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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

Harriet of War 2023 This challenge I turn 36. It’s a good moment for a new start. I am not satisfied with the direction I’ve taken over the last year. Pacing has not improved my fatigue, and has in fact simply reduced my activity levels and coincided with multiple long slug phases. I’m sick of the fearful, avoidant, pessimistic attitude promoted by CFS patient advocacy groups and online forums. I choose to believe in recovery and the possibility of a normal life, and that is what I am going to pursue this year. As Mr Harriet has pointed out, though, my focus cannot be exclusively on health, in case it doesn't come. So I will do. my. art. And I will develop the life I want with or without recovery. Having recently played and loved God of War 2018, I am taking Kratos, the incredibly tough Spartan warrior from said game, as a model for the next year. Erm, not because he kills things, but because he has the physical and character strength that I so badly need. Sometimes we choose idols because of similarities between us, and sometimes we choose them because they have precisely what we lack. I loved playing as Kratos because it made me feel powerful and capable of anything. I want to be Kratos when I grow up. Of course, life is both easier and harder than a game. But I hope to borrow some of Kratos’s attitudes and virtues. For each challenge over the next year, I want to make sure I am hitting each of four categories that I think will be important: Strength: I will work on my physical fitness, carefully increasing both strength and cardio fitness. Someone has already made an exercise programme specifically for POTS, so I’ll do that and just slow down the progression if needed. There is no bonus for going too hard; the only thing that matters is getting fitter over time, and that requires staying below my maximum recoverable volume, which is unfortunately very, very low. Wishing and heroically overdoing things won't change that, but consistent, appropriate workouts might. Stoicism: Okay so stoicism isn’t Spartan, exactly. But I think it’s the closest available approach to developing strength of character. I wish to cultivate a stoic practical philosophy as an antidote to the fragility and suffering that arise from focusing too much on my illness. I will develop my tolerance for effort and unpleasantness, reduce my fear and avoidance, and choose happiness wherever possible. The good thing about developing this mindset is that it will serve me well even if I don't achieve the desired recovery. If my fatigue doesn't change, then I will change to deal with the fatigue. This doesn't mean denying myself rest, where rest would increase my functionality or reduce suffering. It means not waiting for perfect health or energy before I do my work, my life. Spirit: perhaps this category seems too soft for a god of war, but attitude is an important part of strength, and every warrior needs a way of healing between fights. The effect of the mind on the body has been extensively documented, and everyone who reports recovering from CFS included some mind-body stress reduction practice. So, I will cultivate a belief in healing and bring about the parasympathetic state of repair through twice daily meditation or prayer to my own god of war (not Kratos, obviously; he's a video game character, not an actual deity. If someone happened to take one of my deities and put him in a video game, that would be completely different, if somewhat weird) and similar practices, as often as possible. Structure: presumably Kratos got his discipline from being raised in a Spartan society. Happily, I don’t have that, so I will need to support my efforts with various habit-helping structures, which might include designing routines, setting alarms and reminders, employing family to hold me accountable, journalling, programming, reflecting on identities and processes, and setting up my environment to lower or raise barriers to action. Oh, and internet blocks to limit the infinite doom scroll.

Hey y'all! I'm fairly new here so this is my first challenge, but I'm gonna give it my best shot. For some background, since the start of the year I've been focusing on weight loss and general toning, with the most recent goal of looking and feeling good at my brothers wedding. This happened very recently and worked out pretty well - but now I need to keep my momentum and also change it up a little. Hoping this challenge format will help keep me on track! I'm gonna try bucket things into what (to me) are the three core character sheet attributes; Physical, Mental and Social. I'll be focusing on Physical but the other two should tie in nicely I hope. Physical I've been fairly consistent on getting exercise in over the course of this year, but I'd really like to focus in on building some muscle and improving my cardio health. To that end I've got two goals for my exercise during this challenge: Figure out a good weights/strength routine and do it twice a week. I have 1kg and 3kg sets of dumb bells and a 6kg and 8kg kettlebell, it's just a case of using them consistently and well. Do some sort of cardio twice a week. Jump rope, a decent walk, Beat Saber on my VR rig, anything that gets my heart rate up in those good ranges. For both of these I need to keep my bodies abilities in mind and not over extend or damage my knees more, so that's gonna be key as much as anything. And then one nutrition related goal: Drink less alcohol when socialising. A little is fine, a lot spikes my heart rate for 24-48 hours afterwards and just isn't worth the hangover or calories. My general nutrition is fine - I love cooking, I'm real fond of fruit and veg and I've gotten into a good routine for my day to day - so no changes needed there. Social One big goal here: Organise and host a weekend camping get together in my garden There's lots of smaller moving parts to this - we've just started getting our deck renovated so that needs to be finished, I need to actually finish inviting people, I need to keep the grass in check and get a lot of brambles under control . But! It's been something I've always wanted to do, and now that I live somewhere with a big enough garden (I moved way out into the country from the city centre last autumn) I really want it to happen. Mental One big goal, and one maintenance related: Keep gardening regularly. Seeing things I've tended from small or planted from seed grow to full blown plants is crazily rewarding. Added bonus if I can eat them too. Make and attend an appointment with my ADHD psych for a med review. I keep putting this off and I need to stop procrastinating on it. Stat Boost? My end goal is pretty fluid here! If I come out of this feeling stronger and healthier than I went in, then it's a win.

My bard challenge ended with more of a whimper than a bang, but we're going to continue this tour of D&D classes with the barbarian, though my fellow Critical Role fans no doubt had that figured out based on my title. So to start with the obvious, my first goal this challenge is to RAGE By which I mean, work out. I'm on a pretty good string of consistent workouts, and I'm happy with how it's going. I'm going to mostly stick with my 5x5 plan from last challenge, except I'm going to turn it down to a 3x5 plan, with the exception of my chin ups, which I'm still kind of experimenting with. For now I think I'm going to alternate 5x3 with 5xAMAP on those. The plan is 2-3 workouts per week. My main reason for adjusting my sets is to make my workouts a little shorter, so that as I add weight I can give more rest time without adding time to the workout as a whole. I did some reading that indicated that 80% of the gains come from the first 3 sets, so I'm not giving up that much, and hopefully it will aid in recovery that can then be put towards my next goal: FAST MOVEMENT I want to get back into running this year, and plan to complete at least one 5k. I've neglected my cardio for a couple of years at this point, so for now I'm just going to aim to get my heartrate up three times a week with the new bike trainer I just bought (it's not actually new, got it on Facebook marketplace, which if you'll recall is also where my weights came from. As much as I dislike Facebook as a whole and haven't posted anything on there in years, I'm becoming more and more fond of the marketplace portion of it.) The goal for zero week is just to get the thing set up. TOTEM WARRIOR - WOLF My subclass for this challenge will be Path of the Totem Warrior. I've been very conscientious about not overstepping when it comes to my dad's dog, but it does kind of bother me that he isn't more intentional about training her. He does spend a lot of time with her, but is just kind of counting on her to pick things up through osmosis. Which has worked surprisingly well, actually. She is, all in all, a very good dog. But I can't take her barking much more. I've done a bit of digging into how to address that, and my preferred strategy is to teach her to speak, which then sets up a foundation for teaching her not to speak. It worked well for the last dog we had, so it's worth trying again. The goal here is to work with her on it every day, even if it's just a minute or two. For zero week, though, I'm just working on picking up some training treats to use with her. UNARMORED DEFENSE Brene Brown's new book Atlas of the Heart has been on my TBR since it came out, and my Enneagram work last challenge indicated that my type tends to not be in touch with my emotions (which I've definitely gotten better at, but yeah, they have a point there) so I'm going to continue the challenging but cathartic work of drilling down into my messy inner stuff and keep sorting it out as best I can. For zero week, my goal is just to get it checked out of the library.

I have things to celebrate from this past year: 1) I completed a TV pilot script and sent it out to screenplay competitions. 2) My husband and I bought a house. 3) My husband and I got a puppy doggo. Despite these joyful occurences, I am trying to understand how 2022 - a whole 'nother trip around the sun - went by so quickly. Was I sleeping for roughly a third of it? Yes. Yes, I was. Nonetheless! During December, I mulled over why I might feel like the year went by too swiftly, and I believe that it's because I lacked physical and spiritual fulfillment. I am a recovering couch potato who once was fairly active. The year before last I would go on hikes weekly with my infant (who's now almost 3 - wow!) carrying his heavy self on my person. I went for runs with my kiddo in the jogging stroller. I did dance cardio, yoga, kettlebells, erg rowing... man! I also was more "active" in reflecting on my spiritual self during 2021. 2022? Not so much. Anyway, that was 2021, and 2021 felt like a good long year despite being in the thick of pandemic-ness. Just comparing here. So yeah - I have decided that I would like to focus on a couple of things for this year: - Finding the joy in exercising consistently again. - Spending more thoughtful alone time contemplating and developing my spiritual side. To kick things off, here is my first challenge of 2023: 1) Exercise for 30 minutes or more 4x per week. Can be broken up into a couple of smaller sessions in the day so long as they total greater than 30 minutes in sum. 2) Spend at least 10 minutes each day writing in journal about spiritual related questions and thoughts OR practicing mindfulness. 3) No alcohol. Dry challenge! There are other things I would like to do and may write about during this challenge, such as writing progress and acrylic painting, but officially aiming to do those things more consistently are things for upcoming challenges. I have enough on my plate.

Hi. I'm Stronkey Kong. I'm 38. I'm fat and I don't want to be fat anymore. I lift. I have a vague idea for how I need to eat to keep this weight loss + get stronker thing going. I write... in fact, I'm doing a writing workshop during this challenge. Also, I have weirdly intense hobbies that I tend to jump between at random intervals. Okay. Goals. Goal 1: DO NOT EAT A PIZZA As I've mentioned in the holiday mini. My worst habit/downfall is I'll go grocery shopping on the weekend, pick up a Meat Lover's-esque pizza and a bottle of wine/six-pack/booze/etc. and undo a week's worth of good eating in one evening. This challenge, I am not going to do this.(every week) Further, I'm going to track how I'm not eating a pizza. For the duration of the challenge I am going to avoid eating any ingredients that belong in that meal: 1 large meaty pizza and a bottle of wine. Those ingredients are: 12 servings of junky meat: any meat that can be described as fatty, salty, processed, cured, etc. 12 servings of cheese. 12 servings of junky carbs: white breads, pastas, desserts, candy, etc. 5 servings of alcohol. These are all foods I need to work on my relationship with, which is why they will be limited so much. Tomato sauce is fine. I'm going to track this by drawing a picture of a pizza, and drawing on the crust, cheese, and toppings, next to a bottle of wine that I'll fill up with reddish-purple ink. This will hang on the fridge. It will be an ever present visual reminder in my kitchen. And when I make mistakes, drawing stuff on will force me to spend time pondering my mistake. If I make it through the five weeks without eating a whole pizza, I can reward myself with a small pizza and a couple glasses of wine or beer. Other than that, I'm emphasizing proteins, fruits, and veggies, minimizing condiments, and judiciously adding whole grains and legumes for protein/mineral/fiber support. Goal 2: GREYSKULL and CARDIO Lift weights following Greyskull 3 days per week. 2x30 min med. intensity cardio sessions 2 days per week: stat bike, ring fit, racquetball, or any reasonable substitute. This has been going well the last two weeks. I just gotta keep doing it. Then I'm gonna take my 24 lbs. kettle bell to work. I don't have time for long walks... or even a good place to walk... when I'm at work, so I can do a quick KB sesh after food breaks. Not sure what. I just want to get my HR up and burn a few extra calories. Goal 3: COMPLETE MY WRITING WORKSHOP Starting Jan 15, by every Sunday I have to write 2500 words, and read up to 9 other people's 2500 words and provide feedback. Between now and then, I need to write 2500 words on a handful of projects, and pick one for the workshop. Goal 4: PLAY CHESS I've been on a chess kick lately. I used to play casually in high school. And the occasional game here and there. And I've been playing online games, and they stress me out in a weirdly good way. I've always wanted to really learn it and get good at it. Daily: play a game or study a game. (watching a YouTube video doesn't count... unless I set up the board and play through and analyze something I guess). Also, this counts as research for a middle grade novel I might do for the workshop... a portal fantasy about a chess prodigy. Goal 5: LEARN (at least some) UKRAINIAN. I've tried learning Slovene in the past as some way to connect to my own heritage, but resources are limited. Another way in is to learn another Slavic language. Though Russian is an obvious leader in terms of resources, learning Ukrainian is kinda trendy for solidarity. I started doing the Ukrainian course on Duolingo, and it's been fun and interesting so far. But I realized this morning all the sentences I've learned rely on an implied but omitted 'is.' I know no verbs, and the inflections are coming. Also, Pimsleur, I found out, is giving their Ukrainian course for free through 12/31/23 if you sign up by 12/31/22.

Push myself. Notes & Observations Journaling. Stop waiting for the perfect notebook to do it. You have more than enough sexy leather bound ones to start. Cardio. How the hell do you expect to keep up this "crime-fighting" ordeal if you can't keep up one night a week? The heart and lungs are just as important as your biceps and traps. Mobility. This one is puzzling. You always feel so good after a Smooth Panther routine...why not do them more often? Fuel. 5x a day is doable. I've already started and it amazes me how quick my body adapts and fast my metabolism gets going. I've become a great white shark... Strength. No excuses for Tues/Thurs. I have a good DB set + KB's + weighted vest/pull-up bar. I can get a good workout in before I leave for work. No need to go to the gym. I have my own "Batcave". Wolf

Hi all! I'm Stronkey Kong. Umm... yeah... still here. If you don't know by now, just ask... This is part 2 of a year long (or at least multi-month) challenge aimed at losing weight by training like a boxer. It's all about calisthenics and cardio with boxing training mixed in for fun and because hitting a heavy bag for 10x3 min intervals is an awesome workout. I have it themed and organized after "Mike Tyson's Punch Out!" on the NES. Here's how this will work... I have 3 Major goals (a catch all goal for the minor/tangential stuff): FIGHTING WEIGHT (FW): Hit 199 lbs (CRUISER WEIGHT, in the next 1-2 years. I'm 37 (almost 38) and 285 or so pounds... I want to get rid of the excess before 40. BOXING SHAPE (BS): I want to be in the kind of shape that boxers and other fighters are in so I'm going to train like them... lot's of cardio and calisthenics for foundational strength and conditioning, and bag work and boxing/martial arts drills for developing speed, coordination, balance, power etc. METABOLIC HEALTH (MH): Be able to burn whatever I put into my body: carbs, fat -- metabolic flexibility, learn to maintain the balance of calories in vs. calories out, and develop good eating habits. I'll be using LUMEN and BODY TEMP for metabolic feedback, and tracking diet with MFP. LUMEN is a gadget that uses the breath (O2 in vs CO2 out) to estimate whether you're burning carbs or fat BODY TEMP: I'll take my temperature with an IR surface thermometer around the same time I measure with LUMEN. My baseline/normal temp is 97.4 deg F. MFP: I'm using my fitness pal to get the macronutrient data I need to compare to what LUMEN suggests OTHER minor GOALS (OmG): All the other projects and things that I'm going to make the rest of life good. These things show up on my fight scorecard as little 15 min tasks that add points here and there. ======================================================== As the year progresses, I compete in successively more challenging FIGHTS. The GOALS are the basis for SCORING POINTS and getting KNOCK-DOWNS and KNOCKOUTS in the fights. Just like PUNCH OUT, Each fight will be 3 ROUNDS (weeks) in length. There will be 1 REST WEEK in between fights to rest, readjust goals, cut for weigh-in etc. WEIGH-IN will be the morning on the day before the fight and this will be my official weight for tracking weight loss in the fight. For each fight I will identify 3 KO techniques -- one for each of the first three goals. These are impressive and worthy enough to constitute a KO singularly. Then, I will have 3 TKO criteria -- again one for each of the three major goals that together (all three) constitute a TKO. Finally, even if I fail to KO or TKO, if I go the distance and do more good effort than bad, I can WIN by DECISION -- wherein I track good habits on the FIGHT SCORECARD for each round. There's a lot on the scorecard, and it includes things from my OmGs. Throughout the course of the year and 13 total fights, I will track my W-L-KO stats. For any W to count, regardless whether it's KO, TKO, or W by Decision, I have to track all three rounds. Adjustments for current challenge: Added a REST WEEK between fights Dropping prize purses ($$$) from fights -- I don't think these incentives are necessary, and I need to focus on budgeting other things. Expanding the FIGHT SCORECARD (ongoing) This challenge is currently scheduled as follows: Week 0: REST WEEK WEIGH-IN: Saturday, February 12 at 12:00 pm (-ish) Week 1: VS. Von Kaiser Round 1 Week 2: VS. Von Kaiser Round 2 Week 3: VS. Von Kaiser Round 3 Week 4: REST WEEK Week 5: VS. Piston Hondo Round 1 I'll keep the current fight, future fight schedule, and fight record on the second of each of these challenges so you (and I) can find it and figure out what the hell I'm currently doing at any time.

Hi all! I'm Stronkey Kong. Umm... yeah... still here. If you don't know by now, just ask... I just did a long, rough draft outline of this challenge at the end of the last one hidden in the spoiler because of its length: tl;dr -- I'm kicking off a year long (or at least multi-month) challenge aimed at losing weight by training like a boxer... really tho, it's all about calisthenics and cardio with boxing training mixed in for fun and because hitting a heavy bag for 10x3 min intervals is an awesome workout. I have it themed and organized after "Mike Tyson's Punch Out!" on the NES. Here's how this will work... I have 3 Major goals: FIGHTING WEIGHT (FW): Hit 199 lbs in the next 1-2 years BOXING SHAPE (BS): I want to be in the kind of shape that boxers and other fighters are in so I'm going to train like them... lot's of cardio and calisthenics for foundational strength and conditioning, and bag work and boxing/martial arts drills for developing speed, coordination, balance, power etc. METABOLIC HEALTH (MH): Be able to burn whatever I put into my body: carbs, fat -- metabolic flexibility, learn to maintain the balance of calories in vs. calories out, and develop good eating habits. I'll be using LUMEN for metabolic feedback... might start tracking body temp too... smh, and tracking diet with MFP. OTHER minor GOALS (OmG): I will also be doing some writing, meditating, and home improvement projects throughout the year. Right now I'm in a warmup phase where I assess a few baselines and set goals for the first 'fight.' Each fight will be 3 weeks (rounds) in length. The morning on the day before the fight, I will 'weigh-in' and this will be my official weight for tracking weight loss in the fight. For each fight I will identify 3 KO techniques -- one for each of the first three goals. These are impressive and worthy enough to constitute a KO singularly. Then, I will have 3 TKO criteria -- again one for each of the three major goals that together (all three) constitute a TKO. Finally, even if I fail to KO or TKO, if I go the distance and do more good effort than bad, I can WIN by DECISION -- wherein I track good habits on the FIGHT SCORECARD for each round. There's a lot on the scorecard, and it includes things from my OmGs. Throughout the course of the year and 13 total fights, I will track my W-L-KO stats. For the first Minor Circuit Bouts, I'm just diving from one into the next. After that I might decide to take breaks between fights and title bouts. And I won't be sticking completely to the NF Challenge Schedule. Some Fights will straddle Challenge breaks, I may decide to take week long breaks to sync them up, or just as I need a break here and there. We'll see. I'll keep the current fight, future fight schedule, and fight record on the second or first post of each of these challenges so you (and I) can find it and figure out what the hell I'm currently doing at any time. Stay tuned.

Last year, Man Uncivilized founder Traver Boehm shared that instead of the typical New Year's Resolutions that many people make (and often fail), he names his year. For me, 2021 was the year of Purpose and Power. In spite of the year's challenges, I did indeed tap into my purpose and power as a father, as a husband, as a leader, as as educator, and (most importantly) as a man. After some meditating and deep contemplation, I have chosen to name 2022 The Year of Connection: connection to my self (my truest self), to my body, to my loved ones, and to the universe. This challenge is step one of that connection: Elevation. (side note: I also binge-watched the Jack Ryan series, so if that influence trickles into this challenge, don't be surprised; and of course, expect some poetry along the way). Elevate Your Body: 40 push-ups upon waking two-a-day workouts: one cardio (running, brisk walking, hiking, elliptical, stairs, etc.) and one strength (weights, machines, bodyweight, kettlebells, cinderblocks, etc.); aim for 30-60 minutes each, but don't stress if this is not possible fast intermittently when practical and eat whole foods when possible cold shower daily drink at least 93 ounces of water daily Elevate Your Brain: at least 15 minutes daily using Duolingo at least 15 minutes daily using Elevate read at least 10 pages daily of any book (I am participating in the Read Harder Challenge for 2022) stay informed via NPR One app & podcasts (with one caveat: do not exceed 15 minutes of news consumption) limit social media Elevate Your Mind/Soul: 0415 wakeup daily meditation/prayer daily scripture/devotional reading daily breath exercises daily spend focused and present distraction-free time with wife and kids evening reflective journaling

Hello, all! I was on here a long while ago working on my fitness and am returning several years later (and several years older - welp!) from an entirely different country and with completely different goals, ready to work on myself again! 😄 Back then I was in my late teens and concentrated heavily on cardio and studying to great success, but I also had far less to contend with back then. I'm quite a changed person now, with a job I love in a city in England, an intolerance to lactose that I was free of as a youngster (boo), and an only slightly detrimental work ethic (total workaholic, need to work on that) - plus a newfound desire to work on self-care since I seem to let that fall second to just about anything to do with work 😂 The preliminary goals I've outlined for myself are going to be: Eating nutritiously and healthily and not just whatever's there/quick. Exercise for mind and spirit. It used to be such a powerful tool for my mental and emotional wellbeing, and I hope I can refind that now! To learn a new skill that's personal to me. I'm leaning towards learning BSL currently as I feel quite strongly about it. Self-care and to utilise my free time in the evenings or days off not just to 'rest for work tomorrow' but to do things for me. The biggest challenges, I think, will be exercising (as this is practically a foreign concept to me now) and studying (something I haven't had to do in, really, any capacity since, well, since I was a student! Haha!) I'm planning on digging up the old Nerd Fitness bodyweight exercise videos I used to love following. I'm also a huge lover of kpop and dancing as somebody who used to be a dancer, so hope to learn a few of the dances as a fun thing to splice into a routine. And now that gyms are starting to re-open I plan to find some classes I can go and attend, namely beginner Pilates as I'm very flexible but have never done anything exercise-wise with it, which seems like a shame! I'd absolutely love to meet some people here and get chatting, so if you're open to it feel free to shoot me a message and lets be friends! I've got today and tomorrow off of work and my plan is to sift through the forums to remind myself of how the monthly challenges work and pick up some tips, and then plan to sketch out something of a routine for myself - so exciting! Thank you so much if you read so far! Its so great to be back again. 😄

To continue with the acronym… Those that have been following for a while know that in 2019 I was doing really good hitting my goals, so I went back to see what I was doing then that was working so well. I've been more lax this year on the food aspect (thanks Covid) With D cooking her fair share making a detailed plan is a little more difficult, but that's only one meal a day every other week so it shouldn't derail me as much as I've been letting it. Making sure I stop eating when I'm supposed to is the biggest challenge with food, since what I eat is generally good. We've started something new with this, we both were tired of creating menus, shopping, and cooking (even though shopping means ordering online) We decided to each purchase our own meals (usually frozen, sometimes just veggies and protein) every two weeks on Tuesday we rotate who makes their tacos, and make enough for two weeks and every Friday we order from a local pizza place that makes a cauliflower crust so amazing you can't tell that's what you're eating! Doing this has helped immensely with portion control and I've lost about 5lbs so far. I've also been tracking just to stay aware of what and how much I'm eating. I'm doing better at making sure my workouts happen, I have a treadmill and workout equipment at home, there is no good reason for this not to be a priority, until I feel comfortable going to the gym again. (I live in FL, my governor is an idiot, this will probably not happen soon) Reminding myself how good I feel and not letting my brain make excuses are helping...my much needed motivation is I have a birthday cruise to prepare for and I need to be in shape for season. Running around a ballpark is probably not going to be easy with a mask on, so cardio is important! I may not be running around a ballpark this year, we'll find out this challenge (probably week zero) Workouts are still a priority though if I get another job my schedule may have to change a bit. Sleep is essential for these goals as well, I struggle to get 7 hours a night, not because I go to bed late or get up too early, it's because sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and my brain won't shut off! Updates need to happen to hold me accountable, and extra stuff needs to happen because I have a tendency to hermit away, and they say all work and no play...but I'm anything but dull The Plan... Cardio - Three interval runs/bicycle rides/HITT Workout, and one strength training a week. Update - Post in thread three times a week. Track - Sleep (at least 7 hours a night) Food (eat when hungry, stop when full, track to be mindful) Extra - Rides, 5k's, events, and any other random stuff goes here Done - 🌈 Not Done - ❄️

To continue with the acronym… Those that have been following for a while know that in 2019 I was doing really good hitting my goals, so I went back to see what I was doing then that was working so well. I've been more lax this year on the food aspect (thanks Covid) With D cooking her fair share making a detailed plan is a little more difficult, but that's only one meal a day every other week so it shouldn't derail me as much as I've been letting it. Making sure I stop eating when I'm supposed to is the biggest challenge with food, since what I eat is generally good. I'm doing better at making sure my workouts happen, I have a treadmill and workout equipment at home, there is no good reason for this not to be a priority, until I feel comfortable going to the gym again. (I live in FL, my governor is an idiot, this will probably not happen soon) Reminding myself how good I feel and not letting my brain make excuses are helping...my much needed motivation is I have a birthday cruise to prepare for and I need to be in shape for season. Running around a ballpark is probably not going to be easy with a mask on, so cardio is important! The Plan... Cardio - Three interval runs/bicycle rides/HITT Workout, and one strength training a week. Update - Post in thread three times a week. Track - Sleep (at least 7 hours a night) Food (eat on plan when hungry, stop when full) Extra - Rides, 5k's, events, and any other random stuff goes here Done - 🌈 Not Done - ❄️

This year I'm going to continue with the acronym I developed in 2020...I will be modifying a few items regarding it though (because of course I am) Those that have been following for a while know that in 2019 I was doing really good hitting my goals, so I went back to see what I was doing then that was working so well. I've been more lax this year on the food aspect (thanks Covid) With D cooking her fair share making a detailed plan is a little more difficult, but that's only one meal a day every other week so it shouldn't derail me as much as I've been letting it. I've also been lax in making sure my workouts happen, after coming home from my granddaughter being born last year it was hard to get back into the routine, then Covid happened and shut everything down...granted, I have a treadmill and workout equipment at home, but finding the motivation isn't as easy as when I was going to the gym, and when I do them I've only been meeting the minimum. I need to make this as much of a priority working out at home as I did when I was going to the gym, until I feel comfortable doing that again. (I live in FL, my governor is an idiot, this will probably not happen soon) The (new) Plan... Cardio - Three interval runs/bicycle rides/HITT Workout, and one strength training a week. Update - Post in thread three times a week. Track - Sleep (at least 7 hours a night) Food (eat on plan when hungry, stop when full) Extra - Rides, 5k's, events, and any other random stuff goes here Done - 🌈 Not Done - ❄️ The 1/2/21 will be 7 years I've been here...I have a thing for mirror numbers

Per Request 😉 The Plan.... Conscientious: Make 24 hour plan, eat on plan when hungry, stop when full. Unconventional: Rides, 5k's, events, and any other random stuff goes here Time: Get 7 hours of sleep a night, post at least 3 times a week in my thread. Exercise: Weights 1x week, 6,000 steps a day, 3 days treadmill workout (when no work event) I have a bad habit this time of year of hiding away...I want to go to all the things then when the time comes I make excuses and don't do them...this isn't starting off too well since I've already bailed on two plans this weekend. In my defense they conflicted so I canceled one, then the other got rained out...blame Florida weather 🙄

It's been a while since I've been consistent and intentional with focusing on my health and fitness goals. There are many reasons for this - shoulder surgery this autumn, the pandemic, feeling guilty that I want to change my body even though I love myself, the list goes on and on and on....but I'm ready. I'm done wishing that I had started taking the steps to reach my goals. I'm done starting over again and again and again. I’m done letting other people’s opinions determine what I do, or don’t do, with my body. So, I’m using the time during this holiday challenge to hone myself for the new year. Challenge Quest #1: Paleo Prep I'm not as bad as I used to be, but still have a lot of room to improve. I am moving to a paleo approach to eating, so the weeks leading up to the first challenge of 2021, I will be cleaning things up to make the transition that much easier. I'm already mostly gluten-free but will be removing all grains, aside from white rice from my diet. I will also be removing added sugars, and mostly removing alcohol - I will be completely cutting out alcohol for the first challenge of the new year. Challenge Quest #2: Cardio I am so slacking here. Big time. I'll be bringing strength training into my routine with the first challenge, but I want to build up my aerobic fitness. I'm terrible about holding my breath when dancing and doing more intense cardio. I'm going to do thirty minutes of cardio everyday. This can be any kind of cardio - low-intensity steady state, HIIT, dancing, yoga, whatever. Just thirty minutes of getting my heart rate up every single day. Challenge Quest #3: Hydration I love drinking water! I really do. But I can be really bad about staying hydrated during the colder months of the year. I have a beautiful 64oz water bottle that I carry around my house with me, I will be aiming to drink two full bottle everyday. Side Quest: Physical Therapy I need to stay consistent with doing my daily PT exercises for my shoulder. I've been slacking a bit, and I can't do that. I have a lot of exercises to choose from, but I need to do at least ten minutes every day. I'm getting started a bit late, but better late than never!

Cuz that's what you do when you're cooped up in a cage with some scientific gadgets, you develop plots to take over the world -- Brain. Of course, there's always that other part of you that worries that just wants to run on the hamster wheel, goof around, and blow off steam -- Pinky. More context -- the world is in a vulnerable state due to the current Pandemic which provides an ideal opportunity to advance my plans for world dominiation... I am taking courses on Coursera toward a Master's in Electical Engineering from UC-Boulder. So that means I'll be doing a lot of studying and working on projects at home while I'm cooped up. I'm focusing on embedded systems (computers that run machines with little, if any, human interaction) so I get to play with circuits and microcontrollers --inventor/mad scientist shit -- which is gonna be fun. Despite stay-at-home orders, I'm essential so I still work, which makes staying on top of coursework hard. I've also got to clean up my apartment and organize some workspace -- the lab. And I'm overhauling my nutrition and exercise. I'm going to re-try the Eat Right for Your Type diet... granted the motivation for the diet is based on blood type which is not supported by any published science, but it's the one that made me go from 330 to 280 during the summer following my senior year of high school. It might work again. I also looked at the food groups/portions and calculated some macros and calories based on them... the nutrition is balanced and the macros and calories are reasonable, and sticking within the plan I should lose weight. For exercise I have a hamster wheel stationary bike. I will just be putting in my time and trying to burn as many calories as possible. The upside is I can do this in front of a TV which lets me get the workout in while watching Netflix or playing video games and such. Goal 1: Finish my first EE course on time. I finished my first week. There are four more to go for the first class. I should be wrapping it up in week three. Then I'll have to decide if/when/how on the next one. I'm only taking them through coursera right now which means I'll get one of their certificates, but I don't get academic credit from UC-Boulder until I pay their tuition and take their final exams. I'm enrolled in a four course (3 credit hour) specialization. I'm planning on finishing them on coursera, before I decide to enroll and pay up. But I need a 3.0 or better average across the whole specialization to be admitted to the program. So... keep up and get an A. That is all. Goal 2: Track and follow the Eat Right for Your Type diet I've worked out the plan and will be tracking my nutrition by servings and portions according to the plan. I made a spreadsheet for tracking. That makes it easy. I worked out the portion sizes so they are easy to count by eye. 4 oz of chicken breast or fish is about the size of the palm of my hand. Fruits, nuts, veggies all a small handful etc. Just eat the food and check a box, and try to stay within the ranges given each week. Goal 3: Hamster Wheel Get on the exercise bike. I'm tracking the calories burned and the time I spend on it. Ideally, I'd like to burn a pound of fat a week... 3500 calories, but that would require 6-7 hours per week. It's possible, but managing 4 hours is hard enough. I'll try and track though and see what I can do. Goal 4:Track measurments for good feedback. Weigh in daily. Calculate 7-day rolling average. Diameters of body parts weekly. I'll use these to adjust my nutrition or exercise to get into that 1-2 lbs./week weight loss I keep aiming for. Goal 5: Build my lab I need a generally clean, generally organized workspace to study and build electronic shit. So I'm going to work on cleaning up my junk filled office and set up a work table. I've got 4 book shelves to hold (hopefully all) my books. I also ordered a white board and a cart with some drawers and little organizer bins for holding tiny little electronics components. We're doing this.

Hello adventurers ⚔️ On this 18th day of April 2020, I begin my food and training log, as a way to ensure accountability! I am a girl (or woman?) in my 20’s, 5’4", and 124 lbs. I have always been physically fit — I have a black belt in taekwondo and I have run a mile in 7 min 15 seconds. However, those milestones were achieved back when I was a teenager. Throughout my college years, I lacked the time management skills necessary to balance academics and physical activity. Now that I am back home, I hope to regain my former strength and become even stronger than I used to be. I do not wish to completely cut out any particular food groups from my diet; I rather want to simply practice moderation and limiting my consumption of processed foods. I also wish to use this time off to exercise 7 days a week, for 45 min each day, doing both cardio and strength training. So...first of all, my food intake for today: Morning: 1 bagel with cream cheese 1 cup of tea with milk 1 glass of protein, fruit & veggie shake Afternoon: 1 small bowl of fried rice with broccoli 2 small baked potatoes (seasoned with salt, pepper, and olive oil) 1 large cup of coffee with oat milk and 1 spoon brown sugar 1 bowl of chickpeas (Indian style) Evening: Jelly beans (~130 cal, 30g sugar) 5 small slices of homemade, thin-crust veggie pizza

Restarting after a few years away from this site! This year is not off to quite the start I had planned. I had gone off keto from thanksgiving to new years because I can't go through December without egg nog, but I had planned to go right back on Jan 1. Then the start of the new decade rolled around and I came down with a nasty head cold, preventing me from being active, following any sort of diet, or even posting here until now. Oh well, better late than never, right? I will probably add some sort of fiction to my posts as things go along, but I want to get something posted so I don't use this as an excuse to push things off any further. GOAL1: Nutrition. I tried keto last year and found that while it was a difficult adjustment, I felt significantly better. I want to get back into that, cooking regularly, planning my meals out ahead of time, and being very conscious about what I put in my body. I will be using Cronometer.com to track everything I eat and drink. A bonus would be if I could put on a couple pounds, as it has been historically difficult for me to gain any weight at all. GOAL 2: Sleep. My default is nocturnal. Unfortunately, this does not lend itself well to working or otherwise being a functional person. The first thing I'm tackling is my sleep, starting tonight. For now, I am going to aim for a 2am bed time, waking at 10am, no snoozing (this might not sound like much, but last 'night' I went to bed at 6am). GOAl 3: Strength Training. I plan to get back on track with my regular workouts, shooting for 3 days a week. Once I get this re-established I am hoping to add in 2 days a week of cardio, most likely on my indoor bike trainer. LEVEL UP MY LIFE: Finances I am going to die in debt due to student loans, there is nothing I can do about that (I have already consulted a bankruptcy lawyer), but there are things I can do to get my finances in better shape than what they are currently. Part of this will mean continuing to build my case load at work, part will be resisting impulse buys or 'retail therapy' when I am having a bad day, and part will fit in well with my nutrition goal because if I plan my food out ahead of time I have no excuse to eat out. At some point I will need to contact the bank that manages my federal student loans and set up some sort of payment plan with them. I am still hoping to find something I can do about my private student loans, but it looks unlikely that Ii have any options but to just let them default.

It has been a challenging year for me and I am looking to get myself back focused on “me” . Up till June I was doing so well....lost 10 lbs even...now that is all back on my ass and I am feeling it.... I can not get into the Challenge proper until August 12th ( have a animathon conference to attend this weekend out of town) but I will jump on in and get myself on Track adn hit this hard on Monday 12th . Here is my game. 1 - Three weeks ( till end of August) of cleanse diet followed by the rest of the time testing food back in– this is a non negotiable as I have developed ugly dermatitis on my arms and I think it helps to eat better. 2- Consistency with my workouts – Holly shit sticks this gets hard for me... I will play a bit with this during this challenge but I am aiming to get up and do early AM workouts Monday- Friday My workouts are truly a mix of everything in my home gym deep down in the catacombs. I want to get stronger faster and just better in my overall fitness by next spring……For this initial challenge I want to work out being more consistent that is all, the training plan will come later. Even if I roll out of bed and do 10 push ups - for this challenge i will count that as a win Game Plan - I will update weekly Monday – Clean Eating & AM workout Tuesday – Clean Eating & AM Workout Wednesday – Clean Eating & Am Workout Thursday - Clean Eating & AM Workout Friday – Clean Eating & AM Workout Saturdays - Clean Eating & Rest/Active Rest Sunday – Clean Eating & Endurance Workout

Joining late and fist week is not as good as I would like but here it is. My Goal = Improve fitness, reduce % body fat and get stronger Each day has tasks worth points each week I give myself a score out of a possible total of daily points. Week days = Early AM workouts; Nutrition tracking; 10,000 steps; martial arts training; Drink water Weekends = Nutrition tracking; drink water; 10,000 steps; Long distance run; cleaning Just to make life easier for me I am counting Sunday to Saturday as a week.

(tl:dr for those of just joining: I shoot really big bows and have a newly diagnosed connective tissue disorder) The last challenge had me exploring my CON stat, which is at least at -1, and boy, was it a challenge! It turned out that I blew my knees out weightlifting in my previous STR-focused challenged, and I've had to quit my gym and go into PT. Gym offered to rehab me, but after showing my PT the workouts they had planned, they recommended that I ... don't do them. B/c they're way too hard. After quitting and 10 days of PT, my knees have been feeling a ton better. So! I decided to go with the most convenient thing possible for my cardio and walk. The plan for this challenge is to walk for at least 30 minutes/day. To make it fun, I'll use the Zombies, Run! app on a timed, no chases setting (the missions are around 30 minutes long), my Fitbit, and the Charity Miles app. What I would like to work up to is what the author of Blue Zones recommends: an hour of walking, with 30-40 mins of cycling or swimming every other day & two hours on the weekends. My knees aren't cleared for biking at the moment, but I think I will find something else that can work. For example, the PT recommended pilates as a way to work on strength without injuring myself -- I've never done it before, but I'm willing to try. Regardless, I'm going through a bout of extreme fatigue at the moment, and the half hour of walking + PT exercises should be a good starting point.

Hello there! So I literally took a huge break for the past year as my mental health severely declined and I have been fighting to stabilize. (Yay! I have!) Now I am ready to rumble. What I am looking for: - Accountability -Information Sharing -Encouragement Goals: - Goal weight 125-135 -CW: 192 - Learn to eat veggies - Jog/run 1 miles -Bike 5 miles -Beginners Yoga - Just *feel* good and more able to be active I am currently using habatica as my habit forming and tracking app and I love it! Currently trying intermittent fasting but struggling filling my "feasting" time with healthy foods as I loathe veggies. I do fencing once a week, swing dancing once a week, and am trying to get into the habit of cardio and strength training on alternate days respectively.

So I signed up for a GORUCK Heavy in January. I need to get rucking, miles on my feet as well as build muscle while losing fat. For those that do not know what this is, here is the description from the website: So with a pack loaded with a 30lb weight plus water and food/gear we will travel around 40 miles in 24 hours. All lead by a special forces Cadre. Sounds fun right. Leading up to it I have a back to back regular Challenge and Light in October, as well as two sprint triathlons in September and October. Goals for this challenge: Get working out - mornings of weights and cardio(long or sprints), afternoons swimming for fun. Get my diet and food choices down. When selecting dinner think about the fact I will be working out in the morning. This includes drinking. Keep up my Duolingo(I try to finish two modules or crowns in French and Spanish during weekdays. On weekends just hit my 20 minute goal) Reading, podcasting, audible as usual.

HELLOOOOO MY ASSASSINSSSSSS! So, I have decided to go light on exercise related goals and take on a bit of a personal boss-battle this round, MY RIDICULOUSLY CLUTTERED BEDROOM. I seriously have SO MUCH clothing in particular. PILES of clothes ALL THE PILES, and as I think "hmm it would be cool to maybe think about dating again sometime" I also look at my room and think "GOOD GOD I AM NOT BRINGING A DUDE BACK HERE EVER ACK." I need to be a damn adult and actually prioritize my time for cleaning and decluttering! Step one shall be wardrobe and if I get that done this challenge I will update and move on to another part of the room! BOSS BATTLE - TRASH HEAP BOSS BATTLE SUB GOALS: STEP 1 - Gather all random clothes piles in my room into one big pile STEP 2 - Sort giant pile into 3 piles - LOVE IT/KEEP, NOT SURE/TRY ON, and TRASH/DONATE I'll add more sub-goals here as I think of them! GOAL 2 - Cardio! I totally failed at this one last round WOOPS. My goal for this one is cardio at least 4x a week. If that is just 5 min of jump roping that's still something! (I'd actually like to aim for a 5 min of jump roping every day goal. but I was to start smaller/less days and if I happen to do every day then yay. This also leaves room to work this around my rather busy regular exercise schedule. I'm keeping it super basic for now with just the 2 goals unless I think of something small and manageable to add in here!