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October Update: Vegetarian

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All of October I ate vegetarian.  It was actually really easy, a lot easier than I thought. I got some good recipes (thanks everybody), and most of the restaurants in GR are very vegetarian-friendly. One thing I noticed was that fast food, especially fast food you can eat in the car, was hard to find. The other thing that was awkward was big family/friend gatherings. Aside from having or not having something to eat it was always really awkward to tell a large group of people I couldn’t eat that because I was eating vegetarian. I think if I actually believed in being vegetarian for health/moral/whatever reasons maybe it would have been easier. As it was, I always felt a little hypocritical, so I just tried to fly under the radar.Another thing that was interesting is that a lot of people asked if I was doing it to lose weight. That was surprising to me because a ton of vegetarian food can also be very unhealthy (pizza, pasta etc). If anything it was harder to eat healthier because I eat a lot of chicken, and it was harder to find a good protein source that was as filling.

All in all it was an interesting month, definitely changed my prospective on vegetarian food a little.  I’ll never be a vegetarian, (sorry, animals are TASTY!) But now I don’t mind the occasional vegetarian meal, something I used to skip over without a thought.

October: Vegetarian for a month

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/clayirvingThis month I am going to eat vegetarian.  I know, hard to believe.  I wanted to do this all year, and October seemed like the least “painful” month to do it.  I couldn’t give up my summer grilling, and November and December are full of holidays, so they were out, and October is all that is left.

I don’t think it will be too bad, I am trying to eat Vegetarian, not Vegan, so all the milk/egg/cheese goodies are still allowed. I actually know quite a few vegetarians and will be leaning on them for some good recipes (hint, hint – feel free to comment with a link!) And if it really is that terrible, well, it’s only a month right?

September Update: New Workout

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Update (10/1): I got moved into the regular Krav Maga class today ahead of schedule, sweet!

I actually did really good this month trying to find a new workout. I tried quite a few things I haven’t done before and have actually enjoyed working out again! First, I tried just doing 30 min. of some kind of exercise everyday. That worked for a while but it was hard to get in every day without a set schedule, and it just didn’t feel very strenuous. So I moved on and tried some other things. My favorite was definitely Krav Maga. I’m still in the beginner class, but am pretty sure I will continue on for a while. Hopefully when the first month is up I can move into the full class. If you are interested in Krav Maga/Self Defense and live near Grand Rapids you should check it out. My least favorite thing (by far!) has been Yoga. It’s just hard. It sucks. I’m not saying it isn’t a good workout or anything, I’m just really bad at it. In the end I have settled on a little bit of everything, here is my new weekly workout schedule:


It’s a little ambitious, but I’ve been doing pretty well with it and have already lost a little weight. Hopefully, I’ll actually stick with it!

Challenge Yourself

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You probably are aware that I have been trying to challenge myself to do something different each month this year as a part of my new year’s resolutions. This, in addition to following through on my new year’s resolutions, is something that I get asked about a lot.  The first question I usually get: Why?

Usually, I just answer “Because.” A little less than thrilling, but it’s the truth.

So many people (including me) have let life just sort of pass them by.  We get in a  routine, and that is it, day in, day out. Eat-Sleep-Work, over and over and over again. What is really terrifying to me about this is that once it happens, time just seems to slip away. Days melt into weeks, then into months, and you look back and say, hey, what just happened? Where did my summer go? (Remember in school when summer seemed to last about ten times as long as it does now?) Life becomes a kind of blur, with nothing standing out against the background enough to make you stop and think. It’s all too easy to let it happen, and talking to other people, it’s a pretty widespread problem. So I said to myself, enough, I’m going to do something about it. That’s when I first started seriously setting and working towards my new years resolutions.

It has lead to a lot of interesting things I wouldn’t have guessed.  Since then, I’ve started a business, completed a triathlon,  gone a year without pop, helped my friend share his comics online, drank a ridiculous amount of tea, and generally had a good time. What’s ironic, is that despite all this, I’ve failed at as many goals as I have set.  I am by no means one of those super motivated, type-A, take the world by storm people who always seem to 12 steps ahead of everyone else. But what I have found is that in just trying to do something – anything – different, life is more fun. Things slow down, there are milestones in the everyday rush of life that actually mean something and make you take a step back and enjoy yourself.

That, at its core, is why I do this. I want to slow things down, I want to do something different. It doesn’t have to be some great thing, or even something most people understand, just something different. It’s really fun, and you should give it a try.

Why do I challenge myself?

Because – Why wouldn’t I?

September: New Workout

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For September, I am really going to focus on getting back into the swing of working out.  Since my triathlon back in June, I haven’t really done anything as far as working out goes, at least not consistently.  Well, it’s finally starting to get to me, and the scale has been saying some very mean things to me lately.  So, this month I am going to find a new weekly workout schedule.  I am still a little burned out on the whole swim/bike/run thing, so I am going to be trying some new things.  I’m hoping to try weight training, yoga, kettle bells, and possibly Krav Maga.  I’m hoping Krav Maga works out as I have definitely missed Muay Thai since the class I used to go to shut down about a year ago, but am not sure quite what to expect.