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"I’m here to start a one girl revolution, I’m not a perfect ten, paper thin, Hollywood illusion. I thought I told ya, I’m a soldier, And I’m not leaving ‘til the party’s over..." I love me some tough, multifaceted ladies. I especially love them when they can swing swords and hurl fireballs. For my fifth (wow!) NerdFitness challenge, I’ve decided to take my inspiration from a few of my favorite Final Fantasy females, because if there’s one thing I know, it’s that these girls kick serious butt in a lot of different ways - and I personally aspire to look half as fabulous while being just as awesome. (Minus the fireballs, unfortunately.) MAIN QUEST: Live the dream! No, but seriously. I'm in the best shape of my life, getting stronger all the time, rocking my goal dress size, and LOOKING FORWARD to stripping down to a swimsuit this summer. Who is this woman??? I barely recognize her from a year ago! In any case, this challenge is a bit of a hodgepodge ultimately aimed at being smarter about upping my badass cred.... in my own particular aerialist way. Not kidding about the smarter thing… as I wrote these goals, I realized each of the fitness goals has wisdom points attached to it, ha! The (semi-serious) tagline seems to be, "Train Like a Tank, Look Like a Princess." QUEST 1: INSPIRATION: FANG (fuel my inner tank) - (+3 CON, +1 STR, +1 WIS) Tanks are strong, and I bet you they fuel themselves accordingly. This goal is two-pronged: first, I need to eat more protein to aid in continued muscle development. Second, I'm really good at eating at a deficit. Maybe... a little too good? I hit my goal size and started working up to maintenance calories, but keep getting spooked and not eating quite enough. And then losing more weight. Nice problem to have, only not really - much smaller, and I'll look unhealthy. Thus, two objectives: Eat at least 100 grams of protein a minimum of 5 days a week (my lean mass is estimated at 109lbs).A: 5 days, B: 4 days, C: 3 days Calculate my average daily gross calories at the end of the week. If more than .5lb was lost, the next week's daily average MUST BE at minimum 100 calories higher. If weight was gained but measurements dropped/remained the same, average should remain within 50 of the previous week (yay, true maintenance!). If weight was gained and measurements went up, I may drop back to the prior week's average.A: Followed guidelines 100%, B: Followed guidelines but was short of required average by <30, C: Followed guidelines but was short of required average by <50 QUEST 2: INSPIRATION: QUISTIS (work smarter, not harder) - (+1 STR, +1 DEX, +2 WIS) Everything is planning and planning is everything. I get access to one aerial open gym a week, 1.5 hours of silks time that I really need to be using to better effect. Accordingly, my goal will be to make a weekly open gym plan including tricks and number of attempts per side, and STICK TO IT. I'll try to post the plan here in advance, though my class and open gym happen on the same day, a few hours apart, so that may not always be possible. I'll be on the honor system if I just can't get to a computer. I hate trying to navigate the forums from my phone. A: Made a plan and stuck to it*, THERE IS NO TRY, SO THERE IS NO B OR C *If I ran out of time to complete everything, it does not count against me QUEST 3: INSPIRATION: RIKKU (dextrous hands sans sticky fingers) - (+2 DEX, +1 WIS) I don’t anticipate I’ll be picking any pockets or tinkering with airship parts anytime soon, but there are a few things that can be learned from a nimble thief/machinist. I don't get quite the horrid hand DOMS that I had when I first started aerial, but I still wake up with achy finger joints sometimes, and I know this is at least partially due to the fact that I don't always take the time for hand/grip exercises, despite having thera-putty in my bag and resistance hand grips in my office. Thus, I will commit to daily sessions of at least 5 minutes of hand exercises. A: 7 days, B: 6 days, C: 5 days LIFE QUEST: INSPIRATION: GARNET (pamper my inner princess) - (+3 CHA) Sometimes, a girl just wants to be pretty (or at least this girl does), and a little bit of pampering never hurt anyone, right? I’d like to get to the point where skincare becomes automatic - sometimes, I’m still lazy about it (especially when I’m sleepy), but I’m not 15 anymore, so really, I need to remember to make this a habit. Plus, I like how my skin feels when I take care of it, so this will hopefully be a feel-good little challenge for me. I’ll always count from the night prior and into the morning, and for a day to count, the following steps must all be followed: evening: cleanse and moisturize; morning: cleanse or use toner, brightening serum, and moisturize; one at-home facial a week. A: 7 days, B: 5-6 days, C: 3-4 days Skipping the facial drops me one letter grade BONUS: MAKING MEMORIES! No points for this, but as a bonus, I’d like to try to fit in something fun on a weekly basis - fun that isn’t necessarily “LET’S GO TO THE AERIAL GYM! ” and take some photos of said good times. I want to do more of this, but I’m not quite ready to commit to a full life goal around this. So, I’ll do my best to fit it in, and we’ll see how it goes. As a bonus, that means I may have some fun snapshots to share with all of you. The points thus come out like this, assuming I mathed correctly: STR : 2 (A=2, B=1, C=.5) DEX : 3 (A=3, B=2, C=1) STA: 0 CON: 3 (A=3, B=2, C=1) WIS : 4 (A=4, B=3, C=2) CHA : 3 (A=3, B=2, C=1) I'll be keeping track of daily accomplishments in a gdoc, publicly available HERE. The spreadsheet does all the fancy math for me (I love technology). REWARDS: What would an epic quest be without treasure? If I succeed, I will reward myself with something nice (that isn't food). Rewards are stacking, meaning I get the A, B, and C rewards if I get to an A grade, the B and C rewards for B grade, and just the C reward for C grade. Rewards are as follows: A overall: HQ UPGRADE! If I earn an A overall, I will engage a cleaning service for a one-time deep scrubdown of my house. B overall: REVITALIZING ELIXIR! If I earn a B overall, I’ll book myself a hot stone massage at that place I keep seeing on the way to work. C overall: ACCESSORY UPGRADE! If I earn a C overall, I’ll buy myself a pretty new leather wallet, because I’ve been coveting one for awhile. Before pictures: Measurements: Neck: 12.9" Waist: 26.8" Hips: 37" Chest: 35.4" Thigh: R: 22.2" L: 21.8" Calf: R: 14.7" L: 14.5" Bicep: R: 11" L: 11" Weight: 141.4lbs Dress/pants size: 4/2