Search the Community

Hello all! I was wondering if there are any rebels from Denmark around? Could be fun to do a meet-up sometime.

Take a good look, because that is just ONE of the awesome places I'm going next month. So, I totally fell off during the last challenge. Had some old issues come back up and kick my ass real good. Knocked me off my feet for a couple of weeks and set me back hard on just about every one of my goals. The only thing I was able to hold on to was the control over my diet, which has been pretty okay. I've managed to keep making my own lunches regularly, and keeping my caloric intake down has kept me hovering right around the 200lb mark. Fortunately, I've also managed to mostly hold on to my routine of getting to class. It's become almost the background noise of my life... doesn't matter how much the day sucks or how awful I feel--if I can walk, I make it to Kung Fu and do the best I can. I've also done some regular-ish walking around the office park at work, trying to keep my activity up in a low-bodily-impact manner until my body decides to stop being a bitch. I'm now two weeks from departure on my five-year-late European honeymoon. Wife and I have been planning this trip for the past 18 months. We'll start by flying into Copenhagen, Denmark, and spending two days there before hopping a train (which, I kid you not, gets on a BOAT) which will take us to Germany for the remainder of the two weeks. In Cologne, we will attend the final farewell concert of our favorite German band (Unheilig), and then set off for a week in the Moselle river valley. We'll cap things off in the place pictured above, by attending a Medieval Market (and meet up with a certain other Rebel!), and generally enjoying quiet German village life for a couple of days. Since the issues that are plaguing me still have not subsided, and I'm leaving in two weeks, I'm not really going to be pursuing a challenge-as-such this time. The next fortnight will be filled with a whirlwind of preparations, packing, printing, and making sure that everything is in place so that I can leave my house alone for two weeks without any problems. In that time, I will still be attending class of course, at least until 9/2. (I might go on 9/5; it will depend on how well I do packing that weekend.) In happy news, there is a tentative plan for my first sash testing(!) this Saturday. I'll confirm it tonight, but Sifu wants to test me before I leave, and there's very little time left for that! So, I'm not dead, and still very much looking forward to my upcoming travels. I miss you guys--once I get back, I'll be hanging out here more again as I try to sort out post-trip blues and get my life back on track again =)

Welcome to the adventures of the Queen of Diamonds, otherwise known as the Other Red Queen! Don't worry, I'm the good one ;-) I'm full of love and enthusiasm, with just a hint of snark. None of that "off with her head" garbage from me! Unless you deserve it.... Anyway! My journey brought me to live in Bavaria, Germany this year. While I've been here I've refocused on creating a shiny new and exciting life for myself, which involves losing 60lbs or so and developing some cool hobbies. Status: I'm 30 lbs down, and have been adventuring around central Europe! Primary Goal: Lose Weight This challenge I want to focus on getting from 195 to 185 before I leave for my 2,000km cycle tour on August 10th. Dropping that will make the ride easier! To get there: 1. Continue "Keto-Primal" 90% of the time. I started a "primal" diet in January, but have been very inconsistent. I dropped from 225 to 210 in one bout of seriousness, and from 210 to 205 in another....but they were months apart and involved gaining much of the lost weight back inbetween. All I felt was tired and unsuccessful. Its been a couple weeks on the Keto version of that real-food primal diet, and I finally feel great! I also started crossfit at that time. I finally fit into some smaller clothes! Note: The 10% is the odd day with 30-50 total carbs not a carbtastic extravaganza! 2. Track all the food! 3. Crossfit 3x a week (okay okay this isn't really for weight loss....It just makes me happy and feel strong! I'd rather drag muscle around the North Sea than Fat!) 4. Walk every day Goal 2: Learn some more German: I live here for another year...I need to take advantage of it 1. Enroll in classes (check) 2. ATTEND classes (follow through!) 3. Use Duolingo and Memrise daily 4. Set Rosetta Stone up. Use it. 4x a week. 5. Suck it up and actually speak to people. In German.