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For awhile now I have kind of felt like I am just following the ebb and flow of life because that is easier for me when things start getting complicated. I have got a lot accomplished with my yard and house which I am very proud about... but I feel that I have been neglecting my weight loss journey for awhile now. To the point I have been questioning why my weight loss journey is so important and if its even possible. Despite being 75lbs overweight, for whatever reason I am just not feeling the urgency at the moment. But alas, I should do something right? I won't lie...calorie tracking and exercise are not on my radar but what I can (and want to) do is to continue making progress on my house and yard (free exercise), lessen my spending and order less take away (lower calorie count). Quests: - Pack breakfast and lunch for when I am in office - 1 Starbucks allowed a week - Meal plan once a week - Do a chore every day - Floss every day - Drink 2L water daily Side Quests: > Review 1, 5, 10 year plan > Deliver camp stove to brother > Finish the rock garden removal > Finish setting up planters > Finish Percy painting > Stain shiplap wall > Install 3 new lights + smoke alarm

I bought a house!! So, I need to make some priority out of getting my home in order and get into the groove of working out, commuting and eating right. My commute has gotten a little longer and a lot less reliable (based on one week of commuting I’ve done thus far). I’ve got a buffet of options open to myself and my wife including commuter rail, bus, and car ride. I need to weigh the pros and cons of each and get it stabilized so I can get some work outs in some time. Being summer I need to focus on getting the jungle in my backyard tamed and the lawn cut reasonably for the next few weeks. We have almost a solid acre of hilly grass and the previous owners couldn’t keep up with the landscaping. Memorial Day weekend will included the purchase of a chainsaw and an extraordinary amount of yard work. Hopefully by the end of the challenge I will have things down to maintenance level before jumping into setting up our own plans. Right now my yard is about 20% maintained (I managed to run over the overgrown weeds with a lawn mower and pull a few weeds). I want the yard to 100% maintenance. Weeds pulled, lawn mown (evenly), edges weed-whacked, trees trimmed/cut down. I still want to try and get bigger by the end of the year, but right now I need to focus on maintaining my food plans and getting food for the week planned, purchased and prepped. I want to gain muscle mass, not a layer of blubber. Unfortunately for my celiac-ridden self I accidentally moved to some kind of gluten free Shangri-La. Chinese food less than a mile away and fried chicken with fries and onion rings a few miles the opposite direction. As if I weren't doing enough, I also want to maintain my running endurance so I need to get some runs in. With the major landscaping I’d say I need to limit myself to about 15k a month. Goals: Commute: At work on time for summer hours and commute planned for the rest of the year. Yard Projects: 1 major project per week minimum. Food: Plan meals and prep lunches/breakfasts Exercise: Run a minimum of 15k per week. That’s low, but I’m doing a lot of exercise with the yard work.

I imagine my title may be offensive to some, but I swear it has a point! Depression can be a very difficult thing to live with. My family has a history of it, and I've found that as I've gotten older I cycle through episodes of not really caring about anything at all. Sometimes it's intense, sometimes it's just a mild background noise. To me that means pretty much giving up on living my life and just going through it in a sort of zombie-like way. Thankfully when it happens to me, it's pretty mild. I've been able to deal with it fairly well. To pull back from that tangent, when I was younger, I cared about the state of the world, and about the environment. The world was an exciting place with potential. As I grew older, life didn't turn out quite so much like I had thought it would. For the most part I'm pretty happy with the big choices I've made, but it's the little stuff that I've forgotten to pay attention to, I want to believe again that those things matter, hence, I'm going to learn to "give a f***." My inspiration for this challenge comes from a cook book and the folks over at Thug Kitchen... It sort of turned on a switch for me and has helped motivate me. It's time to wake up and take some responsibility for the choices I make in my life. My choices matter. Even the little ones. So, here goes... Since diet is 90% of the equation, the First Quest is related to food: Q1:"Eat Like I Give a F*CK." this one is taken straight from the book. For the next 6 week challenge. I will learn to Eat (and live) Like I Give a F*uck. For me, that means moving away from prepared frozen meals (mostly Amy's frozen entrees) and starting to making my own food. No more junk, no more toxic unpronounceable unidentifiable chemicals. I will commit to cooking/preparing food for myself 3 days a week out of 7. REAL food. Like the actual biological kind that comes with binomial nomenclature. Since I'm the only one who eats my food, I anticipate several days worth of left-overs. 3 days of cooking should pretty much carry me through the week. I have two cookbooks to start me on my journey: Thug Kitchen: Eat Like you Give a F*uck and Appetite for Reduction, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I can use other resources if I find them. But the idea is to use real food that I prepare myself. Building upon previous challenges: I will continue to, a. Drink only water (or 0-calorie natural beverages like Hint water) b. All meals will be vegan c. All meals will be gluten free d. Total calorie consumption for each day will be in the range of 1410-1450 calories per day. Q2: Conquer the Jungle. sadly, and honestly, my yard looks like sh**. I mean its bad enough that if you were just driving by, you might wonder if we've been on vacation for several months. Tall grass, weeds, overgrown garden beds.... I believe that my home and the environment that I live in is as much a reflection of me as my body. I'm getting a good handle on the whole body thing, but right, now, my surroundings are not projecting any of the values im working so hard to develop with NF. I don't have time to do everything, so this is how I'm going to get my exercise for the duration of this challenge. I will spend at least 20 minutes a day working in my yard. Since there will be so much physical activity involved, I'm considering this an exercise quest as opposed to a life quest. I anticipate lots of raking, and shoveling, and squatting, and lifting etc., in other words lots of physical challenges. Q3: Use the gym. I need a bare bones, basic get fit challenge. I've already done all the hard work of getting over my fear of using the weight room. So now, I'm going to commit to using the gym at least 3 days a week. It can be for cardio or weightlifting, just as long as I go and do something at the gym. LQ: Suck it Up (Vacuuming) I've conquered Dishes, and I've conquered Laundry. The next step for me is vacuuming the floors. 6 days a week I will vacuum. The house will be divided in to "Sectors." Sector 1: the hallways (upstairs, main floor, and basement). This includes the stairs Sector 2: Kitchen, Living Room, Mud Room Sector 3: Dining Room & Library Sector 4: Master Bedroom Sector 5: Guest Room and the Boy's Room & Bathroom Sector 6 The Bonus room & Laundry Room. It doesn't matter what order I do them in, as long as each gets done once a week. If I can get another family member to do one sector for me, that counts. I'm not doing Betty-Crocker-vacuum-under-the-floorboards kind of vacuuming, but each sector will get a decent once over. It's really hard to stick to just these 4 quests. There's so much more I want to focus on. Unofficially, I'm giving myself a work quest: I will finish two training modules for staff trainings. And one fun for me quest: Every day I'll spend at least 10 minutes art journaling. The only exception to these quests will be my birthday, when I fully intend on eating anything and everything I want, and drinking whatever I want, and doing whatever I want. (I'll come back later to add in my grading system, but I've got to go do my homework right now). And so it begins!

Last night I decided what my goals are going to be for this challenge. I'm still working on meeting all the required reps and time of the Beginner Body Weight Workout. So that's my Main Quest: to perfect the Beginner Body Weight Workout (BBWW). To do this, I will practice the BBWW workout 3x a week. Measurement: working out 3x each week: STR +7. Working out mostly 3x, but sometimes 2x: STR +6. Working out mostly 2x but occasionally 3x: STR +5. Quest 2: Participate in the Rebellion. To do this I will update my challenge thread 3x a week and participate in the Guild Mini's. I will also participate in Accountabilibuddies and encourage new rebels. Measurement: Update challenge 3x a week AND do all the guild mini's: WIS +3. Update challenge 2-3x a week and do some of the guild minis: WIS +2. Update challenge 1x a week or less, and not do any of the guild minis: WIS +1. Life Quest: Clean up the yard! I have alot of brush to get rid of, leaves to rake, small trees to cut down, and bushes to prune. Measurement: Complete all 3 items (brush, leaves, pruning): +5 Charisma for my property. Complete most things (some brush, some leaves, some trees, some pruning): +3 Charisma for my property. Complete only a little of each: +1 Charisma for my property, as in "E for Effort". I have a high motivation to get this life quest done by the beginning of week 4, because my husband's parents and siblings are coming for a week's visit. I also need to not get bogged down in tiny details, like sifting all the volcanic rock and replanting all the daylilies.