Hey everyone!

Not sure if anyone remembers me, but I was a prominent member for a year or so before I moved from the UK to Japan. That's when my activity here and my weight loss started to dwindle.

I lived with my boyfriend for 3 weeks then I found a job, then I had to find my own apartment and move in here. I've never lived on my own before, and I never realised how much time/money trying to set up a new place would take. Like buying all the furnishings for example, I had nothing when I moved in here. I also had a full time job, so I could only do apartment related work on the weekends, and some of those weekends I was away visiting the boyfriend. I'm quite affected by my living environment, so I hated feeling unsettled in my own home!

Now that my apartment is pretty much complete (still a few things I want to get, a mirror for one!!) and after eating a lot of junk food at my new job - I want to get back in the game and lose weight. I haven't weighed myself in a month, something I'm quite scared of doing but WILL suck it up. So I'm not sure how much I've gained.
I work at a private English school, and it requires a lot of physical activity for most of the day, so I'm hoping the gain isn't too bad.

I'm hoping to start running again, and I want to get into yoga too to increase my core strength and general flexibility to aid my running. I'm a bit scared about running again since I live in Tokyo, and I can only really go running at night time when it's dark. I've found a route that takes me along a main road then cuts into a street - it's not remote it's all in residential areas so I'm hoping it's not a problem for my safety. I'm from a dangerous city, so it's hard to drop those feelings even though Japan is for the most part quite safe.

So I decided to make a little schedule for myself. I based it around what days I would be cooking (don't want to be running too late into the night) and any days where I'm having left overs I would run. Classy lady ;p. Then I can just come home, eat dinner, then go. On the "off" days I would do yoga in my apartment. As I'm a beginner I'm going to start with DVDs/youtube videos then I might look into local classes. Here's what my exercise schedule will look like:

Monday: Yoga
Tuesday: Run
Wednesday: Yoga
Thursday: Run
Friday: Yoga
Saturday: Run
Sunday: Rest

I would happily take Yoga recommendations, I've been looking into the different styles and I want a more relaxing style of yoga. So though some of you might swear by Bikram or Ashtanga yoga I really don't want that kind of challenge with yoga! I get my cardio from my running so yoga for me will be relaxing and deep stretching. I tried a Hatha yoga style last night just for sh!ts and giggles and I really liked it. So anyone with any DVD recommendations I'll be happy to take on board!!

As for my eating, I find when I'm exercising I naturally slip into healthy eating because I want to fuel my body for exercise. However healthy eating is kind of difficult here when I don't know how to cook!! Fruit is stupidly expensive, which is a shame because I love fruit; vegetables I'm not too thrilled on but will just start incorporating it into my main meal and suck it up!

I know that I started the Sexy for Halloween challenge and had to hand it over, which was really hard but it was for the best. I hope that once I'm back for "good" I can start a new challenge with the same format, since I feel like now I'm more in control of my life I can keep up with message board stuff.

So I'll weigh myself in tomorrow, update my tickers and then start my journey once more! I'm guessing that my weight is 155 lbs, perhaps 160 lbs at the most and my final goal weight is 130 lbs. I've got the last 20 or so lbs to lose so I need to step it up and push it to the limit! It would be awesome to go home for Christmas and have a rocking slim body!

Looking forward to interacting with you all again, I have missed it here!

Hi Riestrella, goos to see you back Although I don't really post in the 20 somethings often, I do remember you from when I did and it's great to read that you're back with a bang and ready to make your goal, grin!

In fact, I don't really post anywhere too much at the moment either. I've moved back to Thailand about a month ago and just moved into my place a couple of weeks ago and like you am in the process of getting it sorted to how I want it, but only being on a 6 month placement and only getting paid expenses, I unfortunately have to stop myself from going mad and buying everything!

My diet and exercise has also slipped since about a month before i left, when I was rushing to write my dissertation and so had no time for anything else and healthy eating went out of the window. Here again there's been too much socialising, drinking and not really caring about food choices. That ends here and I'm back on it.

I'm teaching in a refugee camp and my days are long and knackering and involve lots of hill climbing and things, so by the time I'm home I don't really feel like planning a healthy meal or exercise. However, this next week is school holidays and I'm based in the office all week doing admin so lots more time to get to the pool, to work out, hopefully start up jogging again and I'm even giving football a go, yikes! I hope that if I manage to do it this week, I'll keep some of it going into the future too, although it's my eating I really really need to work on I know, and I will, I will!

Sorry, that became a long post about me!

Good luck with getting back on it, let us know how your running route is for you. I'd love to help with the yoga, but it's something I've never tried I'm afraid. Hope you find some veggies you like too!

Heyyyyyy Riestrella!

Glad to hear you're settling in nicely.

(1.) Learn how to cook! All it requires is putting things in a pan on your gas range. Buy "sasami" cut chicken and seasonal veg and there you go!

(2.) I lived in the second most dangerous city in Japan (according to a study based on yakuza activity) and no one bothered me EVER when I was running outside. Japan is SO SAFE, embrace it!

Welcome back!

Welcome back! Sounds like you've had a really exciting time lately, hehe =) How far apart do you and your boyfriend live now?

From one -ella to an another welcome back.

Welcome back Riestrella!
Congrats on the big move, you are very brave!

I am recently coming back from a several month set back. Life got stressful and I plummeted into old eating habits. Putting that behind me and getting back into it though!

Welcome back and good luck on your journey!

Thank you all for your kind comments! I'm supposed to be getting ready for work, so I'll come back and reply in more detail but just wanted to say THANK YOU!!

What is funny, I remember you well, and I took a break as well!! Nice to see a familiar face on here!!

It still looks like you did some good weight loss! I was active around the same time as you, and now I am back too

Welcome back!
I'm happy you're still here when I came back. A friendly face i'd miss if you weren't around

I'm glad to read that you're settling in. Good luck getting back into a healthy routine!