New Year, New Goals, Same Me

I hate the saying "new year, new me." It sounds ridiculous and in most cases, people don't need to change who they are completely. I prefer, "new year, improved me." Now, if I'm honest I think I'm pretty awesome, and so does my husband, family, and friends. The love me no matter what my weight or waist size, but there is room for improvement in my life. I could be less cranky, I could have more patience (a lot more), I could curse less, and I could definitely improve my health. 

Somewhere in 2014 I lost track of my goals. I could blame it on a lot of things, the wedding, starting a new job, general life stressors that everybody goes through, but the bottom line is that I lost track of myself, my goals and my desire to improve my life. 

So, I've made a few New Year's Resolutions. They're pretty standard, go to the gym more, eat healthier, etc... I won't bore you with the gritty details, but one of my goals is to start small, plan weekly and monthly goals, avoid the scale and focus on an overall better health and not my weight, or waist measurement. 

So, my goals for January: 

               * Go to the gym at least 9 times 

               * No fast-food or eating out 

               * Weigh myself once on January 31, 2015 

               * Use WW and Calorie tracking to track what I'm eating EVERYDAY 

If I can meet all of these goals, I'll expand my goals for February. 

One way I plan on meeting these goals is to seriously increase my food prep starting with breakfast, the most important meal of the day. 

Pinterest has been a savior for me these last few days of planning. I'll start posting my adapted recipes soon. 

Happy 2015. Here's to a healthy and happy New Year 

It's Been Awhile

Hi everyone, 

I know it's been awhile since I've blogged. I haven't been in a very good place mentally for blogging, and I want to keep things as positive as possible, especially given that the weight loss process isn't always a positive one. 

Recently I've been engaging in some bad behaviors. Behaviors that I had been very close to getting past. I've been eating in secret, worrying too much about food and beating myself up about my decisions. I've been worrying about how to eat as much as I want without other people judging me for it. This happened at the BBQ we had for my birthday and then again when Rogier and I went to dinner with my in-laws to celebrate my birthday. 

As far as beating myself up goes it's been pretty typical of former behaviors. Name calling, including but not limited to, fat, stupid, worthless. Very bad and discouraging things. 

I took a week off from the gym for some mental health reasons. I went to the gym 3 times last week and I went for a run this morning. Does it count if I only ran 9 minutes and only made it 3/4 of a mile? I hope so. I had planned to hit the gym after the run, but ended up with some serious pain in my left hip so I skipped the gym, but am very happy with the run. Hopefully I can get back out Wednesday (tomorrow is a work day ): boo). I'll set my Garmin to walk/run sequence. I think I need a week or two to build some stamina back up, but I'm very happy with today's progress. 

I'm trying to figure out how to link my blog to my Garmin stats, but I'm having some difficulties #technologicallychallengedproblems 

I promise to keep blogging regularly, and try to stay positive. 

okay, 
bye. 

How Do They Do It?

How do people do it? How do they balance everything going on in their lives? When I was unemployed working out 4-5 days a week was easy. I had little else to do so it was my top priority. Now that I'm back in the working world I'm finding it difficult to find a balance.

I worked 5 days last week and after having my evening shifts tonight and tomorrow I will have worked 6 days in a row. I only went to the gym 3 days last week with a goal of 4-5 times a week. I get up for work at 5:45. I cannot make myself get up any early than that to work out. I'm already exhausted. Which is also causing me problems when it comes to making myself work out. When it comes down to it 95% of the time I will choose sleep over working out. Maybe not the best decision, but running myself into the ground won't help me lose weight either. 

Because I'm working my appetite has been out of control. Granted, I don't sit around all day. Some of my shifts are only four hours and even if I only work four hours I get to 10,000 steps in that short amount of time. Between being hungry all the time leading to poor eating choices and lack of exercise, I feel like I'm drowning. 

My to do list is about a million miles long and there is always something more important than going to the gym. I go to the gym for my health, both my mental and physical health. But when it comes down to it I'd rather spend time with my fiancee or checking things off my to do list than going to the gym. I can't figure out how to make it a priority even though I know it should be. 

I can't figure out how people who work 5 days a week, have spouses, kids and other commitments find time to work out. Hopefully as I adjust to being back in the working world I can perfect the balancing act. 

New Fitness Toys

When I was in the states I had a few new toys gifted to me. Lauren got me a fitbit one as my bridal shower gift. Unfortunately my parents got me one for my birthday, so I had to return the one Lauren got me to Target, and ended up buying lots of fun new workout clothes. My parents also gave me a Garmin Forerunner 10. 

The fitbit one is one of those new hip pedometers. It tracks your steps, stairs climbed, distance and calories. It's pretty cool and highly motivating. My daily goal is 10,000 steps. That puts my weekly goal 70,000. My weekly step count today is 84,800 and my daily average is 14,000. That's a lot of steps. That's a perk of now having a job, and a job that requires lots of walking at that. I've gotten to over 20,000 steps 3 times and I've only been using the fitbit for 9 days. I say I'm doing pretty well. 

The Garmin Forerunn 10 is a running tracker. It's the lowest Garmin model and it's all I need. I ran twice at my parents and because it was much easier and much more satisfying than running on a treadmill I decided I would start trying to run outside. I decided I wanted the Garmin because even though there are all those free apps on the iPhone for running I cannot run with an iPhone strapped to my arm. I don't have any music on my iPhone, I have an iPod shuffle thats super tiny and can just be attached. It's a weird pet peeve I know, but I can't have something that big attached to me while I'm trying to run. 

I was hoping to use my Garmin for the first time today, but it's raining. It's been raining here for pretty much 36 hours straight. Cool. Not. I'm over it. Anyway, hopefully on my next day off I can get out for a morning run. 

I've been to the gym three times this week and I'm already starting to feel better about myself because of it. One day I'll learn that even though I hate going to the gym, it makes me happy to do it, and hopefully someday I'll actually enjoy going. 

I'm working the next 6 days. Four morning and 2 evening shifts so my posts will be intermittent at best. 

In preparation for those four morning I made breakfast burritos. I love breakfast burritos. The first few times I was working I found myself insanely hungry by the time my morning break rolled around. I was eating a boiled egg, cereal and a banana. It wasn't keeping me satisfied. So the last time I worked I decided to make a breakfast burrito and it kept me fuller. I was still hungry around my break, but not to the point that it was almost intolerable like it had been. 

Breakfast burritos are ridiculously easy to make. I made 7 this morning and it took me maybe 15 minutes. 

There's really no right or wrong way to make breakfast burritos and you can basically mix anything you want into them. I started by sautéing red pepper, onion, and mushroom in a  little bit of oil. After the veggies had softened I added some lean ham.

Doesn't that look delicious? 

Then I added the eggs. I used 10 eggs to make 7 burritos. I cracked the eggs and mixed in a little bit of almond milk, salt, pepper and cayenne to add a little kick. 

Then all you have to do is cook the eggs until they're done and scoop into a tortilla shell. 

You can seriously put anything in these. You can sprinkle cheese on top. You can use turkey sausage or bacon. Any veggie will do. Seriously. Spinach would also be great. They're also perfect for an on the go morning. I wrap mine in foil, then freeze them. The night before I plan on using one I take it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge overnight and just pop them in the oven for 20 minutes in the morning. Voila. Breakfast. Most importantly it's healthy and delicious. 

Okay, 

Bye

Vacation Recap and Getting Back into a Rhythm

Hi! So I've decided that instead of doing multiple posts about my visit stateside I'll just do one long one and get it over with. This will help me get back on track with my blogging and focusing on what this blog is really all about, my weight loss journey. 

My trip started on June 13 with a flight from Amsterdam to DC. Then continued with an 8 hour drive from DC to Lansing, New York, where my bridal shower was. It was a long day and by the time I finally got to sleep I had been up for 26 hours. Traveling is fun. 

My bridal shower was on Saturday June 14 and it was amazing, except for the weather. Up until that morning it had been forecasted to be 75 and sunny, but ended up being 60 and cloudy. It was cold! Nobody was prepared for the cold weather because the weather man screwed things up so bad, but other than the cold it was great. My maid of honor did an amazing job! 

Everything was pink and white! I had a really cute white dress on, but due to the weather had to cover it up with a leather jacket. The sign says 118 days 'til she's hitched. Now that number is 94 days! I can't even believe it. 

We played some games, but not too many like you have at some bridal showers. 

Isn't that a beautiful cake? It was chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and it was covered in pink roses. My new initial is also there :) 

It tasted as delicious as it looks. 

By Tuesday I was in North Carolina with my parents. This was my real vacation week. I spent a lot of time lounging in the sun by the pool. That was relaxing. 

The following Tuesday I was in Richmond and had meetings with wedding vendors all week: DJ, bakery, wedding planner, photographer, florist. I won't bore you with all the details, just know I was very productive! 

Friday the 27 I went with some friends to Busch Gardens! I love roller coasters. Well let's correct that, I have a love-hate relationship with roller coasters. We had an amazing time! The weather was perfect and because it was a weekday there was hardly any lines! 

Taking inappropriate pictures on the rides is kind of our thing. Notice how Michelle (on the right) is pretty much all the way out of her seat. Good times. 

Saturday we went to brunch! Naturally there were mimosas involved, also kind of one of our things. 

And then I left on Sunday June 29 :( 

I had an amazing trip. 

So here's the breakdown/highlights of my exercise and horrible eating. 

I only exercised 3 times while I was home. Horrible, I'm aware. I ran once and swam laps twice. 

Eating. Well I went out frequently. I had McDonald's for breakfast once, ate at panera too many times to count, went to Logan's Steak House once with my parents, Cheesecake Factory, Cold Stone, Sweet Frog, Joe's Inn, The Whaling Company, and finally dinner with my parents for my dad's birthday at some hole in the wall BBQ joint, who's name I can't remember. Oh, and wayyyyy toooooo many veggie sticks. I have a problem with veggie sticks. They're amazing. 

I gained two pounds, one of which is already gone. 

It took me awhile to get back on track with the gym, but it's Tuesday and I've already been to the gym twice this week, with plans to go again tomorrow. 

I'm sure most of you already knew what I had done while I was visiting, but just incase I do have any readers out there who don't know me, I hope you enjoyed my recap. If you are a consistent reader that I don't know personally leave a comment and say hi :)

Okay, bye. 

Long Time No Blog

Hi everyone. I know it's been a long time since I've blogged but since most of you know me personally you know that I've been on vacation, sort of. 

I've been in The States for the past two weeks, having my bridal shower, doing wedding planning, and visiting family and friends. 

I have lots to blog about but need to do some planning and figure out everything I want to say. 

I'll leave you with a piece of good news, my wedding dress is too big and needs to be taken in.  

I'll post a real post soon :) 

Veronica 

Balance

Man, I forgot how tough this working thing is. Finding a balance between work, life, working out, and all of the other things I would like to get done on a daily basis, seems impossible. 

Because of this blogging has fallen to the wayside. 

The good news is that my working out hasn't. I made it to the gym four times this last week, and made it today. Starting off the week right is always a plus. I work tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday. I have plans to go to the gym everyday after work because I cannot go again until at least Monday and more likely Tuesday next week. 

My eating has been mostly eh, not the worst it's ever been, but there's room for improvement. The other trouble I've been having is that because I've been getting up insanely early (by my standards after 18 months of unemployment) I'm feeling exhausted and as a result of that feeling hungry. Constantly hungry. I'm working on it and trying to fuel myself with foods high in protein and fiber. 

I think adding the stress of leaving for The States on Friday isn't helping my balancing act. We'll see how things go. I've got lots of plans for exercise on my vacation. 

Thanks for stopping by :) 

Veronica

Meal Prep and A New Diet

Yesterday I started doing some research on the "if it fits your macros" ( IIFYM, as the cool kids call it) diet. This was formerly known as flexible dieting, and it's not really a new concept, but I did some extensive research on it yesterday and thought I would give it a try. I'm a little concerned about the amount of protein I need to be eating. I can't imagine getting that much protein every day considering it's more than double my current intake, but I'll buy some protein powder and go from there. 

If you don't know what IIFYM is or want more information about tit, google it. There's tons of information on it, and I'm not knowledgeable enough to explain it adequately, but basically the concept is that if it fits into your macro nutrient goals (fats, carbs, and protein) then you can eat it. Of course it shouldn't be used as an excuse to stuff your face, but it's designed so that you can indulge and not feel deprived in your new lifestyle. 

I'll keep you posted on how it goes. 

I work the next four days, granted Friday-Sunday are only four hour shifts, they require me waking up at 5:15. That's too early. Even though they're only four hour shifts, they're the busiest four hours and my body is just simply not used to turning, bathing and cleaning people anymore. I used to work 12 hour shifts 3-4 times a week and now a 4 hour shift terrifies me. A year and a half of unemployment has not been good to me. 

Anywaaay. I know myself and I know that I am not going to be up to cooking meals. I also know that because I will be exhausted I will feel hungry. In order to avoid complete derailing all the progress I've made this week (the scale is trending down again! woohoo!) I will be making healthy snacks and planning meals today. 

I'm going to make roasted chickpeas to take to work: 
recipe here
I'll be making the garlic parmesan and spicy blend. 

I'm going to make parmesan garlic flatbread 
recipe here

I'll also be making whole wheat pizza crust and whole wheat tortillas.

I need to plan meals for the next four nights as well. Planning is the most important part of weight loss. I know this, I just need to keep reminding myself of that. 

Okay, I need to get to work! 

Happy hump day :) 

Gym Annoyances

this was me this morning 

There are several things that annoy me while I'm at the gym. Things I try to ignore and stop myself from seeing. A lot of the time because it involves me judging people. Like the women who jack up the incline on the treadmill and then hold on for dear life for an hour and a half while they "work-out." Or the women who lean on the elliptical and move at a crawl pace. People talking on the phone, and taking too long on the equipment when they're not really using it. Those things annoy me, but I can ignore them because it's not my business and I should be nicer. (Be nicer has been on my New Year's resolution list since I was 11). Still needs improvement. 

The one thing that I absolutely can't stand is when the gym is messy and people don't clean up after themselves. I get to the gym every morning right when it opens. It's my humble opinion that whoever is the last employee at the gym at night should clean up after the people who don't do it themselves. That seems like it would be in the job description. And honestly, how hard is it to rerack the weights you use?! It's not. 

Today I got to the gym right a 8am. Usually the employee working opens the doors around 7:55, but there's one guy who won't open the doors until precisely 8am. That's fine, except that today he didn't open the doors until 8:05. Usually this wouldn't bother me, but today I wanted to get to yoga at 9. That gave me only 55 minutes to get through my work out. By the time I had my shoes on and was in the workout area it was 8:10. 

There is a little section of the gym with yoga mats, a stability ball, a bosu ball, and some other equipment. I choose to do my free weights here as to avoid the muscle men who like to throw weights around in the free weight section. It was a disaster. The mats were not in order, weights were everywhere, the step up blocks were turned over. So with my minor OCD habits I had to fix everything before I could start. 

By the time I finished it was 8:15 and I needed to do my entire arm workout and try and squeeze some cardio in before 9 am. 

So I powered through 8 upper body exercises: 

pushups 3 sets of 10 

tricep dips 3 sets of 10 

chest press on the stability ball 3 sets of 10 with 10kg weight in each hand 

shoulder press on the stability ball 3 sets of 8 with 7kg weight in each hand 

hammer curls 3 sets of 10 with 10kg weight 

lying tricep press 3 sets of 10 with 7kg weight

barbell bicep curls 3 sets of 8 with 20kg bar 

overhead tricep extension 3 sets of 10 with a 10kg dumbbell

Also, I ALWAYS rerack my weights. Always. Even today when I was super short on time.  

I then only had 20 minutes left for cardio. I did 10 minutes on the stationary bike and 10 minutes walking on the treadmill. Since I've stopped trying to run my ankle hasn't given me any more problems, so for the mean time I'm going to put my running goals on the back-burner. 

I made it to yoga in with seconds to spare and then did a 45 minutes yoga class. 

My weight climbed from yesterday :( It's continually frustrating especially when I'm calorie counting, eating healthy, and working out hard. 

We'll see how things play out. I may have to go back on medication for my PCOS, regardless of the horrible side effects if I can't get back on track.  

A Happy Monday

It's Monday and I find that if I start off well on Monday the rest of the week falls into place pretty well. So far today has been a happy Monday. 

I got up this morning and had plans to do a virtual spin class at the gym, but when I got there the TV was broken so they couldn't play the route. I had my biking pants on (yes, I wear biking pants to spin class, those bikes are so uncomfortable!) so I decided to do 25 minutes on the upright bike and 5 minutes on the stair climber instead. After that I finished my leg and ab routine. I felt pretty good afterwards and am already looking forward to tomorrow's gym trip, which will hopefully include yoga!  

My weight is 91.5kg this morning. STILL :( We had Chinese for dinner last night :( 

One thing I've already learned about being employed that food prep is going to have to play a huge role. With both of us working we won't always want to spend 30 minutes cooking dinner. 

I've set a small weight loss goal: back to 90kg by June 13. I leave then to go to The States for 2 weeks and would desperately like to be back to 90kg. I'm going to work very hard these next 11 days to make that happen. 

I'm very worried about gaining weight on my trip. I start off with my bridal shower, which will be full of goodies. When I'm staying with my parents there won't be a lot of eating out and I'm going to try and find a gym where I can pay for a week long membership, but when I get to Richmond I'll be going out to eat at least twice. I'm just going to have to focus on making good choices and working out hard even if it is vacation. 

Tonight I'm making jambalaya for dinner. I'm working Thursday-Sunday this week, which means on Wednesday I need to start meal prepping and figure out the best way to go about that. Meal prepping has never been my strong suit, and that's often led to poor decision making. 

Happy Monday :) 

Transitions

This past week I entered a new phase in my life. A new phase, including employment. For those of you who are unaware, when I packed up all my belongings and moved across the ocean, I did so without any job prospects. I've spent the last year unemployed and desperately searching for work. 

During this time I have been able to put my health and fitness very high on my priority list. I may not have always chosen to do that, but the opportunity was there. Now that I'm working I'm going to have to readjust me workout routine, and figure out a way to maintain my goals as a priority. It's a transition. One I'm looking forward to, but one that will definitely come with a few challenges. 

I worked Friday morning from 7-11. That doesn't seem that bad, and it's really not, but 5:15 is EARLY. Oh my goodness. I forgot what it's like to be up before 7am, and I didn't miss it. Hopefully when I get my first paycheck I'll remind myself how worth it, it is. Friday night we had people over for a BBQ. Everyone was bringing something with them, and I had put myself in charge of dessert specifically so I could make something on the healthier side. I made brownies with coconut flour. They're refined flour and sugar free, and they were actually pretty good. 

Recipe 

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup coconut flour 

1/2 cup cocoa powder 

3/4 cup honey 

1tsp vanilla 

3 eggs at room temperature 

1/2 cup + 2tbs butter, melted 

oil for greasing the pan 

Method: 

preheat oven to 300 degrees 

1) In a large mixing bowl stir coconut flour and cocoa powder together

2) Add eggs one at a time, stirring after each addition

3) Add melted butter, honey, and vanilla extract and mix until combined 

4) Grease a 9X9 pan with the oil of your choice ( I used coconut spray oil) 

5) Pour mixture into the pan and cook for 25-30 minutes

recipe adapted from Empowered Sustenance 

They were delicious and everyone at the BBQ loved them. 

I also topped the brownie with some pecan-caramel ice cream. I also had another serving of that Saturday night and then it was promptly put down the drain. 

Today we had another long Sunday walk. 

Tomorrow I'm planning a gym day. Cardio and legs. I'm looking forward to it. Today was a weigh day, but I forgot so I'll do it tomorrow, although I'm not looking forward to it. We'll see. My measurements also show gains, and that's the opposite of what I'm trying to do. i just have to stay focused. Remind myself why I want to make good choices and that I've come so far. I've lost 37lbs (17kg) and that is something to be proud of. I just have to keep going. 

 

Happy Workouts

This morning when I woke up, I was dreading going to the gym. My legs hurt from doing my leg workout yesterday and I was just not looking forward to it. I got on the scale :( 91.5kg. I put on my workout clothes and dragged myself to the gym. See that stupid scale is good for some things. 

I decided to take it easy on my legs. I did 30 minutes of cardio: 10 minutes walking on the treadmill, 10 minutes on the upright bike level 3, and 10 minutes on the elliptical level 4. I then did back and abs, the two muscle groups that weren't so sore I could actually move them. 

Then a great thing happened. One of the other gym regulars commented me on my weight loss! I was so happy and it made me very thankful that I had gone to the gym! My friends and family notice my progress, but having a compliment given by a virtual stranger made me feel great. 

I've been to the gym all three days this week. So far so good. 

Yesterday was a little crazy. I had my first shift as an employed person in The Netherlands! That's right I'm employed! So exciting. I only worked four hours, but I was up at 5:45, something that hasn't happened in a very long time. So I ate breakfast before work: bran flakes with almond milk and a banana, and a hard boiled egg. After work I had lunch part 1: 1/2 peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and an apple. I then went to the gym and did 40 minutes of cardio: 15 minutes on the treadmill, 15 minutes on the upright bike and 10 minutes on the stair climber. I then did a leg workout: 3X12 squats with 30kg, 3X10 (each leg) step ups, 2X10 (each leg) lunges, 2X10 (each leg) side lunges, 3X10 sumo squats, 3 X10 narrow squats, and 3X10 calf raises. 

After the gym I ate a quest bar. When I got home I had lunch part 2: 1/2 peanut butter and jelly sandwich, greek yogurt with strawberries. 

Dinner was salmon, spinach, and a bit of boiled potatoes. 

I was so hungry all evening. It was ridiculous. I had crackers with cheese, a sandwich, and a few snack sausages AND I could have continued to eat. BUT I didn't, and I also didn't buy the ice-cream I wanted from the supermarket. I had it in my hand and it was at the checkout line, but I put it back. Yay for small victories. 

My weight continues to frustrate me, but it will get better. It has to. 

Realizations

Things have been sailing along pretty smoothly the past few days. I took all of last week off from the gym to rest my ankle/recover from this evil cold I still have. 

Friday night we went to a birthday party. Dinner was pasta (white), with some chicken mixture of chicken, cheese, canned soup and peaches, and salad. Not necessarily completely unhealthy, but also not on the list of foods I want to be putting into my body regularly. I also had a slice of cake. It wasn't that good, and I instantly regretted it. 

Saturday was a pretty normal day. Rogier and I went into the city, walked around a little, but mostly lounged in the garden. Breakfast and lunch were normal. Dinner was schnitzel, fried potatoes and green beans. Healthier than Friday night, but the schnitzels were breaded. I really should start buying them natural and breading them myself in a healthier way. The potatoes were fried in olive oil, so that was a plus. I sautéed garlic in the olive oil and then covered the potatoes in paprika, cracked black pepper, cayenne pepper, and a dash of salt. It was delicious. 

Sunday was a fun day! We had plans to go on a long walk/hike.

This is me all ready to go. I filled my day pack with water, a quest bar, and some other necessities for in case of situations. We had plans to walk for about three hours, but ended up coming back in just under two. I had two pieces of toast with peanut butter and jelly and a banana before we left. 

We went 9.16km (5.7mi). It was a slow pace, but considering it's the first exercise I'd done in more than a week I felt amazing afterward. I ate my quest bar about an hour after we started. Since we had decided about an hour in that we wanted to head back I decided I wouldn't need it, but was feeling hungry so I ate it anyway. We were both hungry for lunch when we got back so we went to the grocery store and picked up some buns. I had a an open faced brown artisan baguette half with reduced fat salami and half with chicken breast. 

Saturday at the market we bought a whole chicken to have for dinner Sunday night. I love whole chickens. They're perfect for a nice sunday dinner, and there's always left overs. Tonight we're having some of those left overs for chicken burritos (chicken taco salad for me). I crushed some garlic and let it sit in olive oil for a few hours and then brushed the olive oil over the chicken. I added paprika, cayenne pepper, italian seasoning, cracked black pepper, sage, and a dash of salt, then cooked the chicken. 

look at that deliciousness

This is what my plate looked like: 

I made homemade gravy using the juice in the pan, an organic no-sodium vegetable broth cube, water and a bit of flower. Healthier than most gravies, but definitely an indulgence and not something I choose to do often. I made the mashed potatoes the same way I made the mashed sweet potatoes earlier in this week. They were perfect and so garlicy and delicious. 

Also, on Saturday I had an ice-cream cone while Rogier and I were in the city center. It was warm and gorgeous and I couldn't resist. That's when I realized that the problem isn't the ice-cream cone. The problem is that I had ice-cream after having cake on Friday night. So I've come up with a new plan. I'm going to try and eat salad twice a week for lunch and at least once a week for dinner. I'm going to try and reduce my carbs and bread intake. I'm also going to allow myself a once a week (maximal) indulgence. I'm going to try and spread it out over two weeks between indulgences, but it's summer and I love ice-cream on a gorgeous summer day. 

I hit the gym this morning, but I'll tell you more about that tomorrow, I've dragged on enough for today. 

Happy Memorial Day! It may not be a Holiday where I am, but that doesn't mean I don't get to remember the true meaning of today. 

 

Feeling Good

Yesterday was a really good eating day. My calorie count was 1,475 and I didn't feel like I was going hungry throughout the day. Overall I'm feeling good and am in a very good place about my journey. 

For my midmorning snack I had a quest bar- the cinnamon bun flavor. So far my least favorite. Disappointing. 

For lunch I made the chef salad I wrote about yesterday and man was it good. It was so filling and delicious and definitely hit the spot. 

It was filled with a normal crop lettuce, tomato, onion, egg, chicken, ham, and avocado. I topped it off with a garlic vinaigrette and it was so good, I was actually a little sad when it was all gone. 

I posted this photo on my Instagram account and a friend texted me and asked "how do you get your avocado so perfect?!" Answer- I have no idea. I got totally lucky and just happened to have a perfectly ripe avocado that didn't give me a hard time about getting out of it's skin. Avocados are a tricky thing, but well worth it. 

Dinner was also delicious. 

This is runder fink (beef meat), green beans and a sweet potato mash. I had never made mashed sweet potatoes before, but searched for a recipe that wasn't full of added brown sugar. I ended up adapting the Skinny Taste recipe. 

Recipe: Serves 1

ingredients

1 sweet potato (about 150-200g)

2 cloves garlic 

1 tsp butter 

1 tiny scoop of sour cream 

salt and pepper to taste

method

-peal the sweet potato and cut it into chunks

-boil until more than fork tender (I chose to overcook the sweet potato a little bit because I find that by doing that you can get a cream texture without having to add tons of butter, milk, and sour cream. Yes, you lose nutrient when you over cook it, but in the end those nutrients won't be covered in unnecessary fat) Also I have no idea how long I cooked mine for (sorry!). My cooking curse is that I never, ever use a timer. 

-drain the potatoes in a colander 

-add 1tsp butter to the now empty pan

-saute the garlic for about two minutes over low-medium heat (don't let the garlic turn brown or it will become bitter)

-add the sweet potatoes back into the pan along with your scoop of sour cream 

-mix together and sprinkle with salt and pepper (if desired)

My sweet potatoes were so cooked that I didn't really even need to mash them, I just kind of stirred them and they just came together. 

I highly recommend this recipe. 

Last night when Rogier got home from work I told him about how I entered 48 times to win a camera from The Freckled Fox and her sponsors. Of course, Rogier is an amateur photographer, and he's pretty good. So he taught me how to take better pictures on his camera. So hopefully some nicer pictures will find their way onto this blog soon. 

Thanks for following along on my journey :)  

Day 3, Week 2, and Rest

Bad news-I'm still sick.
Good news-my eating has been on track.

The cold from hell is still sticking around over here. I can't seem to shake it. Today is about 100% better than yesterday, but I'm still not feeling up to exercising. I got winded and started coughing while I was vacuuming our bedroom earlier. Not fit for exercise.

I'm okay with that though. I think my body is telling me it needs a break. I might not have exercised as consistently as I want to over the last 7 weeks, but my body has been through a lot anyway, if not physically, then emotionally and mentally. Having family and friends visit is great, but when they leave it takes a huge emotional toll. Living half way across the world isn't easy.

My ankle is also better, but because it's been swollen on and off I think I'm going to give it a rest until Monday. That's a full week since it was healed and that should be long enough for a full recovery. I'd rather take the next 3 days off then have to take another 3 days off next week and then 3 more the week after because my ankle becomes swollen again.

I've also been doing a lot of reading lately and pretty much all the research has concluded that diet is more important than exercise in weight loss. For awhile I thought that was crazy because I just added exercise and lost my first 25lbs. The next 10 I lost were a combination of exercising and healthy eating, but now that I'm stuck in this plateau I'm going to use the next few days to really focus on my eating. I've been doing much better, but with the slip ups this past weekend I'm still feeling like there's room for improvement. I'll get there. I just have to remind myself that this journey is a marathon not a sprint.

Yes, I have goals and an ideal weight, but what's more important is actually being on this journey and learning new things about myself and about life as i go through it.

Yesterday for diner I had a salad with grilled chicken. I sautéed some garlic in olive oil and then cooked the chicken. My humble opinion is that there's no such thing as too much garlic. I love it. I made pasta for Rogier and made a little portion for myself to go with my salad, but only had a few bites of it. I'm not really a big pasta person, unless it's at a real Italian restaurant, then I can't get enough. I'm convinced I don't like pasta because that's pretty much all my mom ate while she was pregnant with me. Crazy you say? Well, I also don't like bagels, which was her other food of choice.

Anyway, that was a healthy and satisfying dinner.

This was breakfast this morning. Bran flakes with a banana and almond mil, strawberries, a boiled egg, strawberries and coffee with almond milk. It was delicious. I measured out the cereal and almond milk this morning to double check that my portion size had been about accurate the past few days. It had for the cereal, but I was using a lot more almond milk than I thought, which is okay because there's only 13 calories in 100ml, but still I didn't notice a significant difference when I used less, so I'll probably keep measuring that out for the next few days. 

I'm planning on having a chef salad for lunch complete with cheese, ham, turkey, egg and avocado. I'm seriously looking forward to it. The warmer weather has me in a serious salad mood. I'm also brewing some cold green tea and some cold black tea. I love tea and drink tons of it in the winter. I'm a big fan of all the health benefits and want to start drinking more of it this summer. 

I entered a giveaway today by The Freckled Fox for a canon rebel t3i. I could seriously use a camera upgrade, especially so I can stop using my iPhone to take pictures for the blog. Fingers crossed, but I've never won anything in my life. Seriously I could be the only person that entered and someone else would still win. Not possible- I know, but still, you get my point. 

Week 2 Day 2 and Adjustments

I'll start with the good news. My weight this morning is 91kg. That's moving in the right direction.

More good news I made it to the gym four days last week even with my ankle acting up.

Bad news, I went a little off track with my eating plan and worse news- I'm sick. I have the worst cold I've had in a very long time therefore it's Tuesday and I have yet to make it to the gym this week.

My eating plan was going very well last week, but I did make some changes to it. I decided that I didn't have a dairy allergy and that eating cheese or greek yogurt would be fine. I will however be sticking to almond milk in my cereal and coffee. I also decided it was okay because I had been so hungry all the time and needed a high protein snack- a quest bar, which has milk protein in it. Since I changed this I've been much less hungry and overall eating less.

Friday evening we went to a friend's house for dinner. I had no control over what was being served, but overall it wasn't too bad. Very common in The Netherlands is what's called gourmetten. I'm not sure if I've explained it before, but what you do is you cut up meat and veggies into little pieces and everyone has their own frying pan and you cook what you want. We did this, only we did this with wok (stir fry).

See the little pans? How they're curved like a stir fry pan. They're adorable. 

This is what our table looked like. There was pork, beef and chicken to choose from. I stuck with the chicken and the beef. There were lots of fresh veggies to choose from-mushrooms, peppers, onions, leek, spring onion, and soy bean sprouts. There was also fried rice and noodles- neither of which were whole wheat, but I ate a little bit with each stir fry I made. The worst thing I ate was the sauce where the first ingredient was sugar, followed by glucose syrup. Overall it was a pretty healthy meal. 

This was one of my pans. See, just a little bit of rice, mostly veggies and meat. I also had two pieces of a white baguette. Overall I love wheat bread better, but I'm a sucker for a baguette. Having two pieces is a drastic improvement from how much I usually eat during things like this. 

Saturday things got even more off track. Breakfast started off fine with two pieces of toast. Saturday was my first real day of being sick. I had some symptoms on Thursday and Friday but Saturday was day 1 of torture. So I slept through most of the afternoon and ended up skipping lunch. I was too sick to cook and Rogier was drained from taking care of me (I'm not easy to be around when I'm sick). So we had fast food for dinner. Horrible, I know. I had a chicken burger and a sate roll (chicken with peanut sauce rolled into a crust and fried-delisciousness) along with some fries. I was surprisingly still within a normal calorie range after dinner, mostly because I skipped lunch. 

Sunday was better, but still not back on track. Rogier and I went to a flea market in the morning and it was beautiful. I desperately wanted an ice cream, but I didn't have one. We decided we would have bread with salads for lunch and BBQ for dinner. The salads were the unhealthiest part, filled with preservatives, but I did stick with whole wheat bread. Dinner wasn't horrible. We just had meat and the left over salads. 

Yesterday was better and back on track. I fell of the path for a few days, but overall I'm still feeling pretty good. I haven't had any ice-cream or processed snacks which was the main reason I'm doing this. 

Yesterday I went to the physical therapist for my ankle. Of course by the time I got there it was back to normal. She played with it a little, but couldn't conclusively tell me what the problem was because it was ok. If it acts up again I need to go back immediately so we can figure it out. 

I wanted to go to the gym today, but I can barely walk without coughing and having difficulty breathing, but toady is much better than yesterday so hopefully tomorrow I can get back into the gym. 

Day 4 and Frustrations

Today started with some frustrations. I had plans to go to the gym and take a body combat class, but yesterday evening my ankle started acting up again. I have no idea what's going on or what's wrong with it, but yesterday evening I was walking to the kitchen and all of the sudden it was painful and I had trouble walking. It's not drastically swollen and isn't painful to the touch and my range of motion is only slightly limited but I'm walking with a limp. 

I should probably go to the doctor, but nurses make terrible patients. If it's still swollen on Monday I'll go back. Boo. 

My weight is 91.8kg. Disappointing but not at all surprising considering the lack of exercise and amount of food I've been eating. I can't expect to fix 2 weeks of bad decisions in 3 days, but it'd be nice if that was possible. I've also been eating like there's no tomorrow. I've been sticking to my guns and haven't indulged in anything unhealthy, but I've still been eating too much. Yesterday my calorie count was 2,175. AND to make it worse, I was still hungry when I went to bed. Rogier pointed out that this happened back in February when I first recommitted myself to this journey. Hopefully it will pass. 

Yesterday for dinner I made pepper steak, potatoes and brussels sprouts. 

It was delicious. The steak was a perfect cut of meat with next to zero fat and it was crusted in pepper which made it spicy. I also cooked it to perfection if I do say so myself. Perfectly medium. Perfect in my opinion anyway :) I boiled the potatoes and then pan fried them in coconut oil with garlic powder, paprika powder, chili powder and cracked black pepper. 

I'm going to try and eat less today. I had oatmeal for breakfast with a banana and strawberries. I had a sliced apple with cinnamon for snack and for lunch I plan on having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. Today is a meatless day and egg salad is out because the mayonnaise we have is full of crap. So good old pb&j it is. 

Hopefully my eating will slow down and improve. 

Also hopefully my ankle stops hurting because I will be going to the gym tomorrow. 

Day 3 and A Cleaned Up Jambalaya

Today is day 3 of my detox/cleanse and so far everything is going great. My stomach and digestion issues are still floating around, but a friend of mine said it can take up to two weeks to resolve after I stop eating dairy. I'm secretly hoping they don't resolve because I DO NOT want to be allergic to dairy. We'll see. 

Last night I made jambalaya for dinner. Jambalaya is rarely considered a health food but I cleaned it up a little bit and it was delicious! The only thing that was a little unhealthy was the chorizo sausage I used: it had dextrose in it. You can improve that by using extra chicken, shrimp or a different sausage that's not so processed. 

Doesn't that look delicious? It's so easy to make, although slightly time consuming. 

My recipe wasn't necessarily authentic. Rogier can't eat tomatoes so I didn't used diced tomatoes.

Recipe: 

Ingredients (serves 2-3) 

2 chicken breasts 

1 cup chorizo sausage- cut into pieces (can sub for more chicken, shrimp or a different sausage)

250g (1/2lb) mushrooms

1 red pepper 

2.5 cups chicken broth-divided 

1 cup brown rice 

1 tbs cajun seasoning-divided (more or less to taste)

cracked black pepper 

oil (use your preference- because I was cooking with chorizo I chose to use a spray coconut oil because when the chorizo warms it realizes a lot of grease. If you're not using chorizo use 2tbs of the oil of your choice)

Method

• Cut the chicken into chunks 
• Heat a large frying pan and spray with oil- cook chicken until done (7-10min)
• Add the chorizo pieces to the chicken 
• While the chorizo and chicken are cooking cut the mushrooms in quarters and dice the pepper 
• Add the mushrooms and pepper to chicken and sausage 
• Sprinkle about 1/2 of the cajun seasoning and some cracked black pepper onto the mixture and cook for 3-5 minutes until the mushrooms begin to soften 
• Remove the mixture and set aside (you can simply place it in a bowl or you can set it on paper towels to absorb some of the extra grease)
• Add the rice to the pan and mix it in the left over grease 
• Add 2 cups of the chicken broth to the rice, add the remaining cajun seasoning to the rice and water, stir thoroughly, cover, and bring to a boil and then let simmer until 1/2 to 2/3 of the water is absorbed 
• After some of water has been absorbed by the rice add the chicken mixture back to the pan with the remaining 1/2 cup of chicken broth 
• Cover and cook until the rice is tender- add more chicken broth or water if needed 
• You can add more cajun seasoning at this point or extra cayenne pepper if you like your food spicier 

This recipe is made healthier than a regular jambalaya because I used homemade chicken broth and homemade cajun seasoning so it doesn't have any additives, and by using brown rice. This is the cajun spice recipe that I use. It's delicious. Homemade chicken stock is also ridiculously easy. You can easily google a recipe, but all I did was take the remainders of a picked whole chicken and put it in a stockpot covered in water. There were enough spices from what I had covered the chicken in that I didn't even need to add any to the water! Next time I will probably try and add more vegetables to the pot. Maybe I'll try some onion, spring onion, or even some broccoli.

One of my favorite parts of this journey is all the things I'm getting to try and experience, especially adapting delicious recipes to be healthier. 

Yesterday I went to the market and picked up some fruit and vegetables. 

One of those containers of strawberries is already gone..whoops 

I desperately wanted to by the cherries too, but I decided to wait until next week because I still have tons of fruit. 

Rogier and I also made homemade beef jerky yesterday. Seriously the stuff is addicting. I can't tell you how to make it because that's Rogier's project, but I can tell you that it's possible to do without a dehydrator and that it's more delicious than the crap you buy at the store. 

Tomorrow I have plans to go to body combat. It's a martial arts class. Thursday is usually an off day but I'm going to try and go 5 days a week to the gym during my detox/cleanse.