Post: #1

Introduction

Hello, I'm Kristen and welcome to my loverly 21DHL Journal!
I'm 17 years old and I live in Jakarta, Indonesia (ie, the most polluted place I've ever been, which is saying a lot). I'm originally from Canada but I've been living overseas for 9 years now.

I was born with shortened achilles tendons, which means that the tendons in the back of my legs are too short, thus impairing my ability to walk with my heels on the ground. I've had to walk on my toes ever since I've known how to walk so I get tired easily and have difficulty with many forms of physical activity.

In the past couple weeks I've been inspired to take action in favour of my health in the New Year and then I found out that there would be another live run of this challenge so I'm really excited to participate.

In previous years, I've not been very healthy in that I consistently eat unhealthily; I mostly drank soda and overly sweetened iced tea; I don't move too much; I'm overweight and I've not thought about how all that and more would impact my body.
I'm writing all this because, if I acknowledge my faults and make others aware of them, I may be more motivated than before to improve on these faults.

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Pre-Work

I'm a little late with this because New Year's Eve was a little hectic and there was a party on the beach in Lombok (an island near Bali). I'm rather proud of myself because I only drank water, orange juice and banana juice and I was quite active in an epic sword-like duel with long party horns (until I got stabbed in the eye, which kind of sucked).

Ideal Vision of Health/Fitness/Lifestyle

I think in general, I have pretty realistic ideals:

• I would be of a healthy weight for my body-type (large build)
• I would be fit enough to be able to breathe after running
• I would eat healthy food regularly
• I would not drink unhealthy beverages but instead have water, teas, juices, etc.
• I would have full use of my feet (I have shortened achilles tendons so it really limits what I can do physically)
• I would have an exercise routine that I can do regularly
• I would not overeat or snack in between meals
• I would not regularly eat meat, just on weekends perhaps
  

Goals for the 21DHL Challenge
I'm sort of overhauling my health from the start:

• I will have lost weight, any amount is fine
• I will have found a form of exercise I am capable of
• I will have essentially drank water, teas, juices and chocolate milk (I'm lactose intolerant and chocolate doesn't seem to have as much of the side-effects so I'll stick with that for now)
• I will not have drank soft drinks
• I will not have consumed too much unhealthy foods such as simple sugars, processed foods and take-out
• I will have eaten due to hunger and not boredom
• I will have chosen vegetables instead of meat when given the choice (my parents sort of have ultimate say and they're carnivores so I don't have too much choice in my food for now)
  

My Overall Plan

• I will walk as often as I can (Jkt is not a pedestrian-friendly city)
• I will try out some forms of exercise to investigate what works
• I will drink water as my default drink of choice instead of Diet Coke or over-sweet iced tea
• I will eat only when I'm hungry and/or during mealtimes when I don't really have a choice
• I will make a conscious effort to eat breakfast everyday (I never usually do)
• I will think before I eat and evaluate how healthy my choices are before choosing (hopefully the healthy choice)
  

I'm going to take a walk now! I haven't worn shoes all week so these walks everyday have been really fun

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Other Goals for This Year
This year I also plan on improving some of my bad habits, picking up some new ones and achieving other things that I didn't think of earlier:

• Stop biting my nails
• Take better care of my teeth
• Improve my sleeping problems
• Get to bed before 11pm ideally
• Improve my cooking skills (gonna need them in Uni next year)
• Continue not watching television (excepting pre-recorded shows and documentaries, of course)
• Continue going shampoo-free (Check out what I meanhere)
• Make new friends
• Become more confident
• Read at least 5 books
  

Post: #2

Hello Kristen! I enjoyed reading your post! Your life must be very exciting! You seem exceedingly wise for 17! You will create your life exactly how you wish and it is clear you will go on to do great things! It is very nice to meet you! ~Kat

Post: #3

Day 1 - Drink 8 Glasses of Water

I started this one around when I found Personal Excellence (about a month ago) and did the calculations then but I lost them so it'll be a good refresher to do them again to get a better idea of how much I am supposed to be drinking.

I'm at a hotel right now so I don't have access to a scale so I'll go by my last check (about a month ago using a malfunctioning scale that was in pounds). I'll update this information when I find the actual figures even though they won't be too far off the actual figure.

Quote:If you use the metric system, divide your weight (in kg) by 30. The answer is the amount of water intake (in liters) you need a day. (66kg = 2.2 liters/day)

The scale I had said 160 pounds (which I converted to kg because I have no idea what an ounce was as a result) so I might be around 73kg.

73/30 = 2.43 litres of water.

The hotel I'm at provides complimentary water bottles everyday, which is convenient since there aren't water coolers and I didn't bring a water bottle (not so good environmentally but for the time being, I won't complain). They're 600ml so I would have to finish about 4 per day. I think I can do that.

It's about 4pm and I've drank about one and a half bottles today so I'll finish this one, have one with dinner later and have another between the time I finish dinner and the time I go to bed.

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Also, thank you for responding Kat, it's very nice to meet you too
It is pretty exciting here, especially since travelling around Southeast Asia is so affordable from here and there are so many interesting people to talk to from all over the world!

What country are you from?

Post: #4

Hi Kirsten, it was great reading your journal. You seem to know exactly what you want to achieve. Wish you all the best

Post: #5

Kristen ,

Your first post was very interesting, I think I will follow your journal for this challenge!


Happy New Year!
May

Post: #6

What I did today (irrelevant to the challenge)
I figured I'd share how my day's been because it's been pretty interesting.
Today I flew from Lombok to Bali so as I type this, I'm sitting outside next to the ocean watching the sunset and listening to a band playing great old music. I lived in Bali over three years ago, for two years and I hadn't been back since then so it's interesting to see how much it's changed since then. It's rather unfortunate that it's filled with tourists and everything's much more commercial and less natural in main areas such as Kuta (I didn't like that area anyway).
I'm staying in Candidasa (hadn't been here before) and it's a natural, culturally rich area untouched by tourism for the most part so it's really serene and tranquil.

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Day 2 - Create a Calorie List

Foods I Normally Consume and Their Calories
In no particular order:

• Fuji Apples - 130
• Banana Nut Crunch Cereal - 249
• Chocolate Milk - 226
• Bananas - 210
• Chicken - 121
• Whole Wheat Bread Slice- 69
• Orange Juicebox - 55
• Broccoli - 27
• Carrots - 52
• Mashed Potatoes - 237
• Baked Potatoes - 161
• Filet Mignon Steak (my special treat)- 348
• Sirloin Steak - 156
• Almonds (24) - 163
• Scrambled Eggs - 199
• Fruit Yoghurt - 30
• Lettuce - 8
• Potato and Leek Soup - 80
• Tomato Soup - 90
• Mushroom Soup - 100
• Mashed Pumpkin - 50
• Caesar Salad - 308
• Tea - 4
  

I really don't have too much variation in my diet but if/when I think of anything else, I'll just add it to this. That really wasn't fun. I would never do this for more than a week I think, ever.

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Day 3 - Calculate Daily Energy Expenditure

Quote:1) Calculate your BMR. Use this BMR counter.
2) Multiply #1 by 1.2. This is the calories you burn a day, when you have light activity.
3) Add your calorie output via exercise. Use this activity counter to know how many calories you're burning with your exercises. Sum up your calorie output with the answer from #2 and you'll get your TDEE for the day.

So, I calculated my BMR using the online thing and it's 1564.4. I Not really much to say about that... Anywho, after having multiplied it by 1.2, I get the lovely amount of 1877.28. That's...uh... great I suppose.

Since that's the expenditure for light activity, I'll just leave it at that because I'm not very active throughout the day because of my feet. Also I'm not going to go on to calculate how many calories I need to lose to achieve my target weight because right now I don't really have a set weight I want to get to, I just hope to loose vaguely some. And after yesterday I really don't want to calculate any more calories. It was rather unfun.

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Other

Drinking Water Update
As for the water drinking, I've gotten my 2.4 litres drank today and yesterday. So far all's well but I'm probably going to have to keep buying water bottles all the time until I get home...

What I've Eaten In the Past Two Days
As inspired by Jadzia, I'm going to write down what I eat because it'll motivate me to try and have a healthier-looking list (I like lists, as you can probably see from my zillions of bullet-lists so far). Also all my available food comes from hotel restaurants essentially so my options are really limited...

Sunday:

• Lettuce, chicken and fried egg sandwich in toasted white bread
• Four small bananas (susu pisang)
• Ordered in salami pizza from the hotel (thincrust with freshly made tomato sauce)
• 2 Orange juice boxes (200mL each)
• Several throat lozenges (I've been sick for a few days now)
  

Monday

• 2 Hard boiled eggs
• 4 vague triangles of watermelon
• A yoghurt (the wild berry variety)
• Tea (just sort of plain and with sugar)
• Potato and leek soup
• Caesar salad
• Chicken pie (probably less healthy than I would like)
• Mashed potatoes (had gross cheese in them for some reason )
• Little sidedish pile of vegetables
  

Post: #7

Hi Kristen,

Sounds like you are off to a great start so keep to it!

I went to high school with a girl who had shortened achilles tendons. She was a toe walker, but she was in gymnastics and quite good at it. She said she had to work on stretching her achilles everyday. Is this an option for you?

Post: #8

(01-03-2012 01:51 AM)Jenny Wrote:  I went to high school with a girl who had shortened achilles tendons. She was a toe walker, but she was in gymnastics and quite good at it. She said she had to work on stretching her achilles everyday. Is this an option for you?

Hi Jenny
I had a surgery to fix it a few years back and it was unsuccessful so it makes stretching a bit difficult. The closest I can stretch my heels to the ground is about an inch and a half off the ground. A couple weeks ago it was twice that, but since then I've been seeing a traditional chiropractic-acupuncturist-type person so I'm getting better thankfully.

Post: #9

(01-03-2012 02:00 AM)kfenato Wrote:  Hi Jenny
I had a surgery to fix it a few years back and it was unsuccessful so it makes stretching a bit difficult. The closest I can stretch my heels to the ground is about an inch and a half off the ground. A couple weeks ago it was twice that, but since then I've been seeing a traditional chiropractic-acupuncturist-type person so I'm getting better thankfully.

Oh, I understand. Good luck with the therapy you're getting for it.

Man if you had access to a pool on a regular basis, that would be a great alternative for exercise.

Post: #10

I was going to suggest swimming also or can you do rowing (if you have access to a gym)? Diet is most of the challenge usually. You can do it!!!

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I was going to suggest swimming also or can you do rowing (if you have access to a gym)? Diet is most of the challenge usually. You can do it!!!

Post: #11

Quote:Man if you had access to a pool on a regular basis, that would be a great alternative for exercise.

Quote:I was going to suggest swimming also or can you do rowing (if you have access to a gym)? Diet is most of the challenge usually. You can do it!!!

Conveniently, I do have access to a pool on a regular basis. There's one in my backyard (because for some reason, pretty much everyone has a pool over here :/)

There is a gym at the school I go to but that means I would have to have a ride home (which I don't because that's the time my dad has to use the car to go home) so it's not so practical...

Post: #12

Day 4 - Create Your Ideal Meal Plan
Well, I don't think this will be ideal but it'll be a realistically healthier meal plan than usual for me because I am rather picky with food, unfortunately; I don't know how to cook many things and I'm so accustomed to eating unhealthily that most things are healthy in comparison. So all the things listed will be things I like and can prepare without the aide of my mom:

Breakfast

• Fuji apple
• Scrambled eggs (with or without cheese)
• Whole grain toast
  or
• Fuji apple
• Granola cereal
• Fruity yoghurt
  

Lunch

• Beans on toast
  or
• Caprese Salad
  

Snack

• Almonds
• Bananas (the small ones)
  or
• Raw vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, cucumber and/or snow peas
  

Dinner

• Green beans cooked with garlic
• Pumpkin
• Chicken cooked with rosemary (because rosemary is awesome)
• Maybe some salad
  

Once I learn how to cook better, I'll be able to prepare healthier meals. Also I probably wouldn't eat this much in a day but it looks really good and I'd probably eat a dinner like that if I had someone else to eat with (a friend, my brother or someone).

My parents are often out for work dinners, or other boring things they don't want to be at, so my younger brother and I cook together a lot more this year instead of always ordering take-out.

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Other

Drinking Water Update
I drank my 2.4 litres again yesterday I was just reminded that I don't think I've had any water today so I'm going to go get a bottle!

Question: Does fruit juice count toward the drinking amount? I've just been counting pure water toward my water intake but I've been drinking plenty of juice too (banana and orange specifically)

Food Intake Yesterday
Still eating at restaurants almost all the time. Getting pretty tired of it.

• Fuji Apple
• Chicken burger with lettuce and beets
• Babybel cheese
• 2 banana juices (approx 1.5 cups each maybe)
• A piece of Italian bread with olive oil
• Chicken cooked with spices
• half a potato
• Little pile of vegetables
• About a forkful of: steak, couscous and chocolate mousse (my brother let me try some of his food)
• Tea in a shotglass. Odd concept.
  

Post: #13

What I Used to Eat
After the previous post, I was thinking that it would be practical to post how I ate on a normal day before I decided to improve my eating habits (I pretty much ate the same junk, different day).
Breakfast

• Nothing
  Or
• Poptart (chocolate fudge or s'more)
  

Lunch

• Pepperoni personal pizza
  

Snack

• Cheese flavoured crackers (Shapes)
  Or
• Potato chips (salt and vinegar if available)
  Or
• Poptart (If I didn't have one for breakfast. Usually there would be a poptart somewhere in my day)
  

Dinner

• Something healthy my mom cooks
• Typical meal my mom would cook: 2-3 different kinds of vegetable (usually 1-2 cooked and always a salad that I didn't usually eat), mashed potatoes, meat (chicken or beef)
  Or
• Take-out (Pizza Hut usually)
  

Post: #14

Hi, Kristen!

I'm continuing to enjoy reading your thread and I'm glad the idea of writing down what you are eating is helpful to you!

I don't know if Celes is counting fruit juice, etc. I haven't been counting it toward my water so far this month, but typically I do count any non-diuretic liquid.

Do be aware that fruit juices can contain a LOT of calories. In your pre-work you said that one of your goals was to loose some weight, so you may wish to pay attention to that. On the other hand, you might wish to just remind yourself of how delicious fruit juice is and all that vitamin C you'd be getting.

When I was growing up my mom always had my siblings and me dilute our fruit juice. Half water, half juice. Because of that, I usually prefer my juice diluted (except OJ, which I want full-strength and with lots of pulp because that is yummmmmmmy). I have a friend who doesn't like her juice diluted, so she just drinks an equal amount of water beforehand. It's essentially the same thing as diluting it but lets you have the full-strength taste.

Just a thought. Keep up the great work!

Post: #15

Hi Kristen,
Love reading your journals and yep you are a list maker, which obviously works for you! Keep up the great work! I too am not really interested in loosing weight per say I just want to be healthier so the whole meal planning deal is a task for me! I eat what I consider pretty healthy only I started using the myplate application on Livestrong and obviously only confirmed what I already knew I don't eat enough calories a day - I walk daily and when I have the time and a place that's close I love love love pilates which is a super great work out with fast results - stretches out your muscles, body, etc.

Anyway off to work again and drink MORE water!
Have a brilliant day

Oceans of Love,
Joyce

Post: #16

Day 5 - Go Grocery Shopping!
I'm flying back to Jakarta tomorrow so I probably won't be able to go grocery shopping. In addition to that, it's one of the last days that my sister is home so my parents are probably going to cook dinner so for this week I'd only need food for before dinner.

Shopping List For This Week

• Fruit flavoured yoghurt (maybe cherry)
• Almonds (plain or honey)
• Apples
• Carrots, broccoli, cucumber and/or snowpeas
• Bananas
  

I might just ask my mom to pick these things up when she goes to buy groceries (she'd pick up eggs and bread anyway so it's not on there)
I'll probably make another grocery list for next week.

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Other Things Since Earlier

Drinking Water Update
I just finished my 2.4 litres for today. I probably actually had more since I've been using small water bottles with 330mL instead of the usual 600mL and I just had 8 little bottles instead of 4 regular-sized ones.

Food Intake

• Fuji apple
• 2 Bowls of granola cereal
• Strawberry yoghurt
• Babybel cheese
• Chicken
• Green peas
• Mashed potatoes
• Little pile of vegetables
  

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Hello Jadzia
I haven't really counted anything that wasn't water simply because it is easier to keep track of.

Yeah, I noticed the calories in juice on Day 2 but I also noticed that I've still been under the daily expenditure consistently. It could be because in the past I'd been eating so much rubbish (and staying almost the exact same weight) and so anything rather healthy has plenty less calories in comparison... (that sentence went much more logically in my head).

Anywho, I pretty much drink fruit juice because it's healthier than soda and still tastes awesome. Diluted fruit juice is an interesting idea. For the most part I drink orange and banana and they don't dilute well so I drink the equivalent amount of water at some point (because I don't count the juice into the water intake).

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Hi Joyce
As I said earlier (I got your message while I was already replying to Jadzia), I also don't eat enough calories per day so that may or may not be a good thing... I suppose weight loss is inevitable but the health is the real benefit

I've noticed that a lot of people in this group do pilates... I don't really know what it entails... I'll look it up when I get home and maybe give it a try if it doesn't require much rapid movement or equipment.

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Thanks so much for reading and responding
Hope you both have a successful and awesome week

Post: #17

(01-01-2012 12:28 PM)kfenato Wrote:  [*]Continue going shampoo-free (Check out what I meanhere)

That's something I hear for the first time. Have you done any research about possible harmful effects? It does mention that too much baking soda could cause dryness but that it could be fixed with lessening the soda and using more apple vinegar. Have there been cases when it seriously messed up someone's hair? I know mine is terribly dry and I've been using a moisturising shampoo - yet to see any effects though, because hair replaces so slowly!

"The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable."

Post: #18

(01-05-2012 01:34 AM)JadePenguin Wrote:  That's something I hear for the first time. Have you done any research about possible harmful effects? It does mention that too much baking soda could cause dryness but that it could be fixed with lessening the soda and using more apple vinegar. Have there been cases when it seriously messed up someone's hair? I know mine is terribly dry and I've been using a moisturising shampoo - yet to see any effects though, because hair replaces so slowly!

I spent about a week researching it beforehand and as far as I've seen, it's not too harmful. My results have been wonderful so far but a couple days ago my new hand/body soap (some dry herbal stuff) accidently got into my hair (from my bath water) and made it feel really gross and dry so I over-conditioned to try and fix it over the next few days before I go back to school... So far it's gotten better. It'll be better when I have my own stuff to work with (I only brought a container of baking soda and a little bit of the vinegar)

Post: #19

You are just adorable and I agree with Joyce, I enjoy reading seeing your lists, very "put together"! Great job, and glad you are sticking with this

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Post: #20

Day 6 - Follow Your Ideal Meal Plan

I would have started following the meal plan yesterday after buying the groceries, had I gotten to go get them. I'll see if I can get there today, but I won't be able to cook what I buy today for dinner because my parents are preparing a special dinner for my sister before she goes back to Canada tomorrow and her best friend's family is coming over for dinner as well. As far as I've heard, it won't be too unhealthy but I still want to make my own pre-dinner foods (breakfast, lunch, etc.)

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Yesterday's Water and Food Update

I flew back to Jakarta yesterday. Travelling days are very unhealthy as far as food and drink go. I didn't enough water until it was rather late because I couldn't buy any on the plane and I was stuck in traffic for three hours so I was really thirsty all day.

As far as food goes, I hadn't had much healthy food all day; though I am quite proud that, when my family picked up doughnuts, I didn't have one. Here's what I ate yesterday:

• Fuji apple
• Nature Valley granola bar (oats and honey)
• Half a chicken wrap
• Peanut and raisin soy bar
• Nature Valley granola bar (peanut butter)
• 3 slices of pepperoni Pizza Hut pizza (no groceries in my house )
  

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Thanks to everyone for all the support! I love our group
I also love reading all your journals