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In honor of Halloween the Scout mini will be monster themed What? You were expecting this? Nope - we'll be trying to conquer our monsters! so strap on your runners and let's get hunting!

Deffy the Vampire Slayer Season One Deffy vs The Master: The Harvest I may be taking a break from wrestling challenges but it doesn't mean I am going to stop ass kicking. In fact, there are some throwbacks in this challenge to stuff I started this time last year. More on that later So this series of challenges will take a different format to how I have been doing my challenges recently. There are 6 challenges left of 2016, one for each season of Buffy if we forget Riley existed. Which we do. There will be some minor spoilers so if you haven't seen Buffy yet why are we friends? you might want to reconsider following this challenge but dudes and dudettes, it's been, like, TWENTY YEARS the statute of spoiler limitations must have run out by now. So for this challenge my main foe is The Master as he was the Big Bad in Buffy season one. Deffy's nemesis is carbs. They have been the downfall of many a hot booty and this hot booty is no exception. To defeat The Master, I have to keep eating my bastardised version of paleo, but The Master is not the only villain of this season. I will battle two or three different foes each week, split into different days ahead of time so I have a proper schedule. The Main Goals Fitness Goals 1. Continue following the bastardised version of paleo but also count calories too. I want a total deficit of 25,000 calories by the last day of the challenge 2. Do 100 elliptical KMs 3. Lift 15 times 4. Get 1,500 total fitness minutes by the last day of the challenge. Life Goals 1. Finish my online Panini Euro 2016 sticker album, preferably before my boyfriend (The Heron, or TH from now on) currently at 71% vs TH's 67% 2. Finish all outstanding gifts. I had a fault on my sewing machine but now that's done I can crack on. I'm only a whole month late.... 3. Make sure my books are up to date and submit my tax declaration for the last tax year. 4. Finish current book (The Dust that Falls from Dreams by Louis de Bernieres) and read another one in full. 5. Get to at least 80% on my huge History of the World book on Kindle. 6. Oil pull 15 times (it's a coconut oil/mouth thing) Kicketh Some Ass Also this challenge I will be roughhousing with TH again. We tried wrestling each other last year and we had a lot of fun but this year I want to kick it up a notch and actually learn some self defence. I have wanted to train with TH for ages but his fitness level is not what mine is and he isn't too keen on the idea of attending classes so I am going to try and tempt him with some home lessons and online tutorials in the hope he gets the bug and we can move to bigger and better things. At the very least I am going to buy some boxing punching mitts so he can help me with drills. I am also continuing my quest to get a majorly hot booty. I want mine to rival Jen Selter's: and I will not stop my mission until it does. I have this weird thing where I make TH judge my butt and give me a 'Percentage to Jen Selter' score and I currently stand at 42% Seltered. I'd like to reach at least 50% by the end of this challenge. Another challenge! LETS GO!

What's a Slayer to do when she finally comes to terms with the fact that she can't continue to fight the forces of evil with just her (admittedly awesome) brain? That maybe she has to actually train her body instead of always trying to outsmart them? Through some sort of cosmic oversight (or joke?), our heroine has no Watcher; instead, just a party of friends doing all they can. But hey, nobody can kick vampire ass like a Slayer... The whole trouble started a week ago when I was in a routine fight, and I got sloppy. It was late, I was tired, and I let the ugly demon get its teeth around my knee. I staked it then and there, of course, but I guess I have to come to terms with the fact that I have to use to learn the rest of my body... Those damn vampires aren't going to slay themselves. So I'm cleaning up my diet, introducing some more yoga to give me the strength, balance, and clarity I need to fight more like a Slayer. Any ideas for yoga on an injured knee? It's mostly just the puncture wounds now. I'm not limping around anymore. My other focus--I'm writing a book. An important one. Basically a guide to slaying for non-Slayers. Now, don't get me wrong. It's dangerous work, and I don't want just anybody doing it. But if you're getting attacked my a vampire, you ought to at least know how to fight back. But, unfortunately, the book's a little bit of a mess, so I'm in the midst of a massive overhaul. It's a lot of work, and I'm procrastinating on it like crazy. It's a lot of pressure. But it's time to stop whining and get to work. People's lives are hanging in the balance.

CH ONE: Inciting Event She turned the corner into the alley, taking slow and timid steps. Where on earth were these directions taking her? This new club was supposed to be great, but why was it so... hidden and remote. She heard a grumbled roar behind her. She spun around and saw a man... well... not a man. A leather-jacket clad man-monster with a bumpy forehead, yellow eyes, and a set of sharp teeth. The girl shrieked and turned to run. Suddenly, a man in a frumpy tweed suit appeared from the shadows. "Fight him." "WHAT? No, help me!" The girl cried in terror. "No. Fight him. You will win if you want to." She looked up and down the alley, desperately searching for an escape route. Finding none, she turned to face the monster.... Challenge #1 - May 8 - June 4 Where to begin? I am really overweight. I'm about 200 pounds over where I should be. It's just not acceptable anymore. So, let's fix it! I think Buffy Summers is one of the best female characters (or characters) in existence. She's strong, complicated, and fragile. She's human. She's also a badass. This is why she is my inspiration in this journey. Goals I am going to start simply. I will have 1 goal for each of the skills. I may not achieve all of them, but I want to consider all of the parts of being a healthy person. Each is worth +1 skill point if I achieve it. STR :: Exercise 5 times during this challenge. Since I am currently sedentary, I'm shooting for a little more than 1x a week. STA :: Walk around the school 1x per day. I am a teacher, so this is a quick way to get moving. DEX :: Do a Sun Salutation 3x a week Baby goal with the purpose of helping me stay moving and limber. CON :: Stop buying fast food A good goal for my health AND my wallet. WIS :: Read a book I love reading, but I hardly ever do it anymore. Shameful! CHA :: Text at least 1 friend a day I have lots of upcoming plans to see people face-to-face, but I'd like to a better job at the "micro-communication" of friendship. Just saying hello and how are you?! Let's do this...

YAY! I got through the last challenge! It has been ages since I did that. Background I've only got a few days of this challenge before the British Classic next Saturday. Not feeling hugely confident about moving up the rankings (and I certainly won't win) but I'm going to go in and give it my best shot. After that, I'm taking a few days off to go and chill out with the husband and when I get back it's straight into focusing on training for the Commonwealths. I have an ongoing glute issue which causes me a lot of pain but doesn't seem to stop me lifting. My current competition bests are: Squat 132.5kgBench 72.5kgDeadlift 135kgTotal 340kg (364.64 Wilks)As usual, no lifting goals because I leave my programming up to my coach and there won't be any bonus points for records this time around because Tanky moved the 63kg Scottish records up just a tiny bit! Nice to have a new goal rather than just aiming to beat myself. Major events on the horizon: 19 September - British Classic20 September - Sitting watching the 72kg-84kg+ girls lifting at the British Classic whilst eating ALL THE THINGS21-24 September - On holiday with husband... will be largely offline2-3 October - Two weddings on consecutive days30 November-6 December - Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships (lifting on 2 December) Chill out and sleep! This is kind of a two part thing. Firstly, I still need to get more sleep. Secondly, I need to carve out chill-out time with my husband. So the goal continues from last time to get 7h30m a night of sleep but I'm going to do this on a cumulative scoring basis (because it seemed awesome when other people were doing it last time and might help me keep track). So I'll give myself +1 if I get 7h sleep and +1.5 for 7h30m and +2 for 8h or more. I'm also going to give myself +3 points for having a date of some shape or form with my husband whether that's going to the movies or just a long, romantic walk or even an impromptu trip to the ice cream parlour. I'm aiming to be entirely offline whilst I'm away with Grant from 21-24 September... not sure I'll manage that but in the meantime: Goal is +50 overall for this and I'll give myself +3 CON and +2 WIS for achieving that. Stop being so gorram competitive! There is absolutely nothing I can do about how other people's lifts, so I need to stop worrying about competing with them and just beat them by being awesome in and of myself (well, 'cept for Kelli Thor Clarke... because there's no way I'm beating her!). I need to work out how I'm going to progress with this but the main aim is to worry about my own lifts than anyone else's and stop bitching about people who get on my nerves. I also need to know when to step away from a fight. This is going to be a weird one, so I'm going to do a cumulative score on how many days I can get through without Googling other girls in my weight class at the Commonwealths to see how I am likely to match up to them. I'll give myself +1 for every day I don't Google my rivals or stalk them on social media (checking out their videos if we're friends doesn't count). I'm also going to give myself a +1 when I step away from a fight rather than digging in and -1 for when I get sucked in. Target of 35 points... because I know I won't manage to be good every day. +3 WIS and +2 CHA for this. Ma bam's sair! For a translation of this section, please view this informative video: My glute injury doesn't seem to be going away and I can't afford to go the whole hog and see a specialist about it (physios don't seem to be able to help). So for the time being, I'm going to keep a detailed log of things I've done and pain levels and see if I can work out what makes it better and worse. So far, lifting doesn't seem to be the main problem, but some movements may be exacerbating it (i.e. A2G squats). Doing Lizard in yoga is a major issue, so I need to just skip that when it comes up. I'll try to be honest about the pain levels. They do get pretty high (i.e. yesterday I was crawling around on the floor howling because they were so bad) but they're usually manageable if I'm not stupid (i.e. I remember to take my painkillers and not do stupid shizz). So another cumulative score here with +1 for every day I keep a detailed log of pain levels and activities and +2 for any noticeable correlations found. Goal +35 with a score of +2 CON, +2 WIS and +1 DEX for completion. Wanna wish me luck?

So last challenge I tried to go hard. And I hurt my back (freaking walking on a treadmill of all things! wtf). The recovery has been quite a few weeks in the making and it's really disheartening, but I'm feeling 95% better. I'll need the rest of this week to really get all the way there, and I'll have to deload when I start up again, but I'm ready to tackle what I tried to tackle last challenge. Just gotta be more careful with my incline work. I'm pretty sad as I can already feel how much strength I've lost and I am feeling kinda slouchy and blah. I can't wait to get back into this stuff and give my body the boost it wants. So yeah, I'm literally just copying and pasting the last challenge because Buffy gifs never get old even if they're the same. The only thing I'm changing is I'm going to run once a week and do hiking conditioning once a week, instead of running 2x/week AND doing the hiking conditioning. Maybe that was a bit too much for me. I'm also removing the sleep goal because I have a hard time tracking it with how weird my schedule's been lately. I'll add it back in if I start feeling wonky though. Basically I'm moving this challenge to just focus on the physical stuffs for now. Also CAMP THIS CHALLENGE AHHHHHH!!!!!!!! So excited. As a side quest for myself I've gotta go introduce myself on the facebook page. I don't get FB at work and hate going on my computer at home so I've been seriously slacking on it. I do occasionally "like" random posts but I've got to go introduce myself before it's too late! So without further ado, a non gratuitous straight up copy and paste of the last challenge. DEAL WITH IT. -------------------- I've been rewatching through Buffy lately. With my little sister, who has never seen it. She doesn't know *any* of the major plot points and it's really awesome to kind of be watching one of my favourite shows of all time through new eyes. I've always loved the show for the Joss Whedon geniusness. The character development, the campiness, the witty dialogue. But I forgot how much the female characters are all just so strong. Not just Buffy, but her mom, Willow, the women vampires, Glory, Anya. Just so much awesome. And since I'm newly inspired by the show, I figure I'll just use the inspiration to get me going! Mission One. Strength. So I thought about not including this and doing something else here, since I have been consistent with Stronglifts even when it's not an actual goal. But since I'm upping my training this challenge, I don't want to not put this here and have me slack on it. I also am expecting to slow down with the newbie gains soon, and I don't want that to let that affect my motivation. So here it is. Stronglifts, 3x/week. 5x5. Do itttt. Mission Two. Speed & Endurance. Here's where I'm really upping my game. All the other stuff I've been more or less doing anyway. So I want to run 1x/week and then once a week either go on a hike or do incline treadmill work. Mission Three. Flexibility Need to be limber for all those high kicks! And also IRL to get up those big scrambles! Yoga 5x/week. I do this most mornings anyway. Life Quest. Focus. I've been slacking on the meditation. I think I didn't like the exact technique I was doing. Back to focusing on the breath... how I fell in love with it in the first place. Meditate 5x/week. ----------------------- So this all might seem like a lot, but I've really been doing most of it most of the time already, before I injured my back. I'm just putting it all together here and making it a priority.Time to focus and go kick major butttt

I've been rewatching through Buffy lately. With my little sister, who has never seen it. She doesn't know *any* of the major plot points and it's really awesome to kind of be watching one of my favourite shows of all time through new eyes. I've always loved the show for the Joss Whedon geniusness. The character development, the campiness, the witty dialogue. But I forgot how much the female characters are all just so strong. Not just Buffy, but her mom, Willow, the women vampires, Glory, Anya. Just so much awesome. And since I'm newly inspired by the show, I figure I'll just use the inspiration to get me going! "From here on, you are gonna see a drastic distraction reduction. 'Drastic distraction reduction.' Try saying that ten times fast." - Buffy So the last few challenges have gone well, but I've had so much going on at some point in most of them I've had to either change my goals or just kind of not do well for a week. This is the first 6 weeks in a while I have aboslutley nothing major going on. So I'm going to use this opportunity to GO HARD. I'm going to up my training and focus focus focus while I can, before things get nuts again in the fall. So commence the slayer themed challenge, where I work on everything a slayer needs... which also happens to coincide with what I need to do for my epic quests of all the hiking and mountain climbing...which I really want to start focusing my training on. Mission One. Strength. So I thought about not including this and doing something else here, since I have been consistent with Stronglifts even when it's not an actual goal. But since I'm upping my training this challenge, I don't want to not put this here and have me slack on it. I also am expecting to slow down with the newbie gains soon, and I don't want that to let that affect my motivation. So here it is. Stronglifts, 3x/week. 5x5. Do itttt. Mission Two. Speed & Endurance. Here's where I'm really upping my game. All the other stuff I've been more or less doing anyway. So I want to run 2x/week and then once a week either go on a hike or if I can't use the incline on the treadmill to walk at like a 30% incline, or use the stair master depending on my mood. Do this for at least 40 minutes. Mission Three. Flexibility Need to be limber for all those high kicks! And also IRL to get up those big scrambles! Yoga 5x/week. I do this most mornings anyway. Life Quest. Focus. I've been slacking on the meditation. I think I didn't like the exact technique I was doing. Back to focusing on the breath... how I fell in love with it in the first place. Meditate 5x/week. Also I have been sleeping so poorly lately. This needs fixing especially if I'm going to be going as hard as I plan the next 6 weeks. Be in bed at in time to get at least 7 hours of sleep every night. I have insomnia kind of regularly so I'm just going to grade when I go to bed, not how much sleep I actually get since that's not in my control. My hard working body needs sleep! Food Quest: Eat For Fuel. I learned last challenge that I've got to go shopping over the weekend in order to succeed. That's the hard part, but once I do it success is almost guaranteed. So. I will go shopping every week on Sunday. That's the goal. And hopefully everything else will fall out. ----------------------- So this all might seem like a lot, but I've really been doing most of it most of the time already. I'm just putting it all together here and making it a priority.Time to focus and go kick major butttt ----------------------- So I hurt myself this challenge and switched my goals up towards the end. The above goals will be re-attempted next challenge. Recovery goals are here.

Thus far I have managed to have 2 very successful challenges. I know that this system works for me so maybe it's time to start pushing myself a little harder and kick some serious ass. For this reason, I am making this challenge Buffy themed (and because everything is better if it's Buffy themed!) Main quest - to set a great example to my children This hasn't changed and it probably never will because it is perfect for me. My boys are wonderful but being a parent is hard work. Being a healthy parent is even harder but it's so important to be a good role model to children. They are my motivation. Goal 1 - Kick ass workouts 3 times a week (+3 STA, +2DEX) I discovered last challenge that I need variety in my workouts. Doing the same old stuff 3 times a week meant I seriously lacked motivation. I also discovered that I love to get my sweat on and work hard (contrary to what I would've believed) so that is my focus for this challenge. I'm going to be following the fighter's codex program on darebee.com. This is varied, focused on kicking ass and should get me nice and sweaty. Reward - being fitter Goal 2 - Stop binge eating (+3CON) I know I'm good at succeeding in challenges but I'm also very good at finding the loopholes to allow myself to be naughty. Initially I allowed myself a cheat day from my healthy eating plan but then I became a little ridiculous on that day. My focus for this goal is going to be on maintaining my current weight (10 stone 8). I will continue to count calories and I hope that now I'm allowed 2000 daily I won't feel the desire to binge and go way over. Reward - not being bloated Goal 3 - Complete 20 good form push ups (+4STR, +1STA) (I couldn't find a gif of Buffy doing push ups...wtf?!) This is an insane goal as I can currently only manage about 5 but as I said earlier, I've had great success in past challenges so why not push hard and see what can be achieved?! My plan is to work on them during my sweaty workout sessions but also try 1 day a week (probably Mondays) to do some on the hour, every hour and see where that gets me. Then on a Sunday I will do as many as possible to measure progress. Could be interesting. Reward - total bragging rights Life Side Quest - Have a kick ass wardrobe (+2CHA) With my recent weight loss, I treated myself to some new clothes but I still find myself wearing the same old hoodies every day. The sun is starting to shine (as much as it ever does in England) so I want to sort my wardrobe out and start wearing nicer clothes. The first step is to sort out which clothes are bloody awful (why do I even have these?) and get rid of them. Once that is done, I want to weed out the clothes that don't fit well and then I'll have easier access to all the nice things. Reward - Looking great Unfortunately I'm on holiday for the first week of the challenge so I'm intending to complete it in 5 weeks however I'm prepared to give myself an extra week to work on the push ups if needed.

Let's get ready! NEW GOALS COMING SOON

So, I've been AWOL since January. Before that, I was AWOL for a couple of months. I AM SUCKING AT THIS. So my goal for the rest of this challenge? DON'T SUCK Current Quest: (PART ONE) :: 5/1 - 5/15 Back to Basics :: Don't Suck I've been AWOL for about 4 months... Sigh. I'm lucky that my reason for being AWOL is that I got VERY involved in the play I was doing, made a bunch of new friends, and subsequently did a lot of this: Time to recommit and get ready to rock! GOALS 5/1 - 5/15 NECESSARY SKILLS: I will be focusing on... DEX: Be agile and quick enough to cover rugged, varied terrain effortlessly STR: Fend off zombies with brawn 1:: Go to the Gym 5x :: +1 STR Seriously easy goal, but I NEED EASY. I need to get back on track, so I just need to get my butt in the gym door. That's 5 times i 2:: Get Apocalypse Ready :: +1 STA Walk a total of 15 miles on the treadmill at the gym. (Sounds easy, but...) Current Quest: (PART TWO) :: 5/10 - 5/25 Back to Basics :: Keep on Not Sucking Okay! I've gone to the gym! I'm kind of, sort of, on the path to not sucking! GOALS 5/15 - 5/25 NECESSARY SKILLS: I will be focusing on... CON: Have the supplies and means to bunker down and equip myself properly DEX: Be agile and quick enough to cover rugged, varied terrain effortlessly 1:: Add $300 to Savings Account :: +1 CON Brace yourselves, summer is coming... And for a teacher, that means weird things for money flow! 2:: These Shoes Were Made for Walkin' :: +1 STA Clock another 15+ miles on the treadmill! LET'S DO THIS!

THE QUEST: Into Every Generation, A Slayer is Born To see this challenge through to completion for the first time in three challenges. That's a quest, right? Cause that's my quest. GOAL: I'm Not Done Baking Yet. I need to not be so hard on myself. I need to treat this challenge like a fitness journal. I need to not pull away when things get hard. I need to figure me out so that I quit getting in my own way. I need to turn from cookie dough into cookies. GOAL: It Must Be Really Hard When All Your Friends Have, Like, Superpowers. I work a desk job. I also have hobbies that require me to sit a lot (hey, if anyone knows how to jog and knit, let me know!). This means my hips are ALWAYS super tight. My hamstrings hate me. My shoulders aren’t big fans of my hours are a desk, either. I NEED to work on my flexibility in these areas to not only improve my range of motion in programs like Les Mills COMBAT, but to attack and undo the damage of 10 years in a desk job. It’s been said that people age most gracefully when they workout and are flexible. I need that. I need to work on my super powers. GOAL: I Mock You With My Monkey Pants I have completed two Beachbody programs and I have many more in my library. I may never do them to completion, but I have them for when I am in the mood for something different. After completing two programs, I still have my “trouble areasâ€. My hips and lower abs are SO stubborn! I am taking on Brazil Butt Lift to work on those areas for 30 days with a group of ladies who all want the same thing. Then... I will mock you all with my sexy monkey pants. LIFE SIDE QUEST: The Dance of Capitalist Superiority. Pay off my credit card debt by the end of this challenge. This one may seem pretty darn obvious when it comes to the WHY part, but I’ll still explain. I tend to have somewhere between $400-700 on my credit card and I just chip away at it. In the meantime, something comes up and I am between paychecks, so I just slap it on my card, undoing the payment I just made. My goal this year is to pay it off, then start seriously saving money. If I didn’t have to pay my credit card bill every month, our family savings account would be in MUCH better shape. And I’ll just say it. I want to start a family. Not today. Not tomorrow. But sometime in the next year, I’d like to seriously consider it, and the idea of having a non-furnished savings account going into that just freaks me out and keeps me from even considering it. I want to be able to take care of the things in our home that need fixing. I want to be able to start a family. I can’t do that if I keep living outside my means. Now the HOW. This is the toughy. I have some personal savings I have set aside. My “fun money†for trips and other things. I am going to have to give that up and put it toward this debt if I want to seriously tackle this goal. I will use all my “extra†money from January to March to pay off the debt until it is gone. Then I’m done. I’m done with interest, payments, and not being able to save HEALTH SIDE QUEST: Out. For. A. Walk... Bitch. Cold weather running, here I come. I want to log 24 miles of running in this challenge. That's pretty light, considering it's just four miles a week. That's two runs a week. I bought the ColdGear. I have the equipment... And even if it's a slow shamble, I'm going to do it. I have a goal of 5 races this year and one is in March. Time to get training... since I haven't run since September.

Current Quest: (PART ONE) 1/5 - 1/23 - Come Back from the Dead MAIN QUEST: Back to Basics :: Don't Suck I've been AWOL for about 3 months... Sigh. I'm lucky that my reason for being AWOL is that I got VERY involved in the play I was doing, made a bunch of new friends, and subsequently did a lot of this: Time to recommit and get ready to rock! Ultimate Quest: Survive the Zombie Apocalypse NECESSARY SKILLS: I will be focusing on... STR: Fend off zombies with brawn STA: Outrun hordes for long distances DEX: Be agile and quick enough to cover rugged, varied terrain effortlessly CON: Have the supplies and means to bunker down and equip myself properly WIS: Be wicked smaht. Because zombies are dumb. CHA: Charm the pants off of handsome survivors. Steal their shit. CHALLENGE PT ONE GOALS (First 3 Weeks) At the midpoint of this challenge, I will assess, assign points, and create a new set of challenges! (5 points possible for each 1/2 challenge) 1: Money, Money, Money I am starting a new teaching job! Long-term subbing is exciting, but it means 21 days of petty pay before the big bucks kick in. I need to be frugal for the next month! - NO FAST FOOD, Not even coffee! - Pay all bills on time - Stick with the alternative 52-week challenge (deposit anywhere from $1-52 per week, each number can only be used once. This allows greater flexibility in case of car repairs or other unexpected expenses!) 2: Get Apocalypse Ready (+3 STA) - Make my new gym membership worth it! Go at least 2x a week - Do the first three weeks of Couch-to-5k! LET'S DO THIS!

double post (dammit)

Current Quest: (PART ONE) 1/5 - 1/23 - Come Back from the Dead MAIN QUEST: Back to Basics :: Don't Suck I've been AWOL for about 3 months... Sigh. I'm lucky that my reason for being AWOL is that I got VERY involved in the play I was doing, made a bunch of new friends, and subsequently did a lot of this: Time to recommit and get ready to rock! Ultimate Quest: Survive the Zombie Apocalypse NECESSARY SKILLS: I will be focusing on... STR: Fend off zombies with brawn STA: Outrun hordes for long distances DEX: Be agile and quick enough to cover rugged, varied terrain effortlessly CON: Have the supplies and means to bunker down and equip myself properly WIS: Be wicked smaht. Because zombies are dumb. CHA: Charm the pants off of handsome survivors. Steal their shit. CHALLENGE PT ONE GOALS (First 3 Weeks) At the midpoint of this challenge, I will assess, assign points, and create a new set of challenges! (5 points possible for each 1/2 challenge) 1: Money, Money, Money I am starting a new teaching job! Long-term subbing is exciting, but it means 21 days of petty pay before the big bucks kick in. I need to be frugal for the next month! - NO FAST FOOD, Not even coffee! - Pay all bills on time - Stick with the alternative 52-week challenge (deposit anywhere from $1-52 per week, each number can only be used once. This allows greater flexibility in case of car repairs or other unexpected expenses!) 2: Get Apocalypse Ready (+3 STA) - Make my new gym membership worth it! Go at least 2x a week - Do the first three weeks of Couch-to-5k! LET'S DO THIS!

Well the world needs to be saved (again) from all the evil things that crawl out of the Hellmouth, so how do we defeat the baddies? We sharpen our stakes and get after the damn thing. DIET GOALS Restrict carbs to 50 - 100g per day - I want to lose some weight this challenge. I think I've been maintaining weight for a little while now. So I need to get my ass in gear, less sweet 'tatoes and more giant salads. No cave-Buffy no beer this challenge. No alcohol or fun of any kind. I am installing an exception of my birthday, which happens to be this week. That gives me two days (I know a birthday is just a day but Jenn and I are taking a 3-day weekend because we share a birthday) of carby-sugary hooliganism. ​ Intermittent fasting 1 day per week - Got to keep my metabolism on it's toes, so I'm going to build in one intermittent fasting 24hrs into every week. It will probably be between Sunday lunch to Monday lunch, but I'll try to mix it up and see how this works. Track food - I'm so terrible at this, but if I am going to track macros I obviously have to make this a habit. I'm going to use My Fitness Pal and adjust the carbs to 100g per day and up my protein to around 150g per day. Not this time! Starting with today... so far I've eaten nothing because I'm on a fast. HAHA! PAY ATTENTION! FITNESS GOALS I had some sort of clarity after last challenge and learned how to wake up early to work out, so I'm going to roll that momentum into this challenge. Wake and Stake - 430am HIIT every weekday morning I actually think my wake up time is going to be 4am. I've come to the realization that it takes me a good 15 minutes of upright momentum to really do anything substantial. Sometimes the water doesn't start at a full on boil, so 4-415am wake up time to get up and be up with the possibility of cleaning (cleaning requires zero alertness). 430am starts HIIT time. This way I'm awake and not half-assing my workout. No Buffy it is not, but it sure looks that way doesn't it? Random Workout - bodyweight or otherwise 3 times per week. Slayers gotta slay. **bonus - walking the dog** Weredog needs working out too, but I don't always have the time to take her out on the trail. So I'm giving myself bonus points for getting out there and being a good dog Mom. LIFE GOALS 1 Project per week - I had this goal a couple of challenges ago and it really worked, so here it is again. I'd like to focus more on web design, so these are probably going to be website mock-ups. I need some to help diversify my portfolio. Going to try to stay away from logos as much as I like doing them. Also I need to post these things to my blog, Behance, Dribbble, and other social medias. Blog 3 times per week - Whether it be project progress, a sketch, an article I find interesting, I need to maintain an active blog so that onlookers know that I'm continually working and so on and so forth. Reading 15 minutes a Night - self explanatory.

This had to Happen. Letta Slaya' Slay What? Another Television theme where Cheechoe defeats a different opponent each week of the Challenge? I guess she does that... Come on, it's Buffy. She is The Chosen One. She is hot. She kicks ass of all kind. She looks great in a sports bra. She is tiny, but fierce. She has super strength. Did I mention she was hot?? My Overall goal this challenge is to become more like Buffy. I Must Defeat The First. To do this, each week I will defeat a Big Bad and in doing so, I will have achieved the goals of the lowering my weight class in boxing (Buffy wouldn't give up when she failed, so neither can I) and increasing my strength by 15%. Though I will be fighting a different Big Bad, these three goals remain the same: 1. Primal Diet Buffy, in order to discover the extent of her awesomeness, had to reacquaint herself with her roots: Sineya, The First Slayer. This primal female was The First chosen to defend the world against the forces of darkness. To get in touch with my primal awesomeness, I must change my eating habits to that of a Primal Diet. That is, Paleo including dairy. Strict. People. Strict. 2. Starting Strength What would our hero be without her super strength and superior healing abilities? A little girl, that's what. I MUST get stronger. I started lifting heavy again last challenge and I want MOAR. Therefore, I will follow the intermediate guide of Starting Strength and measure my gains. Also, since muscle burns fat, I feel it will help me with my overall goal. This is not to replace my typical Monkery: I will still continue to do TaeKwon-Do and boxing workouts. This program is intended to supplement my usual workout to get me over my plateau. My initial numbers for Bench Press, Back Squat, and Deadlift will be posted on my first workout on Monday. 3. Portion Control The Whole30 offers a portion control guide which I will maintain throughout the 6 weeks. This is basically a visual guideline as to HOW MUCH food I should ingest per meal. I feel this was the draw back of my last challenge: I ate pretty clean (aside from all the October brews) but only lost a couple of pounds. (Damn you, almond butter. I hate to love you!) I refuse to count calories, because that's just exhausting, so I will refer to The Mummy Hand for my guide. This should help me get a HAND on my weight loss. I hope I can HANDle the cut-backs. I hear portion control is the best diet regulation, HANDS down. Don't get mad at me; you're the one still reading this. Moving on the the Big Bads: Week 1: The Master I will "Master" the Primal Diet by having strict portion control as well as timed meals. Depending on when I wake up, I will eat a small, but nutrient rich meal every 4 hours. This should be a good kick start for my eating habits. Week 2: Spike/Angelus/Dru These three enemies I shall fight at once: Bench Press (Spike), Deadlift (Angelus), and Back Squat (Drusilla). My initial numbers for the Starting Strength should be making linear gains. My focus will be on technique of these lifts. Week 3: The Mayor This week I will gain more spunk. Moar cardio. running, biking, rollerblading, etc. Week 4: Adam This week I will do army exercises. Train like Adam, beat Adam. Week 5: Glory Glory is a God. How do I beat a God? You can't. You have to wait until she is Ben form. For this week, I will PvP some Ben out there. Could be one of you Monks, or some other nerd. I will see who wants to step into my ring. (speak now, nerds! ) Week 6: Evil Willow Willow is like a sister to Buffy. When willow turns evil because she gets addicted to the Magics, Buffy must defeat her loved one with the hope of not destroying her. This week, I will enter in the Pre-Thanksgiving race with Devyn, the Kender assassin and hope I don't completely destroy her. Muahahahhaa. hah. ha. .. heh. Let the Slaying Begin!! Grrrr.....Arrrggghh.