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Sometimes we fail to see the forest for the trees....I was taking to much time looking at trees to see the obvious...huge thanks to @DarK_RaideR to pointing out that a battle log may work better for me in keeping up on here...I had one previously but it was dated and no longer fits...so this one is shiny and new! For those new to my saga, I've been here for over 3 years now (January 2, 2014) I've been a Ranger (and everything that entails) since the big restructure of 2016. I am <95% Paleo in my style of eating, because I have RA and it makes me feel better...I'm slightly addicted to 5k's, and am discovering that weight lifting can be a lot of fun if I take it slowly and don't aggravate my neck injury. I'm an accountant and work for a minor league baseball team in Florida, which is every bit as much fun as it sounds So I have a spreadsheet for tracking purposes (may look very familiar to some, )...if this works for you as well feel free to borrow my sheet (file/save copy into Google Drive I think...) and tweak it to fit your needs My overall, far reaching, want to accomplish this year, goal is to lose 40 lbs...at the very minimum I want to look good nekkid In my opinion, not anyone else! To work towards this goal I'm going to go to the gym 3x a week, or if I'm not able to do that I will do an alternate workout (such as hitting my step goal, bike ride, bodyweight workout...etc) I was aiming for 5x but that was stressing me out because I was not always able to accomplish it due to life/work commitments! I re-worked the routine I worked out with the trainer to come up with to fit into the new goal...I may also add tracking at some point to see where I'm hitting with calories if results are not forthcoming. Sleep is a struggle for me, I rarely get 7 hours a night and this makes a huge difference in my energy, not to mention my pain levels if I don't...I'm going to try and do better with this... The last one is NF related, I am tired of going weeks without checking in on here, so I'm going to make it a point to not only be on here, but post somewhere on here at least 3 times a week to keep myself accountable...I did better with my goals when I was doing that, and I enjoy supporting and encouraging others

Greetings and welcome! This is a place to post a daily accountability for whatever helps keep you sane, balanced, and on track. Post yes/no, did my morning thing or didn't? had a toxic day or didn't? or whatever helps keep you on the track to leveling up. We are stronger together.

Credit for this game goes to @Aerisand who started this PVP. Disclaimer: A large part of this is @Briniel's star introduction to Monkey Taming, digivolved for efficiency. TL;DR: For Tamers coming back, the changelog is at the bottom of the post. This group is for those of us who suffer from procrastination, "the action of delaying or postponing something". Or, more specifically "the act of ruining your own life for no apparent reason". I thought it would be a good idea to get together with other serial-procrastinators and tackle this bad habit together. Concepts taken from this brilliant article on waitbutwhy.com A point based game to beat the instant gratification monkeys, help our rational decision makers get out of the dark playground through the dark woods and help both of them enjoy themselves on happy playground territory (or the rainbow of flow, if we get lucky) together. If that sentence didn't make any sense to you, go read the article (including part 2). Do it now. Don't wait until later. (Unless you're procrastinating from some other thing you should be doing right now, then do that thing first and read the article right after that.) So, now that we're all on the same page and know what's going on and who keeps us from our goals, let's teach our rational decision makers how to tame a dragon monkey!!! Monkey Tamers United Step 1 - Figure out which bricks to lay Take a task that you find yourself procrastinating on a LOT but that is actually really important to you. If you've done some challenges you probably know which of your quests give you the most trouble. If you don't, go by what's written in the article or decide for yourself. You could even chose several things if you're feeling confident. Make sure you have a clear plan of what task it is that you will not procrastinate on any longer. Then break it down into smaller tasks, if necessary. The idea is to end up with nice 30 minute bricks that you can lay down one after the other. Make sure you phrase those tasks in a non-icky way. Step 2 - Figure out when to lay the bricks Designate a certain timeframe for brick laying. It could be an hour at 9am every day, or wednesdays from 6-8 pm or any other timeframe that works for you. These first two steps are supposed to be a tool to help you be successful. If you'd rather go at it without the planning or in between doing other stuff, that's totally fine. Step 3 - Lay bricks and earn points When the time comes to lay your bricks, put them down. CONCEPTS The goal is to score higher than the monkey. Your score depends on how you lay your bricks: Productive Brick For every brick (30 minutes of focused work, not disturbed by the monkey), you will get one point. It does not matter if you lay these bricks right after the other or if you do other (productive) stuff in between. Even if you over-estimated the size of your bricks and still have work left after 30 minutes, don't fret, you still get the point. Adjust your brick sizes for next time (or live with the fact that you won't finish the task with one brick... it's up to you). Halfassed Brick If you're not happy with how you set the brick, because the monkey and rational decision maker kept dragging you in and out of the dark woods, you'll end up in mixed feeling park and your points will suffer. Monkey Poop If the monkey should manage to take over the steering wheel so much that you can't lay the brick at all and end up in the dark playgrounds, the monkey gets points instead. Of course this is all up to your reasoning, but I think you'll know whether you're in the dark woods or the dark playground (procrastination anyone?). Be honest with yourself. If you didn't finish your bricks for the day, any bricks not laid become monkey poop... Of course, if you manage to procrastinate for longer than you were supposed to have time for, feel free to add more poop, lol. Once the productive bricks are all done that day, you don't have to track any more and are free to go wild! About taking breaks You can take scheduled 5 minute breaks every brick (so you'll work 25 minutes, then have a 5 minute break. Or you could work 50 min and have a 10 min break. Taken from the Pomodoro Technique ). Just remember that the monkey will do his very best to drag you out of the woods during break time. It might help to have a plan for how you spend the break. Do what works best for you. It might also help immensely to actually set a timer that lets you know when it's time for bricks and time for breaks. There's lots of apps for that EXPERIMENTAL: Alternative way to track Productive Bricks For rewarding task completion instead of time a.k.a. "I always forget to track time". Reveal hidden contents Estimate the amount of bricks needed for each task you need to get done (blocks of 30 minutes of focused work, not disturbed by the monkey). After completing a task, you may enter the estimated amount of bricks instead of counting the actual time it took to finish it. Remember to still count halfassed bricks and monkey poop. If you notice a task took a lot more Productive Bricks than you estimated, add more bricks to your total. If you notice a task took a lot less Productive Bricks than you estimated, use the middle point between the actual amount and estimate. (Why: daunting tasks probably weigh more) DIFFICULTY MODES Choose your own mode. Easy: +1 point per brick, +0.5 points per halfassed brick, x5 monkey points per monkey poop = The original system Normal: +1 point per brick, +0.0 points per halfassed brick , x5 monkey points per monkey poop = Against halfassing! Kong: +1 point per brick, -0.5 points per halfassed brick, x8 monkey points per monkey poop = Like a boss JOIN US If you want to join the Monkey Tamers, let us know what you're planning to build, and join our colorful Google Spreadsheet for tracking your progress! In the spreadsheet, all you need to do is fill in the black squares: Write your name and difficulty mode. Enter the planned amount of bricks - for each day. You can fill those as days go by, just make sure to enter the planned amount before actually starting to lay bricks. Write the amount of bricks laid where they belong (productive bricks, halfassed bricks, monkey poop) *For those coming back, what's different: We've added a spot for Week 0. It won't count towards points but it may help in getting started, testing things, or just doing something so you won't lose momentum.

I don't know about you, but for me being stuck in an apocalypse bunker without a gym kinda stinks. Without any clear connection to the rest of the world, there's not a lot of external accountability to keep me on track when my own motivation falters. And given the limited exercise options and resulting boredom of workouts in general, my motivation has faltered quite a bit. Needless to say, it's made keeping up with my fitness goals much harder and I know I need a bit more accountability if I'm going to stay on track. I'm about to start my first challenge and that seemed a fine time to start tracking what I'm doing more closely as well. The details of my challenge can be found here. I'm planning to track each workout in detail and keep a rough log of what I'm eating. I'll include what exercises I did, how many sets/reps at what weight (if I'm using weights), about how long it took, what my meals were/overall protein for the day, and if there was anything else happening that influenced things in one way or another. With any luck having a written record will make it easier to keep an eye on myself and make sure I'm working for what future-me wants, not only what present-me wants. Like being able to fight off those zombies, should they decide to show up. ⚔️💥 Daily Log Template: Workout: Warmup: Superset 1 (# times): Exercise 1 (weight/reps) Exercise 2 (weight/reps) Superset 2 (# times): Exercise 1 (weight/reps) Exercise 2 (weight/reps) ...etc Cooldown: Total Time: Notes: Meals: Breakfast: Lunch: Dinner: Total grams of protein: I'll try to post an update at least on my strength workout days, 3x per week. Ideally more, but we'll see how I go. I'll also post weekly updates on my challenge thread keeping track of the bigger picture. Meanwhile, I'll keep training to beat this apocalypse and be more prepared for the next one. The story's nowhere near finished yet, and I look forward to seeing where it leads!

Want to Play a Game? Who's in? This has helped me get things done in the past; so I thought I'd introduce others to it. There are various games & different time limits. I'm on the east coast USA; but am willing to "call" games for other time zones even if I've finished my tasks for the day.

Character Class: Rogue Hey sports fans, fellow cool-cats, and...snickers-bars...? (I couldn't think of anything great-sounding for the last one, heehe!) Friendly neighborhood Tabby-Cat, here! (^__~) Ya know, I almost forgot I joined this website. Golly. I was a major lurker for the longest time! WELL YA KNOW WHAT? I lurk no more! *Cue confetti, falling from ceiling, much fanfare* WOOT! In my bid to 'get my shiz together' (Which reaches it's height every new year, and rolls around every few months) I have decided to become an active member of a bunch of different forums, including this one! YAY! It's a way to keep myself accountable, I guess ya could say. Not to mention, it helps hone my writing skills and develop the discipline of writing every day (Which I'm trying to get better at, ESPECIALLY since I finally started a blog!) I wanna keep myself accountable not just for fitness, though. But also for every other aspect of life. So, I'll probably gripe about the occasional thing and talk about my addiction to all things coffee related *Nervous gulp*...it's uh...*Eye twitch* A problem. *Eyes nearby empty coffee cup* But, back to fitness! I'm a gal who definitely could be described as 'Skinny-Fat'. At 5' 2'', and 106 pounds, I've been told I look like a- well, like a gust of wind could blow me over, heheh! Not a lotta toughness in these ol' arms of mine! My boss frequently says, "You're killin' me, smalls." *Makes huffy sound* So my goal is to get toned, (^__^) To get a little muscle on me, ya know? And to DEFINITELY stop eating like a bear preparing for winter. I.E. Enough pizza to kill a hippo. And this site is full of so many wise, intelligent peeps, I know I'm gonna learn a lot from you all, on the way! And hopefully I can entertain with some of my adventures~ *Raises sword in the air, staggering beneath its weight* O-oof!

I am struggling a lot with creating habits and sticking to them and to actually do the things I need to do. I've tried using my wife as an accountability buddy but it doesn't seem to have quite the same effect. I also find that forums don't really do it, in the past what has worked best was team games where other people relied on me get things done. So what I am looking for is some people who can help me make an adventuring team, where we all set weekly or monthly goals and also set a team goal that we all work towards and the reward is dependent on everyone on the team contributing. I would also very much like the team to have some sort of online meeting place. Personally, I am partial to a discord server but a facebook group could work too, the key for me would be that it would be a bit more personal than just a forum thread. An added bonus could be some sort of rp element to it. Maybe the monthly challenge is in the form of a beast we must slay. If you'd be interested let me know and we can figure out what we want to set up.

=== Urgent message to the Rebellion! === For all who currently struggle to find time for posting and reading others' posts but still want NF accountability, here is a thread where we can do that in a minimal, Twitter-style way. I would love to do all the gifs and engage with every Ranger and then some - I just love it - but currently cannot afford it. Yet, I have grown very lazy without accountability. So, better something small than nothing. The plan: Just post very shortly what do you aim to do each week, and at its end (Saturday or Sunday), again very shortly share if you succeeded. If you want to write longer, that's great, but I encourage you to do it on the regular 4WC threads. Here, in order to easily keep each other accountable, let's keep it short and sweet. Ready, steady... Go!

So I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about numbers (go figure, I'm an accountant)...my birthday falls right in the middle of this challenge (October 31st, i will be 49 for those wondering ) so of course i hear all the "it's just a number" stuff...which is true to a point. People say that about weight too, doesn't matter to who you are as a person. also true...but it's more than a number as well. With the number of years that add up to my age also comes a lot of experiences, some wisdom I would have to say, along with heartbreak, pain, joy, and definitely lessons learned. One of those lessons is if I knew it was this difficult to change the number that adds up to my weight, I would have made better choices, maybe learned better self control, and refuse to let someone else derail me from what I need to do. But I digress, I'm trying not to let the lack of support I have at home derail me any longer. I have a goal of getting where I want to be by my 50th birthday. I want to be able to run (yes run) a 5k, I want to complete a 10k, and I want to start looking to do a 1/2 Marathon. I want to lose about 45 lbs, or fit in the size I could wear when I weighed that just 7 short years ago. I want to be well on my way of having our debt paid off, by this time next year I want to only have the house, cars, and the big CC left, and the CC should be over 1/2 way there, oh, and the student loans...I'll work on those after I get the rest done. So, in order to meet these goals this is what I'm going to do: - Continue eating as I have been, down 18 lbs so far! I want to get under 200 this challenge, even if its only 1 lb - Start working out again. I want this to be habit and second nature. Also, get to the gym! - Pay off 'one more' thing...I 'snowball' our debt to try to get it eliminated. I had this done for the most part then we bought the house, and everything we needed for it, etc...happened and it got a bit out of control, just need to continue working it till it's gone. In true RES fashion these are my upcoming 5k's Sunday 10/28 - Evergreen Pumpkin Run 5k Saturday 11/3 - Florida Brain Tumor Walk Saturday 11/3 - First Coast AIDS Walk Thursday 11/8 - GOTR Practice 5k Saturday 12/1 - Girls on the Run 5k Saturday 1/12 - Best Damn Race 5k Various other 'want to do's' that I will add if I sign up to do them!

Emrys here! Today, I joined the Academy and I’m here to fulfill my food logging quest. I’ve been logging my meals with FitBit for the past 7 months so only sharing my logs with others will be new. Per the rules, I’ll be posting daily for 2 weeks; each day, I’ll post the previous day’s log. Feel free to offer healthier alternatives to any meals I have, or drop your email address so we can be FitBit buddies ^.^

Hello all, So I've recently decided that I need to make a change. A real one this time. In real life. In real time. Not just in my head, not just as I'm drifting off to sleep making promises about what I'll do better tomorrow, but in the waking minutes and days when those better decisions have to be put into action. So here I am. I used a forum like this to make a major life change a few years ago, and I miss the camaraderie and accountability that was available there, so here's hoping that exists here too A bit about me: I'm looking at 40 in the next 18 months or so; but realizing that I feel closer to 60 and have acquired the same walk as my 70 year old mother in law who needs both knees replaced I've never been thin, at least not since I had to have back surgery at 18. For a brief window I was even in half decent shape and ran a few half-marathons. But I've always been classified as overweight (flirting with obese based on BMI) and I've always dealt with back pain. The advice I've heard constantly is to exercise more in order to lose weight, which will in turn alleviate my back pain. But even when training for half-marathons and being careful about what I ate, I didn't drop more than a few pounds. And now after a big international move and 2 pregnancies, I realize that I've lost whatever good exercise habits I ever had. My body is stiff and hurts and I'm afraid that my kids will grow up with an invalid for a mom, rather than someone who's active and involved in their lives. I know it's not too late, but I also know I need to start NOW. During my first pregnancy, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism - no doctor ever thought to check for it before, as the assumption always seemed to be that the weight wasn't coming off because I was too lazy. However, even when that's well controlled now, I'm not losing weight, so much for that magic cure Within the last month, I've discovered that I have one leg shorter than the other as well as osteoarthritis in my spine (which, as the doctor is happy to remind me, can't be replaced, so the goal is to limit the progression as much as possible). After a few days of walking with insoles to adjust the leg length, my day-to-day back pain has greatly subsided, but the stiffness and flare-ups are still there. My doctor here has barred me from running as that will make my back worse. I admit I was angry at first, because all of the advice of exercising more was probably making the pain worse rather than helping; but I'm over that and trying to figure out what I do know with the cards I've been dealt. The problem is that I now find myself on a somewhat tight budget, 2 small kids (2.5 and 1.5 years old), a full time job and a husband's career that requires more flexibility than mine, and I feel....lost. Like I don't know where to start, or what I can expect to be able to do or maintain. Gym is out, as I don't have the flexibility time wise to go regularly, plus I hate gyms, so I know I won't go at 9pm when my husband is home and I can finally get out of the house. I've tried to start doing some simple exercises at home (including the bodyweight workout I found on this site), and I realize how unbelievably out of shape I am! I'm not the heaviest I've ever been, and not even at my unhealthiest diet-wise, either, as I live in a country where healthy food is more the norm than junk food, and do much of our shopping at weekly farmer's markets; But I'm definitely the most out of shape that I've ever been and I hate myself for letting it get this bad! Ok, so enough of the whining and what am I planning to do about it? 1) I joined this site, and this forum to hopefully find some people to buddy up with, encourage each other and be accountable to. That's something that's missing in my regular life as all of my friends either have time to exercise that I don't, or think that I'm already healthy and don't understand my frustration. My husband is 100% supportive, but more overweight than me with bad eating and non-existent exercise habits, with a real mental block about the need to change. I nag him, and bug him, and cajole him, but he's a grown man and I can't force him. He supports me, but in his eyes I'm wonderful and perfect and doing everything just fine, so he's not exactly a very tough motivator So anyone who can relate and is looking for an accountability partner, here I am! I can be a real pain in other peoples' asses about what they *should* be doing, but I need that same approach turned on me! 2) My husband (who loves me more than I deserve) is in the process of buying a used workout bench, which hopefully he will pick up this weekend and install with his dad when he's in town next week. I've already started moving the freeweights from the basement to the bedroom where the workout bench will be, so that I can start using it when it's ready. 3) I bought a membership to the local pool, and have been going 1-2 times a week to do laps. The agreement with my husband is that Wed or Thurs afternoons he picks up the kids so I can swim, and Sunday morning I go to the pool; of course, sometimes life gets in the way and things don't go as planned - i.e. was supposed to go yesterday but my daughter was sick so had to work from home to be with her; husband already had appointments booked this afternoon as he had given me the Wednessday so no mid-week swim for me this week But I can honestly say that I have been doing my best to go when I can and not falling prey to BS excuses. 4) I've set up a stepper and stationary bike in front of the TV. I even got pretty good about using them regularly (2-3 times per week), but then we got hit with massive heat waves and without AC, it's not possible to do cardio in the house anymore 5) I try to take every opportunity I can to walk somewhere - to pick up/drop off the kids from the nanny when I'm working from home, to various appointments here in our small town; to the store when I only need to pick up a few things. The biggest obstacle here is that these things take more time than driving, and are only possible when I'm working from home, which isn't everyday, or don't have the kids as they can't walk very far yet (and I threw out the double stroller because it was a horrible pain to maneuver, but that's a whole different story). 6) On the working from home front, I'm trying to become more disciplined to get into the habit of being as productive at home as I am at the office. I have a job that I can do largely from home, and my plan is that as of September (start of the new school year), I will work from home 2 mornings a week, which will allow me to do a workout in the time I would normally spend getting ready and driving to the office. 7) I'm trying to make small tweaks to my diet, as although it's not bad, I know my weaknesses (Did someone say chocolate?! in the evenings?! Why yes, that IS my happy place!) I'm trying to go semi-vegetarian (more for personal reasons than health or weight loss), incorporate more fish and legumes and experiment more with new veggies, which are probably the thing that I neglect the most (I eat them, but usually the same old thing and then get bored of them easily). The biggest problem, if I'm honest, is that I live in France. FRANCE, people. Let that sink in for a moment. And yes, everything you've heard about the cheese and baguettes and croissants here is TRUE. There is no such thing as "low fat cheese" in the supermarket, at least not one that's edible. The croissants I can avoid, bread I'm trying to be reasonable with, but the damn cheese gets me everytime. And of course all the naturally thin French women eat it regularly and don't see why good French cheese should pose any problems whatsoever...sigh Ok, that's about all I have time for but here comes the fun part: I want to hear ideas, critiques, anything you got! Any hidden excuses in what I've written that I'm not seeing ? Any ideas as to what I can try? I promise to be as open minded as possible (as long as it doesn't involve giving up French cheese..I moved here for a reason!) and appreciate any and all feedback! Have a great day everyone! Max

Hi everyone. I had another UN on here called GeminiDragon??? But I forgot it. So I am starting fresh. Which is actually a good thing, because I am starting fresh with my life as well. I had some losses in my life, family members passing, stress from a new job and issues with my marriage. I have finally centered myself and put my priorities in order. I am here to do the following: Eat better Exercise more Find a buddy or buddies to hold me accountable Learn to love myself Update my status once a week here on NF Fitness wise, I want to accomplish the following: Close the rings on my Apple Watch 5 days of the week Meet my Calorie and Macro goals on my Lose It! App daily Lose 100 lbs. I was brought back to NF because I feel like I need a support group. I tried to go this solo and that burned, badly. If you would like a buddy for your fitness goals, just reach out :-) Status: 326 lbs 64" waist Calories: 1,750 https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-many-calories-per-day and https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/macronutcal.htm Protein: 239g https://www.womenshealthmag.com/food/should-you-double-up-on-protein-to-lose-weight Water in-take: 164 fl oz

Oh, this mighty wagon I keep falling off of... I fell again... for a long time... but now I dusted off and am back playing the catch-up game. I started the new year with a goal of losing between 10 to 15 kilos in a year. That was before my blood work results came back and I realized things were more serious than I thought. That goal will have to be adjusted now. I thought on Jan 1st I could just go with the flow and fly by the seat of my pants. That's not the case anymore. I'm planning on joining the next 4 week challenge and go from there. My woot is the fact that I am back here. I am back taking action instead of just riding along. I am back so I can be accountable for my choices and keep motivated with y'all's help. That was the first step... and believe me... it was not easy to admit I was off the bandwagon for so long and come back pretty much begging for help. From Jan 1st till now I have lost 3 kilos already... which considering I wasn't dieting and only started going to the gym 2 weeks ago, is a win. I have 23 kilos to go. Not sure if it is a reasonable goal to lose that in one year. One step at a time. Here's to the first 3 kilos lost and to the many more to come! I am back on the bandwagon!!

Stribs breathed a sigh of relief as she emerged from the mines; the hype had been rebuilt and all would be back to normal soon enough. She could already feel the hype intertwining itself with her aura once again, and the feeling settled her mind and her tired body. She took a shortcut through the woods, off the path, enjoying the quiet of the forest juxtaposed with the invigoration of the hype that now raced through her veins. She wandered down a ravine where some wild flowers were in bloom, taking in the first signs of spring after a long winter of the grind. She thought about wandering further, but changed her mind when she noticed how dark it was getting, and how loud the rustling of her steps had become walking through the tall weeds and flowers. She should probably get back home; it was best not to be caught out alone after dark, hype or not. As she climbed out of the steep ravine, a low ringing rumbled in her ears, and goosebumps raced across her skin. She calmored clumsily over the edge, looking for the direction of the path and quietly reminding herself to work on pull ups, but the ringing and the chill remained. She shook her head, rubbing her arms with her hands, but the goosebumps only spread, manifesting themselves as a pit in her stomach. She took off at a jog toward the path back to her house, finding it quickly, but not slowing as the hype was replaced with a feeling of dread. She finally slowed as her house came into view, but picked up the pace again when she noticed something different about her door. When she reached her home, she saw a torn piece of scroll had been stuck into her door with a knife. She ripped it off, recognizing the handwriting almost immediately, despite there being no signature. She let it fall to the ground, entering her house long enough to grab her pack and stuff it with her water skin, her sleeping mat and some food. Then strapping her bow to her back, and stuffing her daggers in her boots, she left without even locking the door. She thought for a moment about heading back to the guild hall, but she shook her head, starting off in the other direction, stopping only to pick up the note from the ground before bracing her body for a long jog that it wasn't even close to trained for...the words “they’re coming” pounding in her head with each step she took. Soooo, Stribs is in some deep shit. Four monsters from her past are after her and she has to fight them off in order to survive. The time for training is over and the real battle has begun. Each beast will have a certain number of hit points (they will increase week by week as we are looking for improvement, not perfection), and in order to vanquish each week’s beast, Stribs has to earn more points than the beast has. GOALS: (33 points possible per week) DRINK 162oz OF WATER OR UNSWEET TEA A DAY 1 point day (81 oz equals .5 because that is still improvement from the 40 or so I have been getting) 1600-1800 calories a day (aim for 1600 on non gym days and 1800 on gym days) 1 point a day Get 6-8 hours of sleep a night 1 point per night Do my school and home dailies 2 points per day (1 per location) The rules and other things that matter to my scoring, but maybe not to you. I actually started yesterday, because I am apparently a traditionalist and weeks have to start on Sundays. I got my 4 points yesterday, and am close to my 4 today, but we will see. The main struggle I see in this challenge is spring break that falls week 2. But we have 2 weeks to really make progress before then, so we will see. I didn't make any gym goals this go round (beyond to help with healing potions) because the gym is a habit. I no longer need reminders, and these things I have picked are seriously lacking or ignored in my life. I am REALLY REALLY stoked about this challenge as I already have each week planned out and mapped out. (that was the issue with my last narrative challenge...no planning...so i only wrote the one time...but I have a really really good feeling about this Happy challenge! Now to follow some threads!!!

Recap! I am down 14# ! at the end of the challenge- week 4 you can see i started to fall off... lose steam... When I stepped on the Scale and saw '-14 lb' I freaked out a bit and couldn't believe it... I had been avoiding the scale if there was not change i would feel the work was not worth it- it has been a huge boost! Plan: The next Challenge: I have found a good audiobook helps be inactive be fun and not a chore. I finished Without Remorse (Jack Ryan Universe #1) Starring John kelly. https://goo.gl/TcWzSj The next book is Patriot Games (Jack Ryan Universe #2) ( https://goo.gl/GgyxEt )As my loot for this 4 week challenge I am eyeing an audible subscription! Back to the next challenge: for 'level 1' the challenge was simply tracking food (RE: first NFA mission) For level 2- Because food is emotion tracking is critical to success, I will continue with log food daily. In line with NFA missions I will add ' be active' Because the core obstacle has been 'habit' the focus will be consistency over 'quality'. lay RolePlay In the last challenge I wrapped up Without Remorse and learned about John Kelly and a brief introduction to Jack Ryan- it looks like in Patriot Games we will really get to know him.... Become him As my loot from last challenge I will be getting an Audible Subscription Since tha audio book is 22 hours and 1 minute I will have a target of 20-22 Listening movement: However the Meta goal is habit... so active 2-5 times a week or daily is better. Consistency Targets Continue Food logging: 5-7 times a week A - 7 days each week B - 5+ days each week C - 20+ meals the whole challenge Listening movement: 18 - 22 hours A - Listening movement 5+ days each week B - 3 + Workouts a week Moov work out 10+ minuets NFA Body Weight Work out C - 22 hours the whole challagne OR active 5 days a week Counts active IF any apply Google Fit says 1 Hr active for the day Log 5 + min Moov Work out 1 Hour plus of Moov a Active minutes Stretch Goal NFA missions Complete 75% of tasks of points per week Streaming One YT video or Twitch stream a week Domestic One 'Wall' tasks a week or 30+ min of progress *Wall - list of home projects or improvements NF recap Continue Food logging: Log with iEatWell 5-7 times a week Tt least 1 meal a day Easy picture Rate on how balanced Shows weekly summary Contingency plan: set total number of meals range Numbers: 4 weeks * 7 days * 3 meals = 84 meals 4 weeks * 5 days * 2 meals = 20 meals Listening movement: 18 - 22 hours Tracked activity that I can listen to an audiobook doing Good: walk, jog, bike, maybe Circuit weights Other: Cardio boxing,7 min+ Numbers: 22 hours / 4 weeks = 5.5hours / week 5.5 hours / 7 days = 42 minutes per day 5.5 hours / 3 days = 1 hours 50 min (110 min) per day

Starting a log here! Definitely need the accountability help - my willpower stats are pitifully low. [Peer pressure works - I'll take all the encouragement I can get, please!!] So, joined NF Academy yesterday. (Been on the email list for a while now, finally decided to join up - cheaper than re-upping with a personal trainer and there's a community involved.) Today: - Did drink some of my calories (splurged on a sugared, canned coffee from the local Japanese market - worth it), started the day with a protein shake, and had grand plans for a healthy lunch. - ... Learned the *hard* way that aliums (onion, garlic, etc) can't go raw into a slow cooker. Makes the chicken taste nasty a.f. -- So my chicken-beans-avo lunch became a spinach salad with dressing, eggs, avocado, walnuts and as much cooked chicken as I could manage after hiding the flavor with bbq sauce. NOT the win I'd hoped for (sugars/corn syrups in the dressing and sauces), but still better than throwing in the towel and going to the cafe downstairs for an overpriced sandwich. I've clocked 120g of protein by 5pm, anyway. Pretty certain the added sugar spike is partly to blame for this afternoon's headache (the other parts being hot weather and lady issues). I've been better about cutting sugary out overall in the last few weeks, or at least consciously choosing to consume them. [Can't totally overhaul the pantry - I share the kitchen with Mom, who is NOT working toward clean eating/primal diets and you can pry the tortilla chips and salsa con queso from her cold, dead hands. Also, the office is packed with free junk food on any given day.] Now, if only I didn't have another pound of nasty chicken left to choke down. ;_; Meal prep, y u no tasty? OTL - Walked before work (polling place), at lunch for 40 minutes (hot outside!) and will be meeting a friend at the gym tonight for some light resistance work and hopefully a Zumba class. If I round way down on MyFitnessPal's calorie estimates, that's about 400-ish burned if I survive the Zumba class. [ETA: No, MFP was probably closer to the mark. Oy. That was exhausting! Also, the Zumba instructor is my new 'goal' look: tall, lean, ripped *and* coordinated. Holy fitspo, Batman! (Also hot. Definitely hot.)] - Forgot to take my meds this a.m., which I realized halfway through the day. (And if I take them late, I'll never sleep. @_@) So... day one of this log isn't exactly festooned with successes, but I didn't fall completely off the wagon right out of the gate, either. Now, if only my knees would cooperate with these new bodyweight routines. Owowowowowouch.

My Hero is Jack Ryan- I met him in Hunt for Red October. (yes I met him in the movie not the book) I did a little bit of the Tutorial quests and found out his story started in Without Remorse. A huge reason I am 'ranger' Jack is because the audio book is great to listen to while being active. I have done Huge- 'Smarter' Goals in the the past and 'burned out' To Kiss it: My '1st' challenge is 'Establish Habit' This will be accomplished by 'doing something for a month' Over this last week something has become 'Food log' with a stretch goal of 'active regularly' The Rewards for completing the challenge may be: (one of the below) 1 month Rising Heroes Phone Streaming app Reflector

To begin this Battle Log I would like to note that the last few days have been amazing on here. Upon joining I have been so thankful to find like minded folks and so much support from a community. This is exactly what I've been needing. To begin my Day 1 of "Birth of a Legend". We, as in my girls and I, have been very productive. They got up, had breakfast and we went to get groceries. While procuring the vittles for my humble hovel, we ran into a few friends and chatted them up which is a pretty big deal. After we got back home they stayed on their daily routine and went to sleep. I kept focus and began to slay laundry and any pile of random things I found and kept working on gaining control of my life/ home/ everything. So far, so good. I will try to post as often as I can on here to remain accountable to my quest and the community. Thanks to whoever reads this.

Hi! I'm Shoobie. You can learn more about me over there at the rebel introductions! I know you are all dying to get to know me so I'll make it easy... Click here! I can't wait till the next challenge!!! I think I have all of my goals organized for that but some of the how to's are still foggy. We'll cross that bridge when we get to that, eh? Until the start of the next challenge is here for me to bask in its awesomeness, I have decided on some very simple things I wanna start doing in order to start getting used to a healthier lifestyle. Fill in my spreadsheet (I am sure one day I'll have the guts to share that... for now, it is so full of holes and inaccuracy that I am ashamed of it!) I have several tabs in my spreadsheet. A friend made it for me... I am good with excell but not -that- good. It is amazing if used properly... honestly! There's a tab for logging food and notes about the day, one for logging weight and measurements, one for comparing weight fluctuation according to the phase of the menstrual cycle, one for graphs (coz let's face it... who doesn't love graphs? -- Don't answer that... I'll be upset :P) and one with weird calculations for a weight goal and how much should be lost per week. Thing is... I only have to fill in two of those tabs and all the rest fills in by itself... It's like magic! Which means I am just lazy really. Eat vegetables every day (yeah yeah... I know... I'm terrible) Well for starters I am a picky eater... there's that... So not a lot of variety on the menu... so I might get tired of eating the same stuff... But also I can't be lazy and go for pasta coz it is easier to cook, yanno? Are you spotting a trend of laziness yet? Go to the gym 3 times a week. This is gonna be a struggle. I have anxiety attacks with the whole going to the gym thing. It's stupid, it's nonsense, but it's real. The way I see it I just have to keep pushing it... I dunno... I am open to ideas and methods of not having an anxiety attack due to the prospect of exercising. Keep up with doctor's appointments and whatnot At the present time, I am dealing with a couple of different issues on top of the regular stuff brought to you by the ever so lovely PCOS and Metabolic Syndrome. They are mostly hormonal. I have been to the doctor and have scheduled some tests which will happen in the next 2 weeks to try to find out what's going on with my uterus. I'm pretty sure I have the answer: My uterus hates me... that's the problem. My doctor doesn't seem to agree with me and wants to dig further. The PCOS and Metabolic syndrome are flaring up (mainly coz of poor life choices) and I will never hear the end of it when I go see my endocrinologist tomorrow, I am sure... Not sure what the course of action will be there... will know tomorrow and update. I think those are the main things I am trying to get under control before the challenge starts and I am sure some of my goals will derive from this. At this point I count every little step as a HUGE win, so bear with me if I get super excited over almost nothing! Thanks for reading and such... Any criticism, help, opinion, cute gif and cat picture is welcome!

Ok guys, here we go again. I'm fighting again towards a healthier lifestyle. I have not been successful in the past several months, and I've gained back a lot of weight. Time to turn this around. I just got back from a short trip. On Thursday a friend of mine and I drove 5 hours to Kansas City, MO to see Markiplier's You're Welcome Tour. It was hilarious and a lot of fun! We then dropped down to Branson, MO for a couple of days. While there we went to the Titanic Museum, Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, the Wax Museum, and played mini golf. Tons of fun! A lot of junk food though. So I am once again addicted to junk food. I have GOT to kick this. It's time to wake up. I may not have been trapped in the Sacred Realm for 7 years, but it almost feels like it. Time to wake up and get back on task for my quest. BIG WHY! - First I'm going to remember what my big why is. Why am I doing this? Why do I want to succeed? My big why is that I want to enjoy life. I want to be able to do more with my life and experience more. I want to be able to go hiking, zip lining, kayaking, and a whole bunch of outdoor stuff without being exhausted. I want to have the energy to take care of myself and those around me. I want to be able to buy clothing from a regular store. There are so many reasons for me to take on this task, but my primary reason is for health and happiness. Goal 1: Stop eating out - Tonight I'm going to the grocery store, and I'm going to stop eating out so much. I am allowed eating out twice a week. No more than that. I have to make that count. If I do end up going out to eat more than twice a week, the other times must be healthy options. Goal #2: Hydrate! - So, my goal here is going to be to drink more water. My goal for now is 64 oz of water each day. I think this is doable. Goal #3: Practice Sword Fighting - I have wanted to go back to Kendo for a long time. I'm finally going to do it. By the end of this month I want to go to at least 3 Kendo classes. I want to get back into it. Maybe it'll give me more motivation to hit the gym. Goal #4: Schedule Down Time - I have started to fall into the trap of planning too much for myself. There's so much I need/want to do that I haven't been taking time for myself. I'm going to practice self care and do better starting now. Ok, let's get this started. I'll need your help and support to get back on track. This WILL happen damnit!

Hi, I'm looking for people (more the merrier) who'd be willing to form a Facebook group, or text, or email.... Help me stick to my routine and not fall into a funk. My focus is more on mental health than physical, but I am aiming to eventually start doing some hiking, jogging, martial arts, dance, and other stuff. I think my diet is pretty good as is and I'm happy to offer advice on cooking (I'm a pretty good cook). My nerdishness is in being a totally fantasy and SciFi bookworm (I prefer bookwyrm). After all, very little can't be improved with either lasers or dragons (or dragons with lasers?). Also a bit hooked on certain video games... Dragon Age, Mass Effect. I am a history nut, I have a ridiculous amount of knowledge about ancient history and not a whole lot to do with it. Anyways, I don't have much in the way of a real life support system beyond my therapist. I could use some friends to keep me inspired or nag me a little or just chat about nerd stuff.

The Rangers and people from other guilds, that have been around for a while (at least 2 years i just checked) could know that, in my past, i have dedicated a few challenges in a row to prepping for my first StrongViking Beast obstacle run in the start of 2016. Those were pretty successful challenges, so now i'm summoning the strength of that format again. Because, frankly, things need to be done. You can also say i'm slowly starting to get frightened a bit by the endeavor i have set upon. For the people that don't know, a few facts: *** * T-minus: ~ 23 weeks / 154 days *** * Rat Race Dirty Weekend 2018 *** * UK obstacle run *** * 20 miles *** * 200 obstacles *** * Meeting all the Epic Nerds IRL for the first time!!! There are a couple of things i want to accomplish before that time, and one way or the other i tried to put it all into a spreadsheet which i will upkeep daily. (WIP) A little explanation about all the things: Weeks / Days: Countdowntimers to keep me focused on the time left KCAL/d: I want to be just under 2000 KCAL a day, this is just under maintenance, which will allow me to lose some fat, and keep up with working out. I need to lose some weight to be able to handle all the bodyweight related exercises better, like hanging pulling jumping etc. etc. Protein/d: I don't want to lose the muscle i have built the last couple of years, so protein will be the most important nutrient that i will keep my eye on. Doing 160+ a day is just a little under 2gr/lbs of bodyweight. Drinking/d: I know this is not going to be much of a problem (especially compared to 2 years ago), but i know that if i don't mention this here a few days will be lost due to excessive drinking. Now i rate this on a scale of no / mindful / less than mindful. This gives me some leeway to enjoy the occasional beer. Cause a challenge has to be hard, but you don't need to set yourself up for failure, especially when the drawback (of a single beer) is that low. This untraining of my beer-habit also makes me a bit afraid of the race itself, i owe it to some people to thoroughly enjoy several beers on friday and saturday that i really am getting a bit scared of having to do the 20 miles and 200 obstacles while having a major beer-induced headache. Eat healthy/d: B/L/D a.k.a. Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner. These are the only moments i will eat. The only exception here will be stuff around workout like PWO, recovery drinks and protein shakes. Again this will be scored for doing the best i can. "Best option" means that there was no way i could have eaten healthier given the circumstance at that moment. "Mindfully" means that there might have been a better option which i didn't take but i made a conscious choice not to have that, but also chose not to take the worst option. This is a choice i frequently have to make. I'm not one for meal prepping (yet). And i also don't want to give my kids a bad example by doing some extreme dieting and in their presence i will eat normally but try to do so as healthy as possible. No CC: No Candy no Cooky, no inbetween snacking. This means i just eat at B/L/D and nothing else. This should bring a halt to several of my weaknesses. Especially the one that hit's me after snoozing on the couch, somehow i always wake up with such a sweettooth and stuff my face with cookies or candy just before i go to bed. It will also help in not accumulating those small extra KCALs throughout the day. Lift / Run / Crossfit: These are the workouts i'm gonna do, and my goal is to give them equal attention. I always leaned on lifting more than running, and combining running with lifting was pretty doable. Now that i have CF in the mix it's hard to give running the proper attention. That's why i decided i'm gonna lay down a bit on the lifting and sacrifice one lifting workout for one extra running workout. Even the lifting workout will be geared towards the Rat Race. I'm gonna keep on doing the juggernaut program, and i will do a workout of DL/BP and SQ/OHP + 2 accessory exercises. This program will be written out coming weekend. This also goes for the running workout. I'm gonna go look for a plan that get's me to run about 10 miles within my ~20 weeks i've got. Extra Reps: I just like the idea of doing extra. So this is the excuse to do extra reps, and i'm going to categorize them as hard medium and easy. Hard ones are things i can only do a few of, like pullups. Medium are things like pushups, i can push those out a lot more. And easy ones are the things that i feel i could do all day (and actually have done so), like jumping jacks and mountain climbers. Scoring points are as follows, per rep: Hard 10 points / medium 5 points / easy 1 point. Weight / BF%: These will be here to record how my overall weight and BF% will transition throughout my prep. OSM: OSM a.k.a. Awesome. An awesome day, where i have been completely focused or something else significant happened, will be noted here. I'm hoping a lot of x'es in this column. Comments on missed goals and OSM days: Part of the pressure of accountability, if i fuck up, i have to come clean. Tell how and why i fucked up a goal. On the other hand, this is the place to gloat about awesome days too! So if you want to be part of this success please add some accountability. Nag my ass over things i haven't done or when i tell you i don't feel up to working out. Challenge me (that won't work i can assure you) or find some other way to get under my skin. I'm hoping with the help of you all this will be another good (set of) challenge(s) and i will get my butt in gear to kick ass on the Rat Race. May the lord have mercy on my body So...

Because it's expected by now... So in the middle of the last challenge I lost my mind...and signed up for Kickboxing classes They are honestly a lot of fun, even though they make me realize how out of shape I am! Made some not so good food choices over the weekend and ended up with a flare up that made me realize why I don't eat those items anymore...time to recommit to myself and my challenge. I'm currently heavier than I've ever been in my life according to the scale this morning...that includes pregnancy (the first one I gained 50 lbs and was the first time I'd ever been over 200 lbs, currently being the second) Challenge 1. Kickboxing 3 times a week, only exception is holiday schedule or if I have a 5K (doing both would be better) Had to reduce kickboxing to once a week, the repetition was too much for my neck damage. 2. Portion sizes, even though I eat strict Paleo it has still been too much, keep tracking food and keep carbs under 60. Keep my Sun Basket subscription to help with this one because the easier I make it the more likely I am to stick with it! (One cheat a week is currently allowed.) 3. Hold myself accountable...since school isn't a part of my schedule anymore it seems like I'm at loss of what to do with my time. During season at my job I'm not at a loss of what to do with my time, but I need to hold myself accountable to checking in on my goals here, since we see what happens when I don't....I credit NF and the amazing people I've met here (and not wanting to let them down) with the progress I made before, and will again. Check in at least 3 times a week. My spreadsheet link is in my signature, as is MyFitnessPal. Yes my spreadsheet goes to the end of the year and you are welcome to steal my format if it helps you, I break it down into quarters, ymmv. Not comfortable with sharing my current measurements just yet, but plan on taking them at the end of every challenge with a +/- type thing... Upcoming 5K's 11/23 - Community First Thanksgiving Distance Classic (rain) 12/3 - Out of Darkness Walk(overdid it, could not move) 12/9 - The Super Run (rain) 12/16 - Terrain Race (with the current condition of my neck I don't think I'll realistically be able to do this one, plus $10 parking ) 12/22 - Run Santa Run 1/06/16 - Healthy Start 5k 1/13/18 - Best Damn Race (10k) 3/10/18 - Gate River Run (15k) 4/21/18 - Never Quit Run

Well! so it's almost over.. my last one was good so I'll try another to end the year on a high easy Short version: 1. Get below 90kgs. 2. Drink no more than 4 sodas. 3. Do kettlebell workout 8 times, Do yoga 12 times 4. Write one chapter of my PhD. All this will make me a better photographer, can't handle the equipment or the awkard positions if I'm soo out of shape Sting like a hummingbird

A Bullet Journal Accountability group you say... This group might be for you if you do any of the following. Do you enjoy writing down the things you accomplish? Do you track your exercise, sleep, or water? Do you need to write down dates and times in order to remember them? Do you feel that most planners are not flexible enough for your daily needs? Do you make thousands of to do lists? My intentions for this group are sort of shown in the above picture. My plan is to post some resources I've found helpful, encourage others to share what's been successful for them, post weekly bujo prompts, and have a place where other bujo enthusiast can post pictures, ask questions, get help or just get ideas on what to do. So if this sounds like something you might enjoy or you already bujo and you have knowledge to share, please join in! If you want to join please post a short introduction and a link to your current challenge. Group Members & Challenge Links 1. Jonesy 2. Karinajean 3. Katrin aka Morag 4. Starpuck 5. Elena aka Artenara Jones 6. Super Starling! 7. Daryl of Barbaria 8. Kathleen's Adventure 9. NightWatcher13 10. Chris aka Ryuu 11. The Shogun 12. Machete We are not capped at 10 just added the numbers because I didn't want to count each time. Lol