My lowest in 5 years

Just a few minutes ago I weighed myself and I'm amazed at the nice number that showed up.

61.1 kg

That is my lowest in about 5 years and a whole pound since yesterday! Okay, I know, it's probably mostly water that my body let go due to the fact that I just finished my cycle. Nevertheless, I haven't seen such a low number in years! What I think is funny, is that I always seem to get rid of more weight on days that I don't move a lot. Yesterday did nothing but surfing the net, preparing and eating gorgeous food and resting. Mmmh, maybe my cortisol was too high for getting rid of the fat on the other days? Well, I'll probably never know, so I go with the flow.

Yesterdays dinner consisted of this:


Plus 3 clementines and 1 apple

Today, I will move a bit more, I need to buy groceries and get some stuff to the post and friends. So there will be a lot of walking and listening to Robb Wolfs podcast. I don't know why, but these days I really enjoy trudging through the snow and listening to this podcast, before that I "never" listened to podcasts. I mean, I just learned of a way to get around another surgery, thanks to Robb and Mark, which is so AWESOME I can't even describe how lucky I feel to be abled to have listened to this podcast and get the solution for one of my health issues for free. Who would've thought, that it's so ridiculously easy as changing my diet?!

Okay, enough of this for today, I need to get going. Literally.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Taste Bud Adventures - or my lunch

SALMON WITH ZUCCHINO, BELL PEPPER, TOMATOES AND COCONUT MILK

Aaaahhhhhh, I just love eating Paleo Style. This is what I came up with for todays lunch:


It's easy and fast and sooooooooooooo DELICIOUS and healthy.

Ingredients 1 person:
Salmon filet (fresh or frozen)
1 Zucchino
1/2 bell pepper
several cherry tomatoes
coconut milk (without any additives, just coconut and water should be listed)
coconut oil, freshly grounded sea salt and pepper

Method:

1. If you use frozen salmon, then thaw it (in oven at about 50°C for about 15min)
2. Clean and peel the zucchino, and cut to big dice, all should have roughly the same size.
3. Clean and cut the bell pepper and tomatoes.
4. Heat the pan with some coconut oil.
5. Cut the salmon to bite sized bits and sauté it in the coconut oil lightly and then take it out on a plate.
6. Now put the zucchino into the pan and sauté it, till it's mostly soft and then add the bell pepper pieces, again until the bell pepper is mostly soft and then add the tomatoes.
7. Sauté the mixture for 2 or 3 minutes at some coconut milk and then put the salmon back in.
8. Cook like for 2 or 3 minutes, season to taste and there you have this love meal.

Enjoy.


KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Better

in several ways. I used yesterday to re-organize my kitchen and planned my last kitchen purchases, a Santoku-knife and middlesized wooden cutting board. I read more in the Primal Blueprint and rested sufficiently. I also ate very Paleo.

Yesterdays Mampf Diary:
400 ml protein shake, 1 apple, avocado cream (made of 2 avocadoes and the freshly squeezed juice of one orange), beetroot soup, 1 apple

I know this looks like nothing and it's definitely lacking in proteins, however I was sated and couldn't have eaten more yesterday. Today I will definitely eat more proteins (eggs in case you're wondering) and get some much needed exercise, as in I will take another long walk with Chris.

(Hawaii 2008, South Point on Big Island)

However, due to this low foodintake from yesterday, I've lost 1 pound and am back down to 61,8 kg. But who's counting. ;-)

Okay, time to get some shopping done and listen to another podcast from Robb. Should be quite interesting. And if you like to read something about paleolithic eating and neanderthales including a good laugh, I can recommend this article from Andrew of evolvify.com: http://evolvify.com/grain-consumption-caused-neanderthal-extinction-an-alternative-hypothesis/ I just love his humor and blog.

Have a great Tuesday.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

Yikes

I'm feeling like crap today, since I threw up this morning around 2 AM. I don't have any idea what triggered it, because when I went to bed 2.5 hours earlier I was feeling fine, except for being quite tired.

On Saturday I did two hourlong walks through the snow (to and fro my parents for lunch, we had trout), though it was more trudging since it was often 40 cm high. When I got home I had to lie down for a nap, I was totally exhausted.

Yesterday we went to grandmas and there I took a short brisk walk with my dad of about forty minutes. We had duck for lunch. Since my grandma has opinion and I don't felt like going into a fight over food on christmas with her, I ate a few christmas cookies. My stomach wasn't to happy about them. Maybe they were the first stepping stone to the 2 AM happening. Whatever...


I don't know about you, but I'm currently planning my training goals for 2011. It's all about building a sound fitness base, leaning out, getting my food and metabolism right (Solving the knee issue. Would you believe it? I have a big bruise on my knee where it was always swollen, but I didn't hit it. Mmh, this isn't good.). I might throw in a short distance race in the summer just for the atmosphere, but nothing is fixed.
Since I haven't finished the Primal Blueprint yet, I can't give you any fixed info on this, but you will read how I do over time soon enough. In any case I'll go swimming this week. The 50m pool has really good opening hours this week, so I'll have a go on Wednesday or Thursday. I wished they had these opening hours all the time. It would make it so much easier.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

A fresh start

Well, well, Christmas morning is here and a new start for me. After indulging into christmas foods the last two weeks I'm back to the Paleo lifestyle from this morning on.

I've got a whole lot of reasons. My health being the main issue.

I started a new journal (word), where I will jot down what I ate, my sleep and exercise and the way I felt. The reason is that I still haven't found the right amount to eat and to keep my diet interesting.

I've started to listen to Robb Wolfs Podcast, which you find here: http://robbwolf.com/category/podcasts/
This podcast is truly AMAZING. I've learned sooooo much just listening to edition No. 3, I didn't get the older ones via iTunes.

Anyway, I doubled my Vitamin D intake and threw out the grains, legumes and dairy products (except for the milk) I still had in my kitchen. No excuses anymore. Paleo is the way to go for me.

So, what did Santa bring me? (He comes at Christmas Eve in Germany.) An ugly but wished for pot just for boiling eggs, a big salad bowl with lid and filled with fruits (yeah), teas, some chocolate, money, a purple umbrella with polka dots, a bodyshop shower gel. And I got myself a bag from "Quer" and a japanese dictionnary. Yes, I definitely start out now with learning japanese. I even have a blog for it now. ;-)

I hope your Santa brings you all that you yearned for and have a wonderful Christmas or whatever holiday you are celebrating.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays.

I wish all of you wonderful holidays with your loved ones. Enjoy your time off!

Interviews went well, food test not really

Hey there. Just a short update.

Interviews: Splendid. The first one led to an in person interview in January. The second was actually the second for another job in person and it went well too. I will get notice before Christmas if I made it. When I went out of this interview I was totally excited and felt great.

Food: wellllll. Mark Sisson proposes in his "Primal Blueprint" the 80-20 rule. Which means it's alright to fall of the wagon every now and then. For special occasions like the holidays or some major family parties. The last two days I experimented with this and have come to the conclusion, that I have to do 100% to keep my body happy. Wednesday I ate 2 (german not american) small potatoes and a few bites of stollen (after all once a year I "should" take a bite). Well, I got tired just a few minutes after eating it and then when I wanted to walk back home, just a few minutes afterwards my legs told me: "you aren't seriously thinking of walking now, right?" They burnt after a few steps!!!

So there you have it, carbs are BAD for me.

The only thing that is worth feeling sluggish is Starbucks chocolate truffle cake. I shared a piece with my friends yesterday and miraculously I didn't feel totally sluggish. Well, maybe it was due to the fact I was already tired. It was a loonng day, yesterday.

On the weekend, I will make all the christmas presents, that I want to make. It's quite a bit of work.

That's it for today. Have a great weekend everyone.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

Yes, yes, YEEEESSSSSSS - I beat Elliott today

In case you don't remember or are not familiar with him, Elliott is my dragon aka lazy a** alter ego. He likes to lounch on the couch all day long with some nice music, chocolate mountains, legs on the radiator and someone to cuddle. Until now most of the time he won. Today was different I won. Finally. Frankly, Elliott isn't as lazy as he used to be and I really want someone to cuddle too.

It was a hard battle today. Here is how it went. Since it was sunny outside I got Elliott following me walking the whole 5 k to the national library over snow and ice without any complaints. I think he enjoyed it quite a bit, since I had fed him with Zucchini-latkes before we left.
But as soon as we got to the library the reprieve was over and he started nagging. He wanted a candy bar, I was neither hungry nor did I have an appetite for a candy bar. A candy bar at that moment would have spoiled all my advances over the last few days. No reasoning with him, he continued with nagging for the next 2 hours. You think it's funny? Try to concentrate on preparing an important job interview with a 500 pound dragon sitting next to you and screaming "I want candy and I want to go home, not to that stupid piano concert" in your ear. At 5 PM I decided to read Marksdailyapple.com Forum with the success stories again. And that quieted Elliott down.
At 5:30 PM I gave back my books and went to the cafeteria to drink a hot tea (it was freezing in this darned reading room) and eat the rest of my zucchini-latkes. I made sure to forego the nice looking cakes and candy.
Then I walked another 4 k to the music college, Elliott was really unhappy about it and I wasn't exactly happy either. Because it seemed like I walked through a blizzard. And you know what, the big music room where the concert was, was also waayyyyyyyyy too cold. After the concert I walked another k through the blizzard to my streetcar station and went home.

Now I'm enjoying a hot peppermint tea, fish, tomatoes with feta cheese and sour cream.

You know what is also really funny, I will have another interview tomorrow, though this one is a phone interview (they called when I was at the supermarket today). We'll see how it goes with both interviews, the other one is real life on Thursday in Dresden again. Cross your fingers that I finally make it.

That's it. I finished my meal, time for a good nights sleep in my warm and comfy bed.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

Food pictures

Thank you for your concern. However I think I'm having to clear something up. I'm not eating less!! I just eat different. I eat a lot more proteins (fish, fowl, meat, eggs) and good fats (olive oil, coconut oil, creme fraiche is at the moment my favourite) and more fruits and veggies. I'm simply avoiding food that has a high insulin response. Other than that I don't have any restrictions such as the amount. I eat as much as I like and until I'm sated.

And besides, we all know that I'm lacking self discipline, I couldn't starve myself and I don't want to. Besides food is fun, why would I cut out the fun.

Since I have gone so long without pictures on this blog, here is some food porn of the last few days. And yes today and yesterday I was also 100% primal. (Okay, maybe somewhere I have some discipline stored, for occasions like this. *snicker* I also didn't buy the Snowwhitecake, which is an absolute favourite tastewise, but it leads me to feeling bloated and even asthma. Don't need that, thanks. )

Time for the food porn:

Grilled salmon with tomatoes and kiwis swimming in olive oil

selfmade tomato sauce with kiwis and creme fraiche

Dinner korean style, 2 broiled eggs, turkey hen, wakame and the tomato sauce

Todays korean style dinner, fish mix, 1 broiled egg, some grilled stripes of turkey hen, 1 apple, 2 spoons creme fraiche, wakame (not in picture because it hadn't finished soaking)

See? I'm not eating less, I'm just eating better. *grin*

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

Success

I've got good news. Primal eating works really well (for me). I reached last weeks goal, even though I ate horribly on Wednesday and Thursday.

Last weeks goal was reaching the 135,? lbs on my scale and I did it!!! I could hardly believe it when I read it yesterday morning. (I started out with 138 lbs last Sunday.)
So it is certainly true, skip grains and starchy/sugary foods and you'll get rid of this darned bodyfat. This means I'm sticking with the Primal lifestyle mainly, but I'll include triathlon training (which in Primal Blueprint terms is called chronic cardio and isn't considered a good thing), because I still have my Ironman goal. Though I will do it on fat metabolism and not carbs.

After these three days I'm pretty confident, that I will be abled to finally run another halfmarathon next year and maybe even a marathon. (Less fat, less "dead" bodyweight to lug a around;-) Seeing how training goes. I certainly won't make the same mistakes again. I'll build mileage up slowly and do a lot more strength and crosstraining (swimming and bike).

For the rest of December, I'll focus on the right food (sources, recipes and amount) and staying upright on Leipzigs streets (which is currently a feat in itself). In January, I'll start with "proper" swim training and hopefully my new job.

Okay, I've got some research to do for my next interview. See you in a bit.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Second day of 100% Primal

Good Evening everybody.

So today is the second day in a row, where I haven't eaten any sweets or grains!! I'm terribly proud on myself, if I'm allowed to say so. Since this is my blog I certainly am allowed to say so.

Funny thing is, I also did some intermittent fasting, without having planned for it. What I mean is that I skipped dinner last night entirely. When I left for the concert (Robert Schumanns "Genoveva") at 6 PM I still wasn't hungry at all and so I figured that I could skip dinner altogether since I would be home pretty late and had no intention to start cooking after 10 PM. It was a good decision since I was home at 11 PM and still full of energy even though my stomach grumbled a bit. So during the night my stomach send out some tunes (more grumbling), but my energy levels stayed the same. No sugar crash whatsoever!

Today I've had my usual proteine shake for breakfast. For lunch I had a delicious bowl of stew with turkey hen, tomatoes and golden kiwis (recipe in the next taste bud adventures). Then I went into the city by streetcar and got myself an new pan with a lid (I love this pan), two food storage boxes and a cookbook about meat it is called "meat basics" and I think I will start reading it right after I finished this post.

For dinner I had a korean style meal. The food in itself wasn't korean except maybe the wakame, but it was made up of three little side dishes (2 broiled eggs, 3 stripes of grilled turkey hen and some wakame) with a quickly made tomatosauce which contained 1 onion, 3 teaspoons of coconut oil, 3 teaspoons of heavy cream, a hand full of cherry tomatoes, the juice of a lemon and some tomato puree. This dinner was delicious, primal and served nearly no carbs. Which is fantastic for the evening since I want to have my insulin level down for the night, because I want my body to burn fats and produce the human growth hormone and repair my cells. But when you eat carbs in the evening and have an insulin peak, this whole process starts significantly later and you don't see the results you want, like a lean body, bigger muscles, clear skin or whatever else.

I also prepared some healthy snacks for me, so that when I don't eat a propper dinner (some days I'm just too lazy or uninspired) I have some healthy food choices to munch on without any effort. Those snacks are the stripes of grilled turkey hen and broiled eggs so far. However I want to make some other snacks, but I need more boxes, before I can make them. Yes, I could use bowls and alu foil, but then I don't see the food and forget about it (which happened time and again). I have to see what I have as food choices or I'll grow some special funghi in my fridge, since I'm not a friend of those funghis....

So yeah, I've enjoyed 2 lovely meals, got another pan which I love, prepared primal snacks, did the grokcrawl through my flat for exercise and have an interesting new cookbook. I'm feeling really content this evening. Now I just need someone to cuddle and I'm in heaven. Well, as it looks, it's "only" my teddybear again. But I guess this is fine for this year. Next year is whole different story. ;-)

Enjoy your weekend, eat delicious and healthy food, have fun with training and enjoy some quality time with your loved ones.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!!

Taste Bud Adventures - Salmon with tomatos and golden kiwis

After two days of eating too much bad food (christmas market and bad mood are the culprits), I'm finally back on the track. This is a quick recipe I just invented for todays lunch and it's delicious, healthy and inexpensive.

Ingredients:
1 piece of filet of salmon (150 to 250g)
a hand full of cherry tomatoes
1 golden kiwi
1 tablespoon of olive oil for the casserole

Method:
1. oil the casserole
2. put the thawed / fresh salmon in the casserole
3. dice the tomatoes and skinned kiwi, put them on the salmon
4. bake the salmon in an oven with 150°C for 15 to 20 minutes.

Enjoy.


KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!!

Figuring food out

This Saturday I enjoyed an apartment day. Means, except for going grocery shopping I stayed home, cleaned and enjoyed my apartment.

What I found out is that I obviously don't eat enough! How come, you might ask. Well, yesterday was a day when I literally ate all day. But since I didn't have any sweets and didn't buy any sweets, I had to make do with what I had to eat. And this wasn't bad food, in fact it was all very delicious, however it was low in it's fat or carb content, so I ate and ate and ate.

I ate: 4 or 6 Kiwis, 3 persimons, 8 or 9 small meatballs, 1 proteinshake, cherrytomatoes with feta cheese, 1 tin of Scomber Mix (fish with vegetables in tomatosauce), 2 clementines and 3 pieces of dark chocolate (doesn't count as a sweet, because of it's low sugar content). You know the funny thing is: looking at this all I realize that this isn't much, but when I ate it I thought I was eating tons. I think my perception of food amounts is totally off. (I really don't know how vegans do it, do they eat constantly? Mind you, I admire them, because I know I couldn't do it and wouldn't want to for that matter.)

Funny thing, even though I thought that I was binge eating yesterday evening, (binging on kiwis, persimons and the fish tin) I lost about 1 pound of weight. This morning I weighed 137,4 lbs.

So, what am I going to do? I'll have to eat more, but how much more? I know that I get sick from eating grains or too many sweets. Last sunday I ate quinoa and felt sick the whole night, and I get eczema from eating bread! I really have to figure out how much more and what to eat (recipes).

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Some training news

Oh my, you probably thought by now, I had totally given up, now did you?

Okay, so this and last week training was walking, walking, walking in the snow!!! Plus some stairs and squats. And dare I say it? My knee seems fine. Now that I said it, tomorrow will it probably misbehave. I always was this way. In any case, I can't go running with all this snow anyway, so there you have it, I'm stuck with walking and stairs for the time being.

This pic is from Sunday since then we've got about 20 cm of fresh snow.

When it comes to food I did misbehave this week, after all it's christmas market and I needed my fix with vanilla cream waffles. And I think, I've had it. We'll see how I think about it next week.;-)

Jobwise, I'm sending out application after application, thankfully Germany's recovering, so more and more interesting and fitting jobs are on offer, even though I just got another NO. Looks like I really can forget about engineering stuff, because the last two Nos were in engineering and really quick. Well, it's the loss of the german engineering in long term. China will take over in a few years, considering that their universities spit out hundred thousands of engineers every year and Germany is having trouble recruiting young people for engineering. And currently german engineering companies are still not ready to accept female engineers (what they don't say in press interviews). Well then, marketing and technology transfer here I come.

Have a great weekend everyone!

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

This is how you do it!!!

Hilarious. Love it!!!

Primal food choices and two reasons for celebration

So, I finally moved out and am coming to my senses foodwise. Admittedly the move to more healthy food wasn't that easy and I'm still in it.

However I wanted to share some ideas.

Firstly, breakfast is important and since I want my metabolism to burn my bodyfat, I don't eat carbs (grains) for breakfast but drink a protein shake instead. This wasn't enough during the last weeks and since fruits give me a sugar longing after an hour or so I had to come up with something else to eat. Today I tried out grilled tomatoes with Schmand (sour cream, heavy cream?) It is tasty and very satisfying.


And it looks delicious too, don't ya think?

Another thing is, that in the evening when I read or watch something on my Mac, I tend to eat. Not because of hunger, it's more like a reflex. Yesterday I made myself some Quinoa and while it was satisfying mentally, my digestive system didn't like it at all. So I have to come up with some healthy and easily available snacks, since I'm really lazy in the evening. So this morning I boild 4 eggs and peeled them and then put them in a plastic container in the fridge.


Where they are ready for being eaten tonight and tomorrow night, when my reflex shows up for food.

Okay, the two reasons for celebration:

1. I'm still free of nasal spray after 6 months! Wohoo. This is the longest time of freedom in a decade.

2. Refilling my ferritin is working, I no longer need to sleep every afternoon. There are still days, when I need to lay down, but it's more like once a week or when I slept badly the night before. Success!!!

Now I just need to find a job. Right?

Have a great new week everyone!

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Taste Bud Adventures - New Studio, new food

Easy, fast, healthy, full of protein and minerals, affordable and yummy. They all describe this egg flakes soup, that I made for dinner last night in My Kitchen.... ;-)


So what do you need? The ingredients (serves 1):
water
miso instant soup powder (any instant soup powder works like chicken, beef or vegetable)
the meat of two grilled chicken drumsticks
1 tomato
2 eggs
1 table spoon of oyster sauce (if you like)
1 tea spoon of dried wakame algaes (if you like)
pepper and spices (you don't need salt, the instant powder is salty enough)


How to?

1. Make the soup stock according the manufacturers how to. ca. 500 to 700 ml of stock.
2. Cut or rip the meat to bitesized chunks, dice the tomato and soak the wakame (later).
3. When the stock is cooking add the tomato and meat.


4. Whisk the two eggs and add them to the boiling (it should produce bubbles) soup.
5. Stir softly and cook for 2 or 3 minutes more.
6. Turn of the stove and take the soup down from the hot plate (if you don't use gas).
7. Drain the wakame (shouldn't soak more than 5 minutes or it looses it's minerals to the water)
8. Fill the soup in a bowl, add some wakame et voila.


Enjoy your meal.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

Me at the moment vs. me on Wednesday

The left bowl shows how I feel at the moment, the bowl on the right shows how I'll feel on Wednesday, when I moved out!!

I LOVE THOSE BOWLS!!!!

Finally a finished kitchen

Though I still have to stock it with food and plates etc.

And some sunshine after week of dark clouds and rain.
Can you see the Rockbiter from the Neverending Story in the last pic?

Keep on moving, don't stop ya

I'm still moving and it will take another few days for several reasons. I'm currently still in my old room and except for my desk (under a pile of paper work), tons of books and my plants everything is already in my flat, including most of my clothes.

Initially I had planned to already sleep over there, but the bed, which was delivered yesterday is poorly made (which is outrages since it's a really expensive one), so the service has to come in tomorrow to fix it. Argh. I should've build it on my own and not bought a bed. (Would've been a lot cheaper too!)

Anyway, the funny thing is, even though I'm annoyed to no end with this whole crappy move, my mood is improving constantly, since I can see the end of the tunnel when I'm finally free of my parents grasp. Also due to the move I have already lost some fat, my jeans is hanging on me. And that even with eating tons of chocolate to fight off the annoying part of the move.

(pic taken and edited by Chris - part of the Spy - Shoot)

Today is a public holiday in Saxony and I'm taking the day off from moving. However I'm not slacking, I write my applications. I even finally got one application out that I've been pondering on for two weeks. The funny thing is, the more I fit a job description, the less I know what to write in the cover letter, since I feel that my fitted CV and profile are doing a really good job on saying that I'm the best choice for this opening.
Oh yes, I'm finished with applying for jobs at CCIs, I applied for my "former" job at another CCI, so I was a perfect fit, but I didn't even get invited for an interview!?! I really don't know what they want, obviously not someone who can do this job properly and this right from the beginning. Well it's their loss, not mine.

So, let's just hope that I get into my flat really fast and that I get a fitting job too. As soon as I move to my flat I'll be back on my best behaviour foodwise. And there is a wonderful Primal Cookbook with lot's of fun and healthy recipes to try.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

weird training

Okay, so I've brought over some stuff to my new flat, mostly boxes and shoes that I could simply grab, put in the car and drive over. No real packing involved.

Well, the training consisted of taking the stairs down. 5 times and my flat is on the ninth floor. Since I was fairly fast I was getting kind of lightheaded when I went down the third time. And I was feeling fatique starting in the fourth and during the fifth time. Actually my hands were shaking when I walked to the car to drive home.

I can only imagine how this would've felt when I had taken the stairs upwards. Anyway, I did have some lifting and stairs today and ate reasonably well (I ate a few bites of Lebkuchen for dessert.) I say it was a good training day, especially since I started packing some things when I got back home.

I always wondered where my money has gone, well it's mostly in my books and my music. Just takes a move to show you how much you actually own.

Have a great weekend everyone. Cheers.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Interview during the move

Hi there,

thanks for all your kind words. I'm at the start of the move and today I finally had another interview. I don't want to jinx it, but I don't think they give the job to me. In any case it would be an interesting job and I would've rocked it, but we didn't really connect in the interview so....

Therefore tomorrow I'll write another two applications and bring a bit of stuff over to my flat. My mattress will be delivered on Friday. The following day I'll bring over the rest. Yesterday I shopped like crazy at ikea and though ikea is inexpensive, when you need practically everything it adds up to an amount that makes one gulp. And I'm not done, I still need some kitchen appliances (like a fridge) and have to come up with an solution for my office chair. Rolls on parquet floor is a big nono. Luckily there is a flea market this Saturday, so we'll see ...

I really like my flat, but the bathroom is a nightmare (sooooo small) and I still need a mirror for it. But I'm quite confident, that the move will be over next Wednesday.


However today I finally got the soundtrack of "Secret" a taiwanese movie with Jay Chou. It is gorgeous, both the movie and the soundtrack. And I really would like to have the movie on DVD, but there is none for europe. This sucks!!! I want this movie desperatly, I only need English subs. No voice over, no german subs, just the movie with English subs on DVD with region code 2. PLEASE, Pretty PLEASE.

I hope all of you are fine and have a great time training.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

Two crazy weeks ahead - I'm moving

Okay, so it's more or less official I will sign the contract for my flat on Tuesday and move throughout the week.
So, this means packing and planning and unusual training for the next two weeks, stairs, heavy lifting, etc.

Initially I wanted to move slowly, but after yesterday evening I've decided to move as soon and as fast as possible. Why? Well, my mother said I'm only applying for over the top jobs for which I'm not good enough, Read: You may have a engineering degree, but I still think you're not good enough to do engineering jobs!

How dare she?!!! ARRGHH.

You know what I really hate about it? That it made me cry. Crying, ME?!!!! Everyone else is supportive, but not my parents. They do everything to undermine my selfesteem, they seem to have fun with it. As if it wasn't hard enough to get no after no.

So this means, as soon as I have the keys to my flat, I'm outta here. Due to the financial side, I'll probably not post this regularly anymore, but I'll feel better, so be it.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

The golden fall

We have been pretty lucky with this fall. Not to cold, sunshine galore, countless golden trees and golden light almost all day long. I took those pictures yesterday at our sunday bike tour. It was amazing and probably our last one this year, since Chris is moving to another town.

Have a great new week everyone and thank you for your support. The last week has been a bit off.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!!

Getting annoyed

with job search. It has been a year now and I feel like it's sucking the life out of me. I get annoyed with everything that happens and I sometimes just want to turn around and leave, but don't know where to go to.

My parents are no help, just salting the wounds and my friends can't help me either (because they are leaving town or having enough troubles with their own families and worklife).

I feel like my life has been put on hold and while I needed this stop last year, I'm fed up with it this year. I'm an engineer, I'm young, I'm fluent in 2 languages, I'm creative, I'm free to move and I still haven't found a job. It just plain SUCKS.

A change of heart?

I've decided to rename my blog since I'm simply not inclined to struggle. Yes, I want to finish an Ironman and yes I definitely want to finish Ironman Hawaii. But I want to enjoy this whole journey. I want to have fun in training and at races. So here it goes, new blog name new approach.

You might know Crossfit, which is something I'm heavily drawn too, since the training changes daily. As you all know, I'm getting easily bored and distracted and so I think crossfit would be a perfect fit for me. Unfortunately, Crossfit has not reached Germany yet. So for the time being I'll use something else.

Today I crawled, made front and side planks (my arms were shaking like a jelly after a few seconds, no strength this girl ;-) and did some burpees. I enjoyed it. Well, I'll see what I'll do tomorrow.

Foodwise: I'm back with the paleo lifestyle and I feel better with it, hooray. I still suffer from my low ferritin. I hope it gets better with time, I just need patience, which is something as we all know I don't have.

Lastly, I stopped reading "Born to Run" altogether, since I just can't bring myself to read on. Therefore I say this book is crap, at least in my opinion.

I wish you all a good start in the new week.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

Taste Bud Adventures - Turkey Hen & Brussels Sprouts

Healthy and delicious. Just ate it and had to share it immediatedly, since it's absolutely fantastic and very Paleo.

Ingredients:

butter (Kerrygold)
shalot
Brussels sprouts
turkey hen cutlet
mascarpone

Additionally needed: some milk, freshly grounded pepper, salt and spices. I used a Wok but a pan with a cover is fine.

How to do it:
1) clean and dice the shalot, sprouts and cutlet.


2) Sauté the shalots in butter for a minute or two and then add the sprouts. Sauté them for 5 to 10 minutes until the sprouts are a little softer but still crunchy, stir throughout the sautéing and add some more butter if needed.

3) Add the meat, some freshley grounded pepper, salt and spices that you like. Sautè until the meat is white but not dry (takes only a few minutes, maybe 3 to 4).

4) Mix 1 tablespoon of mascarpone with some milk until its a fluid. Add it as sauce in the pan, when the meat is done and stir.


5) Put in a bowl and Enjoy.


For dessert some fresh fruit like grapes or a pear are a wonderful addition.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Currently Reading: Born to Run

by Christopher McDougall

At the moment I'm in the third chapter and I don't like it so far (Druglords in a runners book?!). I'll read on a bit to see if it gets better, but for now I can't recommend it. And I'm really glad that I didn't buy it, but instead lend it from the library.

Food: I have to admit, that I ate some lebkuchen and waffles this week. Which is bad for my body as a whole and my skin. And through the hazelnut spread I was reminded that I'm actually allergic to hazelnuts when eaten in large quantities. Whoops. It's nothing bad like asthma, but my skin gets mad at me, so I'm stopping to eat hazelnut spread again, which isn't too bad since the glass jar is already empty and it is quite expensive. ;-)

Job: I did already send out four applications this week which is really good, and I've got a few more to go.

Congrats to BDD for becoming a Champion.

Have a great weekend everyone.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

My new style blog

Today, after getting several applications out (yes, 3!) I went to my hatter, to get some repair and improvement done. Since I'm so nice and love hats, I had looked on her website and came up with several ideas of how to improve it and getting her more business. One idea was a blog on hats, since this takes less work than the website, but she doesn't have the time.

Since I LOVE hats and they come back in style and I changed my clothing style to hat-compatible, I've decided to give up my old style blog and start a new one on hats and how to wear them.

It's online now and if you like hats have a look at it. (Just one post now. Nothing much to see.) the Link: http://hatsmakemehappy.blogspot.com/

On the food front: I still struggle with Elliott and eating too much bad carbs, but it keeps getting better.

The knee is misbehaving again, but it might be due to some food or shoe issues. And it's not the tendons, which is weird. Anyhow, training continues.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Itadakimasu

My current obsession is Japan. I love their movies and dramas and food. So when I came back home for lunch (after the dentist and looking for lamps for my flat) and had no particular idea for what to eat, I prepared udon.

Udon are thick wheat noodles that are mostly served in a broth with some slices of fresh spring onions and maybe an egg for the proteines. There is a whole movie on udon.

Well, so I made it pretty simple. I took instant miso soup for the broth (I know, I know, but I can't use real miso until I move out, same goes for garlic. Just one more month and I'll have my own kitchen! Yeah.). Cooked the udon noodles for 10 minutes and while they were boiling I soaked some wakame, cut a quarter of a bell pepper into cubes and some smoked (almond-sesam) tofu too.
I grabbed a "big" bowl, put the drained(?) udon in, added the broth and the other ingredients. This is what I got:

Itadakimasu!

Delicious, but not paleo or primal. However I have to use up my asian noodles, before I move out. By the way "Itadakimasu" is also the name of an japanese cookbook, that I just got from the library. So stay tuned for some delicious, japanese cooking posts.

Since my lunch wasn't paleo, my dinner certainly is: 2 red chief apples (as you know my favourites) and hazelnut spread (from the whole food store, only hazelnuts, nothing else). Just slice the apples and put some spread on it. Yummy. Not a real meal you say? Wrong, hazelnut spread contains a lot of oil (good oil, Ladies, so enjoy) and some pretty awesome minerals and proteins. So, in the end you'll have a big grin on your face and feel satisfied (maybe Mick Jagger should try it?!). I certainly have a huge grin on my face now.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Making headway

Two steps forward, one step back.

Okay, so on the job front: I'm still searching, but at least I know that I came in second at the big company I had my interview in September. Which is really close to getting the job, so I know I'm on the right track. Good times. (They usually don't tell you this, but I pressured them since I didn't know what to do about my studio. Sometimes stuff like this comes in pretty handy.)

On the apartment front: I found mine!! And it's currently renovated, so I made an reservation and if all goes well I have my own place next month. It has parquet flooring in the living room, which is also the only room with windows, but they have a fantastic view. (9. floor looking on a park, how much wood you pay for this in New York? Muahahaha.)
Moving next month is exciting and annoying at the same time. Anyway, I go with the excitement and ignore the annoying part, and make sure that everything I buy is easily moveable, no built-in kitchen just some ikea Gorm shelfs. I've already planned the color scheme for bathroom (violet) and kitchen (green). Since I won't paint any walls and don't want to drill (I will have to in some instances), because I simply don't know how long I will live there, I have to come up with some funny solutions.

Food: I had some fall backs in old eating habits due to stress, but I'm back on the path to healthy living as of today. (Can't wait to move out, no more waffles in the night, Wohoo! Or binge eating on chocolate because my mom annoyed me. Ha.) I tell you on Christmas I'll be a new person. XD And this is necessary. Because when I ate some bread this Thursday my stomach got really annoyed. Good thing no one was around me at that time.

Tomorrow I'll do some much needed bike repairs and maybe I'll go for a sprint. I'll see and report.

Have a great weekend everyone and good luck to Molly who has her A race today!

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

I'm exhausted

Seriously, I haven't been this exhausted for months. And all this because of some hours "on the road". I tell you, this low level of energy due to the ferritin deficiency sucks.

First Chris and I had a look at a flat, which turned out to be absolut crap. Then we drove back to the city and did our marathon program: Looking at the photography exhibition in the adult education center, then going to the japanese store (which is really cool by the way), then to an interior design shop, then to the museum for another photographic exhibition (nudes through 150 years of photography, don't get me started on the crappy modern pictures), then we went to several more department stores and to the shop of a hatter, who is lovely. All in all this took about seven hours and now "you can smoke me in a pipe", I'm totally and utterly exhausted.

For dinner I'll have chinese pear salmon with pine nuts. A variation of yesterdays plum salmon which was incredible. Since I'm so beat, I just couldn't help it and ate some chocolate waffles.

Hope you feel better than I do. I have another flat to check out tomorrow. Hopefully this one's alright.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Amazing, isn't she?

This is Cathy and she's 56. She's my new rolemodel fitness and body wise. I'd like to have a body like this in her age (or even now for that matter).



I found a first video of her and her family at Marksdailyapple.com, somehow I can't stop researching his site and as it looks I might end up buying his books. Good thing I still have an amazon gift coupon from my birthday.

Oh yeah I keep doing my burpees and planks and I finally have found the culprit for my tiredness, my inability to lose weight and to concentrate: low ferritin (iron storage). The range goes from 30 to 400, under 50 is problematic and full out trouble is under 30. (In Germany!) And now guess where my ferritin was in February this year? 31.6! I could've been already back at 200 or more if I had had the results black on white back then. But I only got those, when I got the results from my bloodwork a few weeks back and there I saw the mess yesterday, after I read an article on a german site and checked them. So right after finding out, I went to the pharmacy and got an iron supplement. Since it takes months to get the ferritin up, the feeling better might take some time. By the way, low ferritin also can be a cause for cold hands/feet and most of us ladies are too low on ferritin, because of the cycle and not eating enough meat (or nuts or eggs). The drinks with caffeine also prevent you from getting more iron, so don't take your iron supplement with coffee or black/green tea or cola.
So if you have any of my symptoms, go get your bloodwork done and ask your doc as to how much iron you need to supplement.

Okay, now I'm off to make my dinner: Plum-Salmon. Very paleo.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Furniture Design and good moving on the right path

with a little stumble last night, but that's alright.

95% of the time my new mindset works out just fine, so I dare say I'm on the right way. I'm optimistic that I'm currently making a slow but steady U-turn for the right direction. It takes some time and a lot of work and discipline, but eventually I'll succeed. (Even if Elliott gets me to eat waffles at three in the morning and sits in the corner pouting all through the day. He has a hard time, poor little teenage dragon. Time to grow up Elliott.)

So lets get to the sport. Today I have my last physio after that I'm on my own. But I started out with "Yoga" yesterday evening and this morning and it does help. As soon as I have my new job, I'll go to a yoga class, because working with a book isn't the best way for me. Until then it's "Yoga" on my own. I've also done 3 burpees on Saturday and 4 yesterday. And I've done the high plank for the last two days too.

Food wise, except for the waffles and some leftover potatoes at 3 this night, I stuck to my "new" food lifestyle pretty well and feel good. I've had a lot of trail mix, protein, fresh veggies and fruit. I'll stick to it. And as soon as I move out, I won't have the waffle trouble anymore, since I won't buy any bad food (the waffles are always bought by my mom).

Apropos moving out, I'll have a look at two studios this week and if all goes well I'll move into my own flat by the end of October, which would be fantastic, since I really really really need to get out of here.

Which brings me to the furniture design. A couple posts back I told you that I had designed my bed since I can't afford a prebuild one that I like. (4000,-€ is just too much.) On Friday my Dad and I went to the home improvement store and looked for wood and asked what they can do at the store. I showed them my bed design, which looks like this:


Unfortunately I had totally forgotten, that I need space under the bed for my storage boxes for the sheets, spare blankets and so on. Additionally they couldn't do the cutting out, my Dad doesn't have the necessary electric tools and I won't do it with hammer and chisel or give it to a carpenter.

So on Saturday I sat down and designed a new bed. This new one makes use of the wood the home improvement store sells, the service of cutting it to the right lengths and some stuff I can do in my parents basement without special tools. All I need are a drilling machine, screw driver, sand paper, brush and glaze. Well, and the time to build it. Here it is:


All in all, the whole designing took about 8 hours straight, since I also did several special drawings (with the overall measurements and the special drilling measurements) and building instructions. There are now 10 sheets filled with drawings, plans and bills of materials.


Because, if I wouldn't have it planned all out, I probably won't have a bed but modern art. What do I mean with that? Well, my dad and I build my jewellery holder without proper drawings and planning and now I have this:


Well, it does it's job and is one of kind. But I don't want it to happen to my bed!

I also designed my nightstand, though I didn't do the building plan and measurement drawings yet.



Okay, this is it for today. Weather is great around here, though pretty cold. Anyway.

Have a wonderful new week everyone.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Can you stray from a path for 2 years and

then get back on it? Well, I'm currently trying it out. But with a different mindset then when I tried to get back on it before. And so far it seems to work out fine. I can't tell you what this means for this blog (in positive terms) but I have some assumptions.

As for todays post I have this on sport and food to tell you:

Chris and I are already back from a 2 1/2 hour ride. It contained some short picture stops, so we were riding approx 2 hours of the time. We even saw several hawks, awesome birds, totally elegant in flight.

I have also made 2 "burpees" today. Don't know what the hell a "burpee" is? It's one of the workouts/exercises of CrossFit. And it's pretty awesome and I love the name of it, "burpee". Here is a vid on how to do them:


(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MGljX4bbps)

Mampf Diary:
BF: 1 chocolate protein shake, 1 mug of black tea and 1 mug of green tea
Lunch: (Now its getting weird but healthy) A few slices of hungarian salami, 1 cup of trail mix, 2 "christmas" apples (I call them christmas apples because when I was a child they were only sold on christmas. The real name is red delicious or red chief.) and one boiled egg.
Dinner: Haha, not tellin' ya. (Mainly because I don't have a clue what it will be. ;-)

As for that, have a great weekend.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Post 222 - and two good things happened today

First and most importantly Aurora's (my bike) gearshift is finally fixed. Turns out it was the levers at the handlebar. The click that's showing the shift had gone missing without me noticing it. Now it clicks again and so I can shift up again. Wohoo.

I also took the time to have a look around the bike shop (bikes and helmets and clothing, sigh) and inform myself on the roll and aerobars. They also had a really cool secondhand time trial bike! Which I would have bought on the spot, when it would've been my size. Good thing it wasn't or I would've been back in the reds. Bad thing it wasn't, because it only cost 600€. Argh.

So for the next few months I have to cope with my bike envy which is getting worse training ride by training ride.

Secondly I had an awesome lunch. I made pasta with tomatosauce. Sounds bland? Well, it was organic pasta made from brown rice, pumpkin and ginger, which is totally yummy alone. But the tomatosauce included sautéd shallots and bell pepper, tomatos, the freshly squeezed just of a lemon, hard boiled eggs and fresh mozzarella. It was delicious and really really healthy and gluten free.

On the job front, one company still leaves me waiting for my second interview. Well, I apply for other jobs in the meantime and look for a flat too. So nothing new on this side.


I just got back into reading again and found a "new" and really interesting author: Haruki Murakami. I'm currently reading my first book of him and as soon as I finish it I'll write a review for you. Could be interesting for you, since he runs and did Triathlons too. And I also found a book on running that sounded pretty interesting: it's called "ChiRunning" by Danny Dreyer. Has anyone of you read it? What do you think? Not that I haven't got enough training literature waiting in my to be read stack already.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

I'm not talking about it

My mood has slightly improved for several reasons, those are:

- I finally send out another application, though it wasn't the one I talked about for weeks. I applied at a Federal Office, because I had the qualifications and ... why not? I haven't got a No until today, which is a surprise. When I applied for another post last year, I send out my (paper) application on Monday and had it back on Wednesday (the same week)! This time it was an online application so they could've have been even faster.

- The weather is better, which lead to a lot of outdoor activity. Outdoor activity = mood improvement.

- I've read some pretty awesome stuff in a mag, in some essays and a book.

- I'm back in the black. Phew, going to interviews is expensive. Good thing I get the money back, can only take a few more weeks. Big corporations are way too slow with stuff like this.

On BDs comment to my last post:
"Taking care of yourself is work, alot of it. It sucks alot of times."

In my opinion this is the wrong approach. I really think I shouldn't see it as work. This goes for the so called "work-life-balance" too. What "work-life-balance" implicates (and this is something I read somewhere on the web, just don't remember where.) is that you don't live while you work, that's eight hours and more each day, adding approximately 6 to 8 hours of sleep and you live only through a third of a day. So when I add up the time I need to do the other things, like laundry, taxes and (after your approach) caring for me etc. I'd live only one hour or less a day. This sounds absolutely horrible to me.

So NO. Caring for me is supposed to be something that I enjoy, every day. Same goes for work. (Okay, taxes aren't something I can enjoy, only when I get some paid back. ;-)

"Thats why, I sign up for a race, then post that race date through out the house, a constant reminder of why I am doing what I am doing, its a nice reminder to keep moving forward. I suggest maybe the same for you, signup for a race and post it and work towards it."

An approach I've tried time and again. And then I failed it time and again. Or did I run Leipzig marathon this year? Or write this darned application to CERN? No. This is not how it works for me. It's fine when it works out for you, but I learned in the last few months that this is not my way. There is a really cool talk about this on TED.com and it certainly makes sense for me. So I keep my mouth shut from now on.


So this weekend I will... not talk about my plans. Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy your life.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Tell me why I don't like, NOOO, HATE Tuesdays

Seriously Tuesdays plain suck. I always stand beside me on Tuesdays. Yesterday again.

Rotten mood, no motivation whatsoever and eating lots of crap.

To look on the bright side of things, I definitely know now that when I get out and about, I start to feel better immediately. Unfortunately Elliott, my fat and lazy dragon, is pretty good at keeping me in and in my old habits. Well, Elliott my dear, your fat and lazy days are running out, time to get you fat a** moving.

However I had the energy to send in some pictures in the Nikon Photo Contest International 2010/2011. But I didn't and still don't feel excited about it. Which is weird. Well, the winners will be anounced at the end of June next year, so there is a lot of time till then.

Since AZ asked for some woodwork pics, here they are (though it's a picture board not my bed):







I also realized yesterday, again, that I still think of caring for myself and my body to be work! And not that I 'm doing something that makes me feel really good in my skin and about me. This is still some bit of rebellion against my mom. It's really hard to get this out of my system. In my head I know that it comes down to a high level of selfsabotage, but to change it is a long and hard process. Well, as my friend Susie said on Monday, it's amazing that I really realize where my problems lie and that I can adress them. Nevertheless, it will take some time to get this rebellion against me, myself and I out of my system and Elliott. But I will succeed. (In the end nothing disturbs my mom more as when I actually do something, she thought I couldn't. Hehe.)

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!
(and drag your dragon right along with you, even if he screams blue murder.)