ReverbPaul takes on his first ever NF Challenge!

[ReverbPaul]

I'm giving this thing a shot, because seriously, there's no reason NOT to do it.

 

Character

Level 1 Githzerai Adventurer

STR 1 | DEX 5 | STA 2 | CON 1 | WIS 3 | CHA 3

 

Diet / Fitness Goals

1. Prepare at least one healthy lunch per week to bring into work
   (i.e. eat healthy and save money while I'm at it)
   Steps to Accomplish: Every Sunday evening, prepare a lunch to bring in on Monday.
   Metrics: A=Prepared a lunch every Sunday, B=Missed 1 lunch, C=Missed 2 lunches
   Reward: +1 CON +2 STA
    
2. Follow the Dumbbell Division Rank Two Workout without missing any of my workouts
   (i.e. get back into my exercise regimen, no excuses or unfulfilled promises)
   Steps to Accomplish: Do each workout (A B C) once weekly for a total of 3 per week
   Metrics: A=All workouts done, B=Missed 1 workout, C=Missed 2 workouts
   Reward: +3 STR +2 CON
    
3. Gain at least 5 pounds; from 141 lbs to 146 lbs
   (i.e. dipping my toes into gaining weight)
   Steps to Accomplish: track proteins eaten each day. Aim for 121 grams. Eat lots of food.
   Metrics: A=Gain 5+ lbs, B=Gain 3+ lbs, C=Gain 1+ lb
   

   Reward: +2 STA +1 CHA

Personal Goal

1. Create two full songs using some of the short songlets I have already created.
   (i.e. finish a song, instead of just starting it)
   Steps to Accomplish: In short: Brainstorm, write, refine, finish, upload.
   Metrics: A=2 songs uploaded to SoundCloud, B=1 song uploaded
   

   Reward: +2 WIS +2 CHA

 

My Starting Point

 

There's a reason my username is ReverbPaul. That is, I love music. I love it so much I blog about it. One thing I'm trying to increase my output on is music-learning posts. But I feel like I would be a more trustworthy authority if I can create songs from start to finish. Right now, I have a ton of song pieces but no full songs. That needs to change.

 

On the health spectrum, about a year ago I was doing the Rebel Strength workouts. I got through Dumbbell rank 1 alright, but around starting Rank 2 I started using whey protein. My skin didn't react so well to that. What I originally thought was a sunburn turned out to be a bad allergy. I was red, swollen and itchy for a long time. Thank the powers that that's over with. But since then I've been putting off starting back up, and again that's something that needs to change. So I'm finally going to start with Rank 2 workouts again. Beyond that, I've been meaning to start bringing food into work. Might as well make it a health goal by bringing healthy food to work, using Steve's guidelines.

[ReverbPaul]

Forgot to update yesterday: day 1 of Dumbbell rank 2 is a success!

[ReverbPaul]

Today, I didn't do my workout, but I have a good reason that was kinda sorta exercise-y. I'll see about doing today's workout tomorrow, and then Friday's workout on Saturday, so as not to miss a workout.

 

I'm getting married in a month, so tonight I started learning to dance. Next lesson is Tuesday, so next week should return to normal exercise schedule.

[ReverbPaul]

Exercise: going well so far, though a little off track.

Songs: I need to set some milestones, I think. Still deciding what those milestones should be.

 

Also, in terms of making healthy food, I recently signed up for a thing called mealime. We'll see how that works out.

[squawk87]

Great goals! I especially like the one about creating 2 songs, I'm not sure what the milestones could be either but I'm sure you'll figure something out. Best of luck in achieving them.

[ReverbPaul]

Lunch from home -- Brought! Salmon with Asparagus. Health!

 

Exercise -- Basically all night tonight is another dance lesson, after which I'll do the strength training that I didn't do yesterday.

 

Songs -- My sister and I have decided to make a song about the journey of a video game character, complete with accompanying stop-motion m&m pixel music video. So far I have made a tune, and each of us are going to make a draft of lyrics by Friday after which we'll fine-tune it into a final song. And then, the video.

 

If you're interested in an (extremely quiet) draft I threw together last night, you can listen at the link below. There are mistakes galore, and it's very bare bones, but it's enough to get a feel for the song: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4017978/To%20One%20Against/M%26M/M%20and%20M%20Draft.WAV

 

Weight -- I checked last night and I'm at 143 lbs. Two pounds, and plenty of time left to get three more, and likely even more than that! Boo yah!

[ReverbPaul]

I need to get on the forums more often.... maybe that shoulda been my personal goal? Also, since I forgot to say last time I updated (shame on me), thanks Squawk for the kind words!

 

Anyway:

 

• Lunch: I brought it from home twice this week! Woo hoo!
• Exercise: I missed one last week, but have been getting all of my exercise in otherwise.
• Weight: I'm holding steady at 142 lbs. I must consume more food!
• Songs: I'm aiming to speed up the song (it just feels too slow to me). Lyrics are still in progress, but I've laid out some of the basics: it takes the journey of video game characters and uses it as a metaphor for friendship. I'll try to record a verse and chorus at some point so I can post.

[ReverbPaul]

I got a body fat caliper, because more data is never a bad thing. Hey, I'm a skinny guy, what do you think my body fat is going to be? ten percent? twelve percent?

 

NOPE!!!

 

According to the caliper, I've got about 21 percent body fat, which is directly in the middle of "average" for men in my age group. 21 percent?! This is humbling, to say the least. I shall endeavor to bring it down to a healthier 15%. Not so much a goal yet (maybe the next challenge), but just something to track, to see what kinds of changes happen to that number over time.

 

Edit: I was using it wrong. I didn't see the slider thingie. My actual body fat is about 16.5%, which is in the "ideal" category. So, I'm happy with that. Still, I'll keep monitoring that to make sure it stays there instead of getting too low or too high.

[ReverbPaul]

Haven't updated in a while. But I've been pretty good on all counts except two:

• Although I am continuing to work on my music, it's not progressing as fast as I would like because most of my time is being taken up by wedding preparation.
• Also because of time spent on wedding, I missed another workout.

The wedding is this weekend, and then honeymoon for the week after. During the honeymoon, I'm sure I can manage to set aside some time each day to write lyrics (I certainly can't record music so I'll have no choice but to write), as well as put aside an hour to do body-weight exercises, which I'll count toward my goal even though technically I'm following the dumbbell division workouts.

[ReverbPaul]

So, I'm not sure how many people have actually been reading this, but post-wedding, I completely bombed doing anything about anything in the 6-week challenge. As such, I'm not sure whether I should give myself any extra stats this time around. Thoughts?

 

Also, I think the reason is that I bit off more than I could chew, so in the next challenge (failure is just a stepping stone toward success), I will be taking what I've learned from this challenge to come up with goals that are more doable. Plus, I've had plenty of time to think about what my next goals would be.