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INTRO 'Olo, you lot! Welcome to my quiet little corner. I am Haniya (pronounced Hun-nee-yah) a Nerdy, Sporty, DND[currently watching Critical Role]loving, Comic book enthusiast with a penchant for arts, Video games, Books, Disney movies, music and Mystery Murder shows [Stranger Things, Sherlock, Killing Eve, The Umbrella Academy and Elementary anyone?] also Neil Gaimann because good omens is a fantastic show and is worth fangirling about. Today I have entered as a ranger to challenge myself. Hopefully, my experiment will help me build my habits and my body. I feel like my true self best fits in this sneaky, lean, strong and dangerously cool class because strength and stamina are the two things that I ideally want and we all wish to master. Hence, here I am and here I go! BACK STORY TIME: WE all know how our health is the MOST important thing in the world--physical, emotional and mental as well--especially when you've been obese half your childhood. Its hard to get back on that health horse when like half of your house hold isnt primed for it at all. Regaining my good healthy self has been a massive struggle, no less a bumpy roller coaster ride of high and lows. Well, I've been at it for quite a while with the NERDS--actually listening and enjoying the company of the people--thus, naturally, I come running back to thine fine health, happiness institute of fittitude! [Gedit] Even though i hate typing, i do try to update as often as I can. Well, anyways! I live in Pakistan (south east asia) where carbohydrate is as important and as common as air and I am not joking! OUR DIET AND CUISINE IS JUST FULL OF IT AND EVEN IF YOU TRIED, YOU JUST CANT SHAKE IT OFF AND IGNORE IT! BUT. I. WANT. TO. CHANGE. MYSELF. I DON'T WANT TO BE ADDICTED ANYMORE AND THAT'S MY MAIN MISSION HERE! BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY! I will go slow this time and not overwhelm myself as much as I am prone to so I'll just go over the basics of my mission. Cus. I. Can. And. I. Love. To. Sound. Very. Official. OH, SHALL WE MOVE TOWARDS MY BASE OF OPERATIONS?! *drumroll* OP 1: Take control of the wheel, agent! As the new agent of SHIELD, it is your duty to physically take care of what you put in your body. Filling in the shoes of Natasha Romanoff is going to be a hard job, recruit, so I suggest you take those shoes seriously and work hard! *There we go, guys. Big shoes to fill* So, clean eating and portion control is the key. Refined sugar and fried stuff is your ENEMY. IT'S YOUR HYDRA! You must defeat the bad side! *telegram* Recruit! We are not that cruel, you know, so we are allowing you a two day cheat treat. Aren't we cool?! Of-course, we are, we are SHIELD! OP 2: Find the lost Tomb of Rorustan You want to be the next Lara Croft? You want to go on adventures and move mountains like her, yes? Change the course of time and history like her? Then, you got to train like her! Her strong and Charismatic body took years and years of hard work and perseverance! Can you keep up? *CanI?* Journey to the lost tombs, human and bring forth power! My objective is to run and do body weight exercises (darebee and skipping rope) 3-4 times in a week with two days rest period. Walk for 20-30 mins daily. CAN YOU HEAR THE SPIRITS TALKING? YES! I DO! I CAN HEAR LARA CROFT! MASTER, I CAN HEAR HER WHISPERS FROM THE INSIDE, SPEAKING OUT TO ME (awksslipawaytoyonder) OP 3: Bend it like Korra! Before she was the avatar, Korra knew nothing of her powers and how to control them but with the help of her teachers and peers, she blossomed into the strongest being we know today! Want to Bend it like Korra? *Heck Yeah* then you must dedicate some time to your education; to learn and grow like the avatar. Daily one or two videos that'll inspire you or give you knowledge about the world and beyond. Study spanish: Duolingo and Memrise streaks, audio lessons from Pimsleur and YouTube video lessons. Dont forget to make notes in your notebook. Meditate to calm your souls. A clear and tension free mind is a happy mind! TAI CHI PRACTICE! Watch David Dorian Ross videos and practice along. New videos everyday to build your 103 long form practice. OP 4: "Be as flexible as Kamala Khan" SUPERHERO BY DAY, REGULAR GAMER CHILD BY NIGHT! Balancing your hero and human life takes a lot of work but you have to do this in order for the world to make sense plus, fun time is fun time! So, here are my humanly duties towards a good future:- Journal writing: habit tracking, Spanish progress and recording my days key features as bullet points to make my life easy Updating nerd fitness with my journey in the form of ratings A-F [A being super awesome and F Epic Wamp] and supporting new people and their journies! *POWER RANGERS, METAMORPHOSIS! Oh, wrong fandom* Read more books by adhering to the 50 books a year challenge: Give 1-2 weeks maximum to my current read by reading everyday for 20-30 minutes Focus on your hydration: Minimum 6glasses to up to 8 glasses. More water! LASTLY NEVER GIVE UP! Speaking of giving up, we all need some kind of push on our behinds, right? That's why I have certain ideals. Certain role models that I look for inspiration and motivation when I am feeling particular down in the ditch. These forces of good are there when i need them the most, to guide me through my epic quest I call life. Someone who I want to be: Inspiration Dice I have so many role models that I look up to! People who have proved to be gigantic and so bad arse--who don't need to be reminded of their worth! People who are amazing enough to inspire and motivate us all to follow our dreams and challenge our limits. They teach us that being kind, resolute, strong and brave--in the face of danger--is the most noblest of things you can do. So, so talented, so powerful and so stupendous. I want to be them and I am honoured to call them my idols: Lara Croft, Black Widow, Korra, Ellie Goulding, Aveline De Grandpre, Aloy, Merida, Captain Marvel, Avatar Aang, Dr 13 and Yasmin Khan, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Jim Kwik, Shuri, Okoye, Kamala Khan etc. I am not promising here but i will try to keep you guys up to date with my daily shenanigans and what-nots. Apart from that, I want to THANK you for YOUR precious time! And I might need you guys to help me with this challenge because my focus on them has been very rocky but I am ready to CHANGE MYSELF FOR THE BETTER! I SWEAR ON MY PRETTY LITTLE HANDS THAT I SHALL TRY MY HARDEST! *CUE RICK ROLL SONG* p.s: i love DND even though i am a complete beginner so talk to me about it or if you are looking dnd players then lets band together! I am all for an epic dnd session!

I thought Stranger Things was more Halloween than Christmas? Forget that! Just look at all this Christmas cheer! I'm slowing things down a bit this challenge, cause last challenge was pretty rough, and I'm going to be away for half the challenge and so not have my "regular routines" (that's funny because I don't really have any anyways) and equipment. So the goal is being flexible and not gaining a ton of weight over the holiday season. Hopper - Intermittent Fasting "I'm just going to be out here by myself eating all this candy. I'm going to get fat. It's very unhealthy to leave me out here. I could have a heart attack or something" In order to avoid the above quote from season 2, I will not eat after 8pm nor before 12pm. I started trying this last challenge - it's not too bad when I'm busy, but they days I'll have off are going to be tough. Eleven - Eat food, not too much, mostly plants Elle has a problem with eating too many processed foods. So do I. And too much of it. But I've been having a hard time recently with a strict tracking system. So for this challenge the mantra is Eat food (not processed junk), Not too much, Mostly plants (focus on fruits and veggies). Mike, Will, Dustin and Lucas - Gather my Party and Exercise I need some more IRL support if I'm going to succeed at this long-term. I'd like to do an obstacle course race next year, and I think it'll help to try to get a team together. So that'll be a goal for this challenge. My exercise will also focus on things like the mini challenge activities - doing fun physical activity when I have the chance - rather than a focused program due to my changing environments. Merry Christmas! See how festive that is?

I am certain my goals and this challenge will transform as I go along, but that's totally okay with me. I need flexibility and I need fun. As many of you know, I lost my grandfather during the last challenge, and it has been tough. I am reaching, like trying to connect with my memories of him, and since so many of them include me as a child, I feel this strange sort of regression back to childhood, to when things were simpler (not easier, just simpler). So, in order to make things simpler, I'm sticking to the usual: finding interesting and pleasurable ways to move my body and enjoying time in nature. But because Season 2 of Stranger Things comes out in just a few weeks, I have decided to fill my challenge posts with Stranger Things! Soulcon and Spartan: See my previous post here for more information, but basically I continue to eat fresh whole foods, drink lots of water, do a lot of bodyweight exercises, pray and read scripture often, and complete some daily challenges (physical, mental, and spiritual). School: Continue to complete work for Masters Degree. Check Blackboard daily for due dates, grades, comments, etc. Stranger Things: Read, watch, listen to, and play as many influences on the series Stranger Things as possible (which means lots of Stephen King, Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, and other horror/sci-fi movies and shows, as well as a killer 80's soundtrack and some D&D).

Hello fellow scouts! It has been quite a while ... life has taken me away from NF and back to the laziness of my pre-marathon running self. Quest One : The Body I need to get back into doing something - while sleeping in is nice, it makes for around and unhappy scout! It is time to get back on that running horse and work the body back into shape! Goal : Work out every damn day! Quest Two : The Monster I've been eating poorly and drinking too much booze ... time to cut back and help the body get back into a better shape than round! Goal: Follow any bad meal with a good one! Goal: Don't have more than one boozy drink per meal Quest Three : 011 With the wife traveling more I need to work harder to make her feel special so I want to do stuff for her ... thinking planning date nights Goal: Two date nights with the wife! Life Quest : The Upside Down The wife and I are in serious talk about shifting city. We've gone month to month on our lease and are going to survey areas of the city we're looking to move to. I need to have some real talk with work and see about Goal: Nail down job shift!

Owlet vs Demogorgon or: How I Learned to Love the Upside Down (yeah, yeah, I know, my references are getting all mixed up. Don't care) * I will do my best to avoid Stranger Things spoilers but advance at your own risk...* It's War! The Battle To Sit Up Straight did not end so well for either side and things have escalated somewhat... My neck has developed a fun habit of seizing up/going into spasm/basically not performing it's usual neck duties to a satisfactory standard. Owls should be able to swivel their heads right around after all, so I'm barely an owl right now. The nights are long and dark, the storm clouds gathered weeks ago and continue to dump rain everywhere with careless abandon. Also, general anxiety about life ,stuff, the usual. So, lately I've been finding myself venturing into The Upside Down - a darker, scarier version of this world, an alternative universe if you will: And deep within The Upside Down lurks the Demogorgon. You don't want to come across this wee beastie, trust me. He's big and creepy and has a hell of an appetite . It really is best to run when this guy turns up to the party. But as for escaping The Upside Down, that's a little trickier. The more you fight it, the further in you sink... So, to the challenge! For the next few weeks, my priority is to avoid having any sort of breakdown due to stress, anxiety, depression etc etc. The only way out of breakdown land/the upside down, is to be kind to myself, recognise my limits and stick within them, do everything I can to get fit and healthy again so I can get back on track to the land of awesome sauce. It's a work in progress, but here's the plan so far: Fitness: Walking: Since I can't do full workouts at the moment, and I'm not getting nearly enough vitamin D, it's time to ramp up the lunchtime walks again. Aim for at least 3 per week Neck Rehab: do whatever exercises and stretches the physiotherapist and osteopath give me to do Limited bodyweight exercises: work out which ones I can still do eg squats, lunges, do 2X per week Diet: Paleo-ish: avoid refined carbs, excessive sugar. Maybe reintroduce some rice. Balance: make sure meals provide a good mix of nutrients. Life Stuff: Bedtime: in bed by 10:30, lights out by 11:30. Meditation: continue with 100 day challenge Art: life drawing each monday, or at least 2 hours of art at home Getting to bed on time will be key to my escape plan - being tired gets me down and makes me fragile, keeping me in The Upside Down. Walking might turn out to be quite important too since I've been feeling very wintery and blue. Some fresh air and sunshine might be just the ticket. Other than that I will be trying to pay close attention to my mood and doing things to improve it - whether that is reaching out to friends, making a blanket nest on the couch for a night of movies, going horse riding, or treating myself to some waffles: (promise I won't shoplift though ) At the end of the day, these goals are here to make me feel better, so if achieving them causes stress than alleviating it, I will reassess. The main thing is, by the end of this challenge I'll be feeling back to my normal self and ready to take on any old demogorgon that dares cross my path.