Category: weight

Guest Post By Saguren: Dealing With Water Retention

Dealing with water retention 

Firstly, I’d like to thank Mliae from Lifexperiment Blog for giving me the opportunity to submit a guest post to this wonderful site. You can read more of my content here. Today I’d like to discuss what water retention is and some practical ways to reduce it. 

What is water retention? 

As the name suggests, water retention happens when your body holds onto more water than it needs. This leads to unnecessary water weight that is often carried in various parts of the body, such as the circulatory system, cavities and tissues. This is often the cause of swollen extremities like hands, feet and ankles. It is also common in legs and arms. 

What causes water retention? And what can I do about it? 

Since water retention refers to too much water being held by the body, there are a variety of causes.  

Hormones 

In woman, hormonal fluctuations during pregnancy and monthly cycles are common causes. In these cases; adequate sleep, exercise, reduced unhealthy fat intake (plant oils and fried foods) and Omega 3 supplementation (or fish consumption) can help to reduce hormonal fluctuations and therefore reduce the effects that lead to water retention. 

Kidneys 

Another common cause is reduced kidney function. This makes a lot of sense, since the kidneys are responsible for maintaining water levels within the body. If they are put under too much pressure, their ability to maintain balance within the body is hampered. Ironically, increasing water intake gives the kidneys the ability to release toxins that might be keeping them hard at work. Antioxidants that are found in fruit and vegetables also improve kidney function. Since the kidneys are dependent on circulation, increasing physical activity will also help them out. 

Heart Health and Circulation 

Since circulation governs how well our bodies can regulate themselves (and the water levels within them), our hearts play a large role in preventing water retention. Water retention is a common symptom of heart failure. For this reason, if you experience a sudden, significant increase in water retention, you should always seek medical advice. Poor circulation leads to inadequate removal of excess liquids within the body. For this reason, exercise is recommended, along with a healthy diet. 

Sodium and Blood Pressure 

Sodium has many very important roles in the body. One of them is making sure that our bodies can hold onto and use the water that we drink. Without it, water would flow through our systems without being absorbed. On the other hand, too much salt causes us to hold onto to too much water. This is why increased salt intake leads to increase blood pressure: Our bodies end up holding onto more water than they can handle. Reducing salt intake is a great way to lower sodium levels. Another great way is to sweat more, since this is one of the ways that our bodies release excess sodium. Another great way is to increase water intake. This will increase urination, which allows the kidneys to flush out the surplus sodium. There is often more sodium hidden in processed food and fast foods than we realise. Cutting out these foods will massively reduce sodium intake automatically. 

By simply increasing water intake, being more physically active and paying attention to the food you eat, you can help your body to help itself become more beautiful and look better and better every day.  

Thank you for taking the time to read my post and have a great day, Saguren. 


Flabby-Assed to Fabulous With Chape! 2M 2W Update

Hello there, everyone 🙂

A very HAPPY Saint Patrick’s Day! I’m not sure how everyone celebrates this around the world, but I do hope that if you are celebrating, that you are careful and have a fantastic time!

Today, I wanted to give an update on how my weight loss journey is going. I’ve been working with David at Chape Fitness and he is awesome!

I am SO HAPPY to announce that I have lost 5,1% of my body fat so far in total! YAY! It’s been stubborn fat to get rid of too, let me tell you! The hormones make it sooooo difficult to shed the weight. However, David has finally managed to convince me to stop staring at the scale all the time. I realized that although the scale says my weight is bouncing close to the same numbers, I’m still losing cm. Inches, even! I am gaining muscle. So really, if I’m back in my skinny jeans soon – I don’t care what the scale says because I can SEE my body toning up.

Right now, the part of my body I am happiest with the results I’m seeing are my upper arms. David was concerned that I might be losing muscle mass, but it turns out that since my arms were quite flubby. You know what I mean – I wave and it looks like I have some sort of extra part that waves back at me from under my arms (Oh, so gross!). Anyway, that part that waves back is getting smaller – more tone. YYYIIIPPPPEEE!!!! All that weight work is starting to show, and not a moment too soon!

The challenges I’ve been facing are:

  • Peanut Butter. I know its fatty, but I was kiiiinnnnd of hoping it was good fat – like salmon. Turns out, I shouldn’t be eating it. Especially not smeared all over my bananas. And David was not very happy with me making it habit. Soooorrryyyy…. Peanut butter is out.
  • Push-ups. I can’t do pushups. Not even girl pushups. I’m doing it incorrectly, of course. Trying to use my arms and then whining cause I can’t do it. David says I need to use my pectorals for pushups and not my arms. This, I cannot seem to work out completely, but it does help. Consider this a WIP. (Work in Progress)
  • Happy Eating & Stress Starving. Some people are stress eaters. I am not one of them. If I’m really stressed out about something, I cannot possibly eat. I can go days with barely snacking, and then…..when I’m ok again, I’m starving! This is really where I get into trouble. I eat whatever reaches my hands the fastest, and that is usually not a good thing.  I had a long convo with David where he informed me (in quite strong voice) that I cannot skip meals! My body has gotten used to eating and metabolizing, and if I suddenly stop – chaos ensues. I’ve been on at least 3 meals (& working back into snacks) since then. Obviously, my response was ‘Yessir!’.

Things are going well and I’m really hoping that I can get back into that swimsuit by the time Spring is in full-swing. I’m so happy with the 5,1% body fat loss and am looking forward to hitting that next milestone!

Chape is currently running a new contest (found HERE) and this time there are 1300 Euros worth of prizes! That is HUGE! Only 19 days left, so I hope you do take the time to sign up. You pay nothing (no worries, you aren’t ask for any payment information) and somebody WILL win it, so it might as well be you!

Thanks so much for reading!

-Mliae

*Photo source: chestersflowers.com

Flabby-Assed to Fabulous with Chape Fitness: Month One in Review

The first 31 days have passed. I wanted to review the entire month because it’s easier to see the ‘big picture’ that way. Let me begin by saying that this first month has been a rocky one. While my body was getting used to the new diet, eating schedule, amount of liquids and the exercise – there have been a few baffling days for me. That being said, my system is adapting now and I can see the progress I’m making! YYYEEESSSS!!!!

As you may now know, I am working with David from Chape Fitness. He’s been really incredible as a trainer, friend and sometimes therapist. He already know me so well. When I haven’t updated my water intake, meals or workouts by a certain point in the day – he always asks if everything is OK & sends me a friendly reminder – that I haven’t done what I’m supposed to, so get to it! – with a smile 🙂 I must admit that if it weren’t for being monitored somewhat, I would definitely not be doing as good as I am.

I am now under 70 Kgs! I started at over 71. Then I had like 2 weeks of insane weight fluctuations (which is normal and expected). But in the past few days, I can see my weight steadily dropping again, which makes me SO HAPPY! Today, I weighed in at 69,8 Kgs / 154 lbs!

It seems to me that the first couple kilos are the hardest. It’s like trying to reignite your body. I’ve been fighting for the past 6 months to get under 70 Kgs and I’ve finally done it! Next goal: Under 68 Kgs / 150 Lbs. Here I come!

This month, I have successfully shed 3,4% body fat (YAY!) & 2,9% body fat mass (another YAY!) and achieved 1,9% lean body mass. 😀 😀 😀

It has been a month of changes here. Changes to so much! For the most part, the changes I’ve been making have integrated easily. I’m listing below those which seemed quite natural, those which were ‘challenging’ and those which I just can’t seem to get right.

Changes that went smoothly:

  • The change into actually paying attention to what I’m eating. This happened quite quickly, actually. I had a few slip-up days, but in general, eating healthier became exciting. There haven’t been any problems at family mealtimes or anything. I have my food, my portions. If others want to eat something different, its fine. I’ve not been asked to adhere to others schedules. We still sit at the table together for meals (even if we’re eating at different times) and I have only had 1 moment when I really wanted something for myself. I attribute that to my well-document food envy issue though, as I had just had my own meal about 20 minutes earlier.
  • Exercising daily. This was a surprisingly easy habit to pick up! Granted, I have some scheduling issues and should probably not find myself working out late in the evening. However, laying out the mat & getting through my workouts feels really great! Who doesn’t love the feeling of accomplishment on the daily?!

Things I had a difficult time adapting to:

  • Eating 5x’s daily. I have 3 meals and 2 snacks. Snacks are basically 1 piece of fruit. I’m not accustomed to eating so frequently & my mindset has been that if I eat more, I gain weight. This is surprisingly untrue! It hasn’t been until this past week that I have been able to remind myself to grab a piece of fruit & knock it down. I can do it now. And I’m still losing weight! 🙂
  • Water. OMG, the WATER! I was drinking 1 cup of coffee and maaayyyybbbeee .75 liters of water a day. That’s it. David recommended I get up to 2L of water daily, plus green tea after meals. I finally managed to get my liquid intake up in the last 5 days. I feel like I’m floating and I’m running to the Ladies’ every chance I get. I’ve been assured that my body will adjust soon & I believe it. Still losing weight! I don’t understand it, but I like it 🙂
  • Forearm planks. These things are terrible. But I do 3, every day, as a warm up. I still can’t hold it for so long, but I can definitely feel that it’s working. And you know what? I’m noticing now that the 1st I do feels so much easier than it did just 2 weeks ago. That tells me, I’m getting in shape! YEAH BABY, YEAH!!

Things I’m still struggling with:

  • Lunges with weights. I can maybe complete 1 set of these. But I am unable to complete all 3 sets. Practice makes perfect though, so I’m still trying.
  • Dumbell overhead tricep extensions. I’m working with 5Kg hand weights. I’m ashamed to admit that I have to do this move 2-handed….still, to this day. I keep trying though and hopefully, one Thursday soon, I’ll have it down to one hand 😉
  • Craving sweets. This month I was quite bad about not being able to turn down sweets, baked goods, anything with sugar and carbs. David told me with quite loud voice to lay off the industrial baked goods, which I have actually done now. The changes of my body with the healthier food has gotten it to the place where I can see immediately (or in the same day) the effects of eating badly. If I slip up and eat junk food, or pig out on an overtly large plate full of carbs, I can see now that I’m always craving sweets or more food after 10 at night. When I don’t load up on sugar/carb laden foods, the cravings are barely there. But, I do get that stressed-out/ Netflix and chill desire for chocolate or snacks sometimes and I’m having a hard time working my way through it without relenting and then regretting it later. This is something I will need to continue working on. FYI – I would eat the entire box if someone were to walk in with donuts. That’s beyond the limits of my willpower.
  • Scheduling my workouts. My workouts are planned Monday-Friday. Weekends are free. The problem is, our house is busy. I don’t normally find the time for working out and everything until usually after 8 in the evening. By that time, I’m usually so tired it takes some effort to drag myself to do it. I know if I could manage it earlier in the day, it wouldn’t feel like such a challenge. But for some reason, it’s always nighttime. This I have to figure out, and soon!

Things are going well. I hope they continue going well this upcoming month, and now that the weight fluctuations are behind me it seems (I hope!), hopefully I will start being able to visibly see the difference soon! I’m still in the nervous range. Feeling really insecure that I’ll have rubbish food binge and wake up at the same weight I started. I’ve been thinking a lot about this and I think that once I manage under 68 Kgs, I’ll kind of be beyond the nervous area. So that’s really what I’m looking forward to next. I’m really excited, however, about the prospect of fitting into my skinny jeans again! They are at least 1-2 sizes too small now, but there will be a victory lap when I am in them again. Can’t wait!

How’s your lifestyle change going?

-Mliae

Flabby-Assed to Fabulous with Chape! Week 3 Update

Hi there 🙂

Welcome to my week 3 update! This week, I seem to have sabotaged myself a bit. I am hanging at around 70kg. Still having the weight fluctuations, but not as severely as last week. Not to mention, David wrote an awesome post about it (Click HERE to read it) and it helped to further calm my nerves.

It actually makes a lot of sense. I have, after all, gained a lot of muscle, turned my eating habits upside down & my body is getting used to a ton more water, plus my hormones are freaking out, and let’s not even mention the lack of…candy.

I have steadily been losing body fat, even if the scales don’t make it look that way. My body fat percentages for the past 3 weeks are as follows:

  • Start: 48,7% body fat, 34,6% body fat mass & 36,4% lean body mass
  • Week 2: 47,4% body fat, 32,9% body fat mass & 36,4% lean body mass
  • This week: 45,3% body fat, 31,7% body fat mass & 38,3% lean body mass!

In short, my fat % is decreasing & my lean body mass % is increasing! YAY! I love it when I’m going in the proper direction 🙂

This week, I know that I did not do as well as I probably would have given other circumstances. I’ve had a migraine for the past couple days, so really all I have done is take medicine, try to eat reasonably & of course do my workouts. But for any additional running around? Well, I was quite lazy, to tell the truth. Really, all I wanted to do was curl up on the sofa and just breathe there. So I’m quite proud of myself for keeping to the plan. But float around sprinkling fairy dust, I was not. That’s on me, and only me. I do feel that once my body finds its ‘normal’ again after all the medication I’ve ingested over the past few days, that we’ll be rocking and rolling towards a body that will fit in my too small clothes!

As for this weeks most hated exercise, its these weight lunges. OMG. I can’t even do it with 10 kgs in my hands! Video to be found by clicking HERE.

To be continued next week! See you soon and wish me luck!

If you are interested, Chape is currently having a contest. The winner will receive 3 months of online personal training with David, a €450 value FREE! Sign up by following this LINK.

How’s your week in fit been?

-Mliae

If you would like to learn more about Chape Fitness, click on the name to visit their site!

Flabby-Assed to Fabulous: Week 1 update.

Yoga dog says ‘You aren’t exercising enough, lazy girl!’…Haha, she’s my motivator. Apparently, if I’m not on the mat for too long, she makes herself a spot there. Always great to have a buddy to keep you going! 🙂

As most of you know, I’m working with David from Chape fitness to get back in shape! This is my 1st update, after my first 7 days on this new regime.

Today, I’m feeling good & I’m feeling sore! No joke, yesterday was a big time leg day after a weekend of rest and I feel like I’m walking like a cowboy. Ou, ou, ou…….

I’m not actually hungry, but I fear that I will be  this next week, when I actually do what I should be doing.

So this is where I started:

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And this is where I am after the 1st 7 days:

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800 grams down! That’s like 1.5 lbs which falls into the healthy loss range per 1 week of weight loss. YEEESSSSSS! I’m so happy, I’m really hoping to break under 70 kg next week. 🙂 🙂

I’m actually really loving this regime. The exercise is hard, at least for me when I’m starting all over again. But in 30 minutes, its short enough that I’m not having to force myself to do it. I know that if I can just get down on the mat, I will work my way through it in good time. When I’ve completed said workout, I feel really good about myself! Its like, I don’t have feel bad about not doing it right, because every time I make myself the proper food, eat my snack and do my workout, I’ve done everything David asked! I actually did it! So when I try to make myself feel bad for being lazy – I can’t! And that’s a wonderful feeling 🙂

I have also noticed (as of yesterday & Friday) that when my workout is over, I now have energy to do more…and want to! This was a huge surprise, as I thought I would be running from that mat just as fast as I could (like I was the 1st 3 days). But instead, I’ve actually asked David if it’s ok to do some extra exercises from other days. 0_O He rather that I do extra workouts from the same day set, and not from other days. I can clearly understand why, because he has it worked out & it’s a quite intricate system.

The recipes have been really great. I knew that my count of 40 was waayyyy too low, so I went back and tried to count how many recipes he really sent me. No joke, I lost count about 130 something. I went back and looked, because there are so many. 270 recipes there. 270! Yeah, with that kind of variety, I don’t think its possible for anyone to complain! So far, I’ve tried a few. They worked out really well (even if I had to substitute an ingredient here & there).

One of the recipes I really like (& it’s super easy) is the tuna salad recipe. I’ve eaten this 3 times this week. The recipe I was given, was to take 1 avocado (mash it up), add 1 can of white meat tuna & black pepper, then mix. That was actually really good & extremely healthy! For me, I’m having a hard time not using mayonnaise. But I found an egg salad recipe he sent that used yogurt instead of mayo. I added a big spoonful of Turkish yogurt to the mix and it was so creamy and good! Granted, it tasted healthy – because nothing tastes like mayo. But, it was the healthiest version of a dish I love and it was surprisingly yummy. I could get used to this! Oh, wait. I think I have to. Hahaha…Score!

I had difficulties this week 5 ways:

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(Photo above depicts my 1 cup of dried pasta – that’s my self inflicted measurement. Mainly because I really want to use those cute leaf measures we picked up in States!)

  • I stopped counting. Sort of. I didn’t count every last gram of protein or carbs.  I kind of used it as a suggestion. So, when I ate my baguette slices (Ooohh..bad, bad!) I kind of didn’t take it away from anything else. I justified it by the fact that I could eat unlimited veggies – and the bowl of spinach, tomato & mozzarella in from of me counted as veg. For the most part anyway, which brings me to >>>

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  • Cheese is not only for dessert. I couldn’t do it. I only cheated twice this week. But its still a lot. Ironically, I had no cheese for dessert. But I did have soft mozzarella on my spinach salad. Something about it being a bit taboo, made me want it more than usual. I do not understand this phenomenon. Any crazy-people doctors out there willing to share their expertise on the matter?
  • Water and green tea. I did not drink enough of either. It is a lot for me to drink 2 liters of water per day. I am trying to increase my intake, but I’m not doing very well at it. I am, however, chugging a glass of water (warm, if possible) immediately every morning to get my metabolism started. And I’m very proud of that 🙂 For the 1st 2 days, I really tried to stick to all the recommendations. On day 3, I had to ask David if I could not drink green tea after dinner. You see, I don’t drink a lot of caffeine. I was up until almost 2 in the morning, after drinking green tea in the evening, so he gave me a pass on the night time cup.
  • I could not do the full set/time on some of the exercises. Like this forearm plank. It’s a warm-up for me, but I can’t hold it for the full time. It looks so easy, but it hurts so bad. I know my bum & belly will thank me for it, but – Oooowwwwyyyy! I DID notice during yesterdays warm-up however, that I can already hold those insanely difficult planks for longer, after just continuing to try every day. Yay! 🙂
  • I could not eat 5 x’s per day. I have 3 meals, and 2 snacks – which consist of 1 piece of fruit per snack. For some bizarro reason, I could not eat the full amount. I found myself either skipping meals, or skipping a snack. Every single day. Shame on me! I have to do better next week. I was surprisingly too full to think about eating more – even though my portions are controlled. How weird is that?!

Technically, these aren’t rule breaks – but I couldn’t do exactly the regime, so I’ve included them.

Lessons learned this week:

  • You have to follow the program exactly, if you want the best results. This means; no exercising off-grid, EAT the way you are supposed to, drink the way you are supposed to!
  • Alcohol will kill progress. A glass of wine or pint of beer is okay every so often, but going out to a party and having several drinks in one day – that will kill your progress. Not to mention leading to a slightly grumpy personal trainer….
  • Don’t cross-contaminate workouts. 
  • Apologize when you screw up. I’ve done much of that this week, and yet David still continues to work with me 🙂

Great changes that happened this week!:

  • 800 g gone!
  • I have more energy! I know that this will increase even more, but in the past few days I’ve felt more awake, motivated – than before. And that, is awesome!
  • I’m already seeing results! This is a huge surprise, since its only been 7 days. But I can tell the difference, even slightly in the way my body moves & how quickly I’m adapting to the programme. (Except for leg day. That was brutal!) Best thing is: I’m so motivated now because I can’t wait to see how my body changes!
  • I’m not hungry! I don’t know if it’s all the extra water intake or what. But I’m eating at least half less of the overflowing portions I was before, but I don’t feel like I’m on Barbie sized portions. I can eat 100g of fish plus a bucket full of vegs, but I prefer to eat in proportions relative to one another, and extra later if I need it. And here’s the clincher: I don’t HAVE to east small portions. I can eat unlimited amounts of veg. However much I want to! I just…don’t need it. Not right now, anyway. How cool is that?!

What do you think? Going well, or not?

I’m off now, gone to my days’ weight workout 😉

-Mliae

 

New Year, New Bod: Here We go! From Flabby-Assed to Fabulous with Chape Fitness

Happy 2018!

So here we are, resolution day 2. Believe it or not, my New Years resolution wasn’t to get into shape. It was to be the happy, loving, giving person I’ve always been before I let the stress of everything turn me into a – (*gasp!) – ‘Realist”. A stressed out realist who is also seemingly unable to exercise any form of self-control whatsoever.

It seems that I’ve been complaining  A LOT and whining quite loudly about my rapid weight gain in the past 8 months. So my buddy David at Chape Fitness decided to help me out. Again. You see, Chape and I have a history. I’ve known David for about 2 & ½ years now. My weight has always fluctuated, and I asked for his help about 2 years ago. I trusted him by that point and he really took the time to get me situated. I had reached ( & surpassed) my weight goal in September of 2016. You can read the summary here. I was thrilled with the results and fortunately, I had my bikini bod rockin’ when my (then boyfriend) proposed! I also felt great when I found my perfect wedding dress in a EU size 36 – US size 6!

So what happened? You may be asking yourself. Well, I had some medical issues last year and in March I had to go in to have my uterus removed. There were minor complications, but those kind that keep you in bed for weeks. And 2 months before our wedding day! I knew it was going to be impossible going. I had my dress taken out and my loving groom promised he would carry everything if I could just walk there. Which I did without a problem. We both expected weight gain so soon after the surgery. I had gone from a every other day routine with 12 kg (25 lb) Kettlebells, going for a pull with the huskies and being an active (albeit sick) person  – to….nothing. I was the blob. I just breathed…literally. I noticed when I finally started to feel ‘normal’ again that something was off. I was emotional. I was hungry. Not like – I need a snack – hungry. More like eating with both hands while my husband watched in horror and then repeating it an hour later – hungry. When the brave loving soul I married finally felt the need to say something about it, I had to listen. I looked it up (along with the fact that this normally always cold person was now opening the windows in a snow storm because she was ‘hot’) and it was obvious what had happened. Hormones. Hormones happened. And I don’t mean a little flutter of weirdness. I mean laughing one minute and throwing deli meats the next. Welcome to perimenopause. It supposedly hits about 10 years before actual menopause, and given that I just had surgery that, um…..helps that along. Well, welcome to crazy. Welcome to hungry. Welcome to hot, cold, hot, cold, just right, sweating, hot, hot, freezing – look at your psychotic wife and tell her you love her, damned it! – HORMONES. And the weight continued to pack on…

Just a week or so ago, I posted this post ranting about how I no longer fit in my clothes. Yes, I even have a muffin top in my ‘big pants’. Ugh. Over the holidays, I was messaging with David and complaining (He’d seen the post) mixed in with Happy Holiday wishes. He promised to help me and I gratefully accepted his guidance. After all, he did work miracles last time, and it’s not like I just went on food binge to gain all the weight back. Now, I’m not sure if he decided to help me to just make me stop clucking about it, or because he genuinely hates to see me suffer; and I don’t care. The point is – he’s getting me ‘right’ again. As a side note, I’m not sure how he manages to succeed online where others have failed miserably in person. But somehow he does. It’s like he commands honesty and dedication & we want to give it to him. Like some weird obligation to actually be legit (for once). I know I could scarf down a box of Christmas mints & just not tell him about it. But I also know the he will figure it out & I don’t want to be that disappointing client. But, I digress. I warned him that this was hormone weight that I’ve packed on. Apparently, when it’s hormonal, it’s like 1000 times more stubborn. He kind of laughed at me. That was the coolest ‘No problemo’ I’ve had come my way in a while.

My current weight is 71 kg / 160 lbs and a large percentage of that weight is being carried front and center in my gut. Belly & bum. I look pregnant, with a round 40 inch/ 102 cm belly and my bum & hips are both 44 inches/112 cm around (Yes, it’s like 1 big continuous berry back there. Blec). I’m really not loving that my diameter is in such a high proportion to my height! My  ultimate goal weight is 55 kg / 122 lbs. I know this sounds small, but I’m only 160 cm/ 5ft. 3in. tall so I don’t carry any extra weight well.

So here we are! Day 1 of a very exciting process. I opened my PC late last night to a few very big surprises! I kind of thought this was going to be like it was 2 years ago. That I check in, he changes my diet and workouts according to how he sees things going, I report in daily and he’s available for me when I need to chat. Uuuuhhhh… Nope. This extremely dedicated gentleman spent his holiday creating a personalized workout plan for every single day of this month (weekends are free) plus a slew of recipes created just for me! I’m not having a laugh, seriously, there are at least 40 recipes that consists of the foods I love without the foods that I hate that look delicious and somehow magically exclude the foods I can’t have but it still looks yum. Super! I spent the day at the market buying fish, light tuna, avocado, sweet potato, turkish yogurt, fruit and fizzy water.

What else is different? Well, A LOT! I feel like a VIP client now. I now have to drink water (warm) 1st thing when I wake up. I’m supposed to drink green tea before each meal, I have portion control now (100 g of fish, but I can eat all the veg I want. 1 piece of fruit for my 2 snacks daily & a goal of 2 liters water per day.) my workouts seem to be a bit heavier now (For example; I’m starting with this move that I hated when I got it much later on in the process last time) my workouts vary slightly from day to day, I’ve been told I can have a mint per day, Bree in tiny slices for dessert & I can have bread if I’m dying but it will take away from my overall daily allowance of protein, carbs, et al. Not to mention, he still makes himself available to me morning, day and night whenever I need to talk. Seems like he has taken my stubborn fat and desperate plea very seriously! So should I. I’ve been hyper motivated all day!

I think my difficult bits will be working my way through those kitchen forays – meals with the family – and those days when I really just want to Netflix and chill. But I think we can do it. I trust David, he’s done nothing but great for me and I’m so excited about fitting in my clothes again soon!

I’ll be posting about my progress (or lack thereof), workouts and recipes once weekly. If your New Years resolution is to lose some weight (stubborn blubber or not), I want to make sure you can try some of these things with me!

Thanks so much for reading!

-Mliae

If you are wondering how we manage to handle a strict Personal Training regime while International, it’s because we’re using evernote to manage everything. It works surprisingly well 🙂

Online training, a blogger experience

Hi all! I wanted to share my guest post that I wrote for Chape Personal Trainer. He’s got a great site, full of motivational posts and some super workouts! I recommend you give it a look-see, you’ll love it 🙂
I hope you enjoy his site as much as I do and I truly hope you enjoy the read!

Chape Fitness

Hello dears!

For those who haven´t met Mliae yet, she´s an awesome blogger from North Europe, who writes about her experiment, so called “life”. Fashion, recipes, travel, book & product reviews with her personal style. Take my advice and follow her, thank me later 😉

When we met, she was on a weight loss journey and she was having some issues to reach her goals.

Maybe you remember we reached her goals before summer. I´m delighted to have her here today, talking about her experience and how she keeps the results.

I hope you enjoy the reading as much as I did 🙂

I really must say that David has been a lifesaver for me! I was so frustrated with my weight and physique that I just didn’t know what to do.

Starting out at 76 kilos (168 lbs), my goal was to get under 60 kilos (132 lbs). Now…

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Guess who’s still losing weight!

That would be….um…ME! WOOOHHOOO!!! I was so happy when I woke up, stepped on the scale and saw this number! I definitely had a special coffee to celebrate my new weight of 58,3 kgs or 128.5 lbs. Yeah Baby!

I haven’t been as militant about losing the weight as I was when I was fighting so hard to reach my goal of 60 kgs. But I have been utilizing healthier eating habits, and sticking to the teas and water, and maintaining some of the exercises and habits given to me by David at Chape when I was on the home stretch to my goal. So imagine my delight when I’m not even really trying to lose weight and I got this little surprise victory! 😀

I have to tell you though, it’s perfect timing – as I’m going soon to try on some wedding dresses! Feeling more confident will help me in every way, and this was -just an AWESOME start to the day!

Thanks for reading!

-Mliae

WWWOOOOHHHOOO!!! Winter Slim down goal achieved!!

After a very long battle with my weight…I’VE DONE IT!!

yeah-baby-yeah

This has really been some sort of journey! I started out at 76 kgs (168 lbs) and more than 2 yore than a year later, I’m now at 59,9 kgs (132 lbs)! I picked up on my attempt at shedding those last stubborn 20 lbs of weight while blogging. Those were absolutely the most impossible and stubborn to shed! But today, I’m here to celebrate meeting weightless goal! I’ve tried and failed, tried and succeeded with so many different things and I’d like to go over some of those now.

To recap some of the alternatives I tried:

  • No sugar
    • This actually helped a lot but I was astonished to discover that everything we eat has tons of sugar in it! I mean seriously! Take a look at your ketchup bottle. Now divide the grams by 4 and thats how many tablespoons of sugar are in 1 serving of ketchup! If you can curb the sugar, its a great feeling. You know your body is starting to get over it when you feel like someone has hit you head with a sledgehammer.
  • No booze
    • This was a no-brainer. Booze has tons of hidden calories in it, and I always get the munchies when I indulge. So, I limited my intake to 1 or 2 glasses of wine or a small cognac on only special occasions.
  • Dramatically limiting my calorie intake
    • Great in theory, horrendous in practice. No doubt. I was hungry all the time, and completely lost my senses – resulting in The Nacho Incident. If you scroll down to the bottom of the linked post, you’ll see a list of low calorie foods and their serving sizes in 100 Kcal increments.
  • Strict exercise regime
    • When I finally realized that I desperately needed some outside help, and someone that I trust to hold me accountable for my own failure or success, I was fortunate enough to get David from Chape Personal TrainerChape Personal Trainer to work me into shape! David has been awesome! He takes the time to explain things to me that defy logic, listen to me whine about my bad diet days, patiently listens to me bitch about muscle soreness, and has supported me with friendship, consistently updating new workouts for those  soft cushy spots on my body that are driving me mad and always adjusting whatever need be to make sure that I had a positive and successful experience with him as a personal trainer. Thank you, David! You pushed me to meet my weightless goal and I DID IT!!
  • A not so strict, gradually increased exercise of convenience regime
    • This was at the beginning and I…sucked at it. I’ve discovered in this process that I have zero will power if I allow myself even a millimeter of lee-way.
  • Diet soups and green teas
    • Green tea helps a lot, but really only by getting rid of water weight. Green tea is super healthy though, so I say go for it! The diet soups worked well…for awhile. But then I was just – HUNGRY! The lack of vital nutrients made me feel really run down and basically worthless. The hunger turned me into a monster.
  • Vegan and vegetarian
    • This, I highly suggest – if you make sure to have enough protein. Always have a backup though because when Chape suggested I lose the tofu, tempeh and cheese for a week – I lost my mind.
  • Only eating fresh fruit and veg
    • This, I loved! It was a bit more time consuming to cook and clean, but I felt really great, higher energy and less hunger!
  • Consulting Chape Personal Trainer
    • BEST MOVE I MADE!  I seriously could not have done this without David’s help! Super simple – All I had to do was consult daily. I kept a daily/hourly food and drink journal, David posted workout regimes, times, weigh in days, measurement days and scales for me and then would adjust the workouts to fit my needs as he saw fit. This took all the stress out of trying to figure out what was best. I just trusted him, and on occasion listened to him tell me things in a quite loud voice, and IT WORKED!
  • No fizzy drinks
    • This was easy, and I suggest it as a first move to anyone who’s trying to shed some weight. Fizzy drinks have TONS of sugar and other bad stuff for you and cutting back on just one a day can make a massive difference! I went to mineral water, hot teas, black coffee and the occasional juice. Also, shocker: cutting back on fizzy drinks actually reduces your thirst. Fizzy drinks dehydrate you – making you thirsty.
  • Eating my carbs in the morning
    • This was actually a great suggestion by a fellow blogger at Olivier fiction. And it actually worked out pretty well! At least when you eat your carbs in the morning, you have time to burn them off throughout the day and you don’t crave it so badly. Not exactly sure how it works body-wise, but it helped ease the pain of the carb and sauce cut down.
  • Cutting carbs completely
    • Oh Atkins, how you mutilate my mainly vegetarian diet! This just wasn’t for me. Granted, broccoli has tons of protein. Buuuttt, do you have any idea how frustrating it is to be a herbivore on a carnivores diet and still manage to find something yummy to eat? No fun…no fun at all.
  • Going yeast free for 1 week
    • This was actually something I did not share on the blog. I wanted to see if I could actually even pull it off. I did! Surprisingly, yeast is in lots of baked foods which one would not expect. After what I thought was a sly move on my part when I bought a weeks worth of tortilla wraps as a substitute, my fiancé took one look at me and said ‘you know thats made with yeast, don’t you?’. I didn’t believe him. I was wrong. Gggrrr…I hate being wrong. The yeast free week was a long one – especially when I got to watch everyone else enjoying my wraps. But you know what? At the end of the week, my belly looked pretty flat! I never realized how much yeast containing products contribute to belly bloat! So, if you’re working on that beach bod, I’d give this a shot!
  • Reducing portion sizes
    • This was quite easy. Stopping myself from getting seconds was the hard part.
  • Eating earlier in the day
    • Great in theory, virtually impossible when you are eating in a household setting and with others who actually have schedules to contend with.
  • Guzzling matcha and cutting back on the sauces
    • Matcha, I love you. Sauce, I love you too. Putting a few drops of salad or hot sauce on my food just didn’t cut it. Sorry.
  • Drinking more water
    • I’ve been told to do this on countless occasions. But I just don’t like it. I try, but I float. I’m a chic. I’m already running to the Loo every chance I get. Add a preliminary water consumption minimum and I might as well set up shop there. Tried, and failed. However Im drinking more than I was – so maybe not totally failed.
  • Eating more
    • When David suggested this, Thought he had lost his mind for sure. After he explained it to me, I thought – great, I’m going to go on an eat more diet and turn into a blueberry. But, I tried it. And you know what? IT WORKED! How the hell???
  • Drinking Yerba Mate before meals 
    • This is actually something a girlfriend of mine from Argentina suggested when I very first trying to shed the weight, weighing in at 76 kg or 168 lbs. I was desperate to lose some of the flab before I turned into a ball. She suggested drinking a full glass of heavily steeped yerba mate before every meal so as to reduce my appetite. It worked! I will never again have a home without this stuff in it.
  • Fasting
    • Intermittent fasting wasn’t actually bad at all and I managed t0 pull it off for like 2 weeks. However, eventually my body began to expect food at 4 and to not be hungry after 7, but the weight loss stopped. When I stopped fasting, I re-gained the weight.

Moments when I went totally off the rails:

  • Christmas and New Years
    • I decided I would allow myself some holiday indulgence. What a terrible idea this was…I actually gained back all the weight I’d lost (while trying to shed this last bit) + 2kgs/5lbs! Nothing like starting all over again 😦
  • The Nacho incident
    • I don’t even know what happened on this day. It’s like I was being a nice normal chic in the supermarket and then…insanity struck. I kid you not when I say that I barely even remember grabbing all requirements for an amazing set (or 2 – YES, 2!) of nachos! Including a solid weeks worth of my calorie intake. Boy did I ever regret that move!

Some of the exercises that worked really well for me:

  • I used forearm planks and flute bridges as warm ups and to tone my core:
    • Forearm plank – I find myself doing extra of these randomly and mixing with ->
    • Glute bridge – Doing flute bridges feels like a bit of a break after planks. Mixing these is awesome and its really simple to just jump off the sofa and do a set!
    • Bird Dog
    • Dumbbell Shrug – I love this one! Simple and really effective 🙂
    • Reverse fly – Great for arms, shoulders and back. You get used to it, but at first = Ow ow ow! However, it’s a REALLY important exercise so I suggest you try it if you are doing any for of weights.

Some of the exercises that were difficult:

  • This reverse crunch is a great exercise, but hard, hard, hard!!
  • This Alternating Shoulder Tap Plank made me feel like I was going to land on my face. But its super effective, and to tell you the truth, I was incredibly proud of myself when I finally nailed it!

In addition to all the exercises I received from Chape (there are many), I also go on several dog walks daily, which aids in burning some calories. I have been intermittently trying to conquer the kettle bell swing. I look like Mr Magoo trying to do it, but I will nail it down eventually.

Although I have met my weight loss goal – YYYYEEEESSSS!!! – I do plan to continue eating well and utilizing these exercises. I would like to at least maintain my weight and would be very happy to take up more! Besides, I want to look fantastic in that bikini and I have a wedding dress to fit into! I will, of course keep you updated on my progress and pitfalls.

I am SSSSOOOOOO HAPPY! I was seriously starting to doubt that this milestone day would ever come! Just consider me living proof that a woman metabolism does not come to a screeching halt in her 30’s 😉 Thank you all so much for following me and my journey, for all the support and ideas, suggestions, encouragement and motivation! Thank you David, for all the time, effort and energy you put into getting me into good shape! And a special Thank you to my fiancé for putting up with my whining about sore muscles, midnight rampages about being hungry and not having suitable food, and for laughing at me when I’m acting like a total psycho.  We did it!!! 🙂

Thanks for reading!

-Mliae

Winter slim-down week 34

I’m BAAAAAAACK! Thank you all so much for your get well wishes! I am feeling better from the sinusitis. Much, MUCH better!

For most of last week as well, I really just relegated myself to fruit and soups. Then the sleep. Its bad enough being really sick, but add to that codeine based prescription cough medicine, and I was snoozing away close to 20 hours of my days. Apparently antibiotics and additional medications serve to place one in a near coma until recovery is complete. Whatever works.

I’m back on the exercise train as of Tuesday morning. As opposed to my every-other-day workout regimes, I opted for the fast revival approach of every day beginning Tuesday so that I could get back on track from all the days of barely eating, and a couple days of eating everything in sight to make up for it. On Tuesday when I followed my daily regime given to me by Chape Personal Trainer, David asked me to fill him in on how I felt afterward. Needless to say, although not appearing to be a super strenuous regime, I felt like I was going to puke and collapse – or vice versa. I reported, and was greeted with a hearty laugh and a welcome back 🙂 I guess I deserved that since I was given a reprieve from any sort of physical activity until I felt better. So here I am: Feeling better and exercising harder. Today, I worked a lot on arms – even though its a break day.

That’s another thing I’ve learned when on the receiving end of a friendly lecture regarding my overzealous attempt to dramatically reduce my calorie intake which resulted in the ‘nacho incident’. Why didn’t I just exercise harder, instead of eating less? Wow, logic, who would’ve actually thought about that?! Well played David…

So this coming week (hopefully my last until I hit my under 60 kg goal) I’ll be focusing on real food. Still fresh fruit and veg, taking it easy on the breads and pastas and maybe trying some actual cooking instead of my usual salads, or just eating raw whatever I manage to grab. As for exercises, I will be sticking to my regime. So whatever Chape sends my way is what I’ll be doing. This dumbbell shrug, for example, is surprisingly effective!

Here’s to hoping next weeks update is my WWWOOOOHHHOOOO moment!

Thanks for reading 🙂

-Mliae

Winter slim down diet week 32

More good news this week! I’m back down to the 61’s! After my nacho incident(s) last week, I thought it would be a major setback. But…nope! This week I managed to get down to 61,2 kgs (134 lbs).

I’m so close…SSOOOOOO CLOSE to reaching my goal of under 60 kgs. 1,3 kg away. The day I reach 59,9 you can look forward to a huge WOOOOHOOOO post!

Thanks to the new exercises David  from Chape personal trainer has given me, like this bicep curl, my arms are starting to really look like – oh yea 😉

I’ve been doing A LOT of toning exercises this week. My shoulders, middle back and backside are killing me! But *Ow in a good way 😉  I’m really loving the outcome so far of all the work David has put into helping me shed the weight and I CAN’T WAIT until I hit that 59,9 kg level!!

I did really well on the eating front this week. Only one tiny little thing. We have fresh rhubarb! And we make rhubarb juice! Aaaaannnddd it has a TON of sugar in it. We found a way to reduce the amount of white sugar needed by substituting a tad of vanilla sugar instead of a couple scoops of white sugar. We even further reduced the amount by adding half water because it tastes concentrated when it is fully cooked.  But alas, still there is quite a bit more sugar involved than I am comfortable with. Anybody have some suggestions on this?

Otherwise, business as usual. Trying to at least be cognizant of my calorie intake, exercising like a mad fiend and hoping – hoooopppiiinnnnnng that I’ll be looking ah-mazing in my suit this summer!

Thanks for reading 🙂

-Mliae

Winter slim-down diet week 31

This week I write to you in hopes of forgiveness. I started out sooooo GOOD and ended up sooooo BAD. Long story – short: I gained almost a lb. Reason: Nacho night x2. Preventative measures: Exercise, sweat, more exercise. Guilt factor: 8 / Anger at self: 10.

I’ve been doing so great and here I went and blew it…big time! GGGRRRRR…

OK, so this is how the whole thing went down: Firstly, I have to give myself kudos because I’ve been really good about following my workout – even when I realllllyyyyy don’t wanna. Which, I think was my saving grace this week. That and the fact that David from Chape, seems to know me well enough to know that if I get a day full of ridiculously strenuous exercises, it’s just not. going. to. happen. So, fortunately I have between warm up and strenuous. Its do-able and more importantly, effective! (Otherwise, there’d be so much more additional weight). Okay, as most of you know, I’ve been trying …REALLY TRYING to kick the sugar habit. It’s making me insane. I’m actually craving candy and crap food more than I ever did when I allowed myself to eat it, even if I didn’t have it. All in the mind. Right, got it. So I had a lightbulb moment. I’d gotten my little grubby hands on some farm fresh rhubarb. And ate it…raw. It was so bitter I thought my face was going to turn inside out. And then I realized that it tastes exactly like the extreme version of those super sour gummy candies. Problem solved. I’ve been gnawing on rhubarb like a grazing horse. (Its a lovely sight to see…really. Ha!) Actually, it doesn’t really curb the cravings so much, but it keeps me from rummaging for something sweet and ingesting 2 days worth of calories on the journey. Plus, at 27 kcals a stalk, I can eat rhubarb all day long and not feel guilty. The rhubarb isn’t the problem. In addition to that, I thought it would be a fantastic idea to try to cut my daily kcal intake to 1200. I was so close to my milestone goal of under 60 kg (132 lb) that I figured one extra little push was all I needed. Bad idea. Do you know that 1200 kcal is like 12 potato’s, or a handful of biscuits?!  So, after 2 days of really watching what I put in my mouth and exercising, I was starting to feel pretty good! And then, I went to the market. I went straight to the produce department. Stocking up on items such as aubergine, mushrooms, apples, satsuma, leek, potato, carrot, micro greens, tomato, etc. I was on my way to check out when I realized that my basket was absolutely heaping with tortilla chips, salsa, cheese dip and all the other crap that is absolutely required for a devilishly delicious nacho dish. So I bought it. And made it. Then devoured it (finger licking and all)…two unbelievable nights in a row. It was so tasty, and I felt like crap afterward.

I actually almost cried when I stepped on the scale. And I have nobody to blame but myself. This, of course, was followed by a full confession and a bit of a whine to David, who inevitably has to fix the damage I’ve done to myself. Luckily, he understood. And I woke this morning to find an entirely new set of exercises awaiting me on the pc. A workout designed to get me back on track!

Here are two such exercises that I will begin doing on workout day tomorrow!

The dumbbell standing row

Lying oblique crunch

Let the games begin! My hope is that this week, I will get back down to where I was prior to my feeding frenzy and that I will return next week singing David’s praises, as well as my own! Fingers crossed this goes the way I want it to!

Just for your information, I’m adding a small list of foods in 100 calorie increments, for any of you dieters out there who take the time to do the math.

Some foods in 100 kcal servings:

  • 1 egg
  • 1 potato
  • 1 cookie/biscuit
  • 4 rhubarb
  • 4 sardines
  • 9 broccoli spears
  • 13 large prawns
  • 16 pieces of celery
  • 31 asparagus spears
  • 33 grapes
  • 100 radishes
  • 5 tomato
  • 36 gram steak (1.3 oz)
  • 1.5 orange
  • 1 apple

So, on a calorie restrictive diet, you don’t actually get so much. On the other hand, I don’t think we need as much as we usually eat. Its absolutely shocking how many calories we actually ingest on a daily basis…especially when it comes to rubbish or ready made foods!

Any thoughts?

-Mliae

Winter slim-down week 30

Oh yea…somebody has been working hard this week! I am down to 61,4 kgs (135 lbs)  and holding this week. I also nailed my step goal of 15 000.  I am literally inching my way towards my milestone goal of 59,9 kgs (132 lbs) and I CANNOT WAIT!

For those of you who are just joining me on my weight loss journey; I started shedding weight when I looked in the mirror one day and realized I was 76 kgs (168 lbs)! It’s been a really long road. This last 10 kgs has been by far the most stubborn. So much so that I actually put on more weight! Luckily, a fellow blogger and serious workout master- David, from Chape Personal Trainer allowed me to enlist him into my weight loss drama and I’ve been making him regret it ever since! Joking aside, I have to say that I am absolutely thrilled to be able to report good progress on a weekly basis now! Seriously could not have done any of it without all the help, workout routines and diet lectures from this guy. 🙂

This week, I utilized the same exercised from last week, but the sequence is switched up each routine. I think this wise, because I easily fall into routine and I assume my body does as well and it seems to work well (Ie; feel the burn!) when its in different order.

My diet this week- consists mainly of fresh fruit and veg. As a matter of fact, I ate almost an entire raw head of broccoli (is that what its called? A head – or like a stem? Anyway, I digress…) with yogurt for dipping. I was so full, I couldn’t even finish it. So – a tip: raw broccoli is seriously filling! Who knew? I’ve been doing a lot of steamed mixed veg, and (unfortunately) pastas. But not with heavy sauce, just mixed in with the veg and maybe some light olive oil and yogurt with tons of chilis. Protein shakes, flax (keeps me from starving) and satsumas and apples for snacks. I did buy a chocolate peanut butter (to turn my celery into dessert) but I’ve been a good girl and haven’t opened it…yet. As far as liquid refreshment is concerned: Mainly mineral water, some pineapple juice and ok- 2 beers (not on the same day).

Next week, I think I’m keeping good progress so probably more of the same. Unless David throws me an exercise curveball and I check in barely able to blink. It’s possible…

Thanks for reading!

-Mliae

Winter slim-down week 29

Drumroll please…. Here it is! My first publicized photo of myself since I began this long and tedious weightloss journey. I have to tell you, that when I began (I’m talking from the very beginning) I weighed a whopping 76 kilos (168 lbs). I looked like a short blueberry with limbs. I’m now approx 61-62 kilos (134-136 lbs) and I feel great! Its the last 10 kilos (or 20 lbs) that have been proving themselves the most stubborn to shed. I mean…really!

I happy to say that I am now at a BMI of 24.1 (normal body weight between 18.5 -24.9).I’ve been sneaking to check and until this week, I’ve been in the overweight range. Health wise apparently, I’m just fine if I maintain this weight. Wooohooo! So, something else to celebrate.

I have to say a HUGE ‘THANK YOU!’ to David from Chape! I’m about to put a public picture of my unshapen self on the internet, and had it not been for this guy getting me into good enough condition to post a swimsuit pic (physically and mentally), well..

So here’s the pic (header image). I know that there is toning up to do, but shedding the weight has been the most horrific part, so I know I can do this. And now that I’ve posted myself in the most vulnerable picture yet, I can say that there will be more updates with accompanying photos.  I have to say that until today, I was really nervous about being in public where my body showed. I love to dress prettily, but I still carry that fat girl mentality that screams in my head that I look huge and unkempt and unworthy of my pretty things. I now know that this is untrue, and its just a matter of shutting that bitch up.

Today, I ate tofu…and it was delicious. Then I realized that I still shouldn’t be. Buuuttt, with every victory comes a tiny reward – and tofu was its name.

This week, my workout routines are having a bit of a switch-up. Some days are more physically challenging than others, but if a shapelier and less robust figure is the outcome, with a side of self-confidence; I’m game!

Some of my incorporated exercises (click on the name and view the exercise):

Bird dog

Lateral Plank   (This is still not easy)

and Dumbbell Triceps Overhead Extension

Diet? Still trying to eat more fresh, leafy, nature grown things and less sweet, chemically, lab made foods.

That’s my story- and I’m sticking to it!

What do you think?

-Mliae

#weightloss #diet #excercise #blog

Winter slim-down week 28

I’m happy to announce more weightless this week! I’m finally under 62 kgs! Weighing in a 61,9 kgs (136 lbs) -down from more than 66kgs (145 lbs). I’m sure I might actually weigh less than this at this point, but I’ve been told not to weigh so often lest I make myself absolutely insane.

I had a few indulgences this week, as there were many celebrations and my sweetie brought heart-shaped marshmallows for me to celebrate the beginning of May Day (pictured) and all the Mothers Day weekend happenings. So much for the no sugar plan. However, I will try to climb back on the fresh food wagon this week. Aside from that, I’ve been pretty good. It was GREAT to have some tofu this week again! I missed it…I mean really, really missed it.

As most of you know, I got so frustrated not being able to manage this last bit of weightless myself that I called in the big guns. David, from Chape Personal Trainer has been a Godsend. He keeps challenging me with new and difficult exercises and longer sets. One of my exercises, the one-arm dumbbell row, can be found here. Last week I was a bit grumpy because I just wanted to be lazy. But this week I’m feeling a new sense of renewed motivation. I’m starting to be able to see a noticeable difference. Not only my arms (which are starting to look soon much better!) but also my belly is starting to flatten out a bit. A noticeable bit. Granted, I don’t exactly look like a 20-something in a bikini. Still some flab to fight. But I wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and think to myself: ‘Not looking too bad!’ and that makes me EXTREMELY happy!

I have actually been thinking about taking a swimsuit pic for you all to see my greatly reduced flab.  Although I still hesitate because I’m not there yet…  I’m quite a perfectionist,  so you understand. But I’m so close to there that I’m just so ready to do all the work involved to get where I know I’m going! In hindsight I wish I’d taken a starting picture so you could have a visual of a round belly, huge hips and flabby arms to compare it to. We’ll see…

This week, the plan is to cut the goodies back again and continue my every other day workouts which include new exercises such as the one arm plank (ummm..yea, about that…so difficult to do this properly, but I know if I just keep at it, I’ll stop crumbling before times up).  Also, I’m back on the optiMSM daily supplement.

Wish me luck!

-Mliae

Winter slim-down week 27

I’m happy to report further progress this week! I now weigh in at 62,7 kgs (138 lbs) so I’ve averaged a weightless of one lb. The progress is slow-going, but I know that more will fall off and also that since I’m losing the weight slowly, there’s a higher chance that it will stay off. I’m also happy to report that I nailed my steps goal…exceeded it even (as you can see above). My steps goal was 12000 but I managed over 14000 and that too makes me a happy girl!

What I did this week: I maintained the new exercises that I’ve been doing this month as suggested by David at Chape Personal Trainer. He has been pushing me – especially as far as arm strength goes. I suck at push-ups, these one arm planks are so not-easy  but they are definitely working, and this reverse fly move with the weights I wrote about last week – ouch! But no pain, no gain…am I right? And I can see the definition starting to come out in my arms…and some in my back too. Those wiggly bits under the arm aren’t so wiggly anymore. THANK YOU, DAVID! I’ll be able to wear sleeveless in the next few weeks without totally worrying about flabby arm syndrome.

I also ate mainly fresh fruit and veg and cut out most of the processed foods I eat. (Only partially by choice; I wanted to eat more fresh foods and cut back on all the hidden evilness in my easy-to.prepare processed foods but I wasn’t planning to do it so quickly but my card was stolen and my account is all but frozen so fresh fruit and veg is what I have accessible in the house. Just the push I needed apparently because I want to continue this!) Something interesting happened though and I’d like to share it. I was hungry for like the first 2 days. Snacking constantly on fruit and veg. I was CRAVING SUGAR. I’m not talking ‘a cookie would be nice’, I mean flat out, ready to gulp down syrup-honey-agave anything sweet by the mouthful, craving sugar. It was insane and I looked like a crazy woman. At one point, I actually caught myself wondering if I could smear syrup on sunflower seeds and bake it and would it turn into something resembling peanut brittle. This was early in the evening Wednesday, and NO, I didn’t do it. And then it hit… The absolute worst headache I’ve ever had. (I get migraines occasionally, but in a very specific place and that wasn’t it.) It was like a front of the skull in a vice kind of headache. I was like ‘ Wo-aw!’. I took something for it and hit the bed. Yesterday when I woke up, I felt like a different person. Less lazy and more motivated- plus an upgrade in the energy department. It’s like my body was going through some serious withdrawal and then it just kind of- broke through. I feel much more human than I have in weeks and this is what’s going to keep me at it. If sugars and preservatives have that kind of effect on our bodies, thats just scary.

What I’ll be doing this coming week: I’ll be sticking to the fresh and fruit and veg as best I can. Since I went far more than the recommended week without tofu, I don’t feel bad about having a bit of that. I’ll be adding a new set of additional exercises, which I will incorporate into my next post.

Looking forward to fitting into that bikini!

-Mliae

Winter Slim-down week 26

Hello again all 🙂 I’m happy to report another successful week of weight loss! I am now down to 63,2 kgs or 139 lbs 🙂 🙂 I am very happy with this, because I had an indulgence at a pizza buffet and thought surely I had sabotaged all my hard work. But, I weighed in at 63,2 the next day!

I’m quite proud of myself, because as you can see from my feature photo, I’ve broken my steps record. New goal is 12000!

I have been following the guidelines set forth to me by David, at Chape Personal Trainer and so far its been working well! I must admit that until now, I always carried the misimpression that personal trainers had to be in person, yelling at you at the gym. But as we have been working by food journaling online and exchanging workout techniques and my ability to do them, it has worked out great!

This week, I will be adding in this crazy exercise (not sure how successful I’ll be at doing this move); The Standing Dumbbell reverse fly. I’ve been informed that it’s the best keep your shoulders in proper position while working with weights. And who doesn’t want to have nice posture? So, I’m giving it a go 🙂

I will also be focusing on eating more raw fruits and veg. Not because of any specific diet, but because I’m starting to notice that although I’m eating healthy, home cooked meals, I’m also eating a lot of ‘diet foods’. Meaning packaged and marketing as diet, low fat, low sugar. What I’m noticing is however, is that these prepackaged foods and bars are leaving me hungry and feeling run down. So I went on a spree at the market for green leafy stuff, paprika, tomato, cucumber, potato, carrot and red cabbage. I also got a few bags of apples and satsumas. So my weeks experiment is to see if reaching for that as opposed to a protein bar or diet soup, will fill me up faster, give me more energy, keep my brain from slumping and keep me going longer. More on this next week. Also, I don’t have much of a choice now anyway because some very nice person stole my card and wiped out my account completely (plus some), so I don’t exactly have the option to buy myself something else that isn’t available here. Really crappy about the account, I hope they get that fixed. But the ‘bright side’ of this is that I really can’t go running for a bag of crisps. Kind of like being locked away in my own weightless camp. I think this will turn out well.

Any words of wisdom?

-Mliae

Winter slim-down week 25

I have a confession: This week, I have been soon lazy. I’ve been doing my prescribed workouts and dieting, of course. But otherwise, just feeling kind of – blaaaah. So even with all the dog walking and yard work, every other day workouts and otherwise normal movement, I still feel like I’ve been super lazy although quite productive. Is that even possible?

As you probably well know by now, I’ve been relying on David from Chape Personal Trainer to get me into shape because I got so discouraged not being able to do this on my own. This guy, has worked wonders!

I haven’t weighed this week, and I’ve basically been living in comfortable clothes so I can’t attest to weight loss. However, I can say that with a small tweak to my previous workout routine, I can tell that the focus this month is more on toning my muscles. Hence, the one hand tap planks which are an absolute KILLER! You know what I mean, when your holding, holding…and shaking, shaking. Its all I can do sometimes not to go flat on my face. But I can tell its working. (Buh-bye batwings!)  If you’d like, I’d love for you to try this Superman move with me. It’s not too bad, but it definitely helps 🙂

I’m really looking forward to next weeks update after I weigh in and measure up again!

How’s your prep for summer clothing going?

-Mliae

Winter slim down week 24

My apologies for a belated update this week. There’ve been some pressing family matters which needed attending to.

OK, so here’s the lowdown: You’ll be so proud of me! I kept myself solid over the holidays, and with 2 days of eating whatever was available this week (as I was in a situation where my control over what I put in my mouth was quite limited), I still managed to weigh in this morning at a steady 63,8 kg again this morning. Yay me! The super cool thing; I’ve lost INCHES! Off my waist, hips, backside 🙂 WWOOOOHHHOOO!

Again, David from Chape has been an absolute hero. Another win, David! Looks like you’re GREAT at what you do!

This previous week, I stuck to my workout regime (which I’ll be adding to this week – kettle bell swings and farmer carry). I do feel like I can take it up a small notch, and I have to anyway because I live on a decent plot of land which needs a LOT of work and upkeep (You will start seeing home reno and landscaping posts) starting, like…3 days ago. Take my word for it, its a cardio regime all on its own. Also, now that the ice has melted, I can take the dogs for longer walks, so I’ll be increasing that as well.

As for the diet; I’ve been downing lots of shakes (Protein and Spiralina / Chlorella), eating tons of beans, legumes and barley. We experimented with bean burgers (made our own) which tasted delicious, just like in a restaurant and with zero of the guilt. And drinking liters of matcha and green tea. I did make myself an albacore tuna salad and it rocked 🙂 I cheated, but not too badly while out with a veggie and marinated tomato burrito (petit), hand sandwiches, waffle fries and a lime soda. (Not all at the same time – varying occasions over the 2 days I was in another locale). I’ve made an effort to keep apples, mandarins and pear on-hand so I can snack on fruit instead of waiting until I’m ravenous and eating everything I can just get my hands on. More of the same this week, because it seems to be working well and is keeping me quite full. 🙂

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks for reading!

-Mliae

Winter slim down week 23

Hi all! Sorry I wasn’t able to post this earlier this week. Apparently I needed to do an operating system update on my PC before I was able to post a new entry. All taken care of now…thanks 🙂

Good news this week! As you all know, I started this whole thing weighing in at 64 kilos (or 141 lbs). I did great the first few weeks. And then…the holidays hit. And they hit hard! I gained all the weight back, plus some and then managed to yo-yo back and forth over the same 3 kilos or so. At my highest point, I reached just over 66 kilos (146 lbs). At this point, I whimpered, whined and complained so much that I actually got some really good advice.

Then…I called in the big guns. I’ve been blessed with some awesome friends on this blog and one of them is David, from Chape. This guy has given me so much help, a few lengthy explanations as to why everything I thought I was doing correctly was actually dead wrong …and some seriously effective exercise ideas. By the way, if you are looking for some of these, he now has his own youtube vlog where you can get some good ideas for stretching at the office, at home or in the gym. You can check those out here.

I am, I’m thrilled to say, now back under my starting weight.  But this week, I managed to melt down a surprising 63,8 kilos (or 140.5 lbs). Since I started so close to this weight, it may not seem like much. But you must keep in mind that I spent the past few months trying to get back down to anywhere close to this weight and now that I have, I have a renewed energy and motivation to keep up the pace! This week alone, I manage to drop 1,8 kg (or 4 lbs)! It took about 2 solid weeks before this one to get my body used to a new regime of tons of water, eating more often & dropping the dairy plus an every-other-day exercise routine. I had my doubts, but…IT’S WORKING! And I couldn’t be happier!

This week, I’m sticking to the same. 3 solid meals per day + 2 small snacks of fruit or protein. No cheese, no tofu, no tempeh, no milk, no fizzy drinks. 1 coffee in the mornings (black if I can manage), matcha or green tea during the day and tons of water. Lots of green leafy stuff, protein shakes and chlorella smoothies. 3 times weekly workouts and exercising a bit of willpower when it comes to the holiday. Easter is great, but watching myself turn into food baby belly barbie over Christmas is still fresh in mind and I’ll just ‘no, thank you’ to all those goodie this time around.

Looks like this lady will be rocking bikini season after all!

Hope you all have a lovely holiday!

Mlle

 

Winter slim-down week 22

Yes, this is still happening. Although, progress is being made. I know because my pants fit better. I feel like a post make-over victim standing blindfolded in front of a mirror waiting…waiting for that big reveal!

My daily weigh-ins are a thing of the past. I was told sternly that my weight would fluctuate and I am just torturing myself with the scale every morning. Ok. I’m staring at it, but not jumping on it. Much like a cupcake.

I was also told – ok lectured with quite loud voice, that I’m actually not eating ENOUGH! This I found incredibly hard to swallow (no pun intended) but after some convincing, explaining and cajoling I accepted this possibility with a reasonable amount of hesitancy and have now been eating 5 variable sized meals a day. I was instructed to eat more protein (in the form of vegetable and legumes…I’m mostly vegetarian), less fatty stuff (bye cheese, butter, tofu and tempeh) and to drink more water. I’ve been cheating a bit by combining all of this into protein or chlorella/spirulina shakes chock full of mandarin, banana, green leafy stuff and topped with chia seeds. (Pictured)

Incorporating my diet  and doing a 180 with an every-other-day workout routine which has proven vigorous, to say the least. Along with a ton of cardio, stretching and strength training, David from Chape has me doing forearm planks and glute bridges  at 60 second intervals. At first progress was slow…or even reverse. But as of today I am starting to see a glimmer of hope that this bus will turn itself around and start heading in the right direction.

And here we are: embarking on week 22 with hopes of fitting into last summers shorts without crying when I see myself in that mirror. Two more weeks on this specific routine until I can take off that blindfold and gaze with wonder at what I will look like for my Spring debut. 🙂

Wish me luck!

Hows your slim-down going?

-Mliae

 

Winter slim-down week 21

Buh-bye cheese, tofu and tempeh. I love you…

This is the start of week 21, and Spring. Yet, I’m still at the same weight as when I began this journey. I didn’t just not shed the weight. I shed the weight, gained it back over the holidays, then fought like hell to just fluctuate back and forth between a couple kilos.

Now, I’m calling in the big guns. I’ve begged for advice and help which has come in many forms and I am so very grateful! This is my last ditch effort to get in bikini condition. I should have already started the cellulite cupping that I was so excited to try, but I cannot until I really lose some of this fat.

I’ve been told to cut out the tempeh, tofu and cheese this week. Which I am doing, starting today! Please keep your fingers crossed for me as these are my favourite foods to eat on the regular. Here’s the killer though: When the amounts of this stuff I’m eating several times a week was looked into, it was discovered that I’m ingesting 10 times the fat than I should be! OK, so I understand. But still whining. Absolutely.

So, protein in the form of peas, beans, legumes and broccoli.

Water. I’m still having a difficult time downing 2-3L of water a day. I can barely drink more than 1L and even then, I’m running to the loo all day long!

Exercise. Starting a whole different routine, 3 days per week. More on that when I can move my arms again.

Lets see how this goes 😉 Whats worked for you?

Wish me luck!

-Mliae

 

 

Winter Slim Down Week 20

This week. Holding at 65 kgs and sadly, nothing new to report. Same frustration. I have been making my friends nuts asking questions and demanding answers. So far the options range from ‘there’s 1000 times the sugar you expect in that one-time splurge’ to muscle weighs more than fat and that I’m not drinking enough water. So, I’m going to do a little experiment and see if its one or more of these.

I can tell you that I am now walking at a fast pace with both dogs at the same time now, attached to a running belt. (For those with dogs: the running belt helps, but it does nothing to stop the freight train of tangled leashes which always results in the 3 of us miraculously tied in knots together. However, I swear by this thing because between it and new harnesses, I can manage the constant pulling which had me on my hands in knees in less than a minute, several weeks ago.) With 3x daily walks of 30+ minutes, I’m averaging 10,5 hours of cardio a week by dog walking alone. Not too shabby! Theoretically, this should result in a good weight loss. Not yet though.

Every morning, I have 1 cup of coffee with stevia and soy milk, a half serving of protein shake and some roasted flax with dried blueberries. This keeps me going until at least early afternoon.

Lunches vary, but I can tell you that in many cases, lunch is my biggest meal of the day. Although, some days I do skip lunch entirely and then have an early dinner. I do get busy, but thats not why I skip lunch somedays. I try to only eat when I’m hungry. So if hunger doesn’t strike until early evening, then I just heat some veg and call it a day.

Dinner around here is usually something light like soup or a sandwich. When I was doing intermittent fasting, I learned that to eat after 6 in the evening your body does not have the time to reset itself. (So to speak. I’m sure I’ve said this incorrectly).

This week, I will try to drink more water and eat smaller, more regular meals. I will also try, try, try to reduce my mint intake and *shiver – my rare indulgences :/

What are your experiences?

Thanks for reading!

-Mliae

Winter slim-down week 19

Here we are again, my weekly diet and exercise update. I must admit that when I find myself typing ‘week 19’ into the header, my confidence sinks a bit. With 10 kgs to lose from the start, I was certain that by week 19, I would uploading photos of my newly discovered abs and much diminished hips.  It is discouraging that this is not the case this week.

I have been doing well though. 🙂 I’ve been moving…a lot. (As you can see by my exercise step count) This dramatic increase in steps is due to the exuberant additions from last week. These two have been keeping me running, jogging, dragging, or at least at a fast crawl in the mornings.

This combined with my existing regime, did show some great initial results. But then…after a few days of weight loss, I again gained back another 2 kg. How is this possible? My dear friend at Chape recommended that I take my measurements. (Which I have done and will again in about 4 days) Because apparently the measurements can go down but not the weight. So I’m really hoping that this is the case. By the way, Chape now has their own youtube channel and I’ll be following it. You should give it a look too!

This upcoming week, I will continue doing more of the same. More fresh fruit and veg, less sauce and mints, same exercises and I am (although slightly) increasing the length speed of my walks with my buddies as well as increasing reps on the daily exercises.

Fingers crossed that next week I have centimeters less on the waistline to report!

Any words of wisdom?

Thanks for reading!

-Mliae

Winter slim-down week 18

This week, I seem to be holding strong at my same weight. This doesn’t actually bother me so much as I know why it is.

Valentine’s weekend was wonderful and I ate A LOT of delicious yummies! Guilt factor: zero. I was also fortunate enough to have an S.O. who allowed me to lounge around all the weekend while the cooking, housework, dog work was handled for me. It was AWESOME!

My routine has changed a bit as the doggies arrived (YEAH! Intro post will be forthcoming!) so I have been taking many multiples of walks on a daily basis and since  I am not used to this particular activity (one of them is a real puller), my arms and back are quite sore so I have basically just been lazing around when I have the opportunity. Although I have been continuing my regular exercises, it has been sporadic, at best. See; doggie yoga.

As of today, things are already starting to get settled again. So this week should resume as normal with lots and lots of extra walking, jogging, and finagling the giants 🙂

Thanks for reading!

-Mliae

Winter slim-down week 17

Good day, everyone! I am in a great mood, as this morning- I realized that I have lost 1,6 kgs (a bit over 3 lbs) this week! WWOOHHHOOOOO!! So even though I had come to a standstill and even fluffed back out a little, now I feel that I am leveling out and am ready to continue battling to lose these last few kilos.

I’ve been given some really great advice, support and workout skills that I have been trying to stick to like glue this week.

What I’ve done differently this week:

  • I increased my reps –> until it hurts (squats, kettle bells, weights, reverse crunches, jumping jacks) or I’m shaking (planks…uuugghhh)
  • I starting using drops of sauce instead of drowning it
  • I’ve been wearing my pedometer for the entire day so I can see how much running around I’m actually doing, when not technically running. You’d be amazed! Then I compete to out-do myself on a daily basis
  • I’m back on the crack: Matcha powder and green tea 1-2 times daily
  • I do not skip a day without supplements
  • For the most part, I have been taking my carbs at breakfast or early in the day
  • This week, I’m trading out my breath mints for hard vitamin candies. (I know, I know…shouldn’t be pigging out on candy of any kind. I’m trying. But its more important to me to get myself off the nicorette/nicotinelle)
  • Beans. I’ve been eating lots of beans this week.
  • Trying to incorporate more raw green leafy stuff into my meals. Kale, I’ve discovered, can be added to almost anything 🙂

This upcoming week, week 17, I think I’ll stick to what I’ve been doing and see if I continue to see good results. I will be weighing more of my food. This proves complicated at times, but it will be easier now that my guy is taking the lead on measuring and weighing. Always better to do things together!

Also…I’ll be upping the ante on my speed walking. I’m so happy to tell you that there will be 2 sled dogs joining the family this week! Finally!! We adopted them and the adoption process has taken months. Siberian Huskies need an incomparable amount of outdoor exercise, and yours truly will be going along on that drag….several times daily. I’m so excited! I’ll introduce the new additions to you when we get them settled in 😀

Thanks for reading!

-Mliae

Winter Slim down week 16

This week has been a bit different, as I was advised to start measuring food (no easy task when cooking for more than myself) and measuring my own body.  I have, however been trying. I downloaded a food journaling app that my guy recommended. (actually, 2 – my net diary for my phone -free & helpful, and perfect diet tracker for my pc…then linked up)  Although not steady about inputting entries, am starting to see what a few of my diet killers are as far as calorie intake is concerned. It’s good that I’m able to see what these are because seriously, I actually gained weight this week!

  • Sauce. I eat sauce on everything. Salad sauce, hot sauce, wing sauce (not just for hot wings anymore), pasta sauce, soy sauce… I had no idea that I was scarfing down more calories in the sauce I was using, than the actual food itself. This addiction is not going to be an easy one to cut back on. :/
  • Olive oil. When I was much larger, I used to cook with butter. I found out that olive oil was a much healthier option, so I basically scratched butter completely and began cooking with olive oil. This did actually help me drop weight initially, but now that I’m fighting for those last few kgs, it seems that the olive oil use as well might have to be minimized.
  • Bread and butter. In order to ensure I get enough B vitamins, I began eating beer yeast (no, I’m not scarfing down cooking yeast – this is made as a dietary supplement and tastes like cheese) sprinkled on top of toast in the mornings. Rarely do I scarf down bread and this is why: I discovered just this morning that the serving of croissants and honey I had last night equals like 400 kcal! But I figured I should go with what I’ve got. Time to find another route.
  • My morning fried flax/linseed/blueberry combo. I’ve been eating 1 or 2 spoonfuls every morning (daily omega 3 serving), and it helps to keep from starving halfway through the day. This beauty has 524 Kcal per 100 g. YIKES!!
  • Breath mints. I had no idea. Of course I knew it was sugar, but how could something so small pack a punch so big! I’ve been hitting these things hard. I used to rely on nicorette whenever cravings or stress hit, but then when enough was enough, I substituted breath mints for nicorette. Little did I know that kicking the nicorette habit is almost as bad as kicking the smoking habit. My metabolism seems to have come to a complete stop and racking up on mint calories is making matters worse. However, I will say this. Quitting smoking was one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself, so a bit of pudge here and there isn’t so bad in comparison. P.S:- Nicorette users: stick to the gum if thats what you’re using. Those tablets are super habit forming!
  • Pasta. I do have plans to continue cutting back on the pastas. This is not proving an easy task, since I am not the main chef in my home and meal time must appeal to a smaller set of taste buds. I do however have complete control over the pile I put on my plate. That will get smaller, and the veg portions larger.

At this time, I have been unable to locate my measuring tape. It’s not anywhere near where I thought I put it, so I fear its still in one of the few moving boxes we have left to sort. I won’t stop looking for it until I find it. Then I’ll measure several times per week as was recommended by Chape.

In my mind, it has to be the diet that’s causing the largest problem. I continue to exercise, and my outdoor treks alone range from 3 000 – 8 000 steps. This combined with squats, all 6 reverse crunches I can manage, planks, kettle bell and hand  weights and carrying should be helping drastically.

The supplements I’ve been taking several times per week are: 1 g MSM, the 25 vita green stuff I listed off last week, Vita C, the beer yeast for all the B vitamins, flax (omega 3), vita D, cranberry and potassium.

This upcoming week, I plan to eliminate the sugar from certain areas (hello black coffee), incorporate more leafy greens into my diet, utilize my protein shakes more often, snack on apples -oranges-celery when I’m having a mint attack, cut back on the sauces (*sniffle, whine, groan) and up my workout reps.

Any words of wisdom?

Thanks for reading!

-Mliae

 

Winter slim-down week 15

It’s official…I’m frustrated. I’m finding myself really stuck at 63 kgs (139 lbs). I’m not sure if it’s normal to reach a point where you just stay at that weight for awhile, or what.

I’ve been eating vegetarian sushi (with tofu and veggies), steamed vegs and rice, steamed vega and pasta, tofu egg salad on whole wheat tortilla wraps, green pea soup, miso soup, protein shakes and only once this week did I have the nutrilett diet soup. I have been doing daily planks, prisoner squats, leg lifts, kettle bells and hand weights with some random cardio mixed in for good measure. This week I’ll be adding in these reverse crunches for good measure.

So…what is going on? I’m going to give myself another week like this, and if I still haven’t managed to drop any weight or at least shape up a bit, then I’m just going to have to find something different that might be more effective.

Anyone have any insights as to why this is happening like this? Am I missing something?

Thanks for reading!

-Mliae

Winter slim-down week 14

I realized last night that due to my fear of boring my readers to tears, I have not gone into as much detail about my eating or exercise habits as I should be, on my weekly updates. I have been fortunate to have Chape checking in on me and trying to steer me in the proper direction (good luck, Chape), as well as a few real darlings like Marlene Dotterer, who have  been thoughtful enough to comment on what I need to watch out for. So, for those of you who are actually reading this, here it is…laid bare.

For starters, I will say that that scale is still back and forth over 2 kilo’s (5 lbs) and when I least want it, it shows nearing my original weight when I still had 10 kg (or 20 lbs) to shed. This, frustrates me to no end! I know that most of it is my fault alone. An occasional lack of willpower, trying too many different things, not exercising enough..maybe? I have changed the basis of my nutrition, as myself and my S.O. decided to try to go vegan. I’m addicted to cheese, so that’s been challenging to cut back on and I flatly refuse to cut out honey. But we’ve switched from cow’s milk to almond, rice or soy milk. And we are eating more pasta, rice and tortilla wraps than I am comfortable with. Don’t get me wrong – I like it. But as an accompaniment to every meal, it just seems a bit much. This of course, raises the challenge of couples and their eating habits. One whose metabolism is on fire and is usually the chef…and the other who just eats happily and hopes to catch up at some point.

Most of my meals this week have consisted of either steamed veg, cooked soy strips, or hummus and one of the accompanying carbs. There were 2 nights when we were just too tired to care and found ourselves scarfing down waffle fries and cider. (Yes, this is horrible…I know) My other diet fast food is this nutrilett soup. It’s rare, but sometimes I’m in a hurry, its cold and this is the best bet I can manage so I’m not starving half an hour later.

As per the photo; I did it, yes. I am sometimes in a rush and don’t cook every meal, so I bought a package of nutrilett soups and have been eating their protein bars for at least a year now. (Keeps me from going straight to the closest junk food when I’m hungry).

The vitamins I’ve been taking and trying to work into my diet when I do actually cook. (Grabbing oranges, bananas and apples on my way out the door doesn’t count as cooking, but it does count as healthy food) are helping. I can already see a noticeable difference in my energy levels (Thanks to some sunshine also) and my hair looks healthier. I’ve been focused mainly on taking vitamin C, vitamin D, MSM (which is sulfur) at a very low dose, and a green smoothie vitamin pack which contains 25 varying  supplements and ingredients including seaweeds, agave, spirulina, barley, clorella, apple, beetroot, berries, carrot, broccoli,shiitake, spinach, parsley, kale, etc. I have been eating some flax and chia seeds daily, as well. I have to say that the MSM has had some noticeably awesome effects. My hair, nails and skin are looking better and my energy level is increasing. (I’m sure the energy is a result of all the supplements). I have stuck to my mild daily exercise plan. Which is difficult sometimes, but do-able by the end of the day.

Any suggestions for this upcoming week?

Thanks for reading!

-mliae

Winter slim-down update week 13

It’s official…I’m a yo-yo. Up, down, up, down… In 3 days again I managed (despite my good intentions for a majority of the time) to pack back on more weight. But then, it started melting away again.

Yesterday, which easily ranked in my lifetime top 20 most stressful days, to my astonishment I actually LOST weight! Really surprising considering that I was in that kind of mood that I really didn’t care about what I was putting in my mouth or in my shopping bag. I just wanted to feel better. I even went so far as to lunch out at a pizza buffet (God, its been years since I’ve done that) and, shamefully, ate half a container of chocolate cake frosting. Plus, all the accoutrements. When I stepped on the scale this morning, dreading the read-out…it was more than 1 lb lower than yesterday. I was like ‘How the hell did that happen?!’. Not complaints here, I’ll take an actual free day that doesn’t come back to haunt me…literally…for once!

Which brings me to my next mini-rant. Free-days, cheat days, call them what you will. This diet phenom which allows us to eat whatever our little hearts desire for one day a week so we don’t freak out about all the restrictions of dieting and drop the diet like a hot…apple. In theory, this works well. Yesterday, it worked fantastically (the exception to the rule, it seems). But thats the ONLY time I haven’t found myself in a sincere state of regret and frustration the day after a ‘free day’. For the most part, I’ve found that free days have a way of sabotaging aaaallllllll the hard work I’ve done for the rest of the week. (Or cheat holidays, hence the frustration now as I should’ve stayed on the diet over the holidays and I wouldn’t be starting all over; + some, now.) I even whined about it to my fellow blogger at Chape. So sadly, I’ve decided to cut out free days until I reach my diet goals. Ggggrrr :/

The sun is shining now so even though it’s still really cold, I don’t feel the need to just burrow in, fatten up and wait out the weather. More energy = less appetite in my case and that’s also a positive.

This week, I’m holding strong with the current exercise plan. My alterations for the upcoming week include 1) no more free days  AND 2) incorporating a better nutrition / vitamin / nutrient regime. Yes, I already take vitamins…of course. But I’ve always had a ‘thing’ with taking too many vitamins on the same day, or taking the same vitamins for a long period of time. I truly believe that one’s body becomes accustomed to receiving vital nutrients from an external source, and in many cases kind of says to itself ‘well, there’s enough coming in, so we don’t have to produce so much’. This is why people tend to fall slightly ill once a break from taking a daily vitamin occurs. Firstly, your body has to realize that its no longer receiving the vitamin, and then the slow process of starting to produce it itself begins again. Hopefully. However, there are many minerals or vitamins which help the body to function better which are only received through the foods we eat. Vitamin C, for example. I’ve also been informed that eating oranges and the like, which contain vitamin C will help curb chocolate cravings. Sign me up!  Sulfur also, is not produced in the body but it helps us to take away and hold more collagen from the foods we eat, which in turns helps us to feel better and is THE MAIN issue in aging skin, hair and nails. Ladies, pay attention! So its these kind of nutrients which are only received externally that I will be paying close attention to starting this week. Now. Today. I’ll check in next week and let you know how it worked out!

Thanks for reading!

-mliae

Winter slim-down week 12

Holding strong at 63 kg’s. I was really hoping to be back down to 61 kg for this update. However, the temperature has plummeted this week to a lung freezing -30 below zero C (or -22 below 0 F) and I really think that I am hibernating. Plain and simple. It’s seriously cold out and all I want to do is sit by the fire, eat, sleep and stand in a scalding hot shower.

I didn’t do too well on the ‘diet’ part of it…although I guess that could be left to perspective because for a majority of this week I’ve been eating steamed veggies and rice. However, I did dine out once this week and didn’t consider the diet in the least when I ordered fish and chips. (Totally don’t feel guilty because I was craving this for like 5 days beforehand) And there were 2 at home meals that contained onion rings or fries. Even worse, wing sauce. Do you know that stuff has a TON of calories in it?! I didn’t have a clue until I looked at the bottle whilst drowning my food in it. So – guilty.

However, I did great on the exercise portion of this regime and managed to keep off any additional weight from the comfort food I fed myself. So on this point I’m very proud of myself and highly motivated to continue adding in exercises each week. At the moment we have: squats, hand weights, walking, planks, leg lifts and kettle bells. This week I’m adding in a starting of 40 jumping jacks. These I’ll do the minute I manage to climb out f bed because it’s a good exercise to open those eyes, plus I’m hoping it will also help to get the blood pumping and warm this girl up!

Speaking of warming up, I’ve also been advised to start eating ginger throughout the day to keep myself warm. This should also help the diet. Apparently, my nose, hands and well everywhere are so cold, I’m like snuggling up to a frozen turkey. Hmph. Hmph. We’ll see about that!

I’ve also begun keeping an excel spreadsheet of everything I put in my mouth (vitamins included), daily weight and daily exercise. I’m hoping that this will help me to visualize what I’m doing to myself and aid to my shedding those final 8 kgs or 17 lbs.

What works for you? Any tips to share?

Thanks for reading!

-mliae

Winter slim-down week 11

Hello all

I’m a couple days behind on this update, so my apologies. I guess you can easily imagine how this post holiday diet update is going to go, based on the meme. (Yes, I HAD to use it)

So here’s how this train wreck went down: After 10 days of celebrating (3 days of Christmas, 2 days of New Years celebrations and 2 birthdays -all in that 10 day period), I …uh….gained a little weight. OK, I gained A LOT of weight! Once off that diet train, it seems as though the train just ran me over. There was one diet blogger who I follow @thebigfatcleanup who managed to say NO-GO to the feasting and beasting during the holly-daze, so I have to give her a big fat shout out! Girl, next year, I’ll listen!

My first weigh-in after the holidays showed me that not only had I managed to gain ALL the weight back that I’ve been struggling to lose over the past 2,5 months…but an additional 0,6 kg over the top! I weighed more than my starting weight!! (starting weight: 64,1 kg – New Years weight: 64,7 kg/143 lbs!) Needless to say, I spent the next hour or so having a minor freak-out. Luckily, some of the weight melted away after about 2 days of watching what I was putting into my mouth and continuing to exercise. (Current weight: 63 kg/139 lbs)

Getting back to what I was doing before my disastrous holiday break, and incorporating the new kettle bell exercises and planks are the plan for this week. Also, to my S.O. who feeds me lots of really healthy food, steamed and baked with love – I will be cutting back on my serving sizes…just the tiniest bit. And I’ll give you a spatula to wave around while lecturing me about my sweet tooth when busted sneaking cookie dough. 😉

I’m hoping that with a lot of effort and some well rehearsed restraint, I can be back to 61 kg /134,5 lbs by my next weeks update. Then we can continue the progress where I should not have left off 2 weeks ago. Fingers crossed!

How’d your holiday dieting go?

Thanks for reading!

-mliae

Winter slim-down week 9

Nope, mr. scale…I won’t fear you anymore! To date, in the past 8 weeks, I have lost a total of 3,8 kg or 8.3 lbs! Since 9 kgs (20 lbs) was my weight loss goal, I am more than 30% of the way there…WOOOHHHOOOOOO!!!

To those of you who read my last week update, thank you for all your support and comments! My teeth are A-OK and I’m back in the game and raring to go!

During the holiday season, I’ve decided to just enjoy myself and try to make up for my utter lack of self control with exercise. The amount, duration and type of exercise change or increase bi-weekly. I’m assuming that my appetite decreased when I was having dental issues, and just hasn’t yet fully returned. Nothing drafting, just in the manner that I can go fine-dining and not come home hungry enough to eat the couch. This combined with an increasing level of excercise seems to be doing the trick!

What I’ve been doing:

  • Vegetarian diet
  • 1 coffee daily limit
  • I STOP eating when my body tells me its full! Sometimes the plate doesn’t need to be licked clean.
  • I keep eating if I’m still hungry after 20 minutes.
  • 100 daily intermittent squats
  • Rotating hand weights, kettle bells with a day break in between
  • Using my own body as resistance with stretches
  • Walking. The weather has been really nice and getting some fresh air, enjoying the outdoors – never hurt anybody
  • Real life exercise of running up and down the stairs 30 times daily 😉

I’m also super excited because we’ve managed to adopt 2 older huskies, which will be here soon! YYYYEEEEEEEEAAAA! I can’t wait…I’m soooo excited 😀 This will require several long walks or jogs daily so a win-win situation 🙂

Enjoy your holiday season!

Thanks for reading

-mliae

 

Winter slim-down week 7

Aaaahhh, indulgence. The theme of this past week. Today I approached the scale. Seems like my ‘go with what you’ve got available’ theory didn’t exactly work out as I had planned. More than 1 kg regained (about 2 lbs), but it’s actually not that much considering it’s the holiday season. So no guilt, no frustration here.

Speaking of holidays; I’ve made an executive decision. Since I started this, like the week of Halloween and All Saints’ Day – and managed to torture myself through a candy free Octobers’ end…I’ve decided that it’s just not worth the extra holiday stress of worrying about everything I do or do not put in my mouth. We all look like fat Barbie by 2nd January anyway. Am I right?

So, the plan is to just roll with it (no pun intended) and enjoy the holidays and all the holiday goodies that accompany the seasons festivities – within reason. I’ll just have to put in that much extra cardio to counteract the effects of my free-range, sugar laden, carb-filled, creme soaked and wine washed holiday diet. 😉 I also invested in a pair of sweatpants for those Netflix nights in…just in case.  (Only for use when the only person staring at me is the one in the mirror.)

Starting at New Year’s, I plan to first retake all my measurements, then… restart the diet if need-be. Fingers crossed that I can manage at least some semblance of upkeep without having to start from the beginning again.  Such as it goes with a lifestyle change for a diet, as opposed to a crash diet. Oh! And I forgot to tell you that I DID manage to make some home cooked food. I made a ton of cabbage casserole, and it turned out great! I’ll post the recipe this week…promise!

What are your weight loss goals or gains this holiday season?

Thanks for reading!

-mliae

Winter Slim-down week 5

Beginning week 5 of my winter slim-down diet. I have good news…and bad news.

The good news is: I’m much happier 🙂 The bad news? Well, I wussed out on the intermittent fasting after 2 weeks and managed to gain back 1 kg (approx 2 lbs) of the weight. Honestly, not a major setback.

At the risk of sounding like one of those self-justifying dieters who changes the rules mid-game, I’m, well…changing the rules mid-game. ;P

In all my years of eating healthy and occasional dieting, I have noticed one glaring inequality. That inequality is economics. For some unexplained reason, healthy eating seems to cost more. I’m not talking about anything like restaurants. Merely on the market level. Atkins diet, cost a small fortune and weight was regained afterwords. Paleo is very particular and the fasting requires that you give your body all the nutrients it needs when you can eat. So… tons of vegs. It seems totally backwards to me that the raw ingredients, cost as much or more than the ready meal itself. Wheat, eggs & butter cost more than the equivalent amount of processed dried spaghetti…even though the spaghetti company has to pay for logistical and marketing services, as well as manufacturing staff and warehousing. How is this possible? I’ve noticed that I’m spending a fortune on fruits and vegs for smoothies, that juicing seems to waste a ton of the healthy bits and protein bars are packed with chemicals. Since this is supposed to be a lifestyle change and not just a momentary diet, I’ve decided to try to keep it realistic.

So here’s the plan: For this upcoming week (and hopefully easily continued thereafter) I will make reasonable purchases at the food market. I’ve heard that 400 calories of fruits, vegs and leafy stuff will fill an average stomach completely. I plan to stick to the fresh healthy stuff and purchase / eat a reasonable amount at a reasonable price and not let any of it waste away in the refrigerator. I will cut back on processed foodstuffs and attempt (This will be a ssssslloooowwww learning process) to learn how to make my own pastas and baked goods from scratch as opposed to purchasing at the market. (Yes, this will be blogged about….we can laugh together). So this weeks experiments are to see if it is reasonable to expect a person with modest means (such as myself) to manage a dietary lifestyle change without spending their savings on specialty foodstuffs.And also to see if yours truly can start baking without making anyone ill 😉 Wish me luck!

Thank you for reading & I look forward to your feedback!

-mliae