No weight posting - TTOM :-)
So I had a few slip up days, where I ate way less healthy than I should have. I had visitors over the weekend and we went out to eat too many times. But since Monday I am back on track food wise.
I have been going to the gym, working out and taking Zumba and kickboxing classes. Slowly (very slowly), this is getting easier. I can't wait to be in good physical shape and really power out during my gym sessions!
I am not a big fan of cooking (or better, wasn't). When I was a vegetarian it wouldn't be uncommon for me to eat bread and cheese for every meal. Think you can't eat a pound of cheese in one sitting? Well, I could and did. Frozen pizza was another one. I basically lived off carbs and fat ... no vegetable or fruit ever made it into my mouth.
So this cooking/meal preparing thing is a big change for the better for me.
I have tried some new recipes from the Happy Herbivore cookbooks.
Breakfast/snack items: Lemon Biscuits and Black Bean brownies
First the lemon biscuits: they are ok, but I won't make them again. The consistency isn't all that great (a bit rubbery) and I am not crazy about the taste either.
The black bean brownies ... I think I would like them if somebody else had made them and I didn't know the ingredients. On the plus side: I am snacking on black beans and banana. But I am still weirded out by them. Yes, they are definitely chocolatey, but the consistency (again) is all off. Maybe if there were some flour in it, I would like them better.
Next up: Shep's Pie. A complete success! I will definitely make that again!!! Here is a picture from above (the mashed potatoes didn't brown well, but that's ok):
And a photo from the "inside":
My husband was also quite taken by this dish, and it was SO easy to make.
Starting weight: 101,7 kg (223,74 lbs)
Today's weight: 98,1 kg (215,82 bs)
Total weight lost: 3,6 kg (7,92 lbs)
Target weight: 70 kg
Did you ever hear the sentence "fake it till you make it"? It can refer to many things, but in my case I am trying to apply it to me and my life.
Who would I like to be?
I want to live a vegan lifestyle and actively use my body. I want to be happy and rejoice in all the good things life is giving me. I want to concentrate on the positive in life and not the negative. I want to be a fit, fabulous, joyful person.
The mental image I have of that person is a beautiful, trim, radiant woman. If I look in the mirror, I am not exactly that. So I need to stop looking in the mirror ... but I have started living the life I want to live.
I am vegan, and actually feeling great (you know that "great feeling" so often promised when you start following a vegan diet? Well, it has hit me in abundance!)
I have started actively using my body again. This past week I have been to the gym, done two hikes, completed a kickboxing class. It makes me feel good to use my body and be active ... I just can't look in the mirror while doing it, or I will focus on how ridiculous I look during kickboxing rather than how good it feels. Or how sweaty I am during climbs, rather than on the great views from the top of a mountain (here it also helps not staring at your shadow, especially when it comes from the unflattering behind angle that makes you look even more enormous!).
Even when I am down during the day, I try not to get angry and frustrated anymore but be grateful for my two beautiful, healthy children and the relationship I have with my husband.
And one day, hopefully the outside will match the inside ... and I will be a trim, fit and fabulous person ...
Starting weight: 101,7 kg (223,74 lbs)
Today's weight: 98,8 kg (217,36 bs)
Total weight lost: 2,9 kg (6,38 lbs)
Target weight: 70 kg
I gained 200 g! What the ...! But after going to the gym just twice, I already feel much better and also look better, trimmer ... now, I know that that is not possible, of course, but just an illusion. But it shows you what working out can do for you mentally!
So I started trying some recipes from Lindsay Nixon's Light and Lean cookbook.
The first one I tried, as it was SO SIMPLE and I had an old banana that had to be used up was Banana Chocolate Chip Scones (p. 52). Here's the result:
They look just like the ones in the book. Taste? Hm, they are sugar and fat free except for the chocolate pieces, so I guess what can you expect. The taste is actually really good. The consistency isn't at all scone-like. But they are worth it for the calories (125 each), and I think I will make them again.
Next up was the peanut sauce (Thai Peanut Dressing p. 140).
OMG ... so good!!! The sauce seemed a bit sweet at first, but tossed with noodles cooked in salt water, it was really good. I hoped to make two servings, but that didn't work out. (I didn't have soba noodles handy, so I used regular spaghetti.)
Next up are the Chickpea Tenders (p. 63). They are in the oven right now, so stay tuned to find out how that turned out ...!!!
Starting weight: 101,7 kg (223,74 lbs)
Today's weight: 98,6 kg (216,92 lbs)
Total weight lost: 3,1 kg (6,82 lbs)
BMI: 34,9
Target weight: 70 kg
Things are going well, and I have a lots of energy! My body is beginning to feel somewhat "clean", which is a nice feeling. Yesterday it was back to the gym for me after I didn't go during late pregnancy and in the two months after giving birth. It was not too traumatic ... as long as I don't look in a full-length mirror!
Actually, it was really fun. I loved using the weight machines and making my muscles work again. Soon I will go back to Zumba class, too, to burn some calories. With a two month old baby at home, I haven't really had time to myself at all, so I reveled in this indulgence while baby was watched by dad. I am going to try to work out three times a week and take long walks with the baby when weather permits (today looks good!).
Yesterday I got some new cookbooks in the mail (thanks, Amazon!):
I can't wait to try some new recipes. Unfortunately some ingredients that Lindsay Nixon uses aren't available in Italy (like yams, sweet potatoes and even cilantro!) so I will need to find substitutes. The German cookbook also looks great! Eckmeier veganized some of my favorite childhood recipes.
Starting weight: 101,7 kg (223,74 lbs)
Today's weight: 99,8 kg (219,56 lbs)
Total weight lost: 1,9 kg (4,18 lbs)
BMI: 35,78
Target weight: 70 kg
Ok, I don't know exactly how or why, but I have lost weight! The only really virtuous thing I have done is replace my dinner with a green smoothie two nights ago. I used powder, as I don't have a high-speed mixer
...
That was a good experience, as it was actually quite delicious! I prepared mine with apple juice and added some frozen peaches, and it rocked! And I wasn't hungry at all - I was a bit afraid I would wake up ravenous during the night.
Ok, I doubt drinking one smoothie can magically make the pounds disappear, so I guess it must be attributed to me being a bit more careful in general with what I eat. And in the beginning of a diet, weight loss is much quicker than once you are on the way, especially when you have a lot to lose.
Onwards ... :-)
I never want to see a 100 on my scale again!!!
Well, I am ...so this
blog is for those who like me find it challenging to lose weight, even
though they are eating a supposedly healthy diet!
Welcome to my blog!
Full disclosure:
Today's weight: 101,7 kg (223,74 lbs)
BMI: 36,5
Target weight: 70 kg
Yikes, right?
I am a 41 year old mother of two children ... and don't know where
time and life have gone in the last few decades. Mentally I feel 25
(honestly, too young to have children!). But I have been damaging my
body (and my mind) with wrong lifestyle choices for the last two
decades.
It's time to get with it ... and get my life back, for so many reasons,
This blog will chronicle my self-help attempt.
I
believe in the vegan way of eating, but have been a junk-food
vegetarian for twenty years. Going vegan doesn't mean automatically
living a healthier life, so this will be my attempt to adopt an
all-around healthy eating- and lifestyle.
I am starting off at a bad point:
- I am obese (my BMI is over 35!!!)
- I haven't been to the gym in ages (and last time I went, I was recouping from an ACL injury
- I have a newborn at home and am running on basically no sleep
But enough pessimism. I trued to give the blog an optimistic title.
On with it!!!
