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Ok, so I've really been trying to reign in the urge to do everything the last couple of weeks. I am usually pretty frugal, but I splurged and bought the Handstands & Rings Superpack!! This has not helped, haha... Work is busier, so I am getting more incidental exercise, plus summer is on its way. This means I really have to focus on adding things slowly... I've already had one injury - minor, overworked a muscle trying too many brand new things without enough rest. I want to do a sprint triathlon in late February. I completed a mini-sprint this year (Easter), training for that is what got me started with the gym habit But I'm starting from a low base, so I want to start training now to give me time to build up. Basically, the weekly program I planned out this morning is: One (short) session in each tri sport (swim, bike, run) "Starting Strength" lifts x3 Add an assistance exercise from handstand pushup skills to one of the weekly lifting workouts Mobility handstand exercises during lifting warm-ups *Optional* Handstand / gymnastic skills workout once weekly Last challenge I was doing the lifting x3 plus a gym skills workout weekly, so basically I'm just adding a little bit of tri training. Next challenge I'll have to work up to 2 sessions in each sport, that's considered the minimum recommended with the tri training programs I've looked at. I got away with less for the mini-sprint because the distances were so short. Up next, my actual challenge details! My fun points system from last challenge will return!

Last challenge I didn't drop my goals, but I did drop off of NF. But I am back. Goals are similar to last time. Still not very assassiny, but hopefully this soul-sucking insomnia won't go on much longer. It has improved a little, but being chronically underslept has made me clumsy and my judgement is seriously impaired. If I didn't work for my partner, I'd probably be fired by now, for several serious screwups in the past two months. EAT: Veggies! Scale back a little from last time - 2c veggies for full credit, 1c for half credit. I've enlisted the help of my partner in cooking veggies. My appetite is low, but veggies are important. I cannot live on peanut butter sandwiches. SLEEP! CBT-I My sleep habits have improved, but I need to stick with them. Half credit for being in bed, lights out, phone off, ready to sleep, by 11pm. Half credit for a 15-minute-ish relaxing activity in the hour before bed, like a late night dog walk, or some deep breathing, or stretching, or snuggling, or something. (Reading is a bad choice - I can't trust myself to do just 15 minutes of reading.) I'm doing a self-directed trial of the "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia" treatment protocol. I've posted about it below, but the main thing is not staying in bed longer than you actually sleep. There are a variety of components, but the hardest for me is sticking to the assigned bedtime and wake-up, so half credit each for getting those, with half an hour wiggle room. So to start with, bedtime is 10p, 10:30 at the latest. (I get credit if I lay in bed, relaxed, lights out, phone off, for half an hour, regardless of whether I fall asleep or get back up afterwards.) Initial wakeup time is 5am, 5:30 at the latest. (Can be earlier if I'm not sleeping. I get credit if I am out of bed before 5:30am.) I'll adjust the wakeup time every 4-5 days, according to the CBT-I protocol. If I decide to ditch the CBT-I before the end of this challenge, I'll go back to the original goals. MOVE! Two Activities I'll stick with the "two activities" thing (half credit for each), but get a little more specific. One of the activities needs to be a mobility-related thing, five minutes for active stuff, 15 for passive stuff. The other needs to be something more strenuous - two "sets" of anything that wears me out. No specific time frame or number of reps - just do a thing until I need a rest, take a short rest, and do the same thing again. Jogging and pushups are good defaults. It just needs to be a sufficient intensity that I can't just plug along indefinitely, so no walking or light manual labor. DO! Work done by 8p & do tracking. Poor tracking was really an issue last time, so half credit just for doing all my tracking in my notebook for the day. The other half credit is for getting all my "assigned" tasks done by 8pm. This had been part of my sleep goals previously, but really, it is about time management during the day. Sometimes unpostponable tasks come up late in the day, or I have late appointments, so if it was legitimately unavoidable, that day is waived and dropped from the final tally. So since a B is normally 5/7 days per week, a B for this is over 70% of the days. Tasks that were postponed to the next day for a good reason don't count against the goal. Neither do short (~15min) tasks assigned near or after 8pm. But running past 8pm due to slacking or distraction earlier in the day does not get credit, even if I am working diligently in the evening. Also, no credit if I take on tasks late in the day without considering how late this will run and verifying that they MUST be done tonight. NF: Post regularly and participate in the Mini! I just haven't been getting online much, but this really helps keep me on track, so I want to stick with it. Full credit for mini-challenge participation OR posting a meaningful update to my challenge thread. Half credit each day for posting ANYTHING on NF. PREVIOUS CHALLENGES: 1. Weasel Gets Things Done Nov-Dec 2015 - Eat more protein, veggies, and whole grains (B+). Sleep Routine (A). "Primal Fitness Blueprint" (A++). Laundry! (A++). Order of the Stick (Success!) 2. Return of the Weasel : Consistency! Jan 2016 - Handstands (A), Kettlebells - Pavel's "Simple & Sinister" (A-), Daily Routine (A), Ukulele! (C ) Assassins Mini - Portal Experiments 3. Weasel Takes this Show on the Road! Feb 2016 - Continue S&S kettlebells. (D. Injury.) Track sleep schedule (A). Make a diet plan (A). Write on blog. (F) Assassins Mini - Jedi v Sith part 1 4. Sith-Weasel's Road Trip Continues Mach 2016 - Daily fitness activity (D) Responsible Adult Meals (A++), Hydration (C ), Tasks & Check-in (D). (Travel!) Assassins Mini - Jedi v Sith part 2 5. Weasel Keeps it Simple & Something April 2015 - Kettlebelling (F) Healthy Meals (B-) Help partner (C) Task List (B-) Assassins Mini - Final Fantasy 6. Eat When Hungry, etc. May 2016 - Eat when hungry. (A) Sleep when tired. (C-) Move every morning. (C) Work when Work needs Doing. (A+) Assassins Mini - Heros & Villans (C+) 7. Back on the Road June 2016 - FOOD: 2 meat+veg meals (B+) EXERCISE: 10m daily activity (C) HEALTH: 10m other stuff (B) LIFE: Work BEFORE internet (B) Assassins: Firefly (B) 8. Weasel Levels Up July/Aug 2016 - FOOD: Watch the carbs (B+) FITNESS: daily workout (B) HEALTH: go to sleep (A) LIFE: weekly review (B) Assassins: Kingdom Hearts #1 (B) 9. Weasel Recalibrates Falls Off The Face of the Earth. Aug/Sept 2016 EAT: Eat veggies (D) SLEEP: Go to bed! (D) MOVE: Two activities (B) DO: Task list (C+) Assassins: (F) (For my own reference, my scoring is: A = 6/7 or 85% B = 5/7 or 70% C = 4/7 or 50% D = 3/7 or 40% )

Hello, Nerdfitness! It's been a long time since I've been on, but I've been making some positive changes that I'd like to continue. Now that I've graduated, I am looking for a job and considering my future in academia. I've also spent some time traveling to visit family and have suffered under a steady diet of rich, fatty foods with minimal vegetables and very little exercise. (I've eaten more sausage in the last two weeks than I've had in the last three years. I'm starting to feel like a sausage.) The Goals: Find success in feeling healthy and making opportunities for my future. The Job Hunt: Bag a Job! 1. Track: Spend an hour tracking new jobs every day. (1 star) 2. Prepare Weapons: Write and edit cover letters and resumés for the jobs you find on the day you find them. (2 stars) 3. Shoot: Apply! (3 stars!) Reward: More applications means more opportunities! Food: Eat All the Veggies! Increase veggie intake to 5 portions a day (3 stars!) 1. Lunch: 2 portions (1 star) 2. Snack: 2 portions (1 star) 3. Dinner: 1 portion (1 star; extra credit of .5 star per extra portion) Reward: VEGETABLES. Exercise: Move every day: biking, kick boxing, dancing, yoga, weigh lifting. (1 star for each fifteen minutes of exercise each day!) Reward: More energy, strength, and stamina! Reward system: Three points for reaching "boss level"! Fewer points for partial success; no points for doing nothing. Total possible weekly points: 84 (not counting extra credit). Sunday Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Find Jobs Write Cover Letters Apply to 1 Job 5 Veggies Per Day 45 Minutes of Exercise Let's get to it!

Challenge is gonna look something like this, details in the second comment below. Eat your damn vegetables already Stop eating all the calories Find balance between strength, cardio, and mobility Get shit done So I don't turn into this:

Balsquith regroups I crashed and burned in the last challenge, which fitted into the general scheme of the past 3 months of challenges. Even though there has probably been no difference between these challenges and the 6-week ones, they somehow felt more frantic and I never felt that I was really keeping up. Bizarrely this one week pause has been amazing and I feel really focused for the challenge to come. I will be keeping it simple this challenge and bringing out the best goals from previous challenges in addition to one all new one involving green things. Goals 1. Get up to my alarm everyday This is my oldest goal and the one which I think everything hangs upon. I have lost touch of this again recently and feel more tired than when I have been getting up early. 2. Exercise 3x week Parallettes or getting back into going to the gym – Everything counts as long as I am doing it seriously. 3. Plant-based diet – 50% I am not sure if my nutrition is good or bad – I’m erring on the side of bad. Part of the problem is that I am not entirely sure what is good and bad (and I’m weak and still eat it anyway even if I do know). The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that vegetables are good. Therefore I will aim for 50% of my meals to have vegetables as their primary component. I’m not going to be too strict on myself I just want to get back to being mindful of what I eat. 4. Learning German This was the only thing that really worked to any extent in my last challenge. I have 2 main problems with learning German. 1. I don’t do any study, 2. Everything I do learn I am too scared to use with real people. In the last challenge the model I used (which I will be repeating here) was to aim for 10 points a week attained from: 30mins focused study = 1pt, 1 act of courage in using the language = 3pts. As you can see I am starting small, but hopefully this will motivate me to either put in some focussed study or be bolder.

Sea Level reporting for duty again for April challenge, my fourth of the year, and my third with the Rangers! Woot! I went a long time last year without any activity or any challenge. I hit up the challenges at the end of the year again with the Assassins, and it got me back into the groove. Then I made a move to the Rangers with Wolfie's encouragement, and here I am: not going anywhere. Y'all are awesome. This time I'm straying from my Megaman theme, but I'll probably bring him back in the future. But for now.... I: Step over to the Abdominator, and I will shout slogans at you! (Workouts) "Push! Harder! Go past the max! Reach over the top!" Simple: Do 3 strength-related workouts a week. Mostly this will be (has been) bodyweight work. Push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups, and all that jazz. Last challenge everything got better, and I'm particularly pleased with pull-ups. So there will be a focus on pulling exercises with pushing exercises thrown in. A longer-range goal would be to get into weight training. Maybe this will be a mini-goal to read up and get some weight programming, without collecting too many underpants. II: Come on, boy, think of a plan! (Handstands) "Come on, boy, think of a plan" "I'm tryin' Dad!" At least four times a week, I will practice handstands for at least five minutes. A mini-goal for the challenge would be to get comfortable with a pirouette bail. III: Isometric Exercise--Care to Join Me? (Yoga/Stretching) "I was just...uh, just stretching my calves on the window sill. Isometric exercise. Care to join me?" I do a lot of sitting at home and at work. I will do 30 minutes of stretching and/or yoga three times a week. IV: You don't win friends with salad! ♪ You do(n't) win friends with salad! ♪ ♪ You do(n't) win friends with salad! ♪ ♪ You do(n't) win friends with salad! ♪ ♪ You do(n't) win friends with salad! ♪ You do win friends with salad, if there's meat involved . But in my case, I eat enough meat. The goal here will be to eat green vegetables three times a week. Let's punch it!

Quest 1, Get the Glutes: In order to achieve muscular balance she will: Continue to perform 4 strength exercises 4 times a week. Two days a week, can be on one of these 4 days or on what would normally be a rest day, perform 3 glute specific accessory work (clam shells, monster walks, seated hip abduction, hip thrusts, glute bridges, etc). Be a bad-ass like Captain Jack O'Neill. Quest 2, Give up the Gut All dem proteins making me feel bloated. Eat 1 cup of vegetables at lunch and at dinner, or in general twice a day. Even with a Goa'uld in his body, Teal'C had the body of a god. Quest 3, Drink all the waters For so many health reasons and more, I'm supposed to drink like a fish. I'm sure my skin, gut, glutes, mental power, will all thank me later. Water is easy on weekdays (drink at least 5 (22 oz) bottles of water) and hard on weekends. But during the last challenge I found it hard to have a water goal that was only 1 day a week, so easy to forget! So this challenge it will be ever day. Drink 4 of my water bottles (22 oz) per day, or around 90 oz of water. Quest 4, Go after the Goals I need to focus more at work, do the difficult tasks that are easy to put aside until they become urgent and uncomfortable. Every morning at work, write down three things I want to accomplish (3 goals) that can get done in 1 day, even if confronted with random events. Do these 3 things. Be smart and accomplished like Daniel Jackson and Samantha Carter.

Well I had a lot of fun and did pretty well on my first challenge and I am back for round 2. Goal: My goal is to lose 12 lbs over the course of this challenge. In order to do this I will have to disregard the life lessons that I have from one of this generation's greatest minds. Quest 1: Workout 6 days per week. I will be doing the Stronglifts 5x5 program three days per week, working with my trainer 1 day a week and doing steady state cardio on the elliptical 2 days per week. Quest 2: I will eat vegetables with at least one meal every day. Quest 3: No fast food. If it has a drive through than I don't eat there. Quest 4: Innkeeping. I will clean my apartment for at least 10 minutes every day. I got off to a good start with this on my first challenge, but I really lost track of it during the second half. I have to make this a priority before relaxing. Grading: All 4 quests will be based on the following scale based on their completion rate. 90% - 100% - A 80% - 89% - B 70% - 79% - C 60% - 69% - D 59% and below - F

Welcome! I'm back for the second challenge of 2016. Working off my last challenge, I decided I needed to get a little bit real about my goals and aspirations. My long term goal is to run the International Marathon here in Sacramento as a relay run with my brother. That means we will each run a half marathon that will be split into two runs each. This is happening in December, but I want to start prepping my pretties (legs) for it. What I do from here on out, will be focusing on that master goal. Without further delay, let's get on our way Goal 1: Run, baby run! For this goal, I will run once a week. Grades- A: Run 4 times B: Run 3 times C: Run 2 times D: Run 1 time or less Goal 2: Stretch and look fierce For my second goal, I will commit to doing yoga twice per week. Grades- A: Do yoga 7-8 times B: Do yoga 5-6 times C: Do yoga 3-4 times D: Do yoga 2 times or less Goal 3: Graze the greens For this goal, I will eat 5 servings of vegetables 5 times per week. Grades- A: 18-20 days goal met B: 15-17 days goal met C: 11-14 days goal met D: 10 or less days goal met Life Goal: My life goal is to budget for and sign up for the International Marathon. I know I need to have a sign up fee. I will research costs, sign up deadlines and figure out my budget so I can get my brother and I signed up. Cheers to a kick ass 4 weeks ahead!

So hey there fellow Rangers. Last challenge, I flaked out a bit in the end. I was a little sick, but really I have no excuse. I did have some positive momentum, and I want to continue to build on that. This challenge will provide me with one big obstacle. The Family Vacation. There will be a couple of days of travel. Most likely, I'll have to write those two days off. Probably something like 7-8 hours of driving February 13th-20th will be vacation time. That week, I will modify my goals. I want to still keep on track, and be able to enjoy the time off. We are heading down to Carlsbad, Ca. There will will be minutes away from Legoland We have 2 days passes. Monday the 15th will be the first day there. Not sure when we'll hit up day 2. We also plan on hitting up Disneyland one day. I need to check in on the new Star Wars things there! Goal #1: Eat even more veggies! So last challenge I did well getting in 1 veggie a day. This challenge, I am upping it to 2 meals a day. This will be an every day challenge. 2 points per day for grading. Goal#1 vacation modification: I will still try to do what I can to follow this goal while I am away from home. So this means stocking up on things to eat there at the house we are staying at. I am going to do the best I can when eating at the theme parks. Will still grade, but move to 1 point per day. Goal #2: Do something everyday! I want to continue to work on the same workouts I did last challenge. This time, I am adding weight for one of them, and upping it to 3 full sets of each exercise. I also want to walk each day. I may attempt to start to get running again, but I want to really get in the habit of doing something each day first. 3 workouts a week, and walking each day. Sundays will be my "off" day, but I have other plans for that day 1 point for workouts, 1 point for each day of walking. Goal #2 vacation modification: The days we go to the theme parks, I should get plenty of walking in. I still will do workouts, only I need to modify them a bit. I won't bring weights with me, so I need to skip some workouts, substitute a different workout in, or attempt to use things as weights to left. Milk/water jugs etc. I will plan for bodyweights, and adjust as needed. 6 non travel days during vacation, so I will score a point per day for exercise. Goal #3: Time to work on a routine! This goal is going to involve a few things, but the overall theme is to help me get into a routine to get up and get my workouts done. This might have to span a few challenges, We shall see. I am not setting a time to be in bed. I am setting a time to be away. So each morning, I will be up at 7am. Then I need to get in my workout and/or walking done. I want to add more, but for now, this is what I will focus on. Each day will be worth 1 point. Goal #3 modification: Not too much to change here. Workout days, I still get up and workout. Other days, I will just focus on getting up at 7am. It depends on the days agenda for walking. Will still score 1 point per day here. Goal #4: It's time to get some projects done I might have a bit of trouble with this goal. Looking at my calendar, I see I really only have one full weekend, and one 1/2 weekend to work with. Still, I press forward There are a few projects around the house, that I just haven't gotten too, but desperately need to get going. 1 point for each task. Go through my bowling balls. The idea here, is to see which balls I might want to keep, then figure out what to do with the others. I need to get the specs done, and pictures taken. that way I can sell them to buy more bowling equipment haha.Clean up the backyard. We have some recycle things in the back yard, and time and sun have broken bags. There are lots of cans and bottles to be picked up, and taken to recycle.Go through my computer stuff. Time to e-waste things I don't need, and get my desk and computer area fixed up. I'm tired of having to look through all the tubs to find things.Clean up the garage. This isn't that bad. It's mostly some boxes we had down from Christmas. there is a little bit of cleanup to be done too.Goal #4 modification: Nothing I can do for these while I am away The real test will be to see if I can get them done, even with vacation in there. Ok, that pretty much sums up everything. I'll be making sure to take plenty of pictures, and trying not to buy all the things Grading: Week 1 (1st-6th) - 22.5/27 - 83% Week 2 (7th-12th) - 0/26 Week 3 (13th-20th) Vacation week - 0/22 Week 4 (21st-26th) - 0/26 Goal #4 completed - 0/4 Challenge point total - 0/105 Measurements: Location - Before/After = Difference Neck - 19.96 in / Chest - 57.67 in / Waist - 61.77 in / Bicep (L) - 18.11 in / Bicep ® - 17.4 in / Forearm (L) - 14.21 in / Forearm ® - 14.21 in / Thigh (L) - 32.08 in / Thigh ® - 32.08 in / Weight - 371 lbs /

I'm a little late to this challenge, and it's a short one. So let's keep it simple! Main Goal: Track everything I eat for the final 3 weeks of the challenge. I've managed to lose about 10 pounds since the summer, and I really want to see that total loss continue to go up. Being aware of how much I'm eating is the first step towards making that happen, but one that I really struggle to stick with, especially if I miss tracking even a single meal. The truth is though, it isn't a very difficult thing to do. If I can fart around on the internet for an hour plus every day, I can find 10 minutes to track. Side Quest: Read the chapter in Jiu Jitsu University for white belts and pick two skills to work on this month. Bonus Quest: Eat vegetables at every meal for 10 or more days of the challenge. I'll check in every couple days to report on the tracking, share what bjj wisdom JJU has to offer, and talk about what plants I'm munching on. Good luck everyone!

Back Story: Goals Over-arching goals: 1. 150 sweets challenge. I will eat less than 150 sweets in 2016. Drinks count. 2. 366 days of greens challenge. I will eat greens every single day this year. 3. 36600 push ups challenge. 100 Push ups a day. Bonus: Glad if I can do. I wouldn't beat myself over it. 1. Ending 2016 with an NF post. I missed it last time, and I plan to carry it through the year this time! 2. Ending 2016 with at least 40 consecutive weeks of creative writing. This Challenge: Food I think the main problem with food for me last time is still sweets, and my plan is to return slowly. So here are my food goals. 1. Greens everyday. I'm talking about leaves too. Fruits (squashes, eggplants, okra, etc. don't count.) 2. 3 sweets a week only. Liquid calories, such as juices, count as sweets. Exercises I still exercise regularly, but I have been doing the minimal work while eating like crazy, so here is my new exercise goals. 1. 100 push ups, everyday. At the airport, at the hotel. Doesn't matter. 100 push ups. Every. Single. Day. 2. 40 min of walk/ jog/swim everyday. 3. Weight training/ body weight training, 3 days a week. 4. Wild card once a week-- this includes any fun physical activity such as dancing, soccer, basketball, ice skating, water-tag, badminton, etc. Life I haven't been slacking on academic writing, but creative writing is another story. I want that back in my life. 1. 30 min of creative writing. 6 days a week. 2. 30 min of academic writing. 6 days a week. I will redeem myself in battle. Just you wait!!!

All excuses aside, I'm going down this month. My main quest is weight loss, and I've been to wimpy to reflect that in my goals lately. I've had some lovely side quests. I found some delicious foods to cook and I've squatted an intimidating bar. But my weight loss goal has plateau'd because I've been avoiding it, plain and simple. Holidays are over, and I am striking back with a vengeance. Goal 1. Healthy Eating I am shooting for six out of seven days of healthy eating. This works with my own personal checklist that includes eating lots of vegetables and reasonable portion sizes. I will use it to lose a pound a week. In addition, I'm adding two sub-goals A. No french fries. Seems like we've been eating out an awful lot lately. If it's just once and a while, it doesn't hurt to eat some fries. But it's become a habit, so I'm cutting them out entirely for the month of January. B. Kid vegetable challenge. This isn't my own eating, but we've made a New Year's Resolution in our house. Ok, the "we" is a little misleading. Mando Baxter and I are 100% on board. The Nickster and the Golden Boy are complying only because we've linked the goal to screen usage. Ha! Ha! Ha! Evil parent laugh. Since one child eats vegetables occasionally and one child never ever eats any, we're starting small. For January, every child must eat 1/2 cup of vegetables a day before he can turn on a screen. The goal for me is to make this stick through the whining and complaining. Goal 2. Stay Active I'm using my fitbit this challenge to help keep me going the extra mile. I've signed up for the walking PVP and I'm going to walk 100 miles this challenge. That is an average of between 8000 and 9000 steps a day on the fitbit. I test drove the fitbit for 20 days in November. I became a little obsessed, and finally took it off when I developed a blister on my wrist under the band. This time around, I'm going to be less obsessed. I will not be measuring my sleep quality and will be taking it off from time to time. But the numbers from November gave me a good idea of a decent goal for myself. 100 miles will be hard - but obtainable. Goal 3. Work Out This is my usual morning routine. It's proving to be the part of fitness that I look forward to the most. I do strength MWF and cardio TTh. Outside cardio will boost the fitbit numbers, so I'll shoot for at least two this month. So, I'm looking forward to seeing the new changes here on NF. The four week challenge will be tricky for me come February. The family is going to Disney the first week, so I will be tempted to skip the whole month. Probably not what the NF masters intended with the new shorter format, but I'll worry about that later. For now, watch out plateau!

Greeting, friends. This challenge sees me returning to an older ethic of diet and exercise while continuing to cultivate musical skills. In many ways, it represents a return to the things that surrounded me in childhood -- music, imagination, natural exercise and my grandmother's garden. Like one or two others, I've chosen to also renew an interest in the elements to frame the work: Earth: Body. Focus on Nutrition Following the best advice I've ever seen via 'In Defense of Food' - eat (real) food, not too much, mostly plants - my goals are: 1. Plant-based food in every meal, eaten first. 2. Smaller portions, eaten slowly. Slowly. Not like a starving warthog. 3. More water, less caffeine and alcohol. One large Nalgene per day of water; smaller cups for caffeine and alcohol. Air: Mind. Focus on Imagination For MANY years, a friend and I have threatened to unleash a fantasy novel upon the hordes of nerdy readers we love so dearly. This year, we agreed to a structure: 1. One page or 15 minutes per day. Make-ups are allowed, since not every day is conducive to writing, but the norm should be one 15-minute writing block (using pomodoro method). Fire: Action. Focus on Fitness This April, 11 of my friends and I will tackle Ragnar SoCal. I'm leg 4 (5k, 10k, 10k), which is well within my comfort zone. Still, we need to prepare and I need to do some two-a-days eventually. Also, I've discovered a love of the ergometer (aka rowing machine). Also also, I accepted a 1000 mile challenge for the year and a 'streaking' paradigm of 20-mile weeks. So... 1. Run 20 miles per week in any configuration, at least 4 runs per week. No make-ups. 2. Row at least twice a week for 30 minutes. Water: Heart. Focus on Music I've been learning bass guitar for several challenges now, and will just continue: 1. Two lessons per week on Scott's Bass Academy, 2. 15 minutes of practice every day. Again, make-ups are permitted. So there's my outline. I have accountability for every goal except music, but that one is the easiest to want to do. With the new format, I'm hoping to step up/tweak/continue on the next couple of challenges as well. Points: no. Pass/fail per week. Reward: um....not sure. I'll think on this one.

I can't believe I pulled this off... My 3rd quest for this month is to make a meal for 3 people with heavy dietary restrictions. I'd completed this week's quest on Tuesday with a ginger chicken chili (no nightshades), and had made a broth using the bones from the chicken. Sooooooooooo tonight I'd had a random thought about udon (and who doesn't?) and yesterday the Dragon (ie husband) had roasted chicken/carrots/brussel sprouts that were A. really tasty and B. hadn't gotten very soft, so we tossed those in with some extra chicken, let it boil, added the udon and O_O OMG.... The broth had all the spices from the chili (ginger/clove/rosemary/oregano/black pepper) plus Josh's spices from yesterday (rosemary/olive oil/roasted garlic) - and it is amazing. And we still have some left over and I'm very excited to bring it to work tomorrow for lunch when the veggies will be even softer Which would make 3 separate uses of leftovers and I don't even LIKE leftovers o.o And then I stumbled onto how to make udon and I'm wondering if I can experiment with different types of flours. Maybe I've made an udon monster... oh well, back to playing Undertale XD

I am Phytomancer, worshipper of rain, mover of earth, protector of trees, and the priest of the urban forests. Rain gardens are my shrines, and parks are my sanctuary. In the last challenge, I have recruited a few villains who enjoy the color green as much as I do. But villains have ulterior motives, and they are a bit spiteful. They don't make great minions. Previously a minion myself, I need the part of the army that is more... loyal. And I thought of the nature spirits. The tales across nations mention the spirits of nature in some kind. They are mostly kind, protective, and loyal. Some of them are tricksy and crazy, but that's because people are trespassing their homes. I need to learn some woodland magics if I want to hang out with them and not get turned into a frog. Anyhow, here are the woodland magics I plan to learn in this challenge. Dimension crossing Some say that the spirits live in different worlds that are parallel to ours. If I want to communicate with them, I have to cross dimensions with comfort. 1. Write academically for an hour 5 days a week 2. Write creatively for an hour 3 days a week These include the preparations of writing, editing, active reading, etc. as well. [Total-48 hours of writing in the challenge] Illusion Weaving To befriend the people and spirits around me while being comfortable, I must learn to weave the illusions of self that would become myself later on. 1. Start telling people I 'don't' eat bakery/ sugary food and avoid eating them in front of those people 2. Eat green everyday, and tell people I eat green everyday. 3. This is not about publicity, but I am thinking of adapting NoS diet seriously this time-- No snack, no sweets, no second, unless it's special (S days) [42 days of greens/ 42 days of NoS (with 6 S days)] Woodland Embodiment To be the nature spirit's champion in general, I have to be stronger than them and one with them. The goal is achieved by working out and be in nature 1. Push ups and Chin ups 3 times a week 2. Jog/ hike/ sprint at least twice a week 3. Attempt to climb a tree AND hand stand for at least once a week 4. Muay Thai at least once a week [Total 42 sessions of exercises] Each week, I will face different kinds of nature spirits, and will have mini challenges regarding those spirits as well. Let's start!

WARNING: MASSIVE HUGE BRAIN VOMIT AHEAD. FEEL FREE TO SCROLL DOWN TO THE OTHER SHTUFF (labeled as such for your convenience) Heads up: my wordsplosion below, while it obviously has impacted what I chose as my goals, doesn’t really have a ton to do with my challenge, and aside from the mega nerd love and life leveling up description to follow, it’s not really nerd related either. I just felt the need to get this stuff out there, kind of as a re-intro for me, or updated Raxie background… or something. This challenge happens to fall upon a very meaningful/kind of emotion heavy time of year for me, for a ton of reasons. So take it as you will. Or, like I said, skip it. I won’t be offended I promise . Especially because I am not filling it with gifs. So… without further ado, here goes: FIRSTLY, this marks (ever so slightly late) my second Nerdversary! I glossed over my first nerdversary last year because I hadn’t quite grasped what this place would grow to mean to me at that point. It still had had its impact… but in the last year more than ever NF has influenced and changed my life in ways I couldn’t possibly have imagined at that point. Since I joined NF 2 years ago, I’ve gone from having to do WALL PUSH UPS because I couldn’t even do knee push ups, to benching 70+lb. From getting sore with 20 reps of BW squats in the Angry Birds workouts to squatting triple digits! I’ve lost 20-ish pounds, dropped a size, been eating much healthier, I am cooking more often, and generally feeling overall more awesome, more like a real human. I’ve also found this wonderful group of people that I know will help me out through thick and thin, offer amazing fitness and life advice, and just generally be lovely humans and provide good cheer and gifs when all else fails. This is the most supportive, ridiculously crazy community I have ever encountered and I really truly seriously love you guys. Even people’s threads I may not visit, you too, just because you’re a part of this community and therefore you’re part of all the general awesome that is this crazy place. Then this year I went to Camp Nerd Fitness. I crossed the boundary between fun acquaintances on the internet to real people, real faces, and real friends. I made the promise to myself going there that I would fake it til I make it with my social skills. Even though I have social anxiety, I made myself walk up to every person I made eye contact with, say hi, introduce myself, and get chatting. Since I’ve gotten back having this success under my belt, it has made a HUGE noticeable difference in my interactions with people in my everyday life, people have actually commented on it! CNF also taught me how much I need to focus on my mobility, my primal movements, and my overall view of fitness. I know people say this all the time, but I really truly get it now - fitness isn’t just going to the gym and eating healthy ‘til the weekend so you can look good. It’s about being good to yourself and embracing a beneficial healthy lifestyle, it’s primal squatting when I’m waiting for the bus, it’s choosing to not eat cheese because I know it makes me feel like crap and not because it’s high in fat which supposedly means “not healthyâ€, it’s taking the arms off my work chair so I can more easily sit in more natural and varied positions, it’s foam rolling my shoulders out and doing mobility drills so I can move them the way they are supposed to move, it’s buying new shoes that let my feet be feet, it’s BEING WEIRD, and yes, it’s going to the gym going beast mode and deadlifting the hell out of stuff. It’s everything, it’s life. And I am SO SO grateful to this place for allowing me to discover this side of myself. For real, I wish I could say this differently or better, but I’m not that great with words. So HERE HAVE ALL OF THE INTERNET HUGS FROM ME TO YOU <3 <3 <3 SECONDLY, my eating habits have also changed profoundly. I’ve been a vegetarian/borderline vegan for 8 years. Being on NF and interacting with people with all different backgrounds and eating habits made me really examine why I choose to put what I do into my body. My issue with meat has always been factory farming and the treatment of animals during their lives and how they are slaughtered. I really have no problem with the food chain, and have always eaten hunted meat, I am just very against unnecessary suffering. So starting about 3 months ago, in secret IRL, I have been on a quest to really investigate the best course of action to make the biggest impact on the heart of the things I take issue with, and (drumroll, please) I’ve decided to start eating beef again. To clarify, if anyone cares, only humane certified beef. This is not only because I selfishly need more protein for all my lifting (which yes is true), but also because I nerded out, took responsibility for my decisions, did the research, and realized that the farmers who are doing it right NEED support - they are getting pushed around by the bigger companies who are doing it so very wrong for profit. I don’t want to just shut everyone out, I want to vote with my dollar to the people who are doing good things. I also decided to completely cut dairy out, as it hurts my belly and it creates the veal industry which I just can’t be OK with, and I won’t be eating pork or poultry because after investigating the “humane certified†standards for them I still don’t feel comfortable supporting what those standards are. And PLEASE DON’T GET ME WRONG any vegetarians reading this. I think you are awesomely awesome, for real, and your food choices I still think are completely valid and what is right for you, but I know this is the right choice for me. My whole family is vegetarian and I’ve been one for so long that I’ve been kind of scared to explore other options for fear of being judged. This community has given me the courage to really do the research, figure out what I’m about, and do what I truly think is the right course of action for me personally not for anyone else, and for the impact I want to have on the world, as tiny as that may be. So, I’ve been behind the scenes eating beef behind since I got back from camp… but starting this challenge I’m going to do it in public. I’m sure people are going to comment/question/nag but I WILL DEAL WITH IT. It annoys the hell out of me how much people think what you eat is their business, and I know I am going to be basically harassed about this once I start doing it, but… I am a big girl and I will calmly deal with the people at large. And finally, anyone who doesn’t really care about the environmental/ethical impacts of meat eating, please please please don’t take this as me trying to be preachy. I’m not trying to influence anyone here, and I definitely am not judging anyone in any way, I am getting out everything I’ve been going through this past year which has been a very serious and profound change for me. I really had to share because I’m excited and honestly really nervous about it, in fact it might require some support, especially for when I tell my family. I also might need advice on cooking because I have never cooked beef before in my life so that should be interesting. Oh, and for those of you concerned for my lack of pork which means no bacon, don’t worry. I’ve already found beef bacon and it’s AMAZING. THIRDLY, and this is really personal for me so I’m going out on a limb sharing it with like, the whole freaking internet, but it goes along with my “NF has really changed my life†theme of this giant wall of text, so here goes…This also marks the second anniversary of my grandfathers death. This was the first truly hard loss of my adult life, not in the least because he wasn’t just my grandfather, but was my only father figure growing up. I lived with him for many years and he had a huge hand in raising me. Those of you paying attention will notice that this lines up with my second nerdversary. In fact, I wasn’t even though my first challenge when he passed. I did say I had a death in the family, but I never really shared who it was or what he meant to me, and I don’t know why. It was just too hard I guess. But I was very depressed for ~8 months after this, and I didn’t realize it at the time but in retrospect NF had a huge impact on me during that time, and helped pull me out of what could have been a lot worse by helping me focus on myself, and giving me a community to kind of escape to. I know everyone has lost someone, and I know some have lost parents and parental figures and shared it on here so I don’t know why I felt so shut off about it, I think it was a symptom of my depression to be honest. So with the second anniversary rolling around it’s obviously a struggle for me and my family. Because of this, this challenge might be a bit hard for me to stay focused on at times, so please feel free to poke me/yell at me/gif me if you see me retreating. FOURTHLY, it’s ma birthday in a few days (Nov. 6)! And I am rapidly approaching 30 (I’m turning 28). Honestly, I’m not feeling like I’m going to hit a quarter life crisis or start freaking out about getting old or anything, I don’t care about getting older per say… but I’m stressed about it because I feel like people still think of me as a kid since I’m in my 20s. But now that I’m in my “late†twenties, and definitely once I turn 30, I might be seen as someone who is an actual adult, whatever the heck that is. I feel like people are going to start asking me when I’m going to start popping out babies left and right, or think for some reason that I 100% know what I want out of life. And I don’t. And I’m not stressed about the fact that I don’t, in fact I like that I don’t. Honestly I don’t really ever want to know 100% what I want out of life, aside from knowing that I want to be happy, help people, and see the world. But I don’t have a be all end all goal in mind, because that implies I can be finished, and I don’t think that’s possible, I don’t want to ever be finished until I’m dead. But people are going to start expecting me to justify this to them, not that I should have to, but that’s the way society is and it kinda blows. This is challenge relevant because 1) stressors suck and affect my fitness life and 2) I am going to very much not be doing anything challenge related on my birthday and I’m accounting for that right up front. There will be beer, there will be scotch, and there will be gin. There will also be mass amounts of not paleo food. NO GUILT. ------------------------------------------------------------------ *deep breath* Okay Okay. So that’s it for my worldsplosion brain vomit of headstuffs. If you made it this far… in all sincerity, seriously thank you for caring enough to read that, it got quite a bit longer than I intended. If not, no worries, here you go: tldr; This is an interesting/emotional time of year for me for a lot of reasons, and this challenge will be tough because of it. I have also gone through a lot of positive changes in the past 2 years, a lot of it because of NF, and to celebrate that I’m going to go hard this challenge. And, most importantly, I LOVE YOU NERDS!

The forum keeps timing out - this is my third try to post this.. http://www.pbs.org/video/2365635287/

Merry Autumn, everyone! This challenge will be the twelfth of a dozen documented attempts now, and I'm still floating around the same weight I've been for years. I cannot seem to control the amount and quality of the food I eat for more than a couple of weeks, so you know what? This time, I'm not even going to bother imposing a calorie limit or a portion size limit, I'm just going to say: Goal 1: Eat whatever I damn well like. But: I have to cook it myself, from scratch, using items that are recognisable as bits of plant, fungus, bits-of-plant-or-fungus-that-have-been-turned-into-something-pretending-to-be-bits-of-animal, or something that came directly out of an animal. Seasonings don't count.*EDIT: I hate Week 0 Sarah, she does not consider my feelings. The main substance of my meal has to follow the above; once I've finished eating that, I will then proceed to eat whatever couscous/bread/cheese might be within reach. I am only allowed to eat it between the hours of 7 and 8 at night.Five portions of fruit and veg have to be consumed in that hour regardless of what it is I cook. I suspect that with those caveats, I am going to end up eating about 1500kcal in one sitting because there are only so many calories you can fit into a person when you can't eat pasta or chocolate unless you've made it yourself from plants and despair. Snacking during the day will be combated by leaving my purse and cash at home. Snacking at home will be combated by not having anything suitable in cupboards. Even flour. No flour for Sarah. Tasty tasty flour. (Honestly, I will snap and make terrible pancakes otherwise.) Points: +4 CON; +1 STA Goal 2: Build on walking home from work every night by walking to work as well; I'm going to see how that goes this preparatory week, and if it is terrible I will start Week 1 by walking to work once as well as home five times, and gradually build up to work-and-back five times a week from there. It's all uphill on the way to work, and I expect to be able to crack a man's skull between my thighs by the end or I shall be requesting my money back. Not that I've paid anyone any money. Points: +3 STA, +2 STR Goal 3: Spend Sundays organising everything I'll need for the following week. Will involve the following, in order. - Laundry; and organise five work outfits on hangers for the week ahead like I imagine extremely fashionable people do/n't. - Do cupboard stock taking, work out a shopping list. - Take out just enough cash for food shopping. - Go food shopping, and do not touch debit card. Leave debit card at home if possible. - Cook for week ahead; freeze meals. - Do dishes. - Take out rubbish, hoover. - Hair mask, sauna, shower, moisturise, manicure, pedicure; because I feel a bit grim after housework and not buying snacks, and because self-care is important anyway. - Spend rest of the day reading. Points: +3 CHA, +2 WIS. Life Goal: ...Actually, I think that's probably enough for this challenge, don't you? Oh, wait, no! LIFE GOAL: TALK TO PEOPLE ON THE FORUMS THEY ARE YOUR FRIENDS AND YOU ARE A BIG BUTTOCK FOR NOT TALKING TO ANYONE FOR THE WHOLE OF LAST CHALLENGE. No points because DAMMIT SARAH GO TALK TO PEOPLE. There, I have even made a note on my work to-do list for tomorrow to make time during lunch to talk to people. Proper reading-threads-and-saying-hello-and-congratulating-on-progress talking rather than a snatched five minutes of liking old posts. Monitoring: - POST ON YOUR THREAD POST ON YOUR THREAD POST ON YOUR THREAD. Post things about what you ate, how cranky you are, how much sleep you got and why, how much water you drank; not as if it were a lab experiment, but just to see if there are patterns you can manipulate to make life easier. Say, if you have a really easy day, what did you eat the night before, and can you replicate that really easy day by eating the same thing and going to bed at the same time? - Weigh self weekly. * Clarification of Ridiculousness: I know it sounds convoluted and stupid, and I'm really not convinced by the "clean eating" evangelism that happens a lot these days, but it's not about "eating clean", it's about establishing an arbitrary but entertaining rule that will force me to strongly consider the value of what I put into my mouth and eat my vegetables. Is it really worth all that effort turning wheat and milk into a plate of macaroni cheese? Or is it not better in every way to make a big vegetable casserole? And if I do somehow make macaroni cheese from absolute scratch, won't that be pure dead magic?

Hiiiii! I'm going to say right away that I didn't do totally awesome my first two challenges - but if I combine the things I did achieve in them, they add up to approximately one whole successful challenge...so here I am! I'm traveling for the next three weeks, so I can't commit to anything super ambitious, but I still want to aim for things that I can achieve even with the uncertainty and upended schedules of traveling. Some of these goals may be modified for the second three weeks when I'm back home. 1. Go for a run at least three times a week. I'm thinking about probably running a half on September 20th, so I have to get my butt back in gear. 2. Drink at least four glasses of water a day. I haven't been very good about water lately, and hydration is even more important while traveling. 3. Eat at least three servings of vegetables a day. Guys...I'm going to eat a lot of not-totally-healthy stuff over the next few weeks. I've missed a lot of food from the US, and I can't deny that I'm going to satisfy some of those cravings. Still, I'm going to shoot for at least three vegetables a day to make sure I still get some actual vitamins in and maybe have a little less room in my stomach for the so-good-but-so-bad stuff. 4 (life 1). No screens after 9 p.m. whenever possible. I need to work on my sleep hygiene, and I'll be starting work earlier and therefore need to go to bed (and actually fall asleep) earlier while I'm back in the US. I added "whenever possible" because I'm not going to say no to a movie night with friends or family, and I have a work event the first week of August that could definitely involve screens after 9. 5 (life 2). Work on my thesis for at least half an hour each day. This one has been rough my first two challenges, so for now, at least, I'm trying to make the bar to success so low that there's no good reason for not achieving it. Half an hour?!? That's nothing! Okay! Let's doooooooo this!

Sorry if this is a repeated topic. I'm trying to clean up my diet, I'm starting to try and cut carbs and sugar, drinking more water, etc, but so far my biggest hurdle has been getting more vegetables in. I'm okay with salads with lettuce, spinach, etc. and some raw vegetables such as cucumber, carrots, broccoli, and I'm even becoming accustomed to tomatoes even though I didn't like them very much before. But if I eat roasted or cooked vegetables I can't get over the bitter taste and I feel like I'm going to puke after a few bites. I'd be okay with eating more raw vegetables but I keep getting bored with what I'm eating. What can I do? Is there a way to "change" my tastebuds or get more accustomed to bitter tastes?

Hello! I can ramble sometimes, so I'll try to get right to the point here: my boyfriend and I are about to start the whole babymaking thing, and I want to be as healthy as possible in order to provide a good environment for our potential future human. I'm not particularly unhealthy at the moment, but I could certainly stand to lose some weight and eat a bit better, and I've been slacking on exercise lately. [Disclaimer: I'm sure you all get it, but just in case, please don't be offended by my calling babies-to-be parasites. I mean, they *do* live off their mothers' life forces...but they're adorable, so I'm okay with it.] Quest 1 Get in at least 30 minutes of movement every day. Ideally this will break down to 3 days of running, 2 days of walking, and 2 days of yoga, but for now the important thing is actually getting off my butt and preferably getting out of the house. (I work at home, so it's easy to This is really for each day, so if I do one hour one day, that doesn't matter - I still need to get 30 minutes in the next day. It's also pretty much all or nothing, because I'n not likely to go outside for just 15 minutes, anyway. By the time I get out there, I might as well stick it out for the full 30 minutes. So the grading for each day is as follows: 30 minutes: A for the day < 30 minutes: F for the day Quest 2 Make a weekly meal plan and shop/prep on the weekend. I know a lot of my questionable food choices are because of not having enough healthy food at home and/or not wanting to cook every day. Planning and prepping ahead of time should help me eat better. If I make some kind of breakfast dish and soup on the weekend, then my breakfast and lunch should be pretty much set for the week, for example. I'd like to shoot for at least semi slow carb, particularly for breakfast and lunch, but will not be strict about it for dinner, especially because my boyfriend does a lot of the cooking and isn't very interested in the idea. (Starting next week, since I'm a bit late, but I'll try to do a partial meal plan this week, anyway.) accomplished: A for the week not accomplished: F for the week Quest 3 Eat at least 3 vegetables (preferably 3 different ones, but it's not required) and 1 fruit per day. Green leafy vegetables are especially good! This quest relies quite a bit on the previous one. 3 v + 1 f: A for the day 2 v + 1 f: B for the day 2 v: C for the day 1 v: D for the day anything else (including 0 v + 1 f): F for the day Life quest All my friends and family are sick of me talking about how I need to finish my master's thesis. I'm close enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I'm finding it hard to just sit down and deal with it and have been procrastinating far too much. My goal is at least 3 hours of truly thesis-focused work each weekday, which might sound like a lot, but this is really hanging over me and I also don't have a lot of actual work right now because I haven't been actively looking for clients while in school. I need to finish this so I can get the weight off my shoulders and have time to get more freelancing work and/or look for a full-time job (the future human is also a big motivator for that). I absolutely want to be DONE with my thesis by the time this callenge ends, and I really think that's doable as long as I put in the work. 3 hours: A for the day 2 hours: B for the day 1 hour: D for the day < 1 hour: F for the day each 1 hour on a weekend day: bonus points (still have to figure out exactly how to calculate those in to the final score) Okay! Let's do this!

(Note: I had a much better introduction but my first post was eaten by the inter-webs) Main Quest : Unassisted Pull Up Strength Goal: More pull-ups than week before. Test myself every Saturday. Starting with 3. .5 strength points for each week I have more band-assisted pull-ups.Can be:longer hang-timemore band-assisted pull upsmore negative pull-ups (let downs)3 strength pts Stamina Goal: longer workouts than the work beforeCan be total weekly mileage (runs)Total weekly mileage (bike)Total weekly distance rowed (metric)Total amount of time spent doing cardio3 stamina pts Constitution Goal: Hero's JourneyDo workout everydayTime spent can also count towards Stamina goal3 Dexterity pts Nutrition: Veggies / Fruit at every meal (tracked through Lose It! app)90g protein / day (tracked through Lose It! app)3 constitution pts Lifestyle Goal: Blog at least once a week (and resurrect my blog).3 Charisma pts

WHAT'S UP MY NERDFITNESS PEEPS!!! BLACKTEZCA IS BACK AND ROCKING OUT WITH THE MONKS!! Man already the new forums are up! Awesome! Let's do this! I'm BlackTezca, you may remember from such topics as From Lurker to (Newb) Rebel!, BlackTezca's Daily Battle Towards Feline Greatness, and my personal favorite BlackTezca's 1st Trial: Become an Artsy, Geeky Amazon. I'm continuing on my journey towards geeky, otaku, Amazon awesomeness and for this challenge (and the next since I plan ahead), I'll be with my martial art loving peeps. There won't be a whole lot of martials arts for this challenge, but you know what? So to reiterate my main quest: My Main Quest is to be as POWERFUL and BATTLE READY as Wonder Woman Not the theme for this challenge but I love the shit out of this image I did relatively well for my first challenge despite some minor setbacks, so my confidence (*cough* maybe arrogance *cough*) is super high! I originally planned on jumping straight into finding a studio and learning Krav Maga, but considering my trip (which cost me some major $$$$$$$$$$) and StillSkies 2nd challenge getting me interested in opening my mind to other martial arts, I'm pushing that off a little bit. Just a little bit; I still use kick boxing workouts for a bit of my cardio (especially combined with HIIT) and my Art quest is gonna be pretty fun . Now enough stalling! TIME TO REVEAL MY SIDE QUESTS!!! Side Quest 1: During my workouts, focus on upper body strength training for at least 20 minutes, at least 3 days a week. Details: I have strong legs, and despite my complaints about my back, I don't think my core is anything to laugh out. But I have laughably weak arms and I want to be strong all over. I have my dumbbells, I have my Fitness Blender, time to put more focus on my upper body and strengthen what I consider to be my weakest area Contingencies: I do downhill ski. The ski season is almost over. I have one more, longish, ski trip planned and downhill skiing does not really use your arms (unless you fall. Then your arms are most useful). I will try to get my upper body workouts done during the time before and after I return from my trip. Tracking: I'll be tracking using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) and this lovely thread will be updated. Grading: A for 3+ days a week ( 3 Str 1Sta ) B for mostly 2 days a week ( 3 Str ) C for mostly 3 days a week ( 2 Sta ) F for all else Side Quest 2: During my workouts, focus on core and lower back strength and flexibility for at least 20 minutes, at least 2 days a week. Details: I have mild scoliosis and I'm a code monkey. My job consists of programming hunched over at a screen and let me tell you that does WONDERS for my back health. I really need to work on this because over my last trip, walking a block or two started to really cause me pain and I don't like feeling like I'm 70 years old while still in my twenties (Actually, a relative in his 70s did not feel any back pain so boo to me). Contingencies: None because if my back hurts, even on my ski trip, I will be stretching the living shit out of it until it STOPS. Tracking: I'll be tracking using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) and this lovely thread will be updated. Grading: A for 2+ days a week ( 3 Dex 1Str ) B for mostly 1 day a week ( 2 Dex ) F for all else Side Quest 3: Eat vegetables with every meal, 6 days a week. Details: ARRGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Noooo don't make me do this nooooooooo!!!!!! Okay...*deep breath*. It's not like I dislike vegetables, I just find them...hard to...put on my mind when it comes to food. Especially on the weekends. I don't buy them, I don't think about them all the time unless they are in my face or a little voice (or many voices, depending who follows this) remind me. So...I'm gonna...eat...vegetables in some recognizable form, preferably not covered in yummy yummy cheese (oh my Chicken Pepper Philly how I love you). Wish me luck guys. Contingencies: None really. I shall eat vegetables (not corn, nor a potato, nor a sweet potato *cry*) every meal, maybe even push myself to snacking on them*twitch*. Tracking: I'll be tracking using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) and this lovely thread will be updated (I hate you all) Grading: A for 6+ days a week ( 2 Con ) B for mostly 4 to 5 days a week ( 1 Con ) C for mostly 2 to 3 days a week ( .5 Con ) F for all else Life Quest: Pay down one credit card completely and lower the debt on the other credit card. Details: Like most people, I gots some debt I need to take care of. I'm not gonna pay that all down, but with the tax refund coming in, and my vacation over, I'm gonna need to focus on paying off my cards a little more than I have been. Contingencies: None. Tracking: I'll track this weekly here of course for my summaries and I'll be watching my credit card accounts. Grading: A for One card completely paid off and the other managed ( 2 Wis ) B for One card completely paid off, nothing down on the other ( 1 Wis ) F for all else Art Quest: Research at least 5 different martial arts and draw something (sketch, full painting, etc) representing each one. Details: I have been really touched by the comments my art has gotten here and the encouragement and support is super awesome. Some of you had hoped that I would continue it and this is my answer: Art Quests are here to stay. For every challenge I do, there will be an art quest. For this challenge, since I am with the monks and since I am holding off on a studio membership, I will research a martial art and not only will I do a short summary, I will also have an artwork attached to that summary. This will be fun cause it means drawing other characters, testing out new poses, etc. This will hopefully be done on a weekly basis. Contingencies: Ski trip, but surely I can post a decent sketch or make it black and white if I must . Tracking: I have an art Tumblr and I also have a DeviantArt (WATCH ME FOR ACCOUNTABILITY). I'll use those for tracking and on a weekly basis...like a weekly update or something, I'll post art on this thread. Grading: A for 5 martial art images and research ( 2 Wis + 1 Cha ) B for 4 martial art images and research ( 2 Wis ) C for 3 martial art images and research ( 1 Wis ) F for all else OMG THAT IS FIVE QUESTS! A little intense it seems but surely if anyone I can do it...I CAN! Starting Measurements: Date: 02/19/2015 @ 6 am Weight: 137.4 ***Body Fat***: 25.48 Waist: 24 Waist @ Navel: 26 Hips: 37 Neck: 12.5 Chest: 33 Left Bicep: 11 Right Thigh: 17.5 Wrist: 6 Forearm: 9 Yeah, I measured myself already. God I'm excited! I've been getting really happy and upbeat doing these. I'm gonna rock this out...LET'S GET THIS AWESOMENESS ON THE ROAD!!! REBELS! ROCK OUT!!!

As the title suggests, this challenge is all about acquiring as much money as possible. Most of my mental breakdowns have been triggered by money-related things, and my fear of getting evicted and living in poverty. Student loan repayments are also approaching soon, and more bills are coming in, and my work hours are getting cut, and fuck everything I HATE LIFE AND EVERYTHING IS HOPELESS I need to have as much money as possible so that I can keep doing the things that I still enjoy: going to the gym and cosplaying. Since making money will involve selling some of my old things, this challenge will also fit with my recent efforts to de-clutter my living space. I'm not being a greedy asshole, I'm striving toward a minimalist lifestyle 1. SELL SHIT. By the end of the challenge, I want to be rid of the following: - My old GT SnoRacers - Set of Riddick knives. They look badass - Piles of Undertaker and Kane action figures - Kane/See No Evil stuff (okay, so I used to be a big WWE fan. Don't judge me.) - Xbox 360 that's still in the box - Second Xbox 360 that's been collecting dust since like 2008 - Old BMX bike - Old scooter, the ones that kids use - Waterworld stuff collection (I used to love that movie when I was younger, and nobody else did, so at least these items will have some kind of rarity?) - Clothes that I no longer wear The items written in black will go on eBay, and the ones written in blue will go locally on Kijiji. Clothes will be a mix of both. 2. START A BUSINESS. Or two. I mentioned a coffee reselling business in the previous challenge, but then depression happened, and I had the blahs for like 3 weeks over the holidays and never did the thing. More on this later. I've also considered starting a cat-sitting business, or a cosplay props business, but that requires some kind of an investment. The cat-sitting one might be okay in this city since it's full of rich government workers that might not mind paying for things like cat-sitting. 3. DO A VISUALIZATION EXERCISE EVERY DAY. It's from this book. I put it under a cut because it's sort of long. Also, THIS IS WHERE I NEED THE AFFIRMATION. I was thinking of using "I am calm", but does anyone have other suggestions for good affirmations? There are a few other ones from the same book I've been meaning to try also, will write them in later. 4. EAT MORE VEGETABLES. Or eat less granola and peanut butter by replacing it with vegetables. I've done this before, usually poorly. The challenge: 5 or more servings of vegetables: 5 points 4 servings of vegetables: 4 points 3 servings of vegetables: 3 points 2 servings of vegetables: 2 points 1 serving of vegetables: 1 point 0 servings of vegetables: 0 points The maximum amount of points will be 210. Am I a bad enough dude to get 210 points? Also, what's a high-protein option for breakfast that isn't eggs? I love eggs, but about half my diet right now is eggs, which probably isn't good :\ Also, this has to be something that's easy to make/cook. LIFE QUEST 1: Personal thing that I'll elaborate on once it's done. If I pass, all will be well, and my quality of life will increase dramatically. If I fail, I'll probably be homeless and kill myself shortly after. No pressure LIFE QUEST 2: Continue chopping heads off the To-Do-List Hydra. Self-explanatory (Low quality picture of to-do-list Hyrda will go here) Finish trollface mask E-mail (someone doing a coat for me) Finish new Loki coat diagrams (DO THIS ONE ASAP) Write OG letter! Call (insurance company) to ask about a thing E-mail (guy from psych training) Call (local forestry products company) and ask if hiring. Cosplay: scales Cosplay: get cardboard pattern of shoulder piece to send request to (tumblr friend who has access to 3D printer) Cosplay: buy more craft foam Cosplay: re-do chest plate Cosplay: craft mouth piece Buy brown paper roll for pattern drafting Order shit from Tandy Order smooth-on (ASK FRIEND WHICH KIND I NEED TO GET) Build stand for cosplays so my cat stops fucking sleeping on my Loki clothes Make a list of sci-fi and fantasy books that I have and no longer read, or won't have time to read THESIS: corrections (reader 1) THESIS: re-do all spectra Set up cosplay page on FB Sewing machine maintenance Clear out top drawer Buy underwear (fuuuuuuck) Buy pants (fuuuuuuck, but less so than underwear) Box with class notes: put the notes in binders Write to T.H. Take pics of clothes to sell/give away Bring leftover clothes to ValueVillage