Result after 3 weeks

I haven't been blogging for a little while, but that does not mean that I forgot you  ;)

Here is the big news !!!


I lost 3.1 kgs already (in 24 days) !!!!!



I will tell you more in the next entry but I thought this result deserves a heading by itself haha !!

Ofcourse, special thanks goes to my personal trainer Taufan Homan !!!


http://www.stride6ft8.com/


And special thanks to myself,  my mind that decided to do this and my mouth that said no to many things, hahahah  ;)


Congratulations, ME !

maintanence ?

                                                                     am not there yet...

I started this week with a stomach flu, followed up by a fever today. So, not so good news and I have to cancel my training for tomorrow as I don’t have any energy at all…L

I feel like my body needed a maintanence period; I had a very busy October and still having a busy November. So, need to listen what my body is saying now.

I haven’t had the chance to log about 13th and 16th November yet. So, I thought now that I am sick at home, I can try to write as much as I can about those two sessions.

-First time, I have used Keiser functional trainer. I loved  it !!

-Ball pass: Piew, more difficult than I thought :) This is done with a pilates ball.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj6Ztf2c6c8


-Push ups: Oh oh, I am not able to do this at all -yet... I need to try to home first before I try again with my PT. So, push ups for beginners, there you go :


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiFdfDBY77g


- Chocolate Muesli bar:

The session that I had on Saturday for me was called  "Chocolate muesli bar", as I had one during the week, send a photo to my PT, and we tried to burn it on Saturday.
 Result: Never a muesli bar again !!! :D

                                                                 say no, no, no, no      


-Food: I am not so happy with my weight loss yet... :( So, not so good news in terms of scale. Eating out, eating irregular during the office hours is killing my goal. I need to be more careful about it.


Coming up next:  Finally, in the next entry, I will write about where I go for personal training workouts.Here is the link for a quick check ;)


http://www.stride6ft8.com/

oh dear, I shall be late

I can write only this evening, I was so busy from Sunday until now !

I went to my personal training (PT) on Saturday; since then please guess what I did ?? Yeah, right, I was in front of my computer including Sunday... :) 

Therefore, I am about to burst with energy. I have this big ball in my stomach now, that I have to kick this ball out of my system. It will be out tomorrow as my next session is tomorrow. Nothing can describe my feelings better than this :)

I want to give a few reflections about last Saturday, as I had a bit different session than the previous ones that I had. Well, well, we worked on my upper body ! You know what I mean ? It means: work out on abs, arms, shoulders, it means exercises on the ground, it means crunches, it means lifting some weights, it means take a deep breath, and do it, take a deeper breath and not able to do it after the 5th or the 10th :)

I was distracted many times during my session on Saturday; had many things floating in my mind. So, it wasn't a very smooth session as I was somewhere else in my mind and then was coming back to the room again. This is something that I should learn, as I realized if that is the case, I just can not function well, I give up...I gave up couple of times on Saturday. Many thanks to my personal trainer, I kept on going. He is the definition of patience :) 

OK, and here is a new toy for me: famous "kettle bell".

It is pretty obvious that you hold it from the handle and exercise with it. But, doing this one below is not that easy... As from the ground to upper level, it has to go fast, otherwise I am not able to lift it smooth and even I can not carry all the way up if I go slow. So, speed is the key in doing this. 

The other toy is a bag - no, it is not like the ones that I have (as I am crazy about bags :) ) It is a "Challenge Bag".

I saw this and thought, oh, I will just hug it and carry around... but no, I had squats ;) Apparently, you can do all sorts of exercises with this one, see the video. I do not hear many screams in this one though :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHmcea5T8Q4

And I had many crunches (I do not know after how many years...).

Result : Sunday, very little pain. Monday morning OKish, Monday lunch time, I stood up from the lunch table and I could not keep straight...oh my ab muscles !!! oh dear, what happened, why all this ab muscle pain now :D

Human body is amazing, it responds, whatever you do, it responds so quickly...

Because it was continuously sitting for me for 3 days since Saturday, I look forward to my session tomorrow. Actually, I think I want to have muscle pain again, as sitting and not having pain felt much worse this time. 6 pack is very far away for now, but maybe I will get there some day :) 

                                                                                    

                                             

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sXRQttLj-s

Here is tonight's song before I sleep - do you recognize the places in this video ? :))))

Have a good sleep / Welterusten.

bread wars

My second day today without bread ! It is difficult, but I will do this !

For breakfasts, I started to have yogurt and fruit for now. I think this is fine now, I am a little hungry around 11 am then I have another fruit or eat the rest of the yogurt :)

I eat more and more fruit, as I am hungry more often. I think this is probably expected, so no surprises that I feel more hungry.

I will again go out and try to run as much as I can. This feeling is all new for me, as normally I arrive home and bumm, collapse on the couch. Now, I feel like moving and moving after an office day. Something is happening with me...:D

Let's see how much I will be able to run this time.

run run, Alice :)

I am hoping that this rain will stop so that I can go for running even if it is just for 15 minutes.

The good news is that I have less pain today, and I think the reason is the warm bath I had immediately after I arrive home. Last time, I let my muscles to rest for an hour before I went to the shower.So, the best thing is to have a shower immediately I guess...

I feel like I am in a school, that I learn new things and observe, observe and observe. Happy !

The nice thing is that when I share with people that I started doing this, they are very interested. I like to talk about it more and more.

Fingers crossed; I will finish one thing about my work then I go out, please don't rain !!!

Result: I was out in total 26 minutes ! :) I haven't run for such a long time, and I listened to my breath. Much better ! The only problem was, I had pain... So not sure if I wasn't running correctly, have no idea what caused this pain... So, I wasn't fully running for 26 minutes, but in the end probably around 18 minutes I guess.

But despite my pain (again), I am happy that I went out-despite this crazy wind ! (was not raining, so lucky me !)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDvuskOGiY0

Amazing song ! Reminds me of my childhood, when my brother was listening to their cassette. He was playing good basketball during that time, he was always a sportive guy. Still, he is - now training for and running marathons in Turkey :)

Goodnight !

Oh, before I forget, I only ate one slice of bread today ! Proud of myself !

a bit better, but...

I came back from my personal training session. I thought I did slightly better than the previous time. At least, I felt better while doing it; my breath gets better :)

However, I feel a bit guilty, as the scale did not give me good news this time. But when we talked, we found the reasons, two dinner with fish but mashed patatoes, two cocktails. You see, my "No mechanism did not work this time as I thought "oh well, I exercised on Saturday, so I can have the cocktails". Apparently it does not work like this (well, I knew it, right ?)...:)

So, for now, I need to cut on: bread - I have 4-5 slices everyday (pasta, pizza, I have already cut it), cheese (I love cheeseee, who doesn't ?), cafe lattes, wine, cocktails.

Short update on my session now as I am really getting sleepy now :)

-Today, it went better with the jumping rope ! I start to like it !

-Something new today: similar to low box training in the video, although the speed in this one is amazing !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOd6UdJzgIs

- I was a bit unbalanced today, so need to improve this one...

I had some more ofcourse, but now time to sleep.

Sweet dreams !

sunday

I went to my third fitness session yesterday. The exercises are alternating - something that I really like ! There are only a few replications from one session to the other, and the rest are different. This way of exercising is totally different than what I am used to.

Changes from one session to the other are:

-Type of exercise
-Sets/replications
-Intensity
-Length

For my mind, this works out perfect, as I go there with some expectations and curiosity like "hmm, what am I going to learn/do today". Therefore, it involves challenge and fun at the same time. It keeps me going and going.

Yesterday was a bit more difficult than the second session.

I met with the weight plate. Because of the handles, you can easily hold it and use it during the weight plate circles. I think this is mostly focusing on the shoulders. But, I have pain at my upper back muscles as well, so probably these muscles were also involved.

Walking lunges:

I found this video, and loved it ! My experience was not as peaceful as in this video (definitely background music would not be Pachebel Canon in my case :) ) Especially, the walking lunges gave me lots of pain for today...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKbGT8BHGlo


Pain, and more pain: 

I woke up this morning with a lot of muscle ache (worse than last week), and I think if you never workout like this, you would never understand how it feels like :)

"...simply indications that muscles are adapting to your fitness regimen"


Of course this adaptation will not be in a week, and I have to accept the fact that I will have  pain. Now, I still can not accept it fully, so constantly thinking "why and how.." :)


This time I felt like wearing long socks (over the knee), and I feel better when it covers my legs. Also the weather is getting colder, so I felt very cold yesterday without them after the workout. I would like to have one of those below :D

Oh, before I forget... The result: I lost 1 kg in 10 days---but I was travelling and imagine,  I even did not cut my food very strictly when I was in Barcelona ! So, I am happy with this result.

So my aim for next week is to loose 1 more, given that I am here at home I can control my eating better.

Food log: I had dinner with friends last evening, and this evening another dinner with another friend.... Last evening, I did not drink, and had an oven dish with some fish and potatoes and salad...Not drinking was difficult, and I used to drink with these friends, but I did it.

Today, should be careful as well, no pasta, pizza, carbs please :)

My next training will be on Tuesday, so I am again looking forward  !

Have a great Sunday !

• 
  

november november

I always think that November is a dark, rainy and boring month. This year, I do not care. As I will take care of myself during November :)

My first official training started yesterday. The state that I am in now:

-Less muscle pain compared to last week (for now).

-Not a good and long sleep, my head was very active.

-My face apparently looks different. People told me that I look rested ! (despite my shorter sleep).

-My green trousers that I love is slightly looser; how come this could already happen.


Now, have a look at the new toys that I played with yesterday:


- The weight ball - so called the medicine ball, haha :D.  http://www.medicineballs.com/

I had 5kgs medicine ball squats (after throwing to the wall) with this, and OMG ! That's my way to describe it, you can imagine the rest. It engages everything: the entire body, hips, thighs, arms and core. So, it was difficult for me, but I can see clearly why it will work.


-Jumping or skipping rope: I am waiting for the day that I will enjoy a jumping robe :)

"Skipping may be used for a cardiovascular workout, similar to jogging or bicycle riding. This aerobic exercise can achieve a "burn rate" of up to 700 calories per hour of vigorous activity, with about 0.1 calories consumed per jump. Ten minutes of jumping rope is roughly the equivalent of running an eight-minute mile. Jumping rope for 15–20 minutes is enough to burn off the calories from a candy bar".

No more candy bar for me from now on, sorry...

Altough I am more like the one below while doing it now, instead of the one above...

-Jumping jacks: I can do this longer than the jumping rope. So, I like it so far.


http://www.realbeauty.com/health/fitness/jumping-jacks-exercise



"...are an exercise to use primarily for warming up before a fitness activity. They can also be an efficient way to do some cardiovascular training if you perform them for at least 15 minutes without stopping. Jumping jacks are easy to do, but it requires some coordination to perform them correctly".

-Spinning bike:

I tried to have some interval training with this cutie :) I have never seen anything like this (this also shows how far I was from "real" fitness), it was sooo comfortable to cycle with this one.

Interval bike workouts : "This is gonna hurt. But it’ll be worth it. These innovative workouts will make you faster and stronger—by next month. (Yes, we’re serious.)—Selene Yeager"

http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/training-fitness/quick-cycling-workouts-power-and-endurance


Tomorrow I will have my second training. I am giving one day break. I am curious how it will go and looking forward to it !

mars :)

I can breathe a little now and write here as I have sent out what I planned to send out.

I need a contract again:

Tonight, I will go out for dinner with a collegue (no surprises...) But, I am again determined to eat less carbs and not drink (say no to wine again -please my dear self :) )

My plan in terms of exercising is that I will go out for a walk after dinner (no matter what time I arrive tonight).



Today, I talked with three of my collegues about what I am about to / trying to do. They were really curious ! One of them said ohh, I want to start yoga, the other one ohh I have to loose weight to :DD

I was reading last night about planets as I am very much interested in sky, stars, planets and astrology (may not sound very scientific, but actually there are some calculations behind astrology :) )  and I follow how planets move etc... Now, Mars is in Virgo (which is my sign) and will stay there for a month (longest ever).


In astrology, Mars governs energy: our natal Mars sign reveals how we expend energy, where we prefer to expend energy and what types of goals we find pleasure in chasing. This is the planet of action, movement and physical activity: how do we exert ourselves?

The Virgo is a very discriminating sign, just as she is detailed and efficient. Thus, our energy over the next few weeks is directed towards tasks, goals, projects that are practical & offer real results. This Mars in Virgo transition urges us to take on Virgoan traits & downsize, eliminate and refine “the unnecessary"

It's the perfect time to clean up your habits. You won't be able to miss the effects of your unhealthy choices. Use this time to create a regime that promotes your health and longevity- this will bring great satisfaction and release many linger health fears you try to ignore- Affirmative action in this area is often all you need.  Expect great strides in the months to come.

What's not to love about this forecast ! It tells me many things that I feel and want to put in action. It looks like whole universe is supporting me including the sky :)

I will probably write more when I am back home today, If not, tomorow for sure, as I will have many things to share ! :D


Result of the dinner at Italian restaurant:

-a glass of crystal clear lemon,

-carpaccio with rucola

-half of chicken salad

and I was full :O no bread, no pasta, no pizza. Good job girl !

Now I am craving for sweets or a cookie, but will try to hold myself. I will need to sleep good as it is going to be a busy day at work.

first week

I arrived home with the idea of running. But am so tired and sleepy due to my trip and I had a busy day at work and it is raining... I know all of these may all sound as excuses, but my energy level is so low today :( so I am afraid, I will just accept this fact...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1Is7lVlgno

A Turkish song for my mood from one of my favourite bands, name of the song "ask":

Need to cheer up !

Goodnight !

article

I am back home with a bit of adventure. There was a storm in the NL, and we were lucky to land in on time in Rotterdam with some delays. I went to work after lunch as I had a meeting. My plan was to run/walk this evening, but basically I collapsed now:)

So, today there is not any exercises, but I ate healthy which is good (after yesterday in BC).

My plan in terms of exercising is as follows :

-Wednesday & Saturday: meet with my personal trainer.

-Monday: Run

-I will be given some homework too probably, so need to decide when to do those :)

My next meeting is on Thursday, as I will be very busy the next two days. But I want to run tomorrow.

In the plane, I had a big smile on my face when I saw this :)

This is called "perceptual selectivity" in psychology ! To some others "coincidence" maybe. But seriously, this was so nice to read on the plane !

I am not going to Health city (you will hear about my personal trainer soon :) ), but I thought what was written in this article was exactly representing my thoughts.

-Personal training is the "beginning" for a healthy and fit life.
Agree. My main aim (except for loosing weight) was to learn how to sport by myself, and do it correctly.

-It is no longer only for VIPs.
I am not a VIP - yet :D

-100% attention, 100% result.
I am waiting for the attention and hence the result :)

-That it is alternating.
Exactly. If I sport alone, I repeat myself, same moves, I do not change the type of exercises, or do not think "hey, I should work on my arms now".

Before I finish, have a look at this. This is from a book that I bought looong time ago.

Exciting times !

This is my song for the last few days, it gives me lots of positive energy- both physical and mental.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWA2pjMjpBs

Back

Today was fantastic. I swam, walked very long distances. But I think I drank a bit more than I planned :) still, I feel good, do not feel too full. 

The surprising part for me : I want to go back to Rotterdam asap :) because I am from the mediterrenian, whenever I go south, I do not want to go back to north again. I never want to leave sun. This time I feel like I want to go back so that I can go on with my plans. Eat healthy and sport. I want to go back so that I take control. Today was so nice, going with the flow, but I felt like I dont have the  need for this drinking, eating etc now. So I look forward to go back despite these wonders :)

I said no to wine :) I said no to patatoes. I had grilled meat for lunch and boiled sea food for dinner. 

I bought a skirt that is smaller than my size on purpose. Look at this beauty.

I wonder when I am able to fit in to this :) 

By the way, unbeliveble but I still have lots of muscle pain. I walked a lot these two days, and realized the more I move, the better the pain. Strange...I did some streching on the beach. I aim to swim tomorrow, it is very warm. So, some more sports :)

Everyone eats around 23.00 here and I wonder how come they are not fat on average. It could be the small portions, fresh food and walk, walk and walk. Everyone is constantly walking. Weather is great. They walk. They talk and they are fast :) And it should be the genes.

My last day here tomorrow. I want to swim. Probably last swim of the year.Wish me luck, I hope these clouds will be gone tomorrow.

26.10

Contracting with yourself works ! 

Being aware works !

I just looked at what was on the table ( many tapas were ordered). And I thought, ok, say no to fatty food. Pick what looks healty.Watch your wine ( had half a glass, as I was tired). Crema catalan, had only two small spoons :) and I watced how others are eating.

I don't think this is a sacrifice. This is a respect that I show to myself. A respect to my heart,my legs, my feet, parts of me that I forget to think about. Instead of looking all the food in this picture and thinking hmmm, am on vacation, can eat what I want, I thought of my contract:)

25.10

I am at beautiful Barcelona. It is 25 degrees in the evening :)

I am determined this time, seriously am holding my self :)

I had only soda for lunch :) with a tuna salad :). Beer is not mine.

I saw this little house today and I thought what an effort !

It takes an effort to reach something unique. I want to do this (this time finish it) :)

Greetings to rainy Rotterdam !

24.10.2013

I am so much in pain, this is incredible... I never had this much of muscle pain in my life :)

Let's have a look what's going on:

"...your body is letting you know. Overworking muscles, especially muscles that aren't accustomed to much work in the first place, causes the muscle fibers to actually break down, and that's what's causing your pain. If you had been exercising regularly all along, slowly and gradually increasing the duration and intensity of your workouts, chances are that game of round ball wouldn't have left you feeling like you got hit by a truck."

Exactly, I feel like I got hit by.. let's not say a truck, but a mini cooper :)

"In addition to the tiny tears that occur in muscle fibers during intense exercise, the muscles swell slightly, and byproducts of muscle breakdown accumulate. Together, they contribute to muscle strain, and the accompanying feeling of stiffness and soreness."

As I will be on a short trip the next 3 days, I have to find something to relieve the pain a bit...

Some remedies are: warm bath or hot compress, easy stretching, have protein based food.

I guess this is what I need right now :)

Meet my best friend tonight :)))

23.10.2013

Dear blog,

Here is another fitness story that you might have heard in the internet many times before :)

I want to say "mine is different"  but I don't know yet if it is going to be different or why it may be different.

But what I know is I feel different this time. I feel like I deserved this.

What I want this time is to focus on myself only, for the first time. Just me and my body, that's it. I just want to think about my body and what goes in it, I mean what I eat.

The goal that I have is to go back to my weight in year 2005. So, I want to feel like I am in 2005 again. It is now year 2013.

OK, let's move then :) I started my first fitness class yesterday with my personal trainer. Yes, you heard it right, I have one now :)   It was a trial class, a class confirming what I have felt about myself, I mean how unfit I am... Let's look at the definition :  (of a person) not in good physical condition, typically as a result of failure to take regular exercise. I was out of breath so often which proves my non - condition.

My "favourite" balance trainer was: bosu balance trainer, something that I have never tried before.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/dietandfitness/7421448/BOSU-balance-trainer-Great-home-workouts.html


I like the idea of thinking this as a "blue mushroom". It is my blue balance mushroom that I will use twice a week :) I am a bit scared of it for the moment, but I am sure I will get used to it.

Friday-Monday, I will be in Barcelona for a long weekend with a group of family. The goals for my trip (even though it is a short holiday, it is a group that likes to eat and drink, so dangerous :) )

-Do not eat fried stuff as I know there will be some tapas places that everyone wants to go.

-Eat grilled fish or meat.

-Like my trainer said meat is always better than carbo. stuff.

-Do not drink more than a glass of wine per day.

-Say no to deserts. (difficult but doable)

-Stay outdoors as much as possible.

The main goal is not to gain weight after this trip, as there were trips to Italy or Spain that I gained even in 3 days.


I will probably write when I am back on Monday. So, untill next week :)