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Hey guys 👀 I am trying Weight Watchers (online) aka glorified calorie counting but hopefully it is different enough from calorie counting that my brain will be happier about doing it. I am not aiming for perfection this challenge. Goal 1 : Try Weight Watchers Week 0 - Aim for 50% success 🙅‍♀️ Week 1 - Aim for 60% success 🙅‍♀️ Week 2 - Aim for 70% success Week 3 - Aim for 80% success Week 4+5 - Maintain 80% success Goal 2: Chip away at things that are causing me stress / annoyance - Clear garage out - Clean/organize garage - De-clutter reading nook area - Clear off table - Put away canning stuff - Clean camp bedding stuff - Purge and organize clothes - clean out crispers in fridge cause they somehow have turkey juice Goal 3: Get the adulting done - Sign Winnie up for puppy classes - Renew License sticker - Renew dog licenses - Turn off outdoor water - Do something about patio furniture for winter

Nightcrawler_Bamff Rejoins the X-Men (Take 2) Nightcrawler: Me Rogue: Unknown (but AMAZING!) Photo: Burump (Instagram) Goal: Get back to within 2lbs of my Weight Watchers goal so I can start going to meetings for free again and stop paying for the online tools. This was the goal for the last challenge, but I fell off the wagon and ended up at the same weight I started at. I am currently 6lbs away from this goal. How: 1. Weight Watchers: WRITE IT DOWN!! I'm figuring out that if I eat something that isnt very Weight Watchers friendly, I end up counting the day as a loss and continue making poor choices for the day. That ends up impacting the rest of the week too. If I track it, I am less likely to let that affect the rest of the day or week. I am planning ahead for three days that I will not be tracking - friend's wedding and two going away parties...*read that last part in a cryptic voice*...more will be explained soon!!) 2. Exercise: Work out at least three times per week. The last challenge, I tried to say specifically to go to the gym (NOT including gymnastics) three times per week, but my schedule ended up limiting that. My goal for this challenge is still to work out three times per week, but I can replace one of the gym workouts with gymnastics class if needed. 3. Work pantry: STAY OUT! This will not be a problem for part of the challenge (*use cryptic voice again!*) Interpreting: I am working on a continuing education program with my peer mentor and our goal is to do one lesson per week. I would also like to add in some extra practice. I think I can commit to 10 minutes per day, five days a week of working either into English or American Sign Language. If that ends up being too easy, I will tweak it during the challenge. Gymnastics: I will give weekly updates on anything fun that happens in gymnastics class. I just connected a front handspring and front tuck for the first time the last week of the last challenge, so lets see if I can keep it and if I can build on that!

Photo by Robert W Scott Photography on Flickr: Costume by me Photo by Robert W Scott Photography on Flickr Nightcrawler has been working hard to lose the extra pounds he had gained during his two years away from the team. Over the course of the next four weeks, he plans to drop the remainder of the excess weight and rejoin his friends at the mansion. Goal: Finally get back to my Weight Watchers goal weight! Plan: 1. Follow the Weight Watchers program: Track everything and stay within my points allowance each week. 2. Go to the gym three days a week: I got a gym membership between challenges and plan to use it! I don't feel like I need a goal for while I'm in there for now...Its still new and exciting and I feel like just getting in will result in doing real workouts each time. 3. Stay out of the pantry at work: Continuing this from the previous challenge since I had so much success that time! There is a cupboard at work that is always filled with junk food, which is a major reason for the weight gain over the last 1-2 years. I am not good with self control when it comes to free food, so I go all or nothing - either I eat everything I find in there all day long, or say its off limits and cant have any of it. I am staying out of it all together. Life goal: Improve interpreting skills: I was accepted into a control group for a program that ends in November or December in which they will pay for my national certification test at the end, which costs about $450 and has a 14% pass rate. Because of the low pass rate, I am considering this a free trial to see what I need to expect when I actually have to pay for it. However, I would LOVE to not have to pay for it at all, so will be trying my best to improve as much as I can over the next six months. How: Finish the initial tests: The program involves tests at the beginning and end to compare. The first set of tests is due April 1 and they are fairly time consuming. I did the practice ones, which took me about five hours all together...And they are much shorter and far less work than the actual tests. I am not entirely certain what the next steps after that are, but I will update this part of the challenge at that point.

Guten tag Assassins! Main Quest: Rather vague, but my main quest is to improve my gymnastics skills. I was doing really well for a while, but got fat and lazy and regressed. I can still do most of my skills on the tumble track that I was doing before, but basically can’t do anything on the floor anymore. I blame this largely on weight gain. I lost a bit during the course of the last challenge (I read the dates wrong and didn’t end up participating in the challenge ☹) and really notice a difference! Specific Missions: 1. Lose weight by tracking Weight Watchers points and staying within my weekly goal 2. Exercise enough each week to equate to 50 activity points when logged into Weight Watchers (number subject to change - not sure how easy or difficult this will be). 3. Stay out of the food cupboard at work Going back to basics! I am basically redoing my very first challenge as an assassin…wow…four years ago! Side Quest: Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle: March 1-4. I am remaking my Nightcrawler costume…this time from scratch! I am sewing a body suit myself by altering a Yaya Han pattern. I need to get this done before 2/28…16 days!

BAMF! After over a year MIA, Nightcrawler returns! Taking a break from fighting for a world that fears and despises his kind, he focused on other aspects of his life. In doing so, he neglected his fitness, gaining weight and impairing his acrobatic skills. Today, Nightcrawler watched the rest of the X-Men nearly fell fighting the Brotherhood as the news helicopters circles overhead. He knew his friends would need him soon and he needed to get back in shape in order to be able to help them. Thus begins his journey. I dropped off the grid a year ago because of school. I didn’t have the time to keep up with the challenges with my course load. I focused on my studies and in doing so, gained 35 pounds over the last year. On positive note, I GRADUATED! I am now officially an American Sign Language interpreter!!! It’s time to focus on fitness again. I tried a few times to get back on track, but kept losing motivation. I think the 4-week challenge is exactly what I need to kick my butt back in shape. I need to take it slow getting back into it though. Overall goal: Weight loss Specific goals: 1. Track Weight Watchers points every day. I will not commit to staying in my points (but it will probably happen anyway most of the time), but just get back into the habit of tracking what I eat. 2. Exercise daily. This doesn’t need to be a long workout or anything, but just some sort of physical activity. 3. Prioritize gymnastics. My old gymnastics place changed their adult class and it is now just self-paced bodyweight training…that I could do all of in my living room instead of paying $10 to do it in a gym. There is literally NO gymnastics done anymore. So I switched gyms, but it is only on Wednesdays now. Because there is only one class a week now, it MUST become a priority. 4. Get more interpreting work. a. Take the screening for the video relay “interpreting call center.” Passing this would mean a guaranteed paycheck and I would be able to choose my own schedule. b. Make a signing sample video to apply for another interpreting agency.

Hello! I'm Kareesh! I'm respawning (again...) and I decided that I just needed to start a new battle log. I've learned through previous experiences on here, and I think I'm finally starting to realize what works and what doesn't for me. I say that now..... I need to start small. I'm too late for the current challenge, but that doesn't mean I can't do my own challenge. I have a few short term goals and a few long term. So, let's start with the short term goal: Get below 200 pounds before my brother's wedding on February 18, 2017. When I weighed myself this past Monday, I weighed 211.2 pounds, which is better than I was expecting since I haven't really done much in the way of exercising/eating properly recently. So, I just have to lose 12.2 pounds to get to where I want to be in the short term. I believe this goal is entirely possible, I just have to work on it. How will I do that? So glad you asked! Stick to Weight Watchers Eliminate soda pop (limit of 20 oz a week, 'cause things happen) Complete the Bikini Body Mommy 90 Day Challenge 5.0 I have several RL friends who have done WW and have had great success with it. I'm hoping it's a little bit less stressful than just counting calories, though we shall see. I want to at least stick with it for the length of the BBM challenge. Fortunately, we don't buy pop very much, so it's more of a struggle when I go grocery shopping or get the cravings. As for the BBM challenge, I stumbled across her once randomly, and I love her outlook, and the workouts seem pretty sound. Don't have to have a gym, either, so that's a plus, as there's not really a gym super by me, and we don't currently have funds to build one. I have attempted to start her 5.0 challenge before, but have never finished, so now is the time. I also have some other non-weight loss goals that I want to work on, mainly having to do with my business and housework. Still need to work on the details for those, so I'll keep ya'll updated. I will be starting these Monday, October 17. I would love to have support and encouragement (especially if I start to laze off).

Trying to think what my theme should be, I was drawing a blank, except for the notion that I've spent a whole year trying to accomplish stuff and create some new habits, but I haven't accomplished much of my resolutions that I set at the beginning of 2016, and I still have lots of crappy habits that haven't been broken. I wanted to keep this simple, but as I was working through my goals this evening I inadvertently stumbled upon a theme of sorts. And since we had our first good snow today, it seems fitting to just go with FROZEN. My Goals LET IT GO! - At the beginning of the year I had wanted to throw away or give away 2016 things. I lost count, but I know my numbers aren't anywhere near that. So my bounty will be $1 for every ten items I give away or trash (that aren't already explicitly trash). SLEEP! - I have a bad habit of going to bed late, which leads to getting up late, which leads to getting to work late, which leads to me spending way too much to park close to my building so I can get through the door something close to on-time. So this bad habit needs to be broken. $1 for every work night that I have the lights out by 11:30. Work out! - I was doing the gym thing pretty regularly after I joined back in August. But my cold in November threw me off kilter and I really need to re-new my commitment on working out regularly, and that includes getting back to climbing again as well. $2 for every day I spend an hour at the gym. Follow the Program! - I WANT to stuff chocolate in my face, but I really need to go back to counting points, at least until the end of the year, so i can bet a better handle on what I'm eating. $1 for every day that I track ALL my food consumed, including the chocolate. There's no bonus stuff. I'm gonna focus on these, and I'm giving myself a 10 minute extension tonight on the sleep thing, just cuz it took me that long to find the right gif for the 'work out' portion of the challenge. Good night!

Last challenge went really well for the first three weeks, and then some stuff at work really got under my skin. Some bouts of emotional eating combined with the long 4th of July weekend bumped up my weight by about a pound. I really need to take measurements because my clothes continue to get looser as I bike and run and walk. Mid-summer, like mid-winter, just doesn’t have a lot of events to look forward to enjoying. There are a lot of things happening near the end of August, but these upcoming weeks have the potential to really drag in the proverbial “dog days of summer”. And when I get bored, I tend to eat more than I should. When it’s hot and muggy, it’s tempting to stay inside and avoid any sort of workout. But not this summer!!! My main goal for the next challenge is to stay in control of my eating and keep in balance with my activity. 1) Plan meals, including fun foods and treats 2) Stay in points budget 3) Get 83 points worth of exercise each week (how many points does swinging a sword for a 1/2 hour get me??) Have some fun 4) Start archery (target) and practice on rest days 5) OCR training (Dirt in the Skirt round 2 redux) Summer ...... bring it, bitches!!!

Asuka going from Giant to Valkyrie! – Part 1: Establishing strong bases This is it. This is the time. I am in good health, I am committed, and since I am focusing on maintaining reasonable hours at work, I will have some time to dedicate to this challenge – to me. This will be a long path. This first challenge will probably put me a few steps closer to my goal, but obviously not all the way. For the next five weeks, the goal will be to focus on habits, creating good ones and making off with old, bad ones. So off towards my Valkyrie future I go – no more Mrs. Giant. What is a Giant? The Giant is strong, very strong. Nothing will stop him until he reaches his target. But he is rather stupid – will only target buildings, blindly going through other threats without stopping. He’s not even wearing shoes! What is a Valkyrie? A Valkyrie (“Valk”) is tough and smart. Targets all potential threats and destroys them, even behind her. And she’s all female, wearing makeup and heels, showing off the strong bod she built for herself. Isn’t she the best? So far, I am a pretty good Giant. I’m big, so I go the easy way - I see, I destroy. Be it a cake or a new project. But this is not good – neither in my personal, nor my professional life, especially since I became a Giant for the wrong reasons. It’s time for a change. Let’s go! Goal #1 – Get leaner This is the key difference between a Giant and a Valk. She is awesome, but doesn’t need to be extra bulky. So why should I? Plan: For that one, I’ll request the help of Weight Watchers, which did awesome work in the past. I will track what I eat and keep it below 26 points per day, with 49 additional points weekly, which is the level where I was last time I did the program. I have been tracking for two weeks already, although I have not counted, I just wrote it down. Grading: 1 point per day below or at 33 points (with weekly addition), 3 additional points for a full week below the total of 231. I will also get an additional point for days below 26 points. Extra point also for not snacking in the afternoon. [Max baseline 10 points] Goal #2 – Get stronger Valks are strong. In hordes in Clash of Clans, they are nearly unstoppable and will wipe out a base pretty fast. So it’s important that I keep exercising and keep getting stronger. Plan: Continue working out every day, the way I did it in the last mini. I’m hoping the new mini will also help me in that goal! The goal is to work out for an hour, including voluntary walks (not the walk to and from the office). All workouts are welcome, cycling, HIIT, dancing, walking, strength training. Grading: 0.5 point per half-hour when I work out, 3 additional points for working out all seven days of the week. Two additional point per BBWW since I’m still not happy with them. [Max baseline 10 points] Goal #3 – Get smarter Valks target all threats in their paths. So should I. Which is why I need to be smarter, and to spend more time studying to that effect. I need both to prepare more seriously for my Korean exam and focus on planning at work, rather than working tirelessly. Plan: Study five hours a week. Not complicated. Shout out to Fenyx for inspiring me to pick up studying again. Grading: 2 points per hour spent studying. 3 point for every hour beyond the five hours of the plan. [Max baseline 10 points]. Goal #4 – Take better care of myself I am not good at being a feminine girl. In fact, I sometimes don’t feel like a girl at all. I tried to shed the girly girl image to be seen as stronger. But the Giant act is not working. In fact, the single most successful person in our office is very girly. That will teach me. The Valk is strong, but in heels and makeup. So I need to focus on me and making myself feel good. Plan: I will have a list of potential ways to take care of myself, with different point rewards. - Doing a manicure (2 pts) - Going to the hairdresser (10 pts) - Moisturizing (1 pt) - Taking a long bath (3 pts) - Exfoliating (1 pt) - Doing a face mask (2 points) - Going to the dermatologist (10 pts) - Buying clothes fitting me (5 points) - Doing face treatment (e.g., scrub, night cream) (1 pt) - Stretching for 20 minutes (1 pt) Grading: I will set a goal of 10 points per week as well. If I cannot make it, I may readjust it. MAC makeup guarantees Valk will look good even after a long fight. Complementary goal: Be more open to people Valks are great at synergies with other troops. So I need to be more open to other people, and not shut myself in the house. Plan: I need to be more sociable, rather than spend so much time in the house. Also make the house more welcoming to other people. - Putting wallpaper in my room (20 points) - Making a new friend (attempting to is ok) (20 pts) - Going out of the house during the weekend (1 pt) - Going out to drinks or dinner or lunch with a friend (10 pts) Reward: I am expecting 40 points per week from the key four goals, and hopefully some 50 from the complimentary goal. Over five weeks that is a total of 250. I will set rewards per level – all rewards will add to each other. - 200 points reached: $20 to spend any way I want (most probably in Clash Royale!) - 250 points reached: Another $60 to spend (Total $80) - 300 points reached: The set of beautiful weights I really really want to buy (cost $130) - 350 points reached: Another $120 to spend!! (Total $200 + weights) I look forward to this new challenge. It starts with a day off, so I’ll put in some Taking Care points today on top of my work out. Valk power!

Hello All! This is my second challenge, made it through my first one with an overall grade of "C"....pretty sure I can do better than that. My husband and I just started to attempt baby-making, so I'm trying to get a healthier body. Baby vessels made for poptarts, while tasty, are fragile. Goal 1: Follow Weight Watchers (Momentum system) with fidelity for all six weeks. Regularly update using iTrackBites app on my phone. Goal 2: 2 days a week running outside (with or without husband), and 2 days a week using free weights during workout videos (21 Day Fix or Youtube) Goal 3: Dutifully take Prenatal vitamins daily each week (had no idea you took them BEFORE pregnancy or that they were OTC) Life Goal Quest: Stop Swearing.............really interested to see how this goes . Better start with allowing up to 2 accidental uses a day (still MUCH lower than what I'm doing now) Grading System (per week): A+: Goals 1-3 met, life quest achieved A: Goals 1-3 met, life quest fail B: Combo of 1 and 3 or 2 and 3 C: Only goals 1 and 2 met D: Only 1 goal met F: Bad Jill! Let's do this!

Well, that last challenge started off so well but ended up spiraling into a disaster. Oh well. We re-spawn and life goes on. I think that the pressure of the challenge got too much for me, and it was bad timing with a vacation and moving and so on... Eh. I've decided to take a more serious approach. I need to work on my habits and build them up over time. I need to work on sustaining things for more than three weeks at a time. And I need to stop bingeing on junk and giving in to my food addiction. 1. Dealing with the food addiction I'm putting myself into food-rehab. I've gotten hold of anything I could find that lets me do weight watchers for free. I used to use Spark People, which was wonderful, but I like how WW recognizes that nutritional value is more important than calorie counting. So I'm going to try sticking to WW for at least a month, and hopefully longer. Unfortunately I can't get a 'real' (paid) membership because I live outside of any of the countries they operate in. It would be nice if they expanded to an online basis, with google hangouts as meetings, or something... This is the future, after all... But that's why I love Nerd Fitness: I can do their plan but get the amazing support of this community, and even fit the weight watchers plan into the Nerd Fitness structure. I did a little point allowance calculation online and it spat out this, so I'll try to stick to it as a plan. + 35 bonus points to use throughout the week. 2. Building better habits - cleaning my house. I'm moving in with the Bearded One in just over two weeks and it would be nice if we can keep our new place looking nice. It's also good for all the entertaining we'll be doing. So I'm going to aim to stick to my HabitRPG cleaning to-do lists and get that shit in order. - cooking meals more often than eating out. I'm surpremely lazy and keep choosing convenience over health. I'm going to delete my food ordering apps, go grocery shopping, and cook some damn meals. It also means I'll have more satisfying meals that are within the Weight Watchers points. - daily activity Walking to work or riding my bike aren't enough. It's starting to get warmer, so I need to walk for at least half an hour each day, in the first week. I'll also try to aim for two bodyweight workouts a week (initially) and fit in some yoga along with that. It's a little tough right now because I'm moving, so for now I'll just focus on going for walks and then consider packing to be my bodyweight workout (if I do it at high speed with music blasting). This could be more specific but I feel like if I get more specific then I'll be setting myself up for failure if I miss something. -accountability I will post to this battle log every day. Or else... To make sure I do this, I'm going to 'anchor' this habit to dinner time. I must post my battle log after dinner each day. If I'm out/busy/away from my computer then I need to at least check in via tapatalk. Weigh-ins at 7am on Monday mornings. 3. Being a better human I need to stop being so self-centered, and work on listening to other people more and focusing on them. I will make the effort to talk to my friends and ask them how their lives are going on. It seems like basic social skills, but for some reason it's difficult for me to do that. I also need to accept failure and be more honest with myself and other people. I can't keep shifting the blame away from myself because I don't like being the cause of the failure. Well, here it goes: I failed that last challenge because I was lazy, I let myself get away with too much, and I have a problem with self-control and over-eating. It was no one's fault but my own and I need to accept that, own it, and overcome it.

Nightcrawler_Bamff Joins the X-Men! Nightcrawler awakens in the medical center of the X-Men's mansion after his defeat by the Blob. Professor Charles Xavier is at his bedside. "Welcome back, Kurt. How do you feel?" "Like I was hit by a bus" "You took quite a blow, but with a couple days rest, I expect you'll make a full recovery." "I am sorry, Professor. I failed and Blob got away." "No, Kurt, he didn't. Your efforts kept him busy long enough for me to arrive and telepathically subdue him. The police were able to handle him from there." There was a knock at the door and with Professor X's beckoning, a tall man dressed in dark blue and yellow with a visor covering his eyes entered the room. "Kurt, this is Scott Summers, Cyclops. He is the leader of the X-Men." "Hello, Kurt. I hear you are the one we need to thank for stopping the Blob." "But I failed. It was the professor who stopped him." "Without you, Professor Xavier would not have gotten there in time and there would likely have been numerous injuries, if not fatalities. As part of a team, one is able to accomplish so much more than they would be able to on their own. I watched the footage from the encounter; your skills are impressive. With some training, I feel you could be a valuable member of our team." "And you do not mind the way I look?" "Don't hassle me about my shades and we'll call it even." "Zen I shall give you my best." Challenge 10(!!!!) Time to start training for the X-Men! Main Goal: Slim down and tone up. We got tickets to San Diego Comic Con this summer, so I need to look my best to try to fit in with all the amazing costumes I know will be there! Gymnastics: Continuing to work on back handspring combinations and aerials. Specific Quests: 1. T25! Got the program from a friend and I will be following this workout program IN ADDITION TO gymnastics workouts. I've done P90X and Insanity with great results, but got burned out from the minimum of one hour workouts seven days a week. I'm really excited about this program because it is supposed to be Insanity condensed down to just 25 minutes a day. 2. Eat right! I will be following the Weight Watchers program throughout the challenge and tracking my food/activity points. 3. Splits! Haven't made too much progress the last challenge, but going to continue working on these. Wont be devoting as much time to this as previous challenges due to time constraints (see "life" section!!). Stretching sessions will happen once daily, seven days a week. Life: Yet another super busy challenge! 1. School: I'm currently taking two classes, which are turning out to have a lot of homework and will need to be my priority. 2. Star Wars costume: I decided on Kyle Katarn because his costume is relatively simple and goes with my friend's Mara Jade costume. I would like to have this costume at least most of the way completed by the end of the challenge. 3. X-Men costume: Continuing to upgrade Gambit. By July, I will need to have an extendable staff, boots made of foam and warbla, inside pockets added to the trench coat, and sew a bodysuit. Current Gambit:

Nightcrawler_Bamff Beats Back The Blob! "Professor? Professor! We need backup! Professor!" The cry came over loudspeakers placed invisibly throughout the facility. Nightcrawler flew off a bar high overhead, flipping, and landing silently next to the professor. "Scott! What is it?" "We're engaged with the Brotherhood, but Blob is missing. I just overheard the police radio that he is across town robbing a bank. I think the rest of the Brotherhood are just the distraction, but it is taking all of us to keep the civilians safe. We cant get over there." Professor Xavier turned to Nightcrawler. "Kurt, I know you just got here and have yet to make a decision about staying with us, but I must ask for your help. I have no one else I can send to stop The Blob." "Heir Professor, I owe you my life. I will help you in this and make my decision later." Charles leads Kurt to a nearby TV screen and turned on the news, where a man larger than any Kurt has ever seen is standing outside a bank with bags of money in each hand. The police have him surrounded and were firing their weapons, but the bullets never penetrated his massive belly. "Mein Gott!" "Fred Dukes' mutant ability allows him to distort his own gravitational field, making him essentially immovable and allows his girth to stop nearly any projectile, as you can see." "How far is zis?" "It is quite close. I believe this is why the rest of the Brotherhood are causing mayhem on the other side of town; to draw the X-Men as far away as they could. This bank is only about one mile from here." BAMF! With a puff of smoke, Nightcrawler disappears from Professor X's side and appears facing The Blob. "Well arent you cute! Xavier sent me a pet!" "Zis does not need to get any uglier zan it already is, mein freund. Put ze money down and ve can all go home." "Show me what you got, furball! Nobody moves The Blob!" Challenge 9 Our hero is up against his first true villain! I felt Blob was an appropriate adversary choice for a fitness challenge! Haha! I set this challenge up a little differently than I've done in the past, so may end up needing some tweaking once we get going. Inspiration taken from previous mini-challenges! Main Goal: Gymnastics! Aerials have been feeling good fairly consistently. Seems mostly at this point that I need to get over the mental block and stop putting my hands down! Also working on back handspring passes. Lost my round off-back handspring-back-handspring-back tuck on the tumble track a few weeks ago and am working to get that back. Also lost my round off-back handsprings on the floor, so working those again too. Quest: Beat The Blob! Blob's HP bar has 150 hit points. Each exercise point earned using the Weight Watchers program deals one point of damage. To encourage real workouts instead of walking the mall all the time, true workouts (which will be subjective deciding what that consists of) will be worth an additional two points of damage. Gymnastics workouts do not get this addition because I don't need that as motivation to go! Don't Feed The Blob! The "crash diet" I did for the first half of last challenge gave me good results and was not nearly as difficult as I had anticipated. I will repeat this for this challenge, with some tweaks. Six WW points allowed per meal One WW point allowed for snack once daily (the rest will be fruit/vegetables, which are free on the program) This makes up to 19 points allowed per day. Each point over these allowances, The Blob is healed for one hit point. I have several events planned during the span of this challenge, so this will happen more than once, and will be allowed! Though I will have to work harder to defeat The Blob! Splits: Still working the splits. Again, I will be doing one stretching session each work day and two on my days off. Each missed session will heal Blob one hit point. Life: Busy again!! 1. Volunteering with United Heroes for Hope 2. American Sign Language Interpreter Program application due next month 3. Emerald City Comic Con is also next month 4. Continue working on Gambit costume - before July, I plan to have armor boots, a homemade spandex body suit, and an extendable bo staff. 5. Start working on Star Wars costume if I have time - will need to be completed by July.

Nightcrawler_Bamff in the Danger Room Story: After touring the upper grounds of the mansion, Kurt and Professor Xavier descend to a hidden compound deep under the school itself using a hidden elevator. The first room they enter is small and empty other than an ornate, curved desk. Xavier pulled out a small, cordless machine that he had been carrying . "This is Cerebro. It enhances my telepathic abilities and allows me to locate any person on the planet and differentiate between human and mutant. I first learned of your brother's deeds and was on my to see if I could help in any way. I am truly sorry I was unable to get there in time to help. I then found you and felt your pain along with the fear of the villagers nearby and knew what was coming next." After placing Cerebro in the center of the desk, Xavier leads Kurt down the hall to another empty room. This room, in contrast, is massive. A football field could easily have fit. The walls, floors, and even the ceiling, all metal, are covered in scorch marks and deep gouges. "This is called the Danger Room. It is here my students learn to control their mutant abilities and how to use them to benefit all of mankind, mutant and human alike. Together they form the X-Men, which I am extending the offer to join to you. First, however, I think you may like to experience the Danger Room first hand." With the push of a button, all manor of obstacles and bars spring from hidden compartments within all surfaces of the room. Nightcrawler's eyes light up as he sees this massive jungle gym. To an acrobat this room is like a candy store is to a child. Forgetting his fatigue from merely hours before, he is eager to stretch his now sore muscles. "I have set the danger level to 0. After you warm up a bit, I can increase it to show you a little more of it's capabilities." Challenge Eight: It's been a year since I joined Nerd Fitness!! Happy anniversary to me!! This will be a two part challenge. Wizard World Comic Con will be here January 23rd and I still have a ton to get done by then. Due to these time constraints, the first half of the challenge will put more emphasis on weight loss via diet and the second half will focus a little more on activity. Main Goal: Gymnastics! Always! No specific goals for this challenge, but I am currently working on aerials and will soon start working on moving my round off-back handspring-back tuck on to the floor from the tumble track! Specific Tasks: 1. Weight loss! It's easier to throw your body around in gymnastics if there is less body to throw! Time to lose some of that "holiday spirit" I gained through Christmas time...several pounds of it...For this I will be tracking my Weight Watchers points daily throughout the entire challenge, with additional constraints applied to the first half of the challenge. Part 1: Definitely not the most healthy way to do this...but I am going to crash diet to get ready for the convention. Gotta look good in costume for the pictures!! I am normally allowed 29 points daily with an additional, optional allowance of 49 points to spread throughout the week if I choose. For the first half of the challenge, I will be dropping this allowance to no more than 6 points per meal and no points available for snacks. This means a maximum of 18 points per day. Fruit and vegetables are zero points, so I will be eating a lot of them.Part 2: The heavy constraints will be lifted and I will go back to being allowed 29 points daily and 49 extra weekly points if I so choose to use them. 2. Exercise! Cant do gymnastics if I get all lazy!! Some sort of exercise is to be performed every day off from work during the challenge. Part 1: Gymnastics counts as required exercise.Part 2: Gymnastics does not count toward required exercise and I will have do do some sort of exercise during the day in addition.3. Splits! Because flexibility! My normal routine is: Part 1: I will work splits every dayPart 2: I will work splits every day, twice on days off work. Life Challenge: Costuming again! Working on completely upgrading my Gambit costume I made a few years ago: With less than three weeks until the convention, I know I wont have enough time to get everything done. I knew that when I first made the plans. Whatever I am not able to finish can be reused from the previous costume. Reference picture:

Nighctrawler_Bamff Refocuses Rescued from a misguided mob by a mysterious telepath, Nightcrawler now finds himself on a small jet with a man he knows nothing about other than his amazing and terrifying power. "Danke for the timely rescue, mein freund, and excuse the mistrust, but may I ask who you are and where we are going" "Of course, Kurt. I am Professor Charles Xavier. I run a school in New York for young mutants, teaching them to use their abilities to aid mankind. My students form a team called the X-Men. You will be safe there and, if you are interested, we could use someone with your gifts." "And if I refuse?" "You will be free to leave and I will fly you anywhere you would like. This is an offer, Kurt, not a demand. I only ask that you give it some thought. The choice will be yours." Kurt is given the opportunity to be alone with his thoughts as they continued their long flight to America. He takes the time to think back on all he has accomplished in the short time since he began performing for the circus he had been raised in. Translation: Time to review past challenge goals and get back on track! I have not been doing well, especially with eating habits, for the majority of the last challenge and need to refocus. Main Quest: As always...Gymnastics tricks! I am continuing to work on back handsprings and aerials. Goals: 1. Track Weight Watchers points! The program works well for me, but I have fallen out of the habit of tracking what I am eating and, since it wasn't a part of the last challenge goals, I disregarded eating healthy all together and have been steadily gaining weight over that time. Time to knock that off! 2. Exercise! All days off work must include exercise or a workout of some sort in addition to gymnastics. 3. Splits! Still working these. Haven't really been giving it my all and feel like the progress pictures that I stopped doing after the first challenge that I worked on these would help motivate and will show the slow progress. Life Goals: 1. Cake! So! The baby shower cake I made for my coworker was so successful, one of her friends has hired me to make her baby's first birthday cake! First cake I've ever made that wasn't a gift! Still working out details, cake is to be finished 12/3/2014. 2. Choir! Continue practicing for Christmas Choir. Concert is 12/14/2014. Already have most of it memorized pretty well, but will need to keep working on it until then. 3. Costume! Comic con is in January! Need to get working on my upgraded Gambit costume! Not planning to finish this within this challenge, but need to make some good progress.

Getting a better grip on what I'm actually going for with this challenge, I'm modifying some stuff from my initial post. My Main Quest was kinda vague. I mean, gaining muscle and losing flab is good, but there's got to be a way to measure. I don't have the fat caliper pinchy thingies, and they make me feel inferior anyway, so I'm going to go with pictures, one to be posted shortly. For Mission #1 - Be Stronger Than Your Excuses, I've got myself a lovely list of exercises to get better at, and even if it's boring, I'm going to keep at them for the full six weeks to see what improvement I can make in my initial numbers, to be posted tomorrow. Mission #2 - Weight Watcher Reboot - is set to start tomorrow, since that's my first weigh-in with the new at-work group that I'll be joining, that meets during my lunch hour - which is awesome. I'll report in my first planned small change for the week at some point tomorrow. For Mission #3 - Snooze - there are no alterations - I managed lights out on time last night and coaxed myself out of bed at 6:45 as scheduled. This arrangement should guarantee me somewhere around 7 hours of sleep per night, which is about the right amount for me to not be cranky next day. As for my Life Quest, aka Mission #4 - Self Control, I've got Self-Control programmed with a blacklist of my main offenders. I didn't put NerdFitness on the list because I figured I usually forget to post how I did on stuff until later at night. So I'm leaving that available. Facebook, Hulu, Netflix, Yahoo & MSN are out. More may be added later, depending on what I find tempting me after hours. I'm leaving YouTube off for now because if I want to do Poi lessons, I'll need it, but it may be too big of a temptation. At 10:00 tonight I plan to set it off and maybe clean some stuff. I've been rearranging furniture and trying to weed out all the crap in my apartment, and the project is coming along, but slowly. My dad just called to say he found a nice small dining table for me, and I'm visiting him this weekend, so I need to sort out this corner full of crap that I had collected from other corners. I have a lot of yarn for some reason. Here's an additional thought, I've got this calendar white-board that I got for previous challenges. I think it's time to erase April and add in September and October so I can have a place to track progress. Strength 3 times a week, choose and make a small change weekly, lights out by 11:30m and out of bed by 6:45 every work night, and Self-Control activated at 10:00 every work night. I don't know that I'm going to bother with the attribute points. I've never been much of a gamer. But I may reward myself for successfully completing my missions. So on to the photo taking and strength-getting... I'll report in soon.

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

Story: Having achieved his goal of holding handstands and making considerable advances with his back handsprings, Nightcrawler now plays a major part in making the small circus he was adopted into a success. People are flocking from around the globe to see The Incredible Nightcrawler! A wealthy businessman from Texas takes notice and buys out the circus, moving it to America! However, after learning that his demonic appearance is not a costume; rather, his natural, crazy-awesome form, the new owner cages Nightcrawler, drugging him and forcing him to a part of the freak show instead of the acrobats. Crazy, right?! How could you waste such amazing talents as handstands (ok...so they arent held for very long and not very consistent...) and back handsprings (ok, so these aren't mastered yet either,,,but are definitely improving!) on the freak show?!? Nightcrawler should be the star of the show!! Determined to escape his imprisonment, he immediately starts fighting the effects of the drugs. He will need his mind working properly if he hopes to escape! Freedom from his barred cell will also require flexibility and a lean body. And so the struggle begins! Main Goal: Still working on back handsprings. This is my ongoing goal: To be able to do these on any ground, consistently and with proper form. I worked on shoulder strength and range of motion with handstands in the last challenge, this time I will focus on leg flexibility. The goal will be the splits! I don't expect to actually accomplish this within six weeks, but I am going to try! Specific Missions: 1. The solution to pollution is dilution! Time to nix the drugs holding Nightcrawler back and flush the system! a. No more artificial sweeteners! The exception to the ban on artificial sweeteners will be protein shakes to get enough protein in (I already have a large tub that is sweetened with sucralose) b. Drink more water! I will drink at least one Nalgene bottle per day of WATER. 2. Flexibility! Getting out of this tight confinement, Nightcrawler will have to increase his flexibility! I will work on the following set of stretches for achieving the splits: a. In straddle position, lean to each side and center for 1 minute each b. Hold pigeon stretch for 1 minute on each side c. Hold butterfly stretch for 1 minute d. Attempt each split as far as possible for 1 minute each This set will be completed once daily on work days and twice daily on my days off (three per week), making a grand total of at least 10 sets per week. 3. Lean body! Nightcrawler will have to be in shape and get rid of unwanted body fat in order to fit through the bars on the cell! This will be achieved via: a. Tracking Weight Watchers points daily b. Earning at least 30 exercise points weekly (up from 20 last challenge) c. Including at least 130 grams of protein in my points allowance daily (This is changed from 170g on workout days and 100g on off days as this ended up limiting my exercise for the week, choosing not to do a workout so I could eat other foods that didn't contribute to the large protein goal.) Life Goal: 1. Bilingual! Continuing work on ASL interpreting certification. I do not believe I require any more pre-requisites to get into the program, but found a class that would definitely help with review and getting me back into ASL thinking. I will sign up for this class or a similar one if that one is not offered this term. 2. Teleporting! Continue the ongoing search for a car. I will search car ads weekly to find the right match. Utilizing my parents' car at the moment, but will have to return it come October. Fine Print: My birthday falls within the span of this challenge and reserve the right to take time off from my goals to celebrate! I have requested the weekends before and after my birthday as well as the day itself and the following day off from work...During this span of a little over a week, I will continue with the challenge as stated on days I do not have celebration plans, but I plan to eat/drink what I want when partying with friends!!

Never Too Late To Move That Thing Friday night I ran 3.2 miles! That means I'm capable of running a 5K. Good thing, too, since the 5K I signed up for is on the 15th. After that I've got rehearsals, and rehearsals, and even more rehearsals, all leading up to five performances of The Wedding Singer over two weekends - the 19th and 20th, 26th and 27th of July. Then my 45th birthday is on August 3rd, and I'd like to have reached a shiny new low weight by then, especially since I plan to celebrate by going zip-lining! This challenge will mainly focus on helping me to survive that experience, and reach that shiny new low weight by my birthday. I am sooooooooooo close to being officially in One-derland, which is that magical place where the scale shows a one as the first digit of my weight. I'm relatively confident that Monday's weigh-in will see me there. Last Monday I was at 200.8 on the digital scale, and I weighed myself at my church today, and that mechanical one put me at 198.5 for the first time in ages, so there's that. Regardless of what happens... My LIFE GOAL is to weigh what I did in high school, when I thought I was fat but actually wasn't. I'd like to be in the 145-155 range. That will be awesome, once I get there, which i will. It will be very hard to eat right these next few weeks. It's nearly impossible already as i work from 8 to 5 and then have rehearsals from 6:30 to 9:30 every weeknight. It's tempting to go with fast food for supper, considering I don't usually get home until 5:45 and only get half an hour or so before I have to leave again. Fitting fitness in will be tough too, although there is a LOT of dancing in this show... I think that my MAIN QUEST is just to get through all of this as healthily and happily and injury-free as possible. Since I'm on Weight Watchers, I thought it would be good to focus on three of their Routines and keep up with them for the whole challenge. The WW website has a tracker for this too, so I can track in both places. MY GOALS Get 7 to 8 hours of quality sleep each night. I had been working on this - lights out at 11pm and rise at 6:30 - but I'm not the most faithful at it. Must work to become more so, as good sleep will be critical to my survival. Days Done & Tracked - 38-42=A, 34-37=B, 33-36=C, 32-35=D, less than 32 = F Always have a healthy snack on hand. I'm a snacker. Last night I think I had a dream that some director in my show said 'you really need to cut out on all that snacking, honey.' I wanted to smack her cuz I'm a grown-ass woman, and even if I wasn't, that's just rude, but it probably speaks to my own insecurities about my snacking. So more fruits and veggies for snacks, less processed stuff even if it's supposed to be lo-cal. Less snacking between meals over all would be good. But always have something healthy on hand for when the urge strikes. Days Done & Tracked - 38-42=A, 34-37=B, 33-36=C, 32-35=D, less than 32 = F Know how you're going to be active tomorrow. The idea here is to be always planning ahead, making an appointment with myself and not missing it. I want to be active every day, whether it's going for a 3 mile run or just taking the stairs instead of the elevator. It's not just knowing, but following through and doing it. Days Done & Tracked - 38-42=A, 34-37=B, 33-36=C, 32-35=D, less than 32 = F SIDE QUESTS Fitness - Try Yoga I've been experiencing back pain and soreness from all this activity - running and dancing and whatnot. I think a good stretchy yoga-type workout would be good for me, so I want to find time for at least 20 minutes of it, three days a week. Days Done - 16-18=A, 14-15=B, 12-13=C, 10-11=D, less than 10 = F Life - Clean for 5 minutes - 5 times a week. I see this as a big necessity since I'm so busy that the housework could really suffer. And it's already suffering plenty. Days Done - 26-30=A, 23-25=B, 20-22=C, 17-19=D, less than 17 = F My Current Stats: (will edit on Monday after WW weigh in) (Hey Look! I'm a Revolter!)

Hiya, I'm Jay! I've been on the forums before but I'm really bad at being a part of any kind of community because I'm bad at putting myself out there online. About Me! So, I'm a little neuroatypical nerdy gendermess living in Western Massachusetts with my partner and two cats. My hobbies are playing Fantasy pen and paper games like D&D and Rolemaster. I'm a big fan of video games, Skyrim, Fall Out 3, and Minecraft are among my favorites. Also, movies. Movies and I are best friends, they are my rock and my soft fuzzy blanket. As my username suggests, I like Grungy 90s music and Gardening. You can find me on Tumblr by the same if you like random funny stuff. Why am I here? Why is anyone here? It's pretty much the same story as everyone. I'm not happy with my body and health. I'd like to find a healthy way to shed all these pounds I've accumulated over the years. I'm about 275 pounds right now with bad knees, it's just not working out for me. I'd like to look into a mirror and see what I see in my mind's eye. Especially with being a gendermess, if I lost some weight, that might help with how I feel about myself. I'm hoping that keeping an account of what I'm doing on here and making some friends to cheer me on will keep me on track. GOALSSSSSS! The goal is to be able to go hiking! I love camping and being in nature, but I want to do those things without feeling winded and out of shape. I'd like to be able to hike Mt. Tom and some of the Appalachian Trail maybe! I really like walking long distances for some strange reason, it's always been something I didn't mind doing after the initial "I don't wanna!". I don't like running and swimming isn't in my forte. Hiking and Walking are my jam! Also, with all the walking and such, I'd like to get out of the "Extremely Obese" section of the BMI chart. (Even if it's a horrible way to dictate if someone is healthy or not.) How can you help? Every good hero needs some help, whether a companion or just a cheering section. I need that cheering section! To make it to my goals, I need someone to be like "Yo, Jay.. Good job!". An accountability buddy would be wicked cool! Also, if anyone is in the area, I love chatting while walking. Also also, any tips or suggestions on exercises would be awesome. Oh yeah, how am I doing it? Plan is to try the Weight Watchers' Simple Start program because 1.) No point watching 2.) Grocery List! 3.) Healthy Foods and Recipes that I can trick my partner into eating. I'm not a big fan of Weight Watchers in all honesty, but it's worth a try to get into healthier eating habits. I'm also planning on doing Full Body Strength exercises, Long Distance Walks and possibly Yoga. So yeah. Be my friend, friends!

Story: Parents presumed dead, Kurt Wagner grows up in a small Bolivian circus. Admiring most the acrobats with their badass feats of strength and agility, Kurt decides: “Heck! I could do that! Ich bin fantastisch!!!†And so his training begins. Kurt is determined to become the best acrobat in the show. In order to become the best, our favorite blue elf will of course, need to be able to perform the awesome tricks the acrobats are performing, requiring strength and a diet that will both keep him lean and provide enough protein to develop the muscles he is working so hard to build. Main Quest: Overall main quest is to move my round off-back handspring from the trampoline onto the ground so I can do this anytime. This will likely take several challenges to complete, so my goal for this one is to be able to hold a handstand. This will help develop shoulder and core strength, which will definitely help with my back handsprings. Specific Missions: 1. Earn a minimum of 20 Weight Watchers activity points per week with at least three strength workouts built into this. 2. Track Weight Watchers points daily and stay within my weekly points allowance. Within this, I will require a minimum of 56 100 grams of protein, increasing to at least 90 170 grams on days that I am doing a strength workout. If I earn more than 20 activity points in a week, I will allow using these. 3. At least five minutes of handstand work daily Side Quest: 1. Our friend Kurt is bilingual, fluent in German and English. I will need to work on this ability as well. My language of choice however, will be American Sign Language. My goal will be to sign up for and (hopefully) get accepted into one of the two remaining prerequisite classes required for the ASL Interpreting Program. 2. His most renowned ability is that of teleportation. This is how he travels from one location to another. For me to do this, I will require a car. I am car-less at the moment, but will be borrowing my parents' car for a few months while I search for the right one to become available within my price range. This is ongoing challenge to challenge until I find the right car now that I am able to borrow one.

Guten tag Assassins! Main Quest: I want to move my back handspring to the floor. I want to be able to do it anywhere! I just moved it from the tumble track at gymnastics to a mat on the springy floor after about a year attending adult beginners gymnastics classes (only 1-2 times per month working on floor stuff), but my car got totaled and I have not been able to go since then. I expect this will not be something I will be able to accomplish during this six week challenge as it is still hard for me to get to gymnastics. Because of this, my goal will be more to get back into shape to be able to do this as it has been a few months since attending. Specific Missions: 1. Lose weight by tracking Weight Watchers points and staying within my weekly goal 2. Increase fitness by exercising enough each week to equate to 20 activity points when logged into Weight Watchers. 3. Discontinue the bad habit of eating in bed. For my last challenge (which was also my first), I tracked my WW points, but did not have the stipulation of staying within my points allowance. With some effort, I did stay within those points anyway, so I feel this is an acceptable goal to have this round. I also worked to make exercise a habit, but did not dictate an amount of activity; just that I had to do some form of physical activity daily. I believe I averaged about 15 WW points per week. I feel increasing by five points is something doable for me. Side Quest: BUY A CAR! I have been without a car for a couple months and am just too indecisive. I need to do some serious searching and get one soon! Missing out on a lot of things just because it is hard to get to them (such as gymnastics!) Motivation: Nerd alert! I made a Nightcrawler costume for Rose City Comic Con last year and will be remaking parts to improve it for this year's con in September. I want to be able to do a back handspring while in costume!

Main Quest: Reaching my goal weight (135 lbs) by eating healthier and working out! Goals: Workout 3 days a week total: 2 days Pilates and 1 day Yoga. -Grading based on final percentage of missed workouts. Eat healthy with no more than 2 cheat meals a week and behaving on school nights! -Grading based on successful days. Lose 6 lbs following the WWP+ program. -Grading based on delta weight to final pounds. Life Quest: Sleep & Schedule: Get approximately 7+ hours of sleep a night, wake up: M-F @ 8:00 -Grading 6wks * 5 days = 30 days, percentage of days achieved.. Motivation: Always ready to put on a bikini and go to the beach! Starting Stats: 31 - Female

Hello Nerd Fitness! I have never posted on a forum before, so this is all pretty new to me, but here goes. I grew up in Alaska as one of the fat kids in school. Started getting overweight at the end of elementary school and only got worse as I got older. By the end of my freshman year of college, I was 225lbs at 5'10''. I was determined not to gain the dreaded freshman 15 and succeeded, but for all the work I put into it, did not lose any weight either. One of my friends and I tried all sorts of homemade diets, one of them lasting a grand total of about two hours! That summer I had a moment of clarity and decided enough was enough and I did not want to be this way anymore. I joined Weight Watchers and started tracking my points. I loved it! I was allowed to eat whatever I wanted as long as I stayed within my points allowance and lost 10lbs my first week on the program! I had a lot of ups and downs, but finally made it to my goal weight (the maximum BMI before being considered overweight) after two years and kept it off for six weeks, resulting in my "lifetime member" status, meaning I do not have to weigh in every week and as long as I am within 2lbs over my goal weight, I do not have to pay anymore. I have kept this weight off now for 5.5 years and when I was at my lowest weight, I had lost 65lbs. Two years ago, I started the P90X program and finished it just before going on a cruise! I lost weight and gained a lot of muscle. I was able to feel confident in my swimming trunks without a shirt on really for the first time in my life. As soon as I got home, I did the Insanity program then repeated both programs two more times. At my 10 year high school reunion, where most of these people have not seen me since high school when I was 225lbs, I got a lot of excited responses and some friends didnt even recognize me! It felt great! When I got home though, I did not get back on the program and have done small workouts here and there, but they are few and far between. I tried to start P90X again twice in this time, and failed to make it past the first few days both times. A little over a year ago I found an adult beginners gymnastics class offered twice a week and fell in love. I am getting my body to do things I had only imagined doing, but never actually thought possible for me! After about a year, I have been able to do back handsprings and move them from the tumble track (long, skinny trampoline) to the floor! Since stopping working out though, I can tell that I am losing the strength and stamina I had and the workout before class and the actual gymnastics is getting much harder. The number on the scale is going up, I am losing the muscle mass I had worked so hard to gain. I am ready to make a change. I am very excited to get started with the six week challenge coming up and am starting to put it all together! I feel that the nerdy basis will help me stay motivated to stick to it! Wow! That was a lot more wordy than I had planned on! Sorry bout that to whoever actually reads through it!! Good luck everyone!

I'm joining the Assassins after having a bit of a hard time with the Scouts. Not their fault. I was well on my way to running my first ever 5K, and then I had a foot injury that sidelined all that. Running is not something that I can do at the moment. But there's lots of other interesting things I'd like to do. Like a frog stand, for example. And I did some rock climbing last winter and enjoyed that so I'll see if that's something my foot can handle again. Plus I've secretly always loved this guild, and that alphabet challenge you had last time out looked wicked fun. So here I am. It's late and I didn't realize the new challenge was starting already, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to get my thoughts and my goals in proper order. The Bounty Hunter thing will hopefully make sense once I post my goals and whatnot. But for now, hello! And also, goodnight.