Starting September Strong! Week 1

Although January and my New Years resolutions start every year officially, for me, September always seems like the real time for new beginnings. Of course, this feeling must be tied to school growing up. Every year from ages 4-21 as the sleepy, hot August weather gave way to crisp breezes  I waited with anticipation for the new school year to start in. Even though I'm well into the school year in Korea by the time September rolls around, there's something about the change in weather that still makes me feel like it's time to start something new.

This September is going to be the start of a lot of exciting changes in my personal life. I think something about the upcoming changes and the feeling of a beginning has really kept me motivated for my challenges this month! So... let's get to the update! 

Egg Challenge - Success!

I've felt great eating eggs every morning for the last 7 days! I really haven't felt hungry at all before lunch which has resulted in me eating less for lunch. Other than the benefit of not feeling hungry, I've also felt pretty energized throughout my day!

Sept. 1 - Hard boiled! The method for hard-boiling the perfect egg? Put eggs in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a rolling boil with pot covered. When water is boiling, leave the cover on and turn the heat off. Let the eggs sit in the covered pot for 10 minutes. For easy egg shell peeling, then run eggs under cold water in a bowl of cold water! Voila! The perfect hard boiled egg!

Sept. 2 - 2 eggs fried in butter over medium, with salt and pepper... and grapes!

Sept. 3 - Courtesy of the boyfriend. Fried eggs, lentils, grapes and coffee!

 Decided to make Shakshuka for dinner one night. It's a delicious, and simple Israeli egg dish. Low in calories, but high in protein and vitamins! The recipe I used is here. 

Sept. 4 - I was able to save 1/2 of the food I made the night previously and eat it for breakfast the next day! I was going for runnier eggs when I made it... but overcooked it a bit >.<

Sept. 5 - An egg scramble with onion and bell pepper. Some Korean greens and plums on the side

Sept. 6 - Went out to The Beastro for brunch. Had a delicious Salmon Eggs Benedict. Probably the best Benedict I've had in years!

Sept. 7 - 2 eggs fried in butter with pepper, garlic, salt and basil. And... a plum!

Walking - Success!

I've really been putting in some extra effort this last week to get my steps in. While, I didn't hit 12,000 everyday, I did hit my goal of getting over 84,000 steps for the week. 

In fact, I got 91,861! I'm happy with that result, but I'm hoping for more next week! However, this goal is the one I'm the most worried about. I'm not sure how moving will affect my step count. But, if I have to put in some extra effort to get there, I'm willing to!

Running - So far so good!

So far, I have done one run out of 3. I did it on Friday, Sept. 4. I don't know why, but out of my favorite 3 runs, after 2+ months of not running, I decided to do the most difficult run first. Even though the run was a little slow going, I did do it! And... it was beautiful!

The Han River run that I do actually starts on the Yangjae stream... which turns into the Tan stream which meets with the Han River. The picture is of that meeting between stream and river... my favorite moment of the whole run!

Post-Run Crazy Eyes

Post-Run Crazy Eyes, with the addition of an ice cream bar reward. In fact... maybe the most delicious ice cream bar I've ever had. "Artisinal" berry-flavored ice cream with a dark chocolate shell. 

Until next week!

Failures, Big Changes and Looking Forward

August Challenge Results

When planning for my August challenges I thought that the hardest part of the challenges would be accomplishing them on my vacation and that things would get easier when I returned to Korea. It actually ended up being the opposite!

The water challenge was never really a problem. I re-downloaded an app that I used to use called Plant Nanny for ios, which encourages you to drink water by way of watering your virtual plant. If I haven't watered your plant (had some water) for a while, the app will send me a message saying it's thirsty, which is a great reminder to drink more water! You raise the plants until they're full grown, then you start over with a new plant! I've also started using a reusable straw cup at my desk. As I said in my previous post, using a straw really helps me drink more water!

Might as well be a cute cup, right?

Now... the jump rope challenge. Upon returning to Korea, I made a pretty strong effort at first but being busy and stress really got the better of me. I've returned to a full work schedule and on top of that I've had a lot on my plate with moving. First, my boyfriend finished his contract with his old place, so we moved him into my place. However, my lease is also up soon so we set to work on finding a new place to live. Moving is stressful. Moving in a country where you don't speak the language fluently is even more stressful! We ended up finding some good real estate agents and found a great place. I'm excited to move. However, now we're dealing with all the logistics of moving! Hiring a moving company... selling off things we don't need anymore... changing billing addresses and car registration information... wah!!! I usually power through stressful times with exercise, but it has been hard. I think I got up to doing 800 jumps and then just stopped. I do regret not finishing... but, I also recognize that there are times you have to give yourself a bit of leeway.

8fit... yeah... that never really happened. Perhaps I'll revisit it at a later date! 

September Challenges

Now for the part I'm really excited about! Despite still being busy with moving logistics, I'm feeling good about September. As the month has already started, I've already been hard at work on them, and so far so good! Next week I will update! I've decided on 3 achievable challenges for September. Here they are:

Eggs!

In the past few months I've been eating a lot of carbs for breakfast. In fact, since I've been back at school, I've gotten into the bad habit of choosing 10 more minutes of sleep over getting up and making breakfast. Rather than preparing my own breakfast, I've been opting to stop at the student store and buy sugar and preservative packed pastries. I'm always hungry soon after and I've felt noticeably more sluggish in the morning.

Back when I was keto-dieting I ate eggs for breakfast most mornings and I loved it! Eggs always keep me full longer than other breakfast options. I also have more energy in my morning when I eat eggs. Unfortunately, eggs have been given a bad reputation in the past. Nutritionists used to say they were too high in fat and would raise your cholesterol, leading to heart disease. However, more modern research says that while eggs do raise cholesterol, they actually raise HDL cholesterol, which is the good kind for you. Eggs also turn dense LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) into large LDL cholesterol, which is benign. In addition to having a positive effect on your cholesterol, eggs are high in antioxidants, as wells as phosphorous, choline, and many vitamins! Another positive for me is that eggs do not raise your insulin levels, while other carb focused breakfasts would! Finally, eggs also rank high on the satiety index, which means that eating eggs will keep you full longer. A study from 2008 concluded that when 2 groups of people were given the same amount of calories for breakfast in the morning, but one group was given eggs and the other a bagel, that the people who ate eggs would eat less throughout the day, which resulted in better weight and fat loss results. No wonder they call eggs a superfood! 

Image courtesy of winnond at freedigitalphotos.net

So, the challenge is simple! Eat an egg-centered breakfast every morning of September!

Walking

Those who know me well, know that I've had a Fitbit for about a year now. Over the year, it has really inspired me to get more walking in during my everyday life. For example, sometimes I get up a little earlier and walk the 4km to work, rather than driving. Or, instead of taking the bus a few stops, I'll walk it. Or... I'll take Bilbo on extra long walks rather than quick bathroom breaks. I started off by setting my goal at 10,000 steps which is what many recommend to lead a healthy active life. After a few months I set my goal to 11,000 steps and it's remained there since then. For my walking challenge I've decided to make a weekly goal of 84,000 steps. This means I should be averaging around 12,000 steps per day. Luckily it's a wonderful time of year in Korea to get walking in! As long as it's not raining, the weather is really pleasant!

Running

When weighing positives and negatives about different neighborhoods in Seoul to live in, one major positive for staying in my current neighborhood was all of the parks and places to run I have near me. Ultimately, we chose a different neighborhood, which will have new and exciting running places to discover... but I'm still going to miss my usual running spots! So, my final challenge is, before the big move (in 9 days!) I'm going to run in each of my 3 favorite running spots one last time.

July Challenge - 1/2 way complete!

Monday was "Chobok" in Korea, which is the first official day of the hot season, and it arrived with a bang!The temperatures have certainly been heating up... and so have I! Ok, you can stop the eye roll now... Silliness aside, I haven't let the rising temperatures deter me from continuing my July challenge with enthusiasm! Ripped in 30 certainly ups its intensity in level 2... I mean, 2 minutes of cardio in plank is just ridiculous! But it feels so good when you finish, dripping with sweat and ready to take on the world.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Protein Shake

When do you workout in the day? Morning? Afternoon? Evening? I always have mixed feelings about when to workout. I always used to wake up early and workout before work. It's nice because it usually energizes me for the rest of my day. It's also done and I don't have to think about it for the rest of the day. However, the biggest positive about working out early for me is that, because I'm an extreme extrovert, it's really hard for me to say "No, I have to workout." when people ask me if I want to "hang out" or "have dinner" after work. Working out early eliminates that worry. I can get my workouts in, and still spend time with friends in the evenings! The downside is, I have significantly more energy when I work out in the afternoons or evenings. I always push my PM workouts harder. I get sweatier and I feel stronger. This last week, I was pretty good about working out in the mornings, because I knew that there were things that I wanted to do after work. However, the best workout I had all week was Thursday afternoon when I really killed the workout. Is there anything that I can do to push my morning workouts harder?

Look! I can put my forehead on my knees now!

The splits challenge... oh, the splits challenge. I was reading up a bit more on how to obtain your splits. It turns out... I'm still not stretching enough! I was doing about 12 mins of stretching per day... but I guess I need to at least double, if not triple that amount. Being able to do the splits is hard work! Definitely a lot more difficult for me than interval training! For some reason, I always though that you just had to stretch the muscles in your inner thighs to be able to do the splits. This is not true at all. You really have to stretch and be flexible in all the muscles in your legs. I'm especially tight in my shins so I really have to work on that! I have made progress, but not as much as I would like.

Action shot! (Bilbo is always a big help...)

Even though my focus this July has been on 'Ripped in 30' and stretching for splits, my biggest fitness accomplishment in week 2 had nothing to do with either! Back in June I was supposed to run the Kim Dae Jung peace marathon. (well, the 10 kilometer part of it) Along with my friend, Hana, I was running as part of a team called "Running 4 Resettlement." our team's purpose was to raise money to help support the resettlement of N. Korean refugees in S. Korea. Unfortunately, because of the MERS outbreak (overreaction), the race was postponed until Jul 12. I had been training for the 10K leading up to the original June date, but had basically stopped running for the month between the original date and the rescheduled date. Last week I ran once on Thursday to try to last-minute prepare but it was pretty discouraging. It was only about 4km, but it was so difficult! On race day I was a bit nervous. It had been near 100 degrees the day before and rain and thunderstorms were forecast for the 12th. However, in the end, I did well! The rain was a blessing in disguise! It rained lightly to moderately during the race time, but didn't start pouring until after. The result was a cool and refreshing run! Also, aside from a very short, "I'm drinking water," walk at the 5km mark, I ran the entire thing. I finished the 10K in 1:01:59. Less than 10 minute miles! Also, I came in 20th out of the 57 women who ran the 10K. Not bad for my first long-ish race!

Pre-race

Post-race! (The large reddish/purple mark on my forehead is from a mosquito bite I got a week previously!)

Trying to cover said mosquito bite.

Meat reward!

New shoes reward! I was tired of using my running shoes for my Jillian workouts
So... I got new shoes which are exclusively for working out indoors!
I didn't intend for my shoes to color coordinate with my workout gear, but it was a happy coincidence!

Post week 2!

I started week 3 of Jillian today... I'll leave most of the talking until next week, but prepare yourselves for duck walk and bear crawl talk!

Until then!