DFTBAmanda

Hey Rebels! Gonna be honest, I didn't even know today was in September, much less that it was the first day of a new challenge. I don't feel I really properly introduced myself to the assassins last challenge, due to poor Internet connection and time restraints, so I'll start now. I'm Amanda! I'm a flight attendant and I usually spend about 20 days out of the month doing international flying and being out of the US, which is my home country. That's the usual, but I've actually been on this particular trip for 31 days, since the third week of the last challenge. I actually spent all but four days of the last challenge away from home and working. This trip in particular has been very hectic and tiring, but while it looks like I'm still not getting home anytime soon (and I'll whine about that later) I do at least get a few days in this little German town to relax, recuperate, and work on getting back into my routine. I should mention that I've been sick. My whole crew, after going to Bishkek, Kyrgystan a few weeks ago, developed what doctors back home have just called an unknown bacterial infection. If you're familiar with Bishkek in the news recently, you'll know they had a Black Plague scare during the time we were there. Luckily, the girls who have been able to see doctors have said its definitely not y. pestis, they just don't know what it actually is. Well I've felt like I've been hit by a truck since the beginning of September, though it does finally seem to be going away. Just know that this challenge's Amanda is not focused as much on her super strength as she is her healing abilities. As such this one's gonna start out a bit differently. My Main Quest is, as always, to become Wonder Woman. This challenge, my overarching goal is to gain Wonder Woman's quick healing ability. My three goals I think reflect that, so they're a lot tamer than I would like to be. But that's the part that involves the lasso of truth: I'm not strong enough right now to do my usual routine. If I tried I might just make myself more sick. So I reserve the right to amp things up when I feel back to 100%, but for now I'm going to baby myself a little. My first goal is to help get the ache out of my joints. To do this I'll be doing restorative yoga, as much as I feel able. No real template for this, it'll take a bit of experimentation, but I want to stretch my muscles and build my standing endurance without exhausting myself. To be honest I'll probably start out mostly laying on the floor. Eventually I want to get back to body weight exercises, it just may take a little time. The thought of it makes me dizzy right now. Secondly, I will try to get 3 different colors of veggies and fruits in my life everyday. Airports are food wastelands, and this isn't always practical, but as much as possible I want this to happen. Part of my biggest problem is that my body isn't absorbing the nutrients from my food, it's shooting everything out within an hour of eating. I need to increase my intake of potassium, vitamin A, and vitamin C and try to combat the lack of everything going into me. I also need to hydrate like crazy! I will drink at least 2 liters of water a day, but no more than 3. Don't want to wash out all those vitamins I'm trying to flood myself with. This is really pretty basic, it's just that over the past week I've been in so many planes with dry air and on 6 hour bus rides with no break stops I've been trying to stay dehydrated so I don't pee myself. This is both stupid and dangerous, though really I couldn't see another way. Now I need to get back to a hydrated state. My bonus goal is a bit unconventional. I should be getting home in a week if I'm lucky, and the first thing I'm going to do is go to Sprouts and pick up some fish oil and cod liver oil. My face is still a cesspool of oil and acne, due mostly to the proverbial beating my body's been getting this month. The supplemental oils are supposed to help your body assimilate vitamins and a side effect of this in most cases is drastically improved skin. Since I have no idea where all this acne is coming from, I'll be attacking it from the inside out. I'm sick and tired of this shit. I'm a grown woman who hasn't had acne in 5 years. Not sure why it's happening now. So that's that! Not as exciting as previous challenges, but it's what I need right now. I'll be looking forward to seeing everyone's new challenge threads and rooting you on! This is going to be a great month.

Hey fellow super heroes! As always, my foreign language google docs is not easy to navigate. Blaidd, would you be able to sign me up? I promise I've got more time to set up a foundation for everything this time around

Oh, haha, no we're not going quite that fast. We went in together on a storage unit where he's moving all of his belongings while he's on tour and I'm moving all the furniture from my old apartment out of my parents garage. We had a bargain that he'd help me paint my room if I helped him move, but I've been out of the country the whole moving process and weaseled my way out of it :-P We do plan on making that transition in a year, but it's pretty silly to move in together when neither of us is ever home. The storage unit is much cheaper and has the added benefit of getting all our accumulated crap in one place. I'm surprised we don't fill a storage unit just with our book and comic collections alone!

Good morning Rebels! Its the very end of the challenge, just a day and a half left and this will be my final post on the topic. I cant believe its been six weeks! I can't believe it's been six weeks and I've only been home for 3 days of it. It's time for the weekly trip roundup! When last we spoke, I was in Copenhagen, Denmark. That Thursday night I flew a group of passengers to Baltimore, got there on Friday afternoon, and left late Friday night to take an empty plane to Croatia. I was in Croatia almost a day and then flew passengers to bishkek with a stop in Turkey in between. I was in Bishkek about a day and then flew passengers to Budapest, Hungary where I stayed for 12 hours before taking a commercial flight to Kuwait via Turkey (again). I'm leaving Kuwait tonight to go to Ireland and my schedule just keeps going. I'll hit Bishkek, Georgia, and Germany before I even get back to the USA and then I'll pull through Maine, Mississippi, and El Paso before I get back to Dallas. Ten days from now. I'm on the downhill slope now but damn. I will need some serious rest when this is over, not that I'll actually be getting any rest. Nate leaves at the end of the month, and while he's done all the hard stuff by moving most of the house into a storage unit, I'll still need to get my stuff in there before he leaves. My hope is that I can swing getting the first of October off so I'll have adequate time to recalibrate and prepare. Because.... My favorite time of year is here, fall packing season! More on this later. I'm not quite sure what to say about the end of this challenge. I've been beaten over the brow pretty heavily this past six weeks and my original plan to calculate and score every workout and meal turned into just trying to survive til the next week. I made my first priority to get adequate sleep and lots of water, and to be active when I felt I was up to it. In this regard I felt I was still successful. Sure, I bulked up some meals with white potatoes so I could be certain I was eating enough, but I never once got fast food. No, I didn't have 5 workouts a week, but I did work out when my body felt it was safe. I only missed washing my face once, which I consider a feat, and so im giving myself a completion for this challenge. Also! Even with all the potatoes and that metric ton of fanta I drank yesterday (don't even know where that came from) I have lost five pounds this challenge (185 baby!!!), and I'm consistently pulling down 120 pounds. Just think how great my numbers will be next challenge when I don't have the white potatoes to contend with! I was very surprised to be under 190 for the first time since college, and excited to see what next challenge brings. I don't really know what my optimal weight will be, the smallest I've ever been was 155, but that was when I was a teenager. That seems very very low to me, so we'll see. I think I'll have to start going by body fat percentage pretty soon, just so I have a better sense of scale. I don't know what else to say. This has been a weird challenge, and completely different from last challenge. Next challenge promises to be a whole new roller coaster... I might be in Bolivia for two months!

that sounds heavenly! My company actually flies to SA rather frequently, but the trips always get snapped up by more senior flight attendants. Maybe one day... It was absolutely delicious, though I haven't had honest to goodness pudding in so long that I don't really remember the texture of it. My next feat will be to recreate a banana pudding using only paleo ingredients. I think I'll add some coconut in there too, should be good. haha, thanks Orc! I try to be positive as much as possible, with this job it's easy to get bogged down by the schedule and the lack of sleep so you have to find something to appreciate everywhere. Especially with this trip, which is considered a special kind of hell to those of us in the business.

Hey MissLace! Whatcha been up to? We all want to know!

Hi kids! Welcome to Paleo on the Pal-e-go! The show where Amanda shares some of her best kept secrets on how to stay paleo while traveling. This week, stayed tuned for a hands on tutorial for the perfect Avocado Chocolate Pudding! First, walk three blocks to the market near your hotel. Find a perfectly ripe avocado right away but spend half an hour looking for cocoa powder, because everything is written in Danish with Swedish subtitles. Finally give a half mime, half made up word plea to the stockist to help you. Watch him take it off the shelf directly in front of you. Congratulate yourself for not giving up and just buying a Ritter sport bar like you had been seriously contemplating. Take home your spoils of war (but stop at that cafe you like and get a smoked salmon salad first, because what's life without whimsy). An inventory of supplies needed for this recipe: 1 ripe avocado 2-4 spoonfuls of pure cocoa powder A tiny jar of raw honey you stole from breakfast in Kuwait 5 months ago A packet of chocolate hazelnut butter from the bottom of your suitcase A pinch of sea salt harvested from the bottom of your bag of nut mix The one piece of cutlery TSA let you keep (Not shown): plastic grocery bag 2 Rocks glasses from the mini bar 1 wine glass for serving Also: A 4 pack of blackberry cider because hey, no ones perfect This may seem like an extensive list of supplies, but you're a seasoned traveler who already had most everything in her bag. Start by cutting open the avocado with your soup spoon. Refuse to believe it impossible to cut an avocado with a soup spoon. Scoop the flesh of the avocado into your plastic grocery bag and mash with your hands until completely smooth. Distribute the mashed avocado between the two rocks glasses (it definitely won't fit in one) and combine with the honey, nut butter, cocoa, and salt. Eyeball it, it's not like you have measuring spoons anyway. Mix until entire thing looks like a smooth chocolate pudding and carefully spoon full recipe into a chilled wine glass so you can take pictures for the Internet. Skype your (vegan) boyfriend who hates avocado to show him your masterpiece, but also because its funny to see him dry heave a little. It's that simple! Tune in next week, where we show you a simple Toothbrush Cup Ceviche with hotel bar lemon garnish. Seriously though guys, this is my life. I still try to make my own food, even when I'm on the road. Sure, I'll go out and treat myself to local fare every so often, but my wallet doesn't like that as much. Some girls want to be able to bring an extra suitcase, I just want to be able to take my julienne tool through security. They've already confiscated a small fork, a butter knife, a wine key, and metal chopsticks. They could probably throw a dinner party for 6 at this point. I also just enjoy the creativity required in making food like this, made even more difficult by the lack of a coffee maker, iron, or microwave. I do have a fridge though, which opens up fresh veggie possibilities. I have 2 more full days in Copenhagen before heading back to Baltimore and the good old USofA. I was supposed to be hopping a flight home at that point, but as luck would have it my off days have been revoked. Again. So now from Baltimore I'm flying to Croatia, then back to Kyrgystan, then on to Budapest, and that's where my schedule ends. It adds another week to my trip schedule and I won't get to go home til the middle of September and this is the longest I've ever been away from Nate and we were only expecting two weeks and we both may die. I'll update you on the situation as it develops. On the bright side, dolla dolla bills y'all.

For someone who works so well with spreadsheet assistance, you should be killing those finances by the end of the challenge I believe in you Orc!

Given the time you've had with audits and everything else, I think you can forgive yourself one indiscretion with the sweets, I think your stomach probably punished you far better than your brain can :-P I know if I had found out I had your schedule, I'd disappear for several hours and you'd find me the next morning covered in brownie batter gnawing on a giant tube of cookie dough! But seriously, it sounds like you had several positive things happen this week, you should drink some peppermint tea, grill up some nice veggies, and let your doubt leave your body with all those sugar toxins

You are killing it! I'm so excited for you almost fitting into an XL shirt, and I'm deeply impressed with your commitment to the Whole30 this challenge, with nary a stumble or fall. You're making HUGE strides my friend! It's only up from here, I think you've already broken that glass ceiling

You are killing it! I'm so excited for you almost fitting into an XL shirt, and I'm deeply impressed with your commitment to the Whole30 this challenge, with nary a stumble or fall. You're making HUGE strides my friend! It's only up from here, I think you've already broken that glass ceiling

I can't wait to hear all these inevitable fish out of water stories! You're going to have so much fun moving so far away, but I know right now it's pretty hectic. I think you're doing swimmingly for how much you have on your plate

I'm a flight attendant for a private charter airline, that's an unusually busy trip for me, but not unheard of. How was the meet up everyone? Is it a do over or a DEFINITE do over?

I was only in Kyrgystan about 12 hours and I used that time to sleep :-P But it's actually a really cool place, it's a perfect mix of Russia and China. Hopefully I'll get a bit more time my second go around in Copenhagen to sample the food and rent a bike for a few days!

I'm so glad you found your stride this challenge! Just finished catching up on everything that's been happening

So I may be insane. I'm back in Baltimore today and decided that since I would be working another route back to Copenhagen tomorrow that I would do today's workout and tomorrow's workout at the same time. So what did this consist of? 100 prisoner squats, 40 (90 degree) push-ups, 3 min. of planks, 25 80-100 lb lat pull downs, and 25 minutes of sprint intervals (alternating 2 mins at 18 min mile pace and 1 min at 8 min mile pace). In 4 sets. I reiterate. I may be insane. The one other person in the gym, a girl using the elliptical, looked at me for a solid few seconds in dumbstruck bewilderment. I was grunting and sweating and thought I was going down a few times, but I made it through. I haven't had a workout that gnarly since the time I tried to start Angry Birds at level 5. Though I probably could have done more squats if not for the running. Now my Sunday is free to... sleep probably. I won't leave for Denmark til early evening, and then hopefully I'll have a good 4 days there before coming back. That's the plan anyway. Im Crossing my fingers they won't spring that Germany-Turkey-Kyrgystan line on me next week like they did this week. The FAs scheduled for that line are waaaaay senior to me though so it could still end up in my lap. We'll see. I was only in Copenhagen Thursday for about 12 hours, I'm really hoping to get time to sightsee this go around. We also did the math and figured out that up until we got to Baltimore, we had only stopped to sleep 3 times in a 6 day period. No wonder I was going crazy. I found out though that not only did I make overtime, I'm over by about 20 hours! That made me do a happy dance, every dollar goes into the law school fund and it's pretty low right now :-P All in all it was a good day, I'll let you know how those DOMS work out for me tomorrow XD

So I may be insane. I'm back in Baltimore today and decided that since I would be working another route back to Copenhagen tomorrow that I would do today's workout and tomorrow's workout at the same time. So what did this consist of? 100 prisoner squats, 40 (90 degree) push-ups, 3 min. of planks, 25 80-100 lb lat pull downs, and 25 minutes of sprint intervals (alternating 2 mins at 18 min mile pace and 1 min at 8 min mile pace). In 4 sets. I reiterate. I may be insane. The one other person in the gym, a girl using the elliptical, looked at me for a solid few seconds in dumbstruck bewilderment. I was grunting and sweating and thought I was going down a few times, but I made it through. I haven't had a workout that gnarly since the time I tried to start Angry Birds at level 5. Though I probably could have done more squats if not for the running. Now my Sunday is free to... sleep probably. I won't leave for Denmark til early evening, and then hopefully I'll have a good 4 days there before coming back. That's the plan anyway. Im Crossing my fingers they won't spring that Germany-Turkey-Kyrgystan line on me next week like they did this week. The FAs scheduled for that line are waaaaay senior to me though so it could still end up in my lap. We'll see. I was only in Copenhagen Thursday for about 12 hours, I'm really hoping to get time to sightsee this go around. We also did the math and figured out that up until we got to Baltimore, we had only stopped to sleep 3 times in a 6 day period. No wonder I was going crazy. I found out though that not only did I make overtime, I'm over by about 20 hours! That made me do a happy dance, every dollar goes into the law school fund and it's pretty low right now :-P All in all it was a good day, I'll let you know how those DOMS work out for me tomorrow XD

I never started to love cooking until I went paleo. It's like getting to solve a puzzle every time, what can I eat, what will taste good together, how do I get enough fat in. My problem is with all the paleo baked goods! :-P with the world's longest shark week going on right now, I've definitely dived a bit too deep into the coconut flour...

I love my julienne tool! It's maybe my favorite purchase ever. I'm definitely going to prod you into loving squoodles just like I did with cauliflower As far as how my challenge is progressing, I really don't feel that way. As confident as I felt last challenge, I feel the same amount of unprepared this challenge. I'm working on it, it'll just take a bit of time to get my equilibrium back I guess.

Woo! Get it Orc! Those are some very impressive stats in my book. Regarding your binge, if you were actually hungry enough to eat 4000 calories then perhaps that's what you needed that day. One day won't kill you and I bet you got it out of your system. You've scaled back your general calorie intake severely so it wouldn't surprise me if your body needed some extra fuel. I always say I didn't really start losing weight until I UPPED my calorie intake. Bodies are weird.

Hello! My, its been awhile hasn't it. I won't make any excuses for why I haven't been posting the past week and a half, I'll just tell you my schedule and let it speak for itself. I believe we left off last Wednesday. So Wednesday I had a fairly busy day running errands, got in a fender bender at the end of the day and lost my entire left taillight. Now, I'm youngish and not the richest woman in the world so I have liability insurance. Thats it. I spent Thursday chauffeuring my sister about and trying to figure out how I was going to pay for a taillight out of pocket. Friday I packed and left for Baltimore. I was there til Sunday morning and got a really good workout in at the hotel gym. I worked a flight out of Baltimore to Copenhagen where I immediately got on a commercial flight to Berlin and then another to Frankfurt. Then I took a 2 hour bus to Ramstein. I had about 8 hours to sleep in Ramstein before working a flight to Turkey, and then immediately working another to Kyrgyzstan. I had 16 hours in Kyrgyzstan and I slept for every last one of them. Then I got up to go to the airport and get on the plane I'm currently sitting on, which is to Moscow. Then I'll have one more flight from Moscow to Copenhagen where I will have just enough time to catch a few z's before working a flight back to Baltimore. Quite simply, I got the bitch shift this trip. I've had the challenge all week of choosing between taking care of myself physically, and taking care of Myself mentally. I chose mentally. I haven't had spare time to eat a hot meal, much less get in a body weight routine, and I won't get any significant time off (by which I mean 23 hours) until I get back to Baltimore. One thing I am proud of though is while I haven't been 100% paleo, I have been basically primal. I had some killer homemade yogurt in Germany that haunts my dreams... This is an unusually busy trip. Truth be told its not entirely legal to work us the hours they have been this week. BUT. I'm 2 hours away from overtime pay so if I have to do it anyway I will milk it for all its worth. Especially since I will be paying for that tail light. And then installing it myself, because I'm actually pretty awesome with anything involving mechanical inclination. Oh! Also. I wasn't permitted to take my ukulele on this trip, because its for a private client who's only allowing us two bags. Therefore, the ukulele portion of this challenge will be nigh impossible to complete and I'm changing it. I got some pretty gnarly breakouts all over my face from letting those gluten free grain sugar laden baked goods creep back into my life and I've never been great with remembering to wash my face, especially with this job. The week the challenge started I ordered a kit from juice beauty of their whole line of acne clearing skincare products and I've been using it morning and night without fail. For the whole rest of the challenge (how much longer is it? I don't even know what day it Is) I will be following through with this routine. Its already made a world of difference in the number and prominence of my pimples, which, by the way, I hadnt had since I was a teenager. Just goes to show how detrimental sugar is! I also have a theory that while I was gaining weight all the toxins from what I was shoving down my maw were becoming trapped in those brand spanking new fat cells. Now that I'm losing fat at a steady and fast rate everything that was trapped in those cells is being released into my bloodstream. So yes, I'm still paying for that week I decided to eat chili cheese fries for lunch and dinner every day for 7 days. Speaking of NEVER LETTING THAT HAPPEN AGAIN, I broke down and bought two books for airplane reading on commercial flights (why can't I do squats in the aisles again?), Practical Paleo and OMG, That's Paleo?. The first one delves pretty deep into different diseases and chronic illnesses that can be caused by gastric distress and I highly recommend it for anyone who, like me, has a long list of unconnected mystery symptoms that doctors can't make heads or tails of, or if you've been on multiple medications for "unrelated" inflammatory conditions, also like me. Who's been on a heart monitor for 6 months before? This chick has. The second book is simply recipes, but its written by my favorite food blogger, paleomg.com. She has fantastic dinner and breakfast meals, I just try to limit myself to making one of her absolutely to die for paleo Desserts per month. I made her sundried tomato chicken pasta on Thursday night and went through an entire zucchini worth of squoodles with that delicious sauce. Best part? Even though it tasted exactly like a pasta dish I didn't have to feel bloated and sick afterward, and I was able to eat 2 bowlfuls without any feelings of guilt. Plus, I was able to use my new julienne slicing tool, which is the whole reason I made a pasta dish. Bottom line, you've missed a lot, but don't worry! I would never forget you. I'm even writing this post out on 4 separate iPhone memos just so I can get it uploaded as soon as I reach Copenhagen. Don't ever think I don't love you. Post plane edit: I was the only one of my crew not moved to first class. What? I'm not bitter...

I've definitely never been a cream of ANYTHING fan, but its a staple in my parents' diet. Seriously, they have half a pantry shelf devoted to assorted cans of cream soup. I am definitely missing something on those pistol squats, though this is the first leg exercise I haven't maxed out on my first attempt, so it'll be interesting to see how I progress with that. I didn't fall off the band wagon, I promise! Just that busy week we were talking about earlier... My kryptonite was Coke. I would drink 3 cans every flight from the courtesy cart. I gave up soda cold turkey as a new years resolution though, which is what kickstarted my health leap. I do miss it sometimes though.

Thanks so much for all the feedback guys! I figured this story is probably something most people can relate to. We need to start a tiny pants gallery or something

So I have this pair of stretch skinny jeans, size 10L, that I haven't ever been able to wear comfortably. They were a gift for my 22nd birthday, and were a bit snug, but i wore them. Over the next year i steadily gained weight, until I remember last December I pulled them out of my closet after not trying them on for awhile. I figured they'd be a little smaller, nbd. Well, It took several jumps to get them up over my thighs and when I finally got them pulled up they were about 4 inches from even zipping. I stood in place (there was no way I was getting into a sitting position in those) and just cried. For several minutes. And then I pulled on some sweatpants. The next day I started my health journey. I've lost weight and inches consistently since then and have watched my clothes get looser and looser, but every time I picked up those jeans I would almost physically shudder remembering how awful it felt to put them on and I'd put them back in the closet. I didn't want to put them on again and realize that I hadn't made any progress. Last night I was almost entirely out of clean laundry. I had one shirt clean, my favorite shirt, and those godforsaken skinny jeans. THE jeans. The jeans that were muffin toppy at the best of times. I briefly considered not going out, decided that was stupid, and got angry. I was angry that I was scared of a stupid pair of pants. I was angry I had been avoiding a few yards of fabric for 8 months. I said fuck it. And I put on those pants. They slid up my thighs and over my hips and before I knew it they were zipped. And they looked GOOD. They looked better than they ever had when they "fit", and I put on my favorite Gallifrey shirt and walked out the door feeling better about my body than I have in years. tl;dr version: my old pants fit again!!!! P.S. they made my butt look AWESOME

Nate's passion is children's theatre and he's actually doing a touring production of Stuart Little with Dallas Children's Theatre that spans 49 states over 9 months. I'm super proud of him, but it's hard to see each other when we're both shiftless traveling bums :-P As for my trip... Are you ready? I've got a day each in Baltimore, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Ramstein (Germany), Adana (turkey), Bishkek (Kyrgystan), back to Copenhagen, back to Baltimore, back to Copenhagen again, one more time in Baltimore, home for a day, then 19 days of as-of-yet unscheduled trip days. Those will get filled in closer to September. Can you tell it's our busy season?