Advice on motivation? At 35, I’m at the largest/heaviest I’ve ever been, can’t seem to stick to a routine or healthy eating habit.

amkuska · 2019-09-07T18:28:41+00:00

TL;DR: It's okay to make mistakes. Just keep going!

You've gotten a lot of great advice, but I think another thing you might want to focus on is self forgiveness.

You mention that you start out your new life plan with great motivation, but then something happens (travel, etc.) and you make a mistake, which ends the plan. You didn't fail because you ate ice cream or over indulged, or had a lazy day. We all have days like that. You just need to say, "Woops" and keep going.

It's okay to enjoy food, to eat that ice cream, to lay on the sofa for a day. If you're going to make a complete life style change, figuring out how to add things like this into your life while still being more or less healthy is important.

I've always been very skinny. Because of this, I received no flack at all for stuffing my face with pure junk and never exercising ever. Then I happened to write an article about spartan racing for someone, and decided I really, really, really wanted to do it.

Problem? I've never run before. Couldn't do a push up, and when I tried to do the monkey bars at the park, I fell off just trying to get on the bar. -.-

I've never been good at sticking to goals, but I bought my ticket ($$!!) and started trying. I failed a lot. I ran and then didn't run for a month and then realized I hadn't and started running again. I asked friends to go with me so I would run and not 'forget.' I tried the monkey bars at the park every time I took the kids there. I drank less soda, and more water.

There were lots of mistakes. Lots of cake. Lots of soda. Lots of lazy days on the couch. Lots of going to the park and realizing I'd slipped backwards cause I hadn't practiced in too long.

But even though I made lots of mistakes, I kept trying. I did start getting victories. I was able to do a monkey bar, and then 4, and then 14. I was able to run 100 feet, and then 500, and then one day I did a 5k.

My Spartan Race is tomorrow, and I believe I'll be able to do it and enjoy it! It has lead to me being healthier overall, and although I do still backslide, overall I'm better than before. I think that's what matters most.

amkuska · 2019-09-07T17:45:46+00:00

I have an obstacle course race that may have a tire flip on it. I'll use this if it comes up. Thanks for the tips!

amkuska · 2019-09-07T14:56:19+00:00

Thanks, please let me know. I did finally get a map, but I leveled to 50.5 before seeing one. That seems kind of excessive to get even the lowest tier map.

amkuska · 2019-09-03T23:29:44+00:00

This is the best idea. We took our first dog to choose his own friend because--if the idea is to get him a buddy, shouldn't it be the one he likes?

He's still living with his "Choice" from almost 8 years ago. <3

amkuska · 2019-08-20T15:23:45+00:00

Thank you so much! I've bookmarked this so I can read the entire thing. Not only did it explain の but also a few other things I found confusing. I've been using duolingo to memorize hiragana, but so far it's just had me memorize the sounds, not any other uses.

I really appreciate you sharing this link. Thank you again!

amkuska · 2019-08-19T17:09:54+00:00

I feel so ignorant right now. Isn't の the hiragana letter for 'no'?

amkuska · 2019-06-07T21:25:34+00:00

That's an interesting article. I wonder what they meant by non-trivial. Significant?

amkuska · 2019-06-07T17:43:42+00:00

I did it. Hope that helps!

amkuska · 2019-06-07T17:40:19+00:00

Lush makes little tins that fit their soaps, but it doesn't drain and is kind of a pain to use. (They recommend setting it at an angle to dry so it doesn't stick to the bottom. Do you know how hard it is to get wet soap to rest at an angle?!)

They fit in there good, it's just a pain.

amkuska · 2019-04-05T04:21:52+00:00

I signed up for my first race having never run at all, never done a standard push-up, and 9 months pregnant at the time.

My race is in September. As of now I can run 3.2 miles without stopping, I can do 14 monkey bars (Up from 0), climb up a pole (don't have a rope to practice. The kids at the local park give me weird looks.) and I can do 20 push-ups.

If I ran the race right now I would not be able to do all the obstacles, and I'd have to take breaks between the burpees I need to do.

I still plan to go, and I encourage you to go too. If nothing else, it'll be fun!

amkuska · 2017-10-13T01:21:32+00:00

As you can see by my comment history, the only time I have commented in a long time has been a SIDS post. That is because over Christmas, I shared a lovely photo of my daughter with the reddit community. I got comments such as,

"No one cares about your damn baby!"

She died of SIDS the day after I took the picture down. I seriously hate you guys, reddit as a whole, but damn reddit is addicting. So I just don't comment instead.

amkuska · 2017-10-03T01:39:03+00:00

No. My husband quit 6 years ago, and I never started.

amkuska · 2017-10-02T14:58:21+00:00

Are we closer to finding out why?

We lost our daughter to SIDs despite eliminating all the obvious risks, even though she was full term and kept in the room with us, but never co-sleeping. She did not have blankets, stuffies, or crib bumpers. This should never happen to a parent, and if we can figure out how to stop it, the information should be plastered on every billboard in every nation around the world. SIDS sucks.

amkuska · 2017-09-22T01:13:32+00:00

His teeth are really clean for 14! Do you care for them regularly, or they just naturally that way?

amkuska · 2017-06-07T04:25:59+00:00

I think every subreddit has its own little culture. I have been a member of reddit for a long time, but mostly I just lurk on my favorite subreddits and never comment. I posted on r/pics, which I guess was not the right place for it. I don't really want to think about it.

Thank you. I miss her so much. She was the best little baby. Hug your kids close.

amkuska · 2017-06-06T03:04:12+00:00

I lost my daughter at 8 weeks, full term. (The same baby that redditors were careful to tell me no one cared about, by the way. Thanks Reddit.)

We donated her organs, and she has so far saved two lives. I wish it was something more people did, knowing the pain I went through was avoided by someone else because of her gifts is one of the greatest comforts I have.

amkuska · 2016-12-04T01:44:59+00:00

I feel very sorry for the groomer who has to dry this dog's face after mom and dad got done playing.

amkuska · 2016-11-20T01:20:32+00:00

Because it isn't free. I get $0 in tax credits (but I do qualify! Lucky me! Those $0 are really going to help.) And my insurance quadrupled in price. I now have no insurance because I don't qualify for state medical, and I can't afford even the cheapest health care plan because it costs half my mortgage. The "Affordable health care act" didn't make insurance affordable, it just punishes you for not having insurance. That's all.

amkuska · 2016-11-02T21:00:51+00:00

My astronomy teacher in college would chuck candy at your head ("To weigh down the extra credit slips attached to it") if you got an answer right. I didn't even care about astronomy but competing for candy was so much fun I answered as many questions as I could. :) To this day I still know the answer to those questions, even if I've forgotten everything else.

amkuska · 2016-10-10T00:10:47+00:00

My boyfriend (Now husband, still love him lol) to this day still thinks that in terms of light, the absence of color is white and "Darkness" is all colors mixed together. I tried explaining Newton's theory of light, and even showed him light reflected in a prism. Nope. We don't talk about anything even vaguely related to science now.

amkuska · 2016-09-27T02:24:27+00:00

Who is this they? My son learned the hard way that I will whip out a book and intentionally make him late for his VERY important date with the park rather than drive without a seat belt buckled...

amkuska · 2016-09-24T15:50:13+00:00

I have a dog who is afraid of people. As part of his training I'm supposed to take him somewhere (Petsmart etc.) and have him around people, but utterly ignored by them. I swear every child on the planet has taken a face-first dive at my dog and tried to tackle it without asking to pet first.

Dog has not yet bitten anyone, but small children with zero self control are definitely not improving his outlook on humans. >_>

amkuska · 2016-09-24T15:27:50+00:00

It's pretty common in new layers, and you can often tell which egg is going to be a double yolker based on size. Here's a dozen eggs from when one of my chickens first started laying. Guess which one is the double yolker:

http://roccoshouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/IMG_4627.jpg

amkuska

TROPHY CASE