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Training with Soraya won’t be easy. She is REALLY tough on me. Does she understand that I am just a human? Either way, I need to focus on the task ahead. This is a great opportunity for me and I will not let it pass. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello there. We are back once again to take this new challenge. I learned a lot from my past ones. I want to have new experiences and adventures. Want to join me? MAIN QUEST - Attend to the Puerto Rico Comic-Con with a costume on May 20, 2018. I have never attended any convention. This will be my first time and my wife and I will go with Star Wars inspired costumes. She will be dressed as Jedi Rapunzel and I will have a soldier/civilian Jedi costume. This will be fun and I hope we can fulfill the goal of going together. 1st SUPPORT QUEST (Fitness) - Learn to Deadlift properly. I am not Deadlifting yet. Is a great exercise that I want to perform the right way. I will concentrate my efforts on learning the ropes and studying the proper form. 2nd SUPPORT QUEST (Professional) - Train the new Quality Inspector. A new inspector has been hired and it is my responsibility to prepare her for her new job. 3rd SUPPORT QUEST (Entertainment) - Finish my costume and props. I’m making some props and designing a simple costume for the Comic-con. I need to complete it properly. 4th SUPPORT QUEST (Weight Loss) - Get under 245 lbs. I’m making progress in the weight loss department. This quest will help me to set a goal to the end of this challenge Special Announcements: - As a long goal, my family is planning to visit Florida in December. I’m saving money for that trip and making all of the necessary adjustments early. - Also, the random mishaps will keep on appearing. Garrus Vakarian: Do you ever miss those talks we had on the elevators? Tali'Zorah: No. Garrus Vakarian: Come on. Remember how we'd always ask you about life on the flotilla? It was an opportunity to share! Tali'Zorah: This conversation is over. Garrus Vakarian: Tell me again about your immune system. Tali'Zorah: I have a shotgun. Garrus Vakarian: Mmmmaybe we'll talk later. - Mass Effect 2 #Success

Well, it happened. I weighed myself yesterday. I have been doing the work, eating right and pushing myself every step of the way. The info I have gathered, eating habits and exercises are doing their charm. I feel great and proud of myself. I have lost almost 60 pounds! Coming from over 300 lbs have bee a journey but I feel great about this first milestone. As my gift for keeping me motivated, I will wear a Star Wars inspired costume to a Comic-con convention at my town. Bst things are yet to come. If you need that extra push forward, set a goal for yourself. You can achieve it if you make the first move. NF forums have various types of ideas and styles to choose from in order to fit your lifestyle. Set that goal. Think of your future! #Success

It is quite amazing what you can do when you set your mind to it. Well, sometimes we think that something might be unachievable or out of range but, if you evaluate your dreams, sometimes there’s a way to achieve them. This challenge will be a new way to gather more tools in order to achieve my goal. We need to make a plan and gather supplies so, this is my idea… MAIN QUEST - Visit a forest or/and a river with my family and explore (yes kiddies, they might be pictures) I live in Puerto Rico. Is a tropical island but we have access to beaches, forest, caves, rivers, and some other natural beauties. It has been a long time since I visited one of this with my family so, my main goal for this challenge will be to go and make it happen. Nothing better than hitting the great outdoors. 1st SUPPORT QUEST (Wellness) - Raise my cardio time from 5 minutes to 15 minutes daily. Ok. I’ll admit it. Cardio and I are not friends. Heck, I used to weight 300+ pounds so, moving a lot was not a part of my daily routine. I have always loved the outdoors but, my weight was an obstacle. I mean, I could do almost everything but was 2 times harder and I would be out of breath after a while. Now, cardio is a part of my new lifestyle but I need to adapt my body to kick out the boredom and embrace the blood flow. 2nd SUPPORT QUEST (Professional) - Maintain all of my job responsibilities on time. In another dimension *smirk* I’m the Quality Coordinator at a Janitorial/Cleaning Company. I deal with all referring to our services and to keep the highest quality standard. Among all this, there’s a lot of paperwork, supervision and client management that I have to deal with or give support to. A lot of paperwork has been piling up on my desk so, I have to step up to keep my duties on time. I don’t have any problems at the moment but I would feel accomplished if I could have my desk clean and paper free. 3rd SUPPORT QUEST (Entertainment) - Build a DIY Lightsaber. (simple light up) I’m a Star Wars fan and I hope (almost certain) to visit the Puerto Rico Comic-Con in May 2018. I have a DIY hilt made from plumbing parts but I want to upgrade that one and make it able to light up with a polycarbonate blade. It will be a bit of a challenge since I don’t have the “proper” tools but, I know how to make it… I think. 4th SUPPORT QUEST (Weight Loss) - Keep tabs on my weight for a healthy weight loss experience. I have been losing weight well. It has been a little too fast in my opinion but I’m eating plenty and well. No lethargy or illness. Either way, I want to keep close attention to it because I’m predisposed to have loose skin and I want to help my skin recover as much as possible. Years of negligent eating habits have been bad to my body but, this is a new lifestyle and I’m not going back. So, we are going strong and looking forward day by day. It has been a nice, weird and amazing journey and the results are better than expected. I hope I can be a supportive part of the adventurers. Starting weight (12/25/2017): 310-ish pounds Today’s weight: 268 awesome pounds Nathan Drake: Just like old times, huh? Elena Fisher: You could say that. So now what? Nathan Drake: We head to the creepy, old monastery. What else? - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Chapter 21: Convoy) #Success

For years, the term “Alpha Male” has been used with some liberty but mostly it carries a negative vibe to it. Many times, when speaking about Alpha Males, is paired with being this macho like controlling and aggressive male who gets all of the women and doesn’t take crap from anyone. This has created a negative feeling of what an Alpha is or could be. First, we should establish from where the term Alpha Male derives from. Is a common way of seeing the behavior of animals (mostly wolves) and how they appear to develop on their own society They have been studies in both side claiming the existence of this hierarchy or that it might not be real at all but, my topic is not to discuss the existence or the relevance of this. In a nutshell, the Alpha exhibits some traits that make them leaders and superior to others for the way they carry themselves in relation to others around them. Now, these traits are most controversial in the way they are portraited in society. For example, Alpha Males are commonly associated with aggressive and controlling people that would step on anyone to achieve their goals. This tends to sum up the concept of an Alpha as a being that takes what he wants when he wants it. The evolution of this mindset always presents itself as a selfish, douchebag, jerk of a person that diminishes others to achieve its “greatness”. I totally understand this concept since, using those characteristics, that’s the image you can conceive. But, I think they might be more than this arrangement of ideas. During my lifetime I have been always seen myself as a shy and introvert person. A guy who lacks the courage to do things and the drive to achieve my goals. The way I look didn’t help either with this image since I felt ashamed of my physical appearance. My social skills were not the best either although I have good friends here and there. Now, all of this amounted to having low self-esteem and a poor image of myself. These traits destroyed my confidence and poured out into my life making some parts harder to achieve because of it. So, the concept Alpha Male can have a bad rep but, I think there’s something about the overall idea that can be used positively. First, I have been developing this lifestyle goal parallel during my entire adult life. Mostly after I got married. I see that in order to be Alpha in any way, you have to remodel the innate traits you have develop for years and transform them into a constructive piece of your life. I believe that the first step is to accept who you are on the inside and what represents you as a being. That step is the foundation to develop the type of person you want to be. Taking all of your traits and characteristics is a task in itself. You need to explore yourself as a whole and identified what makes you who you are. Embracing yourself is the first step to develop the way you want. There’s no “5 steps to…” type of way of doing this. You need to put on the effort to identify who you are. This will be the foundation of what you want to be. It needs to be real and part of you. You are not building a persona, you are building yourself. After finding out who you are, the next step is to embrace the good and point out the bad. Now, we are all different and this step will be inherently individualistic. The bad for me might not be bad for you. There are some traits that are definitely negative but others can vary. You have to identify all of this in order to build a strong foundation of the type of person you are. After the foundation is laid out, you have to learn how to evolve your positive traits so they can produce others. For example, if you get that you are a friendly person, that is a foundation trait. How do I evolve this? Well, having the courage to go and make new friends is a way to grow that friendly trait. That evolution will develop a confidence trait to speak to strangers that could evolve into a self-presentation way of speaking in front of groups of people. The foundation trait will get stronger and evolve into new traits that will model the way you carry yourself. Physical appearance is a part of this. For starters, I believe in a healthy and productive lifestyle. If you are achieving that in the way you are, you are on a good path. Now, in my case, obesity was an obstacle to become who I want it to be. Mind that I didn’t use looking to be “fit” as an excuse to remodel myself. No, being fit is a tool to evolve my traits. Being healthy helped my self-esteem and confidence. It helps to evolve my intelligence to develop the confidence to speak to others. It also helps me to be active and to participate with others and that boost my social skills. For example, my weight loss journey gave me the confidence to dress for a Comicon. The evolved confidence is opening new traits and helping me grow in every way. That’s the way a want to become Alpha. Is not being an overbearing man stepping on others but to grow as a person to excel me among others. For me, that’s what an Alpha is. A person with overflowing confidence. One that can achieve goals by working constantly to them. A being of positive energy that can help others succeed. A proud person that can show what its made of no matter the situation. An Alpha that can present itself as what it really is. This is my Special Quest for my life. At the moment, I have been working towards this and I feel better about myself. I have grown this past 12 years. I became Student Council President at my college in 2010-2011. I got married and I’m a father. I love my job and what I do. I’m proud of being who I am and that’s why I feel like an Alpha. That's my quest.

Hello All! A year and a half ago I took a journey to Thailand that kick started my health goals. I lost 20lbs in 3 months. Now a year and a half later, I've lost 60lbs altogether! I've went from 197lbs down to 137lbs I'm in the best shape of my life and I even was a featured speaker at an anime convention to teach other people how they can use anime to help them meet their fitness goals. I did it all through portion control and lots of exercise, no fads, tricks, pills, or gimmicks here! I even run a little facebook page for anime fitness memes I'm also a freelance writer with a few fitness articles under my belt. Now I'm looking to go a step further and really increase my muscle mass, lifting power, and cardio-respiratory endurance. Like most people though, I want to find a way to balance it all with work and play. I'm hoping that by coming to this forum I can tap a new wealth of ideas and maybe help out a few people along the way on their quest for success! I love anime, am a huge rpg fan, and I also nerd out about outdoorsy stuff and travel. I hope we can all push each other to new heights and break the bad health stereotype for nerds everywhere! Let's do this! Hello and welcome all!

Hello all. I'm no stranger to this website despite having created this account minutes ago. I have been visiting all these different topics on weight loss, nutrition, success stories, etc.. and I must thank you all. At the end of last year around November, if i recall correctly, I clocked in at about 300 Lbs. I was hopeless, sad, and all of those other things that go with being in a dead-end desk job gaining weight. I decided that i should make the big leap of trying to get a hold on my life. At the beginning of the year, I had made a promise to myself that I was never to let go of myself the way I did. When researching on how to eat correctly, exercise with injury, etc, I was struggling to find a reliable source. I'm not trying to make it sound like a bad novel, but i was just about to give up when i found Nerd Fitness. Being that I've got over thousands of hours on computer games, i could relate to this place better than the rest. After some looking around I started myself on the Paleo Diet. A little bit of time disciplining myself on that, i decided it was high time i learned how to exercise/workout. In high school i never even thought or knew how to go about exercising/working out, So i went back here and did some experimenting with weight circuits. After about 5 months of circuits/staying loyal to Paleo/cardio, I am at my peak. I went from a size 42 to 34, t-shirt size XL to Medium. As of yesterday I clocked in at 210. I never thought i could do it. Nerd Fitness, i want to thank you for handing me the tools to allow myself to be me again (and giving me the concept of Paleo. Its because of that i know how to cook a mean chicken breast or steak, lol).

Apparently it's been a year since the last time i give it a try. Truth be told i needed to get shit straight to be able to do this again. I have managed my depression and i'm so much happier with my life and where i am now. Hey, things i got do to last year: Go to therapy Start to sew Learn moodle and sql Main Quest: Become a Success Story What i want is a radical change, i want to be in the other side i am now. I want to be strong and beautiful inside out. I want to do it for me, to be proud of myself, to love me more than anyother person on earth. If i pull this this time i want my before and after picture to be one of those inspiring people all over Pinterest. This are the landmarks i have set for my Main Quest: Get to 20% body fat, i'm currently on 36.7% (there was a time i got to 23% *sight* you can see it here) Drop to my healthy weight 62kg, i'm currently on 73kg (the most i've weighted ever in my life!) Goal #1: Run and do a Freelitics rutine interdiary I will use a 5K running app and the Freelitics app Goal #2: Maintain a healthy at least 80% Paleo Diet I will cook myself and make sure i don't eat outside, and if so choose the best Paleo friendly alternative. Goal #3: Drink more than 2.5L a day I also have an app for this. I have my before picture. And now I am ready to go. Every post needs a fitspirational quote

Welcome swolemaidens and brobarians! As you might have read in my last challenge I´ve been struggling due to some back issues, bad advices from the doctor and inner demons bringing bad habits back to being a habt. Also the semiprofessional band thing didn´t went as expected, I got also pretty disappointed by my guitar-mate. But if I wouldn´t be fighting I wouldn´t be a warrior, don´t I? That´s why I´m doing this challenge like a real King of the Iron Fist Tournament! Every round, every stage of the game fight of the struggles, improve your defense, attack your enemies and adapt to every situation. A big part of my early Nerdcareer has been Tekken 3 and the following series. I´ve been doing whole days, sometimes whole school vacations nothing else than meeting with my friend and battling him at Tekken on PS2. I don´t remember how many controllerpads I´ve destroyed in rage because my reversal came splitseconds too late and I lost the game due to that. THIS is the root of my longterm gaming tourette I guess Well, let´s start with the challenges: Round 1) Fight your demon Jin! Jin Kazama wasn´t only one of the strongest characters in Tekken 3, he was one of my favourites regarding look, background story and style overall. He was one of the guys and girls that could reversal - which could only be prevented by... He had a real bad ass demon alter ego in the later parts, but this was because of his fathers legacy. My inner demon can´t fly, shoot laser beams out of his eyes or do more badasskazamathings. So I´ll fight mine! My inner demon wants me to do gaming instead of doing adult things, my inner demon wants candy and soda instead of water and healthy food! IIFYM is becoming way to much excuse than it helps me becoming awesome. Grinding Hearthstoneladder or building my bas at 7 days to die is more comfortable than cleaning my kitchen or taking care of my desktopstuff. Clean your dishes instant or at least at the same day! Do your schedule daily (see later on)! Don´t play games until your schedule is done! 2) Don´t harm yourself Yoshimitsu! That guy had a real strange way to play and some moves of him were Harakiri-Style. Not my type of battle and especially nothing for reallife. No soda! Eat selfcooked meals every day! Bonus:Train with system and properly so you don´t get injured! Improve technique! 3) Don´t be a freaking Eddy Gordo Noob! Be King at what you do! God how much I hated this guy. Unpredictable when played by computer, sometimes even less predictable when played by a noob. He was a character that did great capoeira breakdance shit when hitting buttons randomly so every noob did it. Easy to learn, hard to master. King on the other hand was hard to play, but pure fun at crushing noobs because of his chainthrows kick reversals and because I love professional wrestling You need to invest time and passion into this and learn all his moves and throws, which one can be reversed how and how to recounter it. Stick to your schedule, adapt it and you will kill it: Don´t be a noob hitting buttons like a jerk to win your games, learn your stuff and stick to your schedule! Do your battle plan situational and start every weekend with preparing the next battle week! 4) Final Round - FIGHT! You need to train hard to reach the final round, avoid getting headbutted by a grizzly, and become the King of the Iron Fist Tournament! My routine will be my strongliftish workout with core every session and at least 2 out of 3 times cardio Go to the gym and don´t let excuses beat you! Have a nice challenge everyone, here´s a Tekken Brofist for you!

One year ago, I went on vacation and looked like this... I just got back from the same vacation this year; here I am doing a handstand one day as part of my workout... CrossFit + Paleo = Success w00t!

Hey fellow nerds and welcome to my third bad ass challenge! Yeah, it´s another Game of Thrones challenge...good to know it never gets boring nerding about your favourite fantasy stuff (besides Lord of the Rings of course). I´ve been on Dracarys the past two challenges and life is getting better and better right now! Well then, what are my goals for this challenge? There are some big deals in my life incoming or in progress: 1+2) Train to fight the mountain! Thx @miss_marissa you´ve been faster on that one I´ve had a hard time lifting the past challenge because of several issues regarding back, knee, all from my sciatic nerve and some twisted stuff. The drugs helped so far, my osteopath will be visited this wednesday and I´ll take more care of my health from now on. Part one: Get back to lifting 3 times a week, do at least 2 times a week cardio and core! "Thor" does cardio and core too, so should I! Not only does it help removing the useless surroundings of my adamantium abs, it helps me build up a strong back without issues like bitching sciatics, weird back pain and other stuff you never need. Part two: 2000kcal daily and 2g Brotein/kg of lean body mass minimum (around 140g) Do that body recomposition! I should know better, but I´ve tried several stuff instead of being consistent. Of course without any bigger effects. That will change now! My calorie intake to keep weight would be around 2500kcal, so I´ll take a deficit of 20% and eat a lot of brotein for noobgainz! The goal is to loose body fat and build up some muscles. I´ve read several (scientific! no broscience bullshit!) articles about body recomposition and I´m pretty sure I can live the dream of every gym-nerd: build muscle, loose fat, at the same time. Ooooh yeah! Level up your life 1): Be like Tyrion - be smarter and greater than the tall guys! I´m sick and tired of my shift duty and working on getting out of it since last years summer. Registered at a advertising website, invested some money, visited workshops, bought books and I´m trying to get a job at their academy where I could start coaching people on being successful, how to use the website etc. It´s fine right now, I could end doing nightshifts without loosing money last march, but I want more! My plan is to end my nursejob next year or reduce it to 50% maybe. I will invest more time in my online marketing stuff and establish the stuff I learned last weekend at the workshop about mindset and will take a look at several software stuff. The fun part about it: Most stuff can be related to normal personality improvement easily! Be awesome and successfull! Tell the dude in the mirror every morning and before you go to bed how awesome he is! Flex your muscles, smile at him, tell him compliments about this cool outfit! Meditate and realize how awesome and freaking good looking you are! Visualize your success and work for it!!! Yes, I will talk to myself! I will not only visualize my stuff, I will make it real! Sounds weird? Rated R in Spoiler!!! (Sorry for rated-R, but I couldn´t resist If anybody gets offended by it, feel free to PM me to remove it) Regarding the job stuff I can´t really set numbers on how to add them to my challenge, because I can´t tell myself things like "Buy that software until date X" or some. It is a long term goal, but I want to focus on it! If I´m not meditating about being successful I will for sure take a look at some new workshops etc and how to improve. Level up your life 2): Get some social life! I hate shift duty for a reason. You usually work when others don´t and have free time when normal people have their 9-5. Not good! Visit friends, go out for dinner or a good old german beer or date somebody at least once a week! Take care about your social contacts the other days of the week! Of course getting drunk will be related to IIFYM (macros!!! @SpecialSundae ), but hell I´m tired of being some kind of lonely! I need to meet new people, meet my old and oldest friends again, just do something else than working, working out and surfing the NF Rebellion! Level up your life 3): Stop Bassism! I can´t tell how many bass player jokes I´ve heard this year alone...for those who aren´t musicians: bass players are by cliche dumb, have no clue about music theory or music at all and mostly considered not being a musician. It´s what I call "bassism" Keep on playing at least 1,5 hours a week and GET THAT GODDAMN JOB AT THIS BAND!!! I improved really great at bass playing thanks to last challenge (show that narcistic guitar junkys how to rock!) and next weeks wednesday will be my audition for a real big deal: a semiprofessional rockband! I know some of those dudes in person (one guitar player is a good friend of mine), they make great music (a mix of punk, metal and gothic) and they satisfy the nerd in me: They´ve got horrormovie-stageoutfits! It´s like building a RPG-character, give him a story and act like him on stage! LARP for musicians!!! In one of my favourite genres (B-movie horror)!!! Summary: 1+2) Train to fight the mountain! Part one: Get back to lifting 3 times a week, do at least 2 times a week cardio and core! Part two: 2000kcal daily and 2g Brotein/kg of lean body mass minimum (around 140g) Level up your life 1): Be like Tyrion - be smarter and greater than the tall guys! Be awesome and successfull! Tell the dude in the mirror every morning and before you go to bed how awesome he is! Flex your muscles, smile at him, tell him compliments about this cool outfit! Meditate and realize how awesome and freaking good looking you are! Visualize your success and work for it!!! Level up your life 2): Get some social life! Visit friends, go out for dinner or a good old german beer or date somebody at least once a week! Take care about your social contacts the other days of the week! Level up your life 3): Stop Bassism! Keep on playing at least 1,5 hours a week and GET THAT GODDAMN JOB AT THIS BAND!!!

Readin about someone lifting more than they ever could is great - But seeing the person lifting more than they ever could and then seeing their happy faces is even better! Reading about someone doing his first 10 pull ups is great - But seeing the pullups, seeing the fight at the last pull up and the happy face after succeeding is even more awesome! Reading about using the 20 seconds courage to jump out of the plane is epic - But seeing the jump itself is more epic! I guess you understand what I want to say - some things are better to be seen So now its time to show your film about archieving your thing! Or maybe creating the film itself is the success! Have fun

I didn't think I'd have something to post here so soon but... this morning I did TWELVE squats with proper form! On Thursday, I managed five so this is huge for me. So yeah. I had to share that.

I haven't been active (on the forums) lately, but I looked at my old "before" picture and... November, 2014. 190lbs. Feel exhausted, unproductive, steadily gaining weight. I do not believe I will ever be fit, but I bought me a weight set and decided to DO SOMETHING about this nonsense. In my quest to do something, I found Nerd Fitness and began a magical journey. In the meanwhile, I Ate clean (majority vegetables, fruit, protein, "healthy fat"; avoided carbs and added sugar like the plague) Took up bouldering until I injured my ankle in December Stronglifts all the way through Ankle rehab Swimming (lately) Thought my ankle was healed a lot earlier than it was and slowed down healing (it finally has near-full ROM back) 8 months later, it is July, 2015. I am 152lbs and made of muscles. I have more energy than I could have ever dreamed of. I cannot imagine going back to the way things were. My entire life is transformed a thousand times over. To anyone who is new, I seriously hope this inspires the shit out of you. You can do this too - and then go even further. Oh, and GET INVOLVED WITH THE COMMUNITY It was a serious part of this journey for me. You guys rock!

Ok, ok, they are probably really just average, but compared to last year, in my eyes, they look amazing. My thighs have always been my problem spot, always appearing too thick to me when they really weren't, to a point where I stopped wearing shorts and shorter skirts last year (enabled by the fact that i was living in a cold country), if i wasn't wearing leggings or tights underneath them. Or else I would purposely buy shorts a size larger because as soon as they'd get a little bit tighter, I'd get self-conscious about my legs. Today, I felt like wearing a dress that I normally only wear with leggings due to it being rather short – not only my smaller size means I gain those two centimetres in length it was missing, but I actually like how my legs look in it! Ok, yes, I know, this all makes me sound incredibly vain and self-absorbed, but this is the first time in five years I am actually happy with the way my legs look, so I could NOT not celebrate!

Well, one year and a couple of days. I remember very clearly: I was reading Rollo Tomassi's The Rational Male (good book, highly recommend) and overall just feeling like an out of shape loser. I was 380lbs of mostly fat, I could barely breathe after even small amounts of exertion, my back was killing me and I was just depressed and wanted to die. Then, something he (Rollo) said really clicked in my head: men should be strong, for themselves and for the women in their lives. I had always considered myself a "strong" guy- I was big, I was hard to move around, most people said they wouldnt want to mess with me- but deep down inside I knew if push came to shove, I didnt really know if I could handle myself in a fight. So I resolved to change that. No more would I be the fat, out of shape loser who couldnt protect his woman. I got my ass down to the local gym and signed up for a membership (February 1, 2014 as a matter of fact, hence the title.) Now, one year later, Im down to 335 lbs (as of 1/30/15) of still a lot of fat, but a lot of muscle too. I feel stronger, Im no longer chronically depressed, and while I still dont know if I could handle myself in a fight, I dont worry nearly so much as I once did. I still have a long way to go, but I feel as if I can conquer the world. Now, like Steve says.....FOR THE REBELLION!!!

Hello, fellow Rebels! I've already made an intro ( Don't Slay This Dragon! ) to myself, but I'll describe my body type to help set some background- Petite- 4 foot 9 inches tall Bone Structure- Small. Delicate. (Have been 'tiny' all my life). Fast metabolism. Ectomorph. Cons: Too much muscle gives a bulky appearance; I've been there. I end up looking more 'boxy' and get a thick waist. Dietary Restrictions: IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). Cannot digest dairy. Currently plant based, but have been incorporating animal foods a few times week for dinner for the past few months. Goals: Body Sculpting - Strength, flexibility, and stamina - Tone (there I said it- as any other word escapes me at the moment): Arms (especially the shoulders), core, and calves. - More flexibility; I need to be careful, however, as I am hypermobible in my back. Currently training to become a certified yoga instructor. A lithe physique. Panther like? Lean, strong. Something that can be maintained and not unrealistic (ie, NOTa bikini competitor's body). Some good examples are dancers. Zuzka Light. A body that relatively stays the same all year round, and is healthy and fit. Current Training Schedule: Mon- Strength Training, Abs, Yoga/Stretching Tue- Rest Wed- Body Pump (strength training based) class at gym, Yoga Thur- Body Combat, Martial Arts-Inspired cardio class at gym. Yoga/Stretching Fri- Yoga, Pilates Sat- Strenghth Training OR Body Pump class at gym, Yoga Sun- Yoga (light), active-rest day I was noticing subtle improvments for a while, but now I've reached a plateu, ad it seems as though nothing I can do is going to give me any muscle/tone. Weight range: 7.5- 40 pound weights; I alternate between light dummbell work and the machines at my local 24 Hour Fitness. Ideas and observations are welcome!

So I'm going to make this easy on myself, and literally copy and paste from one of my previous challenges, what I would consider my most successful challenge. *** [The following content copied from here] Goals: Diet- Nothing is drastically changing here. I have a chart of foods to choose from, and each meal and snack is a combination of different foods from different groups. Simply put, I get a point for each food that falls under my plan, and a negative point for anything that is outside of the plan, as in extra food, sweets or alcohol. Unlimited non-starchy vegetables are allowed, so no worries about going hungry. My point goal for each day is between 11.5 - 12. The total points for the entire challenge will be 483-504 for a perfect score. Now, as long as I follow the plan 80% of the time, I will still pass the challenge. (CON 2 STA 1 WIS 1) Like I said, I've made up note cards and have the points all broken out so it will be easy to keep track of. And it's not that different from how I eat most of the time now anyway. Point goal for each day = 10. Total points for perfect challenge = 390. Fitness- Focus on strength training, while continuing my cardio to show results. As far as which workouts I will do, that I will not be including as part of the challenge, only because I plan on trying some new things soon. For the purpose of the challenge though, just making sure I do include strength training 3 times per week is what I want to focus on. I also plan on keeping a journal to track progress. (CHA 1) Strength training – 3x per week = 18 workouts (STR 2) If I manage 2x per week = 12 workouts (STR 1) Convict Conditioning Cardio – 5x per week goal, 3x per week pass = 18-30 cardio workouts (DEX 1, STA 2, CHA 1) Preparation – Planning is everything. I’ve found that how well my day goes, at least weekdays, depends almost entirely on how well I prepared for it the day before. So, point for every day that I make all necessary preparations for the next day. Total points = 42 39. (STA 1, CON 2, WIS 1) Life goal: Update more, and include more detail in my posts. *** *** I'm dealing with a different set of challenges this time around though. Well, I possibly am. Let me explain. I work a job, Monday - Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm. That was what I was doing earlier this year when my challenges went fairly well and I was focused. Now, I work that job, but I have another job. Typically I work second job Wednesday - Saturdays, 5 or 6pm to anywhere from 10pm-2am. It's at a bar, hence the undetermined schedule. Suffice to say, this is difficult, even when I'm not trying to work out and eat well. I had decided on Saturday that I would quit, that the little bit of extra money I've been making has not been worth the physical and emotional exhaustion I feel almost constantly. But I'm not sure yet, and I'm still trying to make up my mind on that. I'd like to give this challenge a go either way, and I feel like whichever choice I make will definitely affect how well I do. I've been thinking non-stop about this today and yesterday and will continue to do so.

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.†I almost forgot to even sign up. NaNoWriMo is happening right now so I've been writing all weekend like a crazy person. Finishing a 50,000 word novel in a month is something that I've always set out to accomplish, and I've always succeeded in accomplishing, because I committed to doing it and I hate having to admit defeat, even though nobody really knows the results but me. So I'm gonna give this some serious thought tomorrow and figure out how I can take that drive I have to write and channel some of that over to ambitious yet achievable goals for this 6 week challenge. The post with goals and whatnot will come later, along with the official signing up. For now, I really need to get to bed.

Hi NF! I had a few woots. This is my jumping into community feet first with a few of them. * I'm posting on the NF forums after 9 months of lurking. (I think that's a big one!) * I've lost 30lbs in a year - and a lot of that is because I started eating (not just better, but more as well) * a pseudo-divorce diet turned into returning to my passion for lifting weights and a complete restructuring of my life * a new tattoo * getting married in 6 weeks and am going to ROCK my 2-piece in the Dominican! It's a lot. A big year. I keep reading the Woot Room and want to go through and congratulate everyone on their woots - big, small and in between - they are all amazing. You are all amazing!

So let's get started with a little bit of background. 2012 was the worst year of my life. I weighed in ad 332 lbs, I don't even KNOW what my other relavent stats were, except that my A1C was at 9.6 for those of you familiar with the medical field, that is the Wilford Brimleys right there(diabetes) I had to have a heart cath, after my brother passed away from a freak heart attack, and we lost a couple of very close family members. it was rough. Fast forward to January 2014, I had done a little to get myself in line, but I still weighed in at 324, Here' the relavent tracking stats. January 4th Weight 324 Cholesterol 228 A1C 6.4 Body Fat Percentage 37.7 BMI 41.2 Blood Pressure 140/90 Dumbell Row 35's Dumbell Press 35's Pant size 46 Shirt size 3xl(tight) April 2nd Weight 298 Cholesterol 143 A1C 5.2 Body Fat Percentage 29.7 BMI 40.2 Blood Pressure 120/80 Dumbell Row 60's Dumbell Press 70's Pant size 42 Shirt size 2xl(tight) So far huge progress, but I'm nowhere near where I want to be. so I hate deadlifts, I think they are not fun... but I should probably be doing SOMETHING like that, because i need to tone/build my belly and back muscles. I carry all my weight in my center mass, my forearms are beginning to show definition, but I'm still very fat, and have a long ways to go on the rest of me(except my calves, my calves are AWESOME) Anyone else start out in these upper ranges and get things toned? I'm not going to stop. I feel amazing, and i'm effectively kicking Diabetes ass. I'm off insulin, and off all other injectables. I just take Metformin at this point, and Cholesterol and blood pressure meds. but honestly if I keep this up i'm really looking to get off of those as well. Paleo is amazing. I was worried about my cholesterol going up. it did not go up, obviously, in fact it went WAY down, Amazing! Anyways, that's today. here's to keeping up the solid progress!

About me: My name is Stephen. I am a 28 year old male - father of 2 - Married - Working on my Bachelors in Network Administration I live in Pennsylvania I am about 220lbs at 6'1 (This Pic is a few months back when I was training - I put on maybe 8-10lbs since then : / ) I recently stopped working out and I of course regret it I made huge strides - 250lbs to 212lbs - almost doubling my lifting abilities in every area The issue is, I lost my motivation. I was working towards becoming a police officer but due to me being a juvenile diabetic, I realized it would be a liability. I love computers and I know I can be successful in this field, diabetic or not. The issue is, working with computers requires no fitness specifics. I want to do this for me. I am a nerd at heart and I stumbled across this forum and saw it as a sign : ) I am going to Florida in 4 months and I want my goal to be a reality: Main Quest – Build enough muscle and lose enough fat that I am comfortable without a shirt on in public 3 Goals each week Work out at least 3 times a week including 1 dropset Get 8 hours of sleep Cut out junk food – Focus on Protein based meals I hope I can join a team where people who have similar goals want to encourage each other Please message me and I will provide a cell number or email address or w/e so we can become accountability partners or even better accountability teammates : ) Thank you God Bless

HELLO, I am Darktrickster. I am starting nerdfitness as of today. it is time for me to join in with the 6 week challenges to create a routine for my B.A body in the future. (compared to my not so B.A body right now.) 1st 6 week challenge: Main Goal: Lose 40 lbs of fat and gain muscle. Small Goals: Work out at least 3 times a week while impelementing body building training with a friend.Stop eating a lot of carbs and eat more greens.Get more sleep, period. ...seriously.Life Quest: Focus more on studying in my college classes. C's on history tests are unacceptable! My Reason?? I am here to look the way I have always wanted to look, and feel the way I have always wanted to feel. The way I am depicted in my dreams (literally) is far healthier than I am in reality. I need to stop moping about it and change it.

So today was for me the first day of week 3 of my first 6 week challenge, and also the first BBWW workout of my third week of doing it. But today for the first time, my push-ups were from my toes, not my knees. That means I managed to completely skip the hole incline push-up stage, which is probably good because there are no stairs where I live... And once my shoulders reattach themselves i know I'll feel the pain. But until then, IT'S ALL GOOD!

I turned 40 in July.I was not in a good place, either mentally or physically (see exhibit a)I'd read NF before, years back. I'd always found it interesting, but stuck to my own routines and diet and read it more as a bit of fun (on how to be a real-life assassin etc!).When I turned 40 I happened to chance on the site again.This time the site saved my life.I set myself a target of six months. I wanted to see something noticible by then...I enclose pics of the change so far....5th Aug to 29th Sept... That's two months... Now I'm interested to see where I'll be in another four! . . .I compare that first picture to the last two... I know who I'd rather be.I thought 40 was the end. Now I'm finding I actually enjoy the extra challenges of age, because a harder win shows a harder will...

I am a recent purchaser of the rebel strength guide, just starting Barbell Batallion, and i'm slightly sceptical / confused ... Firstly... I am 'skinny-fat'... slim, female, with 18% body fat. Also relatively fit, certainly not starting from ground zero with exercise. But I AM starting from ground zero with strength training. Its intimidating...! Would love to just build some strength and power, im tired of cardio making me tired without building my muscletone ! My first question - What are you all doing on your rest days? Surely not... nothing? Can i do interval running? Kickboxing? Or will that affect my strength development / recovery...? Secondly - Barbell batallion... two exercises?? Is that really going to do it... ?? It just doesnt seem right. You go to a personal trainer, they'll do at least 4 or so different weight sets wont they? Can you guys tell me about your experience (and success!!) from sticking to this routine? I think I just need some reassurance and encouragement while getting started.