Tag: bikini bod

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 33

This week, I have accomplished absolutely nothing. 😦 Good news: No weight gain, no binges…I’m still at 61 something kgs. Bad news: No weightloss either. Not too big a surprise, since I’ve basically just been in bed.

I was doing well until the weekend hit, although I was dragging a bit for more than a week now. And then it hit…the flu, or so I thought. I haven’t been able to do just anything as far as normal day-to-day goes. After about a week of feeling totally defeated, I went to the doctor today and found out I have a raging case of sinusitis.

David, from Chape Personal Trainer who has been coaching me (something Awesome!) and helping me to stay on track, told me with quite loud voice, to take a rest from the workouts until I can breathe and eat properly again.

Fortunately, I now have a stock of antibiotics and cough medicine so I should be feeling much better in a few days, I expect. We are so so so soon close to my under 60 kg goal and I’m not doing anything to compromise it – even IF convenience food is the tempting option.

sick

We got this 😉 I’ll be gradually re-introducing exercise starting with this dumbbell shrug.

I’m looking forward to an update post next week in the 60,? Kgs!

Don’t give up!

-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 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 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 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 6

Success!! Achieved at the hands of a situational comedy/tragedy…but success nonetheless! And this holiday week…I’ll TAKE IT!! 🙂

If you’ve been following, you know what I mean. If not, here’s the crash course version: Went on a journey, got all excited because I saw snow…lots and lots and lots of snow. Woke up to no electricity. Not just at the cabin, but spread throughout several small towns. After almost 2 days, power came back but only intermittently. 5 days later, it’s still cutting out. All the goodies I bought to feast on went to the rubbish bin. I worked like a big girl on survival mode and my mainstay has been the fresh fruit, veg, protein shake, seeds, muesli and crispy bread which have managed to stay good despite the power outages. Viola! Up to speed! Shall we move on?

So, with all of that, I managed (quite easily) to shed the weight that I had gained back in the previous week.  And then some. I must admit that it’s actually so much simpler when I am just eating what’s available instead of trying to avoid the temptation of all the snacks in cupboard. The lesson here is: Keep at it! For once, I wasn’t paying a bit of attention to my waist this week because there were so many other much more important things to do and worry about and in doing so, manage to come even closer to my goal than when I am obsessing over it all the time. So that’s the plan for this week. Of course I may have the option to sit around, but I won’t. And there’s no need to buy lots of junky food because I don’t need it. Although my brain is screaming at me for portabello burgers smothered in cheese, or for pan seared scallops and french beans drowning in bernaise sauce…My existence does not depend on these things. Apples, turnips, fresh garlic, ginger and lemon, seeds and breads are really just fine. Lets see where this goes this week. Think I can manage when I have a choice?

This year I am thankful for all the lessons I’ve learned, the experiences I’ve had and those who chose to remain close to me even though they’ve gotten to know me well enough to realize that ‘sugar, spice and everything nice’ need not apply.

What are you thankful for?

Thanks for reading!

-mliae

Winter slim-down week 4

Three weeks down, and embarking on the last week of a month. The mysterious ‘they’ say that any habit can be changed (or at least dramatically altered) in 21 days. Well, here we are…day 21. I’ve lost exactly 3 kg (about 7 lbs) and have 6+ kg to go yet. My starting weight was 64,1 kg, my current weight is 61,1 kg this week and my goal weight is 55 kg. (Unless I can manage another way to fit into my fabulous clothing items…in which case, the scale can say whatever it well wants!) So, 10 kg total (or the plus side of 20 lbs) which really sounds like a ton of weight.

It seems that ‘they’ must be correct, as many of my habits have changed. In the lifestyle kind of way, not the diet rules kind of way. For example; I have been lectured repeatedly about the necessity of not eating after 6 in the evening, and giving your body at least 12 hours to properly process the food and begin to burn fat. No problemo. My body starts screaming at me by 3:30 in the afternoon, so I’m done eating by 6 in the evening. 12 hours after that is before 6 in the morning, so the closest thing I’ll be getting to actual nutrition at that time of day is chugging coffee and perhaps a protein shake. It no longer seems like such a task to do some squats and handweights. Usually, I even get a bit carried away once I’ve found a corner of solitude…I mean the heart rate is already up, right?

I have apparently set a pattern regardless of what I am or am not doing properly, that I’m shedding an average of 1 kg weekly. Slow, but reliable so it works just fine for me.

Eating healthy: Yes, please! Sunday was a celebration day for us, so all food rules went straight out the window. We gorged ourselves on whatever was available…and it was AWESOME! (Especially after deciding to try a veg smoothie fast the day before…hello hungry belly) All involved knew the scale would reflect our indulgence the next day. And it did, but we expected it so there were no major meltdowns 🙂 Thanks to all the vegan food-porn instagrammers (*evil eye: you know who you are, and I’m now following you…thanks for the veg choc pancake blueberry, Dear God I cant even guess whats in it – recipe, but I want it so badly right now…*drool, drool, drool….) I have stayed hungry. Even when I’m not hungry, I really want to run to a bakery and buy just everything so I can bring it home and stare at it. Seriously, self torture but sooo worth it because it looks so good! This week I will try to continue to intermittent fasting and eating only between  4-6 in the evening. However, if my belly is rumbling, I’ve decided not to torture myself totally. Snacking on a celery or carrot stick will do like zero harm.

Exercise: I’m pretty much in the habit at this point, but I will be increasing my reps this week. And that’s basically the plan….just to stick to what I’m doing. I definitely do NOT want to pack on all the weight once I’ve invested this much time into losing it! Besides, when cravings hit – 25 squats done where you stand makes those cravings subside quickly!

No-No’s: Fast food, anything not fruit or veggie (sans cheese and maaayyyybe fish, but probably not), tea or honey. No mass produced food. (Seriously, boxed/frozen/freeze dried meals are totally NOT HEALTHY!) And no more cakes on an empty stomach! Blech!

I welcome your advice, opinions and experiences!

Thanks for reading!

-mliae

Winter slim-down week 3

I’m back on the wagon! Thank you for your encouragement and advice 🙂

Two weeks ago, my starting weight was 64,1 kg or 141 lbs. (Eeeekkk!!) I was really hoping not to have to share my weight (as no woman wants to divulge that info) however I realize that it is a bit difficult to follow my journey unless you have all the facts. Two weeks down, and exactly 2 kg down as well. Current weight as of this morning: 62,1 kg or 136 lbs (give or take…the conversion isn’t always perfect).

Given my absolute impatience, it is frustrating not to be losing weight at a faster pace. Yes, I know, shedding 1 kg per week is actually the healthy way to diet. Still, there are some fantastic pieces hanging in my closet that I am just dying to get back into!

This week, it’s back on the exercise wagon. Seriously.

  • 100 squats daily
  • Return to the hand weights, kettle bells and resistance weights (alternated)
  • Add in some cardio to get things started. (jumping jacks, jogging, etc)

As for le diet, I’ll remain on the intermittent fast, but allow myself some protein snacks in the form of sunflower seeds, chia seeds and flax if I reach the point of ravenous before meal time. Back to the yerba mate and green tea during the day and tons of water at night.

Lessons learned from the past 2 weeks:

  • Ixnay on the Carbs
  • Pigging out during a 2 hour period doesn’t really help. Must keep it in moderation
  • Veggies keep me feeling full, longer
  • Caffeine keeps me up half the night if I’m guzzling green tea in the evening
  • Sporadic exercise does nothing

Wish me luck! Please share your thoughts, I look forward to reading and trying them 🙂

Thanks for reading!

-mliae

Update: Winter slim-down week 2

Hello and happy 1st week of November, all! Time for my weekly diet check-in. Halfway through week 2. I’ll go ahead and admit it, I have totally fallen off the exercise wagon. Totally. Shame on me.

In the past few days, my weight has been fluctuating quite a bit. I’m not entirely sure why, but I do have a theory or two. Perhaps someone reading this will have some input they’d be willing to share. I have, as of today, lost 2,3 kg or about 5 lbs. Good? Yes, absolutely. Confusing and frustrating? Yes, absolutely.

Here’s how it’s been going down: I totally bombed on the no wine rule. Two nights, I had a glass of wine. I’ve altered the diet parameters after a ton of googling and speaking to a few people in the nutrition and health fields. I’d heard about intermittent fasting (not in the religious sense) to cleanse the toxins from your system and get your body and energy back on track. By fasting, I do NOT mean starving myself. I’m speaking of  more like getting my body into survival mode by taking a relatively small chunk of time each day to eat whatever I want during that time and nothing else other than teas, vitamins and a ton of water for the rest of the day. This supposedly gets your body burning its fat reserves for additional energy after the first couple days. I don’t care if it is harsh. If I can spend an hour a day eating whatever my little heart desires while on a diet, I’m all for it!

Day one of this fasting, I paced like a caged animal for hours before I ate. My meal consisted of pasta and steamed veg. A ton of it. I was so full afterward that I slept like a baby.

Day two result: 0,5 kg down. A drastic loss in energy. I slept late, was unmotivated to manage even the lightest object on my to-do list book. When it was time to eat, I was READY. My meal consisted of leftover pasta and stir fry  tempeh and mixed veg and a glass of wine.

Day three result: 0,2 kg down. Helloooo energy! Most productive day this week. I got a ton of mundane tasks accomplished, but when it came to working out, I just felt weak. Fell in love with Netflix. Hungry. My evening meal consisted of fries. And waffles. Total carbo fest. Felt guilty immediately and my stomach was growling all night. Realized that all the carbs I’d been eating were keeping me hungry.

Day four result: 1,2 kg UP! WHAT?!?! Ok, given the junk food fest I’d had the night before it’s no big surprise. But it is frustrating to work so hard to lose every little bit and then…WHAM! Most of it gained back overnight. After a minor freak-out, I vowed to myself that would not happen again. Evening meal was tofu sausage and root veg.

Day five result: Weight down only about 200 grams. I’m unsure if my body is using fat reserves at this point, which it should be, but I’m also noticing that everything is slowing down. Even though I’m drinking tons of water, my metabolism is slower and my energy is seriously low. Occasionally I’ll get a burst of productive energy. However I’m noticing that it is usually in the evenings after I have eaten. Workouts are a thing of the past.

Yesterday I took myself for a reward facial at Mimando spa at it really helped me feel a bit better. Especially since my skin is drying out and all the toxins seem to be coming out of my body…through my face.

So here we are…now just trying to figure out if this will begin to work as well as it should if I can manage to stop sabotaging myself. Think I’ll keep it up for a few more days and actually do it properly and see what happens. I would really like to know any advice or experience anyone has to offer. So, please share.

Thank you for reading!

-mliae

Winter slim-down: Starting week 2

It’s been one week…7 whole days since I started the diet.

I cut out fizzy drinks, midnight snacking, alcohol and sweet stuff. For the first few days I was going strong. Pacing a lot, but going strong none-the-less. And now? Well, let’s just say I pity those around me. Irritable with a smile on your face is like a nagging mother-in-law with a Christmas gift. Sometime’s it’s just easier to stay out of the way and chill in front of Netflix. But that’s what got me into this in the first place.

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In order to get through the nail biting stress of dumping soda permanently, I’m relying on 1 cup of coffee in the morning, Twinnings gunpowder green tea throughout the day, and yerba mate hot tea before meals. And instagram…lots and lots of instagram. Busy hands mean they aren’t thoughtlessly stuffing food in my gob.

That said, I have managed to lose 1,4 kg  or approximately 3 lbs. Not too shabby! Seeing lower numbers on the scale is all the motivation I need. Fingers crossed, after this week, I’ll be able to fit in those pants that ‘shrunk in the wash’.

Week 2 plan is simple:

A) Keep up the good work from week 1

B) Exercise, exercise, exercise!  Don’t get me wrong. I DO exercise, but I’m a ‘break-it-up’ into bearable pieces kind of girl. Once I relocated and stopped city-walking the equivalent of 8 miles per day just to get to work and back, I realized that exercise wasn’t as simple as just doing what you do on a daily basis and then adding in some squats, lifting and stretches here there and everywhere.

So here we go. My ambitious goal is to get to 50 squats per day, use hand weights (switch it up, have different kinds), stretches, and running the stairs up to 20 times in a row (hopefully without breaking any bones). This is addition to the sugar and hidden calorie restriction, plus the fact that I am moving boxes and furniture, and trying to repair/maintain the new home…I’m hoping, seriously hoping will do the trick!

Wish me luck and thanks for reading 🙂

-mliae

P.S. – you can find me on instagram at: My_life_is_an_experiment

New foodie try: Simple and easy Kale chips! Recipe included :)

Several years ago while loitering in wonder in a natural foods market, I found and purchased my first ever bag of Kale chips. Habanero flavour, if I remember correctly. It must’ve been a precious commodity because the price tag on this handful of kale chips seemed like I was paying for it by the gram, as if it were gold. I fell in love immediately, and there was no turning back.

I am not a good cook. Sure, I can piece together a home cooked meal, but I’m not a recipe person usually, so it’s usually a one-time culinary experience and then I can never manage to remember exactly what I’ve done when the occasion presents itself the next time. I am hoping to rectify that situation via this blog and an eternal hope for healthy eating. Anyway, I digress.

As per the norm, whenever I taste something that I absolutely fall for, I go home and google it. If you’re anything like me you know exactly where I’m going with this. You google, always included in the search terms are keywords: easy, simple, fast… And every recipe you find is: Not easy, not simple, maybe fast, usually contains 1-30 extra ingredients that are not on-hand or are impossible to find (especially when traveling. Seriously, how to hunt down ‘baking powder’ in Cyrillic, Thai, Farsi or Yiddish?!)

I searched and searched….I found many great kale chip recipes but all, soooo yummy looking, but too much work. (Hello Dorito ranch kale chips!)  Until this beauty was found 🙂

-Rinse kale and remove from stem

-Place all kale leaves in a large bowl

-Drizzle lightly with olive oil and toss (just enough to make sure that the leaves are oiled, but not so much as to soak them)

-Place on a baking tray (go ahead and pile it on, they shrink down when baked)

-Salt to taste. (I prefer freshly ground Himalayan pink sea salt & a little goes a long way)

-Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 120-150 C or 325 F

-Put in a bowl, crunch and enjoy!

Simple as that!! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did 🙂

Thank you for reading

-mliae

Winter slim-down diet update #1

Just checking in to let you know how le diet, week 1 is going. I have not fallen off the wagon…yet. Nor have I knocked over a market in the middle of the night, desperately searching for waffles, cookies and hot cocoa.  Yaaayyy me!

I’ve spent the last few days free of sugary drinks, no meat, zero alcohol consumption, and no midnight snacking. I was certain this would result in my going absolutely peanuts. Enter gunpowder green tea. Thank you Twinnings! That stuff has enough caffeine in it to keep me rolling through the day and lots of antioxidants so I don’t have to feel guilty drinking a ton of it. Best part: I haven’t been acting like a coffee, sugar deprived monster. And THAT makes everyone around me happy…including myself, of course!

Weight total lost due to this change so far? 1,2kg or approx. 2 lbs. Not too shabby for 3 days.

I guess it’s worth it to say that ALL of the sweet, sugary, wonderful snack-y things are no longer in my house. So when those cravings hit, I have gum or protein shake. And soup…I’ve been eating lots of soup.

Trying to keep up the good work 🙂

Please share any advice or thoughts in the comments section.

Thank you for reading

-mliae

Dreading the scale? Me too….It’s THAT time! Winter slim-down…oh boy.

Oh yes, I did it…

Months after the move and I am still finding long-lost treasures in boxes thrown carelessly and temporarily into the attic. Today, I found this little treasure. I was wondering where it went. So what’s the first thing I do? Step on it…of course. And then I stepped off. Totally disappointed in my metabolism, I might add. It wasn’t that much…not a bubble gum swallowing experience. Enough however, to completely demolish my denial and my theory that somehow all my pants had merely shrunk in the wash. And so it begins….

I had just yesterday decided that I would commit to an experiment with cellulite cupping in late winter  in order to be bikini ready by summer. Which I will be doing at Alkeisvoima in Finland. All 3×10 of the treatments. (This girl is determined to look awesome in the sun, sand and surf!) Sooo….because of this, I for-sure have to get working on it. Like, now. BTW- I will be blogging about my progress with that.

So, today is the day. I figure (OK, the procrastinator in me figures) that I can do a step-a-week situation. Meaning that I either take something out of my normal regime, or add something to it. Each step adds up to a whole bunch of steps (I’m sure) all going simultaneously. Enter lifestyle change for the better 🙂

Step 1 for this week is to cut out all sugary drinks.  And late-night snacking…that’s out too.

Step 2 for next week is to start a regular exercise regime. No excuses. Apparently, running up and down stairs, moving boxes, doing the day-to-day and walking is not enough.

Step 3 – week 3; we’ll burn that bridge when we get there. I’ve heard that there are quite good diet teas, supplements and super-foods that will keep me from wanting to eat the couch. Maybe I’ll try something of those?

Wish me luck and let me know your thoughts!

Thank you for reading

-mliae