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S'up Nerds! It's been a minute... or you know... a few years. My bad! In recent events, I transferred to a better workplace, my bestie, my sister from another mister, the platonic love of my life, Kristi, got married and moved away, and the horrible creeping dread of my 40th Birthday is cackling and following me down dark hallways and helping my cats trip me at 2 am. So I'm going to make the most of the final year if my 30s and try and get my physical, mental and social health back on track. To keep it simple, I'm going to be doing my absolute best to do he following this challenge. - Limit my terrible Coke Zero addiction to one bottle per shift at work and one bottle per day at home. - Fill and drink my large green water bottle at least three times a shift at work and knock back three full glasses of water per day at home. - Dig through the massive pile of Darebee workouts, print them off at work if my boss will let me and crank out one per day, five days a week. Including a warm up and a cool down. - Fancy up my stupidly huge pile of Ramen for work meals with veggies, different kinds of proteins, and reduced the flavour packets by at least 50% because I seriously doubt anyone should be ingesting that much sodium daily. - Post up my starting stats on Monday of weight, BF%, pants and shirt size then see if I have made any improvements at the end of the challenge. I've got a goal of being able to fit into a bridesmaid dress for Kristi's wedding (the fun party part anyhow, since they got married at the Mayor's office in Dayton for her Visa) and look fuckin' hot in it if I can. The last wedding I was in, back in 2010 I was horribly uncomfortable the entire time, my dress looked meh, and it ripped before the night was over, and I felt fat in it. I refuse to let that happen again if I can help it. Wish me luck Nerds! It's nice to be back ~Leigh Tracking stuff: I'm using an older model WW scale for measurements. I wish it had Bluetooth because it would be way easier to track things since the screen on this sucker is brutal to read, but it's more accurate/consistent than the shiny new scale I got last year. I have no clue if Body Water is a 5 or a weight so I'm just going to track it as is. I want to see if it goes up or down while I'm murdering my Ramen stockpile. I'm going to make sure I'm in the same outfit each week for tracking and to see if anything fits differently when I'm done. Leggings are an XL, and shirt is an XL, both fit comfortably, don't dig in and are old enough in my wardrobe that they won't change size if I launder them incorrectly. Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Final Change Body Weight 225.2 lbs 221.2 lbs Fat Mass 85.8 lbs 92.7 lbs Body Fat % 38.6% 41.9% Body Water 43.9 93.7 lbs BMI 35.8 35.7 Note: Week 1 was my cheap scale at home, Week two is the in depth scale at my gym. Workout tracking: Day1 Day2 Day3 Day4 Day5 Day6 Day7 Viking 3 sets 24 min 2.2 km 2/3 Sets 30 min interval jog Nothing Nothing Leg day! + half hour walk Assassin nothing 25 hills walk + full body Drink Tracking: Pop Intake Day1 Day2 Day3 Day4 Day5 Day6 Day7 w = work h:1 w:n/a b: n/a g: 3 h:0 w:1 b: 1.5 g:3 h:1 w:1 b:0 g:3 h:1 w:1.5 b:2 g:1 h:0 w:2 b:3 g:0 h:1.5 w:n/a b:n/a g:2 h:1 w:n/a b:n/a g:2 h = home h:3/4 w:1 b:2 g:1 h:0 w:n/a b:3 g:0 goal: 1 each b = water bottle g = glass of water

Hey everyone! I've done a challenge here years ago, but since then my life has changed so much, and I really need to find a new, healthy routine. I've become a mom (two lovely daughters, ages 3 and 1) and currently raising them on my own (I have a new partner, but we don't live together yet). I find it extremely hard to focus on myself, so even posting here is huge for me. I bought an 8 kg kettlebell last week after someone recommended kettlebell swings for exercise. I've never really enjoyed sports or exercises... but for some reason, I'm liking the kettlebell swings! It doesn't take much time either, and "the internet says" that it works basically every muscle below your neck, so I'm excited to make it part of my routine and see if I can drop my body fat % and feel more confident in my body. I've got a short holiday coming up in roughly a month too, so that's a great added motivation! I also want to do some juice fasting. I'd be so proud if I managed to do it 5 days a week, but I find it very hard to stay motivated when I'm stressed/overwhelmed. My goals for this challenge are: - kettlebell swings (at least 50 reps, but preferably 100 reps or more) 4 times a week - juice fasting (consuming nothing other than juice) 3 days a week

And so it begins! As I mentioned in my intro post, my big fitness goals for this year as a whole include 1) run my first marathon in October, 2) be able to do 1 or more unassisted pullups, and 3) be able to do 10 or more unassisted pushups. I've run half marathons but never a full, and my upper body strength is a weakness of mine that I would like to work on. I did tell @Red1263 that I would do a Spartan Race with him at some point, so I've got some work to do if I want to be able to conquer those obstacles. Non-fitness goals for the year include not drinking alcohol, getting my teaching license, planning our wedding, and starting a recipe book on high-quality mocktails. I've broken down the yearly goals into nice challenge-sized chunks, so for Challenge 2 (or Challenge 1 for me), my goals are: • Get back to 10k fitness. Ideally I'd like to be able to do the 6.2mi without any walking by the end of this challenge but as long as I run one at all, that's a win. Plan is to run twice a week minimum, and to keep my pace slow for now. Consistency is the other goal; I just need to get back into it. • Pushups twice a week, minimum. Aim for 10. Do as many unassisted as possible then switch over to assisted (probably knee) pushups to finish the set. • Decrease assisted pullup weight by 15lbs over course of this challenge. Training twice a week for this as well, and normally I do 3 sets of 8 for my assisted pullups so I'll continue that. Also when I say pullups, I kind of mean chinups + pullups. I'd like to do both and usually I do both at the gym, so 3x8 of each. If this is too much because they're similar exercises, someone please let me know. • General workout plan: Mon- YT video with @Red1263 (muay thai, yoga, whatever we're feeling) Tues- Long run Wed- Upper body strength Thurs- Regular training run Fri- Full body strength Sat/Sun Rest • Non-fitness: track sobriety, take Praxis Exams for teaching certification, try to make a nonalcoholic version of one of my best cocktails. Wedding-wise, there's a lot on the checklist but main goal right now is find a photographer. I plan on posting updates every Monday but it might be more often, we'll see. Additionally, I'll post my starting points for each of these on the 12th when the challenge begins. Let's do this!! Note: The NF instagram post about Zelda-style rewards sounds appealing. I'm thinking, if I'm successful in my running challenge, I buy a new pair of running leggings. I only have a couple of pairs that I really like, so I think having another would help me stay motivated.

Turned a big corner with my energy levels last year. Makes me feel like i can see the end of the M.E/CFS tunnel. Trick is not to try and rush there all in one go. All that tortoise vs hare stuff. so. My main goals this year are to loose some weight, get fitter and regain some of the muscle I've lost to the muscle atrophy. Doing this all in one go is clearly a bad plan, so I'm chopping it into smaller parts. As this is my first challenge I'm going to try and keep it minimal in an effort not to overload myself. goals; -try to go for 3 walks a week -sort room (there are still boxes in there from when i moved in, it is not good for my head and i want it sorted) -try not to snack between meals (if i need to, try to pick something healthy like fruit)

Hey Nerds! I joined way back in 2011 and found a ton of success with the community, here! A lot of life has happened, since, and my focus has been on putting out constant fires instead of taking care of ME. I'm back, now, and I'm committed to making it work like I know it can! Little bit of backstory: I've been overweight pretty much my whole life. About 13 years ago, I had a stroke - the lasting effect has been minimal - but it sparked a strong desire to get healthy. And I was on a pretty good path - at one point I had lost about 200lbs - THEN it all changed. I was diagnosed with ESRD (end stage renal disease), in short, my kidneys no longer work and I'll be on dialysis until I, either, get a transplant or die. But, because of that, and a host of new challenges that brought with it. for about 10 years, my weightloss and fitness has taken a backseat to just keeping myself alive. Now, I'm in a position to put more focus on being healthier and weighing less (also, I have motivation - I have to lose weight to be resubmitted for a transplant consideration) so here I am!

I've been living with a chronic ankle injury for the last 5 years which has gradually been eating away at all the hobbies and fitness I used to enjoy (hiking, running, lifting, traveling, mountaineering). I finally had an operation just before Christmas which will hopefully have fixed it so I want to boss my recovery and slay this injury-dragon for good so I can get back to adventuring! I have a tendancy to be over-active and set myself back by trying to do too much and re-injuring myself, plus New Year is a super busy time for me as this is my big teaching term (I'm an Assistant Professor at a University) and I need to commute every day so I want at least one of my goals to be about prioritising rest. I also want to try and clean up my diet a bit as when I get busy I tend to snack a lot and eat easy junk food, especially as I'm on crutches and can't easily spend much time in the kitchen. I'm thinking so far: 1/ Be consistent with following my physio's advice - make sure I do the exercises and don't do too much! 2/ Prioritise rest - take a half hour lunch break each day and at least one day fully off at weekends. 3/ Be mindful about snacking - to quote Mulan "Always think before you snack!" - keep a list of snacks I eat and take a minute to think about why I'm snacking and if I need to before I do. What do people think? I'm conscious that I tend to set goals that are way too ambitious...

First challenge, or new to Nerd Fitness? Start here! *Note: You can participate in guild discussions regardless of your chosen guild.

It's the holiday season, and with two young kids and all sorts of trips/travel/vacation planned, the season can get busy fast. So I'm just going to make this mini challenge all about festive cheer, maintaining good habits, and adding in a little fitness. I'd like to put myself in a good place to kick off January and keep myself in check from eating ALL the Christmas cookies. 🎁 Keep LoseIt streak alive Achieve a 51 days streak by Dec 23 Keep tracking what I eat in LoseIt. This worked well for me during the last challenge, and since I found I naturally tend to stay within my calorie goal, I'm not going to stress about hitting my goal a certain number day this challenge. Tracking what I eat and being mindful is enough. ☃️ Drink 6 cups of water every day Track water consumption in LoseIt Bonus Goal: Fill Tervis tumbler every morning when pouring coffee The big thing I want to change up is how much water I drink - I can go a full day without water if I'm not thinking about it, so let's put it at the top of mind. I know 6 cups is less than I "should" be drinking, but being able to drink that much consistently would be a big improvement. 🌟 Choose one fitness challenge to do every day Cross off one challenge daily (link to spreadsheet) This is just for fun and to keep fitness-motivated! I found the 3 mile walks I did last challenge and little difficult to complete consistently. And while I'd still like to get out and walk a few times a week, I've decided not to make it a challenge goal - just a bonus. Instead, I'm going to do a small fitness activity each day, eventually crossing them all off!

Challenge Tracker

What an awkward day to respawn. It's a Thursday, in the middle of a challenge, two months until the end of the year and it's not even the first of the month! My god. Why not wait until January like everyone else, amiright? Nonetheless, I'm back at this very awkward point in the year because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life getting healthy, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. And while I wasn't planning to have a theme for this challenge, this one just feels appropriate. "Gentlemen Nerds, believing in rom-communism is all about believing that everything's gonna work out in the end. Now these next few months might be tricky, but that's just 'cause we're going through our dark forest. Fairy tales do not start, nor do they end in the dark forest. That son of a gun always shows up smack-dab in the middle of a story. But it will all work out. Now, it may not work out how you think it will or how you hope it does, but believe me, it will all work out. Exactly as it's supposed to. Our job is to have zero expectations and just let go." Okay, Hi. I'm Yvonne. I've been on the NF boards for over 10 years, completed a bunch of fantastic challenges, lost 30lbs, leveled up my life, had two children, dropped off the boards again, came back again, repeat again and again, and now here I am. I'm on my fifth sixth seventh maybe? respawn and I'm nearly at the point where I may soon have more respawn posts than challenges under my belt. (I think you get some kind of award at that point, right? Like a frequent flier card for falling off the wagon and then crawling back on again?) And in the meantime I've leveled up in new ways, gained and lost and gained weight, tried other programs to keep me motivated, and somehow keep coming back. NerdFitness, my my happy, get-shit-done home. And I'll admit - I'm in the dark forest. I've been fighting depression and anxiety. I was actually keeping up with my health goals for a long while: I ran two half-marathons over two years and was maintaining a somewhat healthy weight. But I've been slipping and now I'm in a place where I don't exercise, I eat mindlessly and endlessly, I take less joy in my relationships and my family, and I don't relate at all to the person who posted here a few years ago. I want to find that person again though, and I want to believe that it's going to work out this time. I don't think I'd be back if I didn't believe that this time I'll stick to it for the long haul. But this is a challenge post, not therapy, so let's set a challenge! We're halfway through the 5 week challenge, but there's still 23 days left! 1. Stay within calorie budget: 20 days I have a really complicated history with CICO, but I used to have a complicated history with running and eventually we made up! So I've downloaded the LoseIt app and I've going to give calorie tracking a go. I might hate it, but I figure that 3 weeks is a good trial run. Aiming for 20 out of 23 days gives me some leeway (I mean, come on, Thanksgiving is in the mix!). 2. Walk 3 miles: 15 days Over the summer I was actually pretty good about popping on a podcast and walking 3 miles on weekdays, but it's gotten colder and I've gotten lazier. I'm giving myself permission to only walk 4 days a week, instead of every weekday, and prorating this starting week. 3. Update NF: 15 days A back-in-the-habit goal to get me updating here and not falling off the radar. Surrounding myself with like-minded people and reforming connections. I honestly think this one right here is the key to success. So there is is! A brand new challenge, just in time for the most stressful months of the year. Ahh.

I've been into fitness for the past few years and made a decent amount of progress ( 140ish down to currently 122 ) but I'm ready to get more serious about it. In the past I have focused on weightlifting but now I have the goal of wanting to try out a new job that will require a lot of cardio so I gotta hone in on that a lot more than I have in the past, still want to get strong though as that's where my heart is! Excited to get back on the grind after being away from home for 5 months >:)

TLDR: ⏹️ daily photograph of to-do-list (doing optional), ⏹️ daily 2L water, ⏹️⏹️ gym 2xweek. Long: I am keeping things relatively small this challenge, mostly wanting to get back in the habit of regular check-ins. Looks like I’ve been AWOL since Feb/March, so a brief update on the life stuff that’s happened since then/thereabouts. Health: I have been diagnosed with ADHD and been taking meds for it after coming off the old anxiety meds, they help very much and while I am the same person much is different about how I go about my day-to-day. While I still get RangerBrain(TM) it is now less fueled by chaos. Being hydrated is important for my meds to function correctly. The meds are still affecting my appetite but no longer to concerning levels, I am able to lose weight now (unclear if from new meds side effect or old meds had a sticky-weight side effect), and have been slowly trending down since March at a sustainable level. Once ‘healthy’ weight is reached I will have to take care to eat enough to maintain, and currently I have to take care that I eat enough nutritious food because I am full quickly. My shoulder is almost entirely healed, I cannot sleep on that side still, and I have to take care when doing things at extended range (outstretched) but otherwise close to ‘normal’ and no longer seeing the physio. My personal trainer sold his gym last month and moved interstate which is so sad (for me! He’s living his best life lol), so I have signed up for a ‘fitness passport’ which allows me access to lots of different gyms. I have specifically joined the one at my work, so I can prioritise working out when I am on campus. I may increase my in-office days to two this challenge, or I may find another closer-to-home gym to get my second weekly workout in, yet to be seen. Work& Study: I started a new job as a manager in HR in March. I like my team, they like me, it is going well. It is also one day in the office and the rest WFH which works very well for me. I have finished my permaculture design certificate, and cert 2 in Auslan, and am now taking a break from studying. Love & life: Mx and I are still going strong, semi-regular river walks and snorkeling when the weather permits. Mx has also been assessed for ADHD and will be starting meds soon. We have made some new friends with a couple and Mx plays magic with one of them one evening most weeks, we sometimes go birdwatching the four of us, and Mx is running a DnD campaign for the four of us plus Mx’s sister. For challenge purposes I will likely refer to them as BirdFriend (they/she/he), MagicFriend (he/him) and Sister-in-Law (she/her). Our decade long campaign is currently on hiatus as one of the members (Best Lady) is finishing her placement for speech pathology. Both cats Mischief and Mayhem are doing well, though Mischief still needs to lose some weight. CHALLENGE GOALS PROPER Goal the first: take a photo of my ‘do-to-menu’ each evening. I don’t have to do all the things on the list, I don’t have to share the photo with anyone, but I must take it. It is a modified version of the daily, weekly, monthly and seasonally lists from UFYH. Goal the second: Twice a week go to NewGym. This can be the gym at work, or any of the gyms that take the fitness passport. If I go Zumba-ing with Best Lady, this also counts. If I do a massive birdwatching walk, or a big snorkel/swim I may substitute for one gym sesh. Goal the third: drink 2L water each day. I have a cute water bottle with measurements on it and the weather is warming up, so this should be achievable. THAT’S IT! Looking forward to following along with old nerdfriends and new and wish you all the best for your respective challenges!

Alright, Mags. You've got this. Don't back down. "Avens, Magnolia?" the quidditch captain looked up as he read her name aloud. A young second-year student with unkempt dark-brown hair stepped forward hesitantly. "Alright, show us what you've got." The next thing she knew, Mags was handed a broom and four other students were up in the air with the quaffle, throwing it around. "C'mon and catch it," one of them shouted. No! Mags wrestled with herself, Why are you freaking out? This is what you expected, wasn't it? Get up there and get it! She mounted her broom, kicked off, and sped up toward the other students, the wind whistling in her ears. She was almost to them. It felt great to be gliding through the air like this. Then the wind was blowing her hair in her face and she looked down. Instead of continuing to climb, she began to lower herself slowly, at a comfortable pace and anxious to get back on solid ground. "You're going the wrong way," one student above laughed, tossing the quaffle across the way to another. "I know!" Mags shouted back, holding tears in with a concerted effort. She wasn't sure if she was more scared of her immediate predicament or embarrassed for deciding to try out for the team when she knew she was afraid of heights. Why did I come here in the first place? She landed and handed the broom back to the quidditch captain. "Thanks for letting me try," she said sourly, trying to ignore the fact that she'd just made a fool of herself in front of one of the most popular boys in the school. Everybody knew Arch after last year when he led Gryffindor to win the house cup for the first time in four years. "Listen, Avens," Arch said as he took the broom before Mags had a chance run off, "I don't know if you've noticed, but you're the only second-year here. Don't beat yourself up for trying. If the heights bother you, work on doing handstands to feel better about being disoriented. Come back when you're ready." "Thanks." Mags walked to the greenhouses to work on an herbology assignment, but instead of being frustrated like she'd been only a moment before she was determined to give it a go and get onto the team next year. Now to figure out how to do handstands... ~~~~~ Thought it would be fun to write a character and base goals off of the story. We'll see if I've got the bandwidth to keep it up, but I do have a goal to shoot to do a handstand by next summer. Right now it's really just working off some excess weight and doing that by being consistent with staying ahead of my fork and getting out to move regularly. Plan is to do that for a while until it becomes second nature and then bust out my old Handstands course to work through over the winter/spring. If I don't get to the handstand by the summer, that's fine. The important thing is that I create something sustainable and stick with it. I used to be really tough on myself if I skipped days or overate or whatever but that wasn't a great long-term strategy, so trying to be nicer to myself and figure out how to be consistent instead. Fitness: Walk a minimum of 5x each week (anything counts). Nutrition: Shoot to keep calories under 1500 for 5 days per week. Mindset: Write a plan up for each day the night before. Will fill these out at the beginning of each new week for the previous week: Fitness Nutrition Mindset __ Su __ Su __ Su __ M __ M __ M __ T __ T __ T __ W __ W __ W __ R __ R __ R __ F __ F __ F __ Sa __ Sa __ Sa Looking forward to making some progress along with all of you here. ~Chaser Avens

Imagine, if you will, a scene from long ago - a 1930s comic book, say. Imagine an ill-fitting manhole cover, halfway down a dark alley. It’s slightly askew, set into a poorly-paved street. Every so often a sickly-looking yellowish-gray vapor drifts up around its edges. Every night, you must pass down this alley, past the manhole cover and its trailing vapor, to get home. Some nights the walk goes easy: there is no vapor, or you dodge it gracefully. You swing on past, into your evening. But other nights are harder. Sometimes the vapor drifts lovingly around your ankle, nudging you back just a little: not yet. You’re not done yet. Sometimes it wraps around your leg like a vise, holding you still, while images of might-have-been beat helplessly in your mind. Sometimes, on bad days, the vapor is followed by a scaled, slimy tentacle. It slides up around your torso and pulls you under, down into the tunnels below. On those days, the work-creep dragon hasn’t just slowed you down: it’s made its way into your dreams, keeping you from sleep or waking you at three in the morning, eager to make you its own. The challenge: get my work hours under control. Over the past few months, the time and energy I spend at work has crept up and up, to a point where it feels unsustainable. Too many days are way too long, and way too often I’m waking up in the middle of the night thinking about some work topic with my heart racing for no good reason. Last week I started a four-week sprint of trying to improve things. It was rocky. I wasn’t originally going to join this challenge (just found the forum, starting late, new, etc), but reading other people’s challenges was inspiring, and the timing fit with what I’d originally planned(!). So here I am. The goal: work a predictable, in-control schedule, in my current job. I have a specific, reasonable schedule in mind. The schedule can shift around (eg earlier or later relative to transit), but I want to prevent the days from running long. To make this sustainable, I need to pull it off without feeling perpetually rushed or cramming things in. It can’t be a short-term, pre-vacation sprint type thing. This implies ... saying no to things? better planning? at a minimum. Probably some other stuff too. Why now: I’ve always believed in keeping work (and when I was a kid, school) in bounds, but over the years it’s gotten harder and harder to do that. As far as I can tell, this is at least as much about my own momentum as it is about the job - so I am optimistic it’s possible to solve (and also mildly terrified about making it happen). I feel like I’ve hit some kind of tipping point on needing to do this. Emotionally and practically, this feels huge. If I can make it happen, I think it will be foundational - I’m not even sure in what direction yet, but more in line with what I want the shape of my life to be. I started out with a plan, but. Last week recap (Sept 18-24) Monday and Tuesday went long. Both days, something I hadn’t planned for came up, and I stayed around to deal with it. I also just felt awkward about leaving, as if the momentum to keep working were a real physical thing. Wednesday went even longer: over the previous week, I’d come down with a persistent cough, and a friend pointed out that I should take Thursday & Friday off to recover (um, ideally I would have noticed this myself. OTOH that’s what friends are for, right?!) I stayed late Wednesday to make it easier to take Thursday & Friday off. Thursday & Friday: out sick. A good decision, went to the doctor, yep, bronchitis, got meds and now recovering. Easier because I wasn’t at work. Sat quietly a lot, trying not to breathe too hard. Weekend: as I started to recover, I thought more about what Monday-Wednesday had in common, and what I could do to improve week 2’s odds. Found this forum and started reading. Changes after last week Wrote a specific checklist for how to start, manage, & end my work days (when I need to head to work, check my schedule, see what’s coming, etc). Aiming to be pretty structured & habitual about this. Checklist includes daily reviewing my schedule to make sure it works: starts and ends per schedule, no overlapping meetings, some breaks, a functional % of non-meeting time. I don’t know what % that is, so I’m trying to observe & figure that out. Updated my recurring weekly schedule to include start/wrapup time each day. I’ll use this to plan & close up the days. I don’t know how much I need, so figuring that out too. Started tracking hours of meetings per week & per day. I’ll see how this correlates to how things go. The big insight from last week: I need to look at and plan for how much slack there is in the day. Every day that’s run late, it’s because something unexpected came up. This is normal in my job (most jobs?), so the only way to solve for it is to expect it & build in extra time for it. ^ Either I need to get comfortable with pushing things back when there isn’t slack, or I need to make sure there is slack. Anything else results in longer work days. ^ Also means I need better awareness of how much slack there is on any given day. ^ This feels to me massively counterintuitive: I’m trying to control work hours, so it feels more natural to pack things in. But packing things in hasn’t worked, so better try something different. This week so far Monday worked! Stopped on time. Only had two hours of meetings, it was my first day back after being sick, and Mondays are often slow, so it wasn’t the toughest day - but it worked. I also spent a whopping hour and a half of my work day wrangling my schedule into shape for the next week-plus. I hope this pays dividends. Tuesday: a bigger challenge, because over half the day was meetings, and I started with a long to-do list. But because I schedule-wrangled on Monday, I had built in some breaks (unusual for me) and knew what to expect. I kept reminding myself not to expect much focused work. If the day needed to be meetings, let it be meetings. I fit in a few small tasks between things. And... I stopped on time!!! Worth noticing: As a bonus to my approach of breaks & realistic expectations, I had noticeably higher quality conversations with people, which will in turn I think lead to better or more efficient work. Also a more pleasant day. Both Monday & Tuesday did just “feel weird” in terms of stopping. It’s a nagging feeling like ‘there’s more I could do, I should do it… ?’ or ‘am I really done for the day?’ and it takes a fair bit of stubborn to stop anyway. I hope this wears off over time. It seems more like habit than rationality. The schedule I’m targeting is reasonable, and there will always be more to do. Looking to today Today is Wednesday, another meeting-heavy day. Planning to follow my checklist, remind myself of expectations, and see if I can pull it off. I had not expected to write 1400 words about all this. Well. Why the manhole cover? Well ... as I read other people’s challenges, I realized I liked the idea of giving a sense of physicality to what I’m trying to change. My job is all on a screen, and it’s easy for everything to feel unreal. In contrast, the pull to just keep working does have a sense of almost physical momentum. For the work-creep dragon, I’m talking about ‘taming’ not ‘conquering’ or ‘defeating’ it because in a lot of ways, it’s just inherent to my job. There always is, always will be, more to do. I don’t expect (or hopefully, need) this to go away. I want to get better at dealing with it, keep it from grabbing me around the ankle or getting into my head & my sleep, and get on with my life instead. It’s also worth mentioning that this isn’t a ‘my job is terrible, get a new one’ kind of situation. This is about changing how I relate to it (and by extension, how I relate to any job in future). It’s a good job, fits me well - I just want it to work for me better than it is.

Hi all My partner has mentioned NF on and off for the last couple years, but with a kind nudge from GP, it's time to focus on my health so I took the plunge and joined up. Since I'm starting late into the challenge, I picked things I've already been working, plus I signed up for Walk to Mordor. Goals for the rest of this challenge: 1. Take all my medication every day. 2. 1km a day (or 7km a week) for 'Walk to Mordor' 3. Achieve 7 hours of sleeps using my CPAP every night. Looking forward to getting to know everyone --Limey

Hi all! I recently respawned and am hoping for some accountability and support during my second try at an epic quest. My first attempt petered out before it even left the Shire so to speak, so I want to actually make this one count. Never done a challenge before or even been on the forums, so lets give it a try!! I was tempted to make this themed around LOTR (it being my favorite nerd thing of all time), but in all honesty my fitness icon is Aloy from the Horizon series. Yes, yes, video game character and can therefore do anything/everything, but the thought that I could have even a smidgen of athleticism like hers inspires me greatly. My overall epic quest is weight loss, but in the meantime I might as well train like Aloy and get healthier in the process. Those giant robot dinosaurs aren't going to spear themselves, after all! Quests for the Challenge Timeframe: 1) As soon as my local pools open up again next week (curse you, annual maintenance), start swimming again 2x/week. I've been missing it so much ever since I took a break for summer vacation nonsense, and I am desperate to get back in the water. I worry that combining it with my strength training will burn me out, but I'm also hopeful that starting slow will help ease me into it. I used to go 3x/week, but I hadn't been doing anything on the days in between - that will hopefully be different this go around. 2) Attempt the level 1 workout Boss Battle by challenge week 4. I started following a 3x/week strength training plan using the NF Academy stuff, rotating between level 1 A and B, followed by the Water level yoga to cool down. It was a sporadic start but I have consistently done this schedule for 3 straight weeks - this is longer than I've ever lasted in a fitness routine! I'm excited where it will lead, but I'm also half-expecting burn-out to set in any day. 3) Continue daily food logs in MFP. 4) Eat fast food 1 or fewer times per week. If it does get to more than 1 time, pick a healthier option than my normal go-to (ex. grilled chicken instead of breaded, etc). 5) At least once before the 5 weeks are out, dust off my bow and go to my local archery park. I haven't taken my bow out of its case since my 5yo was born. Every time I play Horizon I want to get back into it, and now that my kid is finally in real school now is that time. 6) Continue journaling at least every other day (I use the Hero's Journal Legend of Istoria – anybody else??), cataloging successes and attempts. Hopefully I'm not aiming for too much/too little this challenge, but like I said I've never done one before, so we will see! I wish everyone the best of luck as the challenge begins!!

Hi! New here - just posted my first challenge. Trying to keep it simple & realistic, focusing on mindset right now. The vibe of this forum seems amazing Current goals: recovering from a very annoying but not dire round of bronchitis, which is messing with my usual exercise routines (I'd originally found NerdFitness while looking for ways to mix up my exercise more, sigh, that will have to wait) - and in the meantime, looking to improve nutrition & get my work hours into something reasonable (which I just posted as my first challenge, and which has been both a longstanding nagging thing, and something I hope sets me up well for other things, plus just a general sense of wellbeing). In California, so also fingers crossed on things like wildfire smoke not being too bad this year.

Hi, it's me... again... again... I've been in a downward mental spiral again, set off by rapidly increasing weight, which seems to have been (ironically?) set off by getting back into working out. For those who don't know, I'm Matt, 33M, ADHD, depressed, anxious, etc. I lost about 100 pounds from Jan 2016 to June 2017, most of which was done between Sept 2016 and March 2017. In early 2018, I was at my lowest weight, but had been slowly coasting since June 2017. About mid-2018, I gave up my weight loss journey in search of enjoying life. The problem was that I had developed orthorexia, dysmorphia, and was spending upwards of 5 hours in the gym, 6 days a week. I felt that I was eating, working out, sleeping, working, or meal prepping. I didn't socialize, I felt like I had to ignore people to keep up my "good" habits, and I was just overall not happy. After that, I started believing I "deserved to eat" bad food or taking a rest day. Eventually, that lead to overall poor eating and not working out at all, which lead to regaining most of the weight. In October 2021, I was back, about five pounds shy of my highest weight. Since then, I've lost about forty pounds. I'm intent to lose the weight in ways that keep it off and keep me healthy. I'm learning more and more about the long-term positive effect exercise has on the body and mental health. Also, I'd like to live past 70. Much of my family on my mom's side died in their early 60's or earlier. I'd like to enjoy my retirement. Overall, I'm just trying to find that balance between what I want to do and what I need to do, and finding how I can cross the streams. Feel free to ask me anything.

Hi Everyone! I have a new handle on here, originally when I first joined I went by Kdognlog most of the time. I've been to Camp NerdFitness in 2016 and met some wonderful people while I was there but fell off the wagon very hard these last 7 years. But, I remembered this community and the old Nerd Fitness Academy were the only workout programs that really helped me lose my initial 15 pounds and now I want to go for round 2 since I've only gotten older and bigger. While this challenge is more about exercise goals I'm going to be approaching it a bit differently. For the next 6 weeks my main goals are: Clean and Maintain the cleanliness of the Batcave At least 10,000 steps every day Cook my own meals on the weekends. Boom, simple goals that I know I can achieve. If I throw in a real exercise routine I will post an update, but I am going with the Adventurer Guild so I'm going to be doing more hiking and maybe basic rock climbing if I'm up to it. But the main goals are just what I know I can get accomplished for 6 weeks. I'm happy to be back and I know this time it's gonna work out for me, I'll keep you guys updated regularly

Hello Again Rebels, Long time no see and it was me and not you. I've been away for several years after having gotten my health in a much better place, thanks in large part to this community. I lost 100 lbs in a year and 2 weeks (that 2 week still gets under my skin) and radically changed my life. Once I was in a better place I left the Rebellion for a while. It's been nearly 6 years since I've been around, and alot has changed for me, some for the better, some for the worse. I've found myself in a rough place and I need to get back in control of my health. I'm hoping that surrounding myself with a community focused on improving can help me as I get back to work on improving me. Time for a major respawn! 1. I've lost a couple lbs, but last month I matched my heaviest weight of 300lbs. Over this last winter I had a very bad case of Covid and was dealing with it for quite a while. I was on an oxygen machine for over 6 months. While effectively on bed rest, stressed, not moving, and eating my feelings, I gained alot of weight and lost what fitness I'd managed to maintain. Last summer I was hiking up and down mountains, now I can barely make a flight of stairs without huffing. While my fitness and health hadn't stayed at the level it was when I left the rebellion even prior to getting sick, I was fairly happy with... me. I still can't do many of the activities I would like to do. I just don't have that level of fitness anymore and breathing is still not as easy as it should be, but those are the exact reasons I'm working to get healthier again. I'm going to be working on walking to Mordor. Well actually I'm following along with Bilbo to the Lonely Mountain first, but those journeys will take much more than a 5 week challenge to complete. I'm just doing daily walking to try to get healthier and tracking my distance. Shooting for a absolute minimum of 1 mile a day and building up from there. Unfortunately I'm going to have to be doing it inside on the treadmill for a little while as wildfire season has started here in Montana and my weak lungs do not like the smoke. I much prefer walking out in the mountains (especially if there are fish to catch). I've had some family recommend a 30 day yoga for beginners thing on Prime Video that I'm going to work on too, but idk that it's an official part of the challenge for me. I would like to get more limber. 2. My nutrition has slacked and I want to improve that again. I do cook healthy whole food for many meals, and do really enjoy cooking. I cook mostly at a level 4 of the nerd fitness diet, just with liquid calories, and not tracking, so I hope to make it back to there over this challenge, starting back at level 1. My wife has several diet needs that I have to cook for, so our dinner is usually quite healthy, but I've been eating badly for breakfast and lunch. And working form home I snack far too much. I don't want to add on too many changes at once, but I think I will also be doing some intermittent fasting. I had great luck with it in the past and only eat breakfast about half the time anyway. Will just have a coffee in the morning (working on cutting out sugar from it, but that's gonna take a little bit), and then eat lunch and dinner. No eating before 11am or after 7pm. 3. In addition to decline if fitness and weight gain, I also fell back into an old bad habit with weed. No more smoking since the covid, but I've eaten too many edibles too often. Before covid, I did smoke almost daily and it was already a friction point between me and my wife. I recently ate the last of what I had and will not be buying any more! Ever. Period! I've tried quitting (smoking) weed a couple times in the past with some success lasing for months, but always came back to it eventually. Many people say it is not addictive, but I know for a fact that I have been, ... no I am addicted to marijuana. It is legal where I live but it's not good for me. While I don't drink much, maybe 1 drink a week, I've had more in the past when I took breaks from smoking. I don't want to replace 1 vice with another so the goal for this 5 weeks is sobriety. There's many other things in my life I'd like to work on improving, but for now I need to rebuild a healthy foundation to stand on while I juggle life. Next challenge I'll hopefully be able to build off of progress built in this challenge, and leapfrog on to additional improvements. I feel like I'm jumping back into a survival game were the other players are already geared up and established. I need to get my basics back, with which to rebuild and achieve more advanced tools and achievements. Time to grind! 5-Week Challenge TLDR: Fitness: Daily Walking, min of 1 mile a day. Goal of 30 miles minimum. Nutrition: Starting with the NF diet from lvl 1 "Help, I'm Clueless", and intermittent fasting skipping breakfast. Goal of reaching lvl 4 by end of the challenge. No weed, no drinks. Goal of 100%. No slip-ups.

Disclaimer: I will not actually earn any badges because I'm not an official member of the UK scouts (and since I'm not in the UK, also can't be) Gonna keep this short and sweet. Been here before, sometimes for a couple challenges, sometimes just for half a challenge. I've been doing quite well keeping myself out on adventures through hiking, via ferratas and other stuff and it's worked quite well for me to have a sort of theme for the month. In June, this was lots of hikes. In July it was via ferratas (did all the ones within 2 hours driving even though I'm very, very scared of heights), and August I shall become a scout. I had a look at girl scout and boy scout badges from the US. Then I found the UK scouts and vibed much better with the badges. Did a whole write up, picked the badges I want to go for... only to then find out I can't actually *get* those badges. I'm quite heartbroken about this. If anyone is a scout person who can order badges - I will happily prove that I've earned them and pay whatever you think is adequate. I'll donate, too, if you'd like. If not, I'll just have to come up with something else. Make my own badges, maybe. We'll see, I've got 4 weeks to come up with that On to the goals - splitting them into body (outdoors), soul (doing things) and brain (learning things). The overall goal is simple: Progress on one badge from each section every week. Some of them are quite long, others short and sweet but just working towards one in each section every week will do for my first challenge back. I am a newbie scout after all. I went with the 10-14 year olds badges because that seems appropriate. Badges I (eventually) want to earn for each section Body Caver Environmental conservation Forrester Hikes away Hill walker Naturalist Survival skills Soul Artist Community impact Craft International Writer Brain Astronomer Digital Citizen Digital Maker (Stage 1 badge earned!) Emergency Aid Fire safety Global issues Local knowledge Meteorologist Navigator Here's to a good challenge!

Goals 1. Go to the gym 3 times per week for weight training. The biggest obstacle here is fitting it into my schedule. One day on the weekend is easy, but weekdays are much harder. Im thinking tuesday and thursday mornings before work might be the way to go. I prefer going in the mornings because its less busy. 2. Walk for 20-30 minutes on non-gym days except Sunday when I go for a hike. 3. Be more mindful of how i eat. This is a combo one. I need to eat more protein and veg, less sugar and fat, and less overall calories. This is hard because I have ADHD and my impulsivity drives me to food. I crave sugar like cocaine and i eat when i am bored. Im going to try and just stop having things in the house that i cant control myself with.

I'm back after a long hiatus! Things are a lot different for me since the last time I was here (I moved countries twice, became a parent to two cats and a small human etc) and I've been getting back into fitness and a reasonable diet in a fairly consistent way for the last month and a half or so and I'd like it to stick this time. I do have an idea of a weight and size I'd like to be and all that, but this challenge isn't about that so much as it is about making my routine easier to stick to and actually sticking to it. The way I've been things lately is sort of working because my partner and I are currently living with family and I'm unemployed so I'm basically responsible for child care and not much else, which means that I can cram in some good exercise during the small one's nap time. The problem with that is it means that I'm not really getting ready to leave the house until the afternoon (because who wants to shower before a workout and then again after when you can just do it once). So I'd like to move my exercise to the start of the day. This has a number of other benefits, like starting the day with a sense of accomplishment, getting the exercise portion of the day done before anything else can interfere, having the ability to move my exercise outside before it's too hot and perhaps most importantly, freeing up the tiny human's nap time to do something else. It does have the pitfall of having to actually get up. Without further ado, here are my tentative goals: 1. Sleep routine for the small one and me (WIS +3) This is going to be a few sub-goals, but they're all working together. Bedtime for baby: We've been a bit willy-nilly about bedtime, but the small one is 14 months old, which is a reasonable time to get into a more consistent routine. The goal will be an end to screens around the small one at 8 pm (small one doesn't get a screen, but there are screens around), then a 9 pm start to the bed time routine with a goal of a 10 pm sleeping time every night. (/7) Bedtime for me: In bed with the lights out by midnight. This might be more of a challenge early on because my partner has started a new job and has a weird shift pattern, but it would set me up to... (/6) Wake up at the crack of 8 am 7:30 am: assuming me waking up doesn't also wake up the small one, this should give me enough time to get in all my workouts. I may need to shift this a bit earlier, but I will try 8 7:30 and see how it goes. I will give myself one day of extra rest a week, so this should happen six days a week. (/6) 2. Daily Yoga (STR +1, DEX +2) Or nearly-daily. I'd like to aim for six sessions a week. (/6) 3. Calisthenics (STR +2, STA +1) Three sessions of body-weight workouts a week. This will usually be done following a video because otherwise I slack too much. (/3) 4. Aerobics (DEX +1, STA +2) Three sessions of aerobics a week. This is always going to be done following a video to the best of my ability. (/3) 5. Eat my fruits and veggies (CON +3) I'm aiming for at least 5 servings a day every day. I've been doing intermittent fasting (16:8) and have been trying to make sensible choices and it seems to be going well, so I just want to make sure I'm getting those in. (/7) And I apparently forgot that way back when I was last here, I'd been assigning points for these... I will have to review a bit and update with those (and maybe adjust the formatting). I'm not sure I'll keep my old stats or if I'm just re-rolling or what. I will be trialing everything during week 0 and making adjustments if needed. Edit: updated formatting and added stat assignments (missing a +1 somewhere). I'm still not sure if I'll be adding to my previous assignments or re-rolling, but I don't really have to decide that just now. Edit 2: minor tweaks and scoring added.

After a week-long vacation away from home, a reset is desperately required. For these next 5 weeks I will: 1. Journal - Silk+Sonder as well as Mystics Guide. I also will catch up on the daily rituals for June to assist in my goal to for better mental health and positive coping mechanisms 2. Workout - this is up in the air with the oldest kid's car not working and him going to work just as I'd normally work out. Hopefully resolved soon with the purchase of a (newer) used car for him to get to work and back. I'll have to improvise - I'll likely have to bike/row and do strength inside before the sun comes up if I want to squeeze it in. Goal is 3 times a week for a minimum of 15 minutes and running where possible. 3. Log food - stay within goals. Focus on fruits/veg and lean protein over processed carbs. Pay attention to hunger cues - only eat when hungry and stop once satiated. Hara hachi bu shall be the focus. 4. Drink water - At the time of typing this, I'm very dehydrated from my vacation. Re-hydrate and stay that way. This week's weather (and likely henceforth through summer) is a base temperature in the triple digits (100 degrees F and above - not accounting for humidity or any other factors). Water will be essential. It will help me feel fuller for longer, eliminate bloating, keep my skin and hair healthy, and my body running smoothly. 5. Self-love - Every day I want to take note of either something I love/admire/am proud of about myself or an action that is loving towards myself. That can be admiring a good hair day, loving the way my eyes look in the light of sunrise, or even forgiving myself for an oopsie or moment of weakness rather than being upset with myself. It can also be giving myself extra time in the shower to do a hair-oiling treatment or face mask to make me feel more beautiful and put together, or a foot soak to relax my feet after a hard run, or even a lazy day to allow my body to relax after a long week of activities. As long as I'm doing at least ONE loving thing for or towards myself, I've met this goal. These are simple and I've been focused on them since January, but the true test is resuming and maintaining them after some time off and away from routine. The vacation allowed for some indulgences and for me to let loose and forget any rigidity. Now it's time to get back into a routine and habits that make me feel my best again. 6. Spiritual Work/Routine - I need to re-establish my spiritual work. I feel best when I feel connected and my day-to-day (such as walking the dogs outside) isn't giving me enough of the intentional connection I need. My goal is to try to incorporate at least ONE thing every day to bring a little spiritual connection. I will take note of what helps and what doesn't, what is easy and simple to do while still being meaningful and what is a little more challenging or takes more time and intention. I will use this list to fall back on when I'm feeling lost/disconnected and need that little extra nudge forward.

Hi, everyone! I know I'm a bit late to the challenge, but I figured that this would be a good way to get my feet wet. So here are my goals for the next few days! 1) Write down everything I eat. 2) Do some type of exercise every day (usually strength training, walking, and/or pell work). 3) Take time for self-care every day.