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I'm back and ready to nuke! So guys, i joined the rebellion one year ago but i have never managed to complete more than one challenge. I'm here again trying to improve my life, which is pretty depressing and sad, as it pains me to admit. Something quick about me : i'm a 23 years old male that lived the childhood like an hermit, and there i think the majority of my problems are born. I have made a tremendous amount of progress in these years, going from a hermit to someone who is considered to be the crazyhead of my workplace for my entusiasm and good madness. However i seem to be unable to male friends, i don't know why...today i had a crysis thinking of giving up on everything but then i get back to the path again. So, maybe i will even get a friend here at the end hope is the last thing to die These are my current priorities and goals: 1] House of the rising sun : -Waking up at 4:00 am. Currently i wake up at 5am, in my first challenge i managed to reduce my waking time to 4:00am, but then i lost motivation and after a month i gave up...i wanna do this again, i had so much time back then... So the strategy is to reduce my waking time 1 minute a day. Every day i will change my alarm, so for example if today i woke uo at 5 am, tomorrow i will wake up at 4:59 etc 2]Get in shape: Pretty basic. I'm a very big guy, 1.90m x 105kg. I'm pretty athletic but also i have at least 15kg of bodyfat in excess. I'm already going to the gym 6 times per week but i need to improve my nutrition, which is the main cause 3]Eating healty: I get into the habit of cooking 4 healty meals per day but then again i gave up because i wasn't able to wake at 4 am anymore and i didn't had the time to cook. So again, my goal is to cook 4 healty meals every day, protein, legumes and vegetables 4]NO FRUIT You might say "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" Well, i eat at least 8-9 of them when i get hungry for a total of 2-3kg. I need to stop with fruit, relegating it to just one day a week 5]Be creative I sucks at this. This is my biggest problem in life. I simply have no idea of what to do when i aint working. Sure, i know lots of things about books, games, cinema and sciences but i lack life experiences. Due to my loneliness i have never done the things that other guys have done so this is actually a very important point. I don't know where to start...perhaps with an origami? A drawing? I will figure it out This is just a first post, i have very little time during the day and i'm not a native english speaker so for me is pretty challenging to write in english. I have lots of things to improve but now lets start with these Thank you for reading, i'm always looking for friends and people to talk with. I would love to have a "Meal buddie" which shares with me his/her meals to keep ourselves motivated!

Back to basics because it's sorely needed... Sit. 1) Make a meal plan for the week. I'm going to try adding some more structure to my nutrition and hit certain macros at certain times, rather than just generally trying to eat an appropriate amount and get enough protein. My boyfriend recently coded up a script to help me figure out how much of the selected foods I need to eat to hit my macros, which will make this a lot easier! Also, if I already have my meals planned out and just follow the plan, it means I don't have to track or count! This is how to meal plan, right? 2) GET OFF SCREENS AT 8:30 PM. In caps because I'm shouting at myself to actually follow through with this - it's the best way to make sure I get to bed at a decent time. Exceptions can be made for briefly using a meditation app or playing music, but that's it. 3) Calm the monkey mind: meditate daily. I'm now preparing for a lifting competition, which will require traveling and staying away from home - both of which make me anxious these days. In order to prevent my mind from sabotaging me (I'd really like to sleep the night before lifting...) I need to develop skills for calming and focusing my mind. Lifting-wise, I'm currently on a deload, which is convenient because I'm also sick. Hopefully I can start my next phase fully rested and recovered this weekend. After a few months in the 6-8 rep range, I'll be back to focusing on strength with sets of 5, making count reps much easier! And I used to think anything over three was a big number... I'm now preparing to compete in 7 weeks, so I'll have a short strength phase (week of 5's, week of 4's, week of 3's) followed by a mini-deload and then tapering for competition. No theme because I'm lazy - please send gifs. EDITED: Now with corgi gifs. EDITED AGAIN: Now with meditation goal and competition prep!

I am more than ready to get back into the swing of things... I can only relax so long before I get bored of it. When I start looking around the place and trying to figure out how difficult it'd be to paint the walls in the dead of winter, and whether or not I'm really so terrible at sewing that I can't patch all the older pieces of bedding (for the record: Yes, I am. In home ec they banned me from using the sewing machines after the third time I accidentally sewed my fingers to my project - then a few years later when working at a living in history museum, they had a rule to give me any craft project except for quilting. My lack of talent for needlework is spectacular) it's time to get back. Two more days until I go back to work. Today is laundry and errands, tomorrow I will probably devote to some of the chores I don't do as often as I'd like because once I start cleaning I have a hard time stopping until everything is to my satisfaction... and I was raised a base brat so "my satisfaction" is perfection, and I'm a little too black and white in my thinking on the cleaning front. I have a bad habit of holding off until I can be perfect because I was raised to think if you're not going to do a job "right" (read: perfectly), don't do it at all. The principle is to strive for excellence in all things. In practice it looks a whole lot like me not cleaning at all and leaving too much on my partner's plate unless I have a whole day to sink into cleaning everything with doesn't come along often and tending to get ridiculously, irrationally irritated/anxious if I start cleaning and have to leave it stop. This is not fair, not healthy and not a rational fear - I'm in my own damn place now, it's not like anyone's going to breathe fire at me if I only clean the stove instead of the entire goddamn place top to bottom. So I am going to face it. I just hope my partner can deal with me being as prickly as a briar patch for the next few weeks until I manage to show the lizard brain the sky will not in fact fall if I only clean one thing instead of all the things. Also picking this keeps my unofficial pattern of 1 mental goal (facing my pefectionsim fears), 1 physical challenge (work out 30min every morning), 1 lifestyle habit goal (wake up on time, no snooze, no excuses). Anyway, I'm also more than ready to get back into exercise. Well, my body is. My lungs disagree. My folks have a farm. I am allergic to hay, horses, dogs and cats, among other things. So my lungs get progressively more wheezy and less exercise tolerant the longer I visit for. Each year my lungs seem to get more and more tetchy about it - sooner or later I'm going to need to start finding a hotel to stay at so I can sleep somewhere that doesn't make me cough. Which has, in turn, royally messed up my sleep schedule. So today I refill my asthma meds and start sick plan to get my asthma sorted and then my challenge this month is all about self discipline and getting myself moving even when I don't wanna. Like mornings. I hate mornings. However, in the past when I've been able to get my arse in gear to move early in the morning I genuinely do have a better energy level and mood all day. So my challenge is going to be one of consistency and self-discipline this month. Get up on time. 6AM during the week. No excuses. If I can do it when I need to for work trips, I can do it at home. Week 1: M ☒ T ☒ W ☒ Th ☐ F ☐ Week 2: M ☐ T ☐ W ☐ Th ☐ F ☐ Week 3: M ☐ T ☐ W ☐ Th ☐ F ☐ Week 4: M ☐ T ☐ W ☐ Th ☐ F ☐ 8 AM at the latest on weekends Week 1: Sat ☐ Sun ☐ Week 2: Sat ☐ Sun ☐ Week 3: Sat ☐ Sun ☐ Week 4: Sat ☐ Sun ☐ Move for at least 30 minutes each morning Strength W/F/Sat Stretch T/Th Cardio Sunday - run at the track Recovery Monday - walking or something Tracking: Week 1: M ☒ T ☒ W ☒ Th ☒ F ☐ Sat ☐ Sun ☐ Week 2: M ☐ T ☐ W ☐ Th ☐ F ☐ Sat ☐ Sun ☐ Week 3: M ☐ T ☐ W ☐ Th ☐ F ☐ Sat ☐ Sun ☐ Week 4: M ☐ T ☐ W ☐ Th ☐ F ☐ Sat ☐ Sun ☐ Perfect is the enemy of getting shit done. One extra "clean up" task per day. Doesn't matter what. Pick one thing and do it, and only it. Week 1: M ☒ T ☒ W ☐ Th ☒ F ☐ Sat ☐ Sun ☐ Week 2: M ☐ T ☐ W ☐ Th ☐ F ☐ Sat ☐ Sun ☐ Week 3: M ☐ T ☐ W ☐ Th ☐ F ☐ Sat ☐ Sun ☐ Week 4: M ☐ T ☐ W ☐ Th ☐ F ☐ Sat ☐ Sun ☐

Mistr tries something completely different My New Year's resolution for the last few years has been the same: get more sleep. My success has been mixed at best. My sensei says "secret of the samurai: more of what's not working does not work". So for the next two challenges I'm going to change my focus. 1) Do fun things. I have a lot of internalized guilt (in my grandmothers' voices) about not getting all the things done. My family would be happier if I let that go and relaxed more. I don't need a goal to tell me to do the essential things, I already have an internal nag for that. I do need encouragement to do my own things. A. In a fit of enthusiasm, I signed up for the geekiest thing ever: Yarn Quest 2018 - The Steam Age. This is a role-playing game knitting challenge. I've created my character and her feline companion (all the characters have feline companions). Every week the author sends out a new chapter. In it are instructions on how to roll to determine what happens with your character. You find out the results by knitting the charts that correspond with the rolls. At the end I will have a scarf that tells my story. The timing fits nicely with the next two challenges. The clues call for knitting 80 rows a week. Yesterday was a holiday and I got about 10 rows done. It may be a stretch for me to keep up. I'll give myself credit for getting 3/6 charts knit each week. B. To avoid making fun into a chore, I'm adding a second option of doing other fun things. These are creative things. Socializing is a different beast. spinning yarn/carding wool knitting on my ongoing sock project embroidery on either of my ongoing projects weaving playing piano reading for fun 2) Make good use of my time. Mostly this means not goofing off on the internet because I don't want to do something. Also not reading junk mail at the kitchen table because I don't want to do chores. I hereby give myself permission to do fun things before chores. A. Lunchtime. Use my lunch hour for my stuff. Exercise, meditation, Duolingo, knitting, reading - anything is okay. Just get away from my desk and use the time. It being too cold to go outside is no excuse. B. Evenings. Choose one fun thing to do first or between chores. Not last. 3) Sleep is fun. My bed is comfy and warm. Remember this on cold winter nights. Reading in bed counts. So does knitting in bed. Go to bed. I still want to keep doing exercise and meditation. I decided against doing a Zen challenge from my zendo. That has a minimum of 20 minutes a day for a year with only 5 missed days. I fell like it would be more stress instead of encouraging me to sit zen consistently. Another thing I want to do is keep up on logging. There was a whole week over the holidays that I missed. I want to have the data on what I'm doing and how it is working. Metrics: report here at least twice a week.

Edit: Based on my New Years’ food resolutions, I’m gonna be making a lot of Mac n Cheese this year. Probably none this first week, but keep an eye out for the first attempt circa 01/07. So I’ve added a bonus goal in addition to the 5 main ones I started this post with! Alright, here goes first challenge of 2018. Everything will start Jan 3rd, my first full day back in Dallas. Clearly I'm getting a little stir crazy staying with my parents in that I'm already typing this up - will add a theme and gifs sometime before the 3rd as well. Hit target calories and protein, every day: I want to hit the ground running with my physique goals (specifically, post holiday cutting) as soon as I get back home to TX, so starting on the 3rd I'll aim to hit the calorie and protein goals I set for myself every day - this is going to be most challenging when traveling to Houston for practice, but I'm planning to start buying groceries when I'm in Houston so I have access to plenty of veggies and lean protein while I'm there. Sleep 8+ hours a night, 6+ days a week: I need to refocus on sleep for my recovery - really let this one slip over the last 3 months or so. Time to start tracking it and get the number back up to optimal for me. Get pre-gym morning routine down to about 15 minutes: Part of a broader plan to optimize my work day routines so I have time to train in the morning, work a full work day, teach and practice in the evening, and still get plenty of sleep (and occasionally socialize somewhere in there, too); morning routine will ideally just be making my bed, mixing PWO, swishing some mouthwash, popping a couple pills, and grabbing a breakfast I can eat in the car en route to gym. Theoretically, should let me wake by 6:15, be in the car by 6:30, be at the gym by about 6:45, and finish a decent length workout at 8 to be at work by 8:30. Do your scheduled workouts, adjusting as needed: I have all 5 days of the work week scheduled for an ideal setup, and if I need to shorten it due to national holidays, etc, I'll prioritize things from top to bottom, conveniently: Mon - Upper body lift w/ HIIT finisher Tues - Lower body lift w/ HIIT finisher Wed - Gymnast stuff, plus full-length HIIT session (20-30 mins) Thur - Pilates plus steady state cardio Fri - Gymnast stuff, plus full-length HIIT session (20-30 mins) Start tracking how focused and productive you feel at work: Simple 1-5 on each, assigned at the end of the work day. Won't do anything with the data yet, but getting it is the first step to look at patterns. BONUS GOAL: Make one (or more) Mac n Cheese recipe and post the results here Let it be known that I wanted to chuck a #6 and #7 at the end of this list, but stopped myself. Just barely.

Wonder Woman Says ... Enough! Time to get my Hype back The Ranger Chaplain and several of the Ranger leadership decided to hunt down the Hype stealing thief. I've decided to join on this mission as the villains Lethargy and Holiday-Mode wants to take over my world. That cannot be allowed! There are only 7 weeks left till the Muddy Princess, and this princess has to be strong enough to face the music... mud-style. That will be the epic showdown between Wonder Woman, Lethargy and Holiday-Mode. I'm taking it a bit easier over 25-26 Dec. but then it's full steam ahead then it's week 0 build up, and THEN full steam ahead. MORNING ROUTINE: Get up at 5am - make coffee. Not going to tick off (To exercise I automatically have to be up at 5am) One of three short sets of exercises, every weekday morning (at least 1 of each every week - min.15x / max.25x) Bible study/Prayers every morning. Just to keep myself accountable. PRIZE: T-shirt to do Muddy Princess in. Can't have black, because markers won't show. It will have to be a light-ish colour. ADMIN: KEEP TRACK OF- Measurements: Eish, the numbers have climbed during the last couple of months. Just for admin/info though- Weight: 87kg Arm L: 32.5cm Arm R: 32.5cm Middle: 87cm Hips: 115cm Thigh L: 65.5cm Thigh R: 65.5cm Finances: 4 months/5 weeks !GET IT DONE! Sept Oct Nov Dec PRIZE: Fabric markers to draw on the t-shirts for the boys and I. Ok, I've already ordered these, BUT I can adapt that I'm not allowed to draw my own t-shirt if I haven't completed finances. HEALTH: Water/Tea: 0.5p for each 500ml water, or mug of tea. Min. 35p Max.50p Sleep: In bed by 22h00. Lights out by 22h15 IF lights out by 22h00, then ...??? PRIZE: ??? OTHER TRAINING: Self Defense with the boys (Mondays): try for 4x (doing with both boys) Cardio/Walk (Tuesday and Thursday afternoons): min.4x max.8x (doing with Adam) Strength (Saturday afternoon): just to keep my deadlifts going. Try for 4x PRIZE: ??? HYPE! - mini challenge: This will be one of 5 feats. It really depends on whether the specific feat happens during school holidays or not. Before the boys and I start with school again (extra murals start with a lot of driving around to get them places during the afternoon), I will have more time, and can fit more things in. I'm not really sure how to do this, actually. Is it only one session of that feat extra for the week? Am I supposed to try and get 4x 15min. sessions of the feat in during the week, on top of my other training? Am I just supposed to try and do extra on something/feat that I'm already doing? Hopefully final update! Once a week, do: Strength: Deadlifts see how much I can lift (31kg with bar weight included is my current top) Speed: Running from the monkeys are always an option, otherwise I'll see how many jumps I can do in 5min. with the jumping rope. Distance: Walking. See how far I can walk in 30min. +- 2.5 to 3km to beat. Combat: Play Star Wars on Kinect. That is a serious cardio workout! Rangerly/Outdoors: Walk in the Nature reserve if possible. This won't be fast or for distance, as I'll be walking with my boys. We stop often to discuss whatever we see, so the objective will be to just get out of the house and into nature with this one.

Adding rep cycling to my program hasn't burned me so far, so I'm going to keep doing that and keep trying to be conservative. I'm not going to make a goal for it this time, though. The main thing getting in the way of my lifts right now is some nagging lower back pain when I squat and do a few other things, so I'm going to try to fix that. Going light didn't seem to work, and taking a break from lifting didn't either, so I think my next step should be seeing a doctor. Goals See a physical therapist. I'm aware of one nearby with a sports medicine focus, or I think just any old doctor with expertise in sports medicine would probably be sufficient as a first step. I've been putting off making an appointment for awhile, because I hate making appointments. In order to complete this goal, I have to actually go to a doctor's appointment before the end of this challenge. Do mobility work at least 4 days a week. I changed up my routine in the last few months, and what I'm doing now seems to be no worse than what I was doing before, so I guess I'll stick with it. Get to bed by 11:30 pm at least 5 nights each week. Probably not tonight. Work on SICP for at least an hour and the half over at least 2 days each week. This was my goal last challenge, and I got pretty close to it. I need to spend more time than I have been if I want to consistently make headway, but I think I need to build up to it gradually.

Hello Fellow NF Rebels I'm Tateman. It's been awhile since my last challenge. November of 2016 to be exact, and it was a fail. That comeback was after another break where things got away from me. This time though, I have to get things done. Things got bad enough that my Doctor wants me to get weight loss surgery. This is my last attempt to avoid having to do that. A little back story: Taking the way back machine back to 2013. I started my NF Journey at 333lbs. (Highest ever was 388lbs recorded) My Rebel Intro and eventually My first Challenge May 30th, 2013 Things were going great. I had signed up to do a Spartan race down in Malibu, Ca. I had never done anything like that. September 11th, 2013 I made it under 300lbs. December of 2013 I completed the Spartan race with the help of my Brother-in-law. June 2014 I completed my first ever 5k race. I had never before in my life run that far. The most I was up to was about 2 miles in the C25k app. Then in August 2014, I completed the Spartan Stadium Sprint, in AT&T Park, with my Sister and Brother-in-law. In October of 2014, I was taken off my Metformin (diabetes medication) I got to my lowest weight in a very very long time. 260lbs. I had bounced around in weight in 2014, but still mostly tracked down. And then it all came crashing down. The mother of all snowball effects happened. I signed up to do a 15k race. Paid for, and never ran. I had already started tracking a bit higher in weight, then threw this failure on the fire. The mental depression had a grip, and would not let go. The fat me started winning more battles. By September of 2015, I was back up to almost my highest weight again. 384lbs. In 9 months, I had gained 124lbs. Of course during all this, I had quit Nerd Fitness. Many people were gone that I originally talked to then. On my birthday (November 2015), I decided to open up to those on Facebook. The thought was to get the help of my family and community to support me in the right path back. I was 382lbs that day. Nothing really stuck. It was ok for a bit, but even family close to you fail when they don't truly support what you are trying to do. I had to deal with it all back when I did lose all that weight though, and I will still have to deal with it all now. That is just how things will have to be. So over the past two years, not much has changed. Now to current day Eventually, my 44 year old body wasn't going to take this garbage anymore. Last summer I had an infection in a very bad place for a guy haha. I also hadn't done bloodwork in awhile. I finally did, and numbers were not good. My Doctor said enough was enough, and she thinks that I need to go in for weight loss surgery. That was in late July. I told her I really didn't want to go the Surgery route, because I don't believe it is a permanent solution. At least for me I don't think it would be. I know people that have failed. Even my wife had surgery, and is still heavy. It feels like I need to fix other things in my head, otherwise in 3-5 years I might just be back in the same spot. Surgery can do a lot to help me in the here and now, and it is very possible, that I can use it to learn to be eating the proper way. I just would hate to go though it, and fail still. That motivation was working for me, but I slipped back into the crud I have been in. So today I start at 367.6lbs. I am late getting my bloodwork again. So I am planning on going next Sunday. I'm hoping all is not lost for me. I want to lose this weight. I want to see my goal weight. I want to run again. Something my teenage self would have never believed I would say. I want to be strong. I want to do this, not only to inspire my kids, but to do this for myself. I feel like I need to once again start over. This time finding the things to keep me going, and squashing the bad mental junk that likes to try to creep in. So 2018, here we go. This challenge is meant to help rebuild me. Rebuild the habits that gave me success before Goal#1: Down with the Carbs/Sugar demon, and Keto on I want to get into Ketosis mode. The last couple of months I experimented with this a bit. For a few weeks I was really on it, and it was pretty great. Plenty of reading and being inspired by the keto community of Reddit. Now I need to establish it again, so I can continue on for the whole year. I know the start will be rough again. Much like when I did Whole30 eating, and the bit of Keto I had done already. Meals will be boring to start off. We got a Crockpot pressure cooker now though, so time to find stuff with that. Cookbooks incoming as well. I will be tracking my food intake at MyFitnessPal. Goal#2: Exercise beginner mode I need to get into Exercise again. Got my new Fitbit Blaze to try out Now to not overwhelm myself, I'm not going to try to go all balls out right away. Let's start off easy with Walking. 3 times a week to be specific. Then next move is walking each day. First I want to establish just doing it first! The plan is to go in the mornings. No set time, but 30 minutes is the goal to start. Hopefully by mid challenge, I will want to be walking more and more. I notice that walking does help clear my head, and makes me feel good. Eventually this walking may lead to running again, down the road Goal#3: The night Owl must become the early bird Ohh so many nights staying up till 3am, and getting garbage sleep. I'm done with it. I do have a CPAP machine now to help make sure Sleep Apnea won't get in my way. I need to get myself into a sleep routine again. I want to be in bed by 12:30am. I have tones of books to read. I bought the first 5 books of The Expanse So I'm thinking 11-11:30pm I turn off the computer, and settle down with some reading. Goal#4: Blog all the things So for fun, I finally setup my website as a blog. I've had tateland.com for years, but always put off doing something with it. I still am working on it some, and have done some in general gaming blogging. Now to add to the "Health" section. I am going to attempt to blog every day about my health journey this year. I am going to try taking a picture each day of my face to see if I can track changes over the year. Also weekly body pictures to do the same. Next year, I hope to have a cool little project done. Part of this will be cross posting as updates each day in this thread. Grading: Goal#1 - 7 days, 14 points. 1 point for each day of tracking. 1 point for staying under 20 net carbs Goal#2 - 3 days, 1 point per day of walking. (hopefully, will increase during this challenge) Update for week 4, 5 days a week. 1 points for each walk. Goal#3 - 7 days, 7 points. 1 point for getting into bed by 12:30pm. Goal#4 - 7 days, 14 points. 1 point for each day I blog, 1 point for posting here Weekly Points: Week 1: 37/38 - 97% Week 2: 36.5/38 - 96% Week 3: 38/38 - 100% Week 4: 37/40 - 92.5% Week 5: 38/40 - 95% Challenge total - 186.5 /194 - 96% overall challenge score Measurements Start/Finish: Weight: 367.6lbs / 345.6 lbs - 22lbs lost Neck: 19.68 in / 19.68 in - no change Chest: 55.90 in / 54.72 in - 1.18 inches lost Waist at bell button: 61.41 in / 59.84 in - 1.57 inches lost Bicep (L): 17.91 in / 16.37 in - 1.53 inches lost Bicep (R): 16.92 in / 16.33 in - 0.59 inches lost Forearm (L): 13.89 in / 13.34 in - 0.55 inches lost Forearm (R): 13.89 in / 13.58 in - 0.31 inches lost Thigh (L): 30.31 in / 29.44 in - 0.86 inches lost Thigh (R): 28.89 in / 28.30 in - 0.59 inches lost

It's a new year. Holidays are over and it's back to work tomorrow. Illness has (mostly) cleared, however my belly is full of turkey, mince pies and many many alcoholic beverages. Its time to get back to work. 1. Continue 5x5. 3 times a week. Keep pushing myself to the following goals by the end of the challenge: 1a. Squat my own bodyweight. This is likely to change a little bit either way, but likely to be mid-120kgs. 1b. As above for Deadlifts. 1c. 80kg for Bench-press 1d. 70kg for row 1e. 50kg for OHP. 2. Refuel. Eat well (no takeaways) whilst getting my protein in. 3. Recharge. Get enough sleep. 7 hours a night is the target. Not ideal but will be better than what I've been getting for a while. My white whale. 4. Meditate. A bit druidy but a good one. My mental health is good for now and I want to keep it that way. I don't want to wait until something happens again before I pay attention to it. So for now, not long, maybe 10 minutes a day, do a little meditation. Let's see how this goes.

Hello! I’m tei. I’m a professional classical musician who always wanted to be good at gymnastics and two years ago, decided to give a real try at making it happen. Gymnastics is my priority, athletically. It’s easy to lose sight of that because it’s also the hardest thing to train consistently, but it really is what I care about most so I want my training to reflect that. My big goals this year are: General: - 1 min handstand hold - Stalder press Floor: - Roundoff backhandspring layout - Front handspring front tuck Beam - Back walkover - Switch leap Bars - Giants - Clear hip Vault - Tsuk onto a mat????? I have no idea how realistic this is but it’s NYE, let’s just saying this is a thing I wanna do by the next one So here are how these big goals map onto the first month and a half: Nutrition goal: be gymnast-sized When I was eating at a deficit last year and training a lot, I was hovering around 108 lbs and I could honestly feel it? I could feel that it was less effort to move my body in space. Then I discovered that I could suddenly do fulls, cast handstands, connections I didn’t have before, all sorts of stuff. I’m probably about 10lbs above that now, which is a lot when you’re a tiny halfling So I am going to go back to the deficit that I was using then, helped along by beginning the day’s eating at noon. Training goal 1: maintain strength *chants* I lift for my body, not my ego. I lift for my body, not my ego. I am going to keep lifting 3x/week to maintain my strength while losing fat. And it’ll be frustrating, because I just want to be awesome at everything and get super strong while shrinking! But it turns out physics will adjust your plans if it thinks your plans are stupid. So if I go to the gym weeks in a row and am lifting the same weights, or lighter weights? That’s OK! I am focusing on my lifting E-score this challenge. Training goal 2: work on foundational skills It it’s sucks that I can’t go to gymnastics as much as I used to be able to, and that there aren’t tons of people around me with similar goals. Oh well! There are lots of things I can work on that don’t require a gymnastics club or a coach. Handstands are pretty important in gymnastics! Imagine how much awesome I would be if I could hold a really long handstand, or do a real press! Also— leaps! Leaps, jumps and turns are gymnastics skills just as much as flips are, and there’s no law against practicing them in the group fitness room at GoodLife. I am going to do 2 sessions/ week of handstand and dance skills work. Recovery goal: sleep Pretty self-explanatory. Sleep makes you good at stuff. So, them’s the gymnastics goals! There are other goals: - I am playing a concerto with an orchestra in February, so that is actually the main goal I’m working towards for the first two months of this year (also, the past year and a half.) So if I drop off the face of the earth, or allude to other goal-type things without explaining them, that’s probably why. - There is a climbing gym opening in Regina! Which is cool because there wasn’t a place to climb at all before. I don’t think it’s open, but once it is I’m looking forward to checking it out and maybe incorporating that into my life . I went outdoor climbing once this summer and would really like to get into that more, so if the opportunity presents itself I’d love to learn to lead climb, start acquiring the necessary gear and be ready for next summer climbing-wise!

Hello all! I'm am super excited for my first challenge of 2018! For those who don't know me I am a 26 year old teacher and part time couch potato. I know New Year's Resolutions have almost never worked for me in the past, but I made them again this year and hopefully I made them smarter. This challenge I am focusing on things that I can do in less than 5 minutes based on an article by James Clear (How to Stop Procrastinating Using the 2-Minute Rule) and a book I read about making Microresolutions to make big changes. The Four Habits of the Apocalypse January Brush teeth and wash face everyday -- This is simple and graded on did I brush my teeth once and wash my face once. The ideal time is for this to happen in the morning before school, but evening will work as well in a pinch. This will be tracked in my bullet journal. Reward: Burt's Bees Peach Facial Scrub Open bullet journal everyday -- For this goal I need to open up my bullet journal once a day. This is also being tracked in my bullet journal. Writing things down in it is a bonus. No electronics after 8:30 & get ready for tomorrow -- This is graded on me putting away my phone and computer at 8:30. I have an alert on my phone and computer to let me know it's time to put away both. To get ready for the next day I need to pack my backpack, pack my lunch, and lay out clothes for the next day. I am currently tracking my electronics in my bullet journal and will add a tracking for getting ready. No electronics should happen everyday and getting ready should happen Sunday through Thursday. Practice Focused Flexibility for 5 minutes each day -- This is graded on did I do one of the four stretches I am supposed to do. I haven't figured out what I can tie this habit to yet. Grading & Rewards (stealing this from Zeroh) 60% is a passing grade. If I get 80% in an individual goal, I get a reward for that goal. And if I get 90% overall, I also get a bigger & better reward. Reward: Burt's Bees Peach Facial Scrub Reward: Bullet journal supplies Reward: Fancy bath bomb Reward: Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger Tea Overall Reward: Massage and Mani & Pedi

For 2017, I chose a word to help guide me through my goals for the year. My word was 'Connection' because I wanted to be more outgoing and connect with people - being an introvert I actually need to remind myself to do that. I wasn't sure how I'd done, but when I mentioned that word and goal to friends of mine at the end of the year, they said they could tell I was putting myself out there more, so that was nice. For 2018, I've been struggling to find the right word for what I want to achieve, because frankly I have lots of goals. 'Center' was one thought, and another possible word that I really liked was 'Win'. But they weren't quite right - too focused on me, when I'm trying to be more outgoing toward others. Then today in church, the sermon focused on a favorite verse of mine. Isaiah 60:1 - 'Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.' As part of his sermon about how we can shine in our lives every day, the pastor used this phrase - 'Be Extraordinary at the Ordinary.' And suddenly I had my perfect word for the year, a word that will motivate me to do my best even at the little goals, and to shine all the while with a positive attitude and kind words for everyone around me. SHINE Since the RPG leveling up side of Nerd Fitness has never motivated me much, I'm going to add stars - - to my signature when I succeed. Then I can keep better track of things and have that visual reminder of my progress as I go. My goals for this first challenge are fairly simple, and I'm using the 3 R's of forming a habit to try and make them stick. Reminder, Routine, Reward. SHINE has the bonus connotation of constantly reminding me of Firefly. So I got myself a nerdy/geeky theme to boot! Yay me! Goal #1 - Sleep More I'm supposed to being getting 7 hours of sleep minimum, but lately I've fallen back into bad habits of staying up far later than I should. My goal is lights out by 11:20 on work nights. Reminder - I have two alarms set for 10:30 and 11:00pm nightly. Routine - Shut down the computer at 10:30 sharp, the first alarm. That gives me half an hour to get ready for bed, pack my lunch for tomorrow, read a devotion, or whatever. And the 11 pm alarm will give me time to crawl into bed and read a book or brush the cat for a little while before lights out time. Reward - for 15 stars or more on this challenge, my reward is too be better rested. But I further shall reward myself with a new book. Maybe this one... Goal #2 - Drink More I really need to drink more water. Once upon a time, I drank tons every day at work, but I'm so busy I don't think about it these days. However I can tell that I'm dehydrated, and I also think I have the tendency to think I'm hungry when what my body really wants is H2O. So... Reminder - This one is trickier. What can I do to remind myself to drink? I do have to run to the copier, and to my co-workers cubicles to drop off work - coming back into my own cube could be my cue. Routine - When I return from getting copies, I will take a drink before sitting down. I might not do it every single time, but my goal is to drink eight glasses - 64 oz of water at work every day. Reward - for 15 stars or more on this challenge, my reward is be better hydrated. But I will reward myself by upgrading my next massage to a hot stone massage. That's very motivating, right there. And so is this... Goal #3 - Exercise More In early March, we have the annual Fight for Air stair climb by the American Lung Association, in my building which is the tallest in the state. I work on the 15th floor, so I can train for this challenge, I've already climbed the 600 steps from my floor to the top once already, and I know I need to do more. This is prep work that I can do while the weather is crappy, to start getting in shape for a 5k. Aside from lunch hour stair climbs and my weekly Zumba class, what I really need to add back into my routine is a home strength program. Reminder - When I come home from work the first thing I do is take off my boots. Routine - When I take off my boots, I'll also change into work-out clothes and on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I'll do some kind of strength training - I haven't figure out what quite yet. Reward - for 8 stars or more on this challenge, my reward is that I'll start converting some of this fat over to muscle. But I'll reward myself with a new top. Goal #4 - Floss More Seems silly to make this a goal, but I recently had a root canal - Yuck! And I switched to a new dentist at the same time for my regular cleaning and check-up. The hygienist was friggin' BRUTAL. It was like being in a torture chamber while she worked on me. I gotta go back and face that again? I don't know, maybe it's me and I just really need to take better care of my teeth. Or maybe it's her and she's psycho. But either way, I ought to floss more than I do, which is very little at present . Reminder - I've put a bowl of floss sticks right next to my toothbrush and paste, super convenient. Routine - Whenever I brush, I will also flush, either before or after. Reward - for 20 stars or more, my reward will hopefully be kick-ass checkup the next time I go to the dentist, but that's not until June. In the meantime, I'll reward myself with a new movie from the bargain section. I already have this one, clearly.

Frank Castle aka the Punisher is probably the ultimate Determinator, and I'm going to be channeling that determination and discipline in the lead-up to the holidays. Previous Challenge Stats STR - 31.75 | DEX - 52 | STA - 53.25 | CON - 85 | WIS - 56.5 | CHA - 50.5 Waist 29" Belly 32" Hips 37.75" Thigh 22" Weight 159lb Body Fat - 26.31% Goals Goal 1: Rest I'm not the greatest at taking care of myself, and it's kinda a problem. If I would do things like sleep enough and do mobility, I would be a lot better at the rest of my life. So I gotta work on that. +2 CON +2 WIS +1 DEX 11pm bedtime Daily mobility Remember to fill out my Pixel A Day tracker Journal once a week Read - to hit my Goodreads goal I need to read three books by the end of the year Goal 2: Refuel Track my food, hit my macros. 2-3 variances a week, depending how big the variance is. Log it, track it, and make sure it’s worth it. Avoid all the sweets and cookies and such at the office. +3 CON Goal 3: Resupply Get shit done: Christmas shopping - K/B, mom, dad, M, J/A (have ideas for dad + M + J/A) Do some (more) baby knitting - socks, mitts, etc. Go through kitchen cabinets - especially the cupboard where all my plastic bags are and the cupboard where my beer/wine empties are Do the mending Clean out my desk drawers Work on to-read magazine pile - 7 magazines read +3 WIS Goal 4: Move 5k x2/week Pullups Lift x3+/week - get my accessories in +2 STA +2 STR The Road So Far Week One 11pm 0/7 Daily mobility 4/7 Pixels - up to date Journal 1/1 Macros 6/14 Get shit done - got some of my Christmas shopping done, and have (some) ideas for the rest. Why are guys so difficult?! 5k 0/2 Pullups 7/7 Lift 4/3 Week Two 11pm 1/7 Daily mobility 5/7 Pixels - Dec 7 Journal 1/1 Read - working on book 1/3 Macros 12/14 Get shit done - Christmas shopping progress, did some knitting 5k 2/2 Pullups 6/7 Lift 3/3 Week Three 11pm 1/6 (not counting the night we went to the late show of Star Wars) Daily mobility 5/7 Pixels - Dec 17 Journal 1/1 Read - finished book 1/3 (Slaughterhouse-Five re-read) Macros 5/14 (didn't bother to track while I was at my parents', I know it was bad Get shit done - Christmas cards sent, shopping progress, knitting progress, reading progress 5k 1/2 Pullups 3/4 (3 days away with no pullup bar) Lift 2/2 (had to cancel one day because my body wasn't cooperating) Week Four 11pm 0/7 Daily mobility 3/7 Pixels - up to Dec 20 Journal 0/1 Macros 3/10 (not counting Sat/Sun) Get shit done - Christmas shopping done, made progress on the magazine pile and knitting 5k 0/2 - weather didn't cooperate and I didn't do it on the treadmill Pullups 2/6 Lift 3/3

A final hurrah! for 2017, I'm letting this challenge span from November 19 - December 31 This challenge I'm going to put together some of the best parts of 2017, laying a strong foundation as I head out of this year and into the next. We have two major holidays going on in this challenge, and I'm looking forward to the structure holding me. Also, I have Yet Another Court Case at the end of the challenge, so all structure is good structure; my balance tends to get wobbly with court cases. The daily and weekly structure seems to work best for me, one of the lessons I've learned this year is that when I aim small I miss small, meaning that I can correct the course before I have strayed too far off the mark. This has been a really helpful lesson, not just in the gym or as a challenge element, but as a life tool. So with that in mind: Daily: Sleep Chronic Fatigue makes sleep elusive and fitful. Routine helps, so with that I'm hoping to #Fall back into a routine: Sauna or hot bath Swimming a few times a week, hopefully no less than three times. More is better on this front, so possibly daily. Writing a few pages each day, hopefully finding something that can get worked on well enough to turn in for the submission due on December 1. Reading I have a bunch of reading that has to be done in order to write papers that are due on December 4. I would like to have them done well in advance of that, as I'm getting together with a spiritual formation group to discuss Learning to Walk in the Dark, which I'm really looking forward to reading. The talk is November 30, and I can't really justify spending the time on the book if I haven't finished my classwork. Also, I need to develop the daily reading habit once again. Knitting I am working on three different projects: A dress for me, a sweater for Vivian, a blanket for Vivian. It would be nice to wrap these up and have at least one to put under the tree for her. And of course, I want to wear the dress! Weekly: Therapy works. Legal Notes and Log Updates Court on December 19. Editing The classmates' work will need to have three readings between Dec 1 and Dec 8, with written critiques due Dec. 8. Future Planning I have a few elements that need attention for where I'm heading: Submission Packet to Hollins Scholarship packets to Tinker Mountain Writers Workshop - A and B Scholarship submission to BYM Women's Meeting Mantra: #Acceptance leads to #patience. #Patience leads to #balance. #Balance leads to #harmony. #Harmony leads to #peace.

The title of the thread is a reference to The Six Root Verses of the Six Bardos, specifically: At this time, when the bardo of dream appears to you, Abandon the heedlessness of the delusory sleep of a corpse. Enter into the nature of mindfulness and nonwandering. Recognizing dreams, practice transformation and luminosity. Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. Mind Beyond Death. I'm not planning on doing any dream yoga or lucid dreaming: friends, I'd just like to fricken sleep through the night. Bring on the delusory sleep of a corpse! I've always been a light sleeper, but lately I've been waking up at 3 am and tossing/turning for at least a couple of hours. I am tired all the fricken time (except at 3 am, apparently). My most common thought during the day is fantasizing about naps, even in the middle of a good run. Now, I do all the normal things: I drink on more than one cup of coffee, turn off electronics at least an hour before bed, have a good bedtime routine, and fall asleep pretty fast initially. OTC medication makes me groggy, and I wake up in the middle of the night anyway, but then I'm tossing and turning groggily. I got a weighted blanket last month, it did nothing. I don't want to go on actual sleep medication, bc that stuff freaks me out: I had a roommate who sleepwalked on Ambien. Sure, she unloaded the dishwasher in the middle of the night, and that was pretty nice, but how weird! But, my noble nerd sangha, I am still going to get this shit under control. Here is the plan: DEX I didn’t follow through with this part of the challenge last time, and I’m afraid my back is paying for it. Part of the reason for my sleep issues, I think, is waking up in the middle of the night with back pain. Thanks, scoliosis and chronic illness that creates inflammation. You’re real buds. So, let’s try this again: yoga 2x/week (Tu, Th, bonus Sun night) CON (I’m still running; current plan: M, W, F at lunch & bonus Sat morning) This month’s challenge is unf*cking my sleep, which is a CON challenge. I’m going to make more of a concrete plan to tackle it in the coming month. CHA I couldn’t think of any connection between charisma and sleep, so, of course, I googled it. Turns out, sleep deprived leaders are perceived as having less charisma. Surprise! Therefore, I’m rolling CON & CHA into one for these four weeks ~look it's all my dump stats~ INT (I’m still doing French/Swedish/codewars) Try CBT techniques/worry journal so that I don’t stare at the ceiling at 3 am going over The Master List of Every Wrong Decision In My Life or Where Did I Put Those Gloves, Anyway? WIS Signed up for a free 30-day trial on Calm. Going to do a body scan meditation before bed. STR This doesn't have anything to do with sleep, and it was the focus of my last challenge, so I'm putting it at the bottom as a 'bonus stat' One of the archery instructors recommended that I work on finger and forearm strength. Taking @Kishi’s advice, I have not canceled my climbing gym membership, and will put it to good use! I scheduled myself for a beginner climbing workshop and may possibly go to a bouldering meetup once a week. I’ll get back to you on that. Continuing the 100 Pushups challenge: pushups Tu, Th, Sat Full disclosure: I’m just doing Week 1 over and over again, because I’m still struggling a lot with it

The Battle of Wonder Woman & her Mighty Cats In Africa lives a woman, with short dark hair, a magic lasso, and an affinity to cats. Big cats, small cats, wild, tame; cats in many forms. This is Wonder Woman! She has been battling Dr. Stressor and Prof. De-Energizer for many a challenge, but in the last one, they drove her to her knees in an epic mental battle. They cut off her long locks which was the power to her physical strength. However, before they could deal a final death blow, her strong, tenacious, not-up-to-hype Super Friends rushed in to save her, and spirit her away to Africa. Her land of birth. Her stronghold where she can gather the tattered remains of her energy shield and strength, stand up and fight again. With her mighty lions by her side, she can face her two formidable foes. Not to win an epic all out battle, but to beat them back, slash them down little by little each and every day. To do this she has to get sound sleep, build her strength through various exercises, and each and every morning revel in the splendour and tranquility that is an African sunrise. No way around, only up and through. Did you know? I received this topic via email and of course it peaked my interests. So I thought why not a cat-themed challenge. I'm not going to score myself for a win or loose, I'm just going to try and equal, but preferably beat my last challenge's results. I realised that if I skipped this challenge, chances are very good that I won't be able to get back up and go on. So I'm here. Touch wood, but I'm not seeming to struggle with food or snacks at the moment, but definitely with exercises and routines. My energy is low, physically and mentally, but if I don't get back into routine, especially to train, then I can't get my energy levels up and my stress levels down. My own little lion, who has fought his way into our hearts, and terrorises the birds (and dogs, and neighbour's cat) in our garden every day. Stampy Cat, the night he sneaked into our house. He was +-4months old. Stampy Cat, almost 2yrs old and yes, he (almost) rules the roost. --------------------------------------------------- 00 --------------------------------------------------- MORNING ROUTINE: Up at 5h00/5h05 - 11 points/days to equal Bible Study - 20 points/days to equal Morning exercises: either routine 1 or 2 - 11 points/days to equal EXERCISES: Playball is finishing end of November. I was used to walking around the field while Rocco played. Now I'm going to have to make the effort to get up, go out and walk. Main focus is on Self Defense, Walking on a Tuesday OR Thursday, Strength training. So at least 3x a week. In between I have to get to gardening, which are sometimes a low impact exercise, and at other times a lot of strength training. WATER: 1/2 point for each 500ml bottle of water/juice/milk (no caffeine or alcohol) or mug of tea (herbal/rooibos). I almost never have juice, milk, milkshake, cooldrink, alcohol, etc. Main drinks are water, coffee, rooibos. So if I do have something else, which does not contain alcohol or caffeine, then it will count. 35 points to equal. READING: I am lagging behind on the two books that I'm reading. Dropped away totally sometime during the last challenge. I would like to read at least two chapters of each a week, but I should preferably get a move on now. I'm not doing myself any favours by not finishing this. NEW (sort of) Devotional: Spiritual Warfare Survival: Stop Walking on Eggshells SLEEP: I did really well by end of last challenge. In bed on time for more nights than those I went to bed late. I don't want to loose the momentum, but I realised due to my stress levels, I need more sleep. If in bed by 21h45, and lights out by 22h00 then 1 point/day; 23 points/days to equal If in bed and lights out before 21h45 then +1 All cat images welcome...

SOOOOOOO you may notice a theme with me as of late (or as of always?!?! HAHAHHAHHAHA.) I am in the middle of a show run (almost done!) and then I have already started working on another show which will be hitting tech week in about 3 weeks and then we just found out the same pieces + well will probably do a few more can be done as part of a different show that is a few weeks later in the first week of December. Sooo basically I am going to be doing 3 shows back to back.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Anywho! I have to keep my goals super basic because I know how crazytimes this next approx 1.5 months will be! GOALS Try to get at least 6 hours of sleep - Try not to drop below 6 hours of sleep per day! This isn't always under my control especially on tech weeks but, at bare minimum if I get 6+ hours at least 4 days a week I want that to be my baseline minimum. Eat better food - Do at least SOME meal prep on weekend (bare minimum is buy healthier premade crap from trader joes or something) so I am not stuck having to eat food out and about so much. I am not getting enough veggies and it makes me the sadness! Downtime - get at least 2 consecutive hours of downtime at least one evening per week. Get at least one solid chunk of 4+ hours of downtime one day per weekend. (Once again this isn't always under my control during tech weeks but I will try!) Drink more water- Drink at least 6 glasses of water a day on all days, and 8 glasses per day minimum on dance days/days when I sweat like a mofo. Also, if I drink beer for dinner make sure I have a night cap of water before I go to sleep (8 oz glass minimum. If it was a lot of IPA a full 16 oz bottle may be in order!) Basically DRINK MORE WATER. Anywhooooo <3

My last challenge involved some experimentation in terms of my lifting and stretching routines. I tried a few different things but didn't actually do the same thing for long enough to learn much. Nevertheless, I have some promising ideas that I would like to test out. Goals Lifting: don't get stuck while using rep-range cycling. I've been doing sets of 5 for almost all of my work sets for almost as long as I've been lifting. I think that was causing me to plateau at the same point over and over again on most of my lifts, so I wanted to introduce a tapering aspect to my program, in which my heavy days start with sets of 5, and when I can't keep progressing on those, I switch to sets of 3 and then 1. When I can't progress on 1s anymore, I go back to sets of 5 but at a higher weight than when I last did 5s. At least, that's the theory. For the past couple weeks, I've been doing sets of 3 on some of my lifts, but it's been a little haphazard. I'm also deloading a little bit due to some previously observed detraining, so it's hard to tell whether the programming change is having an effect. I've also irritated something in my lower back that is keeping my back-squat volume artificially low. My goal for this challenge is to continue to implement this program, hopefully resulting in some PRs before the end of the challenge. More importantly, I don't want to get stuck by sticking for too long in the same rep range, and I want to avoid aggravating my back, so that it can heal. Mobility: Perform new stretching routine after lifting and running. During the last challenge, I intended to break down my yoga videos, figure out what poses stretch what areas of the body, and then do those stretches after I lift, instead of the ones I've been doing since I first started working out. In the interval, I have come up with stretching routines for after lifting and after running. My goal is to do those consistently and see what affect they have. I also intend to continue doing full-length yoga sessions on weekends. Sleep: The same thing we do every challenge, Pinky: Try to get in bed by 11:30 pm on five nights each week. SICP: Spend 1.5 hours working on problems, over the course of at least 2 days, each week. This is a slight increase from my previous goal. I realized that I made a New Year's resolution this year to finish the book. That's very unlikely to happen, but I think finishing Chapter 2 is very plausible. (There are 5 long chapters.)

I've neglected hypertrophy training for a while, but NO MORE. The next four weeks are going to be all about those gains... I just started a new mesocycle with sets of 8 for the big lifts, plus lots of accessories to address my weaknesses. In order to make sure I have enough energy for this work, I'm going to focus on bringing my calories back up after losing a couple of kilos the past couple of months. I'm aiming for maintenance since I'm just in my weight class at ~83 kg in the morning, but if I undershoot or overshoot a bit, it's not the end of the world - if I'm still at a deficit, then the volume will help me keep muscle, and if I bulk a bit, then a good chunk of the added weight should be muscle :D. Goals for the GAINS: Goal 1: Track calories on MFP and eat enough. I've been having trouble eating enough because I'm on a very restricted diet at the moment and have also just not been that psyched about food (exception: goat cheese. I CAN EAT GOAT CHEESE NOW!). It doesn't help that I haven't been tracking on MFP recently. However, in order to keep my energy levels up, I really need to eat enough. Calorie targets (rest day/lifting day): >2000/2250 (bronze level - must hit at least this) >2250/2500 (silver) >2500/2750 (gold - this lower limit is probably a little under my actual maintenance, though it depends on how much walking I do) Goal 2: When I go in to work, take a decent sized snack for the afternoon! In order to get enough calories (Goal 1), I usually need to eat four times a day, and if I wait from lunch until dinner at ~5:30-6, I'm foggy and hungry. To pass this goal, I need to either be at home for part of the afternoon (by 4 pm) and eat a snack/small meal then bring a snack in to work to have in the afternoon, before leaving work have a late lunch (~1:30-2 pm - happens sometimes on lifting days) and be back home by 5:30 pm Goal 3: Make sure I go to bed on time by enforcing a screen curfew (continuing this from last challenge). 8-8:30 pm on the nights I have to work the next day 8:15-8:45 pm on other nights using my computer or phone to track food or meditate after this time is fine Goal 4: Take time to de-stress each day. December is going to be very busy and I need to make sure I can turn my mind off when I need to. I'm going to try meditating again, but if it doesn't work well for me I don't want to force it. Other activities might be yoga, going for a relaxing walk, crocheting, reading...

Challenge 34 (continued from zero week) I know the path I want to be on. I was following it for a bit, then had to take a detour. I can see it over there on the other side of the gorge. Right now that looks a long way from here. I still think I picked the right goals in my last challenge. This challenge will be looking at strategies to reach them. Goals: 1. Sleep 8 hours a night 2. Exercise every day 3. Zen at least 10 minutes every day 4. Do the Right things, not All The Things. Over the last couple weeks I have been in the rat race of not getting quite enough sleep, being too tired to be efficient, drinking coffee and staying up too late. I've been sleeping well most of the time, possibly due to taking melatonin. On top of not getting enough sleep I am not getting enough relaxation time. I can look back and see in glowing memory the breaks when I got to sit down to read or play games. I was still sleep deprived enough to need a nap at the end of my 4-day Thanksgiving break. Exercise was going better then got off track again. I have used the local exercise facility by my new office at least twice. It's okay but not great. The elliptical machines have too much rise to be comfortable for my knees. There are exercise bikes and treadmills that I can use, and enough floor space for body-weight work. I've been good about doing yoga at home on days that I'm not doing aikido. I could do some juggling of time to do more exercise at home and other things on my lunch hour. I'd rather stick with the habit I already established to have my lunch hour as workout time. I have been doing NF yoga at home and enjoying it. Work has been busy and is likely to get busier before it gets better. There should be light at the end of the tunnel by March. We are currently doing in-person interviews for our open positions. The best-case scenario has us filling three open positions by the beginning of January and getting the new people trained over the following 10 weeks. Thank goodness our workload usually drops off over winter holiday season. Getting on top of my other goals will help tremendously in me not getting stressed out at work. Picking the Right Things to do at home is my main focus. So many choices! Most of which are valuable in some way or other. Dumbledore has been taking care of his regular chores and has zero time for anything else. Elf is supposed to be sharing the cooking with me. I have to give Elf credit for taking initiative in cooking. It does not always happen when they said it would, but that is true of me too. We started a list of who is thinking about cooking what food so that we don't both plan a dish using the same groceries from the fridge. I need to stay on top of keeping actual meals in the fridge. Two weekends ago I worked on other projects. We ran out of lunches before the end of the week (before Thanksgiving). That leads to the following priorities: Cooking as needed (often, but not all the time) Finances/budgeting. I let this slide and it adds to my stress. Creative/relaxing things. These usually come last and I get cranky. Not a win. General chores. Most of these could wait longer or be done by other people.

Hello all! Bulba and I are back after a difficult challenge last time, who saw us lose some steam and some of our spirits, so it is time to get back on track. But this time the goal will be US. It will be okay if we do not go very far in the forest. It will be okay if we don't do everything we had planned to do. (Many many thanks to @Manarelle for reminding us of that last challenge!) It will be okay if we ask for help. It will not be okay if we are not okay. So this challenge is all about finding the right balance to be okay and move forward in a positive fashion. Encouragement, celebrating victories, being grateful for all of the things we receive, enjoying the moment without guilt will be our weapons, and serenity and an even mind will be our goals! Actual challenge goals will be relatively consistent with our previous challenges, but much more geared towards building a happier life. 1- Visit every Pokemon Center - Prioritize sleep 2- Eat nutritious Pokebeans every day, and sweet Pokebeans from time to time - Focus nutrition on balance between reason and happiness 3- Speak to many people and learn from them - Continue preparing the exam, celebrating successes 4- Fight in the tall grass - Exercise, in all forms, making it fun to lift heavy things 5- Spend time playing with Bulba - Do something kind for ourselves. Every. Day. I will also simplify the accounting system because last time it was impossible to do... Goal details (note that this is obvious for most people... but since I was not able to follow these rules lately, I am writing them down to remind myself - feel free to skip this section entirely!) 1- Sleep Step 1: sleep. There is no step 2. 7 hours will be set as minimum, 8 hours will be the goal. 6.5 hours are tolerable. This means: in bed at 930pm, lights out at 945pm ideally. If not possible, then 1030pm and 1045pm In extreme cases lights out at 1115pm, even if the house is in disarray, dirty dishes are not done, Korean was not studied and I have not played or done anything relaxing. (I should print this and put it next to my bed...) This is where nights of six hours or less end. It just makes life miserable and not worth living given how physically difficult the remaining hours are. - 2 points for 7 hours, 4 for 8, 6 for 9 or plus, 1 for 6.5, 0 for 6. Weekly goal: 14 points 2- Food If I don't sleep I want to eat crap (doesn't everyone?). So let's not offer me too many opportunities to eat badly first by sleeping more (I see an emerging theme here). Food is key to lose weight and to train well (duh). And I want to do both. So I need to eat better. First I need to start tracking again. I have been holding on around 86.5kg, which is okay, now I need to start losing weight again and tracking is a great tool. - 1 point per day where I track. Weekly goal: 7 points Second, I need to make sure to eat protein and not too much carbs - I will play around with servings and see if I have to adjust (any nutrition suggestion around protein / carb balance is welcome!) Let's say 1 serving of protein with each meal + 1 in snack, and only 1 serving of carb per meal + 1 in snack - 1 point per each meal / snack done correctly (carbs + protein). Weekly goal: 20 points Finally, I need to stop feeling guilty when I don't follow these rules and eat pasta with tomato sauce or chocolate. - 1 extra point whenever I am able to catch myself guilt-tripping and manage to make it okay (because it is okay, really). 3- Exam prep So I have not dedicated as much time to exam prep as I would want to. But let's face it, I would want to spend 8 hours every day prepping this exam, which is not possible because 1/ work and 2/ boring. Also, commute. But at the same time, I have noticed I read emails (in Korean) faster and understand more of what is happening in meetings, which means I am progressing and this is also success! Especially since the exam is part reading and part listening!! (And I am already not bad at writing.) So I need to remind myself that work is helping me study. What I need to focus on is specifically vocabulary training, grammar studying and mock exam taking. all of which can be done during weekends, and with the first two being doable in 15-min increments. So small goals, because they will add up. - 1 point per workday when I spent 15 min doing vocab and 15 min doing grammar. Weekly goal: 5 points - 2 points per weekend day when I spent 1 hour doing exam prep. Weekly goal: 4 points - 1 point per hour spent speaking Korean with friends (really? really!) - 1 point per episode of Korean drama watched instead of Castle or Buffy or other things which do not develop my Korean power I can try to do more, but I do not have to. Because every email, every meeting, every lunch is actually studying. 4-Workout I hurt my neck and had to dial back on weightlifting and started missing my 3-minutes daily. I started inventing reasons in my head to lift and even games to trick my friends to do it with me. This is a serious clue that I want to lift weights! So let's do it, being careful not to hurt myself again (although my injury had nothing to do with lifting and everything to do with me being a klutz hahaha). - 1 point per day when I lifted for at least 1 song. It can be all different exercises, all deadlifts (I am in love with deadlifts even if my hamstrings hate me now). Weekly goal: 7 points Nothing else, because I already move quite a lot and need to stop being guilty when I don't exercise. Yes, I will 90% of the time still do 30-min biking in the morning, and two 90-minute dance classes per week. But if I am late I will only bike 20 minutes and it will be okay, because it is okay!! 5- Self-care I need to spend more time taking care of me, and less worrying about others. Others have themselves to take care of them (or should). So I need to do more things to soothe myself, especially during winter months with no light, gruesome commuting and uncertainty about employment (not very high probability, but high impact if it happens!!). So I should do something nice for myself every day. It can be small like taking 5 minutes to put on body lotion, it can be taking time for a nap or meeting friends on weekends, it can be just taking 15 minutes to read a book. I should just get used to doing it everyday, like the weight lifting exercise I love so much. - 10 points per day when I do something for me. Weekly goal: 50 points Because this is the single most important goal of all! So it is almost half of the expected points per week. Total goal 107 points per week (who decided that weeks would have 7 days making calculations so difficult??). I will do my best and if I can meet this goal it will be great and I will buy myself some new nice clothes which will FIT. And If I cannot meet that goal, I will try meeting it the following week!

"Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time." The sprawling epic of the Wheel of time is my inspiration this month for practicing better habits in my sleep and my writing. While I'll keep my habit of complaining about my deadlift, I'll also be doing a daily check in for the previous days tally of hours of sleep, creative writing word counts, and journal word counts.

I'm carrying over similar goals from the last challenge. I don't have travel or anything planned that will disrupt my schedule in the way I did last challenge, so it makes it a lot simpler to plan out! So that means I have no excuses for not meeting my goals, right? Previous Challenge Stats STR - 31.75 | DEX - 51 | STA - 51.75 | CON - 83.5 | WIS - 55 | CHA - 50.5 Weight - 164lb Waist - 29 3/4" Belly - 33 3/4" Hips - 38 1/2" Thigh - 22 1/2" Body Fat - 26.6% Goals Goal 1: Sleep Sleep is the foundation of everything, and it’s time that I buckle down and just do it properly. I know it effects my abilities mentally and physically, because I’m always tired, so it’s time to see what I can do when I’m sleeping enough. I wake up at 5:30am during the week (sometimes 6:30am if I’m extra tired), so that’s going to drive my bedtimes. I’m not sure how much sleep I actually do need, so I’m going to start with an 11pm bedtime (6.5 hours sleep) and see how that goes. If I need to, I’ll move it earlier in stages until I hit a good spot. CON +3 Goal 2: Cardio Yep, for some reason I decided to play a sport that’s cardio-heavy… So I have to do cardio between now and spring training, otherwise I'll die. I’m thinking 2x 5k, and 3x intervals/HITT/sprints. STA +3 Goal 3: Food Track my food, hit my macros. 2-3 variances a week, depending how big the variance is. Log it, track it, and make sure it’s worth it - quality variances only! Meal prepping is going to be a big part of this one. CON +3 Goal 4: Mobility I have 3 key lower body and 2 key upper body mobility protocols that have really been working for me. Ideally I would do all 3 lower body at a time, and/or both upper body ones, but it takes a bit of time to get through everything, so instead my goal will be to do either my upper or lower body protocols every day. DEX +3 Goal 5: The List WIS +3 Do some baby knitting - socks, mitts, etc. Go through kitchen cabinets - especially the cupboard where all my plastic bags are and the cupboard where my beer/wine empties are Do the mending Clean off the top of my desk and my desk drawers Work on to-read magazine pile Unofficial Goals Grease the Groove - use the damn pull-up bar! On Sunday I was able to do A Pull-up, I want to do more! More NF! Regular updates here and more keeping up with other people's challenges Remember to fill out my Pixel A Day tracker Be on time to Toastmasters Journal once a week The Road So Far Week 1: Official Bedtime 11pm 0/7 5k 1/2 Intervals 2/3 Macros 7/14 Mobility 4/7 The List - no progress Unofficial Pullups 1/7 NF 2/7 Pixel A Day - caught up to Oct 26 On time to TM 1/1 Journal 1/1 Mini - done Week 2: Official Bedtime 11pm 0/7 5k 1/2 Intervals 1/3 Macros 5/14 Mobility 3/7 The List - cleaned off my desk - now to keep it that way! Unofficial Pullups 1/7 NF 6/7 Pixel A Day - caught up to Nov 5 On time to TM 1/1 Journal 1+/1 Mini - done Week 3: Official Bedtime 11pm 0/7 5k 1/1 Intervals 1/2 Macros 9/14 Mobility 1/7 The List - nope Unofficial Pullups 0/7 NF 3/7 Pixel A Day - caught up to Nov 12 On time to TM 1/1 Journal 1/1 Mini - done Week 4 Official Bedtime 11pm 0/7 5k 1/2 Intervals 0/3 Macros 8/14 Mobility 3/7 The List - lots of knitting! Unofficial Pullups 0/7 NF 3/7 Pixel A Day - caught up to Nov 15 (currently caught up fully) On time to TM - N/A Journal 1/1 Mini - done

Come one, come all! Join my Disney pals in celebrating my NerdFitness Anniversary! November 5th is my official 5 year NF Anniversary. To celebrate I’m going to challenge myself to do my original challenge. Although I’m making a few tweaks based on my end of challenge results because I still hate the morning mile and because I’ve learned a lot in 5 years Oswald is going to remind me what my original goals were, right after he gets done fighting this guy… ORIGINAL - Back when challenges were 6 weeks and we still used stats Now time for this years goals, who wants reveal what I’ll be doing now? Now now, let’s introduce my anniversary goals! DRUM ROLLLLLLLL Fine I’ll do it myself. Forward 5 years later, Goals 1. DIET: Veggies! I still struggle with this goal. I know I can’t do 5 veggies or even 5 servings yet but I can start to build the habit back up. Wk 1 - 1 veg serving per day Wk 2 - 2 veg serving per day Wk 3 - 1 veg serving each meal (2 meals) Wk 4 - 2 veg servings each meal (2 meals) GRADE : WK 1 - A = 7 veggies WK 2 & 3 - A = 14 veggies WK 4 - A = 28 veggies 2. FITNESS : Go to the Gym 1x a week & Body weight workouts I started to make working out a habit again but I let stress ruin that. I want to make sure I get to the gym every week. No excuses. If I’m sick I go and walk on the treadmill. If I’m injured I go and do something that won't hurt my injury. I need to stop using those as crutches. Wk 1 - 1 gym & 3 10 mins Bodyweight workout Wk 2 - 1 gym & 5 10 mins Bodyweight workout Wk 3 - 1 gym & 1 30 mins Bodyweight workout Wk 4 - 1 gym & 2 30 mins Bodyweight workout GRADE : WK 1 - A = 1G & 3/3 WK 2 - A = 1G & 5/5 WK 3 - A = 1G & 1BW WK 4 - A = 1G & 2BW 3. HABIT : SLEEP - 7/7 There was no way I was doing the morning mile again. I actually remember waking up some days and dreading it. Not going to happen. Instead I want to work on getting to bed early and waking up early so I have more time in the morning to stretch, get ready, make breakfast, etc. Wk 1 - In bed by 11pm Wk 2 - In bed by 10:30pm Wk 3 - In bed by 10pm Wk 4 - Wake up between 5:30am and 6am GRADE : # of times per week = A:7 - B:6 - C:5 - D:3 - F:2-0 4. LIFESTYLE : Inventory the Townhouse/ keep a report (Complete at least 2 worth 50 points) I did actually do a few of these but it’s been 5 years and I need to do them again because I was slacking and forgot. Organize the pantry for easy inventory Pull out all items and organize Possibly label front of shelves Make an inventory list for pantry items Organize kitchen cabinets for easy access Pull everything out and organize Light bulbs and light fixtures counted and recorded as well as batteries Inventory all light bulbs - watts and styles Check to see how many bulbs I have total Count all items that use batteries and make an inventory list Maintenance schedules Create a schedule Go through coat closet and organize Go through linen closet and organize Thanks Guys! BARBIE!!! Sigh...

Recently, I've been trying to build habits of things I want to do, and I've gotten pretty good at getting to bed at time, programming multiple times a week, and doing yoga multiple times a week. I've been getting to the gym when I mean to lately, but I've been kind of stagnating. I still feel stiff sometimes, but I don't seem to be getting much better at the yoga positions I've been trying. Getting to bed on time and working on programming multiple times a week seem to be good ideas, and I'd like to keep doing those, but I think my lifting and mobility programs could use some work. Goals Lifting: I have stopped making regular progress in all of my lifts at this point. I still make progress intermittently, but it doesn't feel like programming, in that my progress is basically independent of my plans. If I'm being honest, I have not made much progress overall since I finished my linear progression, like 2 years ago, at which point I started a heavy-light-medium split. During that time, none of my lifts have increased more than 55 lbs., and I know I should be able to grow faster than that at this point. I don't think heavy-light-medium is working well for me, and I want to figure out what will work better. My goal for this challenge is to select/design a new program and start trying it. That seems kind of underwhelming, but I don't think that 4 weeks are a long enough time to evaluate whether a program is working well. That's probably what has dissuaded me from experimenting up until now. I'm good at following routines, but committing to a programming change for months when I don't know what the results will be feels very risky. Flexibility: I've been doing the Nerd Fitness Yoga videos for awhile, and for most of that time, I've been able to do the hard ones. I also stretch briefly after lifting on Mondays. Admittedly, I don't always do either of those things exactly the way I intend, but it's been awhile since my flexibility seemed to improve. I still can't sit comfortably on the ground for extended periods of time, and I occasionally feel too tight to get into position properly for squats and deadlifts. My goal for this challenge is to figure out whether I need to change up my flexibility routine. I will still keep doing the routines twice a week, but I want to do some research and figure out whether I could be making more efficient use of my time. A significant part of the routines is warmup or strength work, which I arguably don't need. If I could just stretch quickly after lifting and get the same benefits, that would be preferable to me. Sleep: Same goal as before. Get in bed by 11:30 pm on five nights each week. SICP: Work on SICP for at least 30 minutes at a time, at least twice a week. Not having specific days seemed to work as well as having specific days, so I'll give myself the flexibility to use different days.