Sambalina

Thanks, Dom! I ended up being down there for 55 mins! My air was the same as my brother, who's a divemaster The fish and coral were simple amazing!!! And I am so proud of myself for going way outta my comfort zone and doing it.

Hey there I'm still alive! I've got one week left in Vanuatu, and I am definitely enjoying my time with my family. Diet has completely gone to the dogs... mum made French toast this morning I'm not lifting, but I have been doing some bodyweight stuff with my dad (Yay! He's exercising of his own volition!), and tons of incidental stuff like hiking to a waterfall and swimming. This afternoon my brother is taking me for my first EVER suba dive in the ocean. He taught me the basics in the pool on Wednesday, and today I get to go in the sea. This is a HUGE deal for me because I am 100% terrified of it, so doing this is going to be a big achievement. I'm nervous already!

Hey guys! I made it to Vanuatu just fine Sadly, it's been really humid and rainy here since I arrived... but it is so nice and warm! Seeing my family is great. I'm going to do a bodyweight workout this morning, and am trying to keep my diet fairly controlled, though there are lots of things I "have to try". Luckily, my whole family is very familiar with 'low-carbing', so my eating is not that strange or hard for them to understand. The internet here is pretty slow, but seems ok. KJ hasn't texted me back since I arrived, so I'm feeling kind of stressed about that. We had kind of an issue before I left where I found out about some baggage he has from a previous relationship that could be a deal breaker for me. I think it was more of an issue for me than him, and while we were fine when I left, I'm stressing about the relationship now. Which I feel totally guilty about because I should be solely focussed on enjoying my family and my vacation. Anyway, breakfast time Catch you guys later

Ah, the TOM munchies. I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with them. Apparently we DO burn more calories during that time, but only 100-300 more, which doesn't really account for the 'Eat ALL the things' all the time kinda feeling! Good luck, Momo!!

OOOOHHHH ouch! I'm glad you got your tooth-work done. Here's to hoping it stops hurting quickly!

I feel your IE pain. ALL Korean websites are made specifically for IE and actually do not work in other browsers... which means I have to do my banking and internet shopping use the most notoriously unstable and unsecured browser known to man. Good times. But, you're doing so well this week! So much paleo even though you've got so much work - huge well done!

A harpoon gun for an arm could really get in the way! I'm all for your smaller concealed weapon idea. Maybe a small dart gun with different dart-poison options? So sorry to hear your wrist is still so sore as everyone has said, if it's still hurting, you're not a wuss for getting it checked! Even if they can't see what's wrong with it, pain is pain. Big hugs and I hope it gets better really soon.

I'm still here! Just really quiet. I'm going well at the gym, should get most of my work finished today, and then it's off to Vanuatu on Sunday! I fell off the 'no sugar' wagon about a week ago, and am just now getting things back under control. It wasn't anything spectacularly bad, but I enjoyed the hell out of that Kit Kat Chunky. (TMI Warning) The extreme sugar cravings lasted EXACTLY as long as my period did, and I felt unable to control them. I tried lots of the tricks, but I was obsessed. I even went out one evening in the freezing temperatures to walk through the snow to get a chocolate bar. Maybe sugar can be a three weeks off - one week in moderation thing. I don't know. Anyway, fully back on track now, but I'm sure there will be many exceptions over the next three weeks while on vacation. However, I'll still be avoiding gluten and grains. Updates might be few and far between while I travel, but I will be back

How you feeling mentally about it all?

Woooooo!! Go Momo! You look awesome! That's all have I have to say Well done on your lifting! That's pretty cool.

The awful things I have heard nutritionists tell my friends.... It really makes me mad! My friends are all like "Oh Sam, I wish I could look like you" and I tell them how I eat and what I do, and they say "Oh, well my nutritionist says fat is bad/protein will make me bulky/it's good to eat a million rice wafer cakes". Bah! Anyway, not a bad week Dimples - get that protein in that mouth Excellent job with your gym consistency, you're going so strong there!

Awww, that's too cute! Thanks Dimples! Yeah, I am still on the cult-alert. However, it really is his decision and his life at this point. I'm hoping it's a phase that he'll have explored fully by the time I'm back from Vanuatu. If he's still going so intensely after that, it'll have been about 9 weeks since he started and maybe time for me to openly express concern to him. So, deadlift day today. All good, except I banged the bar on my left knee on the way down and now it's a very pretty purple colour, a bit swollen, and slightly painful. I'm imagining it's going to stiffen up as the day goes on. I'm supposed to be going ice skating tonight, but I'll have to see how it feels. Not a major injury, but I don't want it to become one by over-working it when it's already banged up. Ouch! (But, is it wrong that I also feel like a bit of a bad-ass for having epic deadlift bruises?). Oh and a deadlift story! So, I was in the gym, only white girl, only girl in the free weight area. There's a small Korean girl/woman/female (maybe 20 years old) there with her boyfriend. She's literally playing with a couple of 1-2kg dumbbells, like just holding them or swinging them around while giggling excessively at her boy (who, to give him credit, was quite built). Anyway, I started my working sets, which were at 52kg today, and you should have seen her face! I guess I was probably lifting her bodyweight, and her mouth just hung open as I picked it up It's not a big weight, I know, but it's big for me, and it was nice to impress someone

Aw Vix We all have those days. You'll get it next time or the time after, I'm sure.

I think they marriage counselling sounds like a great experience! Everyone could do to learn better communication skills, be more understanding of their spouse, and so on. You should feel lucky it's only two days. In Brunei they have to go for like a month!

You're right, Panczo - about everything you wrote And I certainly do get to explore some awesome places. It's been a full year, almost, since I last travelled. I did so much in 2012 and the start of 2013 that I was a bit burnt out. I still wouldn't be going anywhere if it wasn't to see my family, but I am pretty excited about it. Mum told me yesterday she got me a VIP card in my name to one of the fancy resorts on the island! I have no idea what that means or what the benefit is... but it sounds good! I'm imaging access to beautiful swimming pools. Oh! Maybe the have spa treatments? I would love a massage. Ok, enough travel excitement for one post! All goals are on track - I'm still sugar-free, giving me $30 earned so far I've been experimenting with eating <100g of crabs for the past three days (just to try it out). I've been at 60g, 80g, and 70g for sun-mon-tues. I'm not really feeling anything here nor there. I did get really hungry today because I didn't have breakfast and I craved candy like a crazy person. Instead, I made the biggest tuna omelette I've ever eaten and had it with cheese, olives, and almonds. That shut me up for about 6 hours Only two workouts left this week, and I'll be finished phase one of barbell battalion. I want to increase my lifts tomorrow - even if it's just by 1kg.

^^ what he said!

Well.... that escalated quickly!

Looks like a good system, Dimples. How did week 1 go for you? Also, do you have a smart phone? I find using apps to track everything from goals, to nutrition, to what I do at the gym to be really convenient.

Oh cool Let me know how it turns out.

Hey P! I don't have time to comment properly right now, so just leaving you a quick hug and " go get 'em!!" Subbbed so I can come back later to appreciate your awesomeness

You are looking so back on track this time, Dom. Huge well done for a successful week 1! You've probably thought of this, but would you want to try intermittent fasting for when you have to commute and can't get a paleo meal? Or, alternatively, pre-cooking something that can be heated up quickly at home or work, or eaten cold.

Ok, now I really want one... I have to go see if they sell them here. If they don't have slow-cookers in the store, I'm pretty sure I can get one online. Research time! And now, back to Kim! How you doing?

Huge WOOT! 3 sizes down - nice, PA! As for how to get it into your sig.... not sure. Can you copy and paste the image url from wherever the original counter is and paste the url into the 'insert image' in the signature editor? No idea if that would work or not.

Nice job Vix! How's the lifting prep for the comp going?

Blaidd!! Hope everything is amazing for you And thanks for stealing the candy, much appreciated. Ok, time for a week one wrap-up! Apart from the slip involving the tea, everything has gone great. My cabs have been at or around 150g per day, except yesterday when I decided to experiment and only ate 60g. I may try it again today, 'cos I feel fine and I've heard that the occasional drop in carbs can really help move things along with regards to getting your body fat adapted. I've been gluten-free and paleo (excluding some sugar-free yoghurt) all week. I only got the the gym twice last week, but that might have been a good thing. The new barbell battalion workouts are making me do some new stuff, so a good recovery over the weekend will hopefully let me lift nice and strong today. No progress on the weights yet, I plan to add 2kg to each lift in the second half of this week - but maybe not for all my reps. Have to see what I can handle. Lesson planning is all good too! All I have left for the film class is to update the exams with the new info, which shouldn't be hard, and then I'm on to doing ESL low, which will mainly involve designing all the tests and laying out the homework activities. The homework will be the biggie because I'm planning on having the class write and act out role-plays relevant to each week's lesson, film themselves, and the send it to me for assessment. We will probably do some whole-class peer assessments too. Fun! But, it's the first time I've done it, so working out the logistics and explanations might take a while. 2 weeks to Vanuatu!! I did some research and I spoke to KJ about the religion thing last night. I asked how it was going and was it something he thought he wanted to do long-term. He said he wasn't sure yet, but he didn't like the way it was taking up all his time and that he'd like to go maybe once a month. That sounded good to me (once a week is fine, just not all weekend!), and I asked him if the group was ok with that, but he said no, they encouraged full attendance and told him he was missing out if he didn't always go. I said "Hm, good marketing tactic", which he agreed with. So, while I think he enjoys the spirituality (it a form of Buddhism with very old traditional Korean stuff mixed in), he's not (yet?) prepared to commit all his time to it. I really want him to explore this side of himself, and get whatever he needs from this, and I just have to be calm, try to accept the cultural things I can't understand, but also keep an eye out for crazies preying on the fact that he is a spiritual guy with a high-stress job searching for some meaning and peace.