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Hellooo! Getting this in as a placeholder. I'm running my last challenge into 'zero week' as I got a bit caught out by a bunch of weekends away which drastically affected my points (or lack thereof). It's also keeping me a bit more on track this week which is good. So I've been pretty consistently under 11.5 stone now for most of the year which is great, and I definitely find this forum massively helpful to keep on track. For historical reference, I was 15 stone at the start of 2011 at which point I figured enough was enough, and did the classic 1200 calories + exercising to lose 4 stone in 9 months, which I then yo-yo'd back to 14, down to 12, before setling between 12-13 stone for a while until I found here in 2014. I'm generally happy with my size and fitness level now, though have had a few annoying injuries or general pain things going on (yay getting older!) most recently some weird nerve pain in my heel which means I've stopped going running in the mornings (which is VERY annoying but I don't want it to get worse). I've got an MSK referral in progress for hip pain I've been having for nearly a year (greater trochanteric bursitis) so am hoping I can tag the heel pain into that referral by asking if it's due to me changing how I walk because of the hip... I'll try anyway My September challenge is likely to follow the same format as previous - eating, exercise and sleeping, but I'd really start to try moving away from such rigorous tracking if I can as it's generally pretty exhausting! After I've seen whether I've passed challenge 35, I'll update here! Will note down any overeaty thing I have over the five weeks of the challenge, as I like to do!

Hello everybody! Thanks for stopping by my thread. I have big plans for the September challenge, starring myself as a D&D character in a little more depth, but that is all the teaser you get - come back next challenge for full details! For now, I am wrapping up my class-hopping phase with everyone's favorite trap-detecting, lock-picking, sneak-attacking thief/assassin - the rogue. There are a lot of different directions you can go with this class, but after spending the last 2 challenges trying to wean myself off of having too many goals, I've picked 3 things that I think are rather iconic of the class and fit well with my current circumstances. One of the things everyone knows about rogues is that they are stealthy. But it's hard to be quiet when you're wearing scale mail boots. After having it on my to-do list forever, I'm finally spotlighting foot exercises to transition to barefoot shoes. I have 2 lists of exercises, one I can do in the office, and the other which will do better at home. The goal is to do at least 1 of the lists every day, with both being a nice bonus. I'm also aiming to spend 30 minutes/day barefoot, increasing it by 5 minutes each week, assuming my feet are still happy with how things are going. I'm ordering some toe spacers and anatomical socks to help with this goal, and if things have gone well by the end of this challenge, I shall reward myself with a pair of Lems Primal 2. What is more roguish than taking your enemy unawares and landing a big hit? As the rules state, this goal involves the faithful d6, which has not been seeing enough action from me lately. This will be my workout goal, and as I'm not yet transitioning back to full weight workouts, we'll let the dice decide what bodyweight work to do. On a 1-2, 3x3 pull ups; on a 3-4, 5x5 pushups; on a 5-6, gymnastic ring work. With the requisite fudging if I've been doing too much of one or not enough of another and an average of 1 rest day/week. A rogue knows when it's time to strike for lots of damage, and also when it's time to back away. So I will use my rogue's cunning to Dash, Disengage, or Hide. Dash - go for a run Disengage - sit for 5-10 minutes without my phone or a book or the computer - you know, just disengage for a bit. Pet the dog. Sip a drink. Listen to the birds and watch the sunset. Maybe even do a little meditation. Hide - Take the day off from the challenge. Don't worry about foot exercises or sneak attack or anything. Everyone needs a day off occasionally. No set goal for any of these, just trying to do one per day. So if I run, good, if I need to hide, fine, if neither of those, then disengage. Barn building isn't really part of the roguish archetype, so that hasn't officially made it into the challenge, but I'll be doing lots of that, hopefully, and sharing pictures as I go. Let's do this!

Greeeeetings! I was successful at my last challenge and have levelled up I wanted to get this written up in advance of Sunday mainly to check in on what 'overeating' days I have coming up in the next month or so, and just get my head settled a bit. I think I'll be sticking to similar things as my last couple of challenges, and daily checking in has proven very useful for me to stay on track. I'm going to be starting on Sunday. THE CHALLENGE Food Under 1600 calories a day = 10pts Two days in a row = 5pts Only overeating one meal = 0pts Overeating dinner and then eating more for the sake of it = -10pts Overeating the whole day for the sake of it = -50pts Total possible = 520pts Sleep No phone scrolling before bed = 10pts Two days in a row = 5pts Full points across the whole challenge = this can be removed from next challenge Total possible = 520pts Walking 2.5+ miles per day = 10pts (this means I have to do a walk both in my lunchbreak and after work when wfh because I've been getting slack) Two days in a row = 5pts Total possible = 520pts Other exercise Any additional cycling, HIIT, Zumba in a day = 5pts Week Sun-Sat without doing at least two additional exercises = -10pts Total possible = many! Weights Set up new dumbell/barbell/gym ring manageable workout routine Complete said workout routine every week = 10pts per week Total possible = 50pts 1250pts required to pass this challenge.

Introduction: I've been struggling a lot lately and things nearly boiled over yesterday. I had a major mental meltdown. I wanted to quit my quest and just go back to the way things used to be. I went into full panic mode and ended the night with no workout and a burger and fries. I've made a lot of progress in the past few months, but yesterday it all felt pointless. I felt like I haven't made any improvements below the surface. I still feel like the fat guy. I still feel lonely and hopeless too often. But after letting the storm rage for a few hours, I suddenly felt better. A few episodes of Master of None helped, lol. I went to sleep with a clear head and this morning I awoke refreshed — and just in time for this new challenge. I've been a Druid for a few months, but I've been slacking on the actual yoga and meditation. Those are still things I want to pursue, but there's also so much more I want to do. I feel like even the Ranger guild seems a bit limited, so I'm pulling back even further into a broader spectrum and identifying as a Rebel now — plus I'm too non-committal to choose a guild and stick with it, so I'll likely jump around even more in the future. Because I like to do a little bit of everything and can see myself fitting in with just about any guild, I kind of feel like a shapeshifter. But not a murderous, cultish one like the Faceless Men, lol — although Arya kicks all kinds of ass. So then I started thinking about X-Men, particularly Mystique or even Morph from the old X-Men cartoon, which seemed fitting because he had to deal with so many mental demons. Yet, this isn't about changing appearances. It's more about obtaining abilities from different sources and using them for whatever challenge is in front of me. If I were an X-Men, I'd want to have Rogue's ability to borrow the powers of those she comes in contact with. Kind of like Peter Petrelli from Heroes. Because the people who enter my life and touch me have an influence on the way I think and the things I can do. And I want to use those powers for good. If only I knew a powerful telepath who could take all the negative voices in my head and cage them up deep within my psyche where they can do no harm. Sigh... Main Quest: My 30th birthday is in October. I'd like to weigh 200 pounds or less by then. Last month I lost somewhere between 7 and 10 pounds. I'm not exactly sure because I've been cheating a lot lately and may have gained some weight back. But I've got a week and a half left to go for a bet against my boss. I told him I would weigh 200 pounds by the end of September. It's not looking good right now, but if I really FORTIFY, I might be able to do it. Quest 1: Complete my assigned Bodyweight exercises three times a week and complete a cool down afterward. I update these daily on my battle log if you want to see details and follow along. A = Complete workout/cool down 3 times a week. B = Complete workout/cool down 2 times a week. C = Complete workout/cool down 1 time a week. D = Complete 0 workouts/cool downs in a week. F = No physical activity. Quest 2: Walk and/or jog every day and complete a cool down afterward. I usually track these with the RunKeeper app on my battle log as well. A = Walk/cool down 6-7 days a week B = Walk/cool down 4-5 days a week. C = Walk/cool down 2-3 day a week. D = Walk/cool down 1 day a week. F = No walking/cool downs. Quest 3: Drink less alcohol. A = Have no more than 3 drinks per week. B = Have no more than 5 drinks per week. C = Have no more than 7 drinks per week. D = Have no more than 9 drinks per week. F = Anything more than that. Quest 4: Cook paleo meals more often, eat out less. If I do eat out, I will find healthy/paleo-ish options. A = Eat out no more than 2 times a week. B = Eat out no more than 4 times a week. C = Eat out no more than 6 times a week. D = Eat out no more than 8 times a week. F = Eat out more than 8 times a week. Life Quests: I've been struggling a lot lately with some brain weasels. I think it's finally time for me to find the courage to seek help and find my own personal Professor X. I've been avoiding this for a long time, but I don't think I can afford to anymore. I'm a big proponent of breaking down the stigma of mental health problems, but I haven't been able to break down that stigma within myself. I will start by talking to my doctor about the problems I'm having and see where it goes from there. Motivation: I feel like my lack of self confidence is a big obstacle that gets in the way of enjoying life and taking chances. I'd like to look good, so I can feel good and live life to the fullest.

So I was going through the classes the other night, as I am kinda new, and thought.. hmm.. I'm kind of a warrior, but strength training won't be my only focus.. I'm kind of a Ranger, but also kind of a Scout.. Somewhere in between is where I really fit.. I hate running, but everything else? Love it... Here's my idea: A class that focuses on other outdoor sports but not running.. maybe sprinkle a little in there occasionally for those that do like it, but skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, cycling, rollerblading, hiking (backpacking too) We could be called Juggernauts. We are hardcore and we use sophisticated tools to help us kill it, whether it is a wheeled steed of steel to aid our treacherous path across the lands, or we travel silently like a rogue, shredding new paths in the back-country snow. But then when we can't get outdoors to continue our epic adventure, we maintain top form in the weight room... Yay, nay? I had a whole post written out and it was awesome... then my laptop died....LOL Rebecca

Not sure if The Woot Room is the best/right/most suitable place to put this. But in a way it felt right, at least more so than just making a post in my current challenge thread. Anyway, here's a look back at my first year of challenges here on Nerd Fitness. On May 30th, 2013 I decided to start off with a challenge. It definitely got modified a little bit during the time, but that was the beginnings. I had been a reader of the Nerd Fitness blog for many years, and had previously had some false starts that were inspired by the writings of Steve Kamb. I was definitely aware of the Challenges for a long while, but hesitated going into the community, I used a variety of different excuses some of which were based in my own introverted nature. I had tried various public displays of attempts to get healthy in the past, and they had all failed. I had even attempted to create an event similar to the NF challenges on another online community I was a part of. But having to run the whole thing and focus on my own goals caused me to burn out quickly. I don't recall the mindset I was in but I came across yet another post about the challenges from Steve, and that very day my challenge thread was created. That step created the most self-aware year I've had in my entire life. For the first challenge, I went all in, dragged in my prewife , as well as one of my good friends (who was recently featured on the NF Blog). I wanted to try to get as many people involved as possible, but I still planned to keep to myself. However one of the early mini-challenges was to reach out to other people, become social, join or create an accountabillibuddy team... since the ones that appealed to me appeared to be full, I decided to take the leap and created Rogue Squadron, which true to it's namesake is still going strong even with major shifts in the membership (although there's still a holdover or two from the original group). The first challenge included a lot of figuring out how to handle it, I tested out trying to add a story to the challenge, and that ended up falling flat for me, than I looked into possibly creating a thematic trend that I'd try to keep up with for several challenges, but ended up adding nothing to the challenge for me. Looking at the ending of this first challenge it looks like things were going awesome. I aced all my challenges, I lost four pounds, many inches in some areas, my Body Fat % went down by 4%. It was brilliant, at least on the surface. In truth it wasn't nearly as great, I had been fluctuating up and down the whole challenge, not making amazing progress. I'm sure many things were inconsistent. Furthermore I wasn't honest, I cheated, I adjusted things to claim I fully performed the challenge when the truth was I hadn't. I didn't earn the scores I gave myself, didn't complete everything to the full level that I said I did. I failed to truly learn much from the first challenge. I jumped in pretty heavy, patted myself on my back at the progress I made, cheated myself out of valuable learning experiences and the truth about where I was at. Took the psychological boost of all those high scores and moved on. Between my first and second challenge the challenges had a bit of a change. The Level 1 group was introduced and the way the individual challenges were created were changed, thusly I had to look a bit harder at my gameplan heading in for it. Challenge 2 proved to be my learning experience. I started off trying to keep up with everything, but eventually I started to slide a little bit, at first I thought by altering my own statements of my challenge I could make things work, by cheating myself out of the goals I had initially set. Eventually I got to a point where I couldn't lie to myself anymore, I had to admit that things weren't at the level I was pretending they were. While I did excellent with some areas (Like Cold Showers!) I did poorly with the others. There was some slight improvements during this challenge, but the most important aspect is I started learning about the truths about what I was capable of, but I was allowing myself to be impacted negatively by it, viewing it all as bad things instead of welcoming the failures as merely tools to learn by. I was debating if this should be my final challenge or not, but thankfully the debate was relatively short lived and seeing the support of the folks in the community helped me to come back for more. The start of Challenge 3 had me in an odd spot, I had backpedaled a bit in the measurements department from where I ended the previous challenge. But I was still here, I was trying to refocus, find that place where I could go. I returned to a few goals from the second challenge, toning some down, and trying to move forward. My friend and my prewife dropped out of the challenges and I no longer had their support on the forums, and the overall support I saw was lower than usual, perhaps I wasn't going out and being as supportive as I had been previously, but whatever the cause I was missing a bit. I ended up going up and down each week was a struggle to do some of the challenges, and some of them I just rushed in towards the end, but I managed to do decent enough scores, and for the most part earned them. I know that about halfway through the challenge I was about ready to give it up, but one of the mini-challenges for the Adventurers was to shift your weekly update around and look at it in a positive way only. Having done that it had altered my entire opinion on the previous week and helped bolster me through to the end of the challenge. Challenge 4 is when I finally started to step away from the thematic elements a bit and decided to focus on the challenges themselves more when setting it up. My between challenge period had hurt me yet again, it's a period that I'm still struggling with even now. But I came in with a positive outlook for the challenge. It was built upon the previous challenge and tried to continue forward. I actually had a wealth of support during the challenge...at least while I was still posting, but I found myself moving in the opposite direction. I became overwhelmed with everything I was doing. The challenge proved a mixxed bag and I had decent parts and parts I outright failed. I didn't want to come back...I felt I had started to fail myself, I had been sick, and I hadn't been posting. I was all set to skip the next challenge. I ended up perusing the forums for the new challenge and people were asking after me in the Rogue Squadron forums created by others inspired me to jump in and create Challenge 5. During this challenge I ended up stopping my measurements and tracking for a while, and continued on with the various things I was hoping for. I had decided to really focus this time, and didn't do a side quest. It wasn't the best results, but it ended up being a decent following. My diet was still proving difficult, and my exercise was proving problematic I still ended up with decent results. In the end I wasn't super happy with the results, but they were enough and I started to realize that the learning experience was the important part, building upon what had come before. With Challenge 6 I finally nailed down a specific main goal, brought back a side quest to focus on a major part of problems that were causing me depression (financial woes...whee!) I brought back my measurements and realized I had jumped back up nearby the starting weight...but saw much lower measurements, my assumption was that it was just errant scale numbers, especially when the end of the first week had measurements that were fairly close, but 5 lbs lighter. I'd end up staying at roughly the same numbers through the challenge, at least when I recorded. I tried doing daily updates for a while, but ended up dropping off, it's something that just doesn't fully work for me throughout the whole challenge. At the end I was still struggling with my diet and exercise, and I was trying to figure out ways to continue from there... This of course brings us to Challenge 7, the final challenge of the yearlong period. I had been taking the lessons learned from previous challenges and building upon them. I finally aced my diet, I just barely managed to ace my exercise...I aced almost everything, there was one B in there (for a secondary diet goal) that did throw me into a bit of a down bit, the end of the challenge planted me on a bit of a plateau, but overall it turned out to be the best challenge I had here. I was honest to myself, I did well and it was built upon the work from the previous six challenges, and it felt awesome. Of course I'm sticking around for now. my thread for Challenge 8 is already up, and it's completely built upon past challenges. I'm bringing back the cold shower from Challenge 2, finally moving forward with the main diet challenge, going back to the exercise routines from my earliest challenges and bringing back the no-snacks from Challenge 6. Overall I'm hoping that it'll be an even better challenge than #7! Now I spent a lot of time going up and down, but let's take a look at my numbers. START: (Challenge 1 Start) Height: 68" Weight: 226 lbs Waist: 47.25" Hips: 42.5" Chest: 45" Neck: 17" Thigh(Left): 22.5" Thigh(Right): 22.5" Bicep(Left): 14" Bicept(Right): 14" Body Fat %: 36% It's also worth noting that at the time I was wearing size 44 waist pants, but they were the ones with the elastic band, so who knows what size they went out to, and they were generally tightish. End of Year: (Challenge 7 End) Height: 68" Weight: 213 lbs Waist: 39" Hips: 40" Chest: 40" Neck: 15" Thigh(Left): 22" Thigh(Right): 22" Bicep(Left): 13" Bicep(Right): 13.24" Body Fat %: 27% I currently have one pair of pants that fit, because I went out and purchased a single pair because I was getting tired of the ones I had slipping, and they're a size 38 waist. Also since I'm focusing on weight loss, but also gaining some muscle strength I'm not to worried about the measurements for my thighs and biceps. Not all of the measurements are at their lowest, but there's definite progress over the year, and that's awesome. I'll probably take some pictures for my initial measurements for the new challenge, and if everyone is interested I can post up the starting ones from the first challenge and the new ones up here as well. So that's my first year here, a year of mostly plateauing, learning, and slow progress...but it helped me get focused, figure out some paths, and start getting into a better mindset, and for all that...it's definitely a win. UPDATE: Here's the promised pictures for y'all. Old on left, new on Right

Hey all, Rogue Squadron is back yet again. As Always this post will be updated with members and links to their current challenges. Rogue Squadron is mostly about showing support for our members (and non-members) out on their own topics, but we're always open for conversation in here as well. As always make sure you follow this topic, your topic, and the topics of each of our members in order to get the most out of the group. Good Luck this challenge! MEMBER LIST Rogue Welkin: Kilty Kilty Om Nom Nom - RogueWelkin Challenge 7 Wovercast: Wovercast Breaks Down the Macros Mangostrike: A New Hope, Mangostrike's Back Viriana: Virana: CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! JohnnyShoes: JohnneyShoes knew he shoulda taken that left at Albuquerque SirHammerlock: Sir Hammerlock #7: Concentrating on the important things? ScoutSays: ScoutSays Operation: Lost the Weight - Challenge 4 Part Deux Jofalltrades: Jofalltrades Gets Ready for 28 and Graduation Cookie351: Cookie picks her sword back up and says "Not Today" KingLeeroy: KingLeeroy - Climbing to towers for Challenge 7 Sandylion: Sandylion strikes back Tateman: Tateman Challenge #7: Taking it 14 days at a time Gingered: First Challenge: Get Stronger! [insert nerdy reference here-Gingered] AxiosAdept: Do or do not, there is no try Annie1120: Annie1120 - Fell off the ram, stumbled a bit, time to get back on it. Edit 2 (placed before the first because...reasons): Hey guys, I created a facebook group for any members of Rogue Squadron to join, past and present! It's set so that only members can see posts (but anyone can see the group or members, I should be able to change that if desired). Find it here! Edit: A nice FAQ for anyone that wants one. How do I join Rogue Squadron? Well that's easy. Make sure you head over to the accountibillibuddies spreadsheet and put your name in for Rogue Squadron (if it doesn't go to the right page, we're in the cross guild area these days). Post in this topic saying you want to be a rogue and make sure to include a link to your topic, then go through the topics of the other members and post on them. Fun times! Who can join Rogue Squadron? Anyone, really...anyone. We'll welcome you if you're a Level 1 Rebel or in any of the other class guilds, even if you're sitting out this challenge you can feel free to participate. Beyond that we don't even care what part of the world you're in, I can immediately think of having people all over the US, in Scotland, and Germany so we're open to all comers (just try to keep the topics in English, some of us suck at languages 80P) How many people can join Rogue Squadron? We don't keep strict on the number, if you want to join Rogue Squadron, feel free to join Rogue Squadron regardless how many are already here. How active is Rogue Squadron? Rogue Squadron varies in participation in this topic from challenge to challenge, we mostly focus on heading out to the individual challenges and showing our support there, but if you have questions or other concerns feel free to post them here, we're always willing to chat up here. Sometimes we'll even have a Google Hangout if there's interest. I have a question you didn't answer! Sorry! I tried to get as many as I could here, but if you've got a question...ask it in the topic and someone here will answer it, and if you think it deserves a spot up here, let me know and I'll put it in this post!

Hey all, Rogue Squadron is back for another challenge. All are welcome. Hoping to see some familiar faces again and help everyone stay motivated and keep in the challenge. As always this post will be updated with a list of members and a link to their current challenge. Stay on Target! RogueWelkin - Journey of a Moisture Farmer - Royal Discovery Tateman - Tateman Round 3: Ready to Form Voltron dhert - dhert challenge 4: "Nothing is true; Everything is permitted" redwrecker - Redwrecker really wants a pull up! Aria - "The Force is what gives a Jedi his power..." Aria [Chapter 1] Madddogg - Madddogg's Path to Fitness JohnnyShoes - The Shock Treatment Continues for JohnnyShoes! GypsyHeart - GypsyHeart: Track into the Dark Forest KingLeeroy - KingLeeroy's Castle of Grind SirHammerlock - Sir Hammerlock joining late for #3 Feisty1 - From Damsel in Distress to Big Damn Hero!