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About the moon-a and the June-a and the Spring-a… I love to sing-a! Something about the calendar flipping over to January makes my brain go, “Yay, Spring soon! Now? How ‘bout now?†Hence the sing-a. I had thought about sitting out this challenge due to an iffy work schedule, but the thought of being more prepared for dusting the bikes off in warmer weather just appeals to me. I’m going to go for it, but updates might be a bit sporadic other than the weeklies. Main Quest My main quest is to improve my body fat percentage, specifically by dropping some more of this weight. I have my intake set to lose 0.5 pound a week, so I’m aiming for 3 pounds by the end. Extra loss would be groovy, but I’m hesitant to set up a bigger deficit because resistance training requires moar fuel. Sub-goals to help with this quest are as follows: Dial in the Diet. I log everything on MFP and want to stay green (meaning at or under the goal number) on calories and carbs while meeting or exceeding my protein and fat macros. This is going to take some planning and is unlikely to be 100% green, but I really feel it will help the main goal. For weekly grading, green days totaling at least 90% = A, 80% = B, 70% = C. Activate the Rest Days. This goal is related to last challenge because it’s still something I need to work on. What I’d like to do is throw in some cardio on at least two of my off days to make them active, either on the stationary bike (30 min) or with a long walk/jog (at least 5k total steps for the day). For weekly grading, 3 days = A, 2 days = B, 1 day = C. Build the Endurance. My cardiovascular health is kind of crap because I was sedentary for so long and for some reason have always had a very fast resting heart rate. I’ve been making progress with intervals on the elliptical, increasing resistance and speed while keeping my HR within healthy parameters. For weekly grading, HR under 140 = A, under 150 = B, under 160 = C. Life Quest Get up early and at the same time every morning. My alarm is set for 6:00 a.m., and for months I’ve been turning it off and going back to sleep until hubs wakes me up at 7:40. I will stop being lame and get my ass up to accomplish more stuff in the mornings. Motivation The last challenge felt pretty blargh for me, so I’ve got an axe to grind on this one. Maintaining over the holidays was a pretty good feat, but I really want to get somewhere this time. My inner badass wants out. Stats Measurements as of January 5... Height—5'3.5 Weight—Starting, 162.8 lb. (because I indulged in holiday piggery and I'm not even sorry) Neck—Starting, 13.25 in. Waist—Starting, 35 in. Hips—Starting, 42.5 in. Forearm—Starting, 9.1 in. Bicep—Starting, 11.7 in. Thigh—Starting, 24.25 in. Calf—Starting, 14.1 in. Time to move that butt!