Starting Again

[Lady Amezan]

So to catch up: Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok) is when everyone travels to their home villages to visit their ancestors' tombs. (I think the Chinese call this the Moon Festival?) The great thing about Chuseok is they give us three days off work for all that travel time. I live out in the provinces, so a five-day weekend means a chance to come to Seoul and live city life for a few days.

 

Pros: I'm using some of this free time to work through the NF mindset module. I particularly loved making a list of loot to win!!

 

Cons: All the good food in Seoul and the disruption to my schedule means it's hard keep my habits going.

 

Saturday: went to massive dance party (which is why my goals this 4-week challenge didn't include cutting back on alcohol). But before I left home for the weekend, I washed the dishes so I'll come home to a clean kitchen. Did good at noticing my food and did physical activity (dancing).

 

Sunday: Seriously tempted to drink juice and mix coffee, but resisted. The guesthouse where I'm staying only has sweetened coffee, no black coffee. Holy added sugar! Did good at paying attention to food, and did a flexibility workout in my hotel room.

 

Monday: Took a long walk for physical activity. Drank mostly black coffee but had mix coffee once because it was the only thing at my guesthouse. Today I started to slack off and look at my phone while eating. This must STOP. The temptation is huge because at the cafes here, everyone is always staring at their phones. 

 

Tuesday: Avoided the mix coffee at the guest house and went out for black coffee at breakfast. Doing a ton of walking today. Did 50% phone time at breakfast, need to do my next meal with ZERO phone time. So hard in the smart phone capital of the world.

 

Things I notice: my feet hurt. Like really, really hurt. I started noticing it on my last visit to Seoul a few weeks ago, and it hasn't gotten any better. At home in the provinces, I walk to the grocery store, etc., every day, but I don't do any long walks. Here in Seoul, I want to explore a lot, and the sore feet are slowing me down. They even slowed me down on the dance floor Saturday night. 

 

I refuse to believe that this is just how 43-year-old feet are supposed to feel. I'm hoping I can improve things by increasing my flexibility. I don't have sharp pains, just all over pain that I suspect is related to tight hamstrings. So I've bookmarked a bunch of foot exercises to add to my flexibility routine when I get home tomorrow.

 

Also, I've added professional foot massages to my list of loot.

 

I'm becoming aware that one reason I've gained weight this year is I've slowly reduced the amount of walking I do, as my feet have gotten more sore. I'm not sure when this started (6 months ago maybe?) but now that I'm really aware of it, I can work on it. I hope I can get my feet into a good place where walking feels natural again. That is a crucial fitness goal!

 

I hope everyone's having a great week 2! I'm going to attempt to attach a gif:

 

[Mera]

16 hours ago, Lady Amezan said:

So to catch up: Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok) is when everyone travels to their home villages to visit their ancestors' tombs. (I think the Chinese call this the Moon Festival?) The great thing about Chuseok is they give us three days off work for all that travel time. I live out in the provinces, so a five-day weekend means a chance to come to Seoul and live city life for a few days.

 

Pros: I'm using some of this free time to work through the NF mindset module. I particularly loved making a list of loot to win!!

 

Cons: All the good food in Seoul and the disruption to my schedule means it's hard keep my habits going.

 

Saturday: went to massive dance party (which is why my goals this 4-week challenge didn't include cutting back on alcohol). But before I left home for the weekend, I washed the dishes so I'll come home to a clean kitchen. Did good at noticing my food and did physical activity (dancing).

 

Sunday: Seriously tempted to drink juice and mix coffee, but resisted. The guesthouse where I'm staying only has sweetened coffee, no black coffee. Holy added sugar! Did good at paying attention to food, and did a flexibility workout in my hotel room.

 

Monday: Took a long walk for physical activity. Drank mostly black coffee but had mix coffee once because it was the only thing at my guesthouse. Today I started to slack off and look at my phone while eating. This must STOP. The temptation is huge because at the cafes here, everyone is always staring at their phones. 

 

Tuesday: Avoided the mix coffee at the guest house and went out for black coffee at breakfast. Doing a ton of walking today. Did 50% phone time at breakfast, need to do my next meal with ZERO phone time. So hard in the smart phone capital of the world.

 

Things I notice: my feet hurt. Like really, really hurt. I started noticing it on my last visit to Seoul a few weeks ago, and it hasn't gotten any better. At home in the provinces, I walk to the grocery store, etc., every day, but I don't do any long walks. Here in Seoul, I want to explore a lot, and the sore feet are slowing me down. They even slowed me down on the dance floor Saturday night. 

 

I refuse to believe that this is just how 43-year-old feet are supposed to feel. I'm hoping I can improve things by increasing my flexibility. I don't have sharp pains, just all over pain that I suspect is related to tight hamstrings. So I've bookmarked a bunch of foot exercises to add to my flexibility routine when I get home tomorrow.

 

Also, I've added professional foot massages to my list of loot.

 

I'm becoming aware that one reason I've gained weight this year is I've slowly reduced the amount of walking I do, as my feet have gotten more sore. I'm not sure when this started (6 months ago maybe?) but now that I'm really aware of it, I can work on it. I hope I can get my feet into a good place where walking feels natural again. That is a crucial fitness goal!

 

I hope everyone's having a great week 2! I'm going to attempt to attach a gif:

 

 

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: GIF ATTACHED!

 

Nice going over the holidays. Holidays are the hardest to stick to any sort of diet or exercise plan. Sorry to hear that you're feet are hurting. My husband uses one of those rollers to work on relaxing his calf muscles. Maybe one of those might help if the problem comes from tight hamstrings?

[Harriet]

Oooh, moon festival sounds very romantic, though visiting tombs sounds rather somber. 

 

About your feet: mine have been hurting for years. I tried all sorts of shoes, and now only wear squishy thick sneakers. But, I am aiming to change that. In my case, one reason for the pain seems to be anterior pelvic tilt i.e. sway back. It's caused by weak glutes and weak abs, and tight front hips. It forces me to use my calves a lot, which is extremely tiring since they're a lot smaller than the thighs and glutes. It also changes the angle of the knees and causes back and foot pain. If I understand correctly, the knees turn in a little which flattens the feet, taking away their natural arch which gives them their strength. Since starting my posture exercises (planks for the abs, stretches for the front hips, single leg glute bridges & side abductions/clams for the glutes), my back, ankles and feet have hurt a lot less while walking longer distances (after only a couple of weeks of the exercises). Obviously there could be loads of other reasons your feet hurt, but I do think anterior pelvic tilt is very common, so it might be worth checking out. P.S. Hamstrings are constantly tight when one has anterior pelvic tilt, because they are stretched out by the position of the hips (which are rotated up at the back, down at the front). But deliberately stretching them is bad, since they don't actually need to be stretchier. Rather, the glutes and abs need to be stronger and do their job so the hams aren't constantly pulled to their limits. 

Also, look at this champion walker:

 

 

[Lady Amezan]

12 hours ago, Harriet said:

Oooh, moon festival sounds very romantic, though visiting tombs sounds rather somber. 

 

About your feet: mine have been hurting for years. I tried all sorts of shoes, and now only wear squishy thick sneakers. But, I am aiming to change that. In my case, one reason for the pain seems to be anterior pelvic tilt i.e. sway back. It's caused by weak glutes and weak abs, and tight front hips. It forces me to use my calves a lot, which is extremely tiring since they're a lot smaller than the thighs and glutes. It also changes the angle of the knees and causes back and foot pain. If I understand correctly, the knees turn in a little which flattens the feet, taking away their natural arch which gives them their strength. Since starting my posture exercises (planks for the abs, stretches for the front hips, single leg glute bridges & side abductions/clams for the glutes), my back, ankles and feet have hurt a lot less while walking longer distances (after only a couple of weeks of the exercises). Obviously there could be loads of other reasons your feet hurt, but I do think anterior pelvic tilt is very common, so it might be worth checking out. P.S. Hamstrings are constantly tight when one has anterior pelvic tilt, because they are stretched out by the position of the hips (which are rotated up at the back, down at the front). But deliberately stretching them is bad, since they don't actually need to be stretchier. Rather, the glutes and abs need to be stronger and do their job so the hams aren't constantly pulled to their limits. 
 

 

It's true, there's probably all kinds of muscle and strength imbalances contributing to the pain. I'll be starting more serious strength training soon. It would be great if some combination of strength and flexibility work will get me back to a place where I can enjoy walking. What I really want is a combination of strength and flexibility--the two together give me a feeling of health and ease. 

 

[Lady Amezan]

14 hours ago, Mera said:

 

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: GIF ATTACHED!

 

Nice going over the holidays. Holidays are the hardest to stick to any sort of diet or exercise plan. Sorry to hear that you're feet are hurting. My husband uses one of those rollers to work on relaxing his calf muscles. Maybe one of those might help if the problem comes from tight hamstrings?

 

I actually have one of those foam rollers! I forgot about it, but I'll get it out tonight. Thanks for reminding me!

[Odango]

Your Chuseok week-end sounds really fun!

You did really well with all those temptations around! Maybe giving in to some of them was an integral part of enjoying your holiday, don't you think?

 

Professional foot massage is an awesome idea!

 

I got a couple when I was in Japan, I imagine that massage style would be similar in Korea (?)

Not gonna lie, the first time was super painful, it felt like the guy was smoothing out a million knots in my soles, but afterwards it felt like I was walking on clouds (really)! Also the next massages are less painful because your foot is way less tense (so you might want to get a couple of them ^_^)

 

I hope your pain goes away with all those good ideas. It's definitely not helpful when you're trying to work out more.

Good luck!

[Odango]

Totally unrelated to your challenge, what made you choose Faye for your avatar?

She's absolutely awesome of course, I'm just curious and always happy to hear people's perspective on CB

 

[Harriet]

On 9/26/2018 at 3:56 AM, Lady Amezan said:

I'll be starting more serious strength training soon.

 

Awesome! I hope you fall in love with strength! Barbells FTW!

 

[Lady Amezan]

I've been having internet problems, so let's see if I can get this posted!

 

Week 2, Days 3-5:

 

Doing okay, every moment there are days where I have to stretch myself and remember these goals: I want to drink the sugary coffee! I don't want to do the dishes and do stretching! I want to watch TV while I eat! But none of these things are too hard to do when I remember I have a larger goal: Be a Heroine.

 

I'm doing a bunch of simple physical therapy stretches and exercises for my feet and they are feeling a little better. I think I'm on the right track. 

 

Also, I remembered these leg patches that one of my middle-school students gave me. (Fun thing about teaching in Korea: random small gifts from students, usually candy but sometimes other things.) These things seem to be a huge trend right now, with all the stores carrying them:

 

 

The packaging is entirely in Japanese, but the Korean translation on the back says simply "cooling sheets." They seem to be like icy-hot patches, but they don't smell like menthol. They have a kind of citrus and lavender smell that is nice and relaxing. 

 

Yesterday was a long teaching day, with a lot of standing up and walking. When I got home I put patches on my feet and relaxed them. Felt good! I don't think these things have any healing properties, but it felt good to give my feet a treat after they had a long day. I haven't been appreciating them enough.

 

Going to try to finish week 2 strong! Hope everyone will have a great weekend!

[Lady Amezan]

On 9/27/2018 at 8:08 AM, Nol said:

Totally unrelated to your challenge, what made you choose Faye for your avatar?

She's absolutely awesome of course, I'm just curious and always happy to hear people's perspective on CB

 

 

Ah, isn't Faye awesome? I don't play video games, so at first I wasn't sure if I had real Nerd credentials. Then I remembered that I went through a huge anime phase a few years ago. That's actually how I accidentally got interested in Korean culture and came to Korea. I love when anime tells weird, quirky stories that I haven't seen anywhere before--and CB definitely delivers! The last couple episodes killed me, but that didn't stop me from re-watching the series 2 or 3 times. I don't have anything in common with Faye Valentine except maybe that I move around a lot. But I've spent too much time at a desk in the past couple years, and she's someone who would never spend time sitting at a desk! Hence, a good alter-ego. I'm trying to enlist some of that Valentine energy and attitude. I love her so much!

 

But I'm embarrassed to admit (in light of your gifs) that I've never seen any Sailor Moon. Oops! 

 

 

[Lady Amezan]

On 9/28/2018 at 1:31 AM, Harriet said:

 

Awesome! I hope you fall in love with strength! Barbells FTW!

 

 

I was into strength training a few years ago, but with TRX, dumbbells, etc. I didn't have a gym and never got to barbells. This time I would love to get to that point. If I could do dead lifts with a barbell that would be so amazing! I'm trying to remind myself other women succeed at this. It's not impossible.

[Odango]

OMG! I love those patches! They are real saviors for heavy/painful legs!

Good job on all the stretching and exercises, it's great to hear that your feet are feeling better.

 

Don't worry about your nerd credentials, plenty of us don't game (all my sailor moon gifs might hide it, but I felt just like you when I joined). Faye is a great motivational character for staying active, and she's such a cool avatar! You nailed it!

All you need to know about Sailor Moon is that there's a soldier for each planet of the solar system except earth + Sailor Moon as the leader (kind of), and it's all about female friendship, solidarity, self-acceptance and tolerance. The symbolism and philosophy behind are pretty awesome. The anime is typical 90's style, not the best quality and very repetitive   I still love watching it, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't have the nostalgic attachment.

 

Can't wait to hear about your strength training adventures.

[Harriet]

10 hours ago, Lady Amezan said:

I don't play video games, so at first I wasn't sure if I had real Nerd credentials. Then I remembered that I went through a huge anime phase a few years ago.

 

 

9 hours ago, Lady Amezan said:

 

I was into strength training a few years ago, but with TRX, dumbbells, etc. I didn't have a gym and never got to barbells. This time I would love to get to that point. If I could do dead lifts with a barbell that would be so amazing! I'm trying to remind myself other women succeed at this. It's not impossible.

 

I don't think anyone knows all the nerd things. I haven't watched all the new television shows that all the cool kid memes come from. Anyway, it hardly matters as long as you provide cat gifs. 

I love barbells and dumbbells because you can really count your progress. With bodyweight exercises and cardio I always thought "am I getting better or worse at this?"
Just so you know, I did bodyweight squats and the lightest of dumbbells presses (5 kg per hand) when I started. I could not bench press, overhead press, squat, or row the empty bar (it's 20kg/45lb). But the deadlift uses so many muscles in your body, you may be stronger at it than you expect. I started with 30kg, and I'm probably weaker than average, sadly.

[TimovieMan]

8 hours ago, Nol said:

Can't wait to hear about your strength training adventures.

LOL!

Is that Terry Crews???

[Katerina]

Hi, Amezan,

 

I am with you: cooking is fine, but the clean up is no fun. Maybe add music to sing along with? It seems to me that the drudgery of cleaning is a good place to move that distraction to.

[Greyson Fauchard]

On 9/29/2018 at 1:26 PM, Lady Amezan said:

I've been having internet problems, so let's see if I can get this posted!

 

Week 2, Days 3-5:

 

Doing okay, every moment there are days where I have to stretch myself and remember these goals: I want to drink the sugary coffee! I don't want to do the dishes and do stretching! I want to watch TV while I eat! But none of these things are too hard to do when I remember I have a larger goal: Be a Heroine.

 

I'm doing a bunch of simple physical therapy stretches and exercises for my feet and they are feeling a little better. I think I'm on the right track. 

 

Also, I remembered these leg patches that one of my middle-school students gave me. (Fun thing about teaching in Korea: random small gifts from students, usually candy but sometimes other things.) These things seem to be a huge trend right now, with all the stores carrying them:

 

 

The packaging is entirely in Japanese, but the Korean translation on the back says simply "cooling sheets." They seem to be like icy-hot patches, but they don't smell like menthol. They have a kind of citrus and lavender smell that is nice and relaxing. 

 

Yesterday was a long teaching day, with a lot of standing up and walking. When I got home I put patches on my feet and relaxed them. Felt good! I don't think these things have any healing properties, but it felt good to give my feet a treat after they had a long day. I haven't been appreciating them enough.

 

Going to try to finish week 2 strong! Hope everyone will have a great weekend!

Hey Amezan,

 

Just to let you know - the package says (roughly translated, from top to bottom):

 

"Cooling and Refreshing for those All-Day Working Feet"

"Foot Refresh Sheets - Foot Break Time"

"Out of the tub or before bed, just stick them on to refresh your feet"

"5 kinds of cosmotological herbs - lavender, sage, rosemary, lemon, orange"

"Stays on until morning - won't cause rashes."

 

Hope that helps!

[Mera]

On 9/29/2018 at 6:26 AM, Lady Amezan said:

I've been having internet problems, so let's see if I can get this posted!

 

Week 2, Days 3-5:

 

Doing okay, every moment there are days where I have to stretch myself and remember these goals: I want to drink the sugary coffee! I don't want to do the dishes and do stretching! I want to watch TV while I eat! But none of these things are too hard to do when I remember I have a larger goal: Be a Heroine.

 

I'm doing a bunch of simple physical therapy stretches and exercises for my feet and they are feeling a little better. I think I'm on the right track. 

 

Also, I remembered these leg patches that one of my middle-school students gave me. (Fun thing about teaching in Korea: random small gifts from students, usually candy but sometimes other things.) These things seem to be a huge trend right now, with all the stores carrying them:

 

 

The packaging is entirely in Japanese, but the Korean translation on the back says simply "cooling sheets." They seem to be like icy-hot patches, but they don't smell like menthol. They have a kind of citrus and lavender smell that is nice and relaxing. 

 

Yesterday was a long teaching day, with a lot of standing up and walking. When I got home I put patches on my feet and relaxed them. Felt good! I don't think these things have any healing properties, but it felt good to give my feet a treat after they had a long day. I haven't been appreciating them enough.

 

Going to try to finish week 2 strong! Hope everyone will have a great weekend!

 

OMG I want these patches so badly right now  I've been rolling the sole of my foot on my dog's tennis balls while telling myself it's almost like a deep tissue massage...

 

On 9/29/2018 at 1:55 PM, Nol said:

OMG! I love those patches! They are real saviors for heavy/painful legs!

Good job on all the stretching and exercises, it's great to hear that your feet are feeling better.

 

Don't worry about your nerd credentials, plenty of us don't game (all my sailor moon gifs might hide it, but I felt just like you when I joined). Faye is a great motivational character for staying active, and she's such a cool avatar! You nailed it!

All you need to know about Sailor Moon is that there's a soldier for each planet of the solar system except earth + Sailor Moon as the leader (kind of), and it's all about female friendship, solidarity, self-acceptance and tolerance. The symbolism and philosophy behind are pretty awesome. The anime is typical 90's style, not the best quality and very repetitive   I still love watching it, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't have the nostalgic attachment.

 

Can't wait to hear about your strength training adventures.

 

 

And you also need to know that Sailor Pluto is by far the coolest of the lot  Not only because i always envied her for her cool green hair...

 

[Lady Amezan]

On 10/1/2018 at 10:12 AM, Greyson Fauchard said:

Hey Amezan,

 

Just to let you know - the package says (roughly translated, from top to bottom):

 

"Cooling and Refreshing for those All-Day Working Feet"

"Foot Refresh Sheets - Foot Break Time"

"Out of the tub or before bed, just stick them on to refresh your feet"

"5 kinds of cosmotological herbs - lavender, sage, rosemary, lemon, orange"

"Stays on until morning - won't cause rashes."

 

Hope that helps!

 

Wow! Thanks for the translation! (I love that they added "won't cause rashes." They're covering every base. I haven't tried wearing them overnight yet, but now that I know I can, a new world is opening up!

[Lady Amezan]

Thanks for the Sailor Moon gifs, everyone!

 

I regret to say that I failed to wash the dishes on Tuesday, because I got home at 4 am, after staying out late drinking, doing noraebang (Korean karaoke) and hitting the 24-hour gamjatang place for second dinner (pre-breakfast?).

 

On Wednesday, I was reminded that I'm too old to stay up drinking till 4 am, and I spent most of the day in bed. (It was a national holiday, so I didn't have plans). But I didn't meet my goal of any physical activity on Wednesday. Also, big note to self: next time I go out, DO NOT stay up till 4. It's too late for any human being.

 

So today I'm trying to make sure I do dishes and get some exercise, but I still haven't managed yet and it's almost bed time so I'm going to push myself now! More later. 

 

xxo to the whole 1TC Team !!!

[Harriet]

Social events are so hard to fit into challenges! They tempt us with food, drink, and staying up late. Alas. Nothing for it but to keep trying. 

 

[Lady Amezan]

Is it really almost the end of week 3? It feels like a slog now. What keeps me going is I want XP.

 

Thursday and Friday nights I watched TV while I ate dinner, breaking my no-media-while-eating goal.

 

But yesterday I managed to force myself to get some physical activity and wash dishes, even though I'm coming down with a cold. I'm meeting most of my goals, most of the time.

 

I hope everyone has a successful last week! 

[Katerina]

Hmmm. Maybe the TV with dinner was too tempting because you aren't feeling well? Congrats on doing the dishes, though! (And on getting some activity, though I am guessing if you are sick, the dishes were harder than the activity. Would be for me. I can drag my behind for a walk in most cases, but cleaning when I am sick is the worst.)

 

Hope you feel better soon!

[Harriet]

Everything is harder with a cold. Good job on the dishes, and keep trying with the mindful eating. Screens are such a difficult temptation to avoid, especially if anything throws off one's mental balance and mood. I want to reduce in the future, but making it part of this challenge would have been too much pressure. It's so easy to slip back into screen mode. I've had to force myself to go drink tea outside in the superbly beautiful garden with birdsong, sunshine, the sound of the wind in the trees. I know that it makes me happy and improves my mood for the whole day, and I still have difficulty dragging myself away from default computer mode for just a few minutes. Screens are totally addictive, and it's not like we can go cold turkey, we have to find some sort of moderation within our digital glut.

 

 

[Mera]

On 10/7/2018 at 7:31 AM, Lady Amezan said:

I'm meeting most of my goals, most of the time.

 

I hope everyone has a successful last week! 

 

 

[Lady Amezan]

Being sick this week definitely made things harder. There was a day when I didn't do the dishes, and a couple days when I didn't do any physical activity. Also, this week I've been eating dinner with the TV on--although I'm still doing mindful eating for breakfast and lunch.

 

My greatest victory has been that I haven't had a single sugary coffee drink all month. There have been lots of days at work when I was really tempted to make a high-calorie hot beverage during the mid-afternoon slump. And instead I've been drinking water and keeping all that sugar out of my body. Yay for that!

 

One small but discouraging thing: I discovered this week that my bathroom scale is wildly inaccurate. I thought I'd lost a couple pounds this month, but now I realize this scale is wrong by five pounds depending on how I stand on it. So my weight results from this month aren't really useful. I picked up a new digital scale yesterday, and hopefully this one will be more reliable. It's disappointing to not have actual numbers for the last month! Better luck next month.