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Hi All! Putting together a quick thread for a No-Spend Summer challenge that will run from today (or July 30 if you prefer to take Zero Week off) to September 2 to coincide with the current Five week challenge cycle. Tagging @Heidi and @Darciana to join me here, but really, anyone is welcome to pop in and celebrate their restraint and re-prioritization of goals! For myself, my parameters are no casual spending, no eating out if I'm alone, and no online shopping at all. Regular household purchases like groceries, gas, etc., will continue as normal. My exception/reward will be a sticker and stationery order to be placed during an annual sale that takes place August 6th that I will not get to open until the end of the challenge and that I commit to giving away should I fail to meet the parameters I have set for myself. Looking forward to cheering us on!

Hi Friends! Last challenge saw me go through a mood blip and my spending got pretty out of hand, an unfortunate Bipolar symptom that I don’t often have to deal with. I have tweaked my medication and things seem to be levelling out, which is excellent. But just to be sure that I am in control of things in a conscious way, I am choosing to take on this challenge as a no-spend cycle. I’ve never done this before so I have no idea what to expect. But I have been writing in my journal about how I want more creativity and less consumption so that is the balance I am hoping to strike over the next six weeks. Goals: 1) No-Spend: My parameters for this are: no casual spending and no online spending of any kind; no eating take out or fast food if I am alone and I can only have it if Dave suggests it (I can’t propose it to him), and no “add ons” for non-essential things when we are at places like WalMart that might have pens, etc., that tempt me. There is a No-Spend PVP thread Here if you are interested in that kind of thing. 2) Movement before Forums: I have been rehabilitating a bad case of plantar fasciitis since May and I think I might finally be out the other side of it. Yesterday I managed 5100 steps, my best day since the injury. Today I am at 5200 and the day isn’t over yet, thanks in part to a dedicated 30 minute treadmill session that seemed to go very well. I am making a commitment that I cannot come on here to post my daily update if I have not already completed a minimum of 15 minutes of movement. This can be a walk, weights, resistance bands, bodyweight stuff, whatever, it just needs to be done first. The forums are a huge part of my day because of how little I have to do at work that this will be a good motivator for me. 3) Eat food, not too much, mostly plants: This is a quote from Michael Pollan that has resonated with me for many years. I was doing a low carb modality for a while but I was finding it very hard to re-commit to tracking and measuring and all of that so I stopped that before I gave myself a complex. I am taking this challenge as a break from tracking and working with the knowledge I have from previous eating modalities (keto, paleo, etc) to choose plants first and then fill out my plate with healthy choices. Problem areas are traditionally game snacks (every Friday and Sunday) so I will be trying to eat snap peas, apple chips, etc., instead of regular chips and see if I can resist the chocolate and gummies completely. I am allowed to have chocolate and gummies, but it needs to be a moderate portion and I cannot feel like I am out of control with them. As soon as I feel out of control the rest go away. Mindfulness is going to be huge here. Other things that will be happening in the background: Latvian lessons on Mondly; daily Tarot and writing reflection; and daily writing/reading/game prep. All of these will be tracked in my Bullet Journal as per usual. The spread for this challenge has stickers from thecoffeemonsterzco on it which I find hugely delightful. The spread: Which brings me to my reward… thecoffeemonsterzco is having a huge annual sale on August 6th for the founder’s birthday. Helen sneak peeked Some of the new washi that is going to be for sale and it is wonderful and I really want it. So my plan is to set myself a budget of no more than $150 that I can spend during the sale on the condition that if I fail this challenge I will send those lovely treats to someone else to use. Given that the washi seems to only be a one-and-done sale, it means I will never get them if I make a hash of this. I am not normally susceptible to FOMO but it’s really weighing on my brain with these products for some reason. If successful I was going to give the parcel to Dave to hold for safekeeping but he leaves for Latvia again on August 19th so that isn’t going to work. Maybe I will give it to Nicole instead. I will check with her. So that is me for now! I hope that if you are resting for Zero Week it is high quality recovery and that if you are challenging you are off to the best possible start. Thank you for being here! ❤️

“Ships on vigor of the waves are skimming Barren summits to the verdant plains Each horizon is a new beginning Rise and reign Far from the Fjords and the ice cold currents Ravens soar over new frontiers Songs and sagas of a fate determined Shields and spears (...) Fires are rising and the bells are ringing Glory take us into Odin's halls Golden glimmer and the sound of singing Asgard's call”* My fellow rebels, welcome to my new challenge! I am gonna report about my progress weekly and post some motivational stuff and music too. If you support me, I’ll try my best to return the favour. Let’s unite our powers! I am gonna level up on the path of a warrior. These are the values of the Vikings’ Code of Values I am gonna pursuit and how I am gonna do it: 1. Strength “It takes a certain kind of warrior to be able to row for hundreds of miles on the open seas and then go raiding for riches. Raw power is necessary, along with endurance and functional strength. Having a physical presence and mental fortitude was essential in surviving.” Strength: My ultimate goal is to become as strong as I can. This month there are only two weeks left of this challenge and I am both sick and injured, so I am gonna include some basics: - learn the proper technique of basic movements of strength training - do what you can without compromising your health - Do exercise to strengthen the joints every day (was injured recently, need to prevent future disasters) (10 min) -Eat garlic every day (if anyone has any advice about other effective ways to boost the immune system, let me know) 2. Discipline “Discipline, again as part of a total way of life, refers to self-discipline. If one is going to live by ones own standards, they are responsible for and must be willing to control your own actions. “ Always do what is planned unless seriously sick or unwell. Never slack off - especially studying. Study every day for at least half an hour (I work 9 h a day, so not that much free time) and more on the weekend. 3. Courage The Vikings were known for their courage and bravery in battle. Courage actually applied to every part of ones life. It take courage to do what you know is right, especially when those around you disagree with your point of view.” Do at least one thing that scares you. 4. Self-Reliance “Warriors are by nature independent beings, they strive to ensure that they don’t have to depend on others for their survival. Indeed family was at the center of Viking life. A Viking is responsible for taking care of himself and his family; this is his first and foremost duty in life. Being frugal and prepared for hardship, as with a long upcoming winter, was an important part of being self-reliant.” Don’t spend more than 1000 yuan (it is 156 American dollars) for personal expenses every month. Save the rest for future adventures and possible hardships. 5. Stay in tune with the gods “The Vikings had a deep connection to nature, to the Earth and the phases of the moon, and Norse spirituality has many similarities with shamanism around the world.” Turn off your phone for two hours a day (on the weekend). Admire the nature. Connect with it and search for that feral feeling deep within. Reach to your roots, to the roots of humanity. *the lyrics at the beginning comes from “Valhalla Calling” by Miracle of Sound. It is my battle hymn!

May Challenge. Language and content warning ahead, it’s been a tough year so far and my filter is off for this Yasha-pool challenge. You’ve been warned. This challenge my accountabillibuddy is Wolfie! (Goddamit man, what is your tag? I don't have time to sift through the millions of wolf-related usernames)... We're kicking each other's arses into gear to take back 2018 as a year of awesome instead of a year of suck. Cut the shit (decluttering): It is possible that my sister may move in with us if she comes to study. If she does the whole spare/study/nerd room needs to be empty to be her bedroom. I have been doing this little by little, but for this challenge I will follow a more structured approach: 1 item on day 1, 2 on day 2, etc up to 28 on day 28 which in total will be 406 items decluttered. We don’t have heaps and heaps of junk, as I semi-regularly declutter, but if we are having a housemate I will need to unearth a fair amount of space (maybe we do have heaps and heaps of junk… every time I go looking for something to declutter I find something and our house is often messy…). $0 days: I have a budget which I am working with to repay our honeymoon loan early. Tracking that is going ok but not mind-blowingly awesome. I’ve also seen some lifestyle ‘creep’ in terms of buying soft drink at work etc (I know, I know). One tip I saw on another website was to track zero-spend days to minimise the leaky-wallet syndrome where money trickles out each day adding up to large amounts. I’ll be tracking this on the calendar so my shame victory is clear for all to see. Drugs and douche-brain: track mood out of 10, take medication and vitamins. This has had a huge impact on my mental health and is worth tracking. Where possible it would be ideal to apply for other jobs, but I have no control over them being advertised so I will keep an eye on the jobboard but not make it a goal. Fuck fizzy. No fizzy drink. No excuses. Gymming once a week, kettlebell workout at home once a week. (Pic chosen for @Mr_Willes) So – each day you should see: A picture of what I’ve decluttered, a photo of my calendar (with a fat $0), a mood number /10 + confirmation of meds, a 'Fuck fizzy!', plus twice a week a workout confirmation. You’ll probably also see a bunch of trash-talking too, directed at @Wolfpool (found you!). We will be kicking all of the asses this challenge to live our best lives.

Going Slow-Carb, that is. This challenge I'm gonna switch to the slow carb diet as lain out by Tim Ferris in the 4-hour-body. Basic gidelines go like this. Is not to different from Paleo, except for it's mandatory cheat day. I'm really curious of how it will turn out, especially the damage control part; since I have cheat meals every weekend anyway it seems like a good idea to plan it in advance and lessen the damage through bodyhacking. If it turns out a terrible scam or something, I'll switch back to paleo and hopefully have nothing to regret. My exercise goal is the same as last challenge: attend CrossFit 3 times a week and KravMaga 2 times a week. Financial goals: -Sell all airsoft related things except for the AK74su -Sell one of my guitars -Refrain from making credit card purchases -Stop buying any book that catches my attention on Amazon. Seriously, stop This goals might include some business aspects if the beard oil deal goes forward. It will be a change not to spend my money like I'm a child, but the secret project it's worth it.

I know there are a lot of members of the rebellion also trying to save money, but we don't always need a individual threads for support. I thought a simple idea to support each other would be to start a running thread of "things we didn't buy today". Items you wanted to buy, but didn't for the sake of saving money or simply being frugal. I would have put this in the other forum but it wouldn't get seen there as much. We all have individual reasons (paying off debt, saving up an emergency fund, saving for retirement or a vacation, etc) but what we all have in common is being a little more economical with our money. I'll start. While sick with a cold I got in the habit of buying my daily coffee instead of drinking the free coffee at work (it doesn't taste as good). So today I made myself make a pot of coffee in the office instead. $$$$ Usually it is something bigger I'm talking myself out of, but this is a common one.

In honor of the new season of Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia starting this month I decided to do my theme based on my favorite show! Juggernaut 3x a week If I hope to one day be like the Golden God Dennis then I have to keep up my lifting. First Goal is to finish out strong with the Juggernaut program that I have been following. I am on my last phase and I want to finish strong. Yoga 2x a week I want to get some awesome moves and flexibility just like Sweet Dee. I want to keep working on my flexibility and I know that the yoga really helped balance out the aches and pains from the last few months. Read 2 books Like Charlie I could definitely benefit from learning how to read more. I want to keep up my reading spree so I want to finish at least 2 more books by the end of the challenge. I have a few in mind and I will post about which ones I start reading. Sweet Skillz Study Study 5 times a week for at least 20 mins I need to hone my computer skills in order to perform all of the Ocular patdowns required for my job. I am studying a few things in preparation for an upcoming job interview and hopefully job. I am learning more about Linux and Bash scripting. I am also jumping in and learning HTML5 and CSS coding so that I can get a lil bit of coding under my belt. If everything goes well then I might jump back into Sec+ or Linux plus as well. Save 200$ Frank is the money man, unfortunately like Frank I have been burning through the cash. After the holidays obviously my bank account is crying. So my goal for the end of the month is to save up 200$ and catch up on bills.

So, Feb. 2 was Imbolc, which is a holiday that celebrates the growing strength of the sun (after Yule, which is the shortest day of the year) and the first "milk" of the coming spring (when ewes and goats have their first young). This is a special holiday for Brigid (equivalent to the Christian St. Bridgette), who is a poet, healer, and blacksmith (and also the inventor of beer). Hence, the title for the quest - I worked my goals into a ritual to give myself a bit more motivation and strength for this challenge. Here are my goals for this challenge: Part 1: Physical Health (76 points) Exercising 5 days/week - Walking, belly dancing, or weight lifting, for at least a half hour.Tracking my caloric intake every day and keep within the limit set with my doctor (1,800 cal/day) - I will also refrain from snacking, except between lunch and dinner, and only drink alcohol socially.Taking my meds - Morning pill every day.Part 2: Spiritual/Mental Health (48 points) Meditating 5 times per weekGetting to bed by 11pm on weekday nights (except Tuesday, which is gaming night)Committing to spiritual study 2 hours per week - My special goal as part of this is to commune with a tree, according to my lessonsRead one book from year-long book challenge - I am going to read a book written by a former coworker of mine, as she will be in town for an author event on Feb. 16. I think her book will fall under a book published this year (or, in the last 12 months, anyway).Part 3: Financial Health (8 points) Planning my expenses and tracking free money for each pay period - I am still struggling with this. I plan my budget, but do not stick to it, hardly ever. That is what I really need to work on.52 week challenge - For this month, that is $5 for Week 1 (5th week of the year), $6 for Week 2, $7 for Week 3, and $8 for Week 4

This is my 14th challenge here at Nerd Fitness. You would think I'd have it all together by now and not need to continue to plan my life around every 6 week period of the year. However I know damn well that the moment I stop gamifying my life by participating in these challenges will be the moment I drop everything and revert back to the fast-food loving, couch-surfing lump of flesh I was nearly two years ago. Quick recap for those of you who haven't seen me around - I am a 24 year old human of the female variety living on the southern coast of Western Australia (that's in Australia!) working in hospitality in a locally owned small cafe in the "city" of Albany. I am currently stumbling my way through minimum skills training for Roller Derby, which despite being pidgeon-holed my entire life as the unfit & uncoordinated child of my family, am loving to death! Therefore any of my fitness and nutrition decisions are currently revolving around whether or not it will benefit my skating career. It is giving me something to hold onto for motivation when I have none left and need to decide on things like what to eat or whether to stay up all night playing The Sims. SO! Without Further Ado, Challenge Number 14 shall proceed as follows; Teagarden is Subtle, Like a Brick. or will be, once she learns how to hit people on wheels! Main Goal Enjoy Every Day of 2015 Current Goals: Become combat-ready for roller derby Become good enough to be an awesome jammer (get faster, hit stronger) Keep feeling healthy and happy like I have been the last 3 months Prepare for the next period of my adult life (purchasing a house!) Quest #1 - Do Physio-prescribed exercises daily (6 / 14) Getting stronger entirely will have to wait until I can rehab my knee to be completely trustworthy and so I can skate again. Quest #2 - Keep Breathing (2 / 6) Do 1 HIIT session every week. My lungs need to get used to hard and fast movement in short bursts, because that's mostly what ends up happening while I'm skating. I would do more then one session but as I'm already skating 5 hours a week for derby training I can't afford to burn myself out. Bonus points for cycling daily to rehab my bung knee. Quest #3 - Feed the Demon (9.5 / 42) Eat 140g 100g of protein daily. no point working out if I am just burning any muscle away instead of building it up onto my skeleton. I am not the biggest or the fastest skater so I need to work harder to make my presence known, and to do this I need to eat the right stuff! like, chicken, and steak. And protein shakes. Quest #4 - Farm the Gold ($625 / $1,500) Drop $250 into my savings weekly. I have a budget written out which takes into account the rent / mortgage payments I don't currently pay (because we rent from my mother-in-law and I pay all the bills while Mr. Tea pays the rent; it works out even in terms of paying our living expenses) but $250 is almost what I will be paying once we buy our house and start having to pay it off. If I can put $250 into my savings every week until April (when the tenant moves out of the house we intend to buy) I should have around $30,000 I can use as a deposit to make our overall home-loan smaller. I've also slacked on this a bit lately and this last week especially has seen me haemorrhaging money as all my objects reach their used-by dates. Bonus Quest - Save money to update items EDIT 19/11/2015: Donate extra money to worthy causes that you would otherwise waste on inanimate objects $50 donated so far. Ranger's Gonna Ranger: Star Wars Mini Challenge! Week 1, General Movement: Cycle 30kms (30 / 30) - complete! Week 2, Stealth and Tracking: Sneak around the bird watching walk, sneak up on birds (0 / 1) failed due to sickness Week 3, Rangerly Hobbies: Find a Geocache! (3 / 1) complete Week 4, Rangerly Showcase: create food using leftovers, photograph Week 5, Week 6.

Hi Everyone. (feel free to scroll to the bottom for the real goals) Time for a proper introduction. I've previously posted in the Assassin's forum but this challenge isn't very assassin-y and I probably need a but of a focus reset. My real name is Diana - I'm coming up on the big quarter century in January next year and to be honest I'm having a bit of a freak out. I've kinda been floating along through life mildly successfully but not overly. Early last year I changed jobs and immediately went backwards in kinda everything - my health started to get worse; i started yoyoing with my weight and mental health. This month we parted ways under some really stressful circumstances leaving me with what feels like the most ridiculously food; stress and sleep hangover and without a job. I'm not too concerned about finding the next job so much as the right one so I will be taking the chance to sit back and reset both my health and my life. I'm also really bad at saving because of the same reason I eat junk food - I was dealing with my mental health issue by buying and eating. Which is bad. The other side of the coin is that last year I randomly decided to start playing soccer after falling back in love with the sports that I haven't liked since I was a child. For no apparent reason (probably the fact that I am REALLY loud) the (now ex-) coach put me on goals and I fell in love with the position - even though I sucked the whole way through my first year because they just never got around to teaching me. I've just finished my second season now and I still adore it. But after realizing how much weight I put on I mentioned to my coach how much I was planning on losing as a start; and he was both super supportive and demanding enough to hold me to it. The problem for me is not so much amount or intensity of exercise but the food I am eating. All my problems boil down to two things lack of self control and lack of organisation. If I can work on fixing these then the rest will start to come on its own. And I finally have some some time frames that I plan to lose this weight by. My best friend lives in Denmark now and will be visiting in late December - and I plan on losing 12kg buy the time she arrives which would put me close enough to ideal weight for my height (and about 4 in this challenge specifically which would put me at 75/6). The soccer season is currently over so I will be having a number of different exercise types. On Saturday morning it is boxing; at some point at the end of September indoor soccer will start up again and I plan on getting in about 4-5 exercise sessions a weeks. and make sure I am hitting my step goal on Fitbit 6/7 days a week. (The First Week this goal will be 10k as I will be on holidays at my parents house; but after that will be 13k) And as I such I will be dropping my food budget to $150 a week which allows me to buy and cook good food and eat out occasionally. I will be tracking my food either through Fitbit or MFP and post the totals at the end of the week And I will be focusing on making sure I tidy and keep my house and stay organised and don't buy things I won't need. I have a purchases list on my home PC of things I'll be purchasing in the next few months most of them are things like car rego; but I also have some sporting memberships. For every exercise session I'm going to put $5 in a jar that I will use to save up to buy a something I have not yet decided on. TL;DR This Challenge I will aim to; lose 4kghave 4-5 exercise sessions a week and put aside $5 per exercise sessions for something to be decided onreach my steps goal 6/7days a weeknot spend over my food budgetkeep my house tidy; focusing kitchen and not throwing my clothes on the floor and making my bed.

Hello! So here I am, officially starting my first challenge at NerdFitness. I'm so excited to join this community and really have a sincere plan and people to help support me in achieving it! Since I'm brand spankin' new, I'm super open to any suggestions or ideas you might have -- feel free to jump in anywhere. My overall 'life' goals are to just be healthier and happier, so I've put together a few things to make that happen. I'm a bit forgetful, so having a system like this is really attractive to me. For now, the only statistic I have is my weight -- I don't even own a scale, so I checked in at my parents house to use their scale! It's not a huge deal to me, but I know it could be a good way to track my progress. I'll be taking some measurements as well, maybe today or tomorrow. My starting stats: Weight: 152 lbs Height: 5'8'' Goals: #1: Walk 30 minutes every day. (3 STA) This is exercise, and stress relief! Getting into the habit of getting outside everyday will be good. I can walk in my neighborhood after work, at the mall on my lunch break, or at my parents on the treadmill (in case of bad weather!). This goal will be graded as: 7 days in a week x 6 weeks in challenge = 42 walks/points. A = 42 pointsB = 31 pointsC = 21 pointsD = 11 pointsF = 6 points#2: Eat Breakfast Weekdays (4 CON) Eating breakfast is really important for maintaining a healthy weight and feeling good. I will meet this goal by preparing food the night before, and grocery shopping at least once per week. For help with this goal, I'll be using some recipes that I can make at the beginning of the week and then keep in the fridge til I eat them: Crustless Quiches, fruits, oatmeal and probably some luna bars, too. Grading: 5 weekdays x 6 weeks = 30 points. A = 30 pointsB = 22 pointsC = 15 pointsD = 7 pointsF = 0 points#3: Complete 5 real, full push-ups. (5 STR) I can’t do a single 'real' push-up right now, so I will use the Push-Up Challenge plan in coordination with the BBWW to reach my goal of being able to do 5 push-ups in a row at the end of the challenge. I I will work on this goal every day with the push-up challenge plan, and also by completing the BBWW twice a week, probably on Tuesdays/Thursday after work. Easy grading for this one! A = 5 pointsB = 4 pointsC = 3 pointsD = 2 pointsF = 1 point #4: Accumulate 1500 in my savings account.(3 WIS) I have a lot of things that I want to be saving for, and I tend to be a reckless spender. To reach this goal, I will create a weekly budget that will allow me to afford for all the things I need and want and still save on the side. I have also just signed up for Mint, so that should help me keep an eye on my spending habits. Another easily graded goal. A = $1500B = $1125C = $750D = $375F = $100 So, yep. There it is! I worked on it a lot. I'm perpetually in Phase One, so this is the stuff I'm good at. I'm gonna try to be journaling everything that pertains to these goals as well, so I'll have a better idea of what I'm doing. Hurray!