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Okay I have to say that I have accomplished a lot of things that I did not know I a the ability to do after "all to define is to limit" I was able to start exercising more I lost 30lb/15.6kg and finally truly embrace this journey that I am on. But I still want to keep this going as I start to fully accept the person that I am. With that being said I want try to kick it up just a little more to start the new year. Diet/ Fitness Quest: I want to work at least 10-15 minutes a day Eat a serving Vegetables at every meal Minimize soda consumption by start with no more that 2 sodas per week Life Quest: Not use the use the snooze but at all. I just to remember every try counts and most of all I have to just start. Good Luck to everyone

Almost all of my attempts at doing this have been mostly failures, this is in fact due to my mental illnesses plaguing me night and day. Whether it's the small little voice in my head asking the dreaded What's the point? Or simply letting my anxiety convince me that it's not a good idea to do the thing. I know that I always say this is the time for real... and I mean it, I even trimmed up my beard drastically to prove a point. (Have no fear the bearded one is still here and will return in his full glory soonish). So: I'm thirty years old and reside in the good ol' South ( a place I rather despise), I'm a father, avid gamer and a wanna be author. Currently I am 280 pounds exactly, and apparently fluctuate between that and 275. My goal is to drop down beyond that point, and do the thing! Step one, is to monitor my calorie intake and make healthier food decisions, no matter how yummy my son's snacks look. Step two, ?????? Step three, exercise as much as I can daily if possible and that equals the outcome I wish to see. Danny Trejo believes in me, so I need to believe in me too..

I don't exercise; I overthink it. "If 80% of loosing weight is through diet, then what's the point in wasting time exercising?""If I do exercise today, even if I feel like I accomplished something it was pointless because it was just 1 day and not a recurring. If its not a recurring then it doesn't do anything. If it doesn't do anything, why do it?" My thoughts around food are slightly better but my effort doesn't seem to take any weight off unless it is strict and rigid. I gave up gluten last year but only really saw weight loss when I didn't eat any grains for 3 weeks. I like healthy foods, but I don't like taking the time and energy to cook them all the time. And I just can't do rigid. That is not fun. I have 2 kids, a husband, and work part time. I can't seem to want to do "this" for myself, whatever this is. I read on one of the nerd fitness pages to pick one thing. One tangible thing. But I don't know what to do that would encourage me that I was being successful with weight-loss. Help me. I'm stuck.

Ok, so despite falling off the face of the earth towards the end of last challenge, I'm still here. Last exercise I really liked starting every day with 10 squats and 10 pushups. I felt better for it. This time I would like to keep this trend up. I've been noticing some pain in my knees and ankles recently, so I am going to have to adjust the exercise and figure out what's going on. 1) 10 squats/10 pushups minimum first thing in the morning Since I'm not able to go to kaju classes at the moment, I want to practice what I did learn. I really enjoyed learning something new and the movement and flow of everything. At the moment, I feel like I learned a bunch of different separate parts. Some punches, some blocks, some stickwork, some footwork. We didn't learn any kata, which would make it easier to have a set routine to practice. So I think I need to figure out a way to string it all together. 2) Practice Kaju at home twice a week The physical movement is the fun and easy part. I really need to get the eating figured out. the tracking food in my fitness pal is interesting to see, but I have trouble tracking after lunch. So I think this challenge, I'm going to work on dinner. Specifically having half my plate be vegetables. 3) Dinner shall include half a plate of veggies

Ok, so the last challenge ended up just kind of imploding halfway through. Stopped tracking things and just didn't follow up on things. So this time around I'm going to tone things down a little bit and try to lay a solid foundation for the new year. 1) Skill Building 1.a - Attend Kaju class at least once a week Unfortunately it looks like at the end of the month I'm going to have to pause kajukenbo classes, but until then, I can still try to make as many classes and learn as much as I can before then. I figure the more I can learn in person, the more I can have to practice on my own. We're also trying to settle into a new routine at home, so making multiple classes a week is going to be difficult. But if I can make one class a week, I will count it as a win. 1.b - Exercise Daily 10 pushups and 10 squats first thing when I wake up. I figure this will be the absolute minimum and is something that can be done in two minutes. I'd like to keep working on pistol squats and one-arm pushup progressions, but if all I do is 10 and 10, then I will be happy. 1.c - Simple and Sinister Once a work, do an actual round of Simple and Sinister. More than one, great. But one is my goal. 2) Food 2.a - Homemade This challenge I'm going to cut out breads and sweet desserts that are not made by me (or the wife). It should be more difficult to binge if I stick to this. 2.b - Track It I'm will use MyFitnessPal again. It helped me keep an eye on what I was eating and be more mindful. 3) Money 3.a - Minty Start using Mint and Mint Bills to track finances and identify where the spending is going over. Look at Mint once a day and keep on top of things. I'll flesh these out more later, but this is what I want to do.

For this challenge, I will be working on conquering the aspects of Wands, the second tarot suit I am exploring. Wands are, depending on the deck, connected to Fire, and so to things like action, passion, love or lust, light and knowledge (through mythologies like that of Prometheus and other fire bringers), etc. Wands are often conflict cards in a reading, as well, and so there is that aspect, of opposition and difficulty. As far as action is concerned, one can have all the potential in the world, but it takes the actual activity or energy of taking the first step to unleash and realize that potential. Without energy, potential can stagnate and rot. So, I think with this challenge, I will continue the energy and momentum of my last challenge by doing, by taking the actions necessary to maintain my goals. Because the two decks I have actually look at Wands differently (the Sorcerer's deck connects Wands with Air, not Fire), I'm only looking at one deck for this challenge. The Queen of Wands here is depicted on a throne, bearing a torch-like wand and accompanied by a lioness. Lionesses are the hunters of the pride, the providers and the nurturers; the maternal instincts of a lioness are legendary. I think these are also qualities of the Queen of Wands - a provider, but a fierce one. Outsiders dare not test her, and her love is more focused on protection than nurturing. Note, too, that although a lioness is an untamed animal, in the card she is chained. I think this points to the unbridled passion of the Queen being, well, bridled. Energy without control can be destructive - think of lightning or a forest fire. Yet controlled fire brings us technology, warmth, and light. Be sure that one's passion has a direction or a purpose or it will simply burn itself out haphazardly. Finally, the Queen is alone here, with no sign of civilization - the Queen of Pentacles was accompanied by both herd animals and crops. I think this speaks again to a more wild, untamed nature, but also to the isolation and independence or self-reliance of this archetype. To start this part of the journey, it is important to look at the Ace of Wands, the beginning and end of the journey. On this card, the character (Medea's father? Greek god?) is clearly a ruler. Not only is he crowned, but he also holds the globe in his hand. This particular depiction shows that he is master of his kingdom, whether it be Olympus or simply an earthly kingdom. He bears the golden fleece, which is also a symbol of kingship, as well as a powerful magical item (especially healing). He is in a lofty area, at the top of mountains (fitting for Olympus), which again stresses that independence or self-reliance of the Queen of Wands. It is strange to be the master of one's domain already at the start of the journey, but perhaps that has to do with conquering the domains found within oneself, or conversely, of looking outside of one's past experiences or familiar territory to something grander. For me, I think this has more to do with being more self-reflective and looking at my goals maybe more long-term - see the big picture, so to speak. So, to become the Queen of Pentacles, I must: Take action and energize my goals by Exercising 5 days/week - Belly dancing, walking, and weight training. I will do at least 30 minutes, but up to an hour when I can. EDIT: I decided that I really want to increase my strength stat, so I'm going to do weight training 3/week, in combination with another exercise when appropriate. (30 parts)Tracking my caloric intake every day and keep within the limit set with my doctor (1,800 cal/day) - I learned last challenge that there are not so many calories in wine or liquor (except in the mixers), but I'm still going to minimize intake, though not as strictly as last challenge. I'm also going to continue to limit snacking, but doing the calorie counting seems to be taking care of that on its own. Per my doctor, I'm also watching cholesterol. (36 parts)Limiting TV watching to 2 hours on weekday nights - TV watching makes me less inclined to actually *do* anything. (30 parts)Be self-reflective by Meditating 5 times per week - Meditation allows me to clear my mind so that I can reflect with an unclouded perspective. (30 parts)Getting to bed by 11pm on weekday nights - Being over-tired also affects my ability to reflect on my internal state and govern myself thoughtfully. (24 parts)Committing to spiritual study 2 hours per week - Spiritual study allows me to look at some big picture questions, including what kind of person I want to be and where I want my life to go. (12 parts)Be self-reliant by Planning my expenses and tracking free money for each pay period - Budgeting like this prevents me from spending foolishly and being unable to take care of needs. I need to also start budgeting for eating out when I know my schedule will keep me on the road, in combination with those times I am able to take food from home. (3 parts)Planning a long-term budget, to include paying off credit card debt and saving for a down payment on a home (long-term), as well as paying for desired items/services like belly dancing, clothing, and home furnishings (short-term). point values, etc. Action - 96 parts; +2 Dex, +2 Sta, +1 Con +3 Str Introspection - 66 parts; +2 Wis, +1 Cha, +1 Con, +1 Sta Independence - 4 parts; +2 Wis This may still have some revisions, but this is it to start.

At the encouragement of RDNottingham, I have decided to go with a theme for this (and at least three other) challenges. I am going to use the Tarot suits as guides for my challenges. This challenge is the suit of Pentacles or Coins. Pentacles are symbolically tied to the element of Earth, whose aspects are strength, steadfastness, firmness, and determination (to name a few). I think this is pretty much in line with the characteristics I want to demonstrate this challenge. Pentacles are also connected to money (hence the second name for the suit, Coins, and a major part of this challenge for me), home (I will be moving before the end of the challenge), and fertility or creativity. To further help focus my mindset, I have pulled out my Tarot decks and studied the Ace of Pentacles. The Ace is the beginning, but like everything in nature, every beginning is also an end, so it is both my starting point and goal. I have the Sorcerer's deck (left) and Mythic deck (right - based on Greek mythology). When I look at the Mythic Ace of Pentacles, I see that this suit is transformative - not something I normally associate with Earth - but since Poseidon is the Ace here, that makes sense. When Earth changes, it usually requires things to get "shaken up" (Poseidon is the god of earthquakes, after all), so change isn't necessarily easy - it can feel like an upheaval. I can say I am not necessarily looking forward to that, but I do have to shake up some of my beliefs and get over some hangups (especially since I do tend to like just comfortably plodding along), and I am looking forward to a transformation. Additionally, the Mythic Ace shows that the end result is fruitful (grapevines) and rewarding. As for the Sorcerer's Ace of Pentacles, this card is what I call the Gandalf card (I hope someone else sees it, too). The Ouroboros (snake eating its tail) is a symbol of eternity, and also immortality. I have no idea how that ties in to my challenge, tbh, but it gives me sense that this is the turning of the wheel, a step in a longer journey. Because I see this as Gandalf, this is a card of mastery (even if it is a card of beginnings as an ace), or more accurately maybe, the journey to mastery (Gandalf started out in a different place than he ended up, of course), or to mentorship; Gandalf is the great mentor in LOTR, after all. For my challenge, I think it means I need to be ready to learn and to teach in turns, and this is definitely part of a longer journey for me. Alright, this post is starting to feel a bit tl;dr, so I will speak about what the Queen of Pentacles, specifically, means to me and how I intend to become one in another post.

So, here is my thread for work between challenges. I'll keep track of any exercises and other work I do between challenges, and ruminate on ideas for the next challenge. So far, I know I'm going to include financial health in the next challenge. Some of the things I'm already doing - limiting how often I buy coffee, taking breakfast bars with me when I'm on the run, etc. But the big thing I'm going to do is try to figure out which bills fall into which pay period, and figure out from there how much free money I have each pay period. And, to keep track of that, I'll use either play money or actual cash to track the free money - when it's out, I have no more. The end. Another thing I'm going to do is track my food every day, but give myself 6 passes. If I say I only need to track 4 days/week, I'll only do that, but I also don't want to set myself up to feel shitty if I go to a party or something. 6 passes is one pass per week, and I don't have to use them every week (because what if I have two parties in a week - I don't want to use them foolishly). The next thing I need to do is figure out why I'm not losing weight. I had even higher fitness goals this time and I didn't lose any weight. I maintained, but no weight-loss. I even focused more on eating healthier, which I neglected last challenge. I'm bummed and a little frustrated. But there has to be something I'm missing if I'm not losing weight and working so hard. A couple of things I'm thinking of - one is to cut down alcohol. I like having a glass or two a few nights a week, but those are empty calories. Another is to cut out snacking altogether, but that will be really tough. I get hungry between meals, and if I don't keep something around, I'm afraid I'll eat candy or end up bingeing. And lastly, I may use a calorie tracking app. I really, really don't want to do this. I have a very unhealthy emotional relationship with food, and calorie tracking brings up a whole lot of my hangups. So... I'm wavering on that. It might be the only realistic way to get a handle on what I need to do to see some progress. Finally, I'm toying of the idea with trying to use a theme for future challenges. I was thinking of using Tarot, and focusing on Pentacles/Coins for next challenge (perfect for finances and Earth, which is strength, stability, etc.). I thought of this once before, and then I had a nice title for next challenge that had nothing to do with Tarot, but I've forgotten it. So I'm back to Tarot. We'll see. (Yes, Chris, this is thanks to you.) Forgot to mention - did my 1 hour belly dance video today. The stuff that was super difficult last time was much easier this time. I'll get those moves down!

Ok, so here is my thread for the minis. I have a hard time doing these because I have a plan, and I like my plan, and then these things come and surprise me every week, lol. That's what it is to be a Taurus sometimes, I guess.

Ok, so, even though we're between challenges, I want to keep up what I did for my first challenge, and I want to start working toward the changes I want to make for the next one. So, in keeping with my first challenge - walk 3/week, belly dance 2/week, meditate 5/week. New changes (to be updated as they develop): healthier eating - track intake 3/week, and other things to be specified; TV watching limited to 2 hrs/weekday (weekends are freebies)... 4/6 - Did my walk. Also made "healthy" eating choices - had to go for fast food for two meals, but skipped the fries both times.

Here is where I will be posting my adventures for the minis!

Overall Goal My first challenge was focused on getting my pants to fit. Now that many pairs of them do, I want to make sure I banish those gnomes that sneak into my closet during the quiet, still night and use their tailoring skills to make unexpected alterations. I want to do this while increasing my ability to fly through the air under my own propulsion. Subgoals 1. Continue to improve my diet by increasing to 75% of my meals following paleo principles: I was very skeptical of the paleo diet when I started my first challenge 7 weeks ago. I am not a complete convert right now, but oh my goodness, what a difference eating 60-70% of my meals as part of a paleo plan has made. It takes a lot of planning and time to eat this way, and so realistically 75% is going to be a challenging, yet attainable goal for me. I want to learn new paleo recipes while continuing to eat AND loose weight at the same time! Please feel free to provide suggestions for easy meal recipes. 2. Continue healthy habits learned in my previous challenge, which includes working out 4 times a week and logging all food and exercise: Increasing to working out 4 times a week has been great! I definitely want to keep that up, and want to keep logging all my food intake and exercise. Depending on how this challenge goes, I might be at a point at the end where I don't need to log every single calorie, but for now, this really makes me think about what I am putting into my body, and helps me track which meals were paleo and which weren't. 3. Get Faster! I have a love-hate relationship with running. I love the way I feel when running, but I hate what the scale looks like after long, steady-state runs. I recently joined a running class where I am learning about the massive benefits of interval training. On the first day of class we did a timed mile and my time was 7:14. I would like to get down under 7, and sometime during the course of this challenge, I'd like to sign up for another race and hopefully PR (I PR'd y 4 minutes in the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in April--woo hoo!). I will be posting details of my running class and will welcome encouragement of any kind! I am super excited to be joining the scouts guild. Can't wait to start flying!! Starting Stats: 158.2 pounds, waist at belly button: 33", natural waist: 30.5", lower abs: 36", hips: 38.5", R thigh: 23", L thigh: 22.5", chest: 33", R arm: 12", L arm: 11.75" Mile Time: 7:14 10 mile race pace: 8:17

Aaaand I'm back. Well, I was always around, lurking/creepin' on the forums and dutifully reading my biweekly NF emails, so let's say I'm back and actively participating. So, let's get down to business, shall we? Main Quest: To lose 10 pounds and/or 5% bodyfat. Bikini season is soon upon us, ya'll. SUMMER IS COMING! Current stats: 142 lbs, 28% body fat, 5'5", single white female (j/k j/k). How to do it? 1) Ketosis. Can I get an "Amen"? I'm pretty much in love with the ketogenic diet. After going full paleo since the beginning of the year, I started playing with ketosis for a month now and love my results. I've been following a "paleo" version of it, so no dairy but lots of coconut and olive oil, fish, fatty grass-fed goodness (I'm salivating), etc. I'll follow a paleo-ketogenic diet 97%. By 97% I mean, one "off" meal a week that will probably throw me out of ketosis, but it better be so worth it. I've tried having "weekends off" or even one "off" day a week, but have found that my weight jumps up 5 pounds, then takes all week to get back to my pre-cheat-day weight. Yes, I do weigh myself everyday. Yes, I know doing that doesn't give me the most accurate information about true weight loss. But I like to start my day off knowing I'm making progress, cos usually it's a good number. So anyway, paleo-keto 97% of the time. I'll be tracking my macros and calories on myfitnesspal, aiming for 1400 calories a day (this is surprisingly hard for me to hit. I find myself eating coconut oil off a spoon sometimes to get that high). 2) Drink a gallon of water a day. A ketogenic diet is naturally diuretic, so keeping a close eye on hydration is key. I know I don't drink enough water daily. After I left my water bottle at a doctor's office a few weeks ago, I've haven't been putting effort into my water intake. 3) Follow Barbell Battalion Lvl 1 Started this last week and am OBSESSED with the barbell! So basically for this challenge I'll be at the gym 3x/week following the workout plan. Gotta get dem stallion legs. Motivation: Again, SUMMER IS COMING! More specifically, I'm taking a river trip down in Austin in June with a huge group of folks. I want to look hella good in that new bikini I'm going to get myself when this challenge is complete. #epicloot

Main Quest: Lose Weight Sub Quests: Drink 2L of water everyday. Do Bodyweight workout 3 times per week. No snacking after 8pm. Motivation:I am a husband.I am a father of 3 (aged: 4, 2 and new).I plan to be around for a long time - and enjoying every minute of it - with them. I will post later with some starting stats (weight, measurements, etc).

Main Quest: To build up a solid foundation of habits to propel me towards my ultimate goal of being a master of my own body weight. Grades: All goals will be converted to a percentage completed successfully and given a grade letter as shown A = 90 – 100% complete = 100% of the rewards B = 80 – 90% complete = 75% of the rewards C = 70 – 80% complete = 50% of the rewards D = 60 – 70% complete = 25% of the rewards F = less than 60% complete = no rewards First Mission: Lose the Extra Poundage. Continuing from my last partial challenge, I’ll be carving off the extra pounds. My Target weight is 190 lbs. It is where I feel my best and it is also where I need to be to earn the $500 Weight Loss incentive from my health insurance company. Grading: Grading will be based on the percent of days (out of 42) where my net Calories are no more than 1500 Calories. This should have me losing at somewhere near 2 lbs per week I hope. I will use My Fitness Pal to track Calories consumed and burned through exercise. I will have one bonus day per week where my Calorie Limit will be 2300 (my approximate BMR). Rewards: + 2 Constitution and + 1 Charisma after week 3 + 1 Constitution after challenge Second Mission: Build Functional Strength Here I will build the strength foundation for mastering my body weight. I will be faithfully following the Convict Conditioning New Blood program. One day per week (usually Monday’s) I will work the Push-up and Leg Raise movements. A well separated second day of the week (usually Friday’s) I will work the Pull-up and Squat movements. These will always include warm up sets and stretching afterwards. Grading: Grading will be based on the percent of planned (12 total) that are completed faithfully to the program and with warm up and stretching. Rewards: + 1 Strength and + 1 Dexterity after week 3 + 1 Strength after challenge Third Mission: Build Endurance and Burn Calories. To support my weight loss and build endurance, I will be attacking the cardio. I enjoy swimming and it gets my whole body into the act so I will be dominating the 0 to 1650 Swim Challenge. This challenge demands swimming 3 days per week with a strict regimen to conquer swimming a swimmer’s mile (1650 yards) by the end of 6 weeks. This of course works splendidly with the NF 6 week challenge. Grading: This will be graded based on the number of days that I complete the recommended workout based on the number of workouts planned (18 total). It will not be based on achieving the non-stop mile. If I need to repeat a workout because I’m struggling, then I will, but I must always be challenged. Rewards: + 2 Stamina Points after week 3 + 1 Stamina Point after challenge Life Mission: Be Productive – Make Progress Okay, so I struggle with staying productive on things I need to get done at work and home, especially when I’m obsessing about something “newâ€. I’m also an information addict which makes it even harder. My mission here is to stay productive at work and at home. At work, this will mean that for each work day, I will not allow anything non-work to cause a significant hit to my productivity. Non-work related things are okay as long as they don’t consume much time or are not on the clock. At home, this will mean making significant progress on something every day. It doesn’t have to be a lot, just something that moves me forward at home. This could be cleaning out a draw, time spent organizing my paperwork, or deep cleaning a room. Grading: I will grade my work and home productivity separately and then take the average of the two grades for my overall grade. There are 30 work days and 42 total days in the 6 week challenge. So if I am productive at work 22 days and at home 35 days, then my grade would be 22 out of 30 for work or 73% and 35 out of 42 for home or 83%. Total grade would then be the average of 73% and 83% which is 78%. Rewards: + 3 Wisdom after 3 weeks + 1 Wisdom after challenge Motivation: To be a Master of my own body weight and an example of health to my wife and kids.

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I'm joining late, but hope to use this to make diet and exercise a priority again in my life. I started a challenge a couple months ago, but life got crazy quickly and I needed to bow out. I'm starting again a bit simpler. I will set some simple easy goals for this partial challenge to set myself up for the next challenge. Main Quest: Lose 23 Pounds. My reasons are two fold. First, I entered a weight loss incentive 2-3 months ago through my Insurance Provider that will pay me $500 when I reach 190 pounds (I'm currently at about 213 pounds). Second, and most importantly, I have lost the weight before and feel much better physically and psychologically. My challenge goals (for the next 3 weeks) are: Consume no more than 1500 Calories per day.Spend at least 15 minutes per day on some kind of Cardio activity allowing just one rest day per week.Drink 6 cups (48 oz) of water per day[edited to allow for a rest day from my daily cardio commitment]

I've decided to just pop up this little battle log and log in the foods I eat along with my workouts and how I feel that day. Might as well start making myself accountable, and a little discipline. I'm seeing some results, but I know that my diet has been bleh and not following the workout plans advice. Goals: Weight loss. Losing 1-2 pounds a week or more. Attempting a 20 pound loss before June 15, my sisters wedding. Strength: doubling my starting strength from the beginning of my routine: 75% complete Education: Not only expanding my mind on eating-right, but also in my studies in becoming an actor and director. Work: Keeping up with my directing scenes along with my recent job. Other: Keep off sodas and reduce caffine consumption. Stay the hell away from fast food places for awhile and their value menus. 4/6/2013 Todays Food: PB n' J 2 Coffee with cream and sugar (guilty pleasure) Banana can of low sodium v8 juice Improvised chicken and vegetable stir fry 2-3 spoonfulls of the mint chocolate chip icecream in my freezer Water consumption: 3 large glasses

Hello everyone! I just discovered Nerd Fitness yesterday from the r/loseit subreddit and I am really excited and glad that I did! I am a 23 year old female, my starting weight was around 219 and I'm currently 214 and a half-ish. I don't have an actual scale in the house, just using the wii fit for monthly weigh-in's. I've always been a bit on the heavy side, but since getting married almost three years ago I have gained more. I decided that I needed to make a change for the better. Before I ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and most of the time I wasn't really hungry or I would be hungry but would go way overboard with portions. I started counting my calories around two weeks ago. I'm trying to stay around 1200 calories a day. I'm still not the most active, nut I am easing myself into it. I've been mostly sedentary but I am now walking every other day for around a half hour and on the other days I do different workouts at home including cardio, abs, legs, etc. I really want to make a lifestyle change. I've tried losing weight in the past but it was never about getting to a new and better me. This time around I am really focused on making positive lasting changes. I have cut out all soda and I pretty much just drink a ton of water (it's my favorite drink anyway) and the occasional green tea. I'm trying to limit carbs as well. I've switched to whole grain pastas and brown rices and I only have those maybe once or twice a week. I've also been working on eating more lean meats, mainly chicken and fish. I also enjoy vegetables or fruit with most meals. I love me some salty crunchy snacks so some days I have rice cakes of varying flavors. I would eventually be interested in trying the paleo diet, but right now I'm not quite ready to give up all my carbs. My short term goal is to be under 200 pounds by my birthday, April 15th. My long term goals are to be healthier, make smart choices, exercise more, and feel great about who I am inside and out. I know these goals are a little vague right now, but I am planning on setting up some serious goals to reach soon. My final overall goal is to be in the healthy/average range for my BMI, which I don't think I have ever been in as an adult. I appreciate everyone who has read this! I welcome any and all advice, help, support or whatever else! I am excited to be a part of this community and look forward to sharing my achievements and struggles here!

The gnome walks under it. ba dum ching! Hi, I'm me, and I'm on an apparently endless weight loss journey. I've been pretty significantly over-weight for most of my life, though looking back on pictures of me at 18 now I can't help but think "I want to be fat like THAT again!" I capped out at 347 pounds in 2010 and maintained that weight until early 2012, when I first started making changes. For reference, I am female, 5'9" and 29 years old. I've had a life-long problem with binge eating and emotional binges, secret eating, and obsession with food and dieting. Obviously, no fad diet I tried ever worked. I am Italian and was raised 'vegetarian' which in my family's case meant 'eat lots of grains and soy and processed bullshit with lots of sweets and a couple veggies on the side once in a awhile and also PASTA PASTA PASTA!' I decided to give up soda as my 2012 resolution and that worked out really well for me. One day while browsing le internet about clean living I found a website called Mark's Daily Apple. I started reading, and I didn't stop reading until my lunch break (obviously I do all my best net browsing at work. ) when I decided that this was a way of eating philosophy I could get behind. From there I found other favorite sites like Whole9 and NomNomPaleo, and from then on I was obsessed with paleo/primal eating and living. I had incredible success, and preached loud and long to anyone who would listen. I lost 50 pounds over the course of 5 months. For the first time in my adult life, I was under 300 pounds. I lost more, and my lowest weight was 287. I tossed out all my old pants that didn't fit and bought 2 new pairs of jeans 2 sizes smaller that actually fit! I was thrilled and things were great. Then came some rough times. My long distance boyfriend and I began having some MAJOR problems, which I won't delve into here because we're both in counseling to work through it. But during the holidays of November and December I became a wreck. I started eating fast food... first once a day, then twice, then 2 combos in one sitting with a 40 ounce cherry coke. My skin started breaking out, my hair got nasty, and in just 2 short months I gained back 15 pounds. I felt sick all the time, and so angry with myself. The junk food consumption couldn't be stopped, I was like a walking garbage disposal on a mission to consume all the things. And consume them I did. In January of this year my poor behavior continued until this weekend when I resolved at long last to get back to what I know is the right way to be. Eating whole healthy foods and living a purposeful, minimalist life is very important to me, and I can't do that if I harming myself by ingesting poisons willfully and paying for them hand over fist (because believe me, fast food the way I did it is NOT cheap). I really want to do Tai Chi and CrossFit, but I keep chickening out and using the cost to justify not doing it. >.< Exercise terrifies me, I'm entirely sedentary and have been my whole life, was always a book nerd, never played a single sport. I did try Yoga last year but I found it incredibly difficult at times and it made me feel ill so I quit. >.< So here I am, I need some accountability and making it into a game sounded like too much fun to pass up. :3 I play WoW (for da Horde!) and work in the gaming industry as well, so when I found NF I was like, OMG *flappy hands of excitement!* I am also trying to get my boyfriend to eat better as he has the opposite problem from me, he is 6'2" and weighs maybe 120 lbs soaking wet, skips meals all the time and eats a lot of junky carbs. Sugar and processed bread carbs are my absolute kryptonite, so I know those are the things I MUST eliminate. Thanks for reading. I like to write lots of TLDR. Current Weight: 306 Goal Weight: A soft and curvy but healthy 180 lbs to start Way of Eating: Paleo (with occasional full fat dairy) Weight Loss Groove: Ketosis (carbs < 20) Things I wish I Did: Tai Chi, Yoga, CrossFit

Well, I did pretty well the last six weeks in staying with my goals. Despite that, I didn't actually lose any weight and I don't feel as if my body fat has gone down (although I've built a decent amount of muscle). I want my next goals to be focused on weight loss. According to the BMI tool listed in a previous NF post, if I'm mostly sedentary throughout the day I cannot consume more than 1500 calories. I'm thinking of adding in a calorie count limit each day, but part of my brain really HATES the thought of needing to record everything I eat. Especially when its difficult to get an accurate calorie count for anything not listed on a menu. Therefore, I'm thinking of keeping a floating goal of about 1600 calories per day. One day a week I wont bother counting calories. The 1600 each day is floating, due to some items being difficult to count accurately. That way I wont feel guilty saying "okay I think that dinner was around 550 calories" without worrying about specifics. I'll also be cutting a lot of bread products out of my diet. Not full Paleo - I love my dairy, but less bread and smaller portions. Other goals would include continuing with my weight training, and something to increase my flexibility. Yoga maybe, or dance. For my life goal, I want it to be home related. I have a lot of home projects for the coming year and I need to get started. Setting up drapes, fencing the dog, getting a garden started, and more. If I put in an hour or two a week devoted to these goals I can accomplish a lot over time. My final question is - should I give myself a weight goal? Or just have a set of calories I need to stay under each day and/or week?