@Hotaru: The frustrations of an ALT really never end. Even though the job isn't difficult, the lifestyle is also not easy. I spend a lot of time on a forum dedicated to ALTs; although people over there tend to be really immature, it's sometimes nice to talk to people who understand the situation you're in.

@Katbot24: The apartment sounds amazing! You must be getting tons of exercise if you're walking around town to do all of your errands. I don't have the desire to give up using my car when it's this hot out, but I know I'd benefit if I stopped using it for shorter trips.

@namaste948: I've made the mistake, multiple times, of wearing too-short shorts to yoga class. Inappropriate clothing is the worst because I spend more time thinking about my butt/chest/stomach showing than actually doing the moves.

Hotaruchan sorry about your day. Tomorrow is a new day! I'm sure it will get better with time.

sgregg I had intentions to get okra but I forgot. I got potatoes & tomatoes. Tried a new vegan vendor while there.....yuck! I love English...only liked doing experiments,in school. Yes , sitting at home and tryin to eat right can be tough.

namaste984 its good that you got a work out in, better than skipping out. I really want to see pics of the vegan food. The vegain dish I tried Saturday was terrible.

Katbot24 Glad everything is going so well with the apt.



As for me today went great! I did Turbo Fire today, and even though I don't have the moves/steps down.....I LOVED IT! I was tired , but I felt it. Once I get the moves down, its on!!!!! Eating went well tracked everything in MFP, totaled 1236 my goal is 1310. I have lunch for tomorrow already packed in the fridge. Turbo is pretty intense , so I may consider tryin the 30 day shred...mix them up a bit!

Sorry if a lot of typos...using my phone...just put my little one to bed, don't feel like pulling out the laptop .

hotaruchan: ooooh, i see. somehow i thought you were JET... i guess private companies can get a bit dodgy... hang in there. that sounds like a really crappy situation though :( i've unfortunately heard a lot of similar stories from people around me... seems like the only way out is often to change jobs. hugs though. today will be better :) oh and congrats on being good diet-wise.

kabot: haha, love that phone :D

sgregg: wohoo, so school is all over and you're gonna start teaching soon? you excited? ;) good luck with everything. and yeah, it can be really hard to diet when you don't have a routine... just try to hang in there for now and be good. what's pampered chef??

namaste: sounds like you're in a good place :) good luck with the smooties. i'm always too lazy to attempt stuff like that, haha...

kahokkuri: hahaha... not sure that trying to sell ITIL to hotaruchan would be good for her sanity... eheh... it's a shame though, because before everything all went to sh*ts over there, it really was nice to talk to peeps in the same situation... say, are they still doing oramas? those were fun...

lisa: congrats on the successful day :)


hiya girls, already wednesday here and i've been a huge slob all day, being on vacation and all :p but i'm just about to go do my 30DS for the 4th day in a row and my muscles have FINALLY stopped hurting from getting back into the swing of things so it shouldn't be so bad. i've also lost 3lbs since starting out, which - even though it's most likely just water weight - is making me pretty chipper :D and i've been eating so little that i've already noticed a drop in my appetite... this morning i couldn't even finish my breakfast. lol. hopefully things will keep on going this way :)

hope everyone has a good day today.

KawaiiCandie: Haven't had a real orama since last summer–it's not the same without krampus–but I did organize a mini-baby orama last month.

I feel like crap today. My throat started hurting yesterday and by this morning I couldn't even speak. My voice has slowly come back over the course of the day, but my throat feels like it's full of sandpaper and the rest of my body is just tired. I don't know how much is the heat and how much is that I'm possibly getting sick. Need to get my *** to the gym tonight, or else limit dinner and after-dinner snacks to 400kcal.

On a bright note, I'm going to get waxed this evening!

Hi guys,

Got a few pics for you of some random things I've been up to.

Attachment 42748

This is the pic of the smoothie I made. It's a strawberry mango smoothie with a lil orange juice and vanilla rice yogurt added in for good measure. I have been hearing about some amazing smoothies through my local vegan restaurant's FaceBook page so I will definitely give those a try for some later meals. My pasta turned out so-so, if it would have had a better sauce it would have rocked my socks off. My mum also bought some other pasta too, which I only had some of.

Attachment 42749

This is a picture of my "Pounds off!" jar with six little stones in it for six pounds lost. I hope to lose tons more (and fill the jar, lol) as time goes on.

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Kawaii- Thanks! I have my off days sometimes but for the most part I consider myself very lucky. :)

Lisa- Got a few pics, lol. Sometimes vegan dishes can turn out really good or really bad, just depends on the nature of the ingrediants and whose cooking them. I can pull off a smoothie or a salad but I am not so great with serious cooking. Yeah I feel really bad when I don't workout and tend to eat more, so I try to workout 6-7 days a week, even if it's just little bits of exercise like 10 minutes on the bike or walking around campus, or whatever. Turbo Fire looks fun, I love the crazy music they put on those DVDs. :)

Kahokkuri- Oh man isn't it the worst? I couldn't even concentrate on my downward moves cause I thought I was flashing the yoga instructor and everyone else around me, lol. Lesson well-learned for me: there's a reason why yoga tops are (usually!) very high-cut. :)

Speaking of yoga, I'm off to another session tonight barring any further wardrobe malfunctions. :D Hopefully you guys will have a good day/night/morning too. :)

Classes are finally over for the semester...didn't think I was going to make it. m(@_@)m

On the plus side, I think my main school may have fixed a good half of my issues for me. I came in looking like death on Wednesday and after a few minutes of kyoto-sensei demanding to know what was wrong, I ended up explaining it all to him and he was on the phone with the Board of Education before I left for my first period class. I could have kissed him.

As my job was unsuccessful in killing me, it clearly falls upon me to kill myself...level 2 of 30 Day Shred starts now. I'm within half a pound of the 160s (which is lower than I've been in about 7 years). Go time.

lisa: That sounds intense...best of luck!

Kawaii: You adjust pretty fast...I still hate the lifts with side lunges (I always feel like my butt's in the wrong spot), but luckily I've done it long enough that it's time to move on and find something new to hate :p 3lbs is awesome! Keep it up!

Kahokurri: I hope you're feeling better! Also, where'd you find a waxing place? I've been looking with no success...I tried getting wax in a drug store and only found adhesive strips, which really aren't terribly effective.

namaste: That smoothie looks amazing...if fruit wasn't so expensive around me and I had a blender I would totally try making that to put in my face hole...

Update: My apartment is officially too small for level 2 of 30DS...I was kicking my bed trying to do the pendulum lunges and almost smacking the far wall on the front swing. GAH. Stupid shoe box Leo Palace...It occurred to me that I have a nomikai with one of my schools tomorrow...that should be fun. Any tips for low-calorie boozing?

My thighs are killing me!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don’t know what I’m going to do today, I may just walk. Instead of a rest day. I went over in calories last night, well it depends....MFP gives you calories back to eat when you log in exercise. I normally don’t log in b/c I don’t want to eat those extra calories. But last night I was still a bit hungry, so I ate a bowl of cereal. Nothing serious, Honey Bunches and 2% milk. :shrug: I did do the starter class, it was ok, but it was long, like 40 mins. I had to pause the DVD a few times. I’m not sure exactly how much I’m going to like the slow pace ones....may try them on weekends and leave the more intense one for the week. I took out my ground beef last night for spaghetti, I will you use wheat pasta. Once my beef is gone then I will buy ground turkey....can’t afford to just throw it away. I also, got to shave my legs last night, sounds crazy> But having a infant makes it hard to do extra stuff. I have time to wash the dirt off and that about it, but last night I stayed up a little longer and boy are my legs sexy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hotaruchan - you really make me want to give the shred another try instead of just writing it off! And KUDOS, keep up the good work!

namaste984 - yes I’m sure vegan dishes take some kitchen skill! Yes the music is rocking; it makes me want to learn the moves fast so i can enjoy the music as much as they do!

Kahokkuri- hope you’re feeling better!

KawaiiCandie- water or no water...if the scale goes down, give yourself a pat on the back !

kahokkuri: yeah, krampus is a fun little party animal, eheh. sorry you're feeling under the weather though... hope you feel better.

namaste: that smootie looks yum :) and your jar is super cute. you guys are kinda making me wanna make one, haha.

Hotaruchan: i'm so glad to hear that your kyoto could fix some of your issues for you. and yay, summer vacation :D and yeah, 30DS... lol. what kills me is the jumping. jumping-jacks, i hate you forever. see, because i actually have really big boobs, anytime i have to jump repeatedly, it's not only very hard, it's actually painful. but yeah, those sidelunges are sucky... i used to be unable to do them with the weights, but now that i've switched to 1kg ones, i can do it fine. i'm doing day 6 today!!! oooh, and nomikai... i'd say stick to oolong cha. or mizuwari-shochu. unless you can get cocktails (which happened very rarely in my case) then a gin-tonic or vodka-water-lime is about the lowest you can go calorie-wise with your drinkage. have fun!

lisa: haha, you're right. yeah, if your muscles are hurting from a new work out, a walk should be good to stretch 'em out. good luck with everything. and yay for pampering yourself, even if it is just shaving your legs ;)

hiya guys :) didn't check in yesterday cuz i spent the whole day with the boyfriend, which was a huge treat because we haven't been able to have a whole day together in months. like, he goes to school and works part time so "vanessa time" usually has to be squeezed in between school and work for him. i really shouldn't complain though cuz i know girls who are dating "salarymen" who work til like midnight everyday and they basically never see them, but still, it was a nice treat. i managed to be pretty good food-wise too, well, until dinner... had a salad wrap for lunch, then a starbucks frapuccino (treat, but it was soooo freakin hot) and then for dinner, we made pasta, but he wanted "white sauce" to which i added mushrooms and salmon, which i know was probably pretty high in calories, and i did eat more than a "recommandable" diety portion, but i did eat less than i normally would've, so i'll still consider that as a victory. anyways, we went to see an egyptian expo at a museum and then watched a movie at home, drinking wine, it was awesome. and i still managed to get my workout in, so yay.

lisa: Hooray for sexy legs! I have really nice lower legs, but my thunder thighs are probably going to end up being the second-to-last thing to finally go away when I'm closer to goal. The issue there is that I have super muscular thighs, but the layer of fat on top WILL NOT go away (actually that's my problem in a lot of places, but it's most apparent in my thighs...).

Kawaii: There's more jumping in level 2...and from more awkward starting positions. I felt super self-conscious doing the ones that I had enough space to do properly because the neighbors probably thought I was a crazy from all the noise jumping was making on hardwood floors >.<

So jealous of guy time...I'm up to 4 1/2 months of being on a different continent from my boyfriend and it's driving me nuts. I couldn't afford to go home during vacation, so he looked into coming over here...apparently it's barely half the price to come this way, but he's not sure when he'll have leave :(

Fingers crossed for cocktails at the nomikai...Gin and tonics are my poison of choice even when I'm not dieting. That would also make it harder for everyone to refill my glass every time I took half a sip too >.< I found out at the sayonara party for last year's teachers that my main school's teachers are quite the attentive bunch when it comes to topping off drinks...

Eugh nomikai. Here it's called "f!ck off, peer pressure sucks" but there it's "if you care about your coworkers you'll drink until you throw up."

I'm soooooooooooooooooooo Japanhomesick, ain't no o-ramas going on here either if that's any consolation.

I've been inexplicably seeing higher numbers on the scale. I guess only EXTREME VIGILANCE can keep it at or under 125. How the heck do people maintain in the 100s and 110s or even low 120s?!?!?!

Katbot, THAT PHONE!!!!!!!!

It's been a weird/busy week, but I'm enjoying reading everything y'all have to say!

It doesn't feel like Friday at all for me. This is my last weekend to enjoy having the place to myself... roommate comes back Monday night from her trip.

katbot: I LOVE that phone!! Gorgeous.

namaste your inspiration jar looks beautiful! I still haven't put mine together. Shame on me.

The nomikai had a very strange drink menu...it HAD cocktails, but only ones mixed with ume, mango, or grape. I also didn't spot any tea on the menu (maybe they assumed that we knew they had it?), just tons of soft drinks. Unfortunately for me, while I was frantically scouring for something that looked low-cal among the forest of kanji, the 6th grade teacher in charge of the English department came up and went "You had beer last time! I remember! Today they have Super Dry...so much better than Yebisu!" and with that, the server automatically brought me a beer and the others assumed that was my drink of choice for the night and kept trying to refill my glass from the big bottles. I ended up falling off the wagon hardcore (1300 calories for dinner and drinks, which was still under 2000 for the day, but higher than I've logged since joining MFP...I even used my exercise calories!), but it was worth it. Scared to step on a scale atm, but I'll bust my butt this weekend to make up for it.

I think the highlight of the night was my kochou-sensei telling the first grade teachers "F--- food! I'm busy drinking!" essentially every time something new and tasty was brought out and they tried to offer it to him :p Coming from a small, smiley man in his 70s, that was absolutely adorable.

krampus: Actually we had no puking...the teachers at my main school all typically have about a 40 minute commute from different directions, so they tend to be a little more laid back about drinking themselves and more interested in stalking my cup because they want to see how much I can drink >.< You'd think that I'd be less of a novelty after a whole semester with them, but apparently not. We only had one 4th grade teacher who got super drunk, then decided that the best way to cure being so drunk was to try to ingest everything on the table. Even he managed to walk away by himself (though everyone created a protective wall around him while going down the stairs because we were pretty sure he was going to trip and crack his head on the hardwood), so it was a good night.

Hey everyone.

I'm pooped, but I'm trying to catch up. You have been extra chatty the last few days. :)

Katbot - Cute phone!

Kawaii - Pampered Chef is a company that sells kitchen gadgets and stuff to help you in the kitchen. It's like a Mary Kay or Beauty Control party, but it's all about kitchen and cooking stuff. I love it. So many neat things to help make your life easier. :) And yes, finally done with school and about to get into the "real-world." I am very excited, but also a little overwhelmed right now. Just don't know what to really expect. Anyway, glad you got to spend some needed time with your BF.

Kahokkuri - Hope you are feeling better!

lisa - Sexy legs?! Haha!! I know what you mean. Having little ones makes it so hard to do those simple things. I started taking showers at night instead of the mornings because of my LO, but my hair is oily before the day is over, so I'm going to have to figure something else out.

Hotaru - Sounds like you had a good time! So, do you get some time off now that school is out?

************************************************** ******

So, I went by the school today and got a tour from the principal. He wanted the new hires to come by and get to know some of the other people who worked there. He still wasn't 100% sure what I was going to be teaching and was supposed to let me know today, but I guess he got distracted and he hasn't let me know. He said that we could start working on our rooms next week! We are basically starting from scratch though. I have NOTHING to work with. Even the desks are gone. He said the company that was running the school before took everything when they left...literally. It's not just your average high school. I don't know if I told you, but it's a school that runs a program for students who are 2 or more years behind. The school helps them get to the level they need to be so they can graduate with kids their own age instead of 2 or more years behind. So, I still don't know if I'm doing English or Science. I definitely know that I'm going to be teaching 10-12 grade. However, it's not set up like a normal school. The kids will be ability grouped and we will teach them based on their abilities. It's going to be interesting and challenging at once. It's only been going on for 3 years now and the past years haven't been too successful. So, there is a new principal and new teachers and hopefully all us new people can get some things done.

On another note, I've started couponing and I love it! Not extreme couponing, but I'm still saving a ton of money and able to stock up on a few non-grocery items. It's awesome. I've started recording a few YouTube videos if you'd like to check them out. I have actually thought about doing something with weight loss on there too...maybe talking about my journey or calorie counting or something...I don't know. It's an idea. Here's a link to my channel if you'd like to follow my coupon deals! You might can get some too! :) http://www.youtube.com/user/sgregg1283/videos

hotaruchan: haha, i know there's more jumping in level 2... i've done it before T_T, the whole thing. actually i forget if it's level 2 or 3 but those "rockstar jumps", i can't do them at all, i just do squats instead, plus the deafening noise they made when i jump was not appreciated by my neighbours, i'm sure... oh, your man still lives back home? that's gotta suck :( are you planning to do just one year in japan then? sorry to hear nomikai was a bust... but one night off the wagon won't kill you. for next time, just ask for shochu. they will always have some.

krampus: come back and we can have a krampus-o-rama :D :D :D

sgregg: ah, thanks for explaining. sounds fun. wish i actually had room in my "kitchen" for fancy tools..... your future school sounds cool. hopefully they can get desks before the semester starts. haha.


hey girls, so i've been pretty bad yesterday :( i dunno what's wrong with me but it's like, when i'm dieting, all i can think about is food. since the day before yesterday, all i was thinking about was that i wanted to go to the convenience store, buy some chocolate crap, and eat it. and i didn't and then yesterday i went grocery shopping and was actually very reasonable, and when i came home i was also very reasonable. and then around 9pm i just couldn't stand it anymore and decided "f*ck it" and down a whole bag of cereals. luckily in japan, they're not very big, but still. anyways, today is a new day and i don't mean to repeat my mistake, but i just hate that dieting makes me so crazy. why can't i just think about food like a normal person??? and sure enough, scale was higher this morning. meh.

well, off to do the 30DS i go.

@ Hotaruchan I'd count that night as a special occasion, they're gonna happen and if you were still under 2k, it wasn't THAT terrible.

Sgregg couponing is awesome, and so useful for budgeting and still getting some exotic cooking ingredients. I will have to check out your channel tomorrow on my day off

Kawaii I get that too sometimes, the other day I had a small box of jelly bellys and a tube of mentos before I could talk myself down from my littl binge. I'm just glad I could stop myself there, it used to be that I would eat 3 or 4 different candies. ****, once I bought a jar of Flintstones vitamin gummies and ATE the entire jar on the walk home. It was so humiliating to lose control like that.

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So tomorrow I'm off to buy a couch! Originally, my parents in a surprising display of goodwill towards the fiancé and I, offered us one of their leather couches and an armchair. The couch was 15 yrs old but genuine leather and from a house where children were not allowed to play on furniture, so in very good shape. Not two days after I had been offered said couch, my parents' 160lb english mastiff decided to play in the basement where the couch was while my parents were spring cleaning. She lept up onto this thing full force and bent the center bar. Needless to say, the couch was kaput. So now they're buying me a new couch instead, and since the original promised item was leather, they're not going to settle on anything less than a leather couch since "a promise is a promise". I'm pretty excited for my day off AND the new couch!

Kawaii: Congrats on resisting the siren song of the conbini...I'm sure that you could have found something there that would have done a lot more damage to your diet than some cereal.

Katbot: Yay new couch! Personally I'm not a big fan of leather ones because they feel unpleasant when it's humid, but a couch is a couch and couches are pretty spiffy!


Bleh...why do I have to be productive? I have to go to school for 2 more weeks despite school being out for summer and I think I did about half of the work I have for the entire 2 weeks today. I probably would have done more if I hadn't run out of pouches to laminate my game cards too...I'm going to end up so bored by the end of the week...I finished lesson plans as far ahead as I dare to go last Friday, so really I'm just revamping class materials and getting rid of old crap that's cluttering the English closets. On the plus side, I apparently made a good impression at the nomikai...the teachers were talking to me waaaay more than usual today. It made me feel special :D

Why don't you try not dieting but simply cutting down on how much you eat? Personally whenever I tried to diet I would do the exact same thing so I took it as a sign that it wasn't going to work. Perhaps try calorie counting instead? Then you might see that the bad foods you craved really aren't worth the calories they contain. Losing weight is a change of lifestyle, if you can't keep it up for the rest of your life then try something that will work!

The weekend
 

OK where do I begin...Ok so Friday in the office I went crazy with the snack size snickers and Twix. I ended up going over about 240 calories, but I did do Turbo Fire that day. Saturday, my cousins graduation.....foood fooooood and more fooooodd!!!!!!!!!!! I ended up taking in about 1000 calories on that alone, I used mfp and I’m pretty sure the count was right, after that I didn’t eat anything else that day and did Turbo Fire again. I really got in to it forgetting I was in my apartment upstairs. My boyfriend said I have never seen you sweat (we’ve been together about 4 years total) I was like I KNOW, it takes a lot to make me sweat and those HIIT workouts do it! Worked out Sunday as well, went to Walmart picked off some tilapia, pre packaged, 100 calories per serving. Baked that, some potatoes and asparagus.

Now the kicker! Ok so I don’t know I you all remember me saying I need to invest in a new scale. Ok, my scale has been jumping from about 214-216 since I had my LO in March. It was saying about 214.4 when I started to get back on track. So my brothers girlfriend bout a new scale...weighed myself last night 212.4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! While my scale at home is saying 215.2. So needless to say I’m throwing mine away, I have had for 3+ years, and its seen better days. But I want one of those good ones. So I will have to budget that in to next month’s expenses. I’m having ********** and a plum for breakfast. I’ll tell you all how that goes for me tomorrow or later tonight.

KawaiiCandie- I agree, anytime I look at is as dieting, it doesn’t last. I just say I’m trying to do better.

Katbot24- I want new furniture so bad, but my LO will be crawling and touch and jumping on things real soon. Since we live in a one bedroom and I can’t keep him out of the living room.....that’s a no right now. Hope you got a nice one....and a good deal too.

sgregg- I have really been looking into couponing , but just haven’t. I’m going to check your channel out. Aint nothing wrong with saving money!


Hope everyone has a good day!

kabot: yeah, it's a shame that even though those "mini binges" are better than what we used to do in the past, we still can't make ourselves stop it completely... oh well. congrats on the couch. i wish i could have a couch... my apartment is just way too tiny :(

hotaruchan: haha, the "siren call of the combini"... actually i failed to resist it yesterday :/ oh well. haha... your story reminds me of when i was on JET... except i had to go into school for the whole summer, not just 2 weeks. i was soooo bad and boring... had to find ways to entertain myself on a computer... but even the internet gets old real quick when you gotta find stuff to do for 8 hours every single day. meh. ganbatte :)

Rie: yeah i know, it's what i'm trying to do. workout everyday and not make myself crazy with the "dieting" part. it's just that this part of me can't seem to get out of "diet-mode" and i feel like i've just f*cked everything up whenever i stray a bit. meh. today is another day.

lisa: your scale story made me laugh. it reminds me of a similar situation i had about 3 years ago... i had this old scale back home, you know, the non-digital ones with the little pin... well, i weighed myself at an onsen one time and it said about 3kg less than my scale back home. i was like "that can't be right..." but it turned out that my scale was the one that was totally wrong, and this whole time i felt like i was like 8lbs heavier. it was really weird trying to adjust mentally to being "lighter", even though i still was the same weight than i'd been. lol. but yeah, investing in a good scale is a good idea. i got a super cute hello kitty one XD

hey girls. so i was bad again yesterday. gah. actually, i was good for the whooole day, and then around like 6pm, a friend texted me to go out, and since i've been basically a recluse in my house for the last week, i agreed readily. we had a couple of drinks and some food at an izakaya. i was pretty good with the food actually, and only had 2 drinks, but then when i went home, i bought some kitkats and ice cream at the combini. why? why did i do that??? i have no answer for you... meh.

well anyways, i was pretty good today. not only food-wise, but i finally managed to drag my as$ out of the house to go study japanese at a cafe, which is something i've been telling myself i'd do pretty much every day for the last 2 weeks. hopefully this is the beginning of a pattern :) i also did day 9 of 30 DS, which scares me a bit cuz it means tomorrow is my last day of level one. i know level 2 will be harder... haha... i hate pain :p

anyhoo. hope everyone has a good monday. it's time for bed for me.

Lisa my MIL's scale told me I was 213 in the middle of the evening yesterday, but mine tells me I'm 216 this morning, so I feel your pain. I'm just going by my scale because I'm trying to focus on progress not numbers (focusing on numbers will just make me sad!)

Kawaii Same thing happened to me, good all day and then BIL wanted to go out for bar food. I only nibbled from my fiance's plate but the bar food was so greasy I had an upset stomach all night and had to call in sick this morning. I think imma try to avoid eating and drink only a tbsp or two of water at a time (standard food poisoning procedure) today because I feel so sick. Needless to say, I think my bar food days are over!

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So I got my couches! Really weird story, I went with my mom and dad and the first place we went to we found a love seat in red bonded leather that we decided on. They told us we could get a matching armchair ordered in too. So we go to the back to pay for the stuff and they tell us it will take 6 weeks o deliver! Omg! So we ask if we can have the floor model, they say no. Anyway long story short we end up talking to the store manager, a rude, disinterested little man who says no again in the most unpleasant manner ever. So we decide to take our business elsewhere, but before leaving my dad asks for his business card. The man asks why he needs it. My dad says he wishes to review the store's and manager's performance to head office. The mans says, and I quote, "you can't do anything to me and I won't give you my card" while covering his name tag. So my dad whips out his phone and snaps a picture of the guy, saying "ok, I'll just send this picture of you covering your name tag along with my comments to your head office". The manager proceeds to chase after us as we're leaving the store screaming "I'll MAKE you delete that photo". He goes so far as to chase us OUT of the store and chase our reversing car down the parking lot while furiously writing down our registration plate (what's he gonna do? Tell the police someone took a photo of him?)

So we went to a competitor's location and in FIFTEEN minutes had bought, ordered, arranged for delivery in 2 weeks and gotten a $150 gift certificate for a set of much nicer loveseat and armchair.

This is the stock photo of them:

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/...3/4cdcc16e.jpg

They're also gonna be professionally treated and carry a guarantee that if either furniture is stained and the stain cannot be professionally cleaned by the company (for free) then we get new free couches, which will be treated with the same stain treatment and re-guaranteed for another 5 years. Apparently this stuff can withstand kids drawing on the couch with crayons. Considering The couches are white leather, this is good news!

sgregg It would make me nervous to not know what class I was teaching. :) That sounds like such a wonderful program!

Kawaii I was pretty bad this weekend too. TOM and all I wanted was chocolate and salty chips.

hotaruchan That's wonderful news about the teachers talking to you more!

lisa That is awesome news about the scale!! Congrats!

katbot That is the FUNNIEST thing I've heard! I can totally picture the angry little store manager chasing after y'all. :) Fantastic news about the better couch with all the stain treatment. Very cool.

My weekend wasn't too shabby. Had TOM cramps so that stunk. Most of my time was me with a heating pad. Now it's back to work, a new week of classes, and...getting back on track after a bad eating weekend.

Oooo: some good news! My student loans don't cover my full tuition for school, so I have to pay some money out of pocket each month. For this upcoming academic year, I'll be saving $130 a month in out of pocket costs! Already have it set up to deposit that money automatically into savings.

sgregg- That sounds like a really interesting teaching job, and very rewarding too. Best of luck to you. The couponing sounds fun, I have seen it on TV but never done it myself.

Kawaii- Hang in there! I've been on a bit of a food bender this weekend too, but the important thing is that it is a new week (or Tuesday there, am I correct?) and there is always time to change things. :)

Katbot- Sounds like an eventful weekend, lol. Glad you found a couch you liked and that you were able to do something enjoyable with your parents. (When you weren't being chased by angry managers, that is. ;) )

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This weekend was fun for me. My boyfriend and I stayed active, we went swimming and to the gym on Friday and bowled for a couple of hours on Sunday. Tonight he is going to a wrestling event, which I decided wasn't something I wanted to do. It's not like the DVDs where you can actually see what's going on. :) So I decided I would take my yoga class tonight and then come home and read a book. :)

In not so good news, I've been kind of going on a food bender this weekend. I had one of those moments of "am I doing the right thing?" type of moments. I have a supportive boyfriend and parents when it comes to my veganism, but a lot of people don't get it and that sort of bugs me. Anyhoo, I had some stuff that was not vegan and kind of backslid for a few days, but I think I can get back on track. Especially since the meat was gross, and I prefer my tofu and seitan anyway. :)

I also checked out from the library a book of vegan cooking with 400 recipes in it. I keep hoping I will like one of them, lol. :) If I cook more I will of course take some pictures for you. :)

Hope everyone has a great day/evening/afternoon. :)

@QB: Student loans are a pain, the ones in my province thankfully cover tuition and living expenses, but the down side is I'll have more to pay back once I'm done.

@ namaste: Your weekend sounds great and I applaud you for veganism, I couldn't do it! I love cheese way too much. You should share any good recipes you try in the recipe section.

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So my next few weeks are gonna be insanely hectic - dentist and the bank tomorrow followed by work, getting tenant's insurance the next day then work, Saturday is ALL about packing, the fiance is working all day so I can get the packing done without him being underfoot (he's sweet and well meaning but Kat likes things done a certain way and gets grumpy when someone interferes), Monday we sign for the place and move in half the boxes (we're borrowing MIL's car for a week), Wednesday we move in proper and get all our utilities hooked up. Then work every day till the 8th when we go to the fair, then work every day until the 12th when I'm getting my hair/nails done for vegas. 13th leave for vegas, come back on the friday and have the weekend off to get the apartment finished up. The week after that is orientation for my student volunteers starting their positions this school year and then school starts! I don't think I have a single day in August which isn't booked up with at least one thing needing to be done. I'm starting to miss being a woman-child mooching off my parents and playing video games all summer! Phew!

hey guys... i pretty much fail at life... T_T so after a day with the bf (which was awesome but he wanted to eat pizza), i weighed myself yesterday morning and my weight had gone right back up to what it was when i first weighed in nearly 2 weeks ago. nevermind that i'd been good the whole day without that stupid pizza. nevermind that i'd been working out every single day for ten days. oh no. so i got so cranky that i ended up kinda bingeing for dinner last night. i didn't even bother weighing in this morning. i just hate this so much. i just feel like i have to starve myself if i wanna lose weight. like, i can eat 3000 calories a day and stay at my current weight, and then i can eat 1800 calories a day and maintain too. how is that fair??? it just makes me wanna give up, as usual... *sigh*

well anyways, nevermind my little rant. at least i'm still exercising... today i did level 2 of 30DS and i'd forgotten i like it so much better than level one. lol.

later today a friend of mine from my old town is coming over to spend the night cuz she's flying back to England from Narita and i'm looking forward to seeing her. it's probably gonna result in restaurant food, but at least i haven't eaten much all day :p

kabot: nice couch :) and omg, that guy sounds like such a douche... hope your dad mails hq, haha...

ballerina: sorry to hear you were bad too... hopefully this week can go better for you. and yay for starting savings. i should do that too...

namaste: yeaaaaah... not giving up yet :p even though it just feels i just keep on failing... meh. it's pretty cool you and your bf can be so active together though :) i wouldn't worry too much about your little bender, since it sounds like you're already back on track ;)

Yes , Im still here. I hadn’t logged in a few days because my life has been hectic! BUT I have managed to eat well and I have done TF twice this week. My plan is to do it today and tomorrow. I will be moving into a new apartment this weekend due to relationship issues. SO that will be a workout in its own. YAY for me I have gotten down fast food and dieting. Can’t lie, I have had several grilled chicken sandwich from McDonalds and sonic, no soda, no fries. Each time i stayed within my allotted MFP calories. Scale went down to 211.6

Kawaii- yes, our bodies can be tricky! Don’t give up though, you will go down some more in due time.

nomaste- I am fairly new to this thread, so you may have answered this question before. How long have you been a vegan? What prompted this move? I’m just curious? Oh and I’ve never tried tofu, have to put it on my list

Kat-Thanks! The cheese isn't so bad once you get used to not having it. The vegan cheese alternatives are so much better these days then they were when I first went vegan, they basically had no flavor to them and didn't melt. Yuck-o! Yeah I definitely will, the bf and I plan to do some cooking this weekend as well, and having him there means a higher probability of something going right. ;)

Kawaii- I so feel your pain! My scale and I have had several arguments about where I think it should be and where it actually is and I think the scale is winning. I am still keeping up the exercise though, and unfortunately if I get off track I always end up doing the exercise for a few weeks, and then I get the veganism back on track, and then things start getting back to normal. This is the way it should work, unfortunately it isn't always the case. :)

Lisa- Actually I haven't been asked that in quite awhile, so I don't mind: I've been vegan off and on since 2009, when I started researching ways to get thinner. I was close to 240 pounds at that time, and just straight-up miserable. I happened across this book called Skinny B!tch (cept it actually had the complete word, lol). A friend of mine recommended it to me, and I started reading. I was just taken aback by the graphic descriptions I heard in this book, and started my vegan diet then and there. I was thrown off track by two horrible relationships in my life, and subsequently relocating from Memphis, TN to St Charles, MO and I ate to compensate. Fast forward to 2011 and I'm in a loving relationship with a guy who happens to be a huge wrestling fan. There is a wrestler on there called Daniel Bryan who for a while as part of his wrestling gimmick professed to be a vegan "role model" and did some work for Peta2 and some other vegan organizations. I thought about it and after living with my boyfriend for some time and watching lots of wrestling, I became a vegan again. That was December of 2011, and I've been a vegan ever since. :)

Sorry if it's long. Nothing in my life is ever short and to the point, lol. :)

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So, life is picking up for me a bit. Got my final for Trig this afternoon and then going to Zumba for my biweekly butt-kicking. I've actually got an interview on Monday, so hopefully I can get some work. It's a retail position, which is actually kind of cool because I love their stores and maybe working there would motivate me to do more exercise and fit into stuff from there. :) Either way, I've got my fingers and toes crossed.

Well, I don't really have much else to say, lol. Take care all, have a good day/evening/afternoon.

lisa: good job on the loss. and thanks for the pep-talk ;) i know my body is having a good ol' time messing with my head...

namaste: ha, thanks for feeling my pain ;) good luck with the interview :cheer:


hey guys, well, i'm still in a weird mood, but i'm about to go do my 30DS... 2nd day of level 2...

i wanna share something with you guys though... about 2 months ago, i "accidentally" entered this purikura contest (lol). if you don't know, purikura are these little photo-booths that are really popular in japan... you take pictures and then you can go doodle on them on a little screen at the back of the machine and they print out on sticker-paper at the end. it's meant for teenage girls mostly, but it's huge fun and so every foreign girl i know loves it too.

this is a purikura (i'm the blonde one... and sorry it's so big, i can't seem to make it smaller)
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...ndie/00901.jpg

anyways, so for this contest, you could take an individual picture of your face and then it would "enter it" in the machine, and so people who took puri in that machine could "vote" for whichever picture they liked best and your photo would climb up or down in the ratings. fyi, when you take pictures, it often requires you to enter your phone email so you can get digital copies of your photos (which is pretty cool). so anyways, i didn't actually register but they had my email from that.

about a month ago, i get an email saying "congratulations, your picture was number one on that machine, you're moving on to the next stage". i was a bit floored but the next stage involved all the number one pics from all the machines all over japan being put on the website and people could vote for them. there were about 200 finalists, all super cute teenage japanese girls, and when i checked, i was about number 67 or something so i quickly gave up, thought it was pretty cool that i'd made it this far, and forgot about it.

then last week i got another mail saying "congrats, you are top 30. give us your adress and we'll send you a present". i was super shocked. then a few days ago i got another mail saying i made final selection and i have to go to an audition somewhere in august, asking to confirm if i'll come. so i did. and now today i get this email of this "form" i have to fill out, which asks (among other things) my age, my weight and my "3 sizes". according to my friend who goes to a lot of auditions for his singing, this is all very normal. the only thing is that A) i'm actually 30. (i don't look it or act it, which is why i'm mooching on this forum, lol). and most of the other contestants are gonna be teenagers. i feel bad writing my age down. and B) i'm literally double the size as all these girls. i weigh 83kg and the average japanese girl weighs around 40kg or under... T_T i mean... why do they have to know how much i weigh anyways??? i got to the last freakin stage on my face alone... so this is really depressing. the aforementioned friend said that i should just lie. about my age, fine, but about my weight? even if i say i'm 75kg, which as much as i think i could get away with, it's still huge in the mind of a japanese person, so i'm just wondering if it would terminate my chances before they even saw me in person... *sigh* also i'm not a big fan of lies.

on the other hand, this whole audition/finalist thing is really exciting, but i'm kinda confused about the whole thing.

anyways, sorry about the novel but i had to get that off my chest, haha :p

kawaii: Oh god...purikura...as much as I hate getting pictures of myself taken, all of my ryugakusei friends loved it, so I have a few super special ones :p I had a prepaid phone without internet, so I didn't put in my email, but I think that even if I did and something like that happened to me, I'd assume it was some cruel "pick on the stupid gaijin with the scarily huge eyes" joke and delete it...if there's that much follow up, I'd imagine that it's legit though...congrats!

About the weight thing...yeah...Japanese views on weight are...well...f-ed up. Today at lunch a bunch of teachers brought random things from their gardens to share in the staff room and one woman (probably about as big around as my thigh) was eating a ton of berries that someone had brought and complaining that "Oh, I shouldn't eat these...I'm getting so fat," I covered a laugh by pretending to choke on my onigiri, but the other women were legit concerned. They asked how much she weighed, and after much covering of her face and looking away, she finally admitted "42 kilos." My jaw dropped...the others started cooing over "Oh, yeah, that's not exactly thin for someone your height..." and recommending that she go for a walk after lunch. 42 KILOS. I DID A HAPPY DANCE THIS MORNING WHEN I SAW 75.9.

namaste: Good luck on your interview! I'm sure you'll kick some serious butt and get the job :D

...I'm so far behind on this thread...I feel like a slacker -_-U

I've been feeling positively ill all week thanks to TOM hitting hard, but I've still been doing 2 hours of biking per day and watching my calories, and SOMEHOW it's been working really well...fingers crossed that it keeps working. I was video chatting with my boyfriend this morning and kept pointing to my collarbone and telling him "LOOK! I HAVE BONES!" To which he replied "I'd always assumed so...now stop saying that you're fat, crazypants." Silly boy is convinced that 15 lbs or so overweight is "tiny." It's cute how delusional he is <3

Hello everybody =]

Welcome, DailyStruggle.

So guys...I don't know whether I should feel proud of myself or entirely lame. I just had the stupidest binge ever. I've been trying the vegetarian thing out for the week (totally not sticking with it much longer though...I'm very much an omnivore and need some meat in my life) so last Friday I pretty much got rid of anything that wasn't fruits and vegetables to make space in the fridge. Then I went to the JA farmer's market and bought lots of fruits and vegetables super cheap. I was going to be on plan. I was doing great.

...then my company contacted me. I've come to realize that that's NEVER a good sign. Apparently the schedule that I got with my contract has been amended, so now I have NO winter break. Well, I have to get Christmas eve off (it's apparently a national holiday here...wtf?), but the entire week after when I was planning on flying home for my niece's first birthday? Gone. No word yet on whether they're re-writing my contract so that I get paid for that week, because as it stands, December pay is docked for holidays. Written into the contract. So I raged. I cried a little...then I made the biggest f-ing salad ever and ate the whole f-ing thing because I didn't want to go out to a conbini looking like a serial killer. The salad was easily the size of my head. I roasted like 5 (admittedly small) cloves of garlic in the toaster oven to throw on top and threw a bunch of vinegar over it because Japanese salad dressing is kinda nasty. Binge calorie total? 231.

I. Am. So. Lame.
*Sigh* Exercise time...need to take out my frustrations in a more constructive manner.

Thank you Hotaruchan, that's not even a binge, that sounds like a wonderful little meal to me lol Did you consider it a binge because it was more emotional eating since you seem upset? Can you negotiate with the company regarding the terms of your contract? do try.
Being vegetarian is not for everybody, what made you pursue that lifestyle?
I don't eat red meat, and the only time i eat chicken is if its home made and fried.. (which i dont get any on my diet plan lol)

It was about the size of a salad I'd make when I was cooking for a family of 5 >_< I was entirely surprised when I plunked it all in MyFitnessPal and it told me how little it was. I've already sent multiple emails, but my company's pretty horrific about communication. I don't really expect a reply before the week is up, and even then it'll probably be something completely useless and unsatisfying.

The vegetarian thing was just more of a whim than anything. I wanted to see if I could get the scale moving, but by the end of the first day I was already thinking "Know what I could really go for? Some beef jerky..." It was never intended to be a long-term thing, but I kinda thought I'd last longer than 3 or 4 days on it...

Hotaruchan we do a vegetarian week every few weeks too, it's amazing for a week but you miss meat at the end of it. As for your "binge", while emotional eating is not ideal, the choice of food was definitely a victory - so I'd say at the worst it's a 50/50 victory.

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So we got the keys to our new place today, and are beginning to move things in, I'm sore and bruised but happy to be moving. Hopefully we'll be settled in by Wednesday. I'm dreading stepping on the scale when it's unpacked, I'm afraid TOM and water retention from all the physical/mental strain of moving will give me a gain. On the other hand, lifting boxes all day makes for great exercise!

Hey everyone...super busy around here, but wanted to pop in and let you know I'm still lurking. :) Maybe I can catch up with what's going on with everyone.

Well, I didn't miss as much as I thought I did! So, yay!

Katbot - If you are afraid to step on the scale, then just skip a week! :) And yay for keys to your new place!! I know you are super excited!

Hotaru - I would definitely say that your binge could have been A WHOLE LOT worst. Ha! You could have had a "shauna" binge and eat a ton of potato chips, bowl of cereal, and whatever else I could find in the fridge/cabinet. Haha! I'm sure my binges are over 500 calories...good thing you tracked though! I wouldn't have even done that...so kudos to you!!

DailyStruggle - :welcome:

Kawaii - That picture thing sounds like fun! I would be excited to be up that high...and I just wouldn't worry about the weight issue...if they don't pick you because of that, then they are lame. It would come out in the end anyway, so might as well be honest up front. :)

lisa - Good job for staying within your calorie limit! That's really great! And isn't it great that we can still have the fast food and still lose weight?! It's all about moderation. :cool:

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Okay, I'm definitely going to be teaching grades 10-12 English. I spent 3 days in my room last week getting my classroom somewhat ready. I don't have any student desks, but the principal ordered some. That's pretty much the only thing I'm lacking besides materials to stock up. My classroom was pretty much empty except for 2 very small book shelves. I had to search the school for things not being used. Found quite a bit of stuff, so I'm happy. :D I'll have to post a before and after picture. :dizzy:

Anyway, new teacher training started today. We had to be there at 8am (which means I had to get up at 5am), and stayed until around 3:30. I'm going to have to get used to those hours again. It's all good though...I'm just tired. I have training tomorrow and I think meetings the rest of the week. So, busy, busy, busy days for me. Students start August 7th.

Hi all,

Hope everyone is doing well. Things are going in the right direction for me, I have been working out continually and since I'm just taking my measurements after at least a year, I couldn't say if they were any better or worse than they were when I first started working out. Still, the scale is moving down some and I'm grateful for that at least. :) I managed to use 55 lbs of resistance on an ab crunch machine today. Not bad, since my boyfriend uses about 70 on the same machine. I am catching up. :)

Going to a WW meeting this week. I haven't been to one in almost a decade, but my mum has been a member for some time and is continuing to gain weight and I want to go with her so she'll have some support.

Interview went pretty good. I was paired up in a group interview with a skinny 18-year-old (male) kid and I thought, "Yup, I'm getting too old for this." :D Might have to refine my choices in my job search to a more age-friendly range, lol. Ah well, I looked like a diva and eventually showed the 18-year-old up intellectually. That made me feel a little better. (Not sure whether or not I should feel guilty for that... :D)

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DailyStruggle- :welcome3: Glad you're here and wish you luck!

Hotaru- :hug: Sorry to hear work isn't going too well. Sending good vibes your way and hope things get better. I'm with the rest of em, it could have been a worse binge, and at least you were honest with yourself and faced up to it. WTG for that. :)

sgregg- Glad you could get some supplies for your classroom. I'm sure you'll do great!

Kat- How exciting! Don't worry about the scale too much, you could always wait a few days or a week, especially since you have external factors working against you. :)

namaste984, sgregg: Thank you :hug:

Hotaruchan I agree with Katbot about it being a 50/50 victory, nothing to beat yourself over with though, be proud you made a healthy choice at the very least. :hug:

KawaiiCandie That's AWESOME! I think it's great you made it so far and you look very pretty in your picture! I think it's normal you feel self conscious because your weight is different than the typical Japanese teenager, but your different, which I think is what makes you stand out as well. So instead of feeling hesitant about it, embrace it! Rock it. I don't think it matters if you put down 75 kg or 80 kg, but i think you will feel more comfortable if you put down an answer that's honest to yourself. What if you need to try something on and the clothes are too small/big?
Best of luck and keep us updated. :hug:

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I should be heading out to the gym in half an hour.. but my TMJ seems to be acting up and while I'm wearing a mouthguard i got from the local drug store I'm in pain. :( I lost the custom $500 dollar TMJ guard my dentist made me like a year ago.. lol

Daily- YW. Is that the mouse from deadmau5? I kind of like the way they sound, and I always thought whoever that was in the mouse head must have a lot of confidence to pull that off. If it was me I'd be afraid the head was going to fall off and constantly pulling it back and forth. :D Sorry your teeth are in pain, and hope they start to feeling better soon. :)
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So yeah, might be out of commission for a little while on the workouts. I was doing Zumba today, and totally rockin it, and then we did our cooldown. I was doing dancer's stretch, and I got my foot up and in my hand, which I thought was pretty cool until I felt a little slip and pop in my back. Oops. So, I'll take a warm shower tonight and an anti-inflammatory, and if its still bugging me tomorrow I'll take a hiatus, maybe until next week, to let it heal up. :) Still going to the Weight Watchers meeting though, maybe with an ice pack. ;)

namaste984: check out this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnwfTHpnGLY
One of the deadmau5 songs on my workout playlist :D
I feel better now, but horrible that I'm missing my workout... Need to see the dentist ASAP.
Btw, what is a stretcher's dance..?

Daily- Dancer's stretch is a yoga/cooldown pose in which you bend up your leg behind you and you reach your arm back to grab it, like you were a figure skater (or dancer). What I did was twist my leg in the opposite direction ever so slightly and it stretched a muscle in my back. Thankfully, it's doing better today. :) That song is pretty amazing, a lot of diverse sounds coming into one eight-minute song. I can totally see why that would be a workout song. :)
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I am happy to report my back is feeling much better. I was nervous I would miss several workouts and go back up in weight but thankfully it healed up pretty quickly. So this morning I will go to water aerobics with my mum and go to WW.

I weighed in at 220 this morning for the third day in a row, which is discouraging to me since I saw the scale keep going down until I did my cardio for the day. I kind of get frustrated because I always seem to lose the same 5-10 pounds over and over, in increasing numbers each time. I guess it means that I will have to be more diligent in my dieting, and not just go for what is cheap but what is healthy. I'm not going to lie to myself and say I'm doing everything right, because I'm not, but I am committed to doing that and hopefully make the scale go down beyond a 10 lb loss as it should.

/RANT

Anyhoo, sorry to be such a Debbie Downer so early in the morning. :) I hope everyone's day goes awesomely. :)