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Hi Rebels! Ensi here I'm a 23-year-old Rebel from Finland. I've been around for a couple of years, done a few challenges and found a place among wonderful people. Right now I'm very busy with my studies, so instead of participating in the next NF challenge, I'm going to put up a battle log... Which you're reading right now! I like to keep things simple and short, so here's what I do: - The Sweetest Day of the Week I'm a bit of a chocolate addict. I've been working on it since last summer, and I've reached a level where I can deal with having a small portion of chocolate daily (2 pieces) and a little bigger portion once a week - so, deploy The Sweetest Day of the Week! I can have some extra chocolate on Saturdays. I used to eat about 50-150 g of chocolate daily, but currently I can go a whole day without it: even though I might want to buy some chocolate, I just don't. It's been a slow progress, but what's my rush? - Dairy, nuts, caffeine ... are something that I need to consume with moderation. I avoid buying these at home, but none of these foods are as problematic as chocolate. All in all, I'm trying to eat as paleo-ish as possible, but I don't sweat about it too much. Portion size control is much more important for me! - Exercise Three times a week until I sweat like a pig and feel like a fox. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN7lt0CYwHg I love going to gym, doing kettlebell workouts and walking/jogging. Where am I now? Since last summer I've lost 6 kg/13 lbs. Doesn't maybe sound all that much, but I have PCOS and I'm studying hard. I'm currently at 83 kg/182 lbs, and I'm aiming for 75 kg/165 lbs. I'm 170cm/5 feet 7 inches tall. I had a massive break-down a couple of years ago, and I've made a very slow recovery. I gained 10 kg/22 lbs while the break-down, and it's been difficult to lose it again while recovering. I'm starting to be ok again, though, and I'm making small changes in my life in order to lose weight and get fit D8< Nevertheless, I'm doing my very best to maintain a positive, forgiving attitude towards myself, the lack of which led to my break-down. So, here you will find positive and happy stuff!! Unless I'm not feeling positive and happy... In which case you will find a lot of animal gifs! Enough talk for now. Let's fight!

....always a Jedi? But although I've always been a Jedi, I have been called a grey one and actually had more than one lapse into the void of the dark side. As any great Jedi Master will tell you, the dark side is part of everyone. And emerging from it again into the light is what makes you a true master of the Force, if you emerge again, that is..... Challenge #10 QUEST 1 : Nutrition/Snacking This didn't work out last challenge so I need to change it. Since at the moment I can't really control what I eat, I'll concentrate on quantity instead. Also concentrating on little thing Mission: No snacking between meals QUEST 2 : SIMPLE & SINISTER [ II OF XII ] Continuing the year of Kettlebell. I'm trying to reduce the light days (swinging a16kg) to no more than once a week and start to introduce some one-handed swings on the hard ones this time. Also I usually did two days off per week last time, but I need to reduce that to one day. TGUs ar not going to change for this challenge. Mission: 100 Swings per day (either two or one-handed) 24 or 16 kg 5 Turkish Get-Ups per side per day with a 12kg QUEST 3 : Nutrition/Tea The other little thing to improve the intake side of the equation. Drink at least one litre of tea (additionally to what I usually drink). Mission: Drink one litre of tea per day QUEST 4 : STRENGTH (ENDURANCE) WORKOUT This quest is competely the same as last challenge. Mission: Minimum Strength Workout (one exercise out of two of Push/Pull/Hinge/Squat) 4x per week Strength Endurance Worktout (like EMOM or for time or AMRAP for example) 2x per week Maximum Strength Workout (2 exercises out of one of Push/Pull/Hinge/Squat) 2x per week

I don't really pay much attention to meals. If someone doesn't remind me I can and often will completely forget about them. I could be doing anything but I'd get caught up and not even remember to eat, or even drink a lot of the time (I'm working on upping my water intake). I forget about meals alot, but I do snack alot as well. When I have meals they're healthy and I don't eat out very often, under once a month. But my snacking isn't so clean, I have healthy-ish snacks most of the time, but I want to improve overall with it. Does anyone have any advice on how I can improve the overall quality of my snacking? (I'm not looking to stop it because I know myself and I know that won't work.) For example, some of the common things for me are: -Olives -Biscuits (Like Jatz) -Cheese -Nuts -Beans -Bits of leftovers/things I can eat straight out of the packet like cereal in small amounts I also sometimes have chocolate or chips if they're around and open. I think I'm not too bad with them but I'm trying to make small steps to improve my general diet, so if anyone has any suggestions? That would be really appreciated.

Hi everyone! Time for another NF challenge J I’ve been using my battle log recently, but now I got an urge to participate in a challenge! After a great summer, I’ve found it hard to adjust to going back to my studies. The past two years have been very busy and filled with studies, but this year… I’m having half the amount of courses. This is thanks to me working my bum off last semester, but I realized that this is hard for me. To study less. To have more time to myself. To help me cope with real life (le gasp!), I got an idea: to create my very own super spy identity! I’ve always wanted to be someone like Black Widow, and now’s the time to work towards that dream I study languages, computer science and information science, so I’m getting well prepared for managing super secret international information… Kinda. What I really want is to help people. Whatever profession I will have in the future, I want to help people - whether I’ll be a librarian, helping people find the information they need, or a super secret spy, uncovering all the delicious pancake recipies… Wait, what? My codename: SHEPHERD FOX. An international super spy, whose goal during this challenge is to help all the cows in the world to keep their milk. And look great while doing it. Committing more time to myself, my health, and the NF community should keep me grounded and focused (or make me create Excel spreadsheets on a Sunday morning… what the heck??). I have worked with a lot of emotional pain the past few years. During this time, I’ve got to know people, who have helped me get out of my head and look at my life with softer, loving eyes. Some of these people I’ve met here on NF, and I just want you to know that you’re all heroes. Every weird and funny conversation here, every terrible joke, the puns… They’ve all encouraged me to get out of my head and keep believing in people. You’ve got no idea just how far a bit of kindness can take a person.You’re gold <3 I finally think I’m ready to leave the past behind and keep living my life without the emotional baggage. Well, it’ll always be there, ready to emerge, but I know that I will be able to handle it. That’s enough. I’m enough. To kick my mindset in place, I wrote a list of things I’d wish to accomplish. I am someone who: 1. has energy to get through her days 2. has a healthy relationship with food 3. has time to have fun with her friends 4. manages her finances by planning ahead (what to buy, does meal prep, etc.) 5. manages her studies/work by being active. Well, that’s a start. To get this mission going, let’s check my goals! Goal #1: Meal Prep I started meal prepping this summer, and it’s made eating healthy a lot easier! I make a bigger bunch of food twice a week, and eat it during the next three or four days. So, when I come home hungry and tired, I just take healthy food from the fridge, heat it up, and boom: keeping it quick and healthy! Meal prepping is part of this challenge, because my daily routine has changed a lot and I want to make sure that I keep this habit going. To complete: - plan ahead meals for the next 3 days - make a grocery list - only buy what’s on the list - have a meal prep on Wednesdays and Sundays Goal #2: Don’t Drink Your Milk During the summer, I cut out yoghurt, cottage cheese and quark from my diet. This has made losing and maintaining my weight a lot easier, and it is also recommended for people with PCOS to drop dairy products (they produce testosterone among other things in your system, which is bad for PCOS). For the next 6 weeks… No dairy 5/7 days a week. Besides cream in my coffee. Because I'm not gonna live forever. To complete: - avoid dairy 5 days a week for 6 weeks. Keep the cows happy. Goal #3: Shake It Up This would be my exercise goal…! I’m already active, but to surprise my body every now and then, I’m going to complete a Darebee WO in addition to my regular training schedule (2 kettlebell WOs at home, yoga class on Wednesdays). To complete: - 2 kettlebell WOs a week - 1 Darebee WO a week - attend yoga class on Wednesdays The flu season is here (hurah!), so this goal might take some damage. But I can’t really help falling sick, so I’m taking the sickdays into account. Goal #4: Money Count Yeah, I’m too careless with my money. I do get along fine, but I’d like to really know what I’m doing. So, this challenge is for tracking where da riches go, and I’ll start working with this data during next challenge! To complete: - mark your spent money on a spreadsheet. Data will be used in the next challenge! ** That’s all, folks. Let’s have fun, shall we? I actually made a couple of spreadsheets (you Doodlies are bad influence!), which will definitely help me to stay on track. I'll modify them a bit, and post later

"'this is my fight song, take back my life song, prove I'm all right song... my power's turned on, starting right now i'll be strong, i'll play my fight song - and i don't really care if nobody else believes, 'cause i've still got a lot of fight left in me." MAIN QUEST: Keep it simple, keep it fun, and blast through all the obstacles in my path! Have you played this game? No? STOP READING THIS AND GO PLAY IT AT ONCE. It is obscure and ridiculous and completely heartbreaking when you least expect it and seriously so, so lovely. It is also a story about flipping adversity the bird and doing the impossible, breaking bad cycles, and slowing down to (literally) smell the flowers. After last challenge threw a whole lot of rocks at me, I'm ready for some resilience. I'm keeping it light and easy and fun while also (hopefully) focusing in on basic foundational things that will help me keep moving forward. I'm also playing around with quest format a bit, because I will be traveling to lovely, sunny Cancun, and frankly, I don't want to be too restrictive while on vacation. STOP AND SMELL THE FLOWERS, STARS! QUEST 1: Be Limber like Falsetto! - (+4 DEX) If you've seen Falsetto in battle (and if you haven't, again, I am telling you, GO PLAY THIS GAME RIGHT NOW), you know this girl has some crazy mobility. Unlike me - I've been neglecting my flexibility training.... again. It shows. Let's fix it! I will aim for a minimum of 3 days a week of stretch sessions. A session needs to be 20 consecutive minutes or more to count. Yoga does NOT count. It's all about them splits, straddles and backbends...: A: 3 sessions, B: 2 sessions, C: 1 session QUEST 2: Floral Powder - not Mineral Powder! - (+3 CON, +1 WIS) Last challenge I realized I needed to eat more. Like.... a lot more. Like an average of 1850-2100 calories per day. And I decided to get there by adding snacks to keep my energy up between meals, because I now have a teenage boy's metabolism. And this worked great! .....Except the part where I kept snacking on chocolate. And Trader Joe's cookies. And other delicious but ultimately junky things. I haven't been eating them in large quantities - clearly my weight and body comp are on point - but this is not the most efficient way to get the extra calories I need.... and I am now getting sugar cravings/crashes again because I've loosened the reins too much. WHOOPS. Junk food = mineral powder: fast and easy and temporarily satisfying BUT ULTIMATELY POISON SHEESH STARS. Good, wholesome snacks = floral powder: more time consuming, oftentimes more expensive..... and actually good for me. This quest has one major component + a caveat! The major component involves having a wholesome snack at work daily (wholesome = freggies, nuts, dried fruit even, cheese, jerky, hard-boiled eggs, etc): A: 5 days a week, B: 4 days a week, C: 3 days a week** And the second piece is a caveat - sure, I can choose the sweets as a secondary snack/after dinner sometimes if they fit my macros (full restriction isn't necessary or healthy) BUT. They need to be less available to make smart choices easier. Therefore, I am not allowed to buy junk food. PERIOD. Until I have completely consumed all that I already have. No last minute giving in to cravings when shopping. Not even sweet potato chips, stars. No, not the raspberry sorbet, either. We're going to be rational about this: Every time I purchase something junky (unless the pantry is 100% empty), I will lose a letter grade for the week. THERE IS NO LEEWAY HERE.*** **If I bring a proper snack but for whatever reason choose not to snack at all (unlikely, but hey, maybe I'll suddenly be not hungry someday), this doesn't count against me.***Exceptions can be made if shopping for a meal where I intend to have company and want to have something nice available for teatime; I'm not going to hold this against myself. QUEST 3: Capture the Moment like Beat! - (+3 CHA) Beat's always taking pictures and making memories, and honestly? I need to be more like him. I need to expand this to real life eventually, but for now, we're just talking aerial (no need to get too crazy, right???). Namely, I'm going to commit to one progress video per open gym session. It can be anything! A new trick! An old trick! A sequence! Anything at all!! I know you guys like seeing videos, and this will encourage me to try new things, too. Victories all around! A: I did the thing! THERE IS NO TRY, SO THERE IS NO B OR C. LIFE QUEST: Music is at the Heart of Everything - (+1 WIS, +1 CHA) Ah, Frederic. Even his dreams are full of music. As for me... I've been neglecting doing anything more than the bare minimum. My high C took a hike some time ago as I so rarely need it. Even my high B is questionable. Not okay! Especially considering I may not have my cozy spot in the pro choir indefinitely... and if there are indeed personnel cuts, I need to shore up my weaknesses. Thus, I will commit to 2 sessions of vocalises at the piano a week - for now - focusing mostly on my upper range. A: 2 times, B: 1 time BONUS QUEST: Enjoy the Journey - (+2 WIS) My healthy lifestyle is all well and good, but everyone needs a break sometimes. During week 4, I'll be on my long-awaited beach vacation, and frankly, I just want to enjoy myself and not worry so much about points and macros and whatever else. Here are the things I will commit to doing while I'm enjoying the beach: 60 minutes of movement per day, at least 5/7 days. Walking around ruins counts. Lifting at the resort gym counts. Dancing at the discoteca counts. WHATEVER. It's all good. No more than one dessert per meal, with two "byes" HAVE A GOOD TIME EVERY SINGLE DAY, DON'T FREAK OUT SO MUCH ABOUT BEING "PERFECT," TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES, THE END If I meet the above criteria, I will consider vacation a job well done and give myself my Wisdom points. And if I gain back some fluff, I'll deal with it in week 5. AND THAT IS IT! As always, I have my handy-dandy spreadsheet which you can view to see my progress! The points thus come out like this, assuming I mathed correctly: STR: 0 DEX: 4 STA: 0 CON: 3 WIS: 4 CHA: 4 Yup..... no strength points. Of course I'll still lift and train my inversions and so on, but this challenge isn't about that. Measurements: Neck: 12.8" Waist: 26.1" Hips: 36.1" Shoulders: 41.9" Thigh: R: 20.8" L: 19.9" Calf: R: 14.8" L: 14.5" Bicep: R: 10.6" L: 10.6" Weight: 132 lbs BF%: 19.4% Dress/pants size: 0/2

Obligatory Pre-Challenge Brain-Stuffs: I've had a lot of success over my past few challenges, my last one was a bit of a let down because life threw stuff at me but I still managed to overall improve myself I think. However, while I've seen vast improvements with my health, strength and flexibility, I feel like I haven't been seeing much progress looks wise. And while most of my brain is like who cares you're stronger and awesomer, there's that part of me that is like... but summer is coming (here?) and I'd really like to rock out a bathing suit and not feel super self conscious. I know this is due to my eating. I know I can't outrun my plate. This has been the hugest struggle for me since I started my fitness journey, what I don't do well at more often than not during challenges, and what sets off a domino effect of not hitting my goals. One bad meal can easily turn into skipping a work out in my world, and as many awesome habits I've set through this challenge format eating well is just not one of them. I've tried counting calories, counting macros, counting nothing but eating things that are obviously healthy, I just haven't had the motivation. I think it's because in the past I focus on other habits at the same time. But now I've got my workout habits set basically in stone and I can nix all those other goals that I'll do anyway and this challenge I am going to be 100% focused on what I put into my body. And it's going to be boring. How boring you ask? Let's see. tldr: Raxie needs to eat moar better. Mission 1: Home Cooking I will prepare 6 dinners a week for myself. Only one night of ordering out allowed. Each of these dinners will be made of up of: -1 or more protein -1 or more whole grain or potato -1 or more green veggie side (avocado does not count here, but is a welcome addition to any meal) -NO DAIRY. Dairy makes the tummy have the owies. Grading: +4 CON max. % of weeks met awarded. Mission 2: Salad I will eat a salad every day. EVERY. FREAKIN'. DAY. This can be a side salad if neccessary. Grading: +4 CON max. % of weeks met awarded. Mission 3: Alcohol That's right, kids. Raxie is not going to drink alcohol AT ALL this entire challenge. I have a feeling this actually going to be way easier than putting limits on what I actually drink which has been super difficult for me in social situations in the past. This way I can just hang out with friends and tell them I'm not drinking straight up, instead of having a couple and then trying to convince myself to not or explain why I've switched to water "so early". As a note, this isn't meant to be me giving up alcohol forever, just kind of a detox to my system in this area. Grading: +4 WIS max. % of weeks met awarded. Diet Quest: Snacks So all my missions are diet related anyway, but here's another. Try a new snack each week that will help curb my cheese craving. I think this is a huge problem in my prior attempts, I just told myself I'd have to suck it up during my cravings. This time I will be prepared! Each week I will buy or create a snack that has cheese-like properties to help pre-emptively curb my cheese addiction. Will most likely be mostly nut-type-things. I will post here each week on how well the snack helped (or didn't) in curbing my cravings. If I find something I like I still want to try something new each week so I can have an arsenal of snacks that work by the end of this challenge. Grading: +2 WIS max. % of weeks met awarded. Life Side Quest: Water I've been slacking on the water intake since I rocked out a water challenge 2 challenges ago. Time to start tracking this again and get a handle on it once more. Goal: 100oz/day. Grading: +1 CON max. % of weeks met awarded. Mini Quests: Bye-Weeks Challenge: Quest One: I have been working on crow for the past challenge and a half and I got it at the end of the last one, and now I'm interested in headstands. I know I can do a tripod for a millisecond but I want to work on it some more! I've never really worked on it before though and it hasn't gone along with any of my goals, so I'm gonna try to see what I can do tripod-wise 2 or 3 times before the next challenge. Quest Two: I fell behind on my Zombies, Run! 5K training last challenge and I was hoping to be ~halfway through it by now. I'm going to start over with it, but instead of waiting for the beginning of the next challenge I am going to get week 1 out of the way and do 3 runs next week. Quest Three: Go see a movie! The boyfriend and I LOVE see movies in theatres and we only do it about twice a year, there are a few things playing right now I know we both want to see. So I should make this happen. Oh and also give myself a bath day with a face and hair mask. I try to do this every 4-6 weeks and it's been like 3 months. So two things for quest three. Because yay happies! Ranger Optional Mini Challenge Feats: Endurance Feat - Run/walk drills from Zombies, Run 5K training 2x/weekStrength Feat - OHP 1x50+ lb (right now I'm at 47.5lb) Speed Feat - Hold tripod stand for 10 seconds Combat Feat - Go on a *good* hike with some significant elevation gains. Healing Feat - Meditate 6x/week Rescue Zombie: And I'll also be following along with AlienJenn's Zombie mini challenge too, because why not? Alibi: The last week of this challenge I will be going on vacation with the bf to Alaska, so this challenge will only be 5 weeks long for me. I think I am actually going to start tomorrow (Tuesday) for this so I've still got 6 weeks to form a good habit of need eating like poop.

So, here is my thread for work between challenges. I'll keep track of any exercises and other work I do between challenges, and ruminate on ideas for the next challenge. So far, I know I'm going to include financial health in the next challenge. Some of the things I'm already doing - limiting how often I buy coffee, taking breakfast bars with me when I'm on the run, etc. But the big thing I'm going to do is try to figure out which bills fall into which pay period, and figure out from there how much free money I have each pay period. And, to keep track of that, I'll use either play money or actual cash to track the free money - when it's out, I have no more. The end. Another thing I'm going to do is track my food every day, but give myself 6 passes. If I say I only need to track 4 days/week, I'll only do that, but I also don't want to set myself up to feel shitty if I go to a party or something. 6 passes is one pass per week, and I don't have to use them every week (because what if I have two parties in a week - I don't want to use them foolishly). The next thing I need to do is figure out why I'm not losing weight. I had even higher fitness goals this time and I didn't lose any weight. I maintained, but no weight-loss. I even focused more on eating healthier, which I neglected last challenge. I'm bummed and a little frustrated. But there has to be something I'm missing if I'm not losing weight and working so hard. A couple of things I'm thinking of - one is to cut down alcohol. I like having a glass or two a few nights a week, but those are empty calories. Another is to cut out snacking altogether, but that will be really tough. I get hungry between meals, and if I don't keep something around, I'm afraid I'll eat candy or end up bingeing. And lastly, I may use a calorie tracking app. I really, really don't want to do this. I have a very unhealthy emotional relationship with food, and calorie tracking brings up a whole lot of my hangups. So... I'm wavering on that. It might be the only realistic way to get a handle on what I need to do to see some progress. Finally, I'm toying of the idea with trying to use a theme for future challenges. I was thinking of using Tarot, and focusing on Pentacles/Coins for next challenge (perfect for finances and Earth, which is strength, stability, etc.). I thought of this once before, and then I had a nice title for next challenge that had nothing to do with Tarot, but I've forgotten it. So I'm back to Tarot. We'll see. (Yes, Chris, this is thanks to you.) Forgot to mention - did my 1 hour belly dance video today. The stuff that was super difficult last time was much easier this time. I'll get those moves down!

Hey All! This is my first challenge with the Monks! I've had two previous challenges as an Adventurer which were mostly centered around diet. Honestly, this one is mostly centered around diet too, but I've always wanted to join the Monks and now I feel that I can do so with a good conscience. I recently moved to a new town (recently like 2 and a half weeks ago) and in that new town I found a Martial Arts club that teaches Wing Chun Kung Fu and Kali. I've been to three classes and so far I love it! It's a ton of fun, I feel like I'm learning, and the people there all seem really cool. So I'm super-psyched about it. For the past two challenges, I've been trying to align my diet bit by bit with a Primal eating plan. I've seen some success with fat-loss and muscle gain, but I'm still carrying more on my stomach than I'd like. So for this challenge, I'm going to dive in and see if I can handle eating fully Primal with no exceptions. This is an experiment to see: 1) if I can keep that kind of a diet up without feeling deprived and 2) if such a diet works for me and gives my body the benefits that I think it will: Namely fat loss and energy. I've been reading Nerd Fitness and Marks Daily Apple for a while and I've pretty much bought into this paleo/primal thing, but I've never fully tested it. I'm going to give it a try this challenge. I want to do this mostly for myself, but also for my Dad. He's in fairly good shape for a 56-year old man, but he has arthritis in several of his joints. That arthritis has caused him to become less active and I fear that he may start declining physically. I've been touting this primal way of eating to my family and I think it would really benefit my dad, but I feel that I need to show them that it actually can work. Practice what you preach and all that. I feel that I'm better equipped for this now than I ever have been since I have my own apartment and can control what's in my fridge. In addition to my diet goals, I have a bonus goal for myself. This 6-week challenge just happens to fall over the Lenten season, and for lent I decided to give up talking negatively about other people behind their backs. It was something that I never thought I did very much, but I've noticed it in myself recently and I don't like it. So I'll be trying my best not to initiate or participate in any negative conversations - no matter how annoyed I am at someone. To sum up, here are my Quests! 1) Eat 100% primal unless out with friends. I don't drink so that's not an issue, but I'll bend the rules if my friends go out for ice cream or something. To see what I mean by "primal", here's a food pyramid for you: http://crossfit414.com/09172013-primal-eating/ 2) For fruits, Nuts, and Dairy, I'll limit myself to one serving/day. Veggies and Meat are unlimited. 3) Fast Once a Week. Right now my plan is to fast from Tuesday lunch to Wednesday lunch - skipping dinner and breakfast the next day. We'll see how my body handles it and switch it up as needed. Side-Quest: No talking behind people's backs. I know that none of my goals have anything to do with being a monk, but I'm still psyched to be here!

My 1st challenge and back story can be found here. Quest #1 - The Morning CALM, Stretch, & Strength Bedtime 9pm. Period. 8+ hours sleep. 1st week - be up by 6:30, practice one yoga pose/technique correctly for 5 minutes. 2nd week - 6:25, yoga 7 minutes, 1 to 2 poses, focus on technique. 3rd - 6:20, yoga 10 minutes 4th - 6:15, yoga 15 minutes 5th - 6:10 yoga 20 minutes 6th- 6:05, yoga 25 minutes 7th - 6:00 - GOAL! Working that early morning routine! Yoga 25-30 minutes. So far that is all I have specifically. I had it all typed up but left it on my computer at work! I woke up Sunday morning with a terrible pain in my back and hip and today I left work early because the pain was unbearable. No relief for 3 days and getting worse. I've tried stretches, heat/cold, ibuprofen, pillows, Epsom salt baths, hot showers..despite my best effort, it's the Dr office tomorrow (/groan). Sleeping with it has been terrible, which is not helping my first quest at all so far. But I will post the rest of my quests tomorrow, just wanted to get my initial post thru the door and say Hi. Now I have try to figure out how I will sleep tonight. UPDATED 1/9/2015: Accountability Log

Hey Folks, I could use some advice on a habit I'm trying to change right now. I've noticed that I tend to eat between meals a lot, especially when I'm bored. This tends to be a problem especially on weekends. On Friday nights I'll get home from work and fix myself a nice healthy dinner. But even though I'm satisfied from my dinner, I still feel like eating and I have a strong desire to take some snack with me as I read/play video games/whatever. It often ends up that after dinner I keep snacking off and on until 8 or 9 o clock. In addition to the fact that I'm just eating a lot of extra food that I'm not hungry for, I tend to desire junk food a lot more when snacking. All of my main meals are paleo, but when I'm bored and snacking, I tend to crave Ice Cream, peanut butter, or something like chips and crackers that I can just munch on. Has anyone else had a similar issue with eating out of boredom? Any tips for changing the habit?

Never Too Late To Move That Thing Friday night I ran 3.2 miles! That means I'm capable of running a 5K. Good thing, too, since the 5K I signed up for is on the 15th. After that I've got rehearsals, and rehearsals, and even more rehearsals, all leading up to five performances of The Wedding Singer over two weekends - the 19th and 20th, 26th and 27th of July. Then my 45th birthday is on August 3rd, and I'd like to have reached a shiny new low weight by then, especially since I plan to celebrate by going zip-lining! This challenge will mainly focus on helping me to survive that experience, and reach that shiny new low weight by my birthday. I am sooooooooooo close to being officially in One-derland, which is that magical place where the scale shows a one as the first digit of my weight. I'm relatively confident that Monday's weigh-in will see me there. Last Monday I was at 200.8 on the digital scale, and I weighed myself at my church today, and that mechanical one put me at 198.5 for the first time in ages, so there's that. Regardless of what happens... My LIFE GOAL is to weigh what I did in high school, when I thought I was fat but actually wasn't. I'd like to be in the 145-155 range. That will be awesome, once I get there, which i will. It will be very hard to eat right these next few weeks. It's nearly impossible already as i work from 8 to 5 and then have rehearsals from 6:30 to 9:30 every weeknight. It's tempting to go with fast food for supper, considering I don't usually get home until 5:45 and only get half an hour or so before I have to leave again. Fitting fitness in will be tough too, although there is a LOT of dancing in this show... I think that my MAIN QUEST is just to get through all of this as healthily and happily and injury-free as possible. Since I'm on Weight Watchers, I thought it would be good to focus on three of their Routines and keep up with them for the whole challenge. The WW website has a tracker for this too, so I can track in both places. MY GOALS Get 7 to 8 hours of quality sleep each night. I had been working on this - lights out at 11pm and rise at 6:30 - but I'm not the most faithful at it. Must work to become more so, as good sleep will be critical to my survival. Days Done & Tracked - 38-42=A, 34-37=B, 33-36=C, 32-35=D, less than 32 = F Always have a healthy snack on hand. I'm a snacker. Last night I think I had a dream that some director in my show said 'you really need to cut out on all that snacking, honey.' I wanted to smack her cuz I'm a grown-ass woman, and even if I wasn't, that's just rude, but it probably speaks to my own insecurities about my snacking. So more fruits and veggies for snacks, less processed stuff even if it's supposed to be lo-cal. Less snacking between meals over all would be good. But always have something healthy on hand for when the urge strikes. Days Done & Tracked - 38-42=A, 34-37=B, 33-36=C, 32-35=D, less than 32 = F Know how you're going to be active tomorrow. The idea here is to be always planning ahead, making an appointment with myself and not missing it. I want to be active every day, whether it's going for a 3 mile run or just taking the stairs instead of the elevator. It's not just knowing, but following through and doing it. Days Done & Tracked - 38-42=A, 34-37=B, 33-36=C, 32-35=D, less than 32 = F SIDE QUESTS Fitness - Try Yoga I've been experiencing back pain and soreness from all this activity - running and dancing and whatnot. I think a good stretchy yoga-type workout would be good for me, so I want to find time for at least 20 minutes of it, three days a week. Days Done - 16-18=A, 14-15=B, 12-13=C, 10-11=D, less than 10 = F Life - Clean for 5 minutes - 5 times a week. I see this as a big necessity since I'm so busy that the housework could really suffer. And it's already suffering plenty. Days Done - 26-30=A, 23-25=B, 20-22=C, 17-19=D, less than 17 = F My Current Stats: (will edit on Monday after WW weigh in) (Hey Look! I'm a Revolter!)

As Albertigog entered the market town of Blackly Downs he got a feeling of tension in the air. For somewhere that he had heard so much about, this was not the busy happy place he had imagined. He tried to start a conversation with several people but was cut short every time as everyone seemed in a rush to pack up and get home. He turned a corner onto another street of stalls where everyone already seemed to packing up even though it was only late morning. Eventually he caught the eye of a baker who seemed slightly less worried than everyone else. “Excuse me, but why is everyone packing up the market so early?†“Don’t worry about that young man, but I suggest that if you’ve just arrived into town that you continue on your way quickly.†“But why? What’s going on?†“Just trust me young man, there are evil things afoot and you would be best to avoid them. I’ll give you directions to some good stall holder where you can pick up supplies quickly but then you should move on.†Disheartened that his hope of finding some awesome adventure to go on in this busy hub had been shot down, Albertigog accepted the baker’s advice. After collecting some more supplies he set off on his way into the mountain pass, that made Blackly Downs such a wealthy town. It was the only easy place to cross the mountain range for several hundred miles, so the two towns that developed on either side of the pass had become wealthy from all the trade passing through them. They also held a could deal of power in this part of the world due to their control on trade. As the town began to shrink behind him, Albertigog couldn’t help but wonder what evil thing was afoot in the town. Suddenly there was a loud cry, one of anger and rage. The sound seemed to come from everywhere without any source. Albertigog turned to look at the town, as a huge ball of shadow shot out of the town heading for the mountain pass. The shadow passed above the pass onto one of the mountain tops above. The shadow began to take move and shift until it began to take shape into some sort of creature. After what Albertigog could only describe as a dark equivalent of a flash, the shadow materialised into a great beast, which quickly began attacking the mountain sides. The creature’s attacks were so powerful that it started an avalanche, before it moved onto the next mountain to do the same. Albertigog quickly realised what was happening and began running back to Blackly Downs to escape the falling rocks. As quickly as he could go the rocks were catching up on him and soon began falling around him. With only a hundred yards to the end of the pass a rock hit him, making him fall. He regained his footing as fast as possible and continued limping, but soon started being hit by smaller rocks. He had managed to escape the main avalanche and the larger rocks, but the smaller ones swallowed him up before he could escape. *********************************** His eyes opened and he sat up quickly, still in panic of escaping the avalanche. He got half way before a paralyzing pain in his back took his breath and he fell back down. After regaining his breath he looked around and realised he was resting in a bed within someone’s house. Footsteps came to the door and the helpful baker pushed the door open. “So you are still alive! I was worried that you’d never wake up.†With the amount of pain he had now realised he was in, Albertigog could do little but nod to the man. “Haha a bit sore are we? When I saw the avalanche I knew that’d you be in the pass so afterwards, I gathered some help and went to see if you’d made it. You were lucking, if you’d been any slower you’d be dead, not that you were far off it. You’ve been asleep for a week.†“A week? But how am I still so injured?†“Like I said you were nearly gone when we found you, it’s going to take you a long time to recover. Not that that’s a bad things as it’s going to take us probably longer to clear the mountain pass.†“The Avalanche, the monster! What happened†“A monster aye? So that’s how he did it. The reason I moved you on was because an evil man had come to town, feigning partnership. He’s been gathering dark forces and creatures to him, and forcing towns and cities into submission to join him. Of course he eventually came here to gain control of the trade routes, but our town council refused his threats. That may have been a mistake, but what’s done is done. He caused the avalanche in his rage and punished us for not siding with him†“So what now?†“The town has shifted all of its resources to clearing the mountain pass, but that is no small task, it will take months but we have no choice, our livelihoods depend upon it.†“Ok as soon as I’m better I’ll go out and help too.†“Haha, I like your spirit but you’re not going to be any use moving those big stones for quite some time. You need to rest and regain your strength (challenge 1). You can rest here and live with me while you are still here. Unfortunately, with the trade gone we are down to fairly basic foods without any luxuries (challenge 2). As the town faces the east of the mountains we always get more sun in the morning and early evenings, that’s even worse now as the avalanche has blocked out much of the later sun, I’m afraid that’s going to mean early mornings and nights for you like the rest of us (challenge 3).†“That’s all fine, but what can I do? I don’t want to just lie here being useless†“When you have gained some more strength you can help look after the horses. We’re going to need them a lot clearing the stone, so they’ll need to be in top nick.†“Ok horses, I don’t know anything about them†“Don’t worry lad, we can teach you. (Life challenge) ************************************ Challenge 1 rest and recover So at the end of the last challenge I injured my back, preventing me from doing what I had planned for this challenge Weight lifting. Instead I’m going to focus on some body weight strength training, whilst keeping an eye on how my back is doing. For this I’m going to take inspiration from batman. In prison and having just had his spine punched back into place, he starts beasting out workouts. So I’m going to follow the batman workouts and see how I improve. With a goal of going up a difficulty in all the exercise by the end of the challenge and also hopefully having a healed back. A- Up difficulty on all exercises and healed back B –Up difficulty on all exercises and back not quite healed OR healed back and not up difficulty on all exercises C- Still limited by back, failure to increase difficulty on all exercise but more than 4 D- Still limited by back, failure to increase difficulty on 4 exercises. STR- 4 Challenge 2 ration the treats I’ve gotten bad at buying snacks or eating out/takeaway. So this is to control that and save money in the process. Each time I do something I get some points and my aim is to keep those points as low as possible. Snacks/junk that are not with a meal – 1 point Really unhealthy dessert – 1 point Take away – 3 points Unplanned meal out – 3 points (4 if I choice something unhealthy) Note: I hate waste more than I hate eating badly, so If food is going to waste (workmates not finishing lunch) that won’t add points as it’s also free food. A- 0-9 points B -10-12 points C – 13-15 points D – 15-16 points Challenge 3 Be a productive skylark. Cons – 2 Wis - 2 My aim here is to get up earlier and be productive in the mornings. I often start work at 10 and finish well into the evening making it difficult to be productive and have fun in the evenings. My aim is to get up earlier as I’m pretty sure I don’t need as much sleep as I’m getting. I’m just about getting up at 7 without an alarm at the moment so that is my bench mark. I’m going to set my alarm to wake me up slightly earlier but I’m going to go to bed when I’m tired, hopefully this will mean that my body makes me still get enough sleep and I can have fun in the evenings. A-less than 1 fail get up a week – Getting up at 6:30 or earlier B-less than 11 fail get ups – getting up at 6:30 or earlier C-less than 11 fail get ups – getting up between 7:00 and 6:30 D-More than 11 fail get ups – maintaining 7:00 wake up time. Cons- 2 Cha- 2 Life Challenge: Look after my steed I’d planned to do this anyway, but after some recent work that needed doing it’s time to take better care of my car. A-Achieve B and learn/do some other jobs to maintain car health. B-Achieve D and Complete a service on my car C-Achieve D and do some parts of a service on my car D-Do a weekly standard check on my car (lights, fluids, seatbelts, tyres, etc) and fix problems This may cost me a fair bit of money, and I don’t have a very work friendly environment (I park on a main road) so this may actually be my most difficult challenge this time round. Wis- 3

Starting Point Right now, I am: A college student. 64-65 kgs. On a semi-Primal diet (about 60-40), and reasonably happy with the results. A non-native English speaker (Spanish is my first language, French my second language) Happy that I’m finally doing a second challlenge! Goals 1. Mindful meditation (WIS +3, CON +2) I am currently enrolled in mindful meditation classes, but I have trouble finding motivation to do the homework (which is mostly meditating...). My goal is to meditate for 10 minutes at a time, 4 times a week. 2. Beauty sleep (CON +2, END +1) I didn’t have this problem before, but I am starting to go to bed late, and I feel tired even when I have had enough hours of sleep. For this challenge I am aiming for 8 hours of sleep 6 nights per week. Also, I will not use electronic devices for half an hour before going to sleep (6 nights per week). 3. Mindful eating (CON +1, WIS +1, CHA +1) Instead of trying to make my diet more Primal (a goal which I would like to attempt in the near future anyway), I’ve decided to tackle a more “basic†problem: mindless snacking. For this challenge, I will “simply†avoid doing something else while eating. No computer, no cellphone, no books, nothing (except maybe talking to people). I’ve noticed that I can eat several bags of anything while I’m distracted doing other stuff, so I think that it’s a good place to start. 4. Getting things done (CHA +2, WIS +2) As for my previous challenge, I want to do a Weekly Review of things to do for the week (based on a book called Getting Things Done), choose 15 of these tasks, and grade myself based on how many I accomplished during the week. These tasks are usually varied, going from “60 minutes cleaning my room†to “write to my friendâ€, or even “brainstorming for a projectâ€. They help me get closer to my goal (which is admittely vague) of being more organised, and stop leaving everything for last minute (like signing up for NF 6-week challenge…). And all this while doing at least 2 exercises a week (usualy 2 hours of Jeet Kun Do and 1h30 of yoga). I am happy to be back, and excited about this challenge! I am also looking forward to reading about your challenges, and supporting other people who are also working towards their goals

My main quest is simply to get back to a dress size of 6. I am currently in a 10, so I expect this to take at least a year, but if I can achieve it sooner, you won't see me crying! During this challenge I will be revisiting the goal that I failed 2 challenges ago - No sugar! I will continue to allow myself the mere 2 tsp. of sugar in my daily coffee. Also, there are 2 dates that I will be allowing myself to have sugar. These dates coincide with my sister's wedding. Other than that, there will be NO sugar in my diet for the next 6 weeks. I'm looking forward to seeing how much weight I manage to lose. - An A will be anywhere from perfection to 10 days of having sugar (CON +5) - A B will be anywhere from 11 days of sugar to 21 days of sugar (CON +4) - A C will be between 22 days of sugar and 32 days of sugar (CON +3) - A D will be between 32 days and 41 days of sugar (CON +2) - An F will be if I've had sugar every single day Next, I will be adding one day of 30 to 45 minutes of Yoga to each week. Hopefully this will help with the injuries that I've caused myself in bodybuilding. - If I manage to do this 6 times during the challenge, I will have an A (DEX +5) - 4 or 5 times during this challenge will earn me a B (DEX +4) - 3 times will earn me a C (DEX +3) - 1 or 2 times will earn me a D (DEX +2) - I will receive an F if I don't do this a single time during this challenge. My final goal is to stop eating after dinner. No more of those nights sitting in front of the t.v. and snacking. The scoring for this will be equal to that of my sugar goal. The only difference is that my RRP points will go to WIS My motivation is my family. I don't want my husband or my children to have to care for me as I age because I didn't take care of myself in the best way that I could.

My main quest is simply to get back to a dress size of 6. I am currently in a 10, so I expect this to take at least a year, but if I can achieve it sooner, you won't see me crying! During this challenge I will be revisiting the goal that I failed 2 challenges ago - No sugar! I will continue to allow myself the mere 2 tsp. of sugar in my daily coffee. Also, there are 2 dates that I will be allowing myself to have sugar. These dates coincide with my sister's wedding. Other than that, there will be NO sugar in my diet for the next 6 weeks. I'm looking forward to seeing how much weight I manage to lose. - An A will be anywhere from perfection to 10 days of having sugar (CON +5) - A B will be anywhere from 11 days of sugar to 21 days of sugar (CON +4) - A C will be between 22 days of sugar and 32 days of sugar (CON +3) - A D will be between 32 days and 41 days of sugar (CON +2) - An F will be if I've had sugar every single day Next, I will be adding one day of 30 to 45 minutes of Yoga to each week. Hopefully this will help with the injuries that I've caused myself in bodybuilding. - If I manage to do this 6 times during the challenge, I will have an A (DEX +5) - 4 or 5 times during this challenge will earn me a B (DEX +4) - 3 times will earn me a C (DEX +3) - 1 or 2 times will earn me a D (DEX +2) - I will receive an F if I don't do this a single time during this challenge. My final goal is to stop eating after dinner. No more of those nights sitting in front of the t.v. and snacking. The scoring for this will be equal to that of my sugar goal. The only difference is that my RRP points will go to WIS My motivation is my family. I don't want my husband or my children to have to care for me as I age because I didn't take care of myself in the best way that I could.

This will be my fourth challenge. And I am more excited than ever. Of course, I'm always excited. Clean slate time. A whole month and a half of possible perfection. It might not be likely, but it's absolutely possible! So without futher ado, here is precisely what I'll be shooting for: 1) Defeat the snack gremlin: (No snacks past dinner, 5/7 days per week) +1 CON +2 CHA He's insidious. A sneaky little jerk. And he's made himself a little too much at home. I started working on this last challenge, when I realized it was really sabotaging my weight loss efforts. I'm giving myself a couple cheat days per week, to give myself incentive to save up for the weekends - 100% is a little unrealistic at this point. But if I start acing it, I'll up the ante. A= 30 days B=25 days C=20 days D=15 days F=12 or less 2) Flex those muscles: (Basic Body Weight Workout 3x per week) +3STR +2STA I've had fun learning how to do a pull up, but I think it's a good idea to do a solid, all-over strength workout to improve my fundamental fitness. Plus, fun with numbers! How can you go wrong? Also, I can't do a proper push-up, so working on that will be a good secondary challenge within this one. A=18 B=15 C=12 D=9 F=7 or less 3) Move like a Druid: (Yoga, minimum 2 classes per week) +3 DEX +2 WIS *edited due to changing from self-guided sessions at home, to taking classes!* So, I just spent $150 ($300 if you include my husband's) on a unlimited drop-in yoga pass that goes from now until August 23. WOOT! I am quite excited.. but mostly I need to commit to actually going in order to make this worthwhile. Taking out the week we're going away, and the week the studio is closed, that's 10 weeks of classes. If I go once a week, I come out even (drop in fees are usually $15). So my goal is to go a minimum of twice a week, which makes it $7.50 a class, which is a steal. I would actually like to go even more though - they have lunch time classes, and if my boss is okay with me taking an extra 5 mins or so at lunch, I should be able to make that work. A=12 classes B=10 classes C=8 classes D=6 classes F=5 or fewer 4) Create a sanctuary: +1 WIS, +1CHA I mean in my bedroom. It's always the last room to get done when the house gets clean (aka the most likely to get skipped altogether) and I am absolutely terrible at keeping up with the laundry. But I do know, from some isolated incidents (Ha.Ha.) that I feel much more calm and sleep better when my room is clean. I'm going to give myself 2 weeks to get it completely cleaned up (there is a LOT of laundry to get caught upon, and we have to share the laundry facilities) for 20 points, and an additional 10 points for every week that it's still good by Sunday. A=60 points B=50 points C=40 points D=30 points F=25 points or less So there it is! I think they're pretty SMART, but if anyone has any suggestions, I'm always open Whoopa, here we go!

Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Chrissa and I have been lurking around the blog and e-mail lists since discovering the rebellion last September. Up until now, I mainly read Steve's posts and take what I can from them occasionally tossing out a comment here and there. Nerd Fitness has inspired me a lot over the last several months and I'm finally ready to step it up and take my place among my fellow rebels. I've never been very good at joining in but I believe this is going to be the most important challenge for me because it will teach me how to be a better part of a community. You see, I need help. Serious help. I am very bad at asking for help and I try to take on more than one person can handle all by myself. In Case of Emergency-Break Glass! I am wearing a glass mask that looks like a woman who has her shit together, but behind that mask I have become a fragile little panic monkey obsessed with trying to do too much. My husband and family are very supportive and realize the past few months I've been going through a really rough time. I'll get into the details more in future profile posts, but for now I think starting this challenge is the most important step. Needless to say, they aren't completely on board with my primal lifestyle changes. I don't have many friends and none of them are on board either. That's why I am here. My Goals: Increase my attack speed and aggression enough to test for my blue belt. I have been a hapkido student for the past 5 years and I'm really struggling right now. My blue belt is a big one because it marks the halfway point towards my black belt. My instructor told me that my technique is great but lacking in effectiveness because it is slow and I am not using my "ki." I need to somehow ignite my fighting spirit and learn to attack with more intent. I now plan on doing this by practicing my techniques with my eyes closed (or blindfolded) and using my ki-yies when doing them and during my kick workouts and really trying to feel the energy release Grading Scale: A = Attain Blue belt. B+ = Be ready to test for belt. B = Enlist the help of a higher belt to improve my practice or be complimented on my progress. C = Try new ways of practicing at home until finding one that works. D = Practice as usual with just the awareness of what I am doing wrong. F = Fail to practice at all. DEX +1, WIS +1 Stop stress eating and snacking between meals. I often find myself reaching for whatever food is on hand when under a lot of stress, which lately has been too often. Working in the food service industry doesn't help because I'm around food all day. I try to keep it to mainly veggies with a little meat but depending on stress levels I have caved in to eating junk. I also eat when I get idle time at work instead of relaxing and finding some release. At my worst (which thankfully doesn't happen as often) I end up caving into eating sugar or something that has MSG in it and it sets me off on an all-night full-on junk binge that leaves me feeling like garbage and hating myself. There are points during those times that I literally cannot stop eating no matter how full I feel and it's even made me consider forcing myself to vomit. Fortunately, I haven't hit the point to acting on it but it's been close and I found missing the next morning's breakfast helps get me back on track. Normally, I avoid my trigger foods at all costs knowing what they do to me but sometimes I just break. I often find myself envious of my husband because he can avoid whole meals when he's not hungry. I want to be more like him in that and I think this will be my starting point. I need to fix my hunger signals so for the next 6 weeks I will try not to snack at all between meals unless I need to refuel after an intense workout. One thing I plan on doing to help this is brush after every meal to signal to myself that eating is done. I find it helps when I do remember to do this. I've also resolved to not multi-task while eating and take my time to chew because I find myself in a hurry to eat all too often. Grading Scale: A = Succeed with brushing after every meal and only eating a snack as refuel after tough workouts. B = 1 slip up per week allowance. C = 2 slip ups per week. D = 3 slip ups in any given week. F = 4 or more slip ups in any given week. See my food diary here. My Instagram Profile for travel food pics. STA +1, WIS +1 Reduce my waist-to-hip ratio. I'm not quite sure yet what amount of reduction would be reasonable in the allotted time but any reduction at all would be a step in the right direction. Over the last few years I went from being a fat girl to being "skinny fat" and I have been stuck at it for far too long. Despite the above stress eating, I manage to eat 80% or more paleo and my diet is pretty clean. I've recently cut down on nuts and almost eliminated dairy completely with the exception of ghee and the occasional cheese. This past week I got back to tracking my meals on My Fitness Pal and am working on getting my portions down to where they should be. I know we're not supposed to count calories, and I tweaked the settings to reflect a paleo approach to macronutrients and I find it's helping. I intend to stop counting once I have my portions under control. I believe the root of my problem is more the stress. I used to be a lot more fun and I feel like I've forgotten how to enjoy myself. I don't remember the last time I LOL'd. I don't really get out there and play. I act friendly and outgoing at work all the time serving customers but I am not social enough. If it weren't for my hapkido classes I'd have almost no social interaction outside my family and bumping into people I know in the streets. I need to find that fun girl I used to be.This goal is now revised to be tracking my daily routine ala Seinfeld's Don't Break the Chain and not allowing for more than one slip-up per week. Grading Scale: A = No more than 1 break in any given week. B = 1 break every week. C = 2 breaks in any given week. D = 3 breaks in any given week. F = 4 or more breaks in any given week. See my tracking sheet here. STR +1, DEX +1, WIS +1 In Conclusion I know these goals need refining and I will likely be revising them after hearing your suggestions. I'm sorry for being so long-winded but as I said, I'm drowning here and I need your help. I've taken the first step towards the shore and I'm hoping to reach this island and become one of it's many active and contributing inhabitants. Starting Stats: Weight: 143.5 lbs Neck: 13.5 inches Waist: 32.5 inches Hips: 38 inches I apologize for the crappy cell phone pics, but it's what I have to work with at the moment. I'm sucking it up here and know they aren't flattering pictures but that's the point. I'm going all in.

OK, I'm a snacker, and I read the article on the team snack or team no snack, so I'm definantly on the pro snacks Problem is, I cant tell whether I'm bored and just eat or if I'm actually hungry I know I could pay attention, but by the time I think 'wait, was I really hungry' I'm already finished! We also have LOTS of horrible food around the house (I'm talking rice crispies, cookies and chocolate laying about) so I'm always tempted Is there anyway I can maybe cut down. I'm 5'3" and I eat more than the guys I know! What is a good way to cut down on snacking in the daytime and if I do snack good (filling) choices

I had this moment last night where I was mowing down on rice krispie squares that "I" had made with a friend and realized that I needed some help to be held somewhat accountable for my actions. I hope I am not too late to join the challenge. I haven't had a chance to read everything on here but I figured I should jump in asap. Hi, my name is Emily! Background: I am 27 years old. I'm 5'4, 155lbs, and ~28% bf. I am a software engineer at a small company in Ottawa, ON so I sit on my butt most of the day. At the moment I am going to circuit training with my co-workers 3 days out of the week and really enjoying that, I've already noticed some great improvements (I can do full push-ups now!). I enjoy the social aspects of it also. I recently read the article on Staci's transformation (http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/) and became inspired by that. I've always wanted to focus on becoming stronger and more cut and not just on being skinny but I haven't really had any direction and lack people in my life with similar interests. I don't want to do this alone, and so I am here. My biggest problem with becoming more fit and healthy is the eating part because I absolutely love exercising. I've always been super active but I've also always loved to bake cookies, breads, and cheesecakes etc. I eat really well during the day at work, but when I get home I cannot resist eating terrible sugary food after 8 or 9pm. I live with my sister and her husband who eat exactly everything that I shouldn't and so I end up stealing their horribly-delicious-but-terrible-for-me snack foods that I would never buy for myself. Goal 1: Only eat one snack item (1 serving size) of food, not purchased and prepared by myself, at home each week. (Not sure of a better way to make this measurable, if you have any ideas please let me know) ( Since it's really really cold here at the moment and there's an outdoor skating rink around the block from my house. Goal 2: Go skating for 30 minutes, 3 times per week. Bonus: Get one person to go skating with me at least 1 time per week. In terms of moving forward with working out, I am going to look for a gym where I can get into powerlifting as the gym I am at currently does not support this type of activity (luckily my boss pays for most of that membership). Goal 3: Get a gym membership at a place that has free weights within this current week and then start attending said gym at least 2 times per week for the next 5 weeks. I take voice lessons once a week and attend choir but I rarely make time to practice. Goal 4: Practice singing for 30 minutes, 3 times per week I need to read more on the real life role playing stuff so I will update my goals with those later tonight.