September Wrap up and October Challenges

Hello October! It's kind of hard to look back when I'm already looking forward! October 1st certainly brought the autumn weather. It was a miserably rainy and blustery day... and I loved it! Today, on the other hand, is beautiful. The sky is clear. The morning was cool, but the afternoon will be warm. And, it's these kinds of contrasts, from day to day and morning to afternoon, that make autumn really special! 

Even though I'm excited about October already... let's start by wrapping up September... 

Egg Challenge

Although I didn't get as creative as I planned to be for the egg challenge, I am pleased with how it turned out because I did eat eggs every September morning! It was nice to set aside some time most mornings (when I wasn't picking up convenience store eggs) and have a nice breakfast. It's a good way to have some down time, rather than springing out of bed and rushing around until you get to work.

Sept. 22 - Andrew (the boyfriend) is really good at making super fluffy scrambled eggs without adding milk or cream! They're amazing and so tasty. Here are some of his scrambled eggs with a 1/2 slice of toast, salad and plain yogurt with kiwi.

Sept. 23 - Andrew's scrambled eggs again with bacon/olive/cheese toast

Sept. 24 - Fried eggs with the same bacon/olive/cheese toast

Sept. 25 - Same convenience store eggs and Tuna triangle kimbap

Sept. 26 - I was so enthusiastic about eating breakfast I forgot to take a photo until the very last minute! Andrew's scrambled eggs and peanut butter toast... I think there was more, but I can't remember!

Sept. 27 - I made Shakshuka again. this time with a side of toasted baguette pieces

Sept. 28 - Fried eggs and garlic sweet potatoes

Sept. 29 - An egg sandwich from The Beastro. This was a really "egg"cellent egg sandwich!

Sept. 30 - My eggs aren't as fluffy as Andrews (even though mine are plus milk!), but here are my scrambled eggs with 2 slices of bacon and yogurt and granola!

Walking, Week 4

Unfortunately I didn't hit my walking goal the final week. Aside from the final day, when I was feeling miserably sick, I don't know what happened. I guess I didn't make much extra effort to get my steps in and wasn't being as mindful of how it was all adding up together. For all 9 days I only got 105,641 steps in, which averages out to 11,738 steps per day. 

It makes a nice color pattern though, right?

October!

I'll be honest, a couple days into October and I'm kind of at a mediocre start. I did suddenly get pretty sick the final day of September, which stayed through the first day of October. It must have been a 24 hour bug though because I'm feeling pretty good now. 

Anywho... for October, 4 new challenges...

Challenge 1: No School Lunch!

When I was keto dieting I couldn't eat the school lunch, so I gave it up completely. When I stopped keto I mostly continued to bring lunch to school, but when I was feeling too lazy to make lunch, I would just eat the school lunch... this was once or twice a week. For September, with all the life changes and stresses that were happening, in order to relieve one burden, I just ate the school lunch every day. 

Now, let me be clear. The school lunch in Korea is in no way unhealthy compared to the school lunches in America, which are disgraceful for the most part as far as I'm concerned. However, there are 2 big problems with school lunch at my school for me. Number 1, because I don't make it, I don't know what's in it. This makes tracking my calories really difficult. Number 2, my school lunch is served buffet style, and it's really delicious! Therefore, I have a lot of trouble controlling my portion sizes! 

Here are some examples of lunch: 

Challenge 2: Workout 4 Days a Week!

Related to this... join a gym. I've already polled some people and have decided on Body & Seoul, which is located not far from my house. It's actually a martial arts center, offering classes in Muay Thai, Grappling, MMA, and Women's self defense. However, the class that I'm most interested in is called "Fight Fit." It looks like intense interval training, which is what I usually enjoy! One thing I like about the gym is that you pay for how many classes a week you would like to attend and you can attend any class you want. So, I can try a lot of different things and if I'm busy at a time that I usually attend class, I can just attend a class at a different date or time. 

Challenge 3: Try Yoga and/or Pilates

Like I said before... I've never really be interested in stretching and with that... yoga. However, I've never really done a yoga class before. Body & Seoul also offers class in Yoga and Pilates. I've decided that I should at least give one, or both of them a try before I pass such harsh judgement. I really want to work on toning, and they're probably really good for that! Also... I still want to be a more flexible person and that's not going to just magically happen on it's own, haha! And, finally. My posture in universally acknowledged as terrible. It's something that I really need to work on, and perhaps yoga/pilates will help!

Challenge 4: Practice Guitar Everyday! 

Ok... this isn't exactly a physical health or fitness challenge... but it is a mental health challenge! 

I had a guitar but the action was really high so it was extremely difficult to learn on as a beginner and discouraging! Luckily a friend (thanks Yi!) has given me her guitar. This guitar is a lot easier to play so I'm out of excuses! It's been a goal of mine to learn guitar for a long time. I played clarinet when I was younger, but I've always wanted to be able to play an instrument that I could sing along to. Andrew heard of an app called Yousician from a friend and told me about it. I've gone through a couple of the lessons on it and so far it's been really helpful! Partially because it feels like I'm playing a game! If I can dedicate a little time to playing guitar every day, I'm sure I'll improve quickly!

Like July, I've started up another health challenge for October among some friends on facebook. The ides is to support each other, keep each other accountable and cheer each other on! This was really successful in July so I'm looking forward to it for October.

Excited to write about my first week! Until then!

September, Week 3 - The Week of Boiled Eggs and another Big Change

With my boyfriend off in Japan, I spent most of week 3 hanging out with Bilbo in our new house... doing my best to get things in order. Truth be told, we were expecting a new roommate so I wanted to get things in decent shape before she arrived!

Here she is! Her name is Nari (나리)! The reason we went down to Busan was to pick up this little bundle of joy. We adopted her from Busan Abandoned Pet Sanctuary, which I heard is one of the only, if not the only, completely no-kill shelters in Korea. It's a great organization run by some lovely, hard working people. 

Here she is all cleaned up!

Settling in nicely!

Egg Challenge -

Sept 15. - Scrambled eggs with a Japanese seasoning. Also, pickled peppers and pickled artichoke hearts!

Sept. 16. - Sunny side up eggs, with garlic and paprika and a side of apple sauce

Sept. 17. - 2 hard boiled eggs and a farmers market apple (so good!!)

Sept. 18 - Sports day at my school. So, teachers are traditionally given bread. I also picked up 2 smoked eggs at a convenience store on my way to work!

Sept. 19. - Left my house super early in the morning to head down to Busan. The night before I hard boiled a bunch of eggs so I could have breakfast on the road. 

Sept. 20. - Eggs purchased at a convenience store in Busan. I think these were baked?

The cook on the eggs gives the eggs themselves this brown color. 

Sept. 21 - I think I've found my favorite convenience store eggs!

The come with salt!

And are this beautiful brown color!

Walking Week 2

Despite my worries, I was able to get all of my goal steps in this week! I ended up walking my dog, and then dogs, around the neighborhood a lot to explore things. Whenever I move to a new place I really like to get out and experience it. Finding all the hidden coffee shops and restaurants as well as parks that aren't so busy, seems like a treasure hunt! I think all the walking has mostly been good for Bilbo as well. He's certainly getting a lot more exercise than he used to!

I got 105,053 steps total for week 3! More than last week! I had been worried about my trip to Busan negatively affecting my walking goal, but it didn't at all. Even though I spent the majority of my first day in Busan driving, when we finally got there, we spent a lot of time walking around a temple, an art village and locally in the neighborhood in search of food!

Beautiful Seaside Temple!

Gamcheon Culture Village

The reason I got so much walking in the 2nd day in Busan is because of the shelter's adoption policy. In order to adopt an animal from them, you're required to attend 2 volunteer dog walking events to they can get to know you and so you can get to know your dog. However, because we were coming all the way from Seoul, we only had to attend 1. I had a great time though! I spent most of the afternoon walking these dogs so they could stretch their legs after being cooped up all week! If you're in the Busan area and you've got some time on a Sunday, I recommend going out there!

This is lovely Ingrid!

This ball of energy is Jackson!

The next entry will be a wrap-up of the rest of Sept! Here's hoping for a strong finish! Until next time!

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.