Platzhalter

First, welcome to all the newbies Haven't been too active both on this thread and the forum in general because of having too many other things to worry about/focus on in my life... still trying to read everyhting that's been posted since my last visit even without always answering. Passing can be a good thing, especially if it draws unwanted attention away from you IMO. Although for me, the whole passing thing is a double-edged sword... because passing on the one hand may still lead to being treated differently when eating out (or doing anything similar that two guys usually don't do together unless they're business partners) because of being perceived as gay. It's not a general issue to me, especially not in a city like Munich... yet even the thought of getting too much attention from strangers makes me feel uncomfortable. And before I forget... my condolences to all of you who are stuck in the States.

Might and Magic Heroes VII, because I finally got a PC to play newer games with... and World of Warcraft, since a friend gave me the promotion code from the DVD of the Warcraft film he bought (he had no use for it himself)

This makes me really, really happy for you - support from your loved ones is always something that helps a lot. Especially when those people change their mind on their former unsupportiveness.

Update time Since real life was pretty demanding the last few months I haven't been very active on this site. However, that hardly means abstaining from fitness, and a healthy lifestyle in general. It's more of a "try to do your best within the current means"... and that was okay. Despite having lots of time now and taking another trip to England at the end of August (thanks to my generous parents), there's one big issue: We're on a very tight budget. The good thing is we still have enough food to theoretically survive a month without additonal grocery shopping, the bad thing is... well, there's a limit in variety. To still make things as healthy as possible, I'll try to list all the things we have and make a suitable mealplan for the next two weeks. Regarding excercise, I still focus on bodyweight, yoga and a little cardio - all set to the rule of being cheap. It's slowly becoming part of my everyday routine, thanks to my partner's help. Have a nice day.

First... congrats, @namelesswonder Second... welcome to this thread and place in general, Kage. You're definitely far from alone with you're initial tendency to avoid certain things which makes me happy you found this thread. And it's definitely true that uncertainity and maybe even lack of self-acceptance can do a lot of harm. Accepting who you are and what you need is important.

Never tried making porridge/oatmeal in any other way but sweet... yet some of the savoury ideas still look like they're worth giving a try. Thanks for sharing

Sounds like something to make once chorizo is on sale over here again

I know it has been quite a while, but here's the promised lecso recipe. It's hardly an authentic Hungarian one but definitely closer than the kind you get in a jar. Real hungarian lecso usually contains bacon and is considered a main dish or part of a main dish (and not a tiny side or even something like pickled veggies which some people seem to mistake it for). Yellow (or orange) capsicums are perfect in this recipe as they are neither as bitter as green ones or as sweet as red ones but just inbetween those two extremes. Basic vegan lecso You need: - 2 or 3 yellow capsicums, depending on the size - 1 onion - a few tablespoons of oil (any neutral one should word in this case) - roughly 50-100 ml tomato puree or juice - salt and pepper to taste Remove the stem and seeds from the capsicum and cut it into 0.5 cm (1/4") strips. Clean the onion and cut it into thin half-moons. Heat some oil in a pan and add the capsicum. Once the capsicum begins to turn soft (but not mushy), add the onion and stir for a few more minutes on medium heat until the latter turns glassy. Add the tomato juice/puree, salt and pepper, cover with a lid and let it simmer for 10-20 minutes. Put it into the fridge until you need it or eat it right away. It's one of my staples and often used when making various other things so there isn't really that much to say. I haven't tried putting this homemade version into jars yet but that will definitely happen in the near future. Good lecso should be slightly soft but still have some chewyness... at least for my taste.

Now... let's see how my first two days went. Short resume of day 1: Did the daily workouts on the sheets (both the HIIT and Abs part). Breakfast consisted of a protein bar (made with the recipe on darebee, though I switched the vanilla protein powder for chocolate), lunch was whole-rye bread with various spreads (ikrette and teewurst, for example) and some creamy onion soup (using up leftovers). Not perfect, but still far from unhealthy. No learning, meditation or anything similar though... seems like I need to confine myself to "no gaming before the finals" or at least no gaming before learning. Short resume of day 2: Did my workouts just as yesterday - and HIIT really seems like my thing... doesn't need much time but still makes you feel like you've trained hard. On food... breakfast was a green smoothie, lunch snack was a protein bar and mixed fruit and veggie juice with flaxseed oil and for dinner we had braised celery, baked onion (with cheese and bacon) and fried potatoes with capsicum and fenugreek sprouts. Not completely made of suggestions from the plan, but... again, healthy enough and great to use up leftovers. Same as before on the learning/meditation. Have a great week everyone

True... the point is I like both and one is the specialty of our school... while there are no schools for the other.

Didn't know you before but your theme is great and you appear to be nice so I'll just follow you

Looks good so far... and great to hear we have another SaMo-fan here

Once again following you with your challenge :) And the mention of crafts and creativity almost sounds like something my challenges would need... so you may even become my inspiration.

Now that my life is almost at a turning point (brace yourselves... final exams are coming), it's time to prepare for the next part of my bigger journey somewhere else. And which place would be better to do so than the famous city of Free Haven, probably the largest settlement in Enroth with a huge variety of both weapon and armor shops, various other places of interest and, of course, magic guilds for almost every kind of magic. Therefore, the three parts of my recent challenge will each relate (at least in some way) to one of the three schools of self magic. Since these schools also teach their skills to everyone who is able and willed to learn them, they also mark the fact that most of all this comes from an external source (Darebee)and isn't even remotely created or modified by me. It's new territory, so the time for change will come... soon enough, but defintely not yet. Part1 - Body... the magic of healing As the name of this kind of magic indicates, it is all about healing, raising and maintaining your physical attributes and resistances. Aside from keeping my yoga routine (the surya namaskara is one of the best ways to wake up and get alert in every sense), I will be doing 2 Darebee programmes (since they don't interfere but instead should work well together)... more precisely, the ones called "Total Abs" and the "30 Days of HIIT". They also seem to be helpful for a long-time goal I wanted to have reached at the beginning of April 2016 which, sadly, didn't happen as planned. Part 2 - Mind... the magic of knowledge Since the finals (at least the written ones) are dated for the next 2 weeks, my first specialisation/goal is to get through them with acceptable results, giving my best for every single question in every single subject. Being prepared also counts as does preparing for the later oral exam and meditating to focus on what I know, need to know or hoepfully will know sooner or later. Depending on what day/week it is, there will be more specific examples of what I do or want to do for this. Part 3 - Spirit... the magic of life One of the main sources of life and survival is the food we eat. For the following ~4 weeks, my diet is based on the Darebee Ab Diet as far as possible. Our budget is a bit tight so we'll have to stick with what we have for at least until wednesday afternoon... though I will still try to make something mentioned by the cheat sheet out of what we have. After that, my rule of following said diet will be far more strict (except for birthdays/family celebrations of any kind... for obvious reasons) Lifetime Goal - Determining the next steps on my path While there will be a few more weeks of classes after the finals are done (for weird reasons no one understands), it would still be helpful to prepare for what is coming after that. Being almost 100% certain about studying at the Uni, the things that need to be determined are the subject (either History, Chemistry or Biology as major), the place and what those places want. Even though this seems to be most important, there are enough suitable emergency subjects that don't have any special requirements so, as far as my mates who are already studying or did so before have told, in case this gets screwed up completely, I can register for one of those. As always... g'luck everyone

Okay... I'm done. Now that this challenge is over, let's evaluate and assign some points (the old way). Part one - rise Not perfect because I moved my bodyweight WO from the mornings to the afternoon on some days but did them or a suitable replacement (AKA helping for the final battle) every day. And did my yoga in the morning. Since this helped me with both strength and flexibility, the reward is 2 points in strength and 1 in dexterity. Part two - get harder Aside from not having classes once thanks to our teacher having a great time in Switzerland (which he really deserves) and not going once (because I felt really tired and exhausted), this part was mostly successfull as well. Because of the things the teacher demanded and the things he mentioned as personal improvement for each of us, my points gained are 2 on dexterity and 1 on stamina. Part three - and stronger My choices were fairly limited but (thanks to my family and friends supporting me) in the end, I made it through lent and actually had a more healthy and varied diet than usual. It took some time thinking about what to have and how to make it (not to mention the time making), but that's how change works. Because doing so made me both healthier in a physical sense and forced me to learn even more about food and nutrition, it gives me 1 point in constitution, 1 point in wisdom and 1 in stamina. Lifetime Goal - Knowledge is Power The only part that won't give any points... because I forgot about it. Really... it's that simple and silly. So, the overall results are (summed up)... STR +2; STA +2; DEX +3; CON +1; WIS +1 See you again next time, everyone and keep on fighting for the final battle until it's officially over

Hey... remember that you've learned something and keep that in mind as success (and, of course, everything else that still went well). You'll do better next time

Remember, every little point counts and might make the difference in the end. It's just a few more hours, but... I believe in you... in every single member of this team.

First, it would be nice to know which country you live in because it really depends on your area when it comes to finding low-cost paleo basics. Aside from that, a few notes on things you would never eat and those you don't like too much are also helpful. But... regardless of those questions, I believe there is a way to do budget-friendly paleo.

Almost at the goal... and pretty busy. So, just a short summary on the last few days. Did my basketball class - so this one has been relatively successful. One time missing because of lazyness is the point where things could've been better, but... thing's can always be better. So the remaining days will be used to think about the number of points suitable for the "get harder" part of my challenge. Still prefer the old system and will keep using it until god knows when because it reminds me of pen and paper roleplaying. Morning workouts... great on the yoga, bad on the bodyweight. And the issue is time management... because I'm almost always doing the bodyweight workout later in the afternoon... well, except on rest days of course. Aside from that, the last few days are and will be for fighting. So instead of the beginner bodyweight workout, I'll do as many of the assigned excercises from the mini challenge to help our team winning this final battle. Last on eating... just a few more days and I'm done. It seems like this has been a joke... seriously, why did I even make this a part of my challenge? G'luck everyone... and keep on fighting

Great you made it through your fast Coming to some kind of conclusion is the most important point of fasting (IMO), aside from learning to live without something... at least for a while.

Good to hear everything seems to work for you I personally think it's easy to meditate when you don't have anything else to do - which is what happens on planes, busses or Trains... or wherever you spend a long time travelling

First... you're not the only one. So... how did your plan with the darebee WO and everything else go? Still on a tight schedule or are things getting better?

Hey everyone... let's win this as well Just do what you can, every single rep may just be the one that makes a difference in the end. We still can do this... go and give everything you can.

Didn't make any lecso yet, so it may take a while before the recipe gets posted. But... this is my late-night snack from yesterday The easiest way to make mozzarella taste like a miracle You need: - one piece of mozzarella (preferably the one made from buffalo milk) - olive oil - allspice - pepper - garlic powder - salt Put the mozzarella on a plate or in a small bowl. Drown in olive oil, sprinkle with spices and serve... or just eat it yourself Since good mozzarella cheese already has plenty of taste by itself, the spices and the oil are only there to enhance this taste. So... if you like mozzarella, this is great. Never tried it with regular mozzarella, but it may still be edible.

No idea on how teachers/courses usually tell you to do it, but I think it may have been easier to paint a regular apple (w colours) first... but that's just my opinion. Still looks good despite me needing a while to actually recognise what it is (person w/o glasses who needs them + paying too much attention to unnecessary details ) Sorry for your problems with the pull-ups, but at least you did your best and keep trying