Mizbrek Stands on Guard

[Mizbrek]

Hi guys! Mizbrek here, back with another challenge! This will be my 5th with the Rebellion and I’m excited to get back to it! My RP/background is a bit longer this time so I’ve posted it below! If you’ll recall, our hero spent the last challenge recruiting his raid team! Now, he’s off chasing down Loki!

 

 

Last Challenge

 

Overall I’m giving myself a B from the last challenge and a full level. I’ve made some real strides in my overall strength, but my weight has stayed somewhat static. I *think* that I’ve lost some inches in my waist, and overall, as things feel like they fit better, but I’m not sure. I haven’t gone up much which is good, though. On most of the others I did fine, not great. The Hot Yoga was a bit of a bust. I was better with the dog. I was good on posting/reading up until week 3. And drinks wise I mostly stuck to this (probably more like 3-4 per day instead of 2-3 per day).

 

Next Challenge

 

For this challenge, I’ve chosen a theme of standing on guard and weathering a storm (see my RP below, a bit long but I got carried away, sorry!). Miz and his raid team are trudging through the snow in chase of a foe, and end up facing off against Miz’s oldest demon, Jove. The holidays are always a tough time in terms of eating well and staying healthy, so to that end I’ve chosen some modest goals, and only 5 of them this time.

 

Bodyweight workouts M-F - This one I've been pretty consistent on for the last few months so I initially didn't even include it here, but figured it made sense to track and share it. I do the NF Academy Bodyweight Workouts, with a bit of gymnastic ring work thrown in when I have time. I've had good results with these and they're pretty portable (as I'll be spending a week of this challenge visiting my in-laws in Utah). 

 

Measure belly weekly/take pictures – I’ve yet to do this at all. I weigh myself but I’m sure I’ve had growth in these areas, and I wish I had before pictures. I’ll happily share the measurements (though not the pictures, sorry folks!) here. My strength has really increased, I know that much, and I would like to see if there are some other metrics I’m improving in that are harder to measure day to day.

 

Play a Hearthstone ranked game once a day – This is an odd one perhaps, but hear me out! I play this card game, Hearthstone, online, and it’s challenged me in the past. Specifically when I lose, I tend to get angry and beat myself up, especially when it’s in the “ranked” mode, where you lose ranks when you lose. So the idea here is to challenge myself to get used to that. I’m sure I’ll win some too! But this is an idea I’ve batted around for a while and I thought it might be a fun addition to the holiday challenge.

 

Log everything in MFP – I’ve fallen out of habit for this, and mostly because I’ve been eating somewhat poorly lately. No more. I’m not saying I’ll eat perfectly, but I am going to attempt to log everything into MFP, good and bad.

Bodyweight workouts M-F (no exceptions for holidays, but allowed to bank from weekends) – this is now almost standard for me, but considering the holidays coming up I am adding this to the list. I’ll hopefully be at my in-laws for a week at the end of this and it will be especially difficult then, but mostly just from a me feeling awkward standpoint. I will attempt to get these done there.

 

Read/post on NF Forums once per day – Not setting a specific goal here, but I need to login, read and post! That can be a summary post for me, a comment on someone else’s, or what have you. The idea here is staying involved and active in the community.

 

Hope you’ll join me on this journey folks!

 

___________________________________________________________________________________

 

The snow blew through the forest, cutting the adventurers like ethereal knives. Miz trudged forward, wading through knee deep snow. The area was lit by some kind of fel-fireball hovering over them, courtesy of Jannoris, their warlock, the snow and trees thrown into an eerie green relief.

 

He heard someone move up behind him and glanced back to see Stockton, the priest. The undead, reanimated man settled into place beside Miz, his longer legs keeping pace with relative ease. “How’re you feeling, Mizbrek?” he asked, the concern in his voice evident.

 

“I’m fine, Bones,” Miz said, the nickname a reference to Stockton’s slightly decayed state.

 

“Because you seem less than fine. In fact most of our band seems on the edge of exhaustion.” The priest looked around at the group. Mizbrek glanced back. He found it hard to argue.

 

“We’re tracking Loki, Bones. Guy’s a trickster, and quick to boot. We need to keep moving.”

 

“We won’t move far if we’re dead, Mizbrek,” Stockton noted. “Well, the rest of you won’t, anyway.”

 

Miz chuckled. “Alright. Tessa!” The Gnome rogue appeared behind Miz out of the shadows, causing the Hobbit to Jump. “Sweet Thrall’s Balls, someday you’ll have to tell me how you do that.”

 

She pulled down her scarf and grinned. “Trade secret, boss. What can I do ya for?”

 

“You spy any good clearings up ahead to camp down for the night? Bones tells me that apparently working everyone else to their bones is not recommended or against the Light or something.”

 

She nodded and pointed off to the left. “Spotted a nice area over there. I started dreaming of salted pork and my bedroll the minute I saw it. Which says something, since I’m used to feather beds and steak on the regular.”

 

“Good. Scout ahead and make sure it’s clear will ya?”

 

“Yo-ho, cap’n,” she said, and then seemed to disappear into the shadows, with only the faintest outline heading towards the clearing.

 

 

An hour later, the tents were erected, the fire was built, and Tal and Budhil, the Pandaren Wildstout brothers, were leading the group in a drinking song. One of Miz’s kegs had been tapped and everyone seemed to be feeling much warmer, if not better hydrated. As the keg was emptied and folks started heading to sleep, Miz continued to stare at the fire, watching, listening. Tina, Tessa’s hunter sister, pulled first watch, and Miz volunteered. They sat at opposite sides of the fire, keeping an eye out.

 

Miz felt a small chill go through him. Without looking up, he spoke to Tina in a hushed, slightly nervous voice. “Something odd is about to happen. I need you to stay calm, not freak out, not call for help, and just stay still, okay?”

 

Tina, a Gnome hunter and a veteran of several conflicts, rested her hand on her pet wolf beside her. Wordlessly, she nodded to Miz.

 

The chill in the air increased and someone sat near them at the fire. His bulk said human, but not large. His dress said he could have belonged to this universe, or another. Miz spoke without looking at him.

 

“You’re not welcome here, Jove.”

 

When the man spoke, his face obscured by a black hooded cloak, his voice was like warm honey. Like a soft hug from an old flame. It made Miz, and he was sure Tina, want to curl up and just do whatever that man said. “Now, now, Mizbrek, where is the famous hospitality of the Shire?”

 

“This look like the Shire to you? Get away. We’re busy. I don’t have time for you.”

 

“You seem to just be sitting here, Miz,” Jove said, reproachfully. “Perhaps your companion has some time for me?” Jove turned to Tina with a smile. Miz went to reach for his staff beside him, but before he could, in a twitch of a movement, Tina’s spear, Talonclaw, was at the man’s neck, and the wolf, Gara, was on her feet and growling.

 

When Tina spoke, it was quiet, and threatening, made all the moreso by her high voice. “This spear was crafted over 10,000 years ago. It has cut down thousands of demons, including the Dreadlord Tichondrius, and in my hands has cut down a couple thousand more. If you look at me that way again, we can happily add another to that long, illustrious list. Sweetheart.”

 

Jove didn’t move, but simply smiled. “Charmed, I’m sure.” He backed off slowly, sitting back and looking to Mizbrek. “I have no quarrel today. I simply wanted to…say hello, as it were, and let you know I’ll be nearby if you need ANYTHING at all.”

 

With that he stepped up and disappeared into the shadows.

 

Miz waited a ten count before speaking. “Wake your sister and Ulron. We need more on guard tonight.” She started to speak and Miz cut her off. “I don’t know who he is, I don’t know what he is, I don’t know where he came from. I know he seems very interested in charming me out of or cutting me off from everything I’ve ever worked for, and he’s the most dangerous thing I’ve ever tousled with. Every time I’ve faced off with him I’ve either come away worse off or by the skin of my teeth.”

 

Tina nodded as she stood up, walking over and laying a hand on his shoulder. “Yeah, but those times you were alone. Now, you aren’t. He’s dog food.” She looked down to her wolf, who had obediently followed her over.

 

“And Gara’s hungry.”

 

[Elastigirl]

Chasing Loki should be a real adventure for Miz and his raid team. Looks like a good challenge.

[Terra]

Hi!  

 

 

Following of course!

[Xena]

I like your idea of standing guard and weathering the storm. Very good idea amid the possible/likely chaos of the holidays. I also just noticed that you are hobbit brewmaster. Awesome!

[Mrs Van]

I woman with a wolf! Can only be good.

[Mizbrek]

21 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Chasing Loki should be a real adventure for Miz and his raid team. Looks like a good challenge.

Thanks! They're doing their best!

 

18 hours ago, Terra said:

Hi!  

 

 

Following of course!

Great to have you here!

16 hours ago, Xena said:

I like your idea of standing guard and weathering the storm. Very good idea amid the possible/likely chaos of the holidays. I also just noticed that you are hobbit brewmaster. Awesome!

Thanks! I'm a bit short IRL and the idea of the Brewmaster from Warcraft always spoke to me - enjoying the finer things in life, ready for anything, but savouring balance in life. And, of course, a fine brew!

 

16 minutes ago, elizevdmerwe said:

I woman with a wolf! Can only be good.

She's one of my favourite characters, based on one of my WoW ones!

 

Bodyweight workouts M-F - Failed this one this morning sadly! My internet wasn't working, and since I rely on Netflix to distract me and the NF Academy for my workouts, I ended up spending too much time trying to fix it! gah! Must download copies of the workouts for later.

 

Measure belly weekly/take pictures – Took pictures and ordered a tape measure (which was delivered to a neighbour's house it seems like!). Needless to say I will NOT be sharing the pictures, but good to have some record.

 

Play a Hearthstone ranked game once a day – Just did this now, and did a few games yesterday. Lost one today, which in some ways is the whole point of this, to teach me to lose comfortably. 

 

Log everything in MFP – Logged everything so far. Discovered the casserole I had last night was not as low cal as I thought! The cheese should've been a give away. But damn is it tasty, French Onion Soup Casserole! We put extra veggies in it too though to try and balance it a bit.

 

Read/post on NF Forums once per day – And here we are!

[Mizbrek]

Bodyweight workouts M-F - Good workout today! Still a bit late getting going (really need to catch up on sleep) but still got it done.

 

Measure belly weekly/take pictures – I've ordered a tape measure to take care of the second half of this soonish. Had some issues with Amazon delivering to the wrong address but should finally be here today!

 

Play a Hearthstone ranked game once a day – Done! Dragon Priest is great again! Won the game today.

 

Log everything in MFP – I didn't log a couple bits and bites yesterday, but need to work at that. It's annoying to try and log some things. What does a few bites of my wife's leftover baked potato with bacon and cheese count for calorie wise? Stuff like that. But trying to be better, even if I am over (and so far not by much!).

 

Read/post on NF Forums once per day – And here we are! Again! Trying to check a few throughout the day instead of doing it in one fell swoop, which is a bit more of a big time investment.

 

Weight hit an almost new low of 214.2 today, with my previous low being 214. So right direction! Just need to stay strong against all the holiday treats and stuff making an appearance lately!

[Elastigirl]

Book I was reading recently just suggested adding an approximate amount of calories (30 -50 depending) for those sorts of things. I really liked that idea. Nice weigh-in!

[Mrs Van]

Good going on the weight. I hope that parcel arrives. I prefer having things delivered as well, and luckily our courier services are relatively good (I can't complain, except for once...). The one time my parcel didn't arrive but I received a notification that it was delivered, they had handed it to my neighbours, and the neighbours couldn't figure out why we sent them a parcel! Not clicking that it was our parcel, wrongly delivered.

[Mizbrek]

On 12/7/2016 at 10:55 PM, Elastigirl said:

Book I was reading recently just suggested adding an approximate amount of calories (30 -50 depending) for those sorts of things. I really liked that idea. Nice weigh-in!

That's generally what I try to do, but sometimes it just feels like too much hassle to log in. But, that's kind of the point of this part of the challenge!

On 12/8/2016 at 6:44 AM, elizevdmerwe said:

Good going on the weight. I hope that parcel arrives. I prefer having things delivered as well, and luckily our courier services are relatively good (I can't complain, except for once...). The one time my parcel didn't arrive but I received a notification that it was delivered, they had handed it to my neighbours, and the neighbours couldn't figure out why we sent them a parcel! Not clicking that it was our parcel, wrongly delivered.

Thanks! We've never seen the parcel. Not sure if the neighbours decided to keep it or what! I think it's the second that's ended up there but I'm never sure. We got a replacement package which was nice of Amazon to do but just sucks having to figure it out! Oh well! Measurements will be done this weekend!

 

Bodyweight workouts M-F - Did this yesterday but slept in a bit today. Still squeezed something in - did the NF academy warm up and used this app called Carrot Fit to do their "7 Minutes In Hell" workout. Not the best but still something!

 

Measure belly weekly/take pictures – Tape measure is here and I will get this done soon! Also want to take some general progress pics of me in clothes and whatnot. Get in the habit of taking more pics so I can see progress. A lot of my friends on Instagram do a #transformationtuesday and I wish I could participate!

 

Play a Hearthstone ranked game once a day – This one I've handled decently well! I didn't expect it to be overly hard, but it's a nice little challenge and gets me thinking.

 

Log everything in MFP – Logged just about everything yesterday (realizing I missed a couple small cookies at the end of the night!) and logged everything today so far.

 

Read/post on NF Forums once per day – Commented a bit yesterday but missed posting! But here we are, and have some tabs open to comment.

 

Weighed in yesterday at 213.6, a NEW LOW!!! 

Was up a bit today but still! New low! And today still under 215, which I had been stuck at forever, so that's good! Hopefully should be a quiet weekend with lots of good, restful sleep, and a minimal amount of junk food!

[Mrs Van]

That is awesome on the weight! Congrats!

[Mizbrek]

Belated weekend update! Sorry folks! Been a busy one!

 

Bodyweight workouts M-F - None of this on the weekend, but none of this planned! So all good.

 

Measure belly weekly/take pictures – Missed doing that this weekend but will try to do so tomorrow. Should be able to take pics tomorrow at least!

 

Play a Hearthstone ranked game once a day – Been good on this!

 

Log everything in MFP – Logged yesterday but mostly took today off. I wasn't too bad anyway. Some unhealthy choices but not the constant snacking I so often do on weekends. So feeling good about that for the most part.

 

Read/post on NF Forums once per day – Missed this a bit! Got caught up with reading, WoW and Hearthstone!

[Mizbrek]

Bodyweight workouts M-F - Did this this morning! 3B today with added ring rows. Skipped my warm up in favour of shoveling snow and cleaning off the car however! 

 

Measure belly weekly/take pictures – Will take pics this evening and try and do some measurements.

 

Play a Hearthstone ranked game once a day – Rank 19 today! Dragon Priest FTW!

 

Log everything in MFP – Logged so far today. Eaten about half my cals with just dinner left, so not too bad. We may be going out to the Christmas Market though which may throw some stuff for a loop!

 

Read/post on NF Forums once per day – Going to read a bit more after I finish this post!

 

Overall a good weekend. Made some less than ideal food choices but I really avoided my old habits, which were just grazing like crazy throughout Sat/Sun. I'd end up eating a bunch of little meals, where as now I tend to have some larger ones, which is good. Weight had ticked up a bit on Monday, but it always does, and I would bet you this is the lowest I've ever weighed on a Monday! So, going in the right direction anyway!

[Mizbrek]

Bodyweight workouts M-F - Full warm up and work out today! Might need to look at the boss fight for level 3 soon. Some of these exercises are starting to feel unchallenging. But also need to look if I've made any modifications to things that I need to try regular. Romanian Deadlifts come to mind for that.

 

Measure belly weekly/take pictures – Grr, lost track of this yesterday. Must do tonight!

 

Play a Hearthstone ranked game once a day – Another win with dragon priest! Up against a burgle rogue. Interesting deck.

 

Log everything in MFP – Failed this a bit yesterday and overate. Logged up until dinner but skipped logging dinner, and ate a bunch of crackers as a snack after a stressful day. A temporary loss, but not a huge one. Had a small victory today at lunch. So before NF, I tended to feel a bit sick after every lunch. When I started watching portion sizes I realized I was overstuffing myself every lunch hour. Yesterday I felt sick again, which was a reminder that, hey, maybe you overate yesterday. I had the same leftovers today and, using my handy pocket scale (thank you Amazon!), cut down what I ate from yesterday! It sounds like a small thing but I couldn't imagine doing that a year ago. 

 

Read/post on NF Forums once per day – Did this yesterday and working on it now!

 

The holidays will be tough for sure, I'm getting that. Stressful and lots of eating out while traveling. But all I can do is try my best to build a good base! I'd love to get another couple pounds down before going to my in-laws. They haven't seen me since I've lost weight so hoping they'll notice a difference!

[Laghail]

Following because IG Nerds have to stick together!

[Mrs Van]

On 2016/12/12 at 7:30 PM, Mizbrek said:

Weight had ticked up a bit on Monday, but it always does, and I would bet you this is the lowest I've ever weighed on a Monday! So, going in the right direction anyway!

Its just great that you came down so much. Mondays are generally bad for me too, weight-wise, but yours was still great. Your in-laws are in for a surprise either way.

 

[Shello]

I like your goal to play a game to practice losing.  The bonus is you get to play every day.  

 

Congrats on your new low!

[Mizbrek]

23 hours ago, Laghail said:

Following because IG Nerds have to stick together!

Ooooh what's yours?! Do I already follow you? haha

 

23 hours ago, elizevdmerwe said:

Its just great that you came down so much. Mondays are generally bad for me too, weight-wise, but yours was still great. Your in-laws are in for a surprise either way.

 

Thanks! My wife says they'll notice, certainly hoping so!

 

22 hours ago, LadyShello said:

I like your goal to play a game to practice losing.  The bonus is you get to play every day.  

 

Congrats on your new low!

Thanks! I lost today (which is irking me a bit, more on that below!) so it's doing it's job! And another new low today!

 

Hit a new weight low this morning of 213.6! Well that's what I'm estimating it as, the scale always bounces a couple time, even saw it go down to 212.8! So I guess not technically a new low but still! Tie!

 

Bodyweight workouts M-F - Got this done today! I'd like to figure out how to push myself to move a bit faster in these. It's just so easy to take a break for a minute, but I do like the workouts. Maybe some sort of timer that beeps at me every 30 seconds or something. Or maybe just a move on to level 4!

 

Measure belly weekly/take pictures – Took pictures last night! Still need to do the measurements though!

 

Play a Hearthstone ranked game once a day – Had this today, played against a Reno-Kazakus-Lock. Realizing that won't mean much to most of you, but sufficed to say the game took about twice as long, and I lost. It was clearly a seasoned player (lots of special golden cards, which generally take a while or a lot of money to get) and I certainly gave him a run for his money. I still walked away feeling irked though, and afterwards immediately looked up some strategies for handling this matchup in the future. In short, the strategies seemed to be - don't get matched up against this deck! Was nice to hear it's a hard matchup, and part of this definitely is to "learn to lose," but still! Tough!

 

Log everything in MFP – Logged morning and lunch but not in the evening, but my food choices were still pretty good overall. No snacking, two beers only, no dessert. Had a small piece of a poundcake coworker brought in to work, but that was it. So not great but not terrible.

 

Read/post on NF Forums once per day – Running a bit short on time but going to try and read a bit! Part of the reason this is more open ended is last time I felt like if I wasn't doing 3 a day or didn't have time it wasn't worth doing, and that's not a good strategy. Something is better than nothing!

[Laghail]

3 hours ago, Mizbrek said:

Ooooh what's yours?! Do I already follow you? haha

Hughesianway - Great job on your challenge so far. 

[Elastigirl]

Really awesome that you are learning to pay attention to your body and know how it feels when you are overfull. 

 

There are interval timers online or as phone apps that you can use.If  you use the keyword interval timers, you should have a few to choose from.

[Mizbrek]

19 hours ago, Laghail said:

Hughesianway - Great job on your challenge so far. 

Sent a follow request! I'm tomthedruid on there. Debating changing it to tomtheranger maybe! Or rangertom? Hmmm.

 

18 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Really awesome that you are learning to pay attention to your body and know how it feels when you are overfull. 

 

There are interval timers online or as phone apps that you can use.If  you use the keyword interval timers, you should have a few to choose from.

I'll have to check those out!

 

So yesterday my wife was let go from her job. A week before Christmas! Perhaps needless to say I did not stick to all my goals yesterday evening! We needed to drown our sorrows a bit. We'll be fine, and the job was stressful enough that in some ways it's a blessing, but still was a bit of a blow.

 

Also ticked up 0.2lbs today, but nothing huge. Still nice to be down below 215! I'm hoping to get down to 210 by the end of the year, but 3 pounds in 2 weeks while on vacation might be a bit tough!

 

Bodyweight workouts M-F - Done again today. Doing a bit better at trying to stop myself from resting between exercises and just running right into the next one!

 

Measure belly weekly/take pictures – Measurements didn't happen last night! Soon though!

 

Play a Hearthstone ranked game once a day – Won today so slightly less challenging but still! Felt good about my choices in game and my strategic thinking.

 

Log everything in MFP – Again didn't log in the evening. I think that's okay considering the news!

 

Read/post on NF Forums once per day – Posted a bit and will browse a bit now!

[Elastigirl]

Sorry about your wife's job.That sucks,especially as a Christmas present Maybe she will get a new job that isn't as stressful.

[Broba Fett]

Made my way over from instagram to follow along. 

 

Sorry to hear about the wife's job.  That is really awful timing.  Hopefully something better comes around quickly. 

[Mrs Van]

14 hours ago, Mizbrek said:

So yesterday my wife was let go from her job. A week before Christmas! Perhaps needless to say I did not stick to all my goals yesterday evening! We needed to drown our sorrows a bit. We'll be fine, and the job was stressful enough that in some ways it's a blessing, but still was a bit of a blow.

So sorry to read this. Will pray that something better and less stressful comes her way.

Otherwise you seem to be doing well. Keep at it.

[Mizbrek]

On 12/15/2016 at 8:08 PM, Elastigirl said:

Sorry about your wife's job.That sucks,especially as a Christmas present Maybe she will get a new job that isn't as stressful.

 

On 12/15/2016 at 8:24 PM, Broba Fett said:

Made my way over from instagram to follow along. 

 

Sorry to hear about the wife's job.  That is really awful timing.  Hopefully something better comes around quickly. 

 

On 12/16/2016 at 3:08 AM, elizevdmerwe said:

So sorry to read this. Will pray that something better and less stressful comes her way.

Otherwise you seem to be doing well. Keep at it.

 

Thanks very much folks, I'll pass on your good wishes to her. And good to see you Broba!

 

Was a bit of a busy weekend - our last at home before we travel, so a bit of nesting and a lot of errands on Friday!

 

Bodyweight workouts M-F - Accidentally did the same one as on Friday! Did a bit more ring rows though. I'd like to look at the next step in the NFRings program to see what else I should be working on, for now I've mostly been doing the ring rows.

 

Measure belly weekly/take pictures – Gah, missed this again. Must do before I go at least so I get at least SOME measurements in this challenge!

 

Play a Hearthstone ranked game once a day – Been good at this mostly. Lost today but I was able to trace back a mistake on my part (though largely it was a judgement call). I put back a card during the initial mulligan phase, based on my prediction about my opponent's deck, which ended up being wrong. That's okay I think. Otherwise I think I did the best I can. With Hearthstone I always struggle a bit in placing fault. Sometimes I for sure draw cards badly, and there's nothing I can do, but I try not to rely on that too much. There is skill, knowledge and strategy involved, and I don't want to foist the blame solely off myself. But not having much to play turns 3 and 4 never helps!

 

Log everything in MFP – Mostly skipped this this weekend, and was rewarded with my weight ticking up a bit to 216! Gah. Ah well, back to it. I've been weight and measuring out my lunches at work thanks to a small scale. This has helped me stay on task a bit better I think.

 

Read/post on NF Forums once per day – Posting and going to try and skim a bit and see what I missed over the weekend!