You can be FAT and be FIT

It's wednesday and I wanted to talk about how my challenge ended but instead I want to talk about another subject. You can read my challenge's conclusion on the NF-boards.

Over the weekend I was at a horse workshop I really enjoyed - those who follow this blog regularly know my passion are horses but to be overweight and wanting to ride always causes some morality struggle: how much can you make your horse carry around. So, I started to feel guilty and not as good in shape as the others so I was no longer allowing myself to ride.

But I noticed, that through my intense diet and exercise practises, even though I'm not perfect at anything, I feel I've become really a fit person. I see so many people having the ideal body proportions but I reached a point this weekend, where I nearly had one of the best capacities when it came to strenght and endurance - compared to the other woman around my age.

Have you seen the beautiful videos of MODE on YouTube that went viral some time ago of that wonderful round lady performing amazing yoga postures? Or the "big guy" excelling at parcour? I will leave you the videos here to encourage everyone to no longer accept the opinion that you have to be at a certain bodyweight to perform something. 

As a kid I loved Jake from "The Blues Brothers" dancing like a God. Didn't you?

So, I think on one hand this post is an encouragement, that you can be heavy and still follow your dreams - on the other hand it shows also, that exercise alone won't make the fat disappear. I just signed up for a new blog called "Dances with fat" of a beautiful dancer who is really passionate and writes inspiring and pleasant articles about no longer shaming yourself for being more round than others.

For my horse I will start a new diet challenge on Sunday (Mealplan is already prepared) and I will stick to it to make the pounds disappear if possible - but I will also stay true to my passion. Being FAT only concerns your measurements and eventually the number a scalel says - but it says nothing about how strong, endurant or agile you are!

Keep that in mind - I hope I was able to motivate you again on your journey!

Yours,

Elanor

Having a beer in Munich

Ok it's only a Radler wich is a Mix of beer and soda. As you can see Im not very strict with my diet nowadays. My trip to germany is going well but it's stressful. And lots of great food of course. After my Workout on Sunday im left with an injured foot so no Workouts in the Moment too.

Norah Jones guitar and vocal cover: Come away with me - Elanor's Journey #9

Motivation to Record Music

So, today I woke up at 5:30 a.m. because me and my husband will leave for a trip to Germany to see our family, I did my workout and recorded a short video message which I just edited and added the 3rd song of this challenge that I recorded.

It's always amazing how the habits I choose to build turn out. This challenge's goals were to record and upload one song every week, to get some experience. You know, I don't want to be perfect in my recordings, I just want to DO them. There has to be a start somewhere and we all know we will suck the first times but it's "getting better all the time" ;-)

Once you make the first step, there's only improvement - even if you try to tell yourself that you're awful at what youre doing, you can't deny that there still is some improvement anyway.

The same is true for my recordings and you know what? I got motivated to record not only myself but also convinced my sisters to let me record them playing the piano and make a CD for our grandma with just 6 songs. I could easily add one of the songs I had recorded and wow - never thought that could be possible!!!

pixabay.com

The only thing I can tell you if you have a dream is to make one first step in any little way towards it - one where you can overcome your fear. If it's just to record you playing the drum on your cell phone and only listening to it yourself, that's fine. Next time you might share it with a close friend.

What really is important is that you choose a goal for yourself so you get to do it. Otherwise you'll push it away for later and never do it. Take 4 weeks, set some really easy goals and let yourself get inspired!!!

Make sure to check in here again during the week to see pictures from our trip to Bavaria!!!

Yours,
Elanor

Lonely Day - What is depression? - SoaD Guitar cover - Elanor's Journey #8

Forgot to share the 2nd song!!!!!!!!!

Leveling up my workout

I'm preparing for a trip to Germany at the moment, but I also found my motivation again to work out. Maybe I'll even find a way to work out while I'm on the road - I'll update of course here ;-)

In lack of a gym nearby I do some bodyweight exercises like push ups, squats, lunges, planks etc. Of course, I reduce the movements so I can do them in good form. If somebody is ready that has no idea what this might look like, here are some examples:

Instead of push ups on the floor I do wall push ups (yes, just standing in front of a wall).

Instead of lunges I do split squats:

After doing 4 times the "level 1" workout, I now switch to "level 2", adding some more repetitions and I'm really looking forward to it. So, before lunch, I'll head over to it - I hope to do a more detailed update of my fitness challenge.

Read me soon!
Yours, Elanor

Dealing with Depression

I hate those kind of titles on the internet - everyone seems to be affected by depression nowadays - and now I find myself writing the exact thing because I really have to explain why there hasn't been any update on Wednesday.

I never thought about depression until it struck me last year around the day it was one year my mother had died and that I had some issues in my work. I knew some people that had had depression themselves but I also had met people that liked that depression made them feel special or that were just not suitable for society so they had to be "kept alive" with drugs and even others, that wanted to make others feel guilty.

When is the point that you diagnose a depression? It seems, that other than at the moment you receive it by a doctor, mostly people have to make this diagnose themselves because they no longer understand what's going on - or a friend/family member telling you.

It reminds me of starting to loose weight: because you can't really talk about it, it's all about that one moment when you decide for yourself to start changing - even if you don't know how to start.

Some time ago I wrote an article on this blog about myself starting to face my stuff more than stuff my face and I started to speak my mind and let go of being perfect to get everything out - especially if it's just small, unimportant things, I tend to swallow them but sometimes later the inner chocolate monster arises and wants me to compensate this social stress. And if I can't talk about it with the person implied I will talk about it with a friend or write a blogpost about it.


To be fair, I announced this to my family members so they don't get shocked and for myself this is really good and I feel much lighter.

2 days later my sister walked up to me and said she wanted to do that too. She was struggling a long time already to find words and she spent some of her teen years more recluded than her personality usually was. In the last year we barely were able to speak with her because she felt blocked.

But what I had said seemed to touch her and within 3 days she let go and talked about all her fears and pressure she's making herself and her depressed feelings. It was a big opening and sometimes not easy to digest if you see someone so close to you talking about a lot of depressing things.

So, all my energy was focused around that - she had the real depression, one that you're unable to express, just a mindset that pulls you into a more and more dark environment. But it helped so much, that I had read about people having depression and that so many are open to talk about it - so please keep spamming the internet about depression!!!! I now fully understand!

I'm also glad that I can understand my sister today after my breakdown last year, because how to imagine the inability to speak? I mean, it's just opening your mouth to someone you trust! So, you have to have experienced it to understand it!



So, today I recorded my next song and I think I will upload the video tomorrow, I did my workout and yesterday we went shopping for a healthy weekend diet wise. I also finally was able to start working on the next book project with my boss which is quite exciting and FINALLY the weather starts to shift and the sun is showing up!

Let the sun shine in!!!

and to celebrate all of this, here comes my favorite song from the movie "Hair" (somewhat depression also, but very very powerful!!!!):

Songs of freedom: Redemption song cover - Elanor's Journey #7

Workout done!!! - Looking for a reward!

Yeah - I've been rocking my first workout! My body just feels awesome!!!

I love this meme I just found because I also destroyed myself: my ego! It's always talking me into staying in my comfort zone but I feel so good when just moving at least a little.

But one thing I'm still lacking: my reward for the completion of the challenge - any ideas someone?

I think I won't write more today - just enjoy the feeling of a great day!

You can read more about my progress in detail in my Nerd fitness Batlle log!

Yours, Elanor