What others expect of my weight loss? - Update and question of the week

BRITA Waterfilter

I promised an update of my 2 weeks challenge in the Nerdfitness Academy Respawn 2017 and here it comes:

It went really well and I could stick to most of the habits even during my stay at my family's in Germany - it's small steps to get used to drink water again and also the other points I could check off - only 1 workout remains.

I directly went into new goals for this week wich will be to continue mealplanning for 3-4 days ahead. I still struggle with it a little and I don't get the portions well balanced but I'm working on it. I rewarded myself getting a BRITA Waterfilter which is really cool and I love drinking water even more as I prefer water without all the "extras" in form of chlorine, metals etc.

Additionally, I decided to adress 1 question a week here on my blog and also on my YouTube-Channel. There's always so much on my mind and I have no one except my online community I can talk to. At the end of the week I will resume what I've found out.

This week my question is to understand better how to deal with the expectations from others around you regarding weight loss. 

Was it a mistake to speak openly about what I'm doing with others? Now, I have several people on my back always watching out when they meet me to see whether or not I've gained or lost weight. This is really stressful and I start feeling afraid of deceiving them. Of course this is also some kind of motivation for me but it also starts to be of a pressure.

I already did damage my metabolism and also my menstrual cycle in the past just by pushing to hard and starving myself. Now is time for doing things slowly but steadily and accepting myself, getting the proper mindset and starting again. But I have no way explaining all of this to everyone - of course, in my close family, everything is ok - I'm really glad about that. But my boss at work for example, really expects me to lose weight ...

Do you have any ideas or experiences about this issue? I'm glad for anything!

Thank you for reading or watching!

My next goals are to hop on my hometrainer bike every morning for 2 weeks and continue mealplanning.

I'll check in with you soon!

Regards,
Elanor

Please excuse my English - I do my best, because I feel at the right place in the English speaking community but I'm no native speaker.

My favourite fitness channels at the moment:
DaveDoesWeightloss https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9gMoTx2EFYRnzWwYADEhRA
ObesetoBeast https://www.youtube.com/user/ObesetoBeast
Nerdfitness https://www.youtube.com/user/NerdFitness
LiveLeanTV https://www.youtube.com/user/bradgouthrofitness
ModernHealthMonk https://www.youtube.com/user/ModernHealthMonk

My social media:
YouTube; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUL0Eq7QLwnGwYlUVW_gBog
Blog: http://elanorthefairsjourney.blogspot.fr/
Instagram; @elanorsjourney
Art channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb9po5XOs5n-wYPm0oVurDQ

Questions About Weight loss #1: Medical Check, Thyroid, Hormones, Low Impact Workouts? EJ #13

Thank you for inspiring me to revive my weight loss YouTube-Channel as it felt so good to talk so openly to the camera and knowing my questions out there now. Thank to the videos of Davedoesweightloss, Obesetobeast, Nerdfitness, LiveLeanTV, ModernHealthMonk and many more (see the links below) for inspiring me and guiding.

With this video I want to start to get answers to questions that are going through my mind. Please feel free to answer and/or give me your opinions to the questions. I will definetely get back to you. To remember, here are my questions shortened in written format:

1. What would you advise me to get tested at the doctors especially thyroid related - which hormones are to betested? What other exams can be helpful?

2. If you yourself went to the doctor to get checked for similar reasons, what were the symptoms which got you to think that something was wrong with your hormones?

3. Eating more to weigh less? What's going on with the TDEE, reverse dieting, and to low calory diets? Any experiences welcome!!!

4. Meanwhile I love working out but it seems that I'm always pushing to hard - is there any helpful advice to know when to stop? Do you know any workouts that have low impact on the legs? Would biking help?

5. Do you want to see guitar covers?

Please, when responding to any of the health related questions, precise, what background you have with those topics. I'm really interested in feedback and suggestions of any sort, but I need to know whether a doctor is writing or someone with own experience. Thank you so much!!!

Keep me accountable in subscribing and checking in with me next week.

And please excuse my English - I do my best, because I feel at the right place in the English speaking community but I'm no native speaker.

My favourite fitness channels at the moment:
DaveDoesWeightloss https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9gMoTx2EFYRnzWwYADEhRA
ObesetoBeast https://www.youtube.com/user/ObesetoBeast
Nerdfitness https://www.youtube.com/user/NerdFitness
LiveLeanTV https://www.youtube.com/user/bradgouthrofitness
ModernHealthMonk https://www.youtube.com/user/ModernHealthMonk

My social media:
YouTube; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUL0Eq7QLwnGwYlUVW_gBog
Blog: http://elanorthefairsjourney.blogspot.fr/
Instagram; @elanorsjourney
Art channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb9po5XOs5n-wYPm0oVurDQ

How Fat Loss works

Summer Update of my weight loss journey and 3 lifehacks - Elanor's Journ...

Summer Update of my weight loss journey and 3 exclusive tips to make weight loss more enjoyable - Elanor's Journey #12

After some months, I'm updating my weight loss progress after many ups and downs and yoyoing I finally start to find my balance and motivation again.

In this video I include an overview of my eating habits at the moment for a balanced breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, as well as for my exercise goals. And I will tell you some simple life hacks to make your weight loss meals more enjoyable and delicious while filling you up and being rich in protein and low in carbs.

Check out my article about my top 7 breakfast options for weight loss on my blog: http://elanorthefairsjourney.blogspot...

Go and see me drawing in my new channel:
https://youtu.be/SupqqCjnQRs

Buy self-designed merch:
http://www.jaanasartwork.spreadshirt.fr

Twitter: @ElanortheFair
Instagram: elanorsjourney

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

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 - 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

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

I'm digesting my change of mindset

Hello my dear readers!
A very ... special ... week has just ended and I don't know yet, where my mind is at the moment. Most of it is fitness/weight loss related - but there are a few other personal things that changed too.

The scale wasn't very kind to me today - seems that I've gained weight again - aliments with wheat really seem to make me bloated even though I stay within my calorie goal ... gluten sensitive? I don't know - there are so many sceptic people about it - but I'll stick to my opinion, that the paleo diet is the best for me so I won't worry too much about.

So, this was my first "discovery" of the week: it ALSO matters WHAT I eat, not only, how many calories it has - sigh. Second: I'm still thinking about how to integrate more exercise into my day but on the other hand I feel exhausted also. I hope I will build more and more endurance - I do quite a workout everyday in the stables but I really would love to do more!!!!!!!!!

Then my sister's finally got her driving license! She's so proud because driving was one of her greatest hobbies and now she's finally allowed to do it with any normal vehicle on normal roads. It really will be a big help for all of us.

On the other hand it reminded me of the time when I made my license - how much difficulty I had to put everything into practical. I really feel comfortable learning theoretical stuff but never really found my place in anything physical - often because I was so heavy. It's not that I need to be better than others but I would really love to enjoy moving again - not feeling to have to push myself but that everything flows ... just because of the fun of it ...

... omg, I'm nearly crying now - I didn't expect this - but it is true: I struggle to move this heavy body everyday and the best it gets is still so much less than any "normal" person - it's so much easier for them ...

...

Let's look at it in a more lighthearted way:

So, while I'm gulping down my water I still need to drink for today I have to say, that I'm happy overall - I just need to digest everything. So much is coming to the surface of my mind at the moment that I'm sometimes just sitting around and thinking.

But I know this will pass and that my comittment to this blog, my fitness and diet will help me.

I've prepared a better shopping list so I will make sure to have enough protein and veggies around for next week and I want to incorporate some squats, planks, push ups and inverted rows into my daily work, as well as added some clear goals to my habitica.

Please excuse me for this random ramble today and I hope you check in again!

Yours,
Elanor

Choose the best goals! - Changes I need to make for my challenge

that's what I looked all day - image by wikipedia

Hey! It's Wednesday again and though I didn't make any video yet (we had a storm and I was outside all day with my animals), I'm right on time to write this blogpost.

In my Nerdfitness-Forum Challenge log you can find more details about how my days went since Sunday but I want to fill this blog with more than pure data. I want to write down what moved my head in those 3 days.

It's hard for me to admit, but I really have to rescedule my biking goal - I would so much love to go for a ride, but I'm so tired every night and I just don't want to see any outdoor's rain, mud and wind anymore. I'd rather make body weight exercises. But yet a smaller goal came to my mind, but you'll read about it a little more below.

John, from the Obese to Beast YouTube Channel is a big inspriation for me. Not only because he's lost such a big amount of weight but also because his videos are so helpful. Some days ago he posted this very cool video - you might only understand it if you've been through what he's talking about yourself: how weight loss and willpower ride like a rollercoaster up and down and you never really get it. People in the comments argue, that there is no proof scientifically for metabolism damage, but if you've been there, you know exactly what John is talking about.

Here is the video:

So I realised something important about the weight loss equation that wasn't as clear before in my mind: "Calories in versus calories out" doesn't mean the same thing as just cutting out calories!!! It's all about balance!

My body has a certain ratio in which it burns calories everyday - this ratio depends on my body fat percentage and also on my level of activity. Eating less than I burn will FORCE my body into burning his stocked energy - Ok - I think, this is an obvious thing.

As a person interested in Biology I might add: my body's metabolism is constantly trying to find balance and it gets used to a certain amount of food and a way to process it - to loose weight we breaks this balance and we hope, that our body gets used to eating less. We are focused on the result: having a different number on the scale - but do we care to regain balance?

How can we have a healthy relationship with food if we forcefully strain our body and try to imitate having less food available?

At this point exercise comes in - strenght training to be more precise. I never really got this point - as I understood it it sounded like this: everyone talks about calories and that diet is 90 % of the battle - so, eating less equals weight loss - exercise keeps our mind busy, we spend more time doing something else than eating and it makes us feel good and we also build endurance - ok, so I can just eat less/right and loose weight without exercise also?

But I didn't yet pay attention to this tiny detail rarely ever mentioned anywhere: we cannot durably eat less than our BMR!!! Our body will always try to bring us back to it! Even if we do more exercise, we will get hungry for more food!

So, is weight loss a hopeless case?

First of all, I'm still trying - my journey is just on the beginning and everything I write here is just a hypothesis - but I dare to say: no! There's something we can do:

1. Build muscle!
Our body will then spend it's energy into building up the muscles instead of storing it as fat, which will make us even more endurant and strong to take on even bigger challenges. Plus: more muscle means we are spending more calories to mantain them, which means we can eat more, which means it's easier for us to eat less.

2. Eat clean!
There are certain foods that make us feel full easier on one side but there are also those full of minerals, protein, vitamines and healthy fats that really help our metabolism and make us feel great! We don't have to stuff our face with carbs and feel bad all day long because of our sugar levels. We can choose smart foods and not restrict us!!!

The 2 combined can help me to feel full and not hungry but caring about my weight at the same time - I'm curious where this hypothesis will lead me - it's very basic and simple so I can easily track it's evolution.

For 3 days now I started to eat more and more paleo again and I start to feel great again - what a happy moment.

I wanted to come back to my biking challenge: having realized now, that cardio is good but strenght training is having more benefits I'm thinking of changing this part. But I won't go into strenght training right away, there was something else with wich I wanted to start out:

Track my daily level of exercise in my daily life!

Before I make new workout plans, I want to know how much I'm doing already and have a better look at my real life. This is a small step but for the next few weeks I will track the minutes I spend working on the farm, doing grocery shopping, playing with the dogs, cleaning the house, working with m horses etc. I want to know how much of the day I'm active and to be able to optimize this or bring it to a more regular basis.

For example: let's say I find out I'm moving around 3 hours on some days and only 30 mins on others, I could then make the goal of moving for at least 1,5 hours every day so I know, when I'm doing less, I will have to look out for another activity (e.g. work in the garden).

This is my goal-change for this challenge - I will keep you updated on twitter, tumblr and in my NF-Battle log.

Thanks for reading - I will write again on Sunday!

Heads up everyone!
Yours,
Elanor