Sambalina

I love you!!! And I love your new list, too I'm 27 now, so I think you just inspired me to do a 'before 30' list too. Oooh, environmental psych... nice! That is one of the best uses for mind control that I can think of - awesome sauce! I'm pretty sure I'm going to get certified in eating psychology next year, so together we can save the world!! Mwahahahaha! (Good guys can still have fun-as evil laughs, right? 'Cos otherwise I'mma have to re-think this...)

Ooooh, I've heard great things about MMA - is it fun? It looks like it's be really intense. How is your challenge going?

Hey! Hey Blaidd! Long time, no see you beautiful human being! I'm so sorry you didn't get entry into your event, but you sound like you've got a kick-ass plan here to not lose motivation on the goal. I like it! And an emergency/wedding fund? I totally read that as 'emergency wedding' fund, like "OMG PANIC! We gotta get married right now!". I'm assuming you're at the marriage fund stage with you man, and if you are, HUGE hugs and congrats. Also - I LOVE LOVE LOVE your business goal. I'm about to embark on the baby stages of something similar, so will be super keen to hear about how it goes for you. Enjoy your vacation, I know you've earned it.

I love your hidden Bat Man!! Someone needs to make a lego superheoros Christmas town. I would totally pay for that! I love you challenge, and props for just getting started on it instead of waiting! You'll have a total head-start when it comes to the new year. And what is 'dirty yoga'? I am intrigued.

Hey ScarletFyre, how is your challenge going? The points are up to you, really. If you feel like you've worked really hard and achieved some improvements, give yourself some points! Personally, I wouldn't give myself max points for missed weeks, but if you've achieved goals and made progress, that's what the points are meant to show I hope that helps

Hi Annaraven! Nice challenge Wow - a Tough Mudder goal - that's awesome! How are you training for that? If you can make it through a tough mudder, you totally have an edge for the zombie apocalypse!!

I love that list! How cool! Have you thought to make a new one, what 26 year old you would like from 52 year old you? Or maybe even 36 year old you. Pretty cool inspiration for a respawn And you have mind control powers?.... are you in marketing...?

I think it's also something that just takes time. It's taken me literally years to get to a really healthy place, food-wise. Every time I fall, it's a little less deep than the last time, and a little easier to get back on track. Be gentle on yourself and definitely don't expect perfection (but don't be a wimp, either!). The healthy eating thing is a total journey, and if you keep honestly trying, you will change over time. Keep it up, and kick this respawns butt!!

Good luck, Annyshay! The sugar dragon (mine's an actual demon at times) is a worthy foe - especially at this time of year. I think your idea of turning down sugar offered to you is a good one. That way, the choices you make, you can be sure they are not made to make other people happy. We're all here to help you in battle! Awesome respawn!

So this has been (and still is) one crappy, crappy week. My boyfriend really unexpectedly broke up with me, my best freind moved out of the country, and I got a bad haircut (pre-breakup) as well. This is a lot to deal with - my core support group is now shattered and I have no one close to 'be there for me', which is a difficult feeling. I am coping, but it sucks big time. Constant anxiety and nausea is the worst. I got to the gym yesterday and have decided to focus on training for my 5k color run for the next few weeks. Lifting gives me too much down time to think, and running/walking doesn't. So, I've let my gym membership lapse while I take my training into the great outdoors. In other good news, I had to go for a health check-up for work a couple of weeks ago and I just got the results back. I'm super healthy! All my numbers came back at, or below (in a good way) the safe amount, and I wasn't at risk for any diseases that they test for. So, at least I'm doing something right

Ok, all those hugs were awesome! Thank you!

I just got broken up with AGAIN. I feel like I spend as much time getting over relationships as I do actually being in them. This one was out of the blue, and sucks like the rest of them. However, I'm going to try not to let it de-rail me like the last one did. It's taken me six months to build my healthy habits back up after the last on, and I'm not going to let them go again now. Warm words of wisdom and internet hugs are now being accepted.

Hey guys This week is going really well, health-wise. I'm on day three of getting up early and I can already see a huge difference in my productivity, and feelings about my day. It's great, and one of the easiest, most effective changes I've every consciously made. I put happy music on my alarm, and although I always wake up before it goes off, it helps set the tone for the day. I've been to the gym and lifted twice this week, with no motivational problems... which is fantastic. I also, kind of spur of the moment, signed up to do a 5k 'color run' where you run/walk and spectators throw (non toxic!) powdered paint at you. It's on July 19, and I have no hope of running the whole 5k, but I've started doing some training so I can at least give it a shot. I think it'll be really fun. I think my boyfriend mentioned his plans to buy paint to throw at me Speaking of relationships, I just read the '5 Love Languages' book, and I thought it was excellent. Not a cure-all, but so positive. Anyway, to answer your questions: I write about ESL and teaching/education in general. The two that I'm working on right now are about student motivation, and another about lesson planning. Dom, good bubble tea is delicious, when it's fresh brewed with proper bubbles. When it's bad, made from powder, or stale, it's gross. If you can get 'Gong Cha' brand, go for it! As far as Taiwanese food goes, it's mostly Chinese and delicious.

Bubble tea is made of win! And a crap ton of carbs... but still win So, I went hiking yesterday and enjoyed it a lot. I actually decided to go alone instead of with a group. I know I need to start making more friends, as I'm already feeling a bit lonely, but I just got into Seoul and suddenly wanted to just be by myself. I haven't really done that in a good long time. I was so busy being busy and getting over my last break-up that I've really not been spending much time with myself and looking after my own inner wellbeing. Well, I took a look at my list of goals I made for 2014 while sitting on a lovely rock on a hillside. I realised, with no small amount of panic, that I'd made progress on only one of those goals Well, marked progress. I have a savings goal which I've surpassed this month (only six months in, so yay for savings!), but my life goals and lifting goals have really not been prioritised like they should have. I want to get published (academically) twice - and while I have both articles in draft form, I've barely touched them, nor made real plans to submit them anywhere. My lifting is a mess, and I'm back where I was almost a year ago. Blegh. But I spent some quiet time just thinking about it, and I realised that I think I can start moving forward with all these things with just one easy fix. Yup, just like those banner ads that promise to banish your belly fat with one weird food. I think that if I just start getting up early, like I used to, then I will have all this extra time to get things done. I work best in the morning, and shut down towards the evening, so if I can just get up at 6am every day and either get into the gym (m-w-f), or work on my projects (writing, researching, etc), I'll be set. So, I have programmed alarms into my phone, and we'll see how it goes.

This is all looking so good, Dom! Your numbers are really positive, and your goals are so healthy. Go, man, go!

Beautiful pics, AB! Your challenge looks so great - pretty goal organisation, yummy food, and gorgeous scenery. Really inspiring stuff. I've been pondering a way to make my challenge more central to y life (they used to be so easy!), and I think your IRL charts might be a god idea. Thank you for that! And sorry to hear you're getting sick - dust and allergies can leave you so prone to infection. Not to mention the stress you must be under. Huge hugs for you, hun.

Hey guys! Taiwan was awesome!! I ate some excellent food and drank so much bubble tea (I'm a bubble tea fiend). As far as my challenge goes, I obviously haven't been to the gym for the week I was in Taiwan, but I walked all day every day, so I think it balances out. I'm going hiking tomorrow and my gym is closed on Sunday, so I'm back into it come next week. I'm going to do a body weight workout on Sunday, so all the walking, hiking, and the BW workout I'm going to count as my 3x gym a week My eating quality protein each meal has been going very well, too. Any excuse to eat more meat and eggs! However, while I was in Taiwan, I definitely ate more sugar than my planned amount, so back to reducing that this week. I really want to get my energy levels back up to where I know they can be without all the sugar and gluten. No progress made on the cookie shipping plans yet. Redtomato - it's just a small business where I bake cookies at home, to order. I live in South Korea, and there's not a lot of quality 'western' style baked stuff here, and expats really miss it. I'm going to branch out into brownies soon! So far, I've just been selling to co-workers and friends, but I've made, maybe $100 in past two months. It's enough to support my hobby, which is enough for me There's a link to the website in my sig... I'm having a lot of fun with it so far. I went to dance class last night, and am going to go social dancing next week. Still really enjoying it. Ok, that's a ll from me - time to go reconnect a bit with the NF community, now that I have some free time

Hey all It's nice to be back! I'm run off my feet this week - it's final exam week so I have a lot of grading to do (plus entering grades into the system etc.) before I rush off to Taiwan on Friday. I'm hoping to catch up on all your threads when I get back next week. PrincessHeather - ooooh... supercharged? That sounds awesome! I'm going to look into that for when I'm done with the women's one

Hi everyone The challenge is off to a strong start. I got to the gym three times last week for the first time since January, and I'm all set to do the same this week. I went social dancing on Thursday, but I'm not counting it as one of my four times, because it's outside the 'official' challenge, so I still have all four to go. I've been dancing for almost six months, and I'm not that great, but I do enjoy it.

Hey Stephil, welcome to the warriors! I've done stronglifts too, and it's great! Do you have the app? I found that pretty useful fro tracking. I feel you on your social situation. I live along way from home too, and I've just 'dumped' one of my two main friends, and the other is moving to Germany in under a month. I'm seeing some loneliness in my future. However, hobbies are a great way to meet new people, maybe with your cosplay stuff, you' find some like-minded peeps? I know I find dancing and hiking with groups to be a great way to meet folks (you an try www.meetup.com for your area). Good luck, and us nerds are always here for you

Nice challenge, Yuen Did you know they added the minty tingle to toothpaste in an attempt to make it harder to forget to brush? It's totally unnecessary, other than as a habit building thing. So, I was thinking - you could try buying a really intensely minty toothpaste, and then maybe the lack of minty freshness at night would help remind you after a couple of brushes? And welcome to the warriors!

Hey guys! I took last challenge off, and while I didn't abandon my health goals, I certainly slacked off a bit. I'm here in this challenge to focus on building up my healthy habits back to where I want the to be. Main Quest: Get stronger. Yeah, it's that simple. I've lost a lot of my strength that I built last year, and am ready to reclaim it. I've gone back to NRLFW, because I was really bored of what I was doing. Let me tell you, the 15 rep sets at the start of the program are KILLER. The variety ha pit some spice back into my lifting life. My Three goals to achieve this: - Go to they gym and lift 3x a week - Limit my sugar intake to 1-2 iced tea drinks/week, and the occasional taste-test of new cookie recipes. - Eat quality protein with every meal (no numbers here because I'm not ready to track this yet... baby steps). I can't see anything that will seriously get in the way of these goals, other than a 5 day trip to Taiwan from the 13th of June. During this vacation, I won't be working out, but I will be walking everywhere. I'm also not going to restrict my diet at all - the whole point of going is to EAT! The only problem I can see is my own dedication/motivation. So, it's reward time! I've been wearing the same workout gear for years now. When I complete all three mini-goals at at least an 80% compliancey, AND get measurably stronger, I will buy a whole new workout outfit, including top and bottom. Life Quest: Get my bakery business ready to start full, Korea-wide shipping in September. - beta-testing of online ordering - test shipping (speed, costs, etc.) - plan advertising (what, where, when) Fitness Side-Quest: Go social swing-dancing 4 times. And now a wee life update for those of you who've been along for the ride these past few years I'm healthy and doing well. I got over my last breakup (well, it's a continuing process). It's had it's tough moments, but I know I'll get there. I am seeing someone new, and he's wonderful, but is about to start a new job in July, which will see him working a 6-day week. That may prove to be too much for me, so I'm not sure about our future. Also, I've 'dumped' a bad friend, who I thought was my est friend, but she was just never there for me, was extremely negative, and never wanted to know about me or my life. I eventually came to the realization that not only was I feeling really bad about the relationship, but if you're like the 5 people you spend the most time with, she's not someone I want to be like at all. So, down one friend. What's more, my other best friend is leaving Korea on July 3rd, and I'm really upset about it. She's going on to something wonderful, but once again (selfishly), I'm upset for me. And I'll be all alone. Again. But, far from wallowing, once the summer vacation is over (and I'm going to be working like a mad-thing to make some extra $$), I'm going to get really proactive in making new friends and joining more social groups. My swing-dance side quest is part fitness, and part social, and should be a good start to getting me 'out there'. So, I might be in for a bit of a lonely summer, but I've been through worse. Ok, that's all from me. I'm starting this challenge right now!

I don't know if this ever goes away. I think body image is something we constantly have to work on, like having a good relationship with another person. We can't just think "when I weigh this much, I'll love myself", just like we can't think being in love or getting married means 'happily ever after' with no more thought or work. I think we can reach a place where we are happy and healthy, but those body-image niggles and worries will always creep in. I think this is so true: And something we have to actively practice. Good luck on your journey

These are all excellent suggestions for something I'm dealing with - yet again! Like some of you, I don't find the fruit hits the spot, generally, but if I add some fat to that fruit, say with nuts, nut butter, cream, or coconut milk, it does a MUCH better job for me. I remember reading somewhere that some scientists were playing around with the idea that some of our sugar cravings can actually be fat cravings, especially if you're on a ow fat diet. So, I find this combo of fruit+fat to work pretty well. However, it needs to be the only/easiest option - if there're cookies, ice cream or whatever anywhere near, it'll win. So, second tip is to keep the sweets out of the house Hope things are going well for you!

Haha, Dom! I don't think Oz customs would let them through Thank you both for the encouragement though. I had an truly awesomely awful day food-wise yesterday. Two doughnuts, and a HUGE bowl of brownies and ice cream, and an ice block at various times during the day. Today is going to be much better. I had paleo pancakes for breakfast, have got chicken soup for lunch, and bbq meat and veg for dinner. I got the the gym this morning. It was a struggle, but I knew I'd feel better if I went. I had a wee emotional re-lapse yesterday afternoon and spent a few hours out on a big walk trying to 'blow out the cobwebs' as my dad says. I've been hit with a middle-sized case of 'I want him back', which isn't too bad, but it is making me feel a bit crap. Luckily I have dance tonight and a dinner party tomorrow. Two really busy days, so I won't have much time to think (or worse - text!). Hmm... I'm hungry...