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She wakes up on the ground, disoriented and just a little sore. It's dense and humid forest surrounding here, branches and leaves nearly blocking out the afternoon sun. Turning slightly, looking up, she notices a little light peeking through that darkness.... could this be the respawn she's been waiting for? Gosh I hope so. So here I am, ready for a "do-over" in round two. I am a long time Women's Academy member. I began my first challenge with the best of intentions, but I went on vacation and though I kept track of the Academy Facebook group, I just waned everywhere else. So it was a partial win, I suppose. Like my first challenge, I have crafted this challenge to make sure I continue the little bit of progress I made over the summer. A little background may be in order: in June, the pain in my lower back made it so uncomfortable to walk, I knew I needed to take control. Thinking it was just weight pressuring my back, I found a trainer at an all-women's gym whom I really liked and set forth to work with her twice a week. After the first few workouts, she told me my right side was way higher than my left. That could be causing my issues. After two tries, I found the right chiropractor for me, and proceeded to go twice a week. The diagnosis was misalignment, but also very very super tight muscles. And I thought I was just tense? Ha! So here I am. I continue on a regimen of deep tissue massage, core strengthening, and trainer sessions twice a week. I need to stay, and perhaps surpass, where I am now. Hey, that's my main quest. I will: 1. make an effort to walk in the evening at least 2 days a week2. fit in yoga at least 2 times a week3. use my toning balls and plank on off trainer days to continue to strengthen my core4. set my Fitbit activity alarm so after 2 hours of nonactivity, I will get up and stretch (at the very least)These are small steps-- but I know I can handle them. I often check my phone during my free periods at school, and I will continue to do that through my nemesis, Tapatalk. My mini-quest is something I need to conquer to keep my brain with my body. In this mini-quest I will work to curb my negative self-talk. I'm not completely sure how I will begin slaying that, but I do have a few ideas up my sleeve.

Try 2 at this Lost motivation in the middle of my last one, battled it out with my depression again beginning of this year, got on some new meds (and wow, should have tried new meds sooner!), and found a diet plan that seems quite sustainable for me, keeping me full, happy, and very few cravings. Been on the new diet since just after the 4th of July, been working out quite well thus far (as you can see from the meters in my sig). Main Goal I want to continue sticking with my current diet plan (with hopes to drop below 220 by the end), and start to add in some more activity to up my strength (namely the Nerd Fitness Yoga program, since I shelled out the $$ for it). Current diet is ketogenic diet, I've really been enjoying it quite a bit (my main source thus far has been ruled.me for recipes). Adding in activity will likely be tricky at first, don't want to go to quick and send myself into a spiral of craving anything for energy. However, I do believe I have the hang of snacking for this diet now, so I feel as though I'll be able to manage it. Quest 1 - Yoga! Add in at least two full sessions and two mini sessions each week of the challenge. I'm free to add more than that after the first week if I desire. Quest 2 - Sleep again Get 8 hours a night. Sleep is apparently a never ending battle for myself! Every time I fix something with my sleep habits, it seems like I pick up a new bad habit. Snoozing is still an issue - I've been using a sleep cycle alarm that is supposed to wake me up when I'm sleeping lightly/in an ideal part of my sleep cycle, but honestly, I don't think it helps. Instead, I'm just going to use the function on the alarm to use a slowly increasing volume wake myself up at the designated time. I've also taken up the bad habit of cruising twitter for like, 15 minutes on my phone before I actually get out of bed. I'm not going to try and cut this completely, but I'm going to try make sure I get myself up from the bed and at least in front of my computer to do this. Weekends (Friday night and Saturday night) I will allow myself 10 hours if I feel I need it, but no more. Quest 3 - Take the dogs for walks I've got two large dogs that we usually just play with around the yard to get them some exercise, but I'd like to get them something a bit more formal, and also will give myself a bit of activity. 3 days a week take them for at least a 15 minute walk (while wearing tennis shoes). I'm sure the 15 mins seems short, but some days they are worse than toddlers, so it's merely the minimum allowing for puppy tantrums. Hopefully this will also get them to be a bit better leash trained as well, as this has certainly lapsed. I'd like to get this to be early morning walks eventually, but first I just want it to happen, period. If I get up with enough time to do it in the morning, great, but if not after work is fine as well. Life Quest The urge is to fill this up this time with alllll sorts of stuff I want to fix. Last time, I wanted to do a writing themed one, and this is something I'd like to stick with, as the nebulous urge to do so is still there, just having a hard time, you know, actually doing it. Also, I want it to become a hobby that I use to fill time. This time, I simply want myself to write SOMETHING. it doesn't have to be anything with a goal in mind. It can tie into a previous weeks work, or just be something fresh. It can be fiction or diary style. Just something to get me typing! One full page single spaced a week. This is minimal, I'm sure it seems like small fry. But I want to get a small habit of just doing SOMETHING to do with writing. Once that habit is there, I can build it and morph it as I want it to. Also, I'm going to add vacuuming the house in to this as well. Because I own two dogs and a cat that shed, I need to freaking vacuum more often! Twice a week go around cleaning up the hair bunnies that collect in the corners (we have wood floors), and once a week a good vacuuming on the couple area rugs we have placed. Class - I think I'll just stick with recruit for now One of my pratfalls with trying stuff like this is looking too far ahead and getting overwhelmed and bogged down in 'what ifs' and 'wouldn't this be cool!' So I'll have picking a class as a reward for sticking it through to the end this time.

Hi everybody, I'm LydiaJaybird. You can call me whichever part of that you prefer. This isn't actually my first challenge, though... About a year ago I did a couple challenges as ElfiKay - got up to running nine miles a week - but then I broke my foot. For a little while I tried to keep up with my diet and some non-foot-related workouts, but my foot took a long time to heal [and gave me a couple cruel periods of false hope where I thought it was better and then it got worse again... even got put back in my boot in February] and I lost heart. Stopped coming on here, stopped trying to diet, gained a bunch of weight, and got pretty depressed. Eventually my foot healed all the way back up and I was able to start running again this summer! But I had trouble keeping up with my runs, so I've come back to you lovely people with a new account. During that whole messed-up foot time period I made a couple attempts at different low-impact exercises to stay in shape - pilates [got bored], rock climbing [discovered a fear of heights... while 80ft up a cliff], and pole dancing [LOVE ITTTT]. So now I have a new passion - very similar to my old passion, actually. I danced [ballet, jazz, hip-hop, etc] until partway through college, and quitting is one of my biggest regrets. So now I have dance back in my life and I couldn't be happier about it! Due to a bunch of stuff that'll take too long to get into, I actually had to quit classes, but I've got a pole in my living room now, so I can still workout on it and practice. Yay! So now for the important bit - my quests for this challenge! Main Quest - Lose 12 Pounds I've managed to drop most of my broken-foot-moping weight, but not all... Right now I'm 2 pounds above what I was when I started in the forums last year... 12 pounds above where I was when I actually broke my foot So, I want to drop the rest of that weight. It's a lofty goal - I'll need to lose 2 pounds every week - but I think I can get there. Goals 1. Pole Dance - Do two strength workouts a week on the pole and practice tricks at least one other day. I've already figured out an upper body workout for Tuesdays, and a core/lower body workout for Thursdays. I'll use Saturday for that extra practice day. I'm also going to try to start recording my practices so I can see what I need to work on and see my progress. Assuming that I don't look like a harpooned whale, I'll post those here for accountability and moral support (I'm super critical of myself when it comes to dance... I need to make sure I don't beat myself up too much over not being good. Calm down, me, I've only been doing this since January!) But we'll see, hahaha. 2. Run - Run three times a week, using the return to running progression that my physical therapist gave me. 3. Keep Calm and Keto On! - My roommate and I started the keto diet together a couple months back and I love it. We plan our meals and get groceries together - then she cooks and I do the dishes. And she's an AMAZING cook - everything she makes tastes like Jesus himself blessed it. The only pitfall that keeps tripping me up is that she isnt very reliable... On the weekends in particular she's more reliable at being unreliable than anything. Which is incredibly frustrating because she doesnt share the spices part of her recipes with me (she generally just makes it up on the spot anyways), just the ingredients that have nutritional value, so if I try to make them myself it tastes awful. Also, I generally won't find out that she's not making a meal until it's past time to eat, so then I'm really hungry and end up just eating whatever I can get my hands on. So I need to start being prepared to cook meals for myself on short notice. I figure if I keep some extra eggs and frozen vegetables in the fridge, then I'll always have a quick, keto-friendly meal on hand. If anybody else knows some fast and easy keto meals that I can throw together last minute when Roomie falls through, please let me know! The gradings for this goal are to stick to my calories and keep it keto, no matter what. [1645 calories or less, 25 carbs or less] Life Quest Work towards Employment! I graduated this May... but I can't get hired. So I'm a part-time cashier. [it's not a problem of qualification, I graduated as an honors student with a double major in International Business and Management and a double minor in Japanese and Portuguese. 3.5 GPA couldve been higher, but thats what I get for studying two languages.] But I've got to keep trying. I keep hinging on opportunities that seem like they'll turn into something, and then when they fall through, I haven't applied to anything new in weeks. Ex. I recently interviewed at a bank, and have a company that's emailed me asking for an interview, and out of positivity/confidence in one of those positions turning into something, I haven't applied to anything in two weeks. So I need to make sure that I'm constantly working towards getting a job, not just sitting around waiting. Every week, I need to be able to list concrete things I've done to try to get hired until I receive a job offer. No more twiddling my thumbs while I wait for responses. Measurements Height: 5'9" Weight: 177.6 Waist: 30 Hips: 42.5 Grading Each goal will be graded weekly & be worth 1/3 of that week's total grade. Each week I get the chance to earn a point of extra credit by completing my Life Goal, so that's up to six points of extra credit possible! My final grade will be the average of all six weeks plus my Life Goal extra credit. I need to make at least a C (70%) to pass the challenge. Pole - percentage of completed workouts/practices. Running - percentage of completed runs. KCKO - 1 point each day for meeting calories and another point for meeting carbs. Total points/Total possible for the weekly grade. Exceptions - If I'm sick or injured (please noooo not again!), then workouts are excused. For rewards, I'm a little bit torn. Last year I rewarded myself with workout shirts/games, but right now I don't know if I can afford to do that. With my current situation, I'm on a very tight budget to avoid bleeding money from my savings on a monthly basis. I'd love to say that I'll buy myself some pole shorts or a new workout top, but I just dont know that I can afford it. I'd say that another good reward would be to let myself ask a weekend off to go hiking with Andy, my... uh... romantic interest? I hate modern dating..., but we're not allowed to ask off Fridays or Saturdays. Those are truck days. I could always completely cut extra spending during the month (what little I do... >.<) and use that to buy something? Idk, what do you all think?