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Hey folks! Good to be back I've built up some good habits over the past few years doing challenges on and (mainly) off, but have found the weight/size creeping back up and not shifting as it once did. Coming up to summer I have a bunch of clothes that don't fit as they once did, and I don't feel like the strength and health is as on track as it has been. My weight was a fairly steady 11-11.5 stone for a good long while, but it's crept up to 12 stone in the last year, and then over in the last few months. Currently at just under 12 stone (168lbs) and wanting to get down below 11.5 by my birthday at the end of July. I started a Step into Health course through work which has modules of exercise, nutrition and stress management. It's helped me get a bit more focused, so I'm formalising it by putting it on the interwebs so I have to do it. Plus I miss y'all innit. Exercise plan, current habit followed by ~ what I'm adding Working days: - 20 press-ups with my feet on the bed ~ increase to 25 - 10 min jog around the block ~ sprint (or at least speed up) the last section on each run - 3x10 dumbbell reps of two exercises (bicep curl + lat flies OR bent over rows + military press) ~ dumbbells for curl & miltary upped in weight All days: - 3 min squat while teeth brushing (I try to hold the full amount of time, but sometimes have to stand and squat again) ~ lower squat and get length of time back on track Additions: + 10,000 steps every day (I usually do this during the week so need to get this sorted for weekends) + I joined (and paid for) a pilates course each Monday evening, so will have to do these! + I haven't used my pull-up bar in ages, so I'm going to add 15 'negative' chin-ups on days I'm not washing hair (alternate days) Food plan I track calories on myfitnesspal, and I've set it to 1600 per day. My problem is on days I go over, I go way over bcuz tasty. I've looked ahead and there are a few days that may scupper eating healthy - niece's birthday this weekend and going to Newcastle for a singing competition for the weekend of 12th May. I'm aware there are days I go over a few cals, so as long any rolling 3 days averages under 1600, that's fine. I'm allowing myself four separate days over calories within the challenge. Points and scoring I have a tendency to be quite harsh on myself and this is possibly not helpful for the long term (i.e. if I fail within one week I'll give up on the rest), so although I'm allocating points, final grade will be based on assessment of the challenge as a whole and essentially arbitrarily assigned by myself, though with feedback from others if they offer it! Complete full exercise plan for a week = 100 points Reduced run, missed dumbells, not 10,000 steps, missed negative chin-ups = minus 5 points for each Missed pilates = £10 lost, so I won't take points off too... Two weeks of 100 points in a row gets me 25 bonus points All four weeks gets an additional 25 bonus points Max exercise points = 500 points Under calories every day for a week = 100 points Day over 1600 but under 1700 = minus 5 points Day over 1600 but stayed relatively health = minus 10 points Day over 1600 and splurged = minus 25 points Two weeks of 100 points in a row gets me 25 bonus points All four weeks gets an additional 25 bonus points Max calorie points = 500 points Total possible points = 1000

Hi world of fellow nerds, it's been a while. I've been meaning to join back in to get on track but life. My last challenge was nearly a year ago, and though I've got some good habits well and truly ingrained (see below), my main problem is eating too much food because food tastes nice. I've been doing OK during the week at work, but toward the end of the week I'll go astray and then binge massively at the weekend. I've been attempting to move away from calorie counting as I don't want it to rule my life, but maybe getting back on it again will help put things in perspective. Current things what I do anyway because of previous challenges, sometimes they aren't fully completed, but I reckon I'm 90+% Working days: - 20 press-ups with my feet on the bed - 10 min jog around the block - 3x10 dumbbell reps of two exercises (bicep curl + lat flies OR bent over rows + military press) All days: - 3 min squat while teeth brushing So my challenge for this four weeks is going to be: Exercise: - Do all the work things in full at least 4x a week - Do at least 10,000 steps a day (phone pedometer) at least 6x a week Foods: - Stay within calories at least 6x a week, and don't eat like a dick on the other day! I'm aware I'm starting this a day late, apols for that. I'm hoping that posting it here (and with updates) will make me stick to it!

Good morrow fellow adventurers! Apologies for the huge absence over the last few months, hope you have all been well and adventuring good and proper As per my last challenge (back in the day), I'm working on adding little things that I can do on a daily basis without having to think about them, so the whole getting healthier and stuff can be sustainable. Currently I do the following: - 2.5 minute squat when I brush my teeth in the evenings - 25 press-ups when I get out of bed, on every morning I go to work - 10 minute jog on every morning I go to work - 3x10 reps on the dumbbells/barbell each morning I go to work (Mon, Wed, Fri - biceps curls and lateral raise, Tue, Thu - bent over rows and military press) - commute walkings (just over a mile from home to tube, and again from tube to work) So my commute walkings have got a bit lazy and I tend to hop on the bus if it's there. Also the jog is sometimes cut short depending on how tired I am in the mornings. I've also got pretty bad with calorie counting (as in, I'm just not), and am getting back on the flabby side... So, goals for this challenge: - Calorie count staying under 1900 at least 4 days per week - sub-clause: don't eat like a dick on the other days - Make press-ups an everyday thing - sub-clause: catch ups allowed if I forget - Do full commute walk at least 4 out of 5 days per week - sub-clause: walk time can be made back at lunch or after work - If I cut short the jog two days in one week, I have to go for a 20 minute run at the weekend or one evening that week - sub-clause: none, but I wanted the list to be neat Points and scoring Keeping things simples, I will either pass or fail for each week. I need to pass three out of the four weeks to pass the challenge and level up. Boom.

Hi there! How do? Feel free to peruse my previous challenges (in my signature) for an overview of my life over the past year My life goal is to improve my health and get over my issue with food (= if I don’t calorie count, I binge). My goal for 2015 is to get clear below 11 stone (currently anywhere between 11 stone 2 and 11 stone 6) and to be able to do one chin up. Every challenge so far has involved calorie counting, so I’m going to mix it up this time and totes steal ideas from my amazing twin from another city, Deftona The rest will be exercise based. Goal 1: Intermittent fasting Not eat anything until midday each day – for the most part I won’t be allowed to eat after 10pm the night before, but will allow myself to extend this in certain circumstances (e.g. where eating something after drinking is just sensible to reduce hangover etc!) Bonus points if the number of ‘fail’ days is less than 10. Goal 2: Dumbbells I have two currently set at 12.5kg (recently upped from 10kg), and my usual routine is bicep curls, military press and chest press. By the end of the challenge I want to be able to comfortably do 3x10 reps for each. Bonus points for the weeks I add squats, deadlifts and the like. Goal 3: Jogging (pron. yogging obvs) I really enjoy running and have been pretty lame at keeping up with it. I need to do at least 3 hours of running over the challenge. This equates to only 30 minutes a week which SHOULD be easy, but means I have to catch up if I forget! Bonus points if I do more than 3 hours total. Goal 4: Press-ups So from the beginning of the year I’ve attempted 20 press-ups a day, which started strong and has become more every other day or every few. Over six weeks this would be 840 done, so I’m setting that as my goal – allowing myself to catch up on days I’ve forgotten. Bonus points for going over this by the end, and super bonus points for going over 1000 That’s all, wish me fun! Silmarilliane

Grüße aus London! So my last challenge was ok, though I ran it over into the ‘spare’ week due to several over-calorie days that I wasn’t really allowed. I managed to stick to the other parts of it though and came out with a C+ and levelled up I’ve also managed to lose a couple of lbs and a couple of cms off my belly, I think mainly from the walkings (243 total miles) and dumbbells rather than the excessive chocolate eating (you think?) This challenge, which I’ll be doing for nearly eight weeks, up to the point I go to NEW YORK CITY BABY on 6th June, will have the following goals: Eatings Now that I’m within 15lb of my goal (can I get a huzzah?!) I’m switching up the cals to mfp ‘lose 0.5lb per week’ and still adding exercise calories. I’m going to work this a bit differently this time, rather than allowing myself a certain number of days off for the challenge, I’m going to allow myself a day off if I’ve totted up over 1000 spare calories in consecutive days. So if Monday – Friday I’ve been at least 200 cals under goal, I can have an off-counting day on Saturday. I’m hoping this will stop me splurging with all the extra 240 calories per day mfp will give me! Walkings The walking challenge of at least 20 miles in any consecutive 7 days seems to be working well so I’m going to do that again. I’ll get a bonus though if the average miles per day is above 5 (can you tell I’ll be monitoring this in excel again?!) Dumbbells I’m enjoying the dumbbells again, though my last challenge being 3 in any consecutive 7 days meant I HAD to do Monday, Wednesday, Friday every week (d’uh!) so I’m changing this to: Three workouts a week (Mon-Sun) which can either be my dumbbell set of 3x10 bicep curls, military press and bench press (with 2x10kg dumbbells) followed by 1 min plank, OR the beginner bodyweight workout (particularly useful for when I don’t have the dumbbells) Following this challenge I will then undo all my good work by spending a week eating my bodyweight in starch, dairy and alcohol products in NYC, huzzah! Yours ever truly Silmarilliane

Good morrow fellow nerds. My last two challenge attempts have been very much sub-optimal, with challenge five being an utter fail. Basically I injured my foot and spent the next couple of weeks sulking* because I couldn’t do any walking let alone high impact exercise. This is challenge six, but I'm still Level 5 due to the failing. *eating chocolate THIS CHALLENGE! Life Goal This remains as ever to reduce body fat and be less flabby. Also I want to get stronger and increase my knowledge of, like everything. Year Goal To get below 11 stone (currently around 11.5) and be able to do one chin up. It will happen dammit! Challenge Goals Calories: I MUST STAY WITHIN CALORIES. This is myfitnesspal calories set to lose 1lb a week and sedentary (1300), with added exercise calories. I’m allowed four days of no logging within the six weeks. Walking: Now I can walk again (SO happy about this) I have to do at least 20 miles in any 7 consecutive days; my normal commute involves 5 miles a day. This will stop me being lazy on days off hopefully! Weights: As I’m still off the high impact cardio until my foot is definitely better, I’ll pick up the slack with dumbbells. My workout will be 3x10 sets of bicep curls, shoulder press and bench press with my 10kg dumbbells followed by 60 sec plank. I have to do this at least 3 times in any 7 consecutive days. EXCEPTION: I’m going to Edinburgh for a week in the second week of the challenge so will amend my calories to lose 0.5lb a week but I still have to stay within. Also as I won’t be carting my dumbbells up on the train, my workouts will be 3x20 pressups, bench dips and squats, and 60 sec plank. Wish me luck!

Hi all and a happy new year to you! I've had some ups and downs with my challenges so far, high point being an epic point scoring system for challenge three, low being failing for most of the end of challenge four. But I'm back and ready to get back on it, woo yeah! So, my life goal is to reduce my body fat percentage and to be less flabby in general. Goals for this year include getting below 11 stone (currently 11 stone 11lbs, lowest ever is 11-2), and being able to do a chin up. Since 1st Jan I've started each day doing 20 press ups and 10 reverse chin ups (AKA drop down as slow as possible), and am hoping to keep this going FOREVER. Aaaaanyway... Goals for this challenge: 1) Stay within calories as set by MFP for losing 1lb a week, lightly active and adding exercise calories. I'm allowed four non-counting days over the six weeks. 2) Walking as with my last challenge, I have four lots of mile walks in a normal daily commute and have to do at least 15 out of the possible 20 per week to pass this part of the challenge. For weeks I'm not working a full week I'll have to do at least three quarters of the possible walks. 3) Cardio; I have to do two lots of at least 45 minutes a week, which will probably be zumba on a Tuesday and running at the weekend. Other things I will do: Pilfered from Deftona I'm going to try to improve my skincare regime, by using diluted apple cider vinegar as a cleanser twice a day; using the calm.com app I want to meditate at least five times a week; and to generally explore London more.

Hi all Last challenge I embarked on an epic point scoring system involving multiple combination forumlas in excel. As exciting as this was, it led to some lack in motivation on certain days and a general fail towards the end where I felt I didn't deserve the score and sabotaged to make it more accurate. That's a completely normal thing to do right? right?! Aaaaanyway... I completed my third challenge with a grade C, and lost 4lbs, several centimetres (pretty much all on my boobs... thanks for that) and walked over 170 miles. My life quest again is to de-flab my fab self. I have to say that I did squeeze myself into a (ahem VERY stretchy) pair of size 10 skinny jeans the other day. They were snake skin pattern. oh yes. Goals for this challenge: Stick within calories: I attempted averaging out cals last week and it just led to over eating, so I'm going back to mfp lightly active, 1lb a week and adding exercises. I'm going to allow myself a bit of flexibility this time, so I'm allowed to go over cals six times over the course of the challenge, and four of those are allowed to be non-counting days. I'm really hoping this means I'll stick to it on the other days. Walking: I've given up counting up to Mordor as I realised it would take several years and I got sick of counting miles every time I walked. My journey to work usually involves a mile walk to the station, another mile at the other end and the same home (so 20 lots of mile walks). To pass this section I have to do at least 15 of these walks per working week. My PLP Challenge: So my version of this will be Press-ups, Plank and Dumbbell rows as follows: Week 1: 15 press ups, 35 sec plank, 15 dumbbell rows Week 2: 20, 40, 20 Week 3: 25, 45, 25 Week 4: 30, 50, 30 Week 5: 35, 55, 35 Week 6: 40, 60, 40 and I have to do these EVERY SINGLE DAY! Weights and Cardio: to keep myself doing other stuffs, I have to do at least one cardio workout a week (usually zumba), and also have to do a full total body dumbbell workout at least twice a week. Scoring will be a lot vaguer this time round (sorry all point fans), so I'll do a summary each week and then scoring at the end. Silmarilliane xx