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Hello everyone! This challenge shall be themed after one of my favourite games evah, The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim. I’ll be channeling 3 in-game groups of characters: The companions, The Restoration Mages at the College of Winterhold and the Graybeards. The Companions: Tamriel's Fighters Guild has no presence in Skyrim. Instead, warriors seeking adventure and kinship may join the Companions, in Whiterun. The members of this brotherhood favour honor and physical prowess. The Companions represent training, 2 Crossfit classes and 2 Bodyweight sessions a week. The Restoration Mages: Restoration is a rather unpopular specialization among the wizards of Skyrim, especially novice ones, since the harnessing and conquer of nature’s destructive powers seems more appealing to them. Until they need a healing spell to save their lives, that is. Restoration represents nutrition, the most unpopular element of body recomposition. Sure, exercise is all nice and fun; harnessing and conquering the destructive powers of fitness. But no amount of exercise will recompose your sorry arse if you keep stuffing your face with pizza and cake. Eat paleo with a weekly variance allowed, making daily posts of macros and caloric intake as shown by MyFitnessPal The Greybeards: Masters of the Thu’um, the Way of the Voice. The Greybeards live in silent isolation atop Skyrim’s largest mountain called The Throat of the World. The Greybeards represent study. They study words of power to develop(in the course of a lifetime) a deep understanding of the words in Dovah-Zul, the language of dragons. Hopefully it will not take me that long to achieve sufficient understanding of the psychology textbooks to get my degree. I'll study for at least 2 pomodoros every day Companions(Training) Restoration Mages(Nutrition) Greybeards(Study) Got good news from the surgeon after a complete check, which I absolutely hated BTW TMI ALERT! He confirmed that the hernia was A-ok and the pain was caused by a swelling in the blood vessels around the area which would mimic the symptoms(pain, dissconfort,etc), probably due to a physical effort done with improper technique, causing to much preasure inside the abdomen while bracing. I descibed in detail to him what CF is and he cleared me to do it but sad to give it the rest of the week to rest, so I'm starting again just in time for week 1! Watch the sky travellers!

Hey guys, I'm super new to Nerd Fitness and have just started my fitness plan myself. Looking to lose a large amount of weight and become a healthier happier person. Looking for someone to come on this journey with me so we can inspire each other and keep each other going. Also great to just have someone to chat with about your achievements and your misses. If you're looking for someone to please hit me up as I would love to go on this journey with you Thanks! Kiah

I'm 32 years old, male, weigh 225lbs and have 29% body fat. For workouts, I follow a lot of the advice from Mike Matthews where each day that I work out (3-5x) I lift compound lifts and focus on lifting heavy weight in the 4-6 rep range in set of 8-9 with 2-3 minutes of rest. I then do some accessory work. I also do HIIT training using the rowing machine 2-3x a week for 20 minutes. I have noticed strength gains since starting his program, but the numbers on the scale aren't budging. Over the past couple weeks, I've lost about a inch from my waist. I eat ~1500 calories a day using MyFitnessPal and ~150g of protein a day. I'm on the EC stack as well. My goal would be to weigh ~175lbs and have 10-15% body fat. Should I increase my protein? Take creatine? Eat more (am I at too large of a deficit)? Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thank you, AJ

Brief Background 3 Years and two pregnancies can do a lot to breakdown a persons fitness level. So I've gone from being able to do 100 consecutive push ups to barely being able to do 3. I want to come back stronger and fitter than ever. I've currently got about an extra 10 pounds of fat, that I want to be rid of, but I know if I just focus on building strength and stamina, it'll go away without me focusing too much on it. I am currently exclusively breastfeeding, so while I'll be trying to make the best food choices I can, my diet for the most part won't change. Game Plan -To rebuild a solid foundation - I will be doing the Darebee Foundation Program - It's light, quick and hits all those foundational points I'll be focusing on for the next four weeks, easing back into fitness. - Daily Dares & Weekly Quests - This is like an injection of fun into my days -Mon, Wed, Fri Push ups- Week 1 - 5x5 (x) Week 2 - 10x5 () Week 3 - 15x5 () Week4 - 20x5 () I've really tried to keep my plan challenging but still easy and quick, with a baby and a toddler, I'll be pressed for time. Life Quest Genesis (x) Exodus () Leviticus () Numbers () Matthew (x) Mark (x) Luke () John () I'm not expecting this to be too difficult. We will see. That's all for now.

Not with a bang but a whimper, Juni0r83’s not so triumphant return So it’s been a while since I was active here. Basically, not since the last lifting competition. And not a lot has changed. I switched from 5/3/1 to the Texas Method of Power lifters. And I’ve gained about 13.5kg. In four months. Yeah I suck. So, the Texas Method has been going really quite well. Which is to say that I’ve finally managed to get my training maxes to line up pretty much with my actual maxes from the last virtual lifting competition (once again, yeah I suck). And I’ve finally found a diet system that I think I can stick with, now I just have to actually implement it. That’s where this challenge comes in, the diet stuff, cause I finally feel like I’m starting to actually do well at the lifting stuff. My challenge will therefore be to eat stuff that helps me get where I want to go. And where I want to go is a healthier weight class. Which one, I’m not entirely sure just yet, as I’m not sure where my body will find its resting point until I get there, all I know is: 138.5kg is not it. So, let’s talk about my actual goals. Start planning your evening meals so that they fit your overall goals. That is, 400 calories per meal, with plenty of protein. Not complicated, mostly about portion control, shouldn’t be too hard. But, we’ll see how it goes. 1 point for each day that I eat a 400 calorie evening meal (total possible score: 28 points). Actually eat breakfast on my non-working days. I still tend to sleep too late on the days I’m not rostered on, and as a result skip breakfast, which then makes me feel like I can overeat on my subsequent meals for the day. Only problem is I always end up eating too much, and it becomes kind of a negative downward spiral. Once again, 1 point for each day that I eat breakfast when rostered off (total possible score: 14 points) Eat my healthy lunch on days when I’m not working. Basically what happens here is I’m not being disciplined enough to stay on track when my wife isn’t motivated to do so. And likewise she isn’t being disciplined enough to stay on track when I’m not motivated to do so. Yes, we’re enablers. And so far it’s resulting in 5+ times per week takeaway. I’m not saying takeaway can’t be a part of a healthy balanced diet, but we definitely take it to excess. So, If I stick to my chicken salads on my days off, it’ll be one less thing that I can be derailed by. And hopefully it’ll help my wife stay on track too. And again, 1 point for each day that I eat my salad when I’m rostered off (or soup with my wife as she doesn’t like salad). (total possible score: 14 points) So at the end of this, I should have a score out of 56 points. Normally I would then break it down into percentages (85%+ for an A, 70%-85% for a B, 50%-70% for a C, and everything else is a fail, just like when I was at high school). But instead, I’ll base my reward on my performance. Obviously getting the highest score will result in getting all of the rewards, and I won’t wait until the end of the challenge to get them all. As I hit a target point score, I’ll get myself the reward. And hopefully I’ll also be rewarded with a decent weight loss by the end of this whole thing too. <30 – no reward. Suck it up princess; you should have done better if you wanted cool swag. 30+ - wrist wraps 40+ - knee sleeves 50+ - squat shoes This is probably the most reward driven challenge I’ve run so far. Now let’s just hope that I don’t run out of money before the end of it and can’t afford my rewards!

This chapter follows the time line of The Legend of a Banished Man. The wolf-warrior has survived the fight against Rurik, the immortal, but the injury he suffered has affected his shape-shifting. A Beast I Am The man was sitting beside the fire, carefully honing the edge of a broken seax with a small whetstone. Somehow tip had broken off inside the hunter’s ribcage taking the first rune of the engraving with it. His brother’s seax… now instead of “RAGNAR” the engraving spelled “AGNAR” “Agnarr… one who inspires awe”, he translated. “Not a bad name either” Once the blade was razor sharp he sheathed it but kept it close, there shouldn’t be anybody around, but one could never be sure. His mind drifted towards his last fight, the one he had with the hunter named Rurik in those woods. He unconsciously touched the scar left by the hunter’s axe on his chest… the only scar he’s ever had since he took his oath and turned for the first time. And since the encounter with Rurik his transformation lasted less and less. He even felt, slower, weaker; his senses duller. “Am I losing it? Ragnar is dead, Njal is dead; they are all dead. If I can’t turn my clan dies with my inner wolf”, He thought to himself “I need to recover my true form”. That’s how the brothers referred to their animal form. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound horses. Four men rode to his small fire, all wearing richly embroidered tunics, rings and necklaces. “Good evening kinsman”, the youngest of them greeted ”My men and I are scouting the lands of the Jarl, my father, in search of a poacher who’s been killing the animals that by right belong to my father. You'll tell me your name and reason to be out here alone, at once" "Of course, milord. Agnarr is my name", it was the first name that came to his head, of course he wouldn't tell his real name to those people. "And I'm just making a stop on my way to the market. I'll leave at dawn's first light, I swear" he tried to sound as simple and honest as he could. "And may I ask what you inted to sell at the market? I see no goods around here" the young nouble asked. "Damn it" thought Agnarr "I'm getting bored of this lad" "I'm the merchandize, sire! I sing for the noble, merchants and beggars alike. Would milord want to hear a tune?”, Agnarr took a risk for he was no singer, but he knew the noble man would be disgusted at a street troubadour. “Ugh. Gods, no!” he turned to his men “let’s go, there’s no point on searching in the dark”. “And you”. He looked at Agnarr. ” I want you out by sunrise” “Sure thing, milord!” the fake accommodating tone wasn’t very convincing, but the men were already on their way to the Jarl’s homestead. Of course he didn’t intended to visit the market at all, but leaving at sunrise seemed to be the smartest choice. He wrapped his cloak around him and fell asleep right there on the ground. In his dream, Ragnar called him but the warrior’s feet were slow and every step was a struggle, like he was submerged knee-deep in honey. “C’mon little brother, hurry up! Run, don’t let him get you” Ragnar kept on calling Agnarr looked over his shoulder and saw a horrible monster, made out of black smoke; with a thousand red eyes, chasing after him. “Brother, help!” he tried to run faster, but it was of no use. “What are you doing? Turn to your true form!” , Ragnar’s voice echoed inside his skull. “I can’t!” suddenly he was a boy again. The monster started to take form: now it had only two eyes of fire and the shape of a bearded man wielding a ludicrously big double-bitted axe. “Of course you can! The animal is inside of you, let it out!” Ragnar now spoke with Njal’s voice. It’s funny how dreams mix and mangle our memories, yet they seem alright at the moment. “Feel its growls, hear it howl and let it out damn it!” Njal’s voice filled his head like a sea storm. Agnarr’s heart was pounding so fast he thought it would explode. Right when it seemed that actually would happen, he turned: his growls louder and wilder than ever; the claws and fangs sharp as damascus steel blades. The transformed warrior turned to the monster in the shape of a man and slashed its face with a powerful strike of his claws. The monster let out a terrible scream and before it could re-build it took another claw to the gut. The monster seemed defeated; Agnarr raised another claw. As he went in for the killing blow, the face of the monster took form again and Rurik’s voice sounded clear as a mountain river and loud as thunder “You filthy beast! You can’t kill me”. The smoke figure off the hunter drove his axe into the werewolf’s chest and then… the sun rose on the horizon. Agnarr found himself still wrapped in the cloak. “That was rotten dream, if anything”, he stood up, ready to leave. All through that day he felt different, invigorated and at the same time, like he was still dreaming. The breeze brought the smell of flowers; he could hear the squirrels on the trees, the birds taking fly. It seemed like the country had abruptly come to life. At night he encountered a road inn, and for the first time in what seemed like years, he decided to rent a room. He traded some of his dried goods for a bed and board and spent the night sipping light ale. Around midnight, he went outside to relieve his bladder. He was almost done when he heard a voice behind him. “Took a while to find you. Missing your furry self, eh wolf?”. He turned around to face and couldn’t believe his eyes: There was Rurik alive and kicking. He was not bluffing when he said it was impossible to kill him. “How?... It cannot be! I killed you, I drove that axe of yours right into your back” Agnarr slowly reached for his seax while speaking. “You are not the only one whose injuries disappear… except for that one that is” laughed Rurik pointing at the wolf-warrior’s chest. “how do you like my axe now?” the hunter’s laughter made Agnarr’s blood boil. His hand grasped the seax handle. With a swift motion, he unsheathed, cleared the distance between the two and stroke across Rurik’s face with the broken seax, slashing it right open. Knowing it would heal quickly he kept on attacking; cutting and stabbing as much as he could. “Enough!” roared the hunter, tackling the werewolf to the ground. Weapons flew through the air, leaving both combatants unarmed. They rolled on the dirt trading vicious punches until Rurik took the top and landed three haymakers on Agnarr’s face, leaving him stunned. With a grip like a vice, the hunters hands wrapped around the werewolf’s throat. “Trust me mate, there’s no healing for asphyxiation”, Rurik said, blood staining his teeth “so you’re in for a really shitty death”. Agnarr felt himself fainting. His heart pounded inside his chest like it was going to blow; it pounded so hard he could feel it on his head. All of a sudden, Njals voice:” The animal is inside of you, let it out!”, his vision was blurring “Feel its growls, hear it howl and let it out damn it!”. He felt like his heart had exploded. All his muscles contracted violently, his blood boiled inside of him. He heard Rurik’s voice like it came from far, far away “what in the world?... “. Before he realized it, he was standing tall, bearing his true form. The hunter looked desperately for his axe, but the werewolf was in a rage. Claws and fangs tore the flesh of the hunter. He turned to human form again, but this time he did it at his will. “Let’s see how you heal once I rip your heart out” he shouted at the bleeding hunter. In the blink of an eye the scene was filed with riders bearing weapons and torches: A band of werewolf hunters. “Look what we’ve got here” started the leader ”seize him!”. A heavy club hit Agnarr on the back of the head, sending him groggily to the ground. When he woke up he found himself in chains, lying on the ground where he fell. As his vision cleared he saw Rurik on horseback, his hands tied behind his back with a rope around his neck: they were executing him. A fur bound hunter came by “wakey wakey wolf!” he was clearly drunk. “who could have thought that the fella’ you torn to shreds was mighty ole Rurik”. A much bigger man shoved the drunk aside and crouched next to Agnarr, it was the leader of the group. “He is a drunk fool you know” that man wasn’t drunk and his tone resembled more of a scholar rather than a hunter ”but he’s right. Your ‘friend’ here is very famous. He’s the one slaying entire bands of wolves like you” “Why are you hanging him if he’s one of yours?” Agnarr asked, trying to wobble his hands free of the chains without the man noticing “He’s not one of us” answered the man ”he’s our enemy you see. Every wolf he kills is a bag of silver we don’t cash and this whole being immortal business makes it quite unfair, don’t you think?” The man looked rather entertained. “Unlike your kind who heals immediately in wolf shape, and not at all in human shape” the man explained ”our mutual acquaintance here takes a bit to heal, but he does it no matter what. That said, there are ways to kill an ‘immortal’, y’know? ripping his hear out, chopping his head off or hanging him to death. Somehow hanging won the poll” He seemed disappointed. As the man spoke, Agnarr had managed to release his left hand. The man walked away a few steps and then turned around as if he had remembered something “Oh, and don’t try to turn and brake those chains, they won’t break and the change in size will cause your bones to shatter. You are wanted alive”. He released his right hand off of the chains. He would have to make a run for it. “I know I’ll regret this” he thought. As quick as he could get rid of the chains, he rushed past one of the hunters taking the sword from the man’s belt. He got to the tree where Rurik was about to hang and with a single motion hacked through the rope, then turned around and killed the first man that came at him. He took the dead man’s axe. “Don’t make me regret this” he shouted at Rurik while cutting the rope that bound his hands. He gave him the sword and kept the axe for himself. Rurik dismounted and split the head of the first attacker with a powerful swing of the sword. Agnarr watched as the bearded man dispatched another enemy and then turned around to face his share of foes. He spotted the leader of the band a couple meters away. It was a clear trajectory. The axe flew throw the air and sunk deep into the leader’s chest. Bearing a smile of satisfaction Agnarr turned again with a vicious howl. The werewolf tore up enemies with his claws and fangs alike, punching them into the air and stomping them on the ground. He took a couple spears and swords to his legs and torso, but the wounds healed almost instantly. As he slashed through the last of his foes, he searched for Rurik. Found him getting rid of the last two hunters. He had recovered his axe at some point and he was swinging it wildly, keeping the adversaries at bay. One of the hunters went for it and had the horn of the axe driven into his throat. The last one tried to surrender but a beastly blow with the axe landed on his neck, severing his head altogether. The immortal and the werewolf stared at each other for a second, not knowing what to do. Agnarr, was expecting Rurik to come rushing for a final stand, but the hunter calmly sheathed his weapon. The werewolf returned to his human form without losing sight of Rurik, who was taking one of the horses. Both men looked at each other one more time, nodded and parted ways. The dust of the riding hunter was still visible when Agnarr mounted, after seizing clothing and gear from the dead hunters, heading west. This is the last challenge of the Becoming Ulfhedinn series, focusing on the shapeshifting skill of the character(beast mode anyone?). While I'm 100% positive I can´t turn myself into a werewolf Companions style, that doesn't mean I can't get in and out of beast mode -more or less- at will. This challenge will be aimed at achieving this as well as "beasting" in other areas as well. Goals: - Find my inner beast: Meditate at least 3 times a week, 10min before bed, focusing on the positive aspects of my life and myself. - Brains and Brawn: Study every day implementing the pomodoro technique - Animal FORM: I realized the reason why I don't like high rep lifting for some movements is that I'm not very good at mantaining proper form. Practice form with light weight on my home gym every weekend, be it saturday or sunday. Aditional beasting - I'm gonna take up intermitent fasting again. It used to work fairly well but for some reason I stopped doing it. The idea is to fast for 16-18 hours and do my workout immediately after on CrossFit days. On non-CF days I'm deppending on Nare's shedule so the workouts will fall where they may. Of course I'm still eating paleo with 1 variance/week I think that's all. Let's do this!

Remember the first 10 years of your life? Play, learn, eat, sleep. For me it was in the 1970's. We are headed back to that decade to get priorities in order. Hopefully for some, it is a walk down memory lane and for others, an insight on why some of us old timers are pretty much insane. We have my stepson most of the summer and he has been wanting to lift. He also likes basketball. He is tall for his age and not overweight. Good starting point for good habits. He eats way to much sugar, fast food and take outs at moms. I hope to inspire him during this challenge and have it motivate me not to let him down. Play. 1. Lift on universal T, Th, Sat. Going to record PB and improve from there. Bonus points if we can get hubby lifting too. By next challenge want whole family to go and use free weights but we have to start somewhere. 3pts/week 2. @skinNbones posted this last challenge. http://www.basketballforcoaches.com/vertical-jump/ Going to slightly modify and do on M, W, F 3pts/week 3. 10,000 steps a day 6 days a week. Giving myself a little wiggle room here. 6pts/week Learn. Read a book. Make the time. 3 reading sessions a week. Clean up paperwork and file/pitch. 3 sessions a week. Total 6pts/week Eat. Started to sway a bit to much for my liking. Paleo is getting further away. Need to get Back on track. I will get more specific later but will track on MFP daily. My garden is full Of wonderful things so this shouldn't be hard. Sleep. I am normally pretty good here but want to lead by example for step son. No electronics 1 hr prior to bed, and TV exception for 1/2 hour before bed. Using 30 minutes for a nighttime pampering routine. I am going to attempt 10:30 bedtime weekdays and 11pm weekends. 7pts/week Mini Challenges for myself each week based on Schoolhouse rock favorites. You are invited to join in and give me a challenge based on your favorite! Trivia. 1970's music trivia at least Monday thru Friday. ******Bonus******. If you are first to get trivia correct you can give me up to 50 additional BBWW exercises to do that day. thanks in advance for all of your support.

Well, well, here I am yet again, I was seriously not going to do another Challenge, they were becoming frustrating, repetitive and just an excuse to suck and fail! However, not this time Zurg! I am taking this in a different direction. I lift, I know that, I eat, I know that too, but one of these things is not getting me to where I want to, or need to be. Healthy weight for height and off BP meds. I will give you a hint............*whispers* it's not lifting. I have figured that I am not an emotional eater, proved last week. I am not a bored eater, proved because you know life gets that way every now and then, my problem with food is I LIKE IT! My portion size control panel has a glitch! I do admit to grazing during the day, then boom, meals are gonna be worth the effort I put into cooking them. Unlike many, eating out in country Australia is not an option, so home cooked is the norm for me and the Lads. So if I put all the effort in I am going to enjoy it. So my excuse for eating this way..........my pregnancies. I shit you not. Before falling pregnant with Son1, I had a diet of cigarettes and alcohol and hard work rousing in the shearing sheds, think Third World Squats 8 hours a day with weight between 2-15kg, running (HIIT) the board between 5-12metres. It's what we did, how I lived for years, 175cm tall and weighing about 57-60kg, not a good look unless you were going for the heroin chic of the day. My first pregnancy, young, stupid and still in an era of "Eat for 2"........alright! Son1 *9lbs12oz*, lost the weight, because he was a hungry little sucker and milk production was a must, eating did not slow down! Second pregnancy, twins! Fuck yeah eat for 3! Son2 *7lbs4oz*, Son3 *6lbs11oz*, plus all the goop that goes with growing babies, over 16lbs of babies and stuffs! My body did not bounce back, there was a flap of skin/fat (apron) that has been with me ever since, I lost the weight and was a healthy 80kg again, and EATING everything! Feeding 2 babies for 14 months was a great way to lose weight! Plus running around after a energetic 2 year old and no help as Roly was still working away as he had done since Son1 was born. Son4 hit *10lbs11oz* he was big! So was my appetite. The skin fold was now worse, lost baby weight with a bit more effort than last time, but his appetite was voracious so keeping up supply was more important than stupid skinny jeans that were all the rage! The Dr's tested for Gestational Diabetes but I dodged that bullet............this time. Son5 *9lbs12oz*, gestational diabetes and strict diet plan, managed to settle down after his birth but now the weight was there and stuck and gross. I still liked my food and feeding my babies and he was not letting go until he was ready, 14 months worth of nursing! I began swimming again and trying to be good, but I was eating carb laden foods, easy and cheap for a growing family. Son6 *9lbs12oz* but wanted to come out bum first. My first cesarean. It wrecked me! I had always been up and about within hours of my other births, but this shut me down, gestational diabetes again, overweight to start with, moderately healthy but pretty much only because I had kids to run after! Homeschooling was now in full swing so we didn't even need to leave the house at all. I could hide away and just be with the kids and cook and eat and cook! Son7 *9lbs6oz* my second cesarean and I didn't even care. Bloated, fat, ugly, gross, diabetic and I couldn't even birth my own kid........too "high risk" was now my status! Just fucking great! I hated myself and what I was and how I looked and all I could do was cry for 5 days while in hospital with my boy, who was under lights because of severe jaundice......... Fast forward and a move to a new town, Lads growing up and being wonderful kids, and I found New Rules of Lifting for Women! I was instantly hooked! But food was still an issue, I tried pills, diets, pills and diets, shakes, pills/diets/shakes.........nothing. Then like a bright light Nerd Fitness and Paleo entered my life and fuck yeah my Holy Grail was found. This Challenge is not strength based, got that covered. I have already mentioned in past posts about my stupid Dr and me wanting to show him..........well now it is time to get a fucking serious on and do this! My motivator into this challenge was reading @SpecialSundae tally for her competition on the weekend. I looked at the weight class I would be in, 2 competitors and I seriously think I could have a go, but then the 83kg (?) class! Smaller, stronger and just fucking awesome! I want to be an 83kg lifter. No more fatty videos I won't post or photos because you know ugh!!! This is it guys, I need to do this. No more dicking around like in the past Challenges, just hanging about and posting boring non committal shit. Time has come the walrus said.

Hello. My name is Kristinn. I am an icelandic 33 year old guy looking to get in shape. Right now I am close to the heaviest I've been in my life. But this will change now. My plan is to fix my diet. Kick in some more cardio along with olympic weightlifting (I started the weightlifting two months ago, it is awesome) and the goal is just to be better tomorrow than I am today! I want to weigh less, lift more and look great! So here are my starting stats: 33 years old 117kg My gym stats: Clean : 75kg Snatch : 60kg deadlift : 120kg (1 rep max) Squat : 120kg (1 rep max, was not pretty but I'll take it ) This is my starting point. The first couple of things to do is to fix my diet and get some cardio going on the off days from the gym. If anyone has pointers for cardio exercises I can do at home (preferably without equipment) that would be great! See ya guys tomorrow.

[Introduction] It's been awhile, and a lot has transpired between then and now. Most notably, I am officially out of the military and now tiptoeing out wide-eyed into the big, bright world of civilian-hood. Or rather, I would have tiptoed out... but apparently every ounce of luck that never showed up when I needed it before decided to show up en masse a week before my separation date, and I ended up landing an incredible job a mere 14 days after signing out! So I never really got my time out in pasture; it was straight out of the stables and onto the racetrack for me. Feels a little different than what I've grown accustomed to, but the basics are the same. [Current Goals] The overarching goal is simple: Don't be that ex-soldier. I've seen so many of my friends get out and literally BALLOON into unrecognizable caricatures of their former selves. I've also seen many of them stagnate in their personal lives; they stop trying new things, or trying to better themselves, or just trying altogether. It happens for lots of different reasons, some of them understandable - but a lot of them happened simply because the person wasn't proactive about the basics. I do not want to be that stereotype. Fitness Goals Run x2 a week Bodyweight/Weightlift workout 2x a week I joined a running group through my off-post gym, and have completed two 5k races. I didn't sign up for the summer program: instead, I signed up for a group fitness class offered by the same trainer who conducts the running program. I made a new friend in the running group (we ran both races together, and plan to continue that trend for upcoming events) and she decided to continue with the summer running program, so we've agreed to train each other on our workouts - she'll take me on her training runs, and I'll take her through the workouts I get from the group fitness class. Personal Goals VA stuff Education stuff I have two things I need to do regarding the VA. Thing 1 is fairly straight forward in nature, so I'm shooting to accomplish it first. Thing 2 is more complicated, so I've decided to work on it only after Thing 1 is finished. My education goal right now is nebulous: I know my ultimate goal, but getting there is going to require a bit of hopscotch and a lot of mapping. I have to work within the parameters of my preferred institution's accepted credits and curriculum, my GI Bill's terms, and the class requirements for the schools available to me at my current location. Obviously, I have lots of other things I'm trying to accomplish in my life, but I want to use this challenge to focus on the most important items on the list. I may mention mini-goals from time to time, but if anyone reading sees them getting in the way of my challenge goals, please feel free to point it out to me!

Going for the gainz TL'DR Lot's of backstory, passionate about healthy exercise, avoid overtraining, or bad form, path to lvl 25, and therefore towards lvl50... Will teach class 17th, start PT 20th, get started on license courses Sept, run OCR in Oct, wanna come with? My plan for this challenge is a bit different. The usual would be something along the lines of "caloric goal, exercise minimum, sleep minimum" While all of those are good, and I will probably get back to them next challenge (especially if this challenge busts out) I feel them not enough and at the same time too complex. So I'm going to go with this instead: Act like a grown up (eat well and with restraint, sleep more than you think you need, go to class, exercise at home) aka don't be a moron Make your weaknesses into strengths (shoulder PT taught me that abs and upper and lower back muscle are where I need to grow stronger) PVP the heck out of it I also noticed I have a competitive streak a mile wide. If I see someone do something I can almost do, I can rarely let go and not push myself to get there. When I know there's something I can't do yet (even if I only compete against my younger self) it's really hard to stay within my limits, and I failed a lot in the past, which bites me in my backside with my tender shins currently (case of too much too soon again) but I will find ways to use this competitiveness: The daily minimum activity that I have tried to implement has not taken hold since I had to stop my wall planks when I hurt my shoulder. So I will enjoy some PVP time with all of you fine rebels out there and see where I can land. And maybe I even can find someone to do some other darebee challenge with/against me throughout this challenge, I am currently at ab challenge day 9, and did my 1:20 plank in one go (never done this long a plank), trick: switching from forearm on the ground to on the hand when it was almost too much, and back down, but no disengaging the legs/abs! And I am considering their Age of Pandora Programm. That is my plan anyway, we'll see how far it survives past first contact with the enemy....

Placeholder for a longer post. I'm moving to Fort Collins at some time to be determined. Husband has already moved for his new job. I am selling the house and job searching. Every time I log in to NF I get really overwhelmed by all the notifications I get from following people, but I'm having trouble following an finding people/threads without following. So anyone with tips on how they've set up their content and stuff since the new forum updates, please share. Ironically I have more time at home to be interactive here but now I don't have wifi (husband took the modem, I didn't see the point of buying one for a month or so until the house sells) so the excuses keep on coming. I've been checking in with my phone a little more, but I don't really want to write entire posts that way. But I did suck it up and watch Game of Thrones on my phone last night, so this is probably a hindrance I can navigate. 5/9 update- Okay, longer post. I'm exhausted and tired. I seriously just typed that because I yawned halfway through a 5 word sentence and lost my train of thought. I'm moving to Fort Collins at some point. Right now the plan, in order of immediacy, is clean and pack to put the house on the market, in 2 days go to NYC for a week*, at which point the realtor will be putting the house on the market, get back from NY, job search while working and doing normal things except without most of my stuff which is now packed and without messing up the house, eventually accept buyers' offer, do all the house closing stuff, pack the rest of the big stuff and take it up to CO, along with the dog if it's after a certain date when the husband will actually be in CO and not on a business trip otherwise the dog stays with me, move into in-laws winter home across town with very sparse stuff, figure out if I should tell my job about all this and risk a less enthused response or keep working and long-distance job searching. And maybe actually finding a job. So this plan basically covers my next 7 weeks or 7 months, who the knows. And meanwhile work is work and more stressful because I have a lot to do and on a possibly very accelerated timeline and basically most of my waking hours are spent with the feeling of a fist closing around my heart. *pre-planned trip right before we found out about moving, at which point the planning part flew out the window so now it's more like going to New York, ???, profit I also just found out I'm a bridesmaid in a wedding in October (I've known about the wedding for awhile, I just wasn't aware of my status as a bridesmaid until the bride offhandedly mentioned it this weekend). This is actually not any more stressful because I've already been helping plan the wedding, but a little stressful in that I should probably be focusing a little (lot) more on my health (attractiveness) for the next 5 months. So with all this, here are my modest base goals: -Walk 3x a week. Generally laps at the dog park, generally 2-4 miles -Bodyweight or gym exercises 3x a week, it will be very hard getting to the gym for awhile -Study German 1x a week + some other job/personal development 1x a week -Track it all here/ bullet journal Extra credit possibilities- things I want to do but don't want to scare myself away by demanding I do them: -Get a fitness tracker and start paying more attention to steps/being less sedentary on the daily -Maybe try Couch to 5k -Job search stuff- pimp LinkedIn, resume, start talking to friends in CO, go to PMI meeting -Put together a study plan for myself for German now that the class is ending. -Become pretty -Figure out how people do spreadsheets here. Sidenote: Here was an Excel formula I made today. =IF(C3<>"",CONCATENATE(A3,LEFT($C$1,6),C3),IF(D3<>"",CONCATENATE(A3,LEFT($D$1,6),D3),IF(E3<>"",CONCATENATE(A3,LEFT($E$1,6),E3),IF(F3<>"",CONCATENATE(A3,LEFT($F$1,6),F3),IF(G3<>"",CONCATENATE(A3,LEFT($G$1,6),G3),IF(H3<>"",CONCATENATE(A3,LEFT($H$1,6),H3),IF(I3<>"",CONCATENATE(A3,LEFT($I$1,6),I3)))))))) It's not that complex for Excel people, but it took awhile for me to get it right, so I'm kinda proud.

So, here we are, my first post in my Battle Log. My day isn't over yet, so here's how it's gone so far: Breakfast: very large coconut milk smoothie (coconut milk, lime juice, lime zest, half an avocado, almond butter, hemp seeds, collagen powder) Lunch: roasted chicken leg and thigh, large portion of green beans topped with butter and sea salt Afternoon something: large iced Americano with 2 tbs heavy cream Dinner: to be determined and maybe skipped Traffic was a nightmare this morning so it took...are you ready...over 2 hours to get there. A little demoralizing for sure, but that's what it's like living in Orange County and commuting to LA for work: a f**king horror show everyday. Fortunately my job is awesome and I am never sad once I arrive. I worked on a soon-to-be-launched project for most of the day, chatted with co-workers about things that make my life seem less awful, and now I am preparing to go to Beverly Hills to learn Transcendental Meditation, because that's the kind of LA hippie I've become. I still don't like kale or tiny dogs though, so I've kept myself fro slipping too far into that rabbit hole. I may skip dinner tonight because 1) I will getting home late and 2) my body could use a break from food. Last night, before I started, I had my "last junk meal." It was, to be honest, so embarrassingly large and junky that I can't even tell you what it was. Just know that it included an Oreo shake and multiple things encased in shitty buns. Surprised I didn't feel hungover this morning after scarfing it in my car in a parking lot (can't bring that food into my house or I'd face a wall of shame.) I'm feeling motivated. I'm feel renewed. I'm feeling like I want to lose weight more than I want to eat a McDonald's McChicken sandwich off the dollar menu and I think that's probably a good sign. Here's to keeping that momentum!

A bit about myself, I am a nerdy math teacher and football coach who bought his first home and is getting married to his best friend this year. In the past year and a half, I have lost about 80 lbs, but I still have a way to go. Last year. while researching how to measure body fat percentage, I ran across Nerd Fitness and I was immediately hooked on their message. After completing a couple of challenges early in the year, I have sorta feel on my face the last month or so in terms of diet and exercise. I am going to use this training log to chart my workouts, calories, weight, weekly measurements and body fat calculations. Long Term Goal: Get below 15% bodyfat - which probably involves losing 100 lbs. Once I reach that goal, I would like to get involved in some sort of strength/athletic activity, right now I am thinking about Strongman type training, but I will research more options as I get closer to that goal. Plan: I will be working out 6 days per week. 3 days of following the Greyskull LP program (I will spell out the routines more as I do them). 3 days of moderate cardio work on the elliptical or tread mill. I will be charting my calories on Lose It! with a calorie setting of losing 2 lbs per week.

Late start because I'm bad at forum-ing and in general I'm an ill-bred person of poor repute, I assume. Also because my only real time to update is at work and lately I'm so busy I can barely breathe, which is no different today, so this will be fast. Nothing new with me except that I might be moving to Denver so that's a thing. Goals! I've been doing them, just not updating How many times do I write that sentence. 1. Walk 3x a week. Last week I went to Flagstaff and hiked everyday while there, so that was all 3+ at once, but then I walked during the week also. This week I walked on Saturday, and I'll probably go again tonight. 2. Incorporate bench press and deadlift every time I go to the gym. Because I like to deadlift and my bench press is depressing. I did this last week but I didn't go to the gym as much as I should have. I should go tonight so we'll see. I'm already ready for my post-work nap. 3. Some nebulous eating healthy goal. Just to stay on the radar and because honestly the above 2 goals are enough for me right now. I made a pot of soup for lunches this week and I have a couple dinner ideas so this may work out pretty well this week. Today's breakfast- steak, half an avocado, raw sauerkraut, coconut milk in cold brew coffee brewed with chai. Lunch- soup. Dinner- probably bleu cheese walnut spinach salad. Last week was pretty good. Really the weeks are fine, it's the weekends that are killing me. And the social drinking. Neither of those things will be changing soon as we have houseguests this weekend coming down for a party for another friend and we'll be heading to New York in a few weeks (and then the whole moving to Denver thing), so I probably need to work on strategies to be a little more moderate. People say that I'm losing weight but the scale doesn't budge and I see no progress in pictures. So I just take it to mean that I'm still fat, but I'm well-liked enough that people try to make me feel better about myself, and that's a nice consolation. Anyway. That's my general plan. Aaaaaand back to work.

It is a sad time in the kingdom of late my friends. For the last 7 months I've been doing my best to make good diet decisions and exercise daily. This kind of story is probably familiar to you. The weird thing is that from January to August last year I dropped from over 440 pounds to 300 pounds sticking to Paleo and Running daily. Since that time I've had a really hard time staying on track. Back in August I moved back in with my parents to afford tuition so i could attend college as a part of my life turnaround plan. Ever since I moved back and maybe a week before, I've been falling off the wagon in a sick twisted cycle that occurs daily. I get up, eat a great healthy breakfast, go to school, come back, then while I kick back and play some video games or watch some shows I start to crave food. I can fight the cravings for maybe an hour or two by snacking on some veg but almost every time I shamefully drive to the nearest grocery store and come back with a binge-load of confectionery goods. On tighter days where I work more it's not as big of a problem, as my window for bad decisions is more narrow. Resisting on days off is laughable. I can sometimes build up a 2-3 day streak of healthy decision making before I crash the boat and kill my habit building. As a result of this behavior I've gained back at least 50 pounds and I feel ashamed to call myself a member of the Rebellion. Summer vacation is coming up and I don't even want to think about how hard it will be when I have that much more free-time without school. I've done research nearly every day crawling through posts here, and articles from Steve and other sources. I don't know what to do anymore. I can't give up, I need to lose all this weight. I can't afford a personal trainer, life coach, or therapist to help me. Please give me any scrap of information that you think can help. I'll be watching this post and trying to reply to ideas, PM me if you would like. TL;DR My significant weight loss is reversing due to me going out of my way to eat crap when I'm relaxing. Need advice.

Woop woop! Got thru my first challenge and now I'm back for more! I started at 213 and ended up at 197lbs, however during the week between challenges I got sick and couldn't do much cooking or working out, so I ended up going back to 200 (my diet wasn't great either, lol). Given my progress last challenge, I expect to be at or under 190lbs at the end of this one, which shouldn't be too bad. Last time I ran, I was about to mostly coast thru 1.5 mile jogs, and I'm shooting for 3 mile jogs for summer. So here's what's planned for this month! Quest 1: Jogging! - Running every day if I could, but realistically, I work on my feet all day every day, and sometimes you just need the rest, besides that... I'll be running as much as I can, aiming at 4 or more days a week, 1.5 mile jogging sessions, and walking warm ups/cool downs up to 45 minute long combined. Quest 2: Dieting! - 80% of progress is made in the kitchen right? Well, last challenge my average calorie intake was around 1,800, and I gotta tell you, if you eat healthy, it's a lot of food! Anyhow, I'll continue my current layout until I plateau. Quest 3: The quest for 20K. - Did you know that if you get a haircut once a week, for the next 20 years... you'll spend $20,800. Seriously. On cutting your hair. ($20 haircut x 52 weeks x 20 years = $20,800). So... since I kinda look better with a buzz cut anyway, I'm gonna keep buzzing my own hair and saving $20 a week for as long as I can... seems simple enough right? It's a habit I got when I was in the military (Gotta get haircuts once a week, no ifs or buts) and well... I kinda can't see myself wasting my time and money at a barber shop anymore... Sorry barbers! I'll keep updating as I can! I'm still kinda getting thru this illness so I might not start running until next week and I'm fully cleared.

Fellow soldiers of the world, hear me! I am the powerful Ares, and I have returned to you after a long hiatus to make up for past mistakes and forge a brighter future for us all. Firstly, let me express my regret at leaving you to your own devices. I chose to leave to pursue an even more fearful enemy, one I have not known for a long while. Since that enemy has been satisfactorily defeated, I am returning to begin anew the battle we all war against: the war of self. Okay, enough of that, then. I'm here again 'cause I entered into a new relationship, but back again because I don't want to be fat and happy anymore, just happy. Here's my goals for this challenge: 1.) Log in 13km weekly. Measurable, more than do-able. This does not include my mileage from the weekend, which I can usually do up to 10km just on Saturday. This will be during the week, and in reality, if I go out two or three times a week, I should be able to do this easy. My usual run is about 4-5km anyway. 2.) Eat bread no more than once a week. Measurable, more than do-able. I should also be tracking meals to keep up my food log and monitor calorie consumption. I'm not actively cutting calories, but I'm trying to stay under 1500, even on "bad" days. 3.) Strength training twice a week. Measurable, more than do-able. These goals are pretty easy, I think, but this is more to get back into doing the things, rather than telling myself, "Eh, you can run tomorrow," and then never doing it.

So what is this about you might ask? Well, I'll tell you! Just take a seat, this could take a while.... It all started back about 10 years ago. I was in high school and just getting to figuring out who the hell I was. I met this really cute guy and got infatuated. I even invited him to go to prom with me but he declined, said he wasn't interested in going. I was sad but not heartbroken and found another dude to go with. And oh boy...was that ever a disaster! Fast forward a few years and I meat this boy again but now via my boyfriend. He is funny and sweet and nerdy, just like me. And I liked him. A lot. But since I had a guy already and was happy (not really, I just told myself this...idiot teenager...) I never thought more about it. Instead things changed and me and this guy started hanging out like friends and that was just fine. Until one night when he was drunk and it slipped out, when we were alone, that he had liked me since high school and regretted so badly turning me down for prom. I had no idea what todo with the information and it just got stored away in the back of my mind. So I moved away for college and he got a job, life went on. My relationships started and ended like bad sitcoms all of them, one worse then the other, and this guy stayed with me. He became my closest friend and confidant and I told him everything. I even felt a few times that if he ever was single I would snatch him up. But he never was. When he had a girl I was single and vice versa. So time went on. And then I got engaged. To a dutch guy. And was planning on moving from Sweden. And me and my friend were hanging out a lot that last summer, because I realised that I would miss him the most of all the people I had in my life. And then, one night, something just came over me. We were sitting outside in the Swedish summer night, meaning it was still a soft light out at 2 am and the wind was warm, and I just felt like something changed. I looked at him and all of a sudden his lips were on mine. One kiss. That was all. Nothing more ever happened and I know I should have been beating myself up over it since I was engaged but....I just couldn't. I was just blown away. And all those feeling came rushing back in. But yes....I was engaged....and I was moving the week after. I remember thinking "WTF dude!? NOW?! REALLY!?!?!?!" but I didn't say anything. And I left. I packed up my life and moved. And after 2 weeks I regretted it. I had the feeling in my gut that neither the guy or the country was right for me. He was mean, stupidly cheap and nothing I wanted to do was worth the money. We couldn't go to Amsterdam because that was expensive but he could have a scooter, a car and really expensive hobbies. I felt like shit and I was reduced to a nervous wreck. And after a year I gave up and moved back. I don't regret going but I do regret not listening to my gut feeling sooner. That was the time I finally learned to listen to my intuition. And it has payed of since then. So I moved home. And me and my friend started hanging out again. And something had changed. Something huge. Like....the planets hade changed path and the sun was just....so much brighter. And I realised that it was this guy I wanted to be with. So I did what any sensible woman would do - I made him mine. It wasn't hard since he never had been able to forget me either. And that first year was so blissful it was almost irritating. Reality hit. We hit a really rough patch and after a lot of heartbreak and tears and anxiety we decided to move apart. When things had settled we started talking again and both of us realised that we missed each other. So we tried again. We started dating, took it really slow, kept living apart and just easing into it. Using the time we spent apart to figure out what we wanted individually and where we wanted to go in life. And it worked. About a year after we started dating we decided to move in for a trial period. He stayed with me for one month in my apartment and after that I stayed with him for a month. We managed to find someone that wanted to rent my apartment for a year when me and the guy tried living together again. This time we kept all the safety-measurements on. I kept the apartment so in case of chaos again I could move back and not have to go to my parents again as the last time. We started talking more, communicating more, letting each other in. It worked. <3 We found each other again, over 9000 times stronger this time, more grown up and knowing what we needed to do to make it work in the long run. And THIS brings me to the topic! We got a really nice offer for a fantastic house, it needed alot of TLC but it was too good to pass on, and we started talking about the future. Slowly it nestled its way into our conversations, things like how many kids we would like, would we get married in the spring or fall, what last name would we take? And it happened so naturally and didn't feel scary on bit. So now, this February I decided - I would propose. I was waiting for him to do it but then I thought - why should I? I wanted him as my husband and I'll be damned if I was just going to sit there like a damsel in distress and wait. F*CK THAT! I had a plan! Neither of us are that kind of lovey-dovey old school romantics. For valentines one year I got Heart of the Swarm and we had a ton of fun. He got a 6-pack of MTG boosters. Yeah, that is how we roll. And that got me to the plan - I would design a MTG-card to propose! So I got to making and it turned out awesome, I'm very pleased with it. But come on, that would just be weird with one card, right? So I had a friend of mine help me make a whole playable deck with the theme "Rings". And I printed it out and made a proxy. And omg I was so nervous when I was sitting at the kitchen table cutting out the cards that he would figure out what it was. He just looked at the cards and said it looked weird and laughed. So when the second week of march comes around we go to Prague for a family trip and I'm so nervous I think I'm going to die. I had managed to buy us a pair of rings and smuggled them into my bag together with the deck without him noticing. We get to Prague eventually, went out for the evening and on the way back I feel like puking from the nerves. He thinks I had something bad to eat so we go up to the room and he asked if I wanted to sleep. Ok, now or never! I say I want to play a bit first and that was of course ok. (Side track, but it was me that got him into the whole MTG-scene about 2 years ago) So we sit down and play. using the bed as a table. And I feel my hands sweating more and more. And then I get it. The card! With this I can play the proposal-card from out of my purse and him not having any idea wtf is going on. We keep playing for a while and then I just feel like I have to play it. And I do. And then I start going thru my purse and he asks me what I'm looking for and makes some kind of lame joke about using my lipstick as a token..hurr hurr, we'll see ho laughs last. This is where things starts to get blurry. I remember playing the proposalcard upside down and him looking at me like I'm crazy. He later told me he thought I was pissed at him since I was acting so weird....oops. XD I play the card and as he reads it I literally throw the rings up on the bed, not saying anything. I had this HUGE speech prepared but nope, that didn't work. At all. I just grunt and jerk my chin at the rings and raises an eyebrow at him. The answer was a flying man and a lot of laughing and kissing and many many yes:es. So I got him....finally. I got my heart-neerd. <3 ----------------------------------------------------- Ok, so if you managed to get this far- CONGRATUFUCKINGLATIONS! You are a champ! And the reason to why I post this here is because there is a wedding coming on April 2018. And I want to lose some of the weight until then. I'm not aiming for model thin but just a lighter frame. I want to feel pretty walking down the isle. And I want to be healthy enough to have a baby or two down't the line. That is it. Welcome to my story.

So I found that edge of the map and dropped off it for a month. The no-break format wasn't working for me, so I decided that a challenge off wasn't a bad thing as long as it didn't extend into multiple challenges off. I like the new structure and am looking forward to them. This challenge, I want to focus on the bare minimum. Build a base of things that are easy to do and start rebuilding good habits. To that end... 1) - Exercise first thing in the morning Level 1 - 10 squats/10 pushups I liked doing this but got out of the habit. Level 2 - 10 squats/10 pushups/10 dips/5 pullups Add in more exercises, but still keep it to something that can be done quickly Level 3 - Warmup from /bodyweightfitness recommended routine 2) - Wipe down the kitchen counters every night It's a small thing, but keeping the kitchen clean really helps things not feel overwhelming. Plus it makes the wife happy. Level 1 - Wipe down counters Level 2 - Leave no dishes in the sink overnight Level 3 - Wipe down bathroom 3) Eat Healthier Level 1 - Add one vegetable to dinner Level 2 - One piece of candy at work Level 3 - No bingeing on toast or cereal at night 4) Kajukenbo So I know that I'm not going to be able to restart classes any time soon, so let's get creative. Level 1 - Practice basic strikes, blocks, and movement (slide, shuffle, switch) Level 2 - Find and learn from a good video of basic kata. The dojo has a set of videos on their website that will be helpful. The downside is that they don't explain the meaning behind the kata. Iain Abernethy does a good job of this. Level 3 - I've seen some ideas floating around online recently about taking a small foamy ball, putting it on an elastic cord, and either hanging it from the ceiling or tying it to a hat and then punching/moving around it as it swings. Looked like fun and probably easy enough to do. Level 4 - About a month ago I saw somebody dressed in kendo armor practicing outside. I couldn't stop and talk since I had to pick up the junior browncoat, but I've been driving past the area where I saw them hoping that they will be outside again. Talk with them and find out more about where they practice. The only kendo schools I've seen online are >1 hour away. Long term goals - Just reiterating and putting it down in words again Lose ~50-60 lbs to weigh 175 lbs Get a proper kettlebell set (16, 20, 24 kg)

Past history I am am going to WAR with my weight. It will be defeated. Overall goal is 2 pounds per week but I don't obsess with the scale. I also win by feeling better, clothes being looser and inches being lost. I am looking at this as a 4 week challenge with this week being a prep week. Workout-. This is the hardest for me. I have arthritis in both hips and sciatica from walking funny because of the arthritis. I need to lose weight to help with this and I need to exercise to lose weight but the pain keeps me from exercising. i don't like it as an excuse but I need to proceed carefully and if I can just do a little more each day it will help. This time around I am goaling myself 30 minutes of exercise 6 days per week. I have a mix of things I can do here at the house that will envolve some cardio and some strength. This will be ever evolving as challenges go on and I hope to enroll in water aerobics soon. 24pts available. A-C grading. +3 STR and +3 STA Accountability. I have a good handle on what I eat but I tend to eat too much. Also what works for me in weightloss mode is to limit carbs. To hold myself accountable I will utilize MFP. I need to do some math and look at total calories and carbs and will probably adjust weekly. I will hash this out and post goals at the begining of each week. Main thing here is to log everything. I am also going to post food porn at least one meal a day here. 28pts available. A-C grading +2 WIS and +1 CHA Reach 9,000 steps daily and do 300 body weight exercises each week. I average about 7,000 now so just a few more. With the weather turning nice this should not be an issue. My Fitbit is great and is a motivator. The body weight exercises are in addition to the workouts. I can break these up through out the day and this has worked for me in the past. I will pick an exercise to focus on each week. Squats, lunges, push ups will be used the most but suggestions are welcome. Graded pass/fail. +1 STA Simple and straight forward but works for me. I really need to focus on exercise to loose weight. Don't get me wrong diet is uber important but I have a pretty good handle on that except for portions. I would also like to kick the pesky diet soda habit I got back into and also do some pampering of myself weekly but I will address these things in my daily battle log. I want,this challenges focus to be getting back to exercising. Of course there will be MUSIC TRIVIA every morning at least during the weekdays. Smut is always appreciated as is suggestions and comments. I need some motivation from my peeps! Push me! Pull my hair, whatever has to be done to get me 20 pounds lighter and I think that exercise will be much easier.

Hi, I'm Sue. I've been living in the Ranger Den for about a year, and this is my first challenge with the Assassins. Last year, I joined a gym for the first time in 25 years. I spent three days a week there, lifting weights. I kind of liked it, but I'm looking for a change. My perfect gym closed its doors, and I'm yearning to get outdoors, anyways. Bodyweight exercises are the perfect choice for me right now. Weightloss is still my main quest, and healthy eating is on the plan for me. I'm half way to my lifetime healthy weight goal, and I figure one more year ought to get me there. Goal 1: Healthy Eating. This is an on-going goal of mine. When it comes to diet, I'm not strict anything, but I have a checklist that I follow when I am on track. It includes things like eating veggies with my meals, eating human-sized portions, and limiting snacks to fruits/veggies. I will shoot for 5 perfect days a week on the checklist this challenge. When I'm on track, I lose about a pound a week. Pretty soon, I'm hoping to bust out of the eighties on the scale. Goal 2: Stay Active. I've taken a break from my fitbit, but it's time for another month of focusing on my steps. I am recovering from a knee injury, so my cardio goals are ridiculously (but necessarily) small. No need for the pity party, though. I can walk, so I will! I'm increasing my previous step goal from 8000 to 8500 for this challenge. Goal 3: Get Stronger. I've built a habit of strength workouts in the morning on MWF. Those were my gym days before the gym closed. This challenge I will do NF yoga to help the legs, and alternate days of pushups/planks with days of pullup progression/hanging knee tucks for the arms and core. Goal 4: Ridiculous Cardio. TTh are my cardio days. I will continue eking out 30 minutes on the elliptical until my knees recover. Then I will (SLOWLY this time) get back to running outside. Life Goal: Improve Productivity at Work. I have a business trip for the first time in many years during the first week of the challenge. My team is going to meet face-to-face for the first time ever. Seeing as I like to work at home with my head down, I need to make a special effort on this trip and in the following weeks. I will strive to be confident, comfortable, and positive at work. I'm also looking forward to participating in the world-famous Assassin mini-challenge, whatever that may be. Please feel free to poke me and prod me as I'm learning the ropes over here with the Assassins. I've got a whole lot of figuring out to do!

Hurray for zero week! Confession: I was one of the crazy people who voted for no real time off between challenges, but I'm actually really grateful this time around for the free week as I have something, well...challenging planned for my diet in April. Main Goals Get my ass off the mat. One thing that became clear to me during matches on belt evaluation week is that I get stuck on the bottom a lot in bjj. I play decent defense, so I'm not tapping all the time. But obviously defense isn't the where I want to be long term. This month I want to focus on getting a few solid escapes and sweeps in place. Say goodbye to wheat. Bread is so easy to grab, and I go for it all the time in place of fruits and vegetables. For April I'm kicking it to the curb. To be successful with this I need to get better with meal/snack prep. Zero week is the perfect time to experiment and get things in place. (Pass/Fail) Side Quests Branch out with writing partners. I've become complacent with my current writing group, that if I'm honest isn't really the best fit. This April I want to shake up my routine and connect with some new writers/readers. Sharing my work with a stranger feels risky, but new perspectives and reading other people's work, i.e. putting myself out there, is something I need to get more comfortable with. (On that note if anyone writes and is interested in swapping work or if you are just interested in reading work, let me know.) (Pass/Fail) Hydrate like a boss. Drink 24 oz. of water by 10AM and another 24 oz. by 4PM daily. Evenings tend to take care of themselves in terms of hydration. (Pass/Fail) Nothing too crazy, except for that wheat thing, but it's just four weeks. I can totally handle four weeks without bread, right? **Quickly publishes challenge to prevent backing out**

Back to Basics This challenge will not be a part of the "Becoming Ulfhedinn" series. Along the last few challenges I've deviated from my original weight loss goal... and it's been awesome. I've learned a lot, from hand balancing to survival skills. But I feel my original goal got left behind and my size reduction has lost it's momentum. One could argue that the first puonds melt away and those stubborn last pounds are the harder to get rid of, but I don't think I'm near the "last few pounds" yet. Besides, I don't have the sightiest idea of my current carb intake, let alone the rest of my macros. Using the weekly variance as an excuse to binge eat has become dangerously normal... long story short, I got lost in all the fun of learning new skills and getting stronger and lost track of my eating. So, this challenge will be aimed at getting back to basics: Tracking my macros, taking weekly measurements and returning to the old habit of monthly progress pics. Of course excercise and to-do lists will be a part of the challenge as well, all in a Tapatalk-friendly way, since class is in session si I'll be spending little to no time at home and surveillance levels at work are still too high at the moment. Wish me luck!

fearless is ready and willing to kick it up a notch during this challenge. she has a month of consistent cross fit training under her belt, has lost weight during the last 4 weeks and was feeling quite well mentally. now she will fight the bankruptcy dragon and concentrate on the diet as well. she loved stacy s article about prepping food and as soon as she gets paid, will get started on freezing food for the week. because she is almost 50 and not very fit she is in constant doms pain, which makes her feel pretty badass sometimes. but she sees the need to prepare her body for the high impact workouts and will work on her mobility as well. she hopes to get to know some fellow rangers by not only concentrating on her own success but actually being more social around here.... GOAL A1 ( FOOD): shop primal food for under 25 euro/week. GOAL A2 (FOOD): do food prep every weekend for the following week. freeze food. GOAL A3 (FOOD): eat primal for lunch and dinner every day during this challenge GOAL B1 (EXERCISE): go to cross fit and do wod 3 times a week - plus clean the box on thursdays. ( i do that because i can't pay for the membership) GOAL C1 ( MOBILITY): stretch before or after each wod. use foam roll and do mobility exercises. GOAL D1 ( CONCISTENCY): write daily on this site to keep yourself accountable. GOAL D2 (BE SOCIAL): read at least 3 other threads daily. comment and support. Adding one more goal before i start tomorrow with the beginning of april: i wrote a memoir/ self-help book last november during NANOWRIMO. And i feel like getting productive with writing again. when i saw that there is a working camp during april i signed in and will start writing tomorrow as well. GOAL E1 ( NANOWRIMO) write one hour everyday and start revising the first draft of my book. this is pretty challenging for me. i would be so proud and happy if i got all this done! " don't try, do!"