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This is my second NF Challenge, and my first as a Ranger. Whether it's Jim Phelps and the original gang, or my generation's Ethan Hunt and crew, everybody digs the IMF. There's just something so badass about a group of people who tackle odds so steep, even their own organization's name assumes they can't win. Yet somehow, time and again, they get the job done. I really like the idea of achieving the impossible on a regular basis. See, I'm a big guy. Have been for a long time, but I've also been working for a long while at being less big. At 6 foot and 278lbs, I'm about 32 pounds lighter than my heaviest weight. In the last NF challenge, I lost 8 pounds and added some awesome gains to my lifting regimen. I assumed I'd be doing more of the same for this challenge, until I talked to a buddy a little while ago. He told me about a race he'd done back in May, 5 miles. Not just running, but facing obstacles, lifting heavy objects, getting muddy and cold, facing fire and electricity. Another buddy, ex-military, commented, "sounds like basic training all over again!" Another close friend, somebody I hugely respect and one of my fitness heroes, told me he'd already signed up for next year. And that's how I committed to a Spartan Race for next May, and that's why I'm in the Ranger subforum. This is a six-week challenge, but I'm playing a pretty long game here. I've got 75 pounds to lose, in 9 months. I can keep up a run for a couple minutes, but not much more than that. I've never run regularly in my life, beyond playing when I was a kid. I can't do a pull-up. From here, the mission is looking pretty impossible. The Mission: Kick ass at the Spartan Race next year. (aka: lose weight, get fast, get stronger) The Impossible Mission Force didn't stop the bad guy and save the day just by having a long-term objective. They set specific short-term goals, and executed them one step at a time. You gotta scale the Burj Dubai before you can get the nuclear launch codes from the sexy assassin! So the long-term goals of weighing under 200lbs, being able to run for miles and miles, and being able to do pull-ups, backflips, handstands and all that fun stuff, comes via the specific goals listed below. The Six-week Goals: Eat right, run regularly, lift myself and other things Eat right: I've gotten in the habit of logging everything I eat these days, and I've seen some great progress just from staying in the 1900-2100 calorie neighborhood. I'm gonna tighten things up for this challenge, setting a goal of 1700-1800 calories each day, logging every bite, and sticking to a mostly-paleo diet. Lots of veggie omelettes, bacon, chicken breasts, protein smoothies and steamed veggies coming up, which is awesome. I'll have the occasional slice of bread, but I'll be avoiding anything processed or loaded with sugar. I've also found having cheat days to be an immense help with sticking to a plan like this, so I'm gonna designate Saturdays as my day to ignore the restrictions and eat whatever I want. I'll post my calorie totals for each day in this thread. Run regularly: I'm going to start with the classic Couch To 5K running program. I put in the first workout of that today. It's a little tough to log that one on Fitocracy, but I'll give it a shot. It's a 9-week program so I won't be complete by the end of this challenge but I'll be well on the way. I'm sure I'll have a lot of questions to ask and info to gather, as running is by far the weakest area of my fitness knowledge. Lift myself and other things: By the end of last challenge I had a pretty good habit going of lifting at the gym. I'm gonna try and stick with a lifting routine for this challenge, secondary to the running goal. I'll continue building toward pull-ups by doing bodyweight Smith rows and lat pulldowns, and add push-ups to the routine. I've got some research to do before I fully define the routine so I might tweak this section later this week. I've got a life quest left over from the previous challenge, since I bailed so hard on it last time. Draw 1 page per week of the comic book I'm working on For real, I only drew two pages last challenge. I work as an illustrator in my day job, and I've been back-burnering this book for a year(!). If I don't finish it soon I never will. Here goes!