Isa_VE

...Is it wrong that I laughed at you falling off your yoga poses? (probably, yes). Falling in love with yoga is a GREAT thing to do! I wish it would happen to me, maybe I'll include yoga on my next challenge! thanks for the inspiration. Good luck with your moving away! its usually a huge step, I hope everything goes well for you

Hi! yess the challenge has been pretty much a success! I hadn't really expected it to go so well. Regarding substituting, I agree! is an amazing way to stay low on not-healthy snacks. My problem is that I get bored really quick aaand right now I dont really have a bunch of options to pick from . Nonetheless it works, so I'm going to try and widen my choices... It's time to get creative! Thanks for the advice. ----------------------------- Continuing to update now that I finally (finally!!!) managed to connect, It's the last week and I'm excited! I already have a bunch of goals for next challenge but first, on the recta final of this one: I skipped yesterday's workout, but is the only one I've skipped in weeks and I'm making up for it today (also I did get a lot of physical activity so I don't even regret skiping it that much) so, so far, workout goal has been a sucess. 5:2 is a really manageable dieting style (only I'd recommend avoiding friday as one oh the "2" days as I did, since its evenings are very prone to involve out-of-the-routine drinks and food), since my goal these weeks wasn't really loosing weight or fat but more like building habits and getting used to how the challenge works and wether it was something I could commit to, I really didn't track my weight or body fat percentage and now I think it would've been a good idea to effectively meassure the impact of 5:2 so the whole experiment would have actual tangible results. Thinking back, I just thought I wouldn't stick to it so it didn't cross my mind. Note taken. As for the meditation, it goes well, but I'm still on the lookout for the meditation style that works best for me. Tai Chi is awesome, but i'm getting bored with that too. I'm still figuring this one out, I'm not giving up. Last but not least, snacks. I feel like 2/day is my top for now. Maybe I'm being overly indulgent with myself but I still believe that going from 5+ to 2 is a HUGE win for me, specially with all I've been living through (we all have complicated lifes and I'm not trying to make excuses here, but things have been REALLY hard around here lately). Sadly, since I wanted to go for 1/day I can't count this as a success per se, but is still a win. Not sure if that made sense. I hope I can connect again soon (meaning: before the challenge is over) and post this challenge's last update and final resume. "It's the final lap! make it your best!" Cheers

Came here to give a little encouragement, but all seems to be going well! Bon courage! ... Also, I'm in for that planning-slightly-ahead-of-time-group o/ sometimes what motivates me the most on one activity is the planning itself (à la Monica Geller?).

Cool! I'm aplying to a master next year too (hopefully, fingers crossed) but all I can think about is "when is this undergrad going to be overrrr???" I mean, I love it but please make it stop. I do understand the fun part, though. Good luck with all that. Also, I'm still considering the flexibility goal, but your words are still a little unhelpfull haha. Éxito.

Hiii! Well electrical problems are more or less solved, but internet connection is still faible in my region and overall situation in the country is pretty tense so I can't really go other place to connect. You're right about "unplugging" being nice though, comming home with almost no connection to the outer world brings some peace in these overly stimulating days, even if it has some dissadvantages. Thanks for your kind words! *** Despite all that, my challenge is going pretty well if I say so myself. Have not missed a workout yet and meditation not only goes well but really helps cutting back the anxiety that comes with the whole "situation". Had another low-cal 5:2 day on friday and it went OK, not hard at all wich is still surprising but still no miraculous effects. Regarding snacks, I managed to cut to 2/day but can't manage to drop it to only one, when I try I end up making the second really big, so it's actually worse; even so, I'm really happy I went to over 5/day to only two, so I'm still counting it as "going well" (it's not cheating... no it is not). I hope I can update again before the 4th week begins, comming back here actually motivates me! Good Luck, everyone.

Congratulations for getting back on track! (from day 9 to 10 I mean). Also, I think it's impressive how you're changing a goal just because it's too easy. I'm actually clinging to my easy ones! And 8 hours a day on physics and math while on summer break? that's dedication, congrats again. I had thought about adding a flexibility goal for my next challenge (if this one goes as planned) but I've always hated stretching and your comments, despite your success, don't exactly encourage me hahaha let me know how it goes. Stay strong.

Thanks! I didn't have internet connection (or electrical power, actually) these last few days, so I couldn't update, but I have good news! workout went well saturday and tuesday (yaay) and I had my first low cal day from 5:2 today, and it was waaaaay easier than I thought. It even worked along my other goal (stay under 3 unhealthy snacks) since knowing my usual snacks are packed with calories made me go for healthier choices and as I said, it wasn't even hard. I started by having a late breakfast and ended the day with an early dinner, with a couple of fruity snacks in the middle. Easy cake, didn't even feel the hunger besides noticing the emptyness in my stomach before breakfast. I thought I'd be light-headed or feel weak, but plenty of water took care of that. Despite the surprising success, I still didn't feel any of the miraculous efects I was "supposed" to feel like increased concentration or high energy. Maybe it takes time, my next low cal day is scheduled to friday, so we'll see. Oh! and Tai Chi do makes it easier to go through a longer meditation session, although my mind keeps wandering often. Have a great week you all! Stay strong.

Amazing how you're going "cold turkey" (what a weird expression) on junk food. I hope you can overcome the abstinence phase and things go easier for you, since it's so easy to fall for that "shit I want something sweet" moment and when it happens, it tends to happen hard. Sounds like you have a determination of steel so I don't think there should be worries. As for the problem solving incompletion, interesting conversations can really stimulate our brains! probably not the same areas as math problem solving, but I'd still count it. Congratulations! you seem to be doing great keep at it.

I try to go for mindful meditation, the "non-judgemental" part really picked my interest and when I'm suddenly anxious I try to do it for a couple of minutes and it really calms me down. Hadn't heard about Yoga Nidra before! I'll be sure to give it a try, although I feel like it would be something I'd enjoy most if I did it right before going to sleep due to its relaxing nature. I'll download a meditation app or audio to try the guided meditation, sounds like it could work for me! The picking-a-subject-to-meditate-on sounds interesting, but frankly I believe is a little out of my reach for now, my mind tends to wander A LOT and thinking about one subject will surely lead to many deviations; even so, I'll put a pin over it and try to go for it when I feel I can handle it. The active and walking meditation caught my attention too! (what's with those Marathon Monks!? now THAT'S dedication). Thanks! Hahaha falling sleep sounds like something that could tottaly happen to me. Following the advice you three have given me, I think I'm going to switch from my usual approach to meditation and go for something more "active", applying to a new skill sounds cool, but I know me and if I add another component to my current goals I'll just start diverging too much; for now I got to keep it simple Reading and re-reading all of your suggestions, I think I'm going to try Tai Chi if I go for it in the mornings and Yoga Nidra if I decide to leave it until bedtime. Infinite thaaaaaankyous for the recomendations! It has been most inspiring. --------------------- On other news, I was supposed to stay under 3 unhealthy snacks today and was doing just fine until a few hours after dinner time where I succumbed and went for two in a row (yikes! (isn't that a funny word?)) I managed to acknowlege the trigger, but failed to work around it. Went for another walk on friday (I'm feeling quite ok now ), is not a workout, but if as soon as I get better I manage to do a full workout and stick to it next week, I'll count it as a win, since the most important part of that goal is to get my lazy ass moving so I can create a routine and build a habit out of it. Thank you and good luck to all of you, I hope you all have a terrific weekend!

Thanks @fleaball! Well, no fever on thursday! Still sticking to 3 u-snacks which is surprising!! And meditation goes fine. Well, not THAT fine, I'm still super bored after the first 3 min... I don't know what to do about it (any suggestions?), but I'm still doing it and I've found out that updating the progress on the challenge helps a lot: after not being able to workout which I thought was going to be my "not so hard" goal I don't really feel like posting that I'm not meditating either... So, that's a disguised "Thank you very much" too all of you that have given me encouraging words on these days. Sickness still keeps me from even wanting to workout and that makes me sad, but I felt better on thursday and went out for a walk since it was finally sunny after a while. it was wonderful. Sunlight is like magic on an aching (not sure if that's how it's written) body. It's time I start reducing my unhealthy snacks to less than 3/day, so wish me luck today. Also, thank you very much too all of you that have given me encouraging words. That one wasn't disguised.

Monday was indeed better; 3 u-snacks, 5 min meditation. All goals fullfilled what I got and wasn't expecting though was getting sick fever is not so bad, but whole body pain is horrible... So, I wasn't able to workout on tuesday and I don't feel like cutting on calories today (first low cal 5:2 day) since I'm already feeling awfully weak. I'm still stickng to the snack substituting one and already did my meditation so, not all is lost.

Awesome challenge! I had forgotten how much I loved CCS!!! I was like 7 when the anime ended and I actually CRIED because I didn't want it to be over. Good luck with your goals! You seem to be doing great, keep it up

Congratulations on this! It's amazing how much we can dread or want to avoid certain social events, but when we actually go they turn out to be super fun. Keep up the great work

Yesterday was ok. Meditation was cool, but not enough to keep me from the 4th unhealthy snack Some bad news I got just sent me straight to the kitchen for some simple carbs. I knew what I was doing and that I shouldn't, but still did... Today is day 2 and I'm doing a little better, I hope I can keep it up the rest of the day.

Thanks!

And like that, came Sunday. My week usually starts on Monday, but this time I'm gonna deviate from ISO 8601 (... yyyy-mm-dd, really? That's just confusing) and incline for a more religious calendar approach and start this FIRST WEEK on my first 4WC on Sunday, because I'm quite excited and can't wait to start Even so, this Sunday will be pretty normal. I decided to leave workouts for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, so no workout today. My 2 days from 5:2 will be Wednesday and Friday (hence the workout days schedule) so no need to cut back on calories for now either. So, that leaves me with meditation aand unhealthy-for-healthy-snack substitution. I said "pretty normal", but didn't meant "easy". Today I'm still entitled to 3 unhealthy snacks, but since my willpower is at its worst on mid to late afternoon, I'll try to save them until around then, so only healthy ones during the morning. As for meditation, I'm going to sleep now and getting with it as soon as I wake up (I hope). Wish me luck. Or send me some strenght... come on, I know lots of you did when Goku was doing the Genkidama. I might not be trying to save the world from incredibly-competitive martial-artist aliens, but I can assure you, fighting my own demons can get close to that. Also, good luck to all of you out there.

Hello! Those are really nice goals! Good luck with them. As for the discipline part I totally feel you, but I'm sure that staying in touch with people here as well as updating your progress will help with that. Best wishes.

Never would've thought about AM-GM! Nice thinking. My math is way more than rusty (well, it was never really eh.. non-rusty either hahaha). Now that I see it again though, there could be a graphic way of solving it, don't you think? It would probably be a lot more messy... idk, as I said math and I have been on a break for a couple of years now. Anyway, problem solving is an amazing goal to have, congrats. Maybe I'll try it too in the future, although I'm more into multidisciplinary riddles. Also, congrats on your ComicCon raid! I'm a little bit jealous.

I knew there was something weird haha thanks for the correction! You're both right, music helps a lot too, specially if you sing

Hahaha ok, ok. You're right, there's no need to degrade (not sure if it is the right word) our goals, like you say, we each have different situations. Thanks for the good wishes! We'll be on the loop (again... not sure if that's the right expression hahaha) regarding 5:2 then! Good luck to you too

Food is definitely the Achilles's heel for most. I mean, it's not uncommon to hear: "I love working out!" but how often do we hear "God, I hate eating"? It's a bit unfair, I think. Just... wow hahaha. I'd start by manipulating your second expression by factoring and moving things up and down a bit until you find a way to insert the first one (xy+yz+xz=5) into it. Then, you probably can use the definition of the variables that is given to you at the beggining; the fact that they are positive numbers means that x+y+z >= 0 and the fact that they're real means x^2+y^2+z^2 >=0, right? the former actually appears in the second expression so it might be useful, the latter probably is hidden in there too. So, with that info you can probably reach an inequation from where you can find an interval where your variables fulfill the conditions. From there, taking the least value you can reach with the second expression you can move to the second part of the problem: the (a*b^(1/2))/c expression would be equal to the least value you just found... from there i've just hit a wall... the fact that gcd(a,c)=1 and b is square free means that what you have is the most "reduced" version of the expression (since a and c have no other common denominator other than 1, you cant simplify a/c and since b is square free, when you decompose it in its primes, you wont find any of them twice, so you can't simplify b^(1/2) either... I just don't know how this info can be usefull hahaha Anyway, that's only based on my supossition that the first part (x,y,z) and the second part (a,b,c) are "independent", but I might be wrong and they could be linked. In sum, I was probably of no help, but it was fun to think about the problem for a while. I might try it again later with pencil and paper! Good luck with your problem solving. And the other parts of the challenge, of course.

I guess you're right about the running hahaha hadn't thought about it like that. I used to use my university's track but the situation is a bit... tense, right now around here. I hope I can add "running" to my next challenge... I agree! It's a kinda special treat to me so, stealing your wise words, as long as it doesn't negatively impact my life, I'll continue with just this one Thanks for the support So I've found out! I will! I appreciate the offer, I'll probably have a few questions as I avance in the workout part of the challenge Also, TFA gif? Totally rocks. BB-8 is so cute hahaha Thanks for the welcome!

Well hello and nice to meet you too! Totally get you on this one. I don't actually have years of info, but I DO know what it is that I have to do to change and still have failed on it before. More than once. Even so, I believe that not giving up is an amazing attribute to have and for what can be read on your introduction, you have it. Ok, that one is just plain cool hahaha. Good luck with this new journey

Hello! I'm starting with the challenge (my first) this sunday too. Good luck with yours! Your missions look great btw. As for this, I totally feel you. When it's rainy is not that I don't want to do anything, but I do get rather melancholic. What I do enjoy doing in rainy days though is reading and watching movies. May I suggest... why not make use of those days to pick up a book or watch a movie or series in french or german? I suppose language learning is different for everybody, but I believe movies and books NEVER come too early. While learning french, that's the system I followed to compliment (is that the right word?) my lessons and it worked like magic, even if I didn't understand more than "oui" and "salut" at first, movies really helped improve my listening comprehension and pronunciation and reading made me more familiar with the written language. Also, congrats on targeting two languages at the same time! Its quite impressive. Éxito!

Thaaaanks, really, your empathy means a lot. Aaaand yes, yes we can! I don't know if I laughed harder with the comment or with the gif, thanks for both Feels weird when someone tells you something along the lines of "good job with your mental health" though (JK).