Sambalina makes a comeback

[Sambalina]

Hey guys! I took last challenge off, and while I didn't abandon my health goals, I certainly slacked off a bit. I'm here in this challenge to focus on building up my healthy habits back to where I want the to be.

 

Main Quest:

Get stronger.

Yeah, it's that simple. I've lost a lot of my strength that I built last year, and am ready to reclaim it. I've gone back to NRLFW, because I was really bored of what I was doing. Let me tell you, the 15 rep sets at the start of the program are KILLER. The variety ha pit some spice back into my lifting life.

 

My Three goals to achieve this:

- Go to they gym and lift 3x a week

- Limit my sugar intake to 1-2 iced tea drinks/week, and the occasional taste-test of new cookie recipes.

- Eat quality protein with every meal (no numbers here because I'm not ready to track this yet... baby steps).

 

I can't see anything that will seriously get in the way of these goals, other than a 5 day trip to Taiwan from the 13th of June. During this vacation, I won't be working out, but I will be walking everywhere. I'm also not going to restrict my diet at all - the whole point of going is to EAT!

 

The only problem I can see is my own dedication/motivation. So, it's reward time! I've been wearing the same workout gear for years now. When I complete all three mini-goals at at least an 80% compliancey, AND get measurably stronger, I will buy a whole new workout outfit, including top and bottom.

 

Life Quest:

Get my bakery business ready to start full, Korea-wide shipping in September.

- beta-testing of online ordering

- test shipping (speed, costs, etc.)

- plan advertising (what, where, when)

 

Fitness Side-Quest:

Go social swing-dancing 4 times.

 

And now a wee life update for those of you who've been along for the ride these past few years I'm healthy and doing well. I got over my last breakup (well, it's a continuing process). It's had it's tough moments, but I know I'll get there. I am seeing someone new, and he's wonderful, but is about to start a new job in July, which will see him working a 6-day week. That may prove to be too much for me, so I'm not sure about our future. Also, I've 'dumped' a bad friend, who I thought  was my est friend, but she was just never there for me, was extremely negative, and never wanted to know about me or my life. I eventually came to the realization that not only was I feeling really bad about the relationship, but if you're like the 5 people you spend the most time with, she's not someone I want to be like at all. So, down one friend. 

 

What's more, my other best friend is leaving Korea on July 3rd, and I'm really upset about it. She's going on to something wonderful, but once again (selfishly), I'm upset for me. And I'll be all alone. Again. But, far from wallowing, once the summer vacation is over (and I'm going to be working like a mad-thing to make some extra $$), I'm going to get really proactive in making new friends and joining more social groups. My swing-dance side quest is part fitness, and part social, and should be a good start to getting me 'out there'. So, I might be in for a bit of a lonely summer, but I've been through worse.

 

Ok, that's all from me. I'm starting this challenge right now!

[Raev]

Welcome back!

 

Subbing to see the "get stronger" and the bakery business progress!

[wildross]

Welcome back!

[Blaidd]

welcome back Sam.  Despite how negative some of your catch up seems, i think they are really positive things.  I've done a lot of friend purging lately too.  These things just need to happen.  I also discovered meetup.com since then and Jac and i have been going to some of the groups' functions and meeting tons of new people.  It's actually real fun, although neither of us has met anyone yet that we'd like to remain in perma contact with.  there's plenty of time

 

good luck with your challenge.

[Alanna]

Hello from another dancer!  How long have you been swing dancing? I agree that social dancing is a great way to meet people--after I transferred colleges, I met many of my friends through contra and swing dancing.

[Sambalina]

Hi everyone The challenge is off to a strong start. I got to the gym three times last week for the first time since January, and I'm all set to do the same this week. I went social dancing on Thursday, but I'm not counting it as one of my four times, because it's outside the 'official' challenge, so I still have all four to go. I've been dancing for almost six months, and I'm not that great, but I do enjoy it.

[Endor]

Hi Sam, glad you're back

 

It's hard to lose a friend but sometimes it's the best thing to do, not easy though so kudos to you.

 

Taiwan sounds exciting!

[Raev]

Good job making it three times!

[PrincessHeather]

Welcome back! A lot of us seem to be doing "get my crap back together" challenges, myself included.

 

I just started doing NROF Supercharged, and I really like it so far. Its a bit different from the women's program, but it allows for a bit of customization, which is nice.

[Sambalina]

Hey all It's nice to be back! I'm run off my feet this week - it's final exam week so I have a lot of grading to do (plus entering grades into the system etc.) before I rush off to Taiwan on Friday. I'm hoping to catch up on all your threads when I get back next week.

 

PrincessHeather - ooooh... supercharged? That sounds awesome! I'm going to look into that for when I'm done with the women's one

[Brovatar Korra]

Hello there! Wow starting a business is a huge life quest best of luck! Let me know when you can ship baked goods to Texas 

[redtomato501]

Hi everyone The challenge is off to a strong start. I got to the gym three times last week for the first time since January, and I'm all set to do the same this week. I went social dancing on Thursday, but I'm not counting it as one of my four times, because it's outside the 'official' challenge, so I still have all four to go. I've been dancing for almost six months, and I'm not that great, but I do enjoy it.

 

Way to go on the solid start! And don't worry about not being that great at dancing yet, it can take a while to get really solid but it's completely worth it!

 

Enjoy your trip to Taiwan, and I'd love to hear more about this bakery! (Or be referred to another post about it, if you've already gone into detail about it elsewhere...)

[Sambalina]

Hey guys! Taiwan was awesome!! I ate some excellent food and drank so much bubble tea (I'm a bubble tea fiend).

As far as my challenge goes, I obviously haven't been to the gym for the week I was in Taiwan, but I walked all day every day, so I think it balances out. I'm going hiking tomorrow and my gym is closed on Sunday, so I'm back into it come next week. I'm going to do a body weight workout on Sunday, so all the walking, hiking, and the BW workout I'm going to count as my 3x gym a week

 

My eating quality protein each meal has been going very well, too. Any excuse to eat more meat and eggs! However, while I was in Taiwan, I definitely ate more sugar than my planned amount, so back to reducing that this week. I really want to get my energy levels back up to where I know they can be without all the sugar and gluten.

 

No progress made on the cookie shipping plans yet. Redtomato - it's just a small business where I bake cookies at home, to order. I live in South Korea, and there's not a lot of quality 'western' style baked stuff here, and expats really miss it. I'm going to branch out into brownies soon! So far, I've just been selling to co-workers and friends, but I've made, maybe $100 in past two months. It's enough to support my hobby, which is enough for me There's a link to the website in my sig... I'm having a lot of fun with it so far.

 

I went to dance class last night, and am going to go social dancing next week. Still really enjoying it.

 

Ok, that's a ll from me - time to go reconnect a bit with the NF community, now that I have some free time

[VTSPE772]

Good on you for seeing an opportunity to do something you like, and give those ex-pats a little taste of home!  You got any pictures of your vacation to Taiwan???

[Brovatar Korra]

Bubble Tea FTW

[Sambalina]

Bubble tea is made of win! And a crap ton of carbs... but still win
So, I went hiking yesterday and enjoyed it a lot. I actually decided to go alone instead of with a group. I know I need to start making more friends, as I'm already feeling a bit lonely, but I just got into Seoul and suddenly wanted to just be by myself. I haven't really done that in a good long time. I was so busy being busy and getting over my last break-up that I've really not been spending much time with myself and looking after my own inner wellbeing. Well, I took a look at my list of goals I made for 2014 while sitting on a lovely rock on a hillside. I realised, with no small amount of panic, that I'd made progress on only one of those goals Well, marked progress. I have a savings goal which I've surpassed this month (only six months in, so yay for savings!), but my life goals and lifting goals have really not been prioritised like they should have. I want to get published (academically) twice - and while I have both articles in draft form, I've barely touched them, nor made real plans to submit them anywhere. My lifting is a mess, and I'm back where I was almost a year ago. Blegh. But I spent some quiet time just thinking about it, and I realised that I think I can start moving forward with all these things with just one easy fix. Yup, just like those banner ads that promise to banish your belly fat with one weird food. I think that if I just start getting up early, like I used to, then I will have all this extra time to get things done. I work best in the morning, and shut down towards the evening, so if I can just get up at 6am every day and either get into the gym (m-w-f), or work on my projects (writing, researching, etc), I'll be set.

 

So, I have programmed alarms into my phone, and we'll see how it goes.

[VTSPE772]

If you don't mind me asking, what is the topic(s) you are looking to publish?  I am totally with you on the early morning productivity!!!

[Endor]

Bubble tea is made of win! And a crap ton of carbs... but still win

So, I went hiking yesterday and enjoyed it a lot. I actually decided to go alone instead of with a group. I know I need to start making more friends, as I'm already feeling a bit lonely, but I just got into Seoul and suddenly wanted to just be by myself. I haven't really done that in a good long time. I was so busy being busy and getting over my last break-up that I've really not been spending much time with myself and looking after my own inner wellbeing. Well, I took a look at my list of goals I made for 2014 while sitting on a lovely rock on a hillside. I realised, with no small amount of panic, that I'd made progress on only one of those goals Well, marked progress. I have a savings goal which I've surpassed this month (only six months in, so yay for savings!), but my life goals and lifting goals have really not been prioritised like they should have. I want to get published (academically) twice - and while I have both articles in draft form, I've barely touched them, nor made real plans to submit them anywhere. My lifting is a mess, and I'm back where I was almost a year ago. Blegh. But I spent some quiet time just thinking about it, and I realised that I think I can start moving forward with all these things with just one easy fix. Yup, just like those banner ads that promise to banish your belly fat with one weird food. I think that if I just start getting up early, like I used to, then I will have all this extra time to get things done. I work best in the morning, and shut down towards the evening, so if I can just get up at 6am every day and either get into the gym (m-w-f), or work on my projects (writing, researching, etc), I'll be set.

 

So, I have programmed alarms into my phone, and we'll see how it goes.

I've never actually tried that tea, see people wandering around Sydney with it and wondered what the hell it is! Is it warm or cold? Not a big fan of cold tea!

 

I'm thinking along the same lines Sam, want to get some extra gym sessions in but not sure where to find the time so I think I will have to get up earlier and go to bed earlier. Giving up an hour of TV/Web time to go to the gym in the morning seems like a good idea! 

 

Glad to hear the Taiwan trip went well. I have no idea what a typical Taiwanese dinner would be, what sort of food did you eat?

[Sambalina]

Hey guys This week is going really well, health-wise. I'm on day three of getting up early and I can already see a huge difference in my productivity, and feelings about my day. It's great, and one of the easiest, most effective changes I've every consciously made. I put happy music on my alarm, and although I always wake up before it goes off, it helps set the tone for the day.

I've been to the gym and lifted twice this week, with no motivational problems... which is fantastic. I also, kind of spur of the moment, signed up to do a 5k 'color run' where you run/walk and spectators throw (non toxic!) powdered paint at you. It's on July 19, and I have no hope of running the whole 5k, but I've started doing some training so I can at least give it a shot. I think it'll be really fun. I think my boyfriend mentioned his plans to buy paint to throw at me

 

Speaking of relationships, I just read the '5 Love Languages' book, and I thought it was excellent. Not a cure-all, but so positive.

 

Anyway, to answer your questions:

I write about ESL and teaching/education in general. The two that I'm working on right now are about student motivation, and another about lesson planning.

 

Dom, good bubble tea is delicious, when it's fresh brewed with proper bubbles. When it's bad, made from powder, or stale, it's gross. If you can get 'Gong Cha' brand, go for it! As far as Taiwanese food goes, it's mostly Chinese and delicious.

[Alanna]

I glad your third week is off to a great start!  I'm another morning person, at least when it comes to things that take mental power.  Exercise-wise, I prefer late-morning or afternoon for anything intense... my workout is a nice break from the studying.

 

Best of luck with the academic writing and the color run!  I haven't run one myself, but they look very fun.

[Endor]

Hey guys This week is going really well, health-wise. I'm on day three of getting up early and I can already see a huge difference in my productivity, and feelings about my day. It's great, and one of the easiest, most effective changes I've every consciously made. I put happy music on my alarm, and although I always wake up before it goes off, it helps set the tone for the day.

I've been to the gym and lifted twice this week, with no motivational problems... which is fantastic. I also, kind of spur of the moment, signed up to do a 5k 'color run' where you run/walk and spectators throw (non toxic!) powdered paint at you. It's on July 19, and I have no hope of running the whole 5k, but I've started doing some training so I can at least give it a shot. I think it'll be really fun. I think my boyfriend mentioned his plans to buy paint to throw at me

 

Speaking of relationships, I just read the '5 Love Languages' book, and I thought it was excellent. Not a cure-all, but so positive.

 

Anyway, to answer your questions:

I write about ESL and teaching/education in general. The two that I'm working on right now are about student motivation, and another about lesson planning.

 

Dom, good bubble tea is delicious, when it's fresh brewed with proper bubbles. When it's bad, made from powder, or stale, it's gross. If you can get 'Gong Cha' brand, go for it! As far as Taiwanese food goes, it's mostly Chinese and delicious.

Color run sounds like fun

 

Might have to try me some bubble tea, I noticed a place near work the other day. 

[Sambalina]

I just got broken up with AGAIN. I feel like I spend as much time getting over relationships as I do actually being in them. This one was out of the blue, and sucks like the rest of them. However, I'm going to try not to let it de-rail me like the last one did. It's taken me six months to build my healthy habits back up after the last on, and I'm not going to let them go again now.

 

Warm words of wisdom and internet hugs are now being accepted.

[redtomato501]

[...]However, I'm going to try not to let it de-rail me like the last one did. It's taken me six months to build my healthy habits back up after the last on, and I'm not going to let them go again now.

Warm words of wisdom and internet hugs are now being accepted.

Way to go on the decision to stay focused - it's hard, but you'll feel better for it in the long run, though. Sorry that you have to deal with that, though

Internet hugz? I can provide! Here's me reading to you from one of my favorite books as a young kid, by Dave Ross:

Sooooo many hugs!

[VTSPE772]

I can't even follow that up!  But know that you will do best for yourself to find focus in your workouts, your work, and the like.  @redtomato501 said it best already!

[Brovatar Korra]