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Alternately titled, “Let’s Try This Again, Shall We?” Apparently, attempting to join a new community of cool fitness friends while also getting a master’s degree AND battling a pandemic is just doing one thing too many. So now I’m back again to see if I can make this nifty Forum thing work! First things first: hi! I’m Sparkle, a 24-year-old lady in the piney forests and concrete canyons of Seattle, WA. I spent the pandemic finishing my bachelor’s in graphic design, then earning my MBA (Fighting Irish, twice over!), driving cross-country back to the family home, and getting my first Real-Deal Adult Job as the Creative Director for a small engineering firm. Now I’m getting my mental feet back under me after the chaos of moving and readjusting, and this challenge has landed in my lap like a perfectly-timed kick in the pants. My goal for this challenge is simple: be brave. Enough of running scared and wishing for more courage, it’s time I made myself some courage of my own. Be brave at work, by daring to engage playfully with my grouchy-bear boss and proposing innovative designs that push his conventional envelope rather than just keeping my head down. Be brave in my workouts, by pushing myself to hit 80 lbs for all sets of my upper body lifts and adding rear deltoid rows to my existing routine. Be brave personally, daring to carve out time for myself and spending at least two concerted, focused hours on personal development/enjoyment each weekend. Charisma: +1 each weekday for engaging playfully and teasingly with my boss (possible total: 5 points per week) Strength: +1 each workout (goal of 4 per week) that I add in shoulder work, bonus point for each new lifting set I push to hit 80 lbs (possible total: 4 points per week, more with bonuses) Intelligence: +1 for each solid, focused hour spent working on sewing projects or learning to design mobile-first websites via my Skillcrush course (possible total: 2 points per week) I’m not gonna start my challenge until November 1, for tidy timekeeping reasons, so this weekend will be a good time to get some practice in. So, without further ado, let’s go! HUZZAH!

Okay! Last challenge was reasonably successful! I ate more protein for breakfast, tracked most of my meals, and kept up with my workouts. Q1: 25 g of protein for breakfast every day. I found the whole "Eat protein for breakfast" quest last challenge more confusing than motivating. Like...only protein? How much? So, yay for quantifying things! 25 g of protein to start off every day. Q2: Workout 3 times per week. I have had this in every challenge, which makes me wonder if, indeed, this counts as a challenge. But it keeps me accountable to have it here. Three times per week. Q3: Check in with other Rebels at least once a week. I have felt lonely so I'm going to go to the Accountabilibuddies and see if I can find somebody to hang out with. I run a business, which means I spend a LOT of time on the computer, and often I just can't make myself stay any longer to check in. So I'm going to make it part of my challenge! Life quest: I am still working on my business website and feel like I'm making good, exciting progress. My life quest is to have the site launched by the end of the challenge.

For the next six weeks, I will follow the Angry Birds workout routine--which makes me a temporary Assassin, if I'm reading correctly that bodyweight workouts fall within their realm of expertise. Main Quest My long-term focus continues to be getting healthy and staying healthy. To this point, I have been using weight, waist diameter, and BMI as my proxy measurements of healthiness. In 30 weeks, I lost 55 pounds, 5 inches of belly, and 8 points of BMI respectively--and hopefully this has translated to a better blood profile, lower blood pressure, less insulin resistance, and better liver functioning. Although I have made some furtive steps toward increasing my activity level, most of my efforts have gone into improving my diet. For this quest, I will pivot into exercise. Main Side Quests M1. The Angry Birds workout awards stars for each of four exercises, and provides a path for leveling up each one to more difficult versions or a larger number or required repetitions. I will complete 2-3 sessions of each exercise per week, not doing any one exercise two days in a row, and attempting to earn more stars and/or increase my levels to indicate progress in building muscle. M2. I will increase protein intake as necessary to facilitate muscle regeneration between workouts. From what I've read, this is necessary to the process. M3. For six weeks, I will not stress out about weight. If building muscle mass, or eating in a way that encourages muscle recovery puts me outside my target weight range, I will address that issue in a future challenge. M4. I will try to get more sleep. Life Quests L1. I will build my web design business. L2. I will work on my novel. L3. I will continue to organize my office, computer, and life.

Hello, Rangers (and anyone else who happens to be reading)! I'm late to the party once again, but 100% on board! It took me a long time to determine exactly how I was going to lay this challenge out because the goals I set for myself last challenge started to feel like they were in conflict with each other. I want to be sure that won't happen this time around. I have a better idea of where my life is headed than I did two months ago, so this challenge will be about making that journey as smooth (and as kick-ass) as possible. Eat the good stuff. I still like the idea of not putting strict outlines on my food plan because I don't have all that much control over the food we eat and I don't want to feel guilty. I also want the way I eat to feel natural and not forced. Eventually, I'll have my own house and the only say on what goes into my body. I don't want this part of my life to feel like a checklist, but I do want to keep things healthy and exciting! I've developed a deep love for the Nom Nom Paleo blog and it's the inspiration for my first goal this challenge. I will try a new paleo recipe each week. This could be a dinner for my community, lunch for one, or something I make in larger quantities for use throughout the week. It just has to be paleo and something I've never made before. Note: This past week saw a sort of casserole made with spinach, mushrooms, bacon, garlic, and other yummy things with little hollows in which eggs were cooked. Completely delicious. [+3 CON] A: New recipe each week! B: 5 new recipes C: 4 new recipes D: 3 new recipes F: I fear dietary change. Run from zombies. If you were around for the end of my last challenge, you may recall that I'm training for a half-marathon. Why am I doing this, you ask? Well, you're a rebel. You're probably not asking that question. I ask myself every time I go running longer than I think is possible (weekly), but that's another story altogether. I love the feeling I get after running, but not so much the desperation and emotional pain I tend to feel around mile 3. I want to be able to run farther and faster and am already amazed at how much more I can do than a few months ago, but it's a long process. I need to make sure I stay on track, so my training will be a big part of this challenge! Zombies, Run! is my go-to for staying motivated. Just yesterday, I ran my longest distance yet. 6 miles! And I'm not dead! Yaaaaaay!!! [+3 STA] [+1 STR] [+1 CHA] A: Four runs per week, including one long run. B: 1-3 runs missed C: 4-5 runs missed D: 6-8 runs missed F: I will be one of the first to be eaten by zombies. Just breathe. I've found that more regular meditation has been helpful on so many levels. Physically, emotionally, spiritually, and in plenty of other ways, I feel better when I take the time to just feel. I haven't developed a practice yet, but I definitely want to. I'm figuring out what that looks like for me very slowly. This challenge, I will be sure to continue exploring. My meditation tends to take different forms because I've found it difficult to sit down and reflect on a regular basis. I don't really have the kind of space I'd like to do it in (i.e. not my bedroom or somewhere people are constantly walking in and out of), so sometimes I do it while I'm running or working out or need to take a step back from things at work. Each day, I will have at least five minutes of silence, yoga, or dedicated meditation (perhaps using the Stop, Breathe, & Think app I downloaded last challenge). [+1 WIS] [+2 DEX] A: Some form of meditation almost every day. B: 3-5 days missed C: 6-8 days missed D: 9-12 days missed F: I lack focus. Practice being a web professional. My year of service will be over in about three months. Major sadness. I've made the decision to stay in Detroit, but I need both a job and a place to live for that to become a reality. I want to do web design and development, but I don't have any professional experience and very little practical experience at all. I'm working on that... I had this past week off and went through the whole web design track on Treehouse. There's just a whole lot to know and it's difficult to know where to start as someone who's never really had a paying job before. I've got a redesign project I'm working on, but I keep learning about things I want to use (Sass and mobile first responsive design being prime examples) on the site and feeling like I don't know how to move forward. I need to work on not being so afraid to be wrong that I don't create anything at all, so this challenge I will spend at least half an hour a day in some web design related activity. This could be training videos, networking events, meeting with a mentor, reading documentation, or (*gasp*) actually working on the website I'm supposed to be building. [+2 WIS] [+2 CHA] A: Web stuff just about every day. B: 3-5 days missed C: 6-8 days missed D: 9-12 days missed F: I may have to move back in with my parents and work at McDonald's. I'm starting to feel a bit less like the chubby friend and a bit more like someone who knows how to take care of their body and spirit. My progress definitely slowed last challenge, but I'm ready to kick back into high gear! I got the invitation to my college roommate's wedding today! I want jaws to drop when I'm back in New York the week before!

Fitocracy has changed its logging pages. In accord with the current fetish for dysfunctional minimalism (see Slate and Win8), a nice table of numbers is now a game of hide-and-seek. I haz a sad. Why do people design stuff like this? Who makes them think it's a good idea? Do I need to build a time machine to get to Hard Candy Shell before they were famous and flood their server room with bees?

Hi all, I'm new around this sector of the internet. It's nice to see such a lively community combining the realms of nerdherdery and fitness! Anyway, I've tried many times to reach exercise goals on my own to no avail of lasting proportions. Perhaps having the GUI companion to my journey on which I'm about to embark will make a difference, not to mention anyone who should read and offer encouragement (I'll be sure to do the same for you)! A little about me: I'm one of those unconventional stay not just at home daddies who loves computers, web design, long-boarding, and so much more! I'm 25 and have recently relocated to Japan and am undergoing a minor case of culture shock which is why I've decided that now is as good a time as any to put a positive spin on this adventure that I'm lucky enough to be embarking on. MAIN QUEST: Overall purification of the mind and body through meditation, exercise, and healthier eating habits. - Visit 1 Buddhist Temple every week - Insanity Workout 5x every week. - Zero food after 6:00 every night. LIFE QUEST: Increase monetary responsibility by record-keeping. - Record every purchase, no exceptions! MOTIVATION: My family, self respect and the decision I've made to seek out and face challenges. No excuse of the body or mind will hold me back from taking proper action when the time arises. I shall post pictures from our travels as well as a starting point picture of my buddha belly. I'm not really fat or anything I just want to tone it up a bit, ya know? Thanks for reading now it's time to get reading all of your posts. ~c_M