that i don't know what to do with yet. There was a difficult situation in the family, and i'm wholly convinced it was God who carried us through it. I've read some books (The Screwtape Letters, some historical fiction, some historical nonfiction), done loads of research on a wide variety of topics, finished a quilt that was started by my late grandma, been freaked out about the chocolate industry, and, for the past month, have been fostering four kittens on a part-time basis. ( that first and that last have been so helpful ) Also, mom and i started going to church again. My situation hasn't really changed - i haven't contacted a doctor or gotten a job or any of the Big Things i thought i wouldn't come back until getting done. The dark thoughts still come and go, the feelings still flare up, but...it's time to try another Challenge, if the Rangers will have me back. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ My goals are routine-based, pass-or-fail, and built on some of the things i've discovered make me feel better: Daily Morning Stretch 10 Squats each time i leave my desk Daily Scripture Writing/Devotion Time Memrise/Duolingo/Khan Academy Assignments Workout- Final Girl from Darebee, generally. Finish one writing assignment daily. Minimum 3 water ( my cup is 32oz ) Bonus points for cutting sugar from tea Another thing i've realized makes me feel better is, weirdly enough, fasting? Having only water/tea all day and then one good meal in the evening. But it won't be a rule so much as a guideline.