Planning Weight loss

I'm about to get in the car to leave for Switzerland for work for the weekend - this is my challenge update post on-the-go.

For this challenge I've been surprised to have practical tools at hand how to get a grip on my eating habits although I wasn't really prepared for it. Yes, I know now that I can commit to this but that it also needs some commitment and planning of other things. I will have to set clear goals, create a step-by-step road I can stick to in a longer term than just one challenge. I'll have to set priorities in my life and set limits to where I say NO to temptation and how to still be able to join social meetings.

I'll also have to simplify my life more so I won't get triggered by stress so easily - and I will also have to start thinking of all of this like a rehab period: that will ask of me restriction, but that will transition to a normal life - my dieting won't rule all my day!!! But in the first time maybe.

So, this end of the week I wasn't perfectionist when it came to my diet. I'm happy to be able to prepare the trip to Switzerlnd and I will meet a lot of horses and people and maybe I'll also get osme feedback from outside on how to start all this process.

I thank you all for reading - sorry I couldn't write more - see you on Monday!
Yours,
Elanor

Do I need to jump to the next level?

So, this is me writing a thoughtful post today. First of all: I didn't lose any weight during last week, tough my body feels about 10 kgs lighter! I wasn't my best week concerning food - I felt terrible about it - sometimes I had so much work I forgot to eat, finding myself really starving, around other people stuffing themselves with chocolates and some special food, so I'm proud to say that I managed to stay "clean of candy" during the week, but sometimes I had to eat something that definetely wasn't on my plan because I had no other options and I already had waited for a better occasion for some hours.

I'm really glad about all the help I get in the Nerd-Fitness-Community and for every instruction, advice, experience or just good feelings shared. I don't know where I would be without you.

It's also great to be able to experience with the actual meal plan, how food addiction works and how my body is able to heal itself as long as I stick to it. But I'm also really surprised of how much a mental and psychological "battle" this is.

I won't go through all the detailed thoughts I went through during last week, but something seems to be sticking aroung. I have the feeling, that my struggle with food and health starts to reveal more and more other issues in my life - how my lifestyle affects me and who I am as a body and what I can do and what I can't.

Today I'm at a point where it feels that I need to make some overall level UP - within a year I managed to stop snacking and many more things I never thought possible. I hacked myself to a point, where I optimized my daily routine so I can get everything done. But now it seems, that if I really want to do this, I will have to commit to ... hm, how to say ... myself basically and to say "yes" to who I am and to my body and leave some things surrounding me at the same time.

As I have to leave the house now, it seems that it's not for today to write more in detail about it, but I wanted to let you know about all of this. It's an exciting adventure - thank you for being there with me!

Yours,
Elanor

Why it's been quiet for some days

I don't know why the last days I was so stressed - there was also going on a lot emotionally and everytime I sat down to write my next blogentry something blocked - as though I hadn't figured out something.

Before this week is over, I wanted to give everyone a sign, that I'm still alive. But I'm also not sure whether my inner block comes from a new wave of depression rising up - again, I'm confronted with some things I couldn't talk to anyone for a few days - now I forced myself to do it so I feel better.

Of course I've done a lot of other stuff but I also struggled with my diet because I really craved other foods and it was hard, being forced to sit and wait while my whole family stuffed themselves with chocolates and pastry and I start to crack after one hour - having to leave the room and feeling bad the rest of the day.

Any suggestions for this? It's especially difficult if we're sitting together and having to plan things throughout the week or having fun activities like board games, movie nights and - that's where I'll head now - photo slideshows of travel.

How do you manage those situations?

Thanks for reading!
Elanor

Learning to move again - Connecting to childhood

As a teenager I rode around with my bike throughout the countries we visited: in France I explored the hill around our house, in Germany we went on tours with my grandparents, in Italy I rode through the dry sun to cool myself, in Greece I played to be a horse rider and scout and I searched the environment for horses and in India I commited to the flow of traffic - rode for miles and miles and felt independent.

This week I got on my bike I had bought 2 years ago for fitness. I rode it a few times, but without really having fun. I'm 28 years old today and I have changed - physically mostly. I started disliking my bike last year, because I was used to drive city-bikes and this one is a mountain bike.

Riding through green fields on thursday

When I get up, I ride it as in the time when I was 13 years old - where the bike was my symbol of independence. But somehow it's different: my body behaves inexpectedly - I'm afraid of high speed, and I totally feel like a beginner.

This frustrated me. I wanted to do a 20 min ride to work up to an hour of biking through 1-2 weeks. After 3 mins my injured leg started to hurt - I put more power on the other, stretched it to get at least 5 mins. Then I got down, walked, stretched my muscles, got up for a few 100 meters again - thus making it a trip of 15 mins overall. As I was smart, I picked a tour that would be easier on the way home.

The feeling to ride was great - it really is my favorite way of exercising. But it feels frustrating to be at such a low level. I mean, those are not even baby steps - it's like having to learn everything all over again - as when I learned to bike as a little child: managing to drive my bike downhill into a bush so I wouldn't have to rely only on my skills to use the breaks. LOL

My hips and tighs have been hurting for two days because of those 15 minutes!!!!!! I mean, come on! At first I was worried if I had injurey myself - but no, yesterday, all pain was gone. It really only was soreness. Sigh. I still did two more rides, deciding I would go as long as it doesn't hurt and then immediatly go back.

Drawing I made for my NerdFitness character

What can I say? It resulted in a trip around my village and nothing more - less than 1km. I did it again today and made the trip some 500 meters more. But I started training my manoevering skills, driving closely around obstacles and over bumbs and unsteady ground - so it would be fun anyways.

It's hard to accept all of this, but you know why I keep doing it? Because the feeling in my body is so great afterwards!!! And the more I ride, the more I reconnect to the feeling of my childhood which I already believed forgotten! This makes my heart so joyful and I let go and listen to my body.

Yes, maybe I have to relearn how to move in this much heavier body first, before expecting more, but I love my body anyways - and in my heart, the independent warrior girl that traveled to find the horses is still the same! Maybe, she'll find the way to level up and fulfill her dream to ride horses again - in the past, she always found the way there in riding her bike first ...

... a little tear is rolling off my cheek as I write this ...

Thank you for reading!

What is Elanor's Journey? - Lord of the Rings second Generation - Elanor...

This is my diet

So, for those of you who want to see what I'm eating exactly throughout the week, here ya go:

I permit myself 1 rest day per week - this isn't supposed to be a cheat day but this time I ate some chocolate for example and we made dinner together as a family, having "Käs'spätzle" and a roasted pork. Typical german food.

Best Breakfast for Weight loss? Comparing 7 options I tried

In this article I want to share with you my experiences through the last 3 years with different styles of breakfast. I'm no nutritionist or trainer and those are just my personal experiences and I'm still experimenting new things every challenge to come.

Here's what I've
tried so far:

7. Eat whatever I want

Pros: I don't have the feeling to have to stress about too much - I buy what makes me feel good and I either eat or I don't.
Cons: I THINK that I'm not stressing about food - but in reality I either stuff myself with everything that's in the fridge or I don't have breakfast at all. So no eating habits are created and hunger comes when I least expect it and I'm never prepared enough.

Conclusion: Sometimes it's good to be open and to listen to your body and be flexible. But for my daily routine should be clear whether or not I want to have breakfast and how much of my daily calories this makes up. Screwing first thing in the morning makes the whole day stressful!

6. German breakfast: Bread with cheese, sausage, honey, jam ...

Pros: For a full workday you can fill yourself to be able to stand without break until 14 o'clock. It gives full power. The usual dark German bread (depending on which you take) is very good for the digestion and if you're ready to switch even for pumpernickels it's close to muesli. Top it with fresh cheese, veggies and ham or turkey: a healthy option.
Cons: First there's the macros: it's poor in vegetables and there's also only little protein but loads of fat and carbs - and if you top it with honey or jam there's the fast sugars too. Then it ends up for me to eat more than I wanted and on days where I go out with only one slice of bread, I'm starving around noon.

Conclusion: The "pumpernickel"-version is not for everyone. I like it but I can overeat on that too. Nowadays, when I'm at my friends house in Germany I start missing my protein and veggies in the mornings. Bread is my cryptonite and I tend to extremely overeat!!! And then I feel tired and bloated 2 hours later ... so, at home I no longer have it. My husband does though.

5. Porrige / Oatmeal

Pros: Protein and energy for your workouts! A decent breakfast with a lot of variations. Can be a replacement for muesli on cold days.
Cons: Loads of carbs and I haven't found a way to incorporate any vegetables - so mostly fruit - I lacked the protein and vegetables!

Conclusion: To sweet for my taste and the energy didn't last long. Plus the cooking where I usually managed to burn it because I don't have a microwave ...

4. Fasting until noon

Pros: Weight loss is about calories - so if you manage to stay the longest possible without eating, you can eat more later. Plus, some studies point to the theory, that longer periods of not eating can help to balance insulin levels better and you can get up and start working without worring about food until noon.
Cons: Intermittend fasting works for some, others - especially woman - seem to have more difficulty with it. Building up hunger throughout the morning can lead to binging on food the rest of the day too!

Conclusion: I did this for a long time and feel good about it - but since I work every morning I need my coffee and something to balance my guts.

3. Paleo breakfast: Bacon and Eggs plus vegetables - high protein and high fat

Pros: A real meal to start the day. You'll be satiated for a long time and really feel powerful.
Cons: Cooking in the morning isn't really my thing and it's very calorie dense - so you have to reduce thoughout the day.

Conclusion: Don't believe weight loss involves really tasty food? Try this one!!! I made bacon and eggs for a long tima in the morning and lost 15 kgs!!!

2. Only coffee with milk / Bulletproof coffee

Pros: Very simple and clear breakfast. If you take whole fat milk (or butter/coconut oil in case of the bulletproof coffee) you'll have the feeling to have started oyur metabolism. Make a big pot.
Cons: You'll become dependend of coffee and it's not really to be considered to be a meal. So, you have the same hungry feeling as with the fasting.

Conclusion: my favorite although it's not really balanced. I don't do bulletproof coffee because I hate the taste, but I take a big bowl with half coffee half whole fat, preferedly organic, milk.

1. Home made Muesli

Ok, so Muesli comes in 2 forms: the pre-packaged one that you can buy in the stores and the homemade one. I usually do it myself because I hate all the artificial sugars, honey or raisins in the packages - not because of the calories but because of the taste. So what I'll do is to buy oats and fresh fruits - a little more work, but the taste is not to be compared.
Pros: Great to be varied. You have total control over the ingredients: macros and calories. Yoghurt or quark provides a lot of protein.
Cons: A little too sugary for me with a bit too many carbs. Takes nearly as long to prepare as bacon with eggs.

Conclusion: Home made muesli is what I'm doing at the moment - as I said, it's not my favorite taste but it just feels good and you have the most control!


Ok, so Muesli has made the top of my list here too - sounds like clichée but it's my conclusion for the moment and you see, that I tried some thing already ;-)

This is my post for today - hope you enjoyed it and if you want, feel free to share and subscribe! Posts are coming twice a week and there usually is a Vlog on weekends too!

Yours,
Elanor

Trying a new diet! - Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron cover song - Elanor...

Trying a new diet - Challenge #9

It's challenge time!!! Last week was full of preparation!

Together with a fellow rebel we prepared a diet meal pland and I really want to find out how much weight I'm able to drop with it in the next 4 weeks.

It's protein-rich because it contains loads of yoghurt, quark, fish and chicken. The fat comes from olive oil and the rest is either oats, rice or swedish crispbread. It's a little more carbs than I usually do, but I'm looking forward to!!!

And of course there's loads of vegetables. I took my measurements yesterday already and made my weigh in. Now wish me luck for everything. My other goals for this challenge will be to workout again 9 times overall - that makes a little more than 2 workouts a week - but I won't do any lunges anymore as my injury after the last time really was annoying me.

My other goal is to meditate everyday for about 5 minutes and see what impact it has. I want to try so many things and the challenges are always great for it :-)

I wanted to do a video of my groceries that I got for the new mealplan but I wasn't able to do shopping on Saturday so I'll only be able to do it next week. Read me again soon!

Yours,
Elanor