Ryoko

I quit soda some time ago; it was hard for me too. If you like fizzy drinks, have you tried switching to plain seltzer? It definitely takes some getting used to if you're used to drinking sodas, but once you're on that for a while, when you have soda again it will taste WAY too sweet. Good luck on your quest!

I have trouble with food portions too. I've slowly gotten better over the years, although I still struggle with food in that I'm trying to kick a sugar addiction. Best of luck in your quest! I love your name and avatar.

Another tea lover checking in - I gave up coffee three years ago cold turkey and haven't looked back. As far as teabags go, I'm partial to Numi. I looove their teas. Loose leaf teas, another vote for Teavana. Their Samurai Chai is on point. ^.^ I'm also interested to follow your pull-up training as that will definitely be making it into my next quest. Good luck with your goals!

Thanks for the welcome, starsapart! Yes, ha, it's hard to make good food choices at a desk job. I would love to talk more with you re: bodyweight exercises and yoga! I just posted my first challenge here. I look forward to chatting with you!

My site introduction thread can be found here; it has a little more background information on me. I don't quite understand the point system yet, so I'm going to keep things simple for now. I look forward to making new friends on here, and giving and getting support in return. Pleased to meet all of you. Main Quest: COMPLETE MY FIRST TRIATHLON SPRINT. It's on August 24th and I haven't really started training for it yet (training officially starts tomorrow), so I have my work cut out for me. Sprint distances are 400 meter swim, 12 mile bike, 5k run. I don't care if I have to walk the entire thing, I just want to finish it and kick start my health back into gear. I've gotten weak and I'm ready for a change. Quest 1: TRAIN FOR MY TRI. Train in each discipline twice per week, alternating days, with one rest day. I'll be keeping track of my training goals and time on this Google doc. It's a rather accelerated plan (much more aggressive than I would normally do) but I don't have much choice as it's in four weeks. I'll be updating it daily. +2 STA Quest 2: QUIT SUGAR. I have already cut out processed foods, coffee, sodas, cigarettes, and alcohol, but darn it all if I can't give up sugar. I munch on cookies and cupcakes daily and I KNOW it's contributing to my lethargy. And it's not just one cookie or one cupcake...noooooo...I pile 3-4 cupcakes in at one time. Or 4-6 cookies. It's been getting worse recently, over the past 3-4 months. Other than this I don't eat junk. I want to quit sugar once and for all!! I'll be tracking my meals on a battle log. Here! +1 CON Quest 3: YOGA 3 DAYS/WEEK. I have been slacking on my yoga practice as of late due to some personal problems. I need to learn not to let personal issues affect my health regimen. I want to PRIORITIZE my health. Keeping my flexibility up will help me with my training. ETA: Measurable goal is 5 days a week for 30 minutes a day, home-based practice. Studio practice does not count. ETA 2: Quest has been been modified to yoga 3 days a week. Measurable goal is 45 minutes of home-based practice each time. I'll be tracking my yoga on a battle log. Here! +1 DEX Life Quest: CREATE A WEBSITE FOR MY SIDE BUSINESS. I have been procrastinating on this for wayyy too long now. I have clients already but no website yet?! It's time to get this thing moving. +1 WIS Motivation: I chose to participate in this triathlon in honor of my dear friend Michelle. She was in the process of training for her first triathlon this summer when she was brutally murdered a few months ago. Although she was training for a full tri, there's no way I can do that (at least not in four weeks), so I am doing this tri sprint instead. RIP Michelle - this tri is for you! xoxo

Greetings! I just found this community about a week ago - lucky me, just in time for the next challenge. I've worked in IT for the past 10 years, and as a result, have become increasingly sedentary (the last 5 years are what have been really bad). I have gotten so out of shape I no longer recognize myself. Even worse, I've lost a tremendous amount of chi - I constantly feel very weak (although I'm pretty sure this is related to a PTSD diagnosis I received in Oct 2012). I'm a female, currently 5'5, 130 lbs, but I am not strong or agile like I used to be and I desperately want to get back there. I'm ~10 lbs overweight right now (my normal weight is 118/120) but at this point I'm less concerned with the numbers on the scale and more concerned with being fit and strong again. Growing up I was naturally very athletic. I would scale the sides of houses for fun, and run across the roofs/jump into trees. In high school my mile time was 5:08. I pretty much excelled at every sport I played. I started aggressively mountain biking when I was 13, and even though I was very small, I could be explosively powerful when I so desired. Now? The last time I went mountain biking with a friend (about a year ago, after ~10 years) I could barely keep up, and was slow and clumsy (clipping quite a few trees along the way). I just started running again last weekend, and I'm at a 12 minute mile now - bleh! What a PR embarassment. When I think about these things and how much I've let myself go, I cringe. I don't think I'll get back to the level of fitness that I used to be at, but I'd certainly like to get close. I just started training for my first triathlon sprint (which is in a month, so I have a lot of work to do), and I'd like to master bodyweight exercises as well. I want my chi back. As far as my class goes: I'm vegan (almost 11 years), do a lot of yoga, meditate infrequently, and am interested in cultivating chi, so I picked the Druids as my group. Although I also resonate heavily with Rangers and Assassins, so perhaps down the line I'll end up in one of those guilds at some point. I guess I still have my first challenge to think things through? So, I'm off to the Rebel camp now to join the challenge and outline my goals! Pleased to meet you all!