Disney Frozen Party

Little Malou is 6 on Monday.
She asked for a Disney Frozen party.
I searched the web and found so many wonderful ideas. Whilst they were all beautiful, I am not a huge fan of blue for my little princess. (and she is not so keen on the colour either)
Together we decided we could focus on the winter wonderland theme and hold a white (frost) Elsa party.

It was fun making everything white. Not so healthy...but absolutely scrumptious ;-)
Here are our pics.

 

Elsa dresses ordered from ebay uk

Streamers at the entrance to our winter wonderland.

The party table/ room.

The girls made snowflakes for the windows and I set the table with napkin fans.

Olaf snowman cups with milk in.

Coconut Ice with light blue and white mix.

Marshmellows dipped in white chocolate.

Blueberries with vailla dipping cream. (Phillidelphia plus icing sugar)

And the FINALE - the Elsa cake! Three tiered with vanilla cream inbetween and royal icing snowflakes at the top.

(The figurine has a long story behind it. It is not a cake topper. But an 'infinity' game doll :-( (There are no figurines in Denmark online or instore, amazon uk do not deliver them to Denmark and ebay currently do not have any official ones. So electronic game topper was my quick solution :-)

 

 

Yo-yo Dieting

I guess you can say I am a yo-yo dieter. I start off so well, eating healthily, doing exercise and counting calories in, calories out. The problem is, I do this for 2 weeks perfectly, then give up. I have motivation, drive, enjoyment for 2 weeks, then I can't seem to be bothered. I lose interest and creativity.
I know what I have to do. Just stick with it. It is a life style.
As you can see I haven't lgged on for 6 months. And yes, since then I have started, given up, started, given up on numerous occassions. And my weight slowly kept creeping higher and higher.
As of New Years Eve I was 66.6kg.

New Years Eve dinner

The heaviest I have been in 8 years.
It was time to really take a look at my goals, my lifestyle, my inner self.
Luckily my sister came over during Christmas holidays. She is everything. A top athlete, teacher, nutritionist, personal trainer. You name it she has done it.
Anyway, she softly suggested a new way of thinking. She has looked at all the fads. Tried some and denied some. She has come up with a very back to basics, sensible lifestyle.
A little raw foods rules, a little no bread, rice, pasta rules, a little calories in/out rule, a little portion control, a little coconut water, fish oil supplements etc. And has made her own way of interpreting these.
She gave me a few basic recipes that she uses most days, and told me again of the healthy chef website.
But the best thing she told me was "just think of it this way, everything you put into your body, it can use".  Tis is so true. I am following a lot of the healthy chefs recipes. They are so nutritional and make sense.
So now I am eating so healthily and every single thing I put into my body is good for me, and it likes!
It uses.
No more white bread, diet cola, cordial, muesli bars or fruit biscuits.
Make your own. I have made lots of new 'snacks' for each week ahead of time. Tis has helped enormously.

I started with the help from my sister on the 1st January. ( Even though I told her no, I'll do it tomorrow, I have no energy, I need some cola and lollies. She regused to give in to me and said to start today, 1st Jan)

It has now been 12 days and I am still going strong....

The Healthy Chef

Today I have tried something new.
I ate my same old, same old breakfast. I went for a jog. 5 km. It felt like 10 km. I felt so unfit. But I guess if I haven't been keeping up my exercise and doing regular exercise it was going to be tough.
Then because I was so hot, 27'C, I decided to go for a dip in the ocean. I am not one that likes cold water. And the ocean in Denmark, during the summer, only gets to about 20 C. But I did it...and it was refreshing. I went out on a pier, and told myself I am getting in. I just had too. There have been too many times where I don't. It was so nice. So serene. After I got out, I thought I would just sit. Just me and the sound of the waves lapping on the boats. It was like Heaven. So I did sit there for a good half hour. Something that I never usually get to doing. Again some positive ME time.

When I returned home and started thinking about my list of things to do, I called my sister. I was talking about my experince today and how stuck in a rut I am. But how enjoyable it was to do something a little new. I spoke about how the Michelle Bridges recipes are getting boring for me. She listened and gave some great advice and gave me a new website to look at.  Teresa Cutter An Australian chef that is dedicated to delicious and nutritious meals.
So for lunch, I tried something new. Gee it was refreshing.
I didn't have much in the cupboards or fridge ( it was shopping day) but I did have most of what I needed. I made a Quinoa salad.

Recipe:
1/4 cup Quinoa
4 cerry tomatoes
1/4 cucumber
1/5 cup feta cheese
1 egg
1 tsp red pesto
Optional- 1 mountain bread or 1/2 rugklapper

What do you do?

What do you do if you can't get out to train?

My three little ones are not old enough to be at home by themselves.
And I have always used this as an excuse for not training.
So yesterday, instead of complaining like I usually do, I packed a picnic breakfast for the kids.
One tub of yoghurt, one container of oats, fruit and some sultanas.
We drove to the park, a large green field by the harbour. I told the kids the idea. Mummy needs some me time. I need to get fit. So the kids sat and ate their picnic breakfast whilst I jogged around the perimeter of the park. This way I could hold a steady eye on them, and get in a little bit of running. I do admit, it was a little boring doing laps, but it was worth it.
25 mins for 270 cals :-)
The children thought it was great fun. Everytime I ran past them they would cheer for me. Stand up and wave and shout. Oh so cute!
Aftwards, we all played soccer - Oscars idea. Then we played thowing and catching - Malous idea. Then we played running after a ball - Lunas idea. Finally, we used Oscars foxtail. A baseball size ball, with a long tail ... which makes it fun to see fly and easy to catch.



After 2 hours spent in the fresh air and sunshine, we came home. I had my usual porridge for breakfast.
I felt wonderful. I had accomplished my training for the day!

Day 3
Today has been slightly better with regards to my headache, but it is still lingering. I have eaten again a structured 780 calories, so I have enough left over for a yummy dinner.
It is 5.30pm and I still haven't done a work out. I can hear a little voice saying just do it, just do it. I know I will as I am dedicated to this now. But...
It is hard working out at home, especially to get the motivation. But I am going to complete a workout form Daily hiit. Have you tried this before? It is high intensity interval training. Another great website that everyone can use. I believe it will be tough! But so worth it.
I will let you know...

Headaches

Day 2 
I woke up at 4 am with a splitting headache. So painfiul, that I could not get out of bed to get any headache pills. I guess that is my body telling me something..... "Hey you...why are you depriving me of all that sugar. Where is all the fat intake I am used to? Why can't I get a food rush every hour, like I am used to?" And before you ask,... yes!... I am drinking plenty of water, and no I am not starving myself. My body is just not used to eating a normal size meal, nor is it used to eating at regular meal times. Here is my calorie intake today:-
Food Diary
Breakfast:
50g oats
Skim milk
1/2 apple grated
1tsp sultanas
= 318 cal

Lunch
Paella ( not the healthiest choice)
But I limited my portion size
= 347 cal

Dinner
1 Noodle and corn cakes
plus green salad
= 261 cal

Snacks
80g Edamame  90 cal
20 gSulatanas 58 cal
Fruit biscuits 165 cal
= 313

TOTAL 1239 cal
So as I write this, I can see that I haven't chosen exactly the type of food I should be choosing. There a lots of sugary extras.
But my calorie intake is  perfect! So I am happy.

As I mentioned I had a headache all day, so I was really not looking forward to exercising. But in my mind I could hear Michelle Bridges ( and Nike) saying "Just do it! No excuses! "
And that's what I did. I decided on an easy workout, but with lots of strength in it.
I managed
5 min warm up, knees up, run walk run walk.
3x 12 reps
Burpees
Kettlebell swings ( 12 kg)
Squats ( 12kg)
Dumbell row 5 kg
Dumbbell push press 5 kg
Step ups
Plank 1 min
Hula hoop 1.5 kg 5 mins

Do you workout if you have a headache?

Today is the Day!

After many weeks of being too busy and not having enough time to train, and many, many weeks months of eating what I want, I have decided that this is it. No more excuses! I am going to get back in form. I am going to reach a goal I have only dreamt of.
I have always been very good at running and I have in the past 3 years dedicated lots of early mornings going to the gym, or going just for a run outside. But what I have realised is that just this isn't enough. I have been kidding myself. I am sabbotaging my own dreams.
Over 2 years, I have put on 8+ kilograms.
So today is day 1!
I am motivated and ready.
Each day from now until Christmas I will log an entry on My Fitness Pal. ( a fabulous mobile app that organises all your data, what you eat, calories you take in, calories out.)
I am aiming to eat 1200 calories a day and exercise 5 days out of 7. Burning minimum 300 calories per workout. I will purchase ( once again) a membership of 12 wbt that starts in August. This will give me 60 new, healthy recipes and keep me motivated. I like Michelle Bridges's 12 weeks, as it is easy to follow and a good place to start. The exercises are all given and a food plan that can be arranged to suit my own tastes.
I am adding a photo today ( I never have added a before picture) just to prove to myself this time it's real.
So today - day 1.

Exercise:
30 mins running - 318 cal
25 mins cycling - 200 cal
4 mins hula hooping - 14 cal

Day 1 

Dinner - chicken and nectarine salad