Xerla Posted September 14, 2013 Report Share Posted September 14, 2013 3.30 AMThere's a girl staring at the mirror in her room. She is happy with the way she looks right now, but she knows that she's not there yet.Her body can get better, the way she always wants it to be: athletic.3.35 AMShe feels a slight pain on her left toe, and then smiled because she remembered that last night she suddenly decided to try practicing wall handstand by climbing the wall backwards, and fell. But she was laughing so hard and couldn't forget the excitement from trying that move.3.40 AMShe saw the scale in her room, and hide it somewhere. Her habit of weighing herself every morning is unhealthy, because her mood for the whole day depends on the number of the scale. People won't judge other people's body shape by weight (how do they know about the weight if he/she didn't tell?). That's why she decided to use photos and clothes as measurements, her new size M clothes are still a little bit tight now, so at the end of the challenge, her goal is to get fit into that clothes perfectly.3.45 AMThe girl started her morning workout routine, consisting bodyweight or HIIT, her favorite workout types because: - It can be done anytime, anywhere, using minimum to zero sport equipments.- It doesn't consume much time.- No need to sign up for that expensive, far, faraway gym.- She's amazed by the fact that in order to do some "simple" movement smoothly and gracefully needs crazy strength, so not just athletic, she also wants a strong body.- And just because defying gravity is awesome.Currently, she's following Blogilates monthly workout calendar (6x/week of workouts), which is fun enough for her to stick to the whole routine for 3 months, full of challenging strength and cardio moves, makes her smile, happy and satisfied everytime she finished the workouts. Occassionally, she goes to Muay Thai class near her house.Halfway throughout her workout, when the plank and push ups start to feel so hard to do, she whispered to herself,ä»Šæ—¥ã‚‚é ‘å¼µã‚Šã¾ã™ã€æ¯Žæ—¥é ‘張りã¾ã™ï¼ "Today I'm going to work hard, everyday I'm going to work hard." She decided to motivate herself in Japanese language, because she's going to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) on December 1st, and has lost her interest on learning the language. After that, she's planning to take academic English course, since English is not her native language, she wants to improve it.At the end of the workout, she feels demotivated because she can't get her legs straight while doing double leg lifts and earthquake moves. Not just athletic and strong, she also wants to be flexible. So she adds stretching routine on her list.4.45 AM She drinks her water, logging her workout and looking at a photo on her desk.Whenever the whole workout routine gets too rough and that "should I quit?" feeling hit her mind, she looks at that photo and smiles, thanking her old self who were brave and courageous enough to start this whole diet and fitness journey 8 months ago. It started with the sadness when she looked at her out-of-shape body in holiday photos last year, and how her knees prevented her on climbing castles in Japan. Her old self took a serious action by participating on NF challenge for the first time in order to look better and climbing those castles like a ninja on this year's Japan trip, and succeeded. Never occured on her mind that in her always-obese life she actually can change herself, and keep that determination after she came back from her holiday. She knows her only option is moving forward.7.00 PMAfter a long day, she's facing the biggest challenge on her fitness journey: her mother's bakery and traditional snack shop at her house.Planning to add more items to the shop, her mother decided to sell toast bread and sweet bread, and asked her to help her finding the best recipe for the breads. The past whole month were full of ingredients hunting, product sampling and recipe experiments. She ate huge amount of "bad" food in order to bake the perfect bread according to her taste.She's fully aware that eating clean affects 95% of her diet, and she's still gathering info on what works and what doesn't work for her diet. For now, she knows that logging her food helps a lot and she needs to be honest to herself by keep logging even though she ate bad food. She's also finally found the culprit of her obesity, she has this weird "food-regret" mindset of "If I don't eat this unique, new delicious food now, I might not be able to eat it ever again." This leads her to overeating and snacking.Combined with the bread recipe experiment situation, this mindset is the perfect weapon to completely destroy her diet and fitness goals.There was one night when she got felt extremely helpless because she can't control herself and couldn't find a way to handle the situation of "keep eating clean while baking sweet breads".She loves baking and cooking, and frustrated by the fact that she can't do her hobby and still maintain a healthy diet. She realized that she needs to train her eating mindset seriously.For now, what works for her is the "Three Bites Rules" when doing food sampling (eat only 3 bites and leave the rest alone/give it to someone else/simply throw it away, just get it out of her sight), and eat healthy, good, real food before sampling "bad" food.Finding the best strategy to overcome this situation is definitely the most challenging goal on her current challenge.9.45 PMShe prepares her breakfast, lunch and outfits for tomorrow. She needs comfortable clothes because she has to run and do a little jumping with some dashing here and there in order to catch the morning train. She's happy because now she's more agile and not so out of breath than last month. Finding the quickest route to get herself inside the train becomes a fun activity.QUICK SUMMARYMOTIVATIONGet that strong, flexible, athletic body.MAIN QUESTFit into UNIQLO store's clothes size M perfectly.Action plans1. Ditch the scale, use photos and clothes as measurements.2. Choose real food over bad food (most often: grilled fish over sweet breads).3. Stretching after each workout routine.SIDE QUESTS1. Life Side QuestFinish the last 9 chapters of Japanese language textbooks (Minna no Nihongo 2) and 250 Essential Kanji for Everyday Life volume 1 & 2.2. Diet/Fitness Side QuestLog all the food on MyFitnessPal, including the bad ones.3. Mini QuestFrom guild.REWARDNew haircut ---Hello all!Finally I let myself graduated from Adventurer guild, and joined the Assassin for the first time. I'm so excited! 1 Not a spirit of cowardice, but of power, love and self-discipline - 2 Timothy 1:7Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Current Challenge Link to comment
Elastigirl Posted September 14, 2013 Report Share Posted September 14, 2013 Welcome! Love that you tried a wall handstand yesterday. And I know how your toes feels, my poor toe has been banged on the descent (some would call it a fall) too. Great goals. You are going to do awesome Wisdom 22.5 Dexterity 13 Charisma 15 Strength 21 Constitution-13 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind' Luke 10; 27 Link to comment
Paradigm Posted September 14, 2013 Report Share Posted September 14, 2013 Welcome to the Assassins! You are doing INCREDIBLE. I don't even know you yet and I'm so proud! Really looking forward to watching your journey continue Lvl. 10 Half-Elf Assassin My Current Challenge My Daily Battle Log Link to comment
Bekah Posted September 14, 2013 Report Share Posted September 14, 2013 Xerla!!! Hi :) Glad you are here!! Druid Assassin Halfling Druid Level 16, Current Quest: Bekah Returns Spoiler Fitbit Facebook Your life does not get better by chance. It gets better by change. - Jim Rohn Link to comment
ApfelStrudi Posted September 14, 2013 Report Share Posted September 14, 2013 Wow! What a transformation! You look absolutely stunning and amazing!Your haircut reward idea is great, I might steal that from you Can't wait to see your progress through this challenge! Just trying to get back on my feet. apfelstrudi learns to outrun shamblers | Instagram challenge Link to comment
Waldgeist Posted September 14, 2013 Report Share Posted September 14, 2013 é ‘å¼µã£ã¦ï¼ the artist usually known as WALDGEIST Epic Quests Challenges by theme Star Wars: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #5B, #6, #6B, #10, #11, #16, #17, (Current Callenge) TeenWolf: #7 SHIELD: #8, #12, #13, #14, #15 Magicians: #9 "It's never too late, to become what you could've been!" Link to comment
Hisme Posted September 15, 2013 Report Share Posted September 15, 2013 Welcome to the Assassins and good luck on your goals! Eating right is a challenge for me, too, especially when it comes to sugar. I think your three-bite rule when trying new, tempting things is something I'd like to try as well. You can do it! Level 4 Cyborg AssassinSTR:6 DEX:3 STA:11 CON:9 WIS:9 CHA:8Challenges: (02) (03) Link to comment
Mad Hatter Posted September 15, 2013 Report Share Posted September 15, 2013 That's an incredible transformation! And yay for handstands! Link to comment
Xerla Posted September 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2013 Thanks for the warm welcome guys! So glad to be here XD ElastigirlYeah my poor, poor toe, which still haven't healed perfectly from nail extraction minor surgery, is still hurting until now lol I'm working on my upper body to make the handstand practice easier XD ParadigmThank you for your support!! BekahBekah!!! We meet again! Let's rock this challenge again XD ApfelStrudilol yeah, looking at my messy hair every morning remind me to keep going without stopping lol Waldgeistã‚りãŒã¨ã†ã”ã–ã„ã¾ã™ï¼ HismeYes the most challenging one is eating clean! I will keep on practicing three-bite rule because it requires huge amount of self-control XD We can do it! Mad HatterThank you! I think I should make handstand as one of the goals for the next challenge XD --- First day!!Started out pretty smooth, stalled at the afternoon. ExerciseFollowing the Blogilates calendar, it's cardio day and these were the hard moves for me:From some variation of the burpees, these are the hard ones:- Hopscotch burpee- Single leg burpeeIt's getting harder to lift my body with just one leg.- Hollow rockGetting better at this, I can put my elbow near my ears, but still can't get my leg straight.- Lateral Jump OversOh my legsss loll- Plank Rows Tomorrow is going to be HIIT day XD StretchingI can barely touch my toes lol DietFail, fail, fail.Still in the middle of sweet bread experiment, so I bought different kind of sweet breads from different shops and ended up eating most of it. Once I started eating, especially breads and desserts, it's so hard to stop.I will practice hard on my three-bite rule, and stop that food-regret thought immediately by either not buying any "bad" food (which was hard for breads, but doable on desserts) and get rid of my plate immediately after I tasted the dessert. Being such a visual person (eating any food that sits within my view), right now I'm creating a weekly vision board, and putting red X marks on the calendar, following Steve's recent post about Hard Hat. Unfortunately today I can't put the red mark yet, and hopefully I can go with the "Never Two in a Row" rule. Not a spirit of cowardice, but of power, love and self-discipline - 2 Timothy 1:7Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Current Challenge Link to comment
Waldgeist Posted September 16, 2013 Report Share Posted September 16, 2013 Being such a visual person (eating any food that sits within my view), right now I'm creating a weekly vision board, and putting red X marks on the calendar, following Steve's recent post about Hard Hat. Unfortunately today I can't put the red mark yet, and hopefully I can go with the "Never Two in a Row" rule. Maybe you should eat with closed eyes, then? Seems like a good first day to me, keep improving from there! the artist usually known as WALDGEIST Epic Quests Challenges by theme Star Wars: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #5B, #6, #6B, #10, #11, #16, #17, (Current Callenge) TeenWolf: #7 SHIELD: #8, #12, #13, #14, #15 Magicians: #9 "It's never too late, to become what you could've been!" Link to comment
Mad Hatter Posted September 16, 2013 Report Share Posted September 16, 2013 Instead of Xs I have pirate stickers Link to comment
Xerla Posted September 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 WaldgeistLOL good idea! I'll start with my right eye closed today XD HatterPirate stickers. Oh wow. Why I haven't thought about sticking epic stickers on my calendar?! I should go find some later, maybe ninja would be cool lol thanks for the idea! --- Just did today's at-home version of this HIIT workout: This workout made me realize that my balance is totally awful lolI don't like Blurred Lines song so I replaced it with my favorite song. Don't have a treadmill and can't go run outside, so I replaced the Cardio Blast session with another cardio video. I also replaced the tricep kickbacks with tricep dips.This time I really forced myself to do the Single Leg Burpee with, well, single leg. Yesterday I used two legs several times because I was so out of balance. But today I managed to finished the whole 3 sets with single leg, even though my body was flailing like crazy and it was so hard to regain my balance XD Not a spirit of cowardice, but of power, love and self-discipline - 2 Timothy 1:7Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Current Challenge Link to comment
Hiraedd Posted September 17, 2013 Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 XERLA!!!! So glad you made it over Welcome to the Assassins! (And I must say you are looking freaking amazing!) Hiraedd the Twice Risen: Hamadryad; Pilgrim battle log Link to comment
Xerla Posted September 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 HiraHira!!! I'm so happy to see you again here!Thank you! My transformation is the result of huge support from your awesome Adventurer guild! XDI'm sure I'll reach my goal again here in Assassin guild! --- Yesterday I managed to eat real food, without sweet breads. Yay!Even though I ate too much on dinner.. Need to watch my portion control. Today's workout went well, I just realized now I can do the straight legs roll back (I don't know the correct name for it hahah) with 80% control.I'm planning to find some new stretching moves for the legs. Not a spirit of cowardice, but of power, love and self-discipline - 2 Timothy 1:7Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Current Challenge Link to comment
WonderNatarella Posted September 18, 2013 Report Share Posted September 18, 2013 Hey Xerla! Thanks for your sweet message on my thread! You transformation is really impressive! How do you manage to insert this "spoiler" on your thread? (I still haven't figured out the way to insert pics) Well regarding food and eating, it seems that at the moment, you are in this sweet bread experimentation, when does it finish? The thing that helped me a lot in cutting processed carbs was the tracking part ... Identifying the causes of eating. For me it was frustration, impatience, boredom and comfort when I was sad. I'd say that the past challenge really helped me reduce the snacking (I barely snacked actually). I tried to find other ways of coping with frustration for instance (working on a vision board) etc... I hope you'll find something that'll help you go through it! I mean when I see where you started and where you are now, you do have great motivation, consistence and mental strength! Congrats! Level 2- Panthera AssassinCHA 4 - WIS 3 - STA 4 - STR 2 - DEX 1 - CON 2 Why is Natarella here?Steps to greatnessFirst challenge !!Second not-so-good one ..Third challenge Jan 2016 challenge... long time after Link to comment
Xerla Posted September 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2013 Hey Xerla! Thanks for your sweet message on my thread! You transformation is really impressive! How do you manage to insert this "spoiler" on your thread? (I still haven't figured out the way to insert pics) Well regarding food and eating, it seems that at the moment, you are in this sweet bread experimentation, when does it finish? The thing that helped me a lot in cutting processed carbs was the tracking part ... Identifying the causes of eating. For me it was frustration, impatience, boredom and comfort when I was sad. I'd say that the past challenge really helped me reduce the snacking (I barely snacked actually). I tried to find other ways of coping with frustration for instance (working on a vision board) etc... I hope you'll find something that'll help you go through it! I mean when I see where you started and where you are now, you do have great motivation, consistence and mental strength! Congrats! Thank you for your support!! I'm currently re-reviewing my cause of eating and how to handle this situation. I have to be able to eat clean even when I bake "bad" food XD The "spoiler" button is a little bit hidden haha.. It's the 3rd button from the left on the upper set of buttons on the reply menu (Special BBCode).Click and then select "Spoiler", insert the text you want to put under the spoiler button. If it's an image, don't forget to insert the code.Here's some screenshots: Hopefully this helps! Not a spirit of cowardice, but of power, love and self-discipline - 2 Timothy 1:7Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Current Challenge Link to comment
Xerla Posted September 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2013 I figured that for the meantime I can't eat 100% clean, so I will try to make it 80 % clean and 20% YOLO (in moderation) daily.I don't eat 100% paleo (maybe 80%) and I don't avoid dairy. I've tried 100% paleo and non-dairy diet before, and I didn't have any serious health issues by having non-paleo and dairy in my diet, so I only go for 80% paleo and dairy to add variation on my diet now. As for today, the 20% YOLO goes for traditional snack experiment: "kue dadar gulung" and "balapis".It was delicious and I will definitely put it on the snack shop. I ate one serving each and I think I should've gone for half-serving instead.I'm going to have a walnut bread sampling too. Need to remind myself constantly that I should eat only half (or even quarter) of it! And the 80% for homemade real food:Vegetable soup with chicken. Pepes Ikan Kembung. It's a steamed mackerel wrapped in banana leaves with lots of spicy traditional herbs. These are the "real" food I ate yesterday:Ketupat Sayur. Jackfruit (I prefer marrow vegetables version though), fried tofu, hardboiled egg, garlic crackers and ketupat (rice cake wrapped in lontar leaves) with spicy coconut milk gravy. Tahu Campur. Stir-fry tofu with peanut sauce, beansprouts and lontong (rice cake wrapped in banana leaves). Stir-fry Chinese cabbage. Chinese cabbage, egg, garlic and red onion. Add some rice (I usually skip this so I can eat more vegetables), and there goes the common everyday food in my country XD Not a spirit of cowardice, but of power, love and self-discipline - 2 Timothy 1:7Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Current Challenge Link to comment
Mad Hatter Posted September 19, 2013 Report Share Posted September 19, 2013 That fish looks YUMM! What do you flavour it with? Link to comment
SkyeRose Posted September 19, 2013 Report Share Posted September 19, 2013 I wasn't hungry until I saw those pictures, it looks great Skye Rose - Seeking Balance Current Challenge Inspiration and genius--one and the same. - Victor Hugo Fall seven times and stand up eight - Japanese proverb Link to comment
Hiraedd Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 Wow, that all looks delicious. Makes my bacon and eggs look pretty passe, I'm afraid. Hiraedd the Twice Risen: Hamadryad; Pilgrim battle log Link to comment
Paradigm Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 Mmm it looks good. Now I'm hungry. Lvl. 10 Half-Elf Assassin My Current Challenge My Daily Battle Log Link to comment
milythael Posted September 22, 2013 Report Share Posted September 22, 2013 Your first post for this challenge is absolutely awesome. I really loved it. Milythael Assassin Current Activity: Milythael Acts Like an Assassin Past Activity: Spoiler Challenges: Intro, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 12 PVPs: Demon Slaying, HOoRAY, Meditation, Poses, Juggling 30/30 Squat Link to comment
WonderNatarella Posted September 24, 2013 Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 Hey Xerla! Are you Indonesian/Malaysian of origin? The cooking reminds me those countries I hope the first week went as you wished! Level 2- Panthera AssassinCHA 4 - WIS 3 - STA 4 - STR 2 - DEX 1 - CON 2 Why is Natarella here?Steps to greatnessFirst challenge !!Second not-so-good one ..Third challenge Jan 2016 challenge... long time after Link to comment
Eilyd Posted September 26, 2013 Report Share Posted September 26, 2013 Ahah! Xerla, I found you!I cannot say enough how EXTREMELY PROUD I am of you for your tenacity! I've just reported you for being awesome, because you are a huge inspiration to me. Your 3 bites rule is a good one. I think I will apply this as well! And even though it sounded silly, the idea of eating with your eyes closed might have merit. ãŠã„ã—ãã†ãªãŸã¹ã‚‚ã®ï¼ The Quest to Become Black Widow | In Which Eilyd Thinks She Can | (Blog) A Matter of Eloquence Link to comment
Xerla Posted September 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2013 That fish looks YUMM! What do you flavour it with? Yes it's super yummy!I use mackerel marinated with lemon and spices: red onion, garlic, ginger, pecan, red chili, tomato, basil and banana leaves to wrap. Some people also add bay leaves. You should try to make one XD I wasn't hungry until I saw those pictures, it looks great Mmm it looks good. Now I'm hungry. I got hungry too when I saw my own photo haha XD Wow, that all looks delicious. Makes my bacon and eggs look pretty passe, I'm afraid. Thanks Hira! Bacon is expensive here haha~ Your first post for this challenge is absolutely awesome. I really loved it. Thank you! Hey Xerla! Are you Indonesian/Malaysian of origin? The cooking reminds me those countries I hope the first week went as you wished! I'm Indonesian Yes the food is very Indonesian and Malaysia has similar food too XD Ahah! Xerla, I found you!I cannot say enough how EXTREMELY PROUD I am of you for your tenacity! I've just reported you for being awesome, because you are a huge inspiration to me. Your 3 bites rule is a good one. I think I will apply this as well! And even though it sounded silly, the idea of eating with your eyes closed might have merit. ãŠã„ã—ãã†ãªãŸã¹ã‚‚ã®ï¼ Eilyd!! I miss you!Woww thank you for reporting me as awesome XDI'm so happy if I can inspire you, because you are an inspiration for me as well (I still remember that pull up goal ahahha) 3 bites rule is quite effective! But I figured that I have to eat clean until almost full before applying that rule, otherwise it won't work for me because it will be so hard to stop eating those "bad" food XD ã†ã‚“ï¼ç¾Žå‘³ã—ã‹ã£ãŸã‚ˆï¼ --- Finally I have the time to update!This week is full of exam, and it turned out that I'll be having exam every Friday for the next several months. Several ups and downs on my challenge, like bread binging, but I managed to overcome the guilt and leveled up my portion control. I found that I lack of self-discipline.No problem with workouts and stretching, I keep doing it regularly. I'm getting comfortable with planks and push ups, now I'm practicing right side roll.Finished 1 chapter at Japanese textbook, I have to speed it up.I need to log my food more accurately, it helps a lot with portion control. Not a spirit of cowardice, but of power, love and self-discipline - 2 Timothy 1:7Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Current Challenge Link to comment
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