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The Batman villain pantheon is one of many of my true loves -- particularly that of the Batman Animated Series of 90's era. With villainesses such as Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Catwoman... well women on the comic stage have been downplayed a bit on the ingenuity and power spectrum. However, it was the 90's so the plots of Poison Ivy and Catwomen really struck a chord in me and my whackadoodle burgeoning hippiness. Such is my challenge this round -- Bring on the Whackadoodle Hippiness! Or, you know, keep trying to get fit so I stop creaking so much when I move, by being inspired by the femme fatales of Gotham City! Step 1: Fall in love with the color of green food. Eat something green with every meal -- bonus if it is a dark and leafy green. Step 2: Give up on my unstable and unreliable relationship with Starbucks. Step 3: Study the end objective before going in for the kill. (Study for Wetlands Ecology and rock it!) Step 4: What do these Ladies have in common? Well agility, strength, daring and what have you! While maintaining my current workout regime, I will add in one balance and flexibility workout each week. (I am going to keep swimming, this is just an important part of strength training that I have been ignoring). *Bonus* Step 5: Keep moving throughout the day -- Park far, far away from the necessary access building

Introduction: Hi I’m Yasha and this is my first challenge (third try, but this time I have a plan and I’m serious about following it). I’ve been a NF rebel subscriber for around 4years now, watching, waiting, biding my time (also chuckling at Steve's wit, and squee'ing over the sucess stories). Well, now is the time. I’ve been working in an office job for 9 months and in that time I’ve packed on more than 10kg, enough is enough. One of my officemates asked this week if I am pregnant. I’m not, but that question combined with the fact that my swimmers don’t fit has been the tipping point for me, and I’ve decided to commit to completing a whole 6 week challenge, with the intent to make some real change to my health and fitness. Nerdy interests: Roleplaying (D&D, Traveler and Dragon Age currently), Lord of the Rings, Disney, Starwars, Superheros, any Lego video game, Don’t Starve, Firefly and cosplay (when I have the $$). Main Quest: Be a desirable teammate in the event of the Zombie Apocalypse (Fit, Fast, Fine, Fighter). At the moment I wouldn’t be my own first choice, and I want to be. Quest 1: Water, water everywhere… Drink more water! Between 3-4bottles/day, and extra if it’s really hot or if I exert myself. (A= 7 days/week of water, B= 6 days of water, C = 5 days of water F= >5days of water -You’re dehydrated!) Quest 2: Walk it off sunshine! Walk for half an hour every weekday (in lunch, to work, up and down the street after work or laps of the library if it’s raining, don’t matter how, just do it). Due to back injury no impact sport/exercise, so for now I walk. (A = 5/5, B= 4/5, C=3/5 F= >3 – these boots were made for walking, not waddling!) Bonus points for any weekend walking (+1 for half hour weekend walk). Quest 3: What am I even eating? Track food/drink consumed, update logging what was eaten throughout the day. If I’m embarrassed to write it down, maybe it’s crap and I shouldn’t be eating it? Some slightly devious drinks (milk based) counted as half-crap as I try to break my horrendous lemonade addiction (worst week I recall was 3 2L bottles in 3 days). (A=0 crap/day, B=1 crap, C=2 crap, F= >2 craps). Life Quest: Archery! …I choose; archery. One lesson per week at the archery range at the PCYC. I am always and without fail crazy jealous of any character who uses a bow effectively (Merida, Hawkeye, Robin Hood, new Lara Croft, Katniss Everdeen), so why not become one of them? (A= 6/6, B=5/6, C=4/6) Life Quest 2: Money money money. Put aside $50/week into the house fund. One day we shall move from our ‘meh’ rental, into a house where I can get a dog, but until we save a deposit – it’s just not going to happen… (A=$300, B=$200, C=$100) Motivation: If I’m not in my prime at the prime of my life, when will I ever be? I want to be able to go for walks without hesitation, wear swimmers without modesty shirts, not be asked if I’m pregnant. Kick ass and take names! The time is now!

No frills. Mission: establish body moving habit Challenge 1: walk to the end of my front lawn and back everyday. Challenge 2: practice mountain pose everyday. Challenge 3: do one deep breathe in proper form. Extra challenge: eat a vegetable every day. Using coach.me and Loseit! apps for tracking. Update here. Grading every day and every challenge as the same weight. Allotting 7 attribute points max. Challenge 1: max 2 strength Challenge 2: max 2 dexterity Challenge 3: max 1 constitution Extra challenge: max 2 constitution Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey Guys! I'm back, did you miss me? I sure missed you... Gonna skip the excuses as to why I've been gone. I've been gone because I lost motivation and started lying to myself. Lately, however, I've been having dreams about my old fitness life, especially parkour-related dreams. I've been itching to go to the gym but I feel like I can't go alone (I transferred schools so the gym is new and scary. Also hella far away from my dorm). My new boyfriend always pouts when I talk about working out (although tonight he finally agreed to come with me to the gym! Success! Now *I* need to start going...) Then this weekend I visited my grandparents and they are not in good shape...frail, can't move around well, angry at the world and their misfortune. My aunt said something to me..."This is why we need to exercise now, so we don't become like them in the future." I realized oh dang I'm setting myself up for failure I do NOT want to be like my grandfather or even my mom...I want to be 65 and still able to run and remember things. So here's my late goal. Sorry I'm joining halfway through but I know you guys won't mind...better late than never right? GOAL: To fall back into some kind of fitness routine. I don't care if it's pumping iron 5x a week and eating all the steamed veggies with chicken breast and salmon or just walking every night when my boyfriend gets off work and limiting ice cream to 4 days a week (instead of every day 2x a day. Yes, that is where I am right now.) As long as I'm doing SOMETHING on a regular basis in the next...3 weeks? By the end of the challenge I want to have a starting place upon which to build. Quest 1: (WIS + 4) Drink 6-8 glasses of water daily. I'm not going to cut out anything like tea or soda. I just want to add water. A- 6-8 glasses a day B- 4-5 glasses a day C- 3 or fewer glasses a day Quest 2: (CON + 3, CHA + 2) Actually do stop eating so much ice cream though. I seriously eat 1-2 mugs of ice cream a day (I put it in mugs instead of bowls so it's not as messy). By the end of this challenge I want to be eating it 4 days a week max. But the thing is, I'll probably just replace ice cream with another sweet treat like cake or cookies. My sweet tooth is like me on my period every day like NO I EFFING NEED THIS SUGAR I WILL CUT YOU. It's like that it's scary. I need a replacement, any suggestions? Or maybe I can start with going from ten billion cookies to one. A- 4 or fewer times/week B- 5-7 times/week C- 8+ times/week Quest 3: (STR + 3, STA + 3) Walk every night. After James gets off work, go home and then take a walk. At least 10 minutes even if the wind is biting cold or it's raining. He doesn't need to come. Preferably 30 minutes but if 10 is all I'm feeling that night then it's fine as long as I went out and made a point. Walking around campus (which I do a lot!) doesn't count. I have to do this with my main goal in mind. A- Every night B- 5-6 nights C- 4 or fewer nights Optional Quest 4: Hit the gym 2x a week. Cardio, weights, or a class. Doesn't matter as long as I go and do something for at least 30 minutes. It could even be a combo, like 15 min cardio 15 min weight training. I would like to be able to easily lift 50 lbs by June...I can do it but it's a bit of a struggle (need this for a job). But this is optional, for days when I feel especially motivated. If I don't go a single time it doesn't matter. The points are as follows: STR: 3 STA: 3 WIS: 4 DEX: 0 CON: 3 CHA: 2 Don't feel like taking pictures, but I will take measurements. Bust: 40in Waist: 34in Belly: 41in Hips: 45in Thighs: L: 28.5in R: 27.5in Biceps: L: 14in R: 14.5in Calves: L: 17in R: 17in Weight: 180.8lbs Pants size: 12 Not happy with this at all. Let myself go like whoa. But I'm not focusing on the numbers this time. Just gonna try to get back on the wagon. Next challenge will be more interesting. By the way, I'm turning 21 in like 2 weeks!

Hi fellows! One hour ago I got kicked out of my study path. I had repeated one year of my own volition and now I didn't pass one subject so they had to kick me out. The examiners were really nice. They said they couldn't understand that, because my grades look good and promising and they are very sorry to tell me that it was just not enough. I struggled with my life since the moment university started, what can be also seen on all the challenges I messed up in here. The topics were awesome, I loved to learn about it, but there were too many things going wrong unfortunately. Now I am trying to find a job as project manager in the automation industry because I am 100% sure this is what I am made for. The question is, if there are companies which take someone who failed. I hope there's a good reason that this happened and I am ready to push my life forward, ready for being more awesome than I have ever been before. Going with you Monks this time, because I finally want to start kickboxing and get powerful. As in the previous challenges, I stick to my role as a shield maiden. I cannot afford the kickboxing course yet and I hope that I am not running out of money until I found a new job. Money problems made our life difficult since always, luckily I got a side job at least. I want to continue studying besides due to entering a study path in the third semester in October. Gotta find out if that is possible. Challenge Part 1) Go for a 5 km walk 6 days a week. I had got used to it once, then it wasn't part of the next challenge anymore and the habit faded. Challenge Part 2) Do this training 3 times a week. I've tried that some time ago and I loved it, high time to do this again! Challenge Part 3) Have one real meal a day. This is a huge problem for me. I am miserable at cooking and hardly ever now what to cook. I'd welcome any suggestions! Life Challenge: from Monday to Friday 1 hour studying project management books1 hour preparing for job interviewswrite 5 applications 1 hour repeating useful subjects from university Time to start living

Well I fell down over the past coupld of months, so now I have to get back up and start pretty much all over again. That is what this challenge will be about for me. Getting up getting back on track and getting consistent and getting my weight off. Steve’s article on being strong nerds with the link to the Henry Rollins ‘Iron and the Soul’ really touched a nerve for me. I need to do this so I can feel like Henry did in his article. I need to do this so I can say look at my success over my body, my laziness, my self. I need to do this so I can be the example my six kids need me to be. I need to do this for my Rebbecca, so she has the best me as her partner. I need to get back up off the dirt and start again, because I AM NOT A LOSER. Losers lay in the dirt whining, winners get up and fight again. I AM GETTING UP. First Goal: Get up and Walk I have stopped walking consistently. I am not even making my 10,000 steps per day. I have a perfectly good driveway walk, 1.5km [just under a mile] in length. Hel I used to walk 5km per day. Last year I had even started running. I need to get this back. This goal will be in two parts. The first is the number of walks up my driveway. The second is the average number of steps per day [calculated over a week]. At the moment my weekly step count daily average is a measely 6500. That has to go up. I am also struggling to get any walks in at all. There are four points up for grabs for me here, two for Constitution and two for Stamina. Critical Hit: 4 points 6-7 walks/week 10,000+ average daily steps Hit: 3 points 4-5 walks/week 9,000+ average daily steps Dodge: 2 points 2-3 walks/week 8,000+ average daily steps Block: 1 point 1 walk/week 7,000+ average daily steps Miss: 0 points No walks Less than 7,000 average daily steps Second Goal: Get up and Workout I have to get up and rebuild all of my strength. I am getting to fat for my 92/36 jeans. I am too fat for my xl/2xl t-shirts. This is due to me not working out regularly anymore. I need to get up and workout. I have recently started doing a morning body weight routine, this consists of 20 incline push ups, 10 lunges and 20 squats. I want to extend this into the a full BBWW, with rows and a plank. I want to keep this going as a daily routine. I do need to add extra to my weekly routine. I love burpees; they have to be the ultimate bodyweight total body exercise around. I plan to use them as a Hiit workout. Over the past couple of weeks I have been doing just this, with 4 sets of 30 seconds [which works out to 4 burpees per set] once per week. I want to do this three times per week. I also need to do a strength workout. I want to do this twice a week. I love using the kettlebell and my hammer. So I have created a simple routine to use both of these tools. This routine will consist of Hammer Wielding Maniacs as a warm up followed by; Hammer Kisses, Grave Diggers, Wood Chops, Goblet Squats, Kettlebell Swings and Turkish Get Ups. This also has four points available. Two for strength and two for stamina. Critical Hit: 4 points 4-5 total workouts any combination per week Hit: 3 points 3 workouts any combination per week Dodge: 2 points 2 workouts any combination per week Block: 1 point 1 workout any combination per week Miss: 0 points No workouts. Third Goal: Get up and be creative I have started getting back into going to the markets and selling my crafts again. But I need more stock. That means taking time out to make stuff. Which means time engraving glass, wood burning and shaping faux bone pendants. Not to mention putting the pendants on necklaces. This is a time-orientated goal. Time spent doing my crafts rather than selling or researching. I will also post pictures of items made each week. There will be three points available here. All going towards wisdom, as using my time well is an act of wisdom. Critical Hit: 3 points 3+ hours per week Hit: 2 points 2-3 hours per week Dodge: 1 points 1-2 hours per week Miss: 0 points Less than 1 hour per week Life Goal: Get up and start building garden beds. The next six weeks is the right time [in my area] to start getting garden beds ready for planting winter crops. I want to build and set up one garden bed per fortnight. That is three beds made for this challenge. I don’t need to explain the importance of home grown veggies to everyone here on Nerd Fitness. I do need to post pictures of each garden bed made as proof of completion. H’mm where to allocate points here? Dexterity could work for the ability to make the beds, as could Stamina. Charisma for the benefits of doing something for my family would also count [my Bec would be very happy]. Constitution for the benefits of home grown food, wisdom for the application of knowledge of the importance growing food. Strength for the lifting and carrying of beds and fertilizer and so forth.. Bugger it. I am going with one point for dexterity, one point for wisdom and one point for stamina. Critical Hit: 3 points Three beds made Hit: 2 points Two beds made Dodge: 1 points One bed made Miss: 0 points No beds made. Which will leave me with one point to attribute to whichever attribute I wish based upon the completion of the challenge.

Hi all, my name is Phytomancer, and I am back. Last week, I have a very embarrassing but neccessary surgical procedure. The mark is small, but the doctor told me not to exert heavy physical exercise until further notice. But as everybody knows, superheroes (and super villains, like me) only get stronger after every defeat. So do I! Disclaimer: This image is only representative. You may find the real me slightly more physically alluring, that is, if you are a dwarf like me. This guy's just too elvish dontcha thang? The winter holidays is almost over, and Santa has done his job, and it started to spoiled Phytomancer's mood. Because he's taken a liking to Grinch, and even when Grinch got his heart melted (,sentimentals only fail,) Phytomancer would take up to do the Grinch's job. He will steal New Year Resolutions! Whatever popular resolutions people wish to do and didn't, Phytomancer will take it and make it better. 1. "I'll lift, like, everyday at the gym." - Walk 30 min/ day - Lift/ bodyweight workout 3 times a week 2. "I'll eat better" - Eat greens 7 days a week - Only eat between 7-5 (10 hours) 3. "I will study hard" - 2 hours in the morning in writing creatively for the first week - 2 hours working on dissertation everyday (or 14 hours/ week) - Sleep 8 hours/ day for brain capacity. And that's it. Time for minion to start his first set of evil tasks. Good luck, everybody !! I--I meant-- MUAHHAHAHAAAHAA

For my seventh challenge, I got started early as I began thinking of things I wanted to achieve while still in the midst of my 6th challenge. I also decided to go with a Leverage theme this time since they’re thieves which are usually very assassin-like. Plus, I love Parker’s attitude. Also, all of the quest titles are episodes! Main Quest To live a healthy and balanced life by continuing to exercise and eat healthy. Motivation I've successfully dropped weight by counting calories so my diet will mostly be staying the same with 1200 calories per day M-F and then blow meals on the weekends. I've managed to put on some muscle through weight lifting and that’s felt great. But I’m starting to think that ‘strong and beefy’ are just not words people are going to associate with a petite, 5’3†female. So perhaps I should try focusing more on agility, speed and endurance for a change. Smaller Jobs 1. The Three Strikes Job Be more mobile and conscious of how my body moves. a. Practice animal flow I enjoyed this when I tried it for my 4th challenge. Ultimately, I’d like to invent my own animal flow movement: wolf. I'm going to try for at least once a week. Scoring: x/6 weeks Reward: +3 to DEX b. Walking Last challenge, I started walking over many of my lunch breaks. It was both nice to get out of office and also felt good to be back at the gym again. Scoring: /30 miles Reward: +1 to STA c. Running Ideally, I’d wanted to join a Zumba class, but I just don't think it's going to work with my schedule. So instead, I'm editing this on 1/8/15 to be 10 minutes of running per week. Assassin's have got to be fast! Scoring: /6 weeks Reward: +1 to STA & +2 to DEX Total: +5 to Dex & +2 to STA 2. The Scheherazade Job Read I really enjoyed the challenge of reading more books, so I’ll be doing that again this time. Reading 3 books in 6 weeks was an adequate goal for me so I’ll be striving for that again. Scoring: x/3 books Reward: +2 to WIS 3. The Homecoming Job Cut down on processed junk food by only having sugary snacks on the weekends with my blow means. Processed sweet treats are the enemy. I tend to do alright on weekdays, but I can still improve. While 2-3 times per week makes me saner, striving for x/30 days is by far better. Scoring: x/30 days Reward: +2 to CHA & +2 to CON 4. The Tap-Out Job In an effort to keep lifting weights, since I enjoy it, I won’t have any weight-specific goals this challenge. Instead, I want to aim to do weightlifting 2-3 times per week. Scoring: /6 weeks (1 point for going 2-3 times per 3 weeks) Reward: +2 STR Stats Age: 32 Gender: female Height: 5'3" Weight: 144lbs

Newb here! I've been lurking the forums for a couple days, trying to decide if I wanted to start this challenge thing for surezies. I pre-emptively kicked off my working out and diet changes starting 1/5, just in case. Decided to go ahead and make a post and see where this goes! If nothing else, I'm hoping to make this a place where I can log my progress and vent my frustrations. I've been chubby for as long as I can remember; I'm pretty familiar with many elements of nutrition and working out, I'm just really bad at applying them. I started playing D&D a year and a half ago, and love it tons. My favorite video games are Skyrim and Diablo 3; I'm using those as motivation to level up my actual life. I'm tired of passing on things like hiking because I'm worried that I won't be able to keep up. I tend to set lofty goals and not follow through for longer than a week or two, so I'm hoping to find some accountability here. My goals: 1. Walk to Mordor! I read an article on the site about this today, and I eventually want to get as much walking in as it would take a hobbit to get to Mount Doom and back. I'm going to start walking whenever I can, daily when possible. I particularly want to start doing more walking/hiking in our local natural preserves and unpaved trails, to make it feel a bit more like an oldschool adventure. 2. Go semi-paleo. I'm not going to completely cut out dairy or bread just yet, but I'm working on eating more vegetables every day, and preparing meals at home instead of eating out. 3. I want to train towards the Ranger class (I think). Ranger is the class I lean towards in most games, and I'd love to get to that point irl. I'm starting with the beginner body weight workout every 3 days with interval training or walking in between. 4. Figure out more goals! I'm not great at these. I'm taking it slow, because I don't want to overreach myself. I'm hoping in the next few weeks to come up with some more concrete goals. Not gonna lie, I'm nervous. Something almost always gets me off track when I work towards getting back in shape. But I'm almost 25, and it's time for me to make my health more important. I think this whole thing may be what I need to change my mindset and finally start living better. Any encouragement is super welcome! I haven't really been a part of a community like this in the past, but I want to give it a go.

Greetings and salutations Assassins! I wasn't sure whether I was going to post a thread in this 6 Week Challenge as I've been (and am still feeling) preoccupied with "life stuff" but the idea of sneaking back into the Assassins playground seemed to call to me, so here I am. My intention over the next 6 weeks is to get back into the swing of things after a couple of months of relative inactivity. During this time, my weight has increased, my diet has gotten poor and my fitness has suffered. I've mostly kept up my Karate and HEMA training but have picked the Assassins guild over the Monks this time round as my main focus will be bodyweight training with the addition of some kettlebell exercises. So, without further ado, here is my main goal for this year: Do a pull up. That's it. Simple and straightforward. I managed to do the odd one here and there a couple of years ago but things went downhill a bit and never quite got back on track. Now I'm more overweight and unfit than I've been for a good while, I've just recovered from a broken hand and I really feel my diet quality and fitness have been dwindling unacceptably. I've GOT to turn this around. My specific goals for this 6 Week Challenge: Consistency Turning up is the key to getting things done. Stick to the plan! I'm making it flexible enough to fit around changing schedules and to require little or no equipment. It's flexible in what days I do stuff and what sets / reps I do to achieve targets. No excuses left not to do it! Bodyweight / KB training two days a week. Diet six days a week. As a reward, I get a treat day each week! Yay! Diet This is always where I fall down the most. It's the one that's most effected by my low, fixed income and my very bad ability with budgeting but I KNOW it is possible to eat fairly healthily on an extremely low income. My tendency is to eat crap foods rather than good foods simply because I can get enough calories to get through the day for relatively little money.... I know, I know. Bad. Very bad. I also tend to pig-out on whatever is around the house when I get in from my typical running about after everyone (I'm the only one in my main circle of friends who drives and is not physically disabled in some way so my time is often monopolised by driving and helping people with all sorts of tasks - good karma and grateful friends but can be very draining). FOOD DIARY: I have tried to keep a food diary before but I have failed. I will attempt to try again but this time, I'll keep it on my laptop and set myself some kind of automatic reminder each day to fill it in. Breakfast: Eggs are awesome! So are green smoothies! Porridge less so, but still acceptable. I'll almost always have access to one of these options before I have to go out and do stuff so I've no excuse not to eat (or drink) breakfast! More Vegetables - Less Carby crap: I can't do full paleo, as much as I'd like to. It's prohibitively expensive hereabouts (rural Ireland). But I can take a couple of small steps: Some colourful vegetables with most meals, sweet potatoes instead of normal spuds, minimise bread, pasta and similar bulk grains (I am allowed toast with my eggs for breakfast. I'm not a philistine!) Healthy Snacks: To be determined but I'll be looking mainly at paleo type options. Bodyweight Training (and kettlebells) At least two days a week - once on the weekends and once during the week. With an initial focus on muscular stamina, I'll be going for volume over intensity for now, using easier versions of exercises when necessary in order to achieve the target volume WITH GOOD FORM. That in mind, I'll have a target number of each exercise I will aim for during each training day, progressively increasing each week. This number can be achieved through any number of sets and any number of reps, as long as I hit the target for the day. Push Ups: I can do proper push ups... but am out of practice and probably can't do very many at the moment so I'll be going for incline push ups for now, especially as volume is my goal this next few weeks. Week 1: 60 Week 2: 70 Week 3: 80 Week 3: 90 Week 5: 100 Week 6: 120 Squats: I'm happy enough with proper squats but I reserve the right to do chair-squats if I feel I'm risking injury by overdoing it. Week 1: 60 Week 2: 70 Week 3: 80 Week 3: 90 Week 5: 100 Week 6: 120 Inverted Rows: Haven't done these for a while so my targets might change if I drastically overestimate or underestimate my capabilities Week 1: 15 Week 2: 20 Week 3: 25 Week 3: 30 Week 5: 35 Week 6: 40 Kettlebells: Clean & press and one hand KB swings (or exchanges). numbers will be for C&P then Swings (will be done with each arm). I'll stick to a relatively light weight for this challenge as I don't want to risk injuring my hand or overdoing it.Week 1: 20 & 20 Week 2: 25 & 30 Week 3: 30 & 40 Week 3: 35 & 50 Week 5: 40 & 60 Week 6: 45 & 70 Other: Moar walking! I have audiobooks and a nearby forest park. No excuses! Karate class each Wednesday. HEMA Class each Sunday and Thursday. Plan and execute something nice for valentines day. Usually we order in, have a few drinks and watch the star wars trilogy or something (yes, my wife is awesome) but I'd like to arrange something nice for her. Maybe go out for a nice meal or something...

So, a couple of years ago I got scared by a few health indicators and got pretty serious about my health. The psychological work and time committment involved were brain-bending - I had to think about it all the time, probably six+ hours a day, to stay on track. I had to work really hard at thinking about my health instead of going down weird spiral trails of thinking about food and weight, which would lead to binging. But the easiest way to describe how far I got is in pounds, so I'll throw out there that I lost a hundred and twenty pounds. I "joined the rebellion" but you don't know my name because I didn't really use the boards; I had a decent group of proximal humans who were also getting healthy so I mostly used them for support. I was intermittent fasting, angry-birding, walking lots, still at a newbie level because losing 120 pounds was a big deal but when you're starting from 360 and completely sedentary with some physical limitations, there's going to be lots of room for improvement, but I was feeling pretty awesome. Anyway... fast forward. I held steady for a while and then at some point it all fell apart; 6+ hours a day of mental and physical work is tough to maintain. I haven't been on a scale in some time (don't own one, prefer not to fixate on it) but I've lost many of my good habits and gotten most of my fat back. The timing of this post is coincidental; this is not a new year's resolution. It's taken a long time and a fair amount of mental work to get back to the point where I'm ready to be serious about deciding to do right by myself and my body (and with that said, I had cookies for breakfast so it's not like I'm taking off like wildfire). I have a new job and (literally) don't have time to do mental work towards health 6+ hours a day, so the last route I took toward health won't work again, although there were great habits built there that I'm planning to get back with. I'm not expecting to be able to manage the fantastic turnaround I pulled last time - or at least, not as quickly. I'm gonna have to be easy on myself in some respects. I may not get back on myfitnesspal for a few months; I may not drop grains completely for some time; I'm going to be starting with portion control, snack reduction, sugar elimination, dramatic carb gram reduction through meal planning and veg intake increase, and a walk to Mordor. I love walking and hiking - at my size and activity level it's going to be a slow start, but I'm really looking forward to it (got started officially tracking just yesterday). The Mordor walk showed up when I was surfing through my inbox trying to find something else... I don't recall even being signed up for NF in 2012, so I'm not sure how I actually came across it, but obviously I missed the big start. If anybody else is near-ish the beginning of their journey, I'd love to walk "together." I'm on RunKeeper, just started yesterday; I'm not sure how much time I can realistically commit to the NF boards but I'll see how it fits in as I move forward. In short, hi! I'm here hoping to break carb addiction and renew peripatetic addiction in as nerdy a way as possible.

I am in need of some desperate help to be held accountable. I need to make these changes stick this year. So here is what I have come up with for a challenge: 1) Get your butt moving This means that everyday I will will get up and move continuously for a minimum of 30 minutes. It can be mall walking, walking outside, doing some sort of beginning running program or walking in place. I need to break out in a sweat, no matter the activity. 2) Get your body stronger This means that three times per week I will be doing some bodyweight exercises. I will follow the beginner body weight workout, minus the walking lunges (I HATE lunges). I will start out with only doing one circuit per day workout and add as I go am successful from there, but by the end of the 6 weeks, I want to be able to do 3 circuits three times per week. 3) Get your stuff logged Since I am on a weight loss pill, I need to make sure that I am logging all of my food, which I am pretty good at, but I haven't been logging everything that I am drinking. Nor have I been getting enought plain water in, so I am going to make sure I focus on that again. I hate logging but I have seen that when I don't, I make poor choices and eat way to much, so I have to make sure I am doing it. 4) Get your veggies and fruits in I need to work on increasing this per doctor. So, I am going to work on adding 1 serving of fruit or veggies per day. I am not sure if I want to have it be pass/fail or if there will actually be grading involved. I will post about that later. But there it is - my plan for the next 6 weeks. If you read this and don't see me post daily on all 4 of these goals, please harass me. Send me a msg, post on the thread, post on my battle log(where all of this is posted also), come to chat and bug me, email me(if you have my email), call/text me(if you have my phone number), just do something to force me to be honest about what I am doing and helping to hold me accountable. Also, if you have any other suggestions as to how to help me stay accountable, it would be greatly appreciated.

With the Archdemon being my horrible eating habits. Ok so let's do this! I've been putting this post off long enough, been trying to figure out where to start. I introduced this to my husband and he has already been all over the forums. Well let's see, I've been the fat girl my whole life with the exception of a few years. Kinda tired of it but I'm a weight yo-yo and my main enemy is how I eat. Plus, I am in the early stages of having some serious problems in both of my knees. They are starting to hurt and they make god-awful crunching sounds. Because of that, my doctor told me I could no longer run -which is funny because I always hated it till recently. Being told by a doctor that you should no longer do something kinda sucks. Hard. I am terrified that eventually I may need knee surgery. I want to prolong that as long as possible and one of the best ways is to lose weight. I have so many changes I need to make that I easily get overwhelmed with choosing what to do and end up no where. Plus I am so focused on what I need to do and that I easily forget what I HAVE achieved. I think this is a great way for me to keep track of that. Just recently I have completely eliminated all artificial sweetener or sugar from my coffee and switched from sweet tea to unsweetened! I never thought I would tolerate either one but I stuck with it and now it's automatic and what I prefer. I have also learned to love sweet potatoes and order only water to drink if I am in a restaurant. For my first 6 week challenge here, I am going to work towards gaining more control over my eating habits. I am a BIG stress/boredom eater and my emotions lead me to food on a regular basis. I get both of those at my full-time desk job, so it can be tough to fight. QuestsEliminating harmful drinks and increase drinking water. Reeeally trying to stay away from the water mixers and the few sodas I occasionally drink. I usually run for a Pepsi on tough days. I have already been working on this, going on my second week now. Will aim for 3 glasses (or bottles) of plain water per day.Destroy the Vending Machine Demon! I've tried to pretend all it's goodies are made of plastic or something - but I always find myself returning to it on days when I am stressed, feel the lowest, and just don't care. It's like an evil beast and the break room is it's lair and it KNOWS when I am at my weakest and it lures me in! I hate lure-in attacks >.> So this will be a start on working towards training my brain find an alternative, like a short walk to clear my head instead of filling my gut. GOAL: Eat freggies or nuts as a daily snack. The only vending machine allowances are peanuts and water. ​ Walk or cardio at least 15 minutes for 4 days a week. Or continue to go to the gym with my husband on various lunch breaks. Life Goal Finish my current college course with an A! That way I will meet the requirements for my job to reimburse my full tuition for the semester.

It had been a dark time in the Republic, and then, at the end of 2014, I stumbled upon nerdfitness.com and suddenly there was a tremor in the Force. After years of searching I found people like me, who thought like me and could relate to my struggles and find ways to break down habits that the Dark Side had built up within me and build new habits with my own Jedi council. I completed my first challenge with mixed results (better eating habits, increased personal awareness, but Christmas ), but with A New Year comes A New Hope. Main Quest: My quest for 2015 is to get under 200lbs by Dec 31, along with increasing my strength, stamina and dexterity throughout the year. To make this seem like a slightly less daunting quest, I'm going to break it down into smaller increments, and my quest for the first 6-week challenge of 2015 (and my first challenge as an Assassin, yay!) is to lose 15lbs. Keeping an eye on the horizon to the bigger, year-long goal. Task #1 Get my diet out of the trash compactor. I imagine on Kashyyyk they probably eat much like a caveman, and I intend to do the same, by making my diet 80% Paleo. Instead of going 100% Paleo right away I'm easing in to it by going 80%. It'll take some planning, tracking, organising, and new recipe trying. It should be exciting! Task #2 Even a Jedi has to train Luke did lightsaber drills, but sadly, I don't think anyone's going to let me lay my hands on one, so I'm going to go with workouts 3x a week instead. I'm going to continue with the beginner's bodyweight workout, and search out new moves/workouts to challenge myself. It's time to show my body who's boss....it's me, I'm the boss. I'll trust in the Force, and with some training I'll get this done. Task #3 Walking Tatooine with Artoo Let's be fair here, Artoo didn't let his dinky little treads stop him from traveling all over the deserts of Tatooine! Unlike that attitude filled little droid, I live in a ridiculously walkable city, and need to get out there as much as possible. I already normally get around 10,000 steps a day, so I'm going to up my goal to 10,500, or even 11,000 to increase my km/day. I'm building up to running, but I'm going to start with more walking. Additional Life Quest: Uuuhhhh, there's no juggling in Star Wars... I once starred in a play based purely on my ability to juggle. I've let it fall out of my wheelhouse over the past decade, and it's time to brush off those skills and work to improve my hand-eye coordination and dexterity. I'm going to practice at least 5 minutes every day to improve my skills. So those are the plans for the first six weeks of 2015! If anyone has any ideas for helping me improve my plans, let me know! If anyone needs a cheerleader, let me know! (I'm SUPER good at ridiculous amounts of enthusiasm)

January 5th: day 1 of the first challenge of the new year, and also my first full day in my new home! When I made this account and chose a username, I was in the land of dry grass and oak trees but dreaming of my favorite part of California. Now I return there, to the redwoods and fog . A change of scene provides the opportunity to more easily intercept some old habits/routines and replace them with new ones, and what better place to start than the start of the day? I love the morning. Seriously. I love being inside and cozy watching the sun rise, or outside breathing in the fresh air. I love watching people do morning things. I love the quality of light. I love the way my mind feels- alert, crisp, and clear. Unfortunately, for the past several months, I have sunk into a very negative morning routine where I feel very disconnected from all of this. I get up, take pup out, make coffee, and sit in front of the computer for at least an hour, sometimes two. It makes me feel low, sluggish, and sort of discouraged about life. My main quest for this challenge is to connect with the mornings and lay a mindful foundation for the rest of the day! Main Quest: Build A Nurturing, Active Morning Routine Goals #1: Yoga My favorite Youtube yogi is offering 30 days of yoga videos in January! The videos range from 15-30 minutes, and I will do 5 videos each week. 5 points possible/week #2: Walk Pup Deceptively simple. I have been working on loose leash walking with my pup who wants nothing more than to pull like a sled-dog. An essential part of the training is that him pulling = me stopping. This can lead to a very stop and go walk, and requires a certain amount of patience. But a walk is such an essential part of a good morning routine for both of us that I am ready to put the time and training in! To meet this goal, all I have to do is get outside with pup, leash, and the treat bag and do some walking/training, even if it's 10 minutes. I'm hoping that by the end of the challenge we will be walking in harmony! 7 points possible/week #3: A Healthy Breakfast sans Internet Healthy is subjective, but for my purposes it means basically anything other than sugar-laden pastries/muffins/other sweets or white flour toast. (I am a toast fiend.) Will try to increase fruit and veggie consumption with breakfast as well. The other component here is to stay off the computer while I fix and eat breakfast. 7 points possible/week Side Quest: Spanish! I've taken 3 semesters of Spanish in school and love learning the language. I've decided not to take any more official courses, but want to continue learning the language. Duolingo seems like a super cool, fun way to practice skills. My somewhat modest goal here is to spend 20 minutes 3x a week on Duolingo. 3 points possible/ week. (More to come.. I'm packing like a madwoman at the moment!)

At the end of my last challenge, I was in San Diego and being away threw me off track a bit. And then I got sick during the second week off. I've been trying to pick myself up since all that. That's why it's taken me so long to post a thread and to start following everyone. Let's do this! Main Quest To live in the here and now. To love myself for who I am and gain my confidence back. Getting healthy will be a bonus to being myself. Goal 1: The Golden Movements (+3 STR & +3 DEX) I'm copying this goal from my last challenge. Mainly to get the habit in place. 1) Twice a week, I will walk the dog with or without the husband. The weather has cooled off and it shouldn't rain at 4 o'clock like in the summer. Walking = minimum 2x/walk 2) I really enjoyed belly dancing so I'm going to stick with it. I also drove by a belly dancing studio this weekend soo...I may decide to take an actual class sometime. Belly Dancing = 1x/week 3) I'm hoping yoga works out as well as it did last time. It was fun. I think I should do it more then twice a week to help with sore muscles. For now though, yoga = 2x/week. Goal 2: The Real Stuff (+3 STR) I want to get back/start doing actual exercise. I want to be the best that I can be. However, I am holding myself back. I'm going to work on body weight exercises this time. Incline push ups, squats, lunges, and work towards some KB stuff once I get it in my head that I can do this. That I can ignore the thoughts in my head that other people will watch me. Still deciding on how often and what I'll do exactly. Probably will create either a SS or have a notebook to write in. Diet Quest: Food (+2 CON) To enjoy what I eat. Taking the easy way by ordering food does nothing for my health or my taste buds. I enjoy the meals I make so cooking my meals and eating less processed food will be the goal. To say no to the candy jar and sweets that I didn't make myself. If I happen to eat out, I will chose something that's not heavy and tastes good. Something that won't derail me. I need to focus! The holidays are coming.. Life Quest: To Continue the Journey to Betterment (+2 CHA) Continue my gratitude journal. To not take life too seriously. I'm also participating in a Ladies' Only book club hosted by the wife of one of my husband's friends. So we'll see how that goes. I need to read and get comfortable talking to women.. Do something everyday to make this journey flow as smoothly as possible.

I wasn't going to participate in the upcoming challenge because I'm going away on vacation November 14-22, there's Thanksgiving, and I really haven't had a lot of free time after work during the week to get to the gym at all. However, the closer November 10th gets, the more I want to just say screw it, let's do this again. So, with caveats, I'm in for my 6th challenge! And with a Codex Alera theme too! (For those of you who are fans of the Dresden Files, check out Jim Butcher's other, equally awesome, series!) Main Quest To live a healthy and balanced life by exercising and trying to eat healthy. For my sixth challenge, I am going to MAKE myself start going back to the gym on a regular basis. I've slacked off and I'm tired of it. So while I may not be 100% worthy of the Warrior's Guild yet, I think joining them again will get me there by the end of this challenge. I haven't done any serious weight lifting all summer and I really miss it. Motivation I've successfully dropped weight by counting calories so my diet will be staying the same with 1200 calories per day M-F with blow meals on the weekends. For the past few challenges, I was really limiting my sweet treats during the week and that somehow caused me to then eat badly most Friday nights. So this time, I'm going back to the basics like my very first challenge: sweet treats are allowed, but only 2-3 days during the week. I want, and need, to get back to only 1200 calories M-F. Story The Vord is coming back to Alera and all the races of Carna need to come together to fight once again. To join the ranks of the Aleran army, my goals are below. Perhaps if I'm lucky, and dedicated, I can join the ranks of the most famous Aleran legion, that of the Battle Crows! Quests 1. Battle Ready, Battle Crow: Become stronger by doing these: a. bar squat: 85lbs (115lbs, 9 reps on 8/13/14) b. stiffleg deadlift: 55lbs (85lbs, 9 reps on 6/26/14) c. bench press: 75lbs (70lbs, 9 reps on 8/13/14) {revised 11/24/14} d. barbell curl (each arm): 20lbs (25lbs, 6 reps each arm on 8/6/14) e. assisted pull-up with 30lbs of assistance (30lbs of assistance, 3 reps on 8/13/14) Scoring: x/5 Reward: +5 to STR (1 for each achieved) Since it's been months since I lifted weights, I cut the goal weights by 30lbs. After my first workout, I may need to adjust the numbers further. 2. Watch Your Rations, Recruit: Eat healthier by cutting down on the sweet treats to 2-3 times in the 5 day week. Scoring: /25 days Reward: +3 to CON I'm not going to be as strict by trying to avoid the chocolate things every day during the week, but I do want to measure using days to see how many days I can go. I'm not counting the weekends, the week I'm on vacation or Thanksgiving. 3. Don Your Armor Again Drop 6 pounds Scoring /6 pounds Reward: +2 to CHA Current weight: 141lbs Along with lifting weights again and watching what I eat more, I would ideally like to weigh 135lbs. It's never a bad thing to want to lose a few pounds and while this doesn't seem like a very high number, I have been lazy about maintaining my weight and feel like I would prefer to be lower. Plus, loosing 6 pounds is easily doable over 6 weeks. This should also encourage me to not go crazy with what I eat while on vacation as gaining a lot of weight will make this goal even harder to achieve. 4. Find your Fury Scoring: x/6 weeks Reward: +2 to WIS I really enjoyed meditating when I did it as part of my Druid challenge and I think it will be a good thing to do while on vacation. I want to listen to nature more and just relax while calming my mind. So, in keeping with the Codex Alera theme, I want to focus on finding my fury (although it would probably be water and/or metal). 5. Marching /30 miles in 6 weeks (5 miles per week) Reward: +3 to STA I found that I was able to do more walking than I thought I could do in my last challenge. And an Aleran recruit needs to do a lot of marching: to reach the battle lines, during battle, just walking around Alera, etc. Plus, walking is always beneficial. "There are some people who will never understand what loyalty means. They could tell you what it was, of course, but they will never know. They will never see it from the inside. They couldn't imagine a world where something like that was real." - Gaius Sextus, First Lord of Alera; Furies of Calderon

I am just putting this here so that I don't forget where I put it! Thoughts for my next challenge - SIMPLIFY! CONSTITUTION FOOD - healthy! I have several things coming up as does everyone. Nerdgiving - a meetup of Nerds in Boston to do a Spartan at Fenway, and a thanksgiving meal after. There will be a burger run - Wahlburgers. Thanksgiving - I allow myself a traditional Thanksgiving - just to give my mind the satisfaction that I have eaten this obligatory meal. WildRoss will be turning 55 - with the beginning of that celebration being the Spartan, then a power lifting meet, then a Ruck - with Wufkar. My plan for these events is to be mindful of my eating - and track it in My fitness Pal. No dairy. (no ice cream) No grains - lazy grains, like just picking up a biscuit to fill my face. No added sugar - except for a piece of pie - maybe. No processed foods. I would like to keep eating out to only while traveling. That doesn't mean traveling to my doctor's appointment! WISDOM - Reading books about healthy anything...to create my plan for next year. I will list those here. STRENGTH - I will start a basic strengthening program now that my neck is healed. Something I can do while traveling. I will post the program here. (TTAPP rehab program probably - 3x a week when home) STAMINA- getting back into walking. I want to log at least one walk each day - which has been a problem when WildRoss has been home. I allow him to walk the dog, and I skate - and I don't mean roller skate. I'd like to get up to 5k by the end of the challenge. I will try to add some jogging into the mix, which would put me into the c25k possibilities. DEXTERITY - I will do my yoga dvd at least 3x a week - need to find a way to swim... CHARISMA This will be difficult for me this time, as I need to pull back and focus on me. Write one Blog per week RPG I have nanowrimo group, a prayer group, a promises group, I'll continue the ART group here...and that gets complicated when I'm trying to do simplify. Goal - write on one person's thread a day. SPRITUAL - I have a faith in fitness study to do, and I will be doing Bible Studies alone with my story - I want to do an inductive study of Isaiah - but Christmas is coming, and with that, Advent - which is a very meditative time for me. I am going to focus on my Thankful studies and my Advent studies - and count those as a win. CON - 1 miss per week = 3 pts ( 21 meals a week - 147 per challenge) WIS - 3 books per challenge - 3 pts (1 eow) STR - 3 workouts per week = 3 pts (21 str workouts) STA - 6 walks per week - 3 pts ( 42 walks) DEX - 3 yoga per week = 3 pts (21 workouts) CHA - 7 posts per week = 3 pts (49 posts) SPR - Fitness study = 1 pt, Thanksgiving = 1 pt, Advent - 1 pt. Mini's = whatever

So I moved recently and now I live like a 2 hour drive away from work. As part of my goal to level up my life.. I would like to start taking the train. How does this level up my life? Well actually it does this in 3 ways. *Saves money *Instead of spending 3-4 hours driving each day, I spend 3 on a train where I can read *The train station is 3 miles from work. Which means I am forced to do physical activity even when I don't want to Walking takes a long time due to stoplights and a lot of traffic so I am hoping I won't be doing it for long, between my work hours and the commute it doesn't leave much time to live. I started a funding campaign to try and buy a bike. Hoping to have one soon! http://www.gofundme.com/hgajm0

Challenge 13. I'm heading back to the UK for a holiday in 6 weeks time, perfect challenge timing! I want to be in great shape for my trip so I've decided to repeat the goals I had for my second ever NF challenge, which was a very successful one for weight loss. Only mod is goal 1 now Body Fat % rather than a Kg BMI number. The key focus for the next 6 weeks is going to be fat loss and vanity. When I turn 40 later this year it would be amazing if I was "ripped" but any steps in that direction will be good progress. Goals: Goal 1 - Get to 17.5% Bodyfat. (CHA 5) Goal 2 - Complete 4 workouts per week (STA 2, STR 2, DEX 1) Goal 3 - Limit alcohol to max one night per week (CON 1, WIS 1) Goal 4 - 50% Paleo during the challenge, this means 10 Paleo main meals (breakfast, lunch or dinner) per week (CON 3) Although not on my goal list I will continue to limit caffeine to 1 cup of tea a day and cut out soda completely. These are easy now I am in the habit so I won't include on the attributes goals. Rewards: - Sub 80kg at end of challenge gets me a new t-shirt and hoody with my box branding on it. - Sub 17.5% BF gets me a crossfit WOD at a box while I'm in London. I'm still struggling to overcome injuries and the associated blues that come with them. I'm trying not to be too down on myself and not to let any sabotage around food creep in so I'm calling on my NF friends to help me through this challenge please, it's going to be a tough one! (but rewarding too hopefully)

A simple Hobbit in Hobbiton, Kareesh never thought about going on an adventure like the well-known Bilbo Baggins. Yet, as is usually the case, adventure finds one whether they want it to or not. For Kareesh, it happened one afternoon as she was outside tending to her herbs. A strange sound reached her pointed ears. She straightened herself and looked around to see what on Middle-Earth could be making that noise. She could scarce believe her eyes. Just a few feet away from her, a giant blue box was appearing out of nowhere. It could only be this strange object that was making that strange sound. Blue eyes watched with curiosity, and with a touch of healthy fear, as it came fully into view. Before she could do anything more than close her gaping mouth, a door suddenly appeared and swung open. Out jumped a male human wearing clothes Kareeh couldn't identify. They looked to be something of a suit, but it's likeness had never been seen before in Hobbiton or the entire Shire. "This is new," the man said pulling on a pair of dark-rimmed spectacles. He peered around before finally noticing Kareesh. "Ah! A native! Could you by any chance tell me where I've landed?" It took her a few moments to find her voice to answer the stranger. "Uh…oh, yes. You're in Hobbiton," she said as politely as her shock would allow her to. "Hobbiton, eh? Never heard of it. And that's strange…" A look came across his face which Kareesh couldn't quite tell what it was. Worry? Confusion? Excitement? Or perhaps a bit of all of them? Before she could contemplate it any further, it was gone replaced by pure excitement. "Anyway, I'm the Doctor, and you are…." "Kareesh. Kareesh Greenhand, sir," she replied. And, though she hardly knew it at the time, this was the start of Kareesh Greenhand's adventures… And with that, I've started on my third challenge. I decided to do a theme this time around, though I couldn't decide if I wanted to do something relating to Middle-Earth or Doctor Who, so I figured "Why not both?" I've never written the Doctor, so sorry if I butchered him. He's surprisingly hard to write about. Anywho, onto the real reason you're here. My challenge. I've taken bits of information from my previous challenges and hopefully I'll do a lot better this time around. Some of the things I've made a bit more broader, which I'm hoping will keep away the discouragement that I often run into about halfway through. Main Quest Get down to 125-130 pounds. Quest #1 - What About Elevensies? As a hobbit, I love to eat. But, once I'm out travelling with the Doctor, nutrient-dense meals are going to be more important and I won't have time to eat chips and dip. For this challenge, I need to track my food intake with MyFitnessPal. I also need to stay in the 1400-1500 calorie range. I'll take a look at this around week 3 and see if I need to do any adjusting on that. Quest #2a - The Road Goes Ever On and On Before the beginning of this challenge, I'm going to be getting myself a pedometer and start tracking how far I've walked in a day. My overarching goal is to walk to Mordor from the Shire, and from Mordor to the Grey Havens. It is very unlikely that I'm going to accomplish all that in 6 weeks, but this is a start. Quest #2b - Run! Okay, I'm not going to be running, but I am going to be moving in that direction. For 5 days a week, I need to be doing something active. Whether that's a long walk, dance cardio, yoga, anything! If I want to be a good companion for the Doctor, then I need to be able to handle myself in dangerous circumstances. Quest #3 - Pop is Rubbish. I Hate Soda Pop. Okay, no, I actually love it, and that's a problem. So, this challenge, I'm going to limit myself to only drinking 2 sodas a week. My husband "has" to have soda in the house, so it's going to be a little bit difficult, but as I found in the past challenge, I can go days only drinking water, so I'm going to do that. Maybe a bit of juice or something if I get the sweet tooth thing going. Life Quest - Pedil edhellen? Though most of the time while travelling with the Doctor, you don't really need to know any other languages thanks to the translation circuit, but sometimes it doesn't always work. Which is why I'm going to be taking this time to learn Japanese. I know a tiny bit, but not a whole lot. So, for 5 days a week, I'm going to be studying Japanese with some text books that I bought.

Main Quest To live in the here and now. To love myself for who I am and gain my confidence back. Getting healthy will be a bonus to being myself. Goal 1: Daily Update (+1 CHA & +1 WIS) This is pretty self-explanatory. I will update my thread daily. I liked this from my last challenge so I’m keeping. Also, I want to get back into writing in my self-love/gratitude journal. I let it fall to the wayside and I want to pick it back up. It’s useful to look back on it. Goal 2: Add Exercise (+3 STR & +3 DEX) This time I'm not having hula hooping as a goal but I can still do it if I feel inclined. This is going to be a 3 part goal. 1) I'm going to aim for walking in the evening with the husband and dog twice a week. 2) I've wanted to pick up belly dancing for years and the last time I had this as a goal, I failed miserably. Soo..I'm adding it back in. Saturday morning this will be done, with additional time during the week if I feel like practicing. If I belly dance, then I can play Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare. 3) I'm hung up what type of exercise I want to do. Body weight training or yoga? I think I'm going to follow Swampling down the rabbit hole that is yoga. I'll also be copying what she's doing aka do the doyouyoga 30-day challenge. However, I will only be doing 2 videos days a week to see how I like it. Also, this will be the first time I've tried yoga soo hopefully 2 days won't be too rough on me. Goal 3: Meal Plans (+2 WIS) I need to start making weekly/monthly plans for meals. This will also help with my following goal as well as my food shopping needs. Currently, I go to the grocery store on Saturdays to pick up meat and any other extras that I may need for that week. I tend go to the produce stand every day and buy the vegetables that I want for that day. I’m a bit spoiled. I want to get into a better habit of this so that when we move, the transition will be easier. I’ll miss my 30 second walk… This first week will be getting all the recipes/meals ideas that I make on a regular basis so new official meal plan for the first. Though I will be shopping this weekend so I’ll need to know what I need by Saturday. Diet Quest: Limit the Processed/Junk/Fast Food (+2 CON) Having the meal plans made should help with this goal.I make most of my husband's and my meals. However, there are days when I'm tired or just don't want to cook and we order pizza or go out to a fast food restaurant of some sort. I want to limit these occurrences Also this will include limiting beer. This will be graded based on each successful day without the processed stuff. I will also be tracking how often I succumb to the temptations of this type of food. Life Quest: Be Successful in Clothes Shopping (+1 CHA ) I’m making this into a goal because I’m not a fan of shopping and have had mini freaks in my latest shopping trips. I'm approaching a US women's size 20 in pants and shopping is miserable. I’m attending a friend’s wedding on Oct 18th and need a dress and I would like the dress to fit with their theme. I also will be visiting San Diego (my hometown) the following weekend and want better fitting clothes. This seems like a lot but at the same time do-able. I like it.

Main Quest: Eliminate Health Risk Factors, a.k.a. Get Healthy! This quest has gone overtime - it was supposed to take 4 challenges, but this will be my 6th, and isn't expected to finish the job. I'll figure I've arrived when : - I'm walking (or running) at least 10K steps per day - I'm eating at least 5 fruits/veggies per day, every day, and 7 or 8 would be better - I'm sleeping easily, regularly (not erratic schedule), and for an appropriate amount of time. - My doctor likes the results of my lab work, notably cholesterol, and everything else she checks (blood pressure, bone density, ...) - My resting heart rate looks "excellent" for my age and gender e.g. per http://www.topendsports.com/testing/heart-rate-resting-chart.htm ("athletic" would be even better) - My weight stabilizes and goes down a bit - or my clothes size goes down a bit, which would suggest muscle replacing fat. - I don't get out of breath climbing stairs - I can routinely run when it would be useful. - Depression is no longer an issue I'm getting there by manipulating the first 3 levers (walking, eating, sleep) + strength + flexibility workouts. My missions this challenge: 1. Keep On Walking. I thought this was a solid habit, but discovered that I lose the habit when sufficiently stressed. So I'm keeping this at an average of 6000 steps per day, as measured by my Basis Band. STA 2. Do my workout every day, unless I'm travelling or ill. The exact contents of that workout can be expected to vary, but the short form barely takes 5 minutes, so no excuses. STR 3. Get Up In the Morning. Out of Bed by 8 AM every day. Weekends included; cheat days have just been making things worse. Exception for illness, jet lag, and extremely late nights (e.g. spending half the night in the emergency room with a sick family member, or similar). No exception for late nights spent "having fun". CON My 4th, ungraded mission is to eat my fruits and veggies. Trying to average 5 servings per day. I'm failing rather thoroughly at that one, so I'm giving the potential points to things I think I can establish as habits in this 6 week period. Once I have wakeup and workout under control, I'll be in a position to focus on food, with those 3 in maintenance (or more likely, walking and exercise having their quotas increased). Life quest: Get a job! (I was laid off at the beginning of September. *sigh*)

Accept that that's exactly what this Accountabillibuddy group will do! This group is for those nerds out there who 1. have walking as part of their current challenge and/or 2. are fans of the Lord of the Rings. (While I'm not a huge fan myself, I didn't think a Wizard of Oz group would be as popular. ) According to our own Nerd Fitness blog here, one can walk to Mordor. With help from this website, we know that it's about 1779 miles from Hobbiton to Mount Doom. Our goal, between the members who join, will be to walk the first 458 miles from Hobbiton to Rivendell, between us, for this 6 week challenge. That's about 65 miles for 6 weeks, or about 11 miles per week per person if we only have 7 members. Future challenges may continue from Rivendell to Lothlorien, etc. but they say the journey begins with the first step so let's make it to Rivendell first! Frodo and Sam couldn't have gone all that way alone, the fellowship was key to their ultimate success. So we shall be encouraging others here as we strive to reach Rivendell by October 26th. Rules 1. Sign up in the official Accountabillibuddy spreadsheet here. 2. Follow this thread and other members threads by clicking the red 'follow this topic' button at the top right of your screen. 3. Post a short introduction about yourself, what your walking challenge is and how it pertains to the Lord of the Rings. 4. Spreadsheet to track our walking is here. Members 1. elinox = Follow the Yellow Brick Road 2. deepforest = deepforest continues her quest for more stamina & better health 3. deerskin = Deerskin is heading to Tom Bombadil's! 4. Seriousleigh = Seriousleigh - Night shift madness 5. Amdhiel = Amdhiel's Perpetual Quest - Challenge 1 6. Targilnar = Down from the door where it began 7. davidized = Getting Back on Track

The sun burned orange through her eyelids. Devyn groaned and rolled over, burying her face in the warm sand. Sand? She pushed herself up, though she was blistered and sore. The bright light shone upon the white sand, blinding her for a moment. All she could see through her tears was an ocean of white contrasting with an ocean of blue. Ocean? She rubbed her eyes and tried to slowly get used to her blinding world. The sun was hot and she felt as if she had been the subject of its fury for a while. A bird screeched through the jungle. Jungle? A sudden and worrisome thought stabbed at her brain, more painful than the light in her eyes. She forced her lids open and saw that she was on a beach. Behind her was jungle. All around her was sand, ocean and trees. There was no sign of civilization anywhere. She walked around for a bit, difficult because the sand was so deep and she was so small. She trudged toward the trees and shouted. “Hullo?†A loud bird answered. She walked around some more, calling out her name, introducing herself to anyone who might be around. But it was only the animals and the sound of the waves that greeted her in return. An island. She was deserted on an island. That Blerch. That sunnabitch! That’s right. I’ve got to survive on a deserted island! How do I do this? By adopting a primal lifestyle of course! It’s the only way. Until I find a way off, it’s the only way. How do I do this? 1. Primal diet - I’ve got no choice. They don’t have a supermarket on the island. I have to eat off the land. Hunting, fishing and gathering. There’s no other way. I must follow a strict primal lifestyle. 2. Distance - There of course will be a lot of walking. Not only do I have to hunt, gather and fish, but I’ve got to find a way off this island! I’m also a kender, so staying put is not an option for me. The total circumference of this island is 150 miles. I must reach this distance through running, walking, swimming, rowing (or biking, shhhhh). This means I have to do one of these every single day. 3. Jumping - Because. Surely there’s got to be a lot of jumping involved. I’m not sure why yet, but I’m sure it will come up during my stay here. My jumping, because of all my problems in previous battles, has become a bit rusty. I can jump 12†but I need to level up. I will work on squats, box jumps, broad jumps and other lower body exercises to level up to an 18†jump. 4. Pull ups - Climbing trees, climbing rocks, running from large predators and accidentally running too far and falling off a cliff but saving myself by grabbing onto a lucky random branch hanging out off the side of the cliff. All of those things take upper body strength. And I have to do it to survive on this island. Or else large predator will eat me or I will not be able to hold onto the branch. I need to strengthen my upper body. To do this, I will do pushups, dips, weight lifting and assisted pull ups. My goal is to go from 75lbs to 35lbs on the assisted pull up machine. If I don’t do these things, I will not survive. But wait! There’s more! Luckily, I was stranded with my backpack. These are the only things that will keep my entertained. In it are books, pens and papers. I can read and write (OOC: because I’m a student of literature and creative writing) to keep myself entertained. I will be keeping a journal (either here or in the battle logs section) because that’s what stranded people do. On top of that, I have to build and maintain a shelter. This means daily work is involved. I need to keep my environment optimal for survival. And I must remember to play. Play to keep sane. So what’s the typical day in the life of a kender stranded on an island? From sun up to sun down, I will do my best to live the primal lifestyle. I have been doing it in bits and pieces in the past, but this is where I bring some of the most important elements together. I’ll wake up with the sun (my natural sunlight alarm clock) and hunt for some breakfast. I may or may not find any. Then I’ll probably do some reading or writing. Then I’ll have to take down my shelter. When I finish, I’ll walk around, trying to discover a way off the island. this might involve some adventuring which will lead to using my jumping and pull up skills. During this time, I’ll try to find some food. At the end of the day, I’ll rebuild my shelter, cook some dinner and then read or write until the sun goes down. Then I get a good night’s sleep until I do it again. Sure, that might sound dull, but I think it sounds kinda peaceful. And when a kender is involved, who knows what the next day might bring. tl;dr Got stuck on a desert island, now I have to eat good food and exercise to survive.