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Originally I had no idea what I wanted for this next challenge. But, after talking with a wise and true friend on Sunday, my brain started working. What are the things I need to accomplish during the time frame? Key moments are: - April 16, Boston Athletic Association 5k - April 24, PAXEast Great. So, I know I'm running, and the next week there will be a long Sunday with good friends, where I will hopefully discover some fun and interesting games. Which means I really need to step up my running game over the next two weeks. Other than that, I have a big problem. For much too long, I have been allowing myself the idea that I have no control when free and available food is offered, and simply doing whatever in those moments. This wasn't such a problem when I was being less social overall, but recently my number of social encounters has gone up, which means that this idea is now directly opposed to my wants, desires, and progress. Thus, the theme of the challenge. I decided a little Mass Effect wouldn't hurt. Goals for this month are as follows: Run 2x/week starting right now. There is no time to waste on this, the race gets closer and closer every day. Fortunately I already know that I can run a 5k, which means that all I'm doing is making sure that I do so respectably. Forge a morning routine that includes at least 10 minutes of meditation. Every day is better when I do this. It's necessary, and I need to stop allowing myself to think that it's not. Practice mindfulness around eating at all times, with particular attention to social encounters where food is available. The idea that I have no control in these situations is hereby once and for all declared FICTION, and has absolutely no relevance to real life going forward. I know that I will struggle, and I know that I will fail as I fight this life-long fiction, but dammit, I WILL REWRITE THIS STORY. That's it. All of this is surrounded of course by my attending martial arts class as much as possible; a habit and activity at which I am already well-accomplished. In May we've got our Pride Day demonstration coming up (sounds like I might get to be on the drums this year!), and then in early June the Wu Dao tournament to attend. There's also a book to write, but I've decided against making it part of my challenge here. Added pressure is not helping with that process right now, as the alchemy of my brain is actually getting more resistant under pressure, where usually the opposite occurs. So it's just a thing I'm working on, that's all. A project which deserves completion.

Getting a better grip on what I'm actually going for with this challenge, I'm modifying some stuff from my initial post. My Main Quest was kinda vague. I mean, gaining muscle and losing flab is good, but there's got to be a way to measure. I don't have the fat caliper pinchy thingies, and they make me feel inferior anyway, so I'm going to go with pictures, one to be posted shortly. For Mission #1 - Be Stronger Than Your Excuses, I've got myself a lovely list of exercises to get better at, and even if it's boring, I'm going to keep at them for the full six weeks to see what improvement I can make in my initial numbers, to be posted tomorrow. Mission #2 - Weight Watcher Reboot - is set to start tomorrow, since that's my first weigh-in with the new at-work group that I'll be joining, that meets during my lunch hour - which is awesome. I'll report in my first planned small change for the week at some point tomorrow. For Mission #3 - Snooze - there are no alterations - I managed lights out on time last night and coaxed myself out of bed at 6:45 as scheduled. This arrangement should guarantee me somewhere around 7 hours of sleep per night, which is about the right amount for me to not be cranky next day. As for my Life Quest, aka Mission #4 - Self Control, I've got Self-Control programmed with a blacklist of my main offenders. I didn't put NerdFitness on the list because I figured I usually forget to post how I did on stuff until later at night. So I'm leaving that available. Facebook, Hulu, Netflix, Yahoo & MSN are out. More may be added later, depending on what I find tempting me after hours. I'm leaving YouTube off for now because if I want to do Poi lessons, I'll need it, but it may be too big of a temptation. At 10:00 tonight I plan to set it off and maybe clean some stuff. I've been rearranging furniture and trying to weed out all the crap in my apartment, and the project is coming along, but slowly. My dad just called to say he found a nice small dining table for me, and I'm visiting him this weekend, so I need to sort out this corner full of crap that I had collected from other corners. I have a lot of yarn for some reason. Here's an additional thought, I've got this calendar white-board that I got for previous challenges. I think it's time to erase April and add in September and October so I can have a place to track progress. Strength 3 times a week, choose and make a small change weekly, lights out by 11:30m and out of bed by 6:45 every work night, and Self-Control activated at 10:00 every work night. I don't know that I'm going to bother with the attribute points. I've never been much of a gamer. But I may reward myself for successfully completing my missions. So on to the photo taking and strength-getting... I'll report in soon.

6 weeks 42 days 10 minute abs every sunrise 1min- plank 1-side plank left 1-side plank right 1- situps 1- side sit ups right 1-side sit ups left 1-push ups 1-triangle push ups 1-leg lifts 1-bicycle Every day 10 back bends 3 sets of 12 pull ups 3 sets of 12 dips Monday - Back - hyper extension 3 sets of 12,bouncy ball, 1 min swimming Tuesday- Legs lunges, 3 sets of 12 leg presses, 3 sets of 1 min bounces Wednesday - Butt 3 sets of 10 squats Thursday- voyage to land of Teef, yoga 7:30 Friday- Run Saturday- Pilates Sunday- yoga

THE END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH!!!!! And there may or may not be zombies involved.... Technically it's just the end of the year, but this is the time of year when all of my plans, to get healthy and lose weight and build good habits and suchlike, go flying out the window. For one thing, I've got two weeks left of NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writers Month - where crazy writer-types sign up and attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. This means most of my time and energy is devoted to writing. And when I'm not actually writing, I'm plotting, planning and otherwise ruminating over what I'll be writing next. That's why I'm only getting around to joining the current challenge today. I've been writing. And I'm behind. In fact I've only got 10,000 words right now when I ought to have16,667 as of yesterday and 18,333 by the end of today. So as soon as I finish this, I'm gonna go write. Right! In addition to NaNoWriMo, I've read about a certain phenomenon, and have experienced it to be true, that people tend to gain weight in winter. Why? Well, lots of reasons that I've read about for example that we tend to feel more hungry and crave more food in a cold house than in a warm one. It's harder to be active in the winter months, especially around here in Wisconsin - in fact it just started snowing. We tend to choose carbs - aka Comfort Foods - as a quick fix for hunger and for SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). We eat more under stress, and let's face it, the holidays can be very freaking stressful. Not to mention the holiday's themselves which tend to turn into multi-day food extravaganzas. The fact is, since the start of November I've already gained back a few of the pounds I so recently lost. My Life Quest continues to be achieving the weight that I had in high school, back when people made me feel fat, but I really wasn't. Still aiming at 152, though the other day I looked at my driver's license and thought it would be nice to weigh the 170 that I claimed I weighed the day I got it. Goal #1 - Escape PlanCircumstances may require that I need to relocate very quickly. To that end I've discovered that going up and down the stairs at my office, which has 1034 of them, is a great weight to get in shape. In fact, I'm doing a charity stair climb on Thursday. But, I want to continue on with the climbing after Thursday, and working out at work is a good thing. On days when I don't do stairs, I plan to bust out my mini-trampoline and start running from zombies again. And there may be some rock climbing thrown in there too, from time to time. Get 30 minutes of cardio exercise at least 5 days a week. Days missed - 5 or less = A, 6-7 = B, 8-9 = C, 10-11= D, 12 or more days missed = F. +2 STA +1 DEX Goal #2 - Stock Up (and Ration)I've been slacking off a bit, and I do have a general tendency to eat prepackaged everything. But I'm gonna be packing my own lunches and avoiding eating out like its... well, the plague. My focus will be on whole foods, fruits and veggies, on keeping my meals simple, and on actually cooking my own meals from scratch every now and then. Also, I'll be tracking my points and not spending more that I've been allotted, but this isn't something I'll be tracking on Nerd Fitness since I already track that with Weight Watchers. Eat one 'from scratch' meal every day. No vending machine purchases or fast food, and no more than 2 prepackaged microwave meals per week. Days missed - 7 or less = A, 8-11 = B, 12-15 = C, 16-19 = D, 20 or more days missed = F, +1 CON, 2 WIS Goal #3 - Get StrongI may have to fight my way through hordes of the undead, or worse, the shoppers on Black Friday! I may need to kick ass in multiple ways. And even if I don't need to, just knowing I'm able to kick ass on a moment's notice is always nice. So I'm going to start, and STICK TO, a body weight workout that will get me strong enough to face whatever comes my way. Body Weight Work out 3 days a week. Days missed - 3 or less = A, 4 = B, 5 = C, 6 = D, 7 or more days missed =F +3 STR Side Quests Fight the Winter Blues (fitness) I'm going to sleep. Okay, this sounds weird as a fitness quest. But honestly, everything I've read and heard points to the fact that the more good sleep you get, the more likely you'll be to lose weight. And right now I'm getting about six hours on the weekdays. Of course, this whole writing thing, and the fact that I tend to not even start writing until 11:00pm and then don't wrap up until 1:00am, is definitely a factor right now. But even in general, I don't get enough sleep. Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night. Days missed = 6 or less = A, 8-11 = B, 12-15 = C, 16-19 = D, 20 or more days missed = F +2 CON Communication (Life) There's safety in numbers, so I'm going to stay in touch with my fellow survivors by staying active with the Guild and encouraging my fellow Assassins on their quests. Check in with one fellow assassin every day, at least 5 days per week. Days missed - 5 or less = A, 6-7 = B, 8-9 = C, 10-11= D, 12 or more days missed = F. +3 CHA

Ok lately Ive been getting a strong urge to midnight snack. I admit before I decided to change i was a heavy snack eater, I ate like a pig but lately these urges are coming back . I would suddenly woke up in the middle of the night (2-3am) feeling hungry. I tried ignoring it, but im the kind of guy who just cant sleep on an empty stomach. Whenever this happens I would just drink warm milk but still it is losing it's touch. Im starting to eat heavy like sandwiches and such and its getting outta hand. Help?

So, it was suggested on my challenge thread that a thread be created completely devoted to discipline! How to have it, how to expand it, how to get better at it, etc. From Merriam-Webster.com (I only used the definitions that applied... I don't think we are trying to get better at punishment. Although I see how that could work....) A few people made good suggestions already, which I would just like to quote here: For me, discipline is about making myself do things I don't want to, like go to class, eat properly, clean up my house, do homework, work out, etc. It is also about completing these things in a timely manner, as procrastination is a big problem for me. I will put off getting ready for work until 10 minutes before I have to leave then rush getting ready. Lastly, it's about not making excuses. I am an emotional rationalizer, and I make excuses for everything. How about you? What does discipline mean to you? Any helpful tips/tricks/advice you could share on becoming more disciplined? Any great resources you've come across? Let the discussion begin!