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Hi darlings, I'm a little late to start this challenge because things are REALLY STRESSFUL. * I have a big proposal that is due next week, and I'm kind of managing all the cats. * I have another project where things aren't going as well as they should be basically, for the last 2 weeks I've been waking up randomly at early hours in the morning because stress. I've been busier than I ought to be at work (LIKE WHOA). in times like these, I need to fall back on my good healthy routines. so, simple challenge, very much like last time: * keep going to the gym classes. I signed up for the non-crossfit crossfit gym down the road from my house on 2/23, and I've been doing classes pretty regular. I want to go on average 4x a week. * keep tracking food and thinking about what I'm eating. I don't want to worry about cutting or whatever. I do want to worry about eating good for me, generally whole foods, without a boatload of beers. I did a pretty good job of this last challenge, and so to bump it up this challenge, I'm focusing on good strong breakfasts (esp on workout days) and getting veg / fruit at lunch. Special things that I don't want to make me stressed out about: * do some yard things. I managed some good yard clean-up last weekend and there's always a million things to do. I'm going to get a shipment of plants to install the week of May 14th, and I need to plant them right away. Also, May 12 is about 15 million plant sales in my neck of the woods, and I would like to get other plants and plant them. * do the hobobujo thing. I've been slacking off on this all year so far. I have a bunch of photos, and you know, it is pretty relaxing to just paste them in now and then. also, yard notes. I just have to have a minute to do it. I can do this. other standard stuff applies: I'm still doing tkd 3x a week (teaching 2x, helping out 1x, and then attending / practicing on dojo saturday as often as that instructor can make it). also, I decided not to worry about running right now, in case you were holding your breath on that one.

Hey everyone, People may have seen me here, I've been in the community for a while now although this is only my second 4 week challenge. Little about me, I'm a black belt in Taekwondo, I'm in my last semester of college working on getting selected for usmc officer training school. I like cooking, video games (skyrim is my favorite modern one), I enjoy most of nerdy stuff particularly star wars and lotr. On to my Questin Main quest: Become a master of martial arts. Side quests: Work on my meditation habit Not feel terrible about my diet Tasks for the month: -Train martial arts 4 times a week (2 Tkd class 2 alone) -Focus my conditioning more of martial arts then on weightlifting. (Martial arts conditioning fits just fine with my military training) -meditate at least 5 minutes a day -keep my HP meter over 75 (how I judge my diet) This one's not a quest but I'm gonna try to keep a habit from my last challenge going by foam rolling every other day. I'm gonna report it like this: Date: Training (Y/N) Conditioning (good/less good) Meditation (Y/N) how long_____ HP score ______ also report on what brought it up/down

I'm still trying to get my feet back underneath me and don't want to be overly ambitious this challenge. here's the deal: SPRING IS COMING. (she says as she sits watching the snow fall). MY BIRTHDAY IS COMING! it's April 15. YAY. MY 4 YEAR NERDIVERSARY IS COMING! that day is April 14th. so, what am I going to do about it? * think about what my yard plan will be for the year. THIS IS A TRICK QUESTION. I have never succeeded at yarn planning or any kind of large scale yard work / maintenance program. we'll see what happens. * keep going to the gym classes. Last year challenge I signed up for the non-crossfit crossfit gym down the road, and I've been doing classes pretty regular. I want to go on average 4x a week. * keep tracking food and thinking about what I'm eating. I don't want to worry about cutting or whatever. I do want to worry about eating good for me, generally whole foods, without a boatload of beers. * figure out how to fit in running. there's a 10K in late May that I'd like to do, kinda. THAT SAID, if I'm doing exercise party in the mornings, I'll have to run at other times. figure that out. I haven't run in.... months. let's just say that. other standard stuff applies: I'm still doing tkd 3x a week (teaching 2x, helping out 1x, and then attending / practicing on dojo saturday as often as that instructor can make it). ok! let's do this, zero week!

hi friends. I've been feeling kind of lost, and not very assassiny for the last month+. I think I have a stress-hangover? after the last year with my dad's illness and the hard work I'm doing at my day job, and then taking over instructing tkd.... it's been kind of a lot. so, I did a yoga challenge in january, and I've been going to tkd, and that's about it. but I miss you, and I miss moving my body! the problem is -- nothing seems awesome. running doesn't sound awesome (I know, I know, you told me so, multiple assassins!), I am not interested in coming up with my own programming w body weight stuff, and I talked to the dojo owner about heavy weights and the timing isn't right for me to be able to come in and do them (he's out on my best days). but wednesday I 20-SOCed and went to a local gym advertising as functional fitness and talked to the guy, and today I went at 5AM and had a trial class, and signed up. so this challenge my goal is to go to classes at least 3x a week. that's it! I'm still teaching tkd. We still have dojo sat. I just need someone else to tell me what to do for a while. also YO I am so late.

it's august! it's hectic! I'm going to have a big august that will need to be weekifIed, and can only be unified by the training I have to do for the 8K I am signing up for on the VERY LAST DAY OF THE CHALLENGE! GOALS! * Do the Hal Hidgon Running Thing - which also includes getting the movements in on the other days, too. I'm following the HH 8K Novice program which I've done a few times before and like a lot. I'm already on week 7, what is this magicalness? out of a total of 8 weeks.... so this week I will do 7, next week 6, the following week 7, and then I'll have 8 the last week of the challenge / week of the 8K, right on schedule. the 8K is 9/9/17. * GET THE PROTEINS. this is going to be tricky because I'm going to be on the road for all of or partial weeks 1-3. so.... this will take some work. I'm aiming for 120 g ish or as much as I can get over 100 without being a disaster pants. Simultaneously, STICK TO THE BUDGETS. hit up that calorie budget yo. you know what works good for you. try to do your very best because YOU KNOW THAT THERE WILL BE SLIPPAGE WITH ALL THE TRAVEL. * WRITE THE THINGS DOWN and plan the things. This is super critical! I need to do this to meet goal #1, so it's kinda cheating. I'm ok with that. As my tkd instructor says - if you're not cheating you're not trying. Bonus planning points for reading up about strength training and prepping for convos with my dojo owner about deadlifting, because I'd like to give that a shot next month. ALSO, I didn't write ANYTHING down in my hobobujo last challenge and that bums me out. Here's my epic schedule: Week 1: PREP FOR BEACH / GO TO OHIO Week 2: BEACH BODY BEACH PARTY PLUS BONUS ECLIPSE Week 3: BUSINESS BODY BUSINESS TRIP Week 4: OH MY GOSH IT'S SEPTEMBER ok in? IN.

Time to cycle into summer! I feel kind of low-key clever with that title, because it means so many things: * I'll be cycling weeks - this week is good and possibly reasonable, but next week I am on vacation and things might get nuts. good nuts, like, on vacation nuts, but that means calorie restriction might be higher during week 2. * which is the second pun, I'll be motorCYCLING (lolz wokka wokka thanks I'll be here all night) * and then summer happens, right? on June 21, whether we are ready for it or not. So after vacation I need to cycle back into a better homebody mode, and get the yard in shape so I can sit in it and think about how beautiful my life is. no problem, right? GOALS. I need up update with goals. thinking about them. will update. um something something run faster something something do push-ups and yoga something and also don't eat too much. something. Goal 1: Every Day Things: * log every day food * do push-ups every day. I don't care if it's counter. do them. * do over the head leg butt stretches. Like THESE: (really PLOUGH POSE). When I do this right now, it really emphasizes the tight spots in my hips and hamstrings -- so I am going to practice it for a while and see if it helps. (um, stretchy people and yogis, do you think it will help?) * post to NF! I want to get back into the habit after my last vanished challenge. ESPECIALLY post weekly updates against goal progress. ESPECIALLY. * use the hobobujo to track the awesomeness. Goal 2: Move that BODY. Because of my vacation week, I'm phasing this one in a little. * Week 1 - run 2x and yoga 2x. Go to TKD as much as possible. * Week 2 - make a vacation plan, and do it. ~~~ Ideally by this point I'll be feeling pretty awesome about running 3 miles in a row ~~~ * Week 3 and 4 - start the hal higdon intermediate 5K training program, designed to improve your 5K times. This involves running 5x a week! which is pretty intense. I'll see how it goes. Goal 3: Be better at food. this is totally vain, and I hate that I've been "DIETING" for so long but -- the 18 year old is graduating from high school and we have a big party planned for him on 7/1/17 and it's our big blended family which is totally nice and awesome but also secretly a little awkward and I would like to go into that party from a position of feeling amazing about myself. Considering you can't outrun your diet, I'm going to need to really focus on diet. Goal INFINITY: yo, do some stuff for yourself. I mean, vacation is going to be great. Also, do a tiny thing in the yard. start a new knitting project. get the sourdough starter back out. go see wonder woman. just DO SOMETHING NICE. but: HIIIIIEEEEE!

yo dudes, I am gaining weight again. I mean, I'm still down from my start weight! but, over the last two months I definitely gained a bit. But that's ok, because I am UNSTOPPABLE in the sense that I literally perhaps do not know how to stop. So I am going to UNSTOPPABLY STOP this weight gain. I BELIEVE! MAIN QUEST LOSE FAT. This could be signified by either losing weight, or using fancy schmancy tracking tools (wifi scale, skulpt device, measurements, photos) to double check. In an effort to be more scientific-like, I went back to where my weight dropped again -- last July I tracked a bunch of actual data, and then the August Challenge I tried to put it into effect, with an outcome of some loss. SO what did I do right in August 2016, and how can I keep it up? Well, upon review, I learned that I didn't actually identify any challenge goals in August 2016. I ate less, and I ran a BUNCH. After reviewing July's challenge, I have a hypothesis that I didn't exercise as much as I should for my food intake over the last couple of months, which is contributing to GAINING. I had data for this hypothesis in July, and the hypothesis mildly substantiated with no actual data because literally I did not exercise at all in November and December. SIDEBAR you guys did you know I have a stack of paper notes from many of my old challenges? I'm missing some from the beginning, like, 11/2013-11/2014, but it's cool to have them around - even though they don't have much usable information noted. /SIDEBAR ENOUGH ABOUT THE PAST LET'S TALK ABOUT THE FUTURE. Goal 1: Exercise More / Don't Break The Chain I need to do something every day. Running, TKD, going to the gym and doing weights, SOMETHING. If I can't do a formal thing exercise for at least 30 minutes (20 if it's running, plus a cool down at the end), these are my options for not breaking the chain: * do at least 5 sets of 100 jumping jacks * go for a real 30 minute walk. Poke-walking counts. just WALK. * hula hoop practice for at least 15 minutes. * other things that are like these things that will be good for me. Track this in my new #hobobujo planner. Show you photos. (HEY trying to do some kind of bullet journal planner is ALSO a thing that I am experimenting with and I DO NOT FEAR FAILURE) Goal 2: Eat Less / Eat Better STICK WITH THE PLAN, STAN. my loseit plan is still set at losing 1 lb a week, which is a 500 calorie / day deficit over where it thinks I actually am. ALSO I am going to start logging half and half in coffee / milk in tea. DIRTY SECRET I never logged that. I did decrease my budget by 75 cal to accommodate but the more coffees I drink in a day, the less close I am to that being reality. "LUCKILY," I am also embarking on a version of "no spend january" this month. My husband is going back to school full time and I am the only breadwinner right now. Funds are tight - we have an expensive mortgage. So, I gave myself a few passes for eating out, but mostly, I will be bringing my lunches to work. which means I can EAT BETTER with no problems. Other considerations: DO NOT eat back exercise calories unless I've burned like 1000 exercise calories (i.e., dojo sat.) Goal 3: Put the NERD back in NERD FITNESS. Use the tools! Track food, daily weigh, dust off my nutty excel spreadsheet and fill in the last few challenges. ALSO weekly photos weekly measurements weekly or MORE skulpt readings. it's annoying but the more I do it, the faster I am at doing it. and most importantly! USE THIS TOOL! the forums are like my A+ Number 1 tool for success, USE THEM. DUDE. Check in every day. Say hi. update log. YOU CAN DO IT.

Last challenge was a hot mess. I tried! but things came up. I think I did reasonably well considering: * a week 1 emergency health thing (not me) and a trip to florida to mug with my sick daddy-o (still doing awesome, by the way) * a week 2 presidential election that resulted in me being actually depressed for the first time in literally forever, and requiring lots of quiet self care * a week 3 where we had the kids every day b/c of their mom's work travel, impinging on our planned gym time for goals, and * a week 4 with a planned and much enjoyed visit to iceland and england instead of american thanksgiving. and then I wrapped it up with * a week 0 that was all about me traveling to houston for training - which meant wednesday I left the house at 3AM and I returned at 1AM on Sat. ZOMG TIRED. So ima just gonna do that last challenge all over again. additional bonus facts/exciting conditions: my husband lost his job last week, it's the holidays, we have the kids all during Week 1. (sidebar: losing the job is not terrible. We are going to evaluate our ability to send him to school full time spring semester to continue working towards his goal of shifting careers into shoe design and shoe manufacture.) * go to the gym. schedule it in for at least 2x a week at the gym. My husband is in still, and maybe this will be doable even when we have the kids all the time in the mornings, because he can just go home to make sure that Thirteen has managed to get out the door in good time. I had said that next challenge I want to start the dojo weight lifting, but I'm going to give myself until january. Even though it will make me look like that january gym starter guy. but whatever. * learn the pull-ups. I'll be 40 in April. KEEP PRACTICING. this looks like: hanging from a bar and pulling in my shoulders every day I'm home. move on to negatives. pull-up assist machine / bands are available but for now I need to focus on grip strength and getting a little movement in from hanging. the key is REGULAR. * track my food more carefully. extra double important during the holidays! track every day. Don't ever have to catch up the next day. * check in on my goals! hard learned obvious lesson of the summer/fall: if you don't check your goals, you won't actually do anything to achieve them. DO THE THING WITH THE GOALS. get something written down every day, if you can. regular stuff will occur, that being: running outside when I can, doing tkd 2-3x a week, dojo saturdays etc. Ideally I'm active 5-6 days a week. I picked up a discounted hulahoop class on cyber monday, and it would be amazing if I worked in more stretching/yoga. OK, got it? SECOND VERSE JUST LIKE THE FIRST A LITTLE BIT LOUDER AND A LITTLE BIT WORSE.

I mentioned on another thread a theory that is very attractive, which is that as we pass through fall and approach winter we should expect to do less and sleep more and want to be at home more because it's the season for HIBERNATION. ok, LET'S ALL BE BEARS. my interests are shifting pretty rapidly because, you know, ASSASSIN PROBLEMS. also experience has proven that I'm not very good at hibernating or not doing everything I want to do. so this challenge here we go now! * go to the gym. it's cold and dark and I am not interested in running outside right now. shoot for at least 2x a week at the gym. My husband is in! so this should be easier to force myself out of my nice warm den (seriously we keep the house so cold at night in the winter [because we are cheap!] that it's hard to get out of bed) and head out into the cold to go to the gym. while at the gym, I will probably do all the weight machines and also some treadmill stuff. we have a 7K to run in December, and I don't want to be caught flatfooted for it... if you will. LARGER GOAL: the guy who runs my dojo has a weight room and does personal training. He's one of those really kind, goes out of his way to be helpful kind of guys who ends up making a lot of assumptions about what people are going to do and then trying to anticipate their needs. I would like to explore lifting heavy weights with him, but I want to get to a point of some rudimentary capabilities first, because he is so good at revising his expectations I don't want him to revise mine too low when I first start, because that will cause him to anticipate something about me that I am not prepared for. If that makes sense. NOTE it would be a lot easier to pursue this with a stranger, but I am in the dojo 3x a week, and it seems to make the most sense that I do this stuff here. So, next challenge I want to start the dojo weight lifting. * learn the pull-ups. I'll be 40 in April. It would be cool if I were closer to doing pull-ups than I am now. um. so I can scale a tree and steal a beehive for the honey. or something bear related. this looks like: hanging from a bar and pulling in my shoulders every day I'm home. pull-up assist machine / bands a few times a week, or, pull-up negatives. but the key is REGULAR. * track my food more carefully. Hibernating bears don't need to eat, but apparently I am a human. I've been slacking on the lose-it logging, and I need to get back into a habit of doing it more frequently. I still am trying to dial in a little on my weight/fitness/bodyshape. * check in on my goals! hard learned obvious lesson of the summer/fall: if you don't check your goals, you won't actually do anything to achieve them. DO THE THING WITH THE GOALS. no bear context here. do bears have goals? I mean, beside hibernation? regular stuff will occur, that being: running outside when I can, doing tkd 2-3x a week, dojo saturdays etc. Ideally I'm active 5-6 days a week. ONWARDS AND UPWARDS. (RAWWWRRRRR)

Taekwondo is a relatively new martial art from Korea. There are five main Korean dojang, and after the Japanese occupation of Korea, a council was formed to try to unify the schools in 1955. It was then that the term Taekwondo was coined. Tae = Hand or fist Kwon = Foot or kicking Do = Style or way. I have heard of three federations of Taekwondo. WTF - World Taekwondo Federation (Olympic Taekwondo) ITF - International Taekwondo Federation ATA - American Taekwondo Association Taekwondo has a strong emphasis on kicking. The theory behind this is that the legs are the largest of the limbs, has the greatest reach, and can deal the most damage. From my experiences, Taekwondo has a lot of similarities to Shotokan and Wado-Ryu karate. I took a few classes in Wado-Ryu and found that a lot of the forms/kata were the same. I would consider Taekwondo a pretty flashy martial art and because of this Taekwondo can be seen in a lot of fight choreography. Uhh, feel free to discuss, ask questions, if I can, I'll try to answer.

Alrighty, I am a 43 year old woman of varying talents and skills. I am a mom to 2 teenage boys, one with HF autism/aspergers, depending on who you ask. I am almost step mom to another teenage boy, preteen boy and cutie pie little girl. I also raised my 23 year old nephew I have gone from being in what I considered amazing health and fitness to less than fit and tired. I have lost both my parents, and gone through divorce. I have been on the divorce diet and lost too much weight in a very unhealthy way. I have gained that back and then some due to lack of movement and loving all food. My struggle with weight is nothing compared to some other people, but it's my struggle and my journey. I stumbled on NF looking for something for my BF to embrace, but found something I want to embrace. I have been following principles of moderation and have been lifting weights and doing cardio. My strength and endurance are improving and I want to continue to improve. I have completed a half marathon (walk/run) and have my black belt in TKD. I have a new crazy goal of a marathon next year with a group of friends. I am hoping that my strength training and cardio training will help avoid injuries and just having a new goal is exciting. I am looking forward to joining challenges and meeting other newbies.

My Second Challenge, Yay! If the doc approves running and working out, I'll edit my challenge after my Dr. appt. on Jan. 9th. He said there's no real reason to not be active. If my tailbone starts hurting again, call him and we'll see if a shot helps again. Even if it does take 2.5 weeks to kick in. But didn't want to continue procrastinating on my other goals. I need to make space, in my house and in my life. I think it will help me feel motivated and a little more in control. So to work on this, 1. I'm going to get rid of 1 thing every day. I am awful at waking up on time. I roll out of bed just before I need to be at work. The fact that I have a laid back job atmosphere & live .5 mile from my visitor center just encourages this bad behavior. I know beyond a doubt that if i could wake up earlier, eat breakfast, and maybe do a small workout, then I would be in a better mood. I suck at going to bed at a decent hour and often only get 5 or 6 hours of sleep. I need to do better. 2. I will establish a morning routine and improve my bedtime & morning habits. *post doc edit* morning routine will include breakfast, some stretching, and some experimentation to find what else it should include.. hmm** I still need to work on pushups. In my last challenge, I only made it up to 3 full pushups and 7 kneeling ones. I really want to make it to 10 full, good form pushups. so, 3. Continue working toward my goal of 10 pushups. *post doc visit edit* all that really changed about this is that it will hurt less.* I miss running. It was the second only to martial arts in how great it was for stress relief. 4. I'm going to get new running shoes and begin a new running program. I probably need to start over with a 5K training program. *post doc visit* Going to get new running shoes at Fleet Feet on my next days off. But for now, as in tomorrow, I'm going to get started back. I think I'll do C25K and see how far into it can start. Maybe for my tail's sake, i should start on week one though.. hm. I want to be through at least week 4 before the end of the challenge, assuming I have no tail relapse. LifeQuests I'm going to limit myself on the number of hobby supplies I keep around. This is an effort to clean my second extra bedroom and get rid of the junk in it. I'm going to have at least one adventure a month this year, either, on my own or with family/friends. Obviously, this will extend past this challenge, but I will make it a part of each challenge this year. *edit* Edited to include tags. Some of them are even useful!

Ok, this challenge is going to be simple and straightforward. I probably will not do anything with the run-on story. And I will be online less than I have been for the previous 9 months. We moved. I am really enjoying being back in my home town in Minnesota. I love the new house. Life is good, but it is also really busy with unpacking and decorating, new jobs, and tons of fun things to do. I don't think I really fully grasped how limited my life (especially social) had become. I have already auditioned for (and made it into) the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra's Chorale!! It's a complete change in my life!!! And I hope that this will curtail emotional eating and drinking and make it easier to get out to exercise and just MOVE more. Moving to the city where I wanted to live marks also a new direction/philosophy in my life. I'm not waiting to be rescued anymore. Last challenge, I got a wake up call and realized that I'd become very passive. I was always waiting to be noticed and asked to take on roles and activities that I wanted. That shit is DONE. Auditioning for the chorale was another step in saving myself. Boom! I'm on a roll. So, here's heading for 33% body fat by the end of the challenge as my main, overarching goal. How?? 1) Strength Training. I have a set of free-weight and body weight workouts for 3+ days per week. That's process stuff. The GOAL for the end of the challenge is to do a pull up/chin up with only 25 pounds of assistance. Having shifted gyms (along with cities), I am looking at options and may have to ask one of the trainers for help. There is an assisted chin up machine at the location I visited yesterday, but it's different than the one I was using. (+3 STR) 2) Running 5Ks. I like running and am working through the C25K, ZR5K, and ZR apps to keep building up stamina and speed. I'm planning on the Harvest Run for October 11th but won't sign up until after I find out how my mom's surgery (back) goes on October 6th. (+2 STA, +1 DEX) 3) Cleaning up diet using the Anti-Aging Diet (Elizabeth Somer) guidelines. Eating fruits and veggies and whole grains and low-fat calcium sources and protein. Not counting calories this time - just working on eating cleaner and avoiding sweets and alcohol. I do have a way to track 6 objectives per day and will report on those daily. (+2 CON, +1 WIS) 4) Sign up for and go to TKD classes. I have a studio in mind and have to go see Master Chris about joining. I never have a weight problem when I'm doing martial arts a couple times per week. (+1 WIS, +2 DEX) 5) Do a chapter (plus exercises) in the Staging Your Comeback book (Christopher Hopkins). I would like to look very stylish for my daughter's wedding ... tentatively slated for next fall (?). But I think I also need to start looking like an adult now that I'm out of grad school and am teaching. (+3 CHA) Short and sweet!

Last challenge I tried to do too many things and ended up finishing only one. This time around, I'm going to follow KISS and simplify. My overarching fitness goals for the year are to keep getting better at TKD (keep leveling up!), to be able to to the splits and a pull-up. To do this I need to get stronger and have more stamina. Goals for this challenge: Sleep at least 7 hours at least 6 nights/week. I am really bad about staying up too late reading, playing Skyrim, or messing around on the computer. This has to stop. I don't play well with others when I haven't had enough sleep. (+1 STA, +1 CON, +1 CHA) Eat at least 1700 - 2000 cal every day. At least 100g protein every day. Every meal must include a veggie or fruit. I weighed myself this morning for the 1st time since November. I've lost 4 lbs and my body fat % went from 17.5 to 20.8. Hmmmm. I'm guessing loss of muscle - exactly the opposite of what I want to do. Comes from being lazy with my meals and nutrition (and strength training). (+1 STR, +1 STA, +1 CON) Workout every day. I have 2 strength training days (each full body). Right now, I am using the Academy's Dumbbell Level 1 (mostly because I still can't do a full chin-up or more than 15 push-ups in a row). For the other days, I have a list of workouts of different lengths focusing on cardio and core work - some < 20min, 30min and > 30min. I'll use the short ones on days I have early work. I tried to pick ones I could do in my pajamas if I have to - part of my problem with early workouts this time of year is having to put on my workout clothes when its cold. (+2 STR, +1 DEX, +1 STA, +1 CHA) Splits training every day. I am very not flexible in my hips. It strains my hips and legs in class trying to do side kicks and round kicks (basically anything not a front kick). Hubby found a regimen online (he is doing this too) that we are going to follow (unless someone has a better suggestion). (+2 DEX) Finish with >90% overall. If you bothered to add up my points so far, you'll notice I'm 2 short and have nothing assigned to WIS. I decided to award myself WIS points based on how I finish the challenge. 80-89% +1 WIS, 90-99% +2 WIS. If I should manage to finish at 100%, I'll get +3 WIS.For the first week I have written out my workouts and classes around my work schedule. I think doing that every weekend will keep me on track. I also plan to weigh myself and check my BF% every Sunday to see if I need to adjust my calories/protein. This morning: weight= 125.9 lbs, BF% 20.8%

So I totally bombed the last challenge by getting sick and only sleeping and working for 3 weeks. Couldn't quite get it back together after that. So I'm going basic on this challenge, to get myself back in the groove. Long-term goal - to get and stay fit and healthy. Motivation: my son and husband - I want to enjoy a long and healthy life with both of them. I will be 55 when my son graduates from high-school. I do not want to be a burden to him. Also, I want the term "bad-ass chick" to apply to me! My husband and I started Tae Kwon Do 2 weeks ago (our 6 year old son has been going since April last spring). Hubby is able to go every day, but I have to work outside the house and my schedule isn't as flexible. Sigh. Goal 1: Attend 3 TKD classes per week. Practice at home 30min, 3 days per week. +3 DEX, + 1 STA. 10 Pushups and 30 situps to be done as part of home practice. More if becomes easier.Need to get go bag set up for work, so if I get off early I can attend extra class by this Sunday.Find some stretches for hips/legs to become more limber.Holiday weeks - missed classes ok if dojo closed. - Practice at home!Goal 2: Drink at least 1700ml water every day. +2 CON. Goal 3: Cardio at least 30 min. 3x/week. +2 DEX, +1 STA. 1st 2 weeks = running. 2 days intervals, 1 day distance (5k). Race on 11/23rest of challenge: any cardio that lasts at least 30min. Core work bonus! Yoga counts. Extra TKD class counts.Goal 4: 50 Pull-ups training 3 times per week. +2 STR, +1 STA. Bonus pts: Finish challenge with 90% on each goal. +1 WIS, +1 CHA. Skadi ring (or similar, depends on budget). will post some starting stats later.

Starting point: I used to be awesome and I'm not awesome any more. I was thin and strong and flexible and fit and comfortable in my skin, and a few years later I am none of those things. Weight: 63 kg. I don't give a crap how much I weigh. I don't get lifted in the air for my job (although would love a go at figure-skating doubles) so it doesn't really matter. I just want to be less fatty and weak and tonelessJeans: I'm stuffed into my jeans. They pinch like crazy (don't even think about sitting down in them. Standing room only!)Body fat: 20.3%. I have a weighing scale that calculates body fat. I don't know how accurate it is, but once it is consistent I don't care too much this time about the actuals. I don't know what a realistic amount of fat is to lose in 6 weeks so I look to you all for guidance on this goal. I used to be big into Taekwondo and have started getting back into it. I had tried Tim Ferriss' 4HB and it worked for me...then Christmas happened. So these two things are informing my goals and strategies. Summary: -fit into my jeans-lose X% body fat-do 1 full, proper-form pull-up-learn 4 TKD poomsae How?-get back into 4HB diet for a bare minimum of 4 days a week-try a pull-up (have a bar over the sitting room door) every day-go to Poomsae practice every Sunday-go training minimum three times a week For me, this challenge is really about forming the healthy habits- going training regularly, eating right. I'm really looking forward to liking my body again and hope you guys can help me out by keeping me on my toes! SheraCiara

I discovered NerdFitness just a few days ago. Excited to join y'all. My four goals are: 1. Reduce body fat percentage by three points, from 32% to 29%. (I am a woman.) 2. Start building myscle in my arms (and shoulders and chest) 2x/week. 3. Continue my routine of TKD 3x/week, bike/run/walk 2x/week. I'm planning on leveling up to blue stripe during the 6-week challenge. 4. Stick to the paleo diet (I started this week). This should be both the easiest and the hardest one for me. I've had no problems sticking to the paleo plan so far (today is Day 4), but the idea of eating meat every day after 15 years of pretty strict vegetarianism is still a tad bizarre. Pizza -- the cardboard stuff from the frozen aisle -- was essentially what I ate every day for two years, so paleo is at least a huge improvement over that.