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I enjoy this time of year. I love all the lights, and singing Christmas carols, and parties, and gifts. But it is busier, so I'm keeping it simple. Goal 1: Get dressed first thing in the morning before I head out to the kitchen Goal 2: Read my Bible at least a bit before I look at other screens Also: I'm not super happy with my fluff right now, as I have too much. But, right now is not the time to cut. I'm just going to focus on my eating skills and being mindful. The thing I'm going to super focus on this holiday season: 1) After I finish eating a treat just sit a few moments and think about how I feel ( usually that I want MORE) 2) Finding a fun distraction for a few moments, most likely a word game on my phone 3) Going and doing the next thing and waiting at least 15 minutes before getting seconds I'm working on this skill, but I don't know how much I will write about it here. Keeping the list of things I'm require myself to post helps me not put off posting. I'll probably say something about it sporadically though. My Christmas happy: My husband put up Christmas lights downstairs. And we have a tree downstairs, so it is a lovely spot to workout in.

THE MAIN GOAL: From December 5th to December 25th, I will get up every weekday at 6:30 in the AM and, most importantly, I will not slam the snooze button 4 to 8 times. That is it. That is, literally, the whole challenge, because I've learned that the bar has to be set really low for me to be able to succeed at this habit building thing. (This is essentially the same thing as the Daily December challenge that some other NF Rebels and I are doing in the NF Prime Facebook group, but I figured I'd make a thread here as well for extra accountability. And to have an extra place to brain dump.) IDEALLY, I would like to establish a morning routine that I can actually stick with. Here is the routine I have in mind: - Wake up. - Do some quick movement/stretches. - Wash my face and shower, and not forget to use the expensive cleanser and moisturizer that is currently not being used. - Walk the dog, but longer and in less of a mad rush. - Drink my coffee (and have breakfast if I'm not doing IF) while relaxing and not being in a mad rush. Even though it's a really fucking basic and bare-minimum routine, it cannot happen if I don't get up on time 😐 So this will be it for the Holiday Challenge. And also for the next NF Challenge just to make sure the habit actually sticks.

[posting from my phone so forgive my typos & grammar] Life story; CURRENT GOALS 1. Get out of bed when your body wakes up. When I'm on work time I generally need to be out of bed by 6am to have enough time to cruise through my morning routine, but I've often woken up earlier then my alarm and tried to sleep more and made myself feel worse when I do finally get up. I'm going to make a point of hauling ass out of bed when I wake up if it's within a few hours or so of my alarm going off. 2. No screens in the morning before work. This is well-known to be counter-productive. I try to lose myself in social media or pinterest to avoid thinking/getting anxious about going to work and then I feel like shit physically and mentally. I can do anything else with this time; read, write, draw, crochet, exercise, etc... I'm constantly feeling guilty for not spending time on any of my many hobbies and the morning time is supposed to be great for productivity. As a well-known night owl, we shall see. 3. Track food; Stay within +-500cals of 2000calorie target and aim for 100g of protein. I've neglected my food tracking because I was stuck on the couch for 3 months and feeling sorry for myself. And the last two weeks I've been on holidays; no one needs that sort of stress on holidays. For those interested in how I decided on 2000cals; 4. Burpees in the morning. I have not historically loved burpees. But they work literally everything. And if I can get through burpees before doing anything else I can tackle anything else that the day throws me. Thats the plan. And I need to work on cardio and strength for derby. I still have my gym membership so I still plan to use it, but I need a baseline of exercise to focus on. I am late to this one but better that then not starting at all. I plan on starting this on Tuesday the 6th because I won't be home until then. *hi fives self* Go team!

December was a pretty good month for me. I think I've established the gym habit and I'm ready to increase on it this month. January is the calm before the storm. Rugby practice starts back up in February with matches happening March and April. I've got 2 airport jobs this spring. Airports are always more difficult than they really need to be. I'm also working on setting up a rugby tournament for the summer. I haven't fully committed to this happening but I have some more preliminary work to do so I can decide whether to jump into it or not. This month, I really have to get my food and fitness ramped up. After January I will be pulled in a ton of directions so if I don't have the habits pretty solid, I will struggle. Goal 1) Gym 3 times per week. Both lifting and bjj count towards the 3. *I changed this from 4 to 3 for realism. I got 2 per week in December, why jump so much and make it harder to succeed? I need success more than I need lofty goals* Goal 2) Rehab. I have a big case of gluteal amnesia that I'm working on with a trainer. I've already made progress but I'm not doing the things I'm supposed to be doing at home. I've got some pretty simple exercises that I'm supposed to do 3 days a week. Goal 3) Food. I just have to do it. I'm committing to primal. It's hard for me to commit because I know I'm going to struggle and be somewhat less than perfect. My wife lives on grains alone (not really but so close to really) so I know it's going to be difficult/impossible for me to do this perfectly. But if I shoot for perfect and land at 60% I'm still so far ahead of where I am now. If I don't try then I'll never know what adjustments I can make for success. Goal 4) Mornings. I suck at mornings. My goal is to be at work by 8 am each day. Eventually I want it to be 7 but that's too much of a change in one go since I'm also adding a primal goal which will require breakfast at home and a packed lunch most days. The only way I'm going to succeed at mornings is to leave all the guesswork out of it. Each night before bed I will lay out my work clothes, make sure my gym bag is ready if it's gym day and have food prepped as much as possible for the next day. My life is pretty chaotic and I'm tired of it. Tired of quitting, tired of chaos and tired of being fat. That's sort of the motto that got me through December so I hope it will carry me forward in january.

Hi. I'm back. I haven't really gone anywhere, just took a break. But now I'm having issues remembering and keeping track of the things I want to be changing, so here I am again. For the time being, my mission is to become a morning person. A good deal of my issues stem from my tendency to stay in bed until the very last minute every morning. Well, no longer! It's time I get hard-boiled about my commitment to myself and my health. This challenge will focus on making the most of my mornings. Goal 1: Get up! Alarm is set to 6AM on weekdays and 7AM on weekends (to try to keep my sleep schedule consistent). I will be using the Distant Alarm tactic to make sure I stay up when the alarm goes off. I'd do a gradual time increase for my alarm, but since the Husband's alarm needs to be set for the same time, I think I can Ranger myself through. Goal 2: Eat breakfast! Breakfast is important; therefore, it is the meal that I will focus on this challenge. Breakfast should be composed of animal protein and starchy carbs (for optimal thyroid function). I will aim for about 40-50g of protein, 35-55g of carbs, and 20-30g of fat. I may end up having a protein shake to help get those numbers up, but the bulk of the meal should be food that requires chewing. These are the key ingredients that I'd like to include in a morning routine. Morning people (mostly) have morning routines. I want one. I'm making it a priority. Goal 3: Move! My hips are still suffering from lack of mobility and uneven strength. I will be spending time every day doing a PT routine for my hips, legs, and core that involves some resistance training and stretching. Goal 4: Eliminate! I'm going to continue tossing out 1/4 of refined sugar cravings, to rewire the brain. In the words of the two men that are one detective...

Nerds - I'm late to the challenge - and will be super brief - pretty dry post, but it will help set some direction and a little accountability LIFE-LONG QUEST: working toward lifelong strength and fitness and career-repair - about 50% on the way to career repair - would love to be that 80+ year-old strong-man with a thriving family ... and would love to be a great coder (Go, Swift, Python) and top business/investment guru to (yeah - weird - but I like that stuff)... maybe writing or making film Here are my short-term goals 1) Mornings start at 4am (get to bed by 9pm) - would love to succeed at this 4x/week 2) Morning workout - just walk or row or something to get a :-D - and ideal would be to do my bodyweight workout from the NF academyBodyweight workout in the AM - occasional Stronglifts 5x5 - 4x/week would be a win 3) Stay < 1,900 cals - biasing Protein and Fat (and learn more food prep) - every day - no negotiating on food - this is my number one problem and hinderance - I'm stuck BECAUSE I negotiate my way into more food... not good Life: Study for the CAIA & coding daily - also needs to be every day for the next 2 weeks So, 4xs/week on 4ams and workouts; every day on calories and studying CAIA/coding NERDS - thanks so much for all the help you've given - over the past few years you've really been there for me (job change, move to new city, etc) - especially Haikoo, bigm141414, Catspaw, emcee, KiltedCowboy, AlienJenn, LorenWade... you all rock Time to get back into a good groove - keeping it simple and achievable

... which means that I have, approximately, a long way to go. But it's the journey that counts Hi there, everybody! Newbie Ranger Shivani reporting for duty - slightly nervous about her first mission, but looking forward to giving it a go with you all. Long term goalsRun a 5k - I could blow a house down with the amount of huffing and puffing I do even thinking about running I'll be focusing on strength this challenge, but I'd like to take part in a race sometime next year. Fingers crossed, next challenge will focus on adding running.Rejoin Muay Thai in September - I joined when I started uni, but wasn't capable of keeping up; the warmups were more intense than any exercise I'd ever done. This was made worse by the stress of moving to a new city on my own, coursework, a new diet (I was switching between vegan/raw vegan all through that term) and poor timing. I had a lecture directly before the MT class, meaning that I never had time to eat anything before going and would have to sprint to get to the gym on time. Needless to say, I crashed and burned and became very sick for about a month, after which I felt like I'd fallen too far behind to go back. I did enjoy it, though, so I want to give it another try - which is where my fitness/strength goals come in.Figure out this diet thing - It's a bit of a nightmare! Trying to figure out not only what's best for me physically (which means wading through an awful lot of junk science and bias, unfortunately) and then balancing that with ethical concerns... fun, fun. I suspect this one will be a work-in-progress for a long time.Become a polyglot - Languages are awesome, and I'd love to travel the world one day. Next up: Esperanto! Goal #1 - Harder Better Faster Stronger This one is simple, if not necessarily easy - do my bodyweight workout routine three times a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Here is the link to my spreadsheet (posted online for more accountability): Workout Tracker Also, I never realised before, but spreadsheets are fuuuuuun. Think I've found a new addiction! If there's any major muscle groups you think I might be missing in there, please let me know - I'm very new to this whole workout thing Extra rep = 1 point each. Bonus: 20 points +1 STA +1 STRA - All three workouts for all 6 weeks +1 DEX +2 STR +1 STAB - All three workouts for 5 weeks +1 DEX +2 STRC - All three workouts for 4 weeks +1 DEX +1 STRD - All three workouts for 3 weeks +1 DEXF - Manage all three less than 2 weeks. Goal #2 - Got to push it upFinally manage a full pushup, and then do 9 more. Hopefully. I'm not sure how hard this will be, since 6 weeks seems like a long time, especially if I'm managing #1 consistently, but I've never actually done a full pushup before. As things stand, I can only manage to lower myself by something like an inch before collapsing. Long way to go there. A - 10 full pushups. +2 STR +1 STAB - 5 full pushups +1 STRC - 1 full pushup +1 STRF - don't manage a full pushup. Goal #3 - The Morning is my Friend. Early Rising is Mandatory.Wake up in the morning 5x per week. I waste a lot of time going to bed at 3-4am, long after I've lost the ability to do anything useful with the time (unless compulsively refreshing Facebook counts), and then don't wake up until 1-3pm. I feel like I have a lot more time available when I wake up in the morning, and less prone to getting lost mindlessly clicking. Plus, I'm starting a job in Germany in July, which I'll need to wake up early for - so I need to sort this out. I'll be posting when I wake up in the morning on this thread, to keep myself accountable. Please scold me if you see too many lie-ins! Before 8am: 5 pointsBefore 10am: 4 pointsBefore noon: 2 points 6x7x5 = Max 210 points6x5x5 = 150 points = goal A+ - > 170 points total + 3 WISA - > 150 points total + 2 WISB - > 130 points total + 1 WISC - > 100 points totalD - > 80 points totalF - < 80 points total Goal #4 - Away, accursed procrastination demon!Spend 14 hours a week on my projects.This averages out at two hours a day, which I definitely have time for even at the minute (and will have even more time for if I manage goal #3). The main issue here will be beating my tendency to run away from anything I might not be able to do and pretending it doesn't exist (aka the Ostrich Defence). Projects:Coursework - Uni stuff, important but only applicable for the first week.Programming Algorithms - Implement a set of algorithms in the hopes of understanding how they work.Modding - Release a roleplay dialogue mod for Morrowind that I've been thinking about for a long time.Lernu! Esperanto course - Follow this online course to start learning Esperanto. A - 14 hours all six weeks +1 STA +1 WIS +1 CHAB - 14 hours for 5 weeks +1 WIS +1 CHAC - 14 hours for 4 weeks +1 CHAD - 14 hours for 3 weeksF - 14 hours for 2 weeks or less.

“Don’t get your hopes up yet.†That was how Erik started this morning. He was holding a brown folder. An official looking brown folder. Didn’t he know that being told not to get your hopes up did just the opposite? It’s just like someone telling you, “Don’t think about elephants.†What’s the only thing you’re thinking about right now? Elephants. The folder contained a mission. A real mission. Not training. “It’s not your official deployment. Not yet. We still have several more months of training before you’re ready for that. It’s a short-term scouting mission. We’re sending you to a potential deployment location to get the lay of the land. It’s just reconnaissance. Your main job is to lay low, and gather as much info as you can in the next week.†He handed me the folder and I was so eager to open it and study every detail, that I almost missed him continuing as he sat down across from me, “You’re transitioning into a new phase here, HN. You’re going to be losing the structure you’ve come accustomed to on base. You’ll have to have your own self-discipline. You’ll have to start spending time centering yourself for missions, to keep on task. I’m giving you only two assignments for this training period, as you’re going to have to start training your weak areas on your own. Once you’re deployed, that’s not the end. It’s just the beginning. You’ll have to keep improving whenever you find a weak spot. Take a look at your mission folder. There’s a digisheet in the back that has your extra training assignments. You’ll start working on them after breakfast.†He abruptly got up and and left me to my cheese and strawberries. Or at least I thought he did. He paused behind my chair for a short moment. “You’re doing well, HN. Don’t sell yourself short. You can do this, you have to know that. Because it only gets harder from here.†Habit goal: Self-Discipline Establish an energizing morning routine 1. Get out of bed without snoozing 2. Do gorilla workout Why it's a challenge: have I mentioned how much I hate mornings? Why I want to do it anyway: I hate mornings. This should change. Also, junk gets in the way for workouts if I don't get them in at the start of the day. I want to work my way towards a serious workout in the morning. My daily 16 was a start, but I'm getting bored of those exercises, and I didn't like a lot of them anyway. So I end up skippig it often. I enjoy the gorilla workouts a lot, and they are quick. And leave me much sorer than my daily 16 ever did. Once again, two points per day. Starting at 84 points: 70-84 = a 60-70= b 50-60= c <50= f Using lift app to keep track, so I can easially look at my stats and not miss something. + 2 CON, + 3 STR Endurance goal: Training assignment number 1: Improve that 3 mile time. Still 5k. This time on a sliding scale. Sub 30 = a Sub 32 = b Sub 34 = c Anything else = f +3 STA Skill goal: Training assignment number 2: Learn to dance Solo swing dance Why it's a challenge: I have terrible, terrible proprioception and coordination. Not to mention swing is generally a two-person gig. Why I want to do it anyway: I love love love swing music. When I hear it I feel like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj125Azt5hA I can't contain myself. There is no hope of me sitting still. Why solo swing you say? Well cuz I don't have a fella. I go to a lot of parties where there is swing dancing, and there are lots of couples, and anyone who's not, doesn't know how to swing and thus won't dance with me to those songs (it's seems that only couples ever bother to learn to dance?). My brother and I used to swing dance something fierce. We are sort of estranged at the moment, and not having that built-in dancing buddy makes me miss him a lot at these dances. Just doing triple step by myself back and forth looks dumb and is boring. Therefore, I want to learn a routine (or repertoire of moves to mix and match) of intentionally solo swing dancing to jive to when these songs come up. Ideally I'd like to learn six new moves, one for each week. 6 = a 5 = b 4 = c <4 = f +2 DEX, +3 CHA Life goal: Centering myself to keep on task Learn to enjoy alone time. Accumulate 1 hour per week of quality alone time. Why it's a challenge; I am an extremely extroverted person. I hate being alone. being alone for too long makes me exhausted and depressed (characteristic of extroverts). This has freaked me out so much that I really avoid being alone at ALL. I tend to associate inrospection with introversion, and therefore with anger and depression (becuase when I am angry or depressed i don't want to interact with anyone.) Why I want to do it anyway: some alone time is necessary, to think and collect my thoughts, center myself, and come up with new ideas. Introspection is important, to develop who I am as a person and process new life experiences. It's gotten to a point that if I want to go do something (a hike, or bouldering, or seeing a movie) and no one is available that night, I won't even go. Guess what? I'm still alone that night. I'm just alone and bored. I want to start doing these things alone and enjoying being alone, not viewing it as that sludgey in-between time I have to slosh through between human interactions. So I'm going to accumulate one hour per week in quality alone time (ie watching tv, cleaning the house, working alone doesn't count. I'd be too distracted to pay attention to being alone) Six hours throughout challenge = a 5 hours = b 4 hours = c <4 = f + 3 WIS I'm also going to be doing two side challenges, one for the Parkour Posse PVP [improving my pull ups] and the other is a water fast with Croman Red in march [stay tuned for interesting RP writing centered around this.]. So starting stats: Weight: 171 Height: 5'11" <glad this has been basically the same. Chest: 39 Waist: 33 Hips: 40 Max pull ups: 2 Alright, let's do this thing.