I did it right!

The 25m pool, one of the hundreds that were build in the former GDR. They reconstructed it a few years back, but the main layout stays the same. And it's perfectly fine for swim training. I don't need a 50m pool to train.

I mean, I swam the amount that gives me a training effect and eventually a swimmers back. I really want a swimmers back!
How do I know that I did it right? Sore arm and shoulder muscles. Not that they hurt or scream at me, they just say we did something yesterday. Which is good.
Since I initially had planned to swim for one hour I wasn't too happy about just swimming 45 minutes. But my left shoulder warned me of an upcoming cramp, so I decided to leave the pool before something happened. That my muscles are sore now shows that it was just the right amount of training for them. Good.

My breakfast. Before going to the pool I drank the tea. And on my way home I munched the apple and the two boiled eggs.

My packed duffle. I just found out, that I need to bring a small old towel for stepping on when toweling off. What do you bring with you to the pool?

Next swim is scheduled for Wednesday morning and I'm confident, that I will get up at the right time. Because I do shut down my Mac at 9 PM now, so I get to sleep at 11 PM latest. Which is a major improvement.

And now I'm off to find my new cheese.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD! And have an amazing new week.

Paleojourney - A Mac Photo Booth Diary - Week 8

Okay, I took this picture right out of bed at 8:28 AM getting ready for my swim training. Initially I already wanted to be in the water at that time, but I overslept. ;)
I got up at 8:17 put the electric kettle on, brushed my teeth and took this picture for you, still in my night shirt.

I swam for 45 minutes today and am really proud on myself to walk to the pool, swim and then eat my breakfast while walking back home. By the way the walk to the pool took 30 minutes, the walk back took 45 minutes, same route. Yep, the swim definitely took it's toll. So I'll go swimmning on Wednesday again.
Oh almost forgot, no eye candy at the pool. :( But candy in the vending machine, however I stayed strong and just enjoyed my paleo breakfast (2 boiled eggs and an apple) on my way home. Yes, I'm such a badass athlete. ;)

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Swim training scheduled for tomorrow morning

It has been quite some time since I went swimming. But tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock, I'll be on the way to my pool and then swim for an hour or so. At the moment it's just to get back in the swing of things, no special training technics or distances to cover or any fancy toys. I don't even have goggles. (Might change this over the Easter holidays.)

My duffle bag is packed already. Finding the swimsuit was the hard part, took me at least ten minutes. (It was right where it should be, but in a plastic bag that I didn't open when I first searched that drawer.) Then I nearly forgot to get the towel. That would have been a disaster, can you imagine that? I have even put together the breakfast already for after the swim (1 apple, 2 hard boiled eggs), I'll only drink some hot tea before leaving for the pool.
And you know what is also really good? I will walk to the pool. A brisk half hour walk on Sunday morning, then some nice swimming followed by another brisk walk. What a cool way to start off Sunday. I'm excited about it, but might not be so tomorrow morning at 7:30. ;)

After that I'll do some research and then head over to my parents for lunch and a nice afternoon nap. Followed by some more research. Ahh, sounds like the perfect Sunday to me. (Provided that there is some eye candy at the pool. )

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

2 days in and already feeling much better

Yep, Paleo can work this way. And I'm really glad about it. My stomach is almost flat again and feels just fine. My skin is recovering slowly and I'm feeling better overall. Oh yes, my sleep is better and my anxiety has gone away too. It's really AMAZING what impact your food choices have on your whole well being. Just think about how much better so many people would feel, just because they start to eat real food. Think of the millions saved in health care. Oh wait, that's the reason why the pharma industry doesn't like Paleo and real foods. Whoops. Too bad for them.

I just found out that there is one food option at Starbucks that is "paleo-approved", their fruit salad. So should I be hungry, I now know what I can eat here. Yes, I write this post at my Starbucks. I just love to be here and ponder and plan things. Do some research and enjoying life in general. Did you ever recogize that their Vanilla Rooibos Tea has a really strong apple flavour?! I like it simply because of that.

Trainingwise I'm just walking and taking the stairs, since my knee is acting up again. But I'll check out the swimming pool schedule this weekend and will probably start swimming again next week. So this should get interesting since I found out, that one swimming pool is practically just around the corner and since it is one with cheap fees, I might just declare 2011 as the swimming year. Plus Tango, because I've decided to learn Tango. Now I just need to find a dance partner, since I don't live in Argentina, this might be a problem.

Why Tango you ask? Well, take a look at this:

Have a magical weekend everyone.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Bad news for Starbucks

Yes, I still love Starbucks. Yes, I will still go there and ponder things and drink frappucinos and chocolate mochas. But no, I won't buy their chocolate truffle cake anymore and eat it. The reason?

It's not worth the feeling unwell afterwards. The pleasure of eating it lasts about an hour, if I eat really slow. My hurting stomach lasts the whole night. 1 hour vs. 8 hours. This is in serious disequilibrium, even without the other bad effects like bad skin for days afterwards. So, as sad as it is, no more Starbucks truffle cake or any other of their baked goods for me.

I've learned all this after I had my After-a-job-interview-treat last evening. I've been for another interview, this time lo and behold in my home town, and afterwards I went to Starbucks and bought my treat. I ate it (took me maybe 20 minutes) and had a complaining stomach 3 hours later. Yeah well, it was my own stupid decision. I've been free of grains for quite some time now, it's only logical that my body would be mad at me.

So, lesson learned. Back to Paleo.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!
And listen to your body.

Paleojourney - A Mac Photo Booth Diary - Week 7

No other news.

Have a great week everyone.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

Freedom of choice

Suddenly I feel free. Last week I was feeling horrible, this week the world is full of possibilities.

LIFE IS GREAT!!

Paleojourney - A Mac Photo Booth Diary - Week 6 - Rollercoaster ride

This past week was quite taxing for me. I've learned a lot in terms of the changes my body goes through at the moment, how I can help it and in terms of business.
Nuff said.

New week, new challenges, new goals.

Goals for this week:
1. Clear my desk. ;-)
2. Eat 100% paleo/primal/real food.
3. Wear a really cool outfit everyday.
4. Take the 9 flights of stairs to my flat everyday once. (Did you ever realize that there are easy and tough stairs? When I take the 9 flights to my flat I'm a bit out of breath, but I'm fine. Not so at the public library, there I'm out of breath when I reach the second floor and nearly had to stop for rest on the third floor. {Good thing somebody was walking behind me, so it would've hurt my pride to stop.})
5. Do at least one sprint in this week.
6. Do some strength training everyday. Today it's arms.
7. Stay scale-free the whole week. (Next weighing is planned for March 1st.)

Have a magical week everyone.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

Paradigm Shift

Okay, so this morning I stepped on my scale out of a strong interest. What I saw let me do my happy dance. 59,7kg - 131,4 lbs Finally cracked the 60!

But in fact this isn't the start of the story or the paradigm shift. Those happened yesterday.

Yesterday, I couldn't eat due to mental stress. I won't tell you why yesterday was so stressfull. In any case not eating, because I'm under stress is a totally new thing for me. Before yesterday I usually ate (binging on sweets) when under stress, this was even so last Friday. But not yesterday. So I guess there really was a paradigm shift happening in the last days. Which is amazing!!

Today I'm back to eating normal, my normal = Paleo. Though the mental stress has lessened the reason for it is still there. Well, I'll hold strong and fight on.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

forward and then retreat, forward retreat

That's my life at them moment. For every 2 steps forward I retreat one. I move more and more, but I eat bad things when I'm down, because life is a bit uncertain at the moment.

I still don't have a place in Stuttgart to stay, since the dormitory is out of the question, because I'm too old!! Now I'm looking for flat share and will go to Stuttgart on Saturday to meet the people living in an ultra cool flat, which has some added advantages, like being in my price range and central.

Meanwhile my parents are driving me crazy with their "helpful" advices and hinting that I might not be abled to get this Masters degree or do the job properly. As if I'd do this for the first time! I know, they care, but do they have to treat me like a ten year old? Don't think so.

But at least the weather is nice (sunshine), my jeans fit and Chris is coming to Leipzig today. So I'm fairly happy at the moment.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Paleojourney - A Mac Photo Booth Diary - Week 5 - Success

You don't really see it in my face, but this morning brought some very nice surprises.
I don't need to buy new trousers this week!!
I thought I had to, because one jeans and slacks aren't enough, when you go to work. However, this morning I thought: "Well, your current jeans are sitting relatively loose and you know you are down to around 60kg, so let's try some of my old trousers."(I haven't weighed myself in a week!)
And lo' and behold they fit, all of them!!

The one in the following picture is a jeans I bought before I gained so much weight due to taking the pill in 2003! When I bought this jeans I was literally 5 kg lighter and now it fits!!! That's the reason for my expression.


So, I might not have lost so many pounds, but obviously my body changes for the better. And let's not forget: muscles weigh more than fat. So I'm quite excited and am more than happy to stick with the Paleo lifestyle. When I move in to weeks it will be a bit tricky to keep it up for two weeks, since I'm not sure where I will stay for the first two weeks and I have to find the right kind of grocery stores, but I'll prepare and stick with Paleo, because the effort obviously pays off. Wohoo.

Other things: I did two sprints yesterday, just for the fun of it. I also found that it's not worth cheating with any backed goods, even if it's just a bite. Just chocolate is fine, but grains are pure poison to me!

Happy Sunday everyone!!

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Fighting the habits and cravings

Goodness me. I thought I was over this, but since Monday I need to make sure that I don't come to close to any baked goods, because I really, really, really lust after some chocolate cake or raisin rolls. So far I stood strong, lucky me that there seems to be no place in town that has eclairs though I know there is a certain Brasserie that might have them. Luckily this would mean quite a detour for me and so I am pretty safe from that one. And thank the flying Spaghettimonster for Brazil nuts, they are my saviour.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Doesn't this sound amazing?

Elle UK Horoscope for Virgo in February 2011
As February opens, you’ll welcome a fabulous New Moon in your house of work. For most other signs, the busy bee energy can be a bit of a drag, but for you, it’s like manna from heaven. You’ll be able to organise rather than agonise for the first two weeks of the month. On the 2nd, the New Moon (also the Chinese New Year of the Rabbit) invites you to plan out your next six months of success. A colleague could give you some major praise, you might get a promotion, or even make a big change – from one job to another. Whatever happens, don’t let anything stress you out, because it’s all good this time, Virgo. With the Sun also highlighting your work and schedule sector through the 18th, you’re on the radar of VIP’s. After this date, the energy turns toward love and partnerships. With Mercury, Mars, the Sun and Uranus all traversing your relationship zone during the last ten days of the month, you may be thinking about your significant other 24/7. If you’re single, this is an excellent time to focus on manifesting your soul mate. He’s out there and coming ever closer to you.

And it is so fitting!!
(I just LOVE it, when my horoscopes support me and what's coming next. Mind games, I tell you are so helpful. ;-P )

On to the food issue.
It seems starting cold turkey with the Whole30 (hey, that rhymes, *grin*) wasn't the smartest idea. Especially since I made the old mistake to focus on the foods I can't eat instead of those I can enjoy. Well you guess it already, I didn't eat according to plan. Since I'm a bit unsure of several food, because they some different articles on them on the Whole9 website, I've decided to "design" my own whole 30 program. As a matter of fact I make it up as I go along and concentrate on the good and real foods. Meaning, dairy except for butter is still out of the equation same goes for grains, rice, potatoes and nightshades (tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplants), since I seem to be allergic to tomatoes "lately" (or maybe it's just the pesticides in them?).

With it I'm also changing my grocery shopping habits, I buy only produce that I can use up in the next 2-3 days. Which is an accomplishment in itself that I wanted to reach for years(!), since I used to buy a lot of produce and then most of it would rot away on my counter or in the fridge. This change has the added bonus of less waste and saving money, and since I won't have much space in the dormitory to store my food, this change of habits comes right at the time it is needed.

Speeking of habits: there are two other good changes.
1) Yesterday evening I finally went to bed at 10 PM (which was my goal) and read till 11 PM and then turned of the light to sleep. And I guess I got a full 8 hours of sleep, which I hadn't for the last weeks, even though it was my goal, since I got the important YES. No I just have to truly implement this going to bed early, jobstart is coming near in huge steps.
2) I'm only buying clothes that fit and that I need. I went shopping with my friend K yesterday evening. She started working again last month, after her parents time (2 years in Germany) and is in dire need of a professional wardrobe. In any case I still need some new professional clothes too and I was lucky to find a sleek cardigan made of a nice fabric and a cut that flatters me. It took me about one year and a lot of shopping (looking around and trying out) to find this cardigan.
I also found a really beautiful dress in red, since it's the new collection and I'm currently fighting my fat successfully I didn't buy it yesterday (major accomplishment).

However I still have to battle with myself over food. Yesterday was really off, I always wanted to eat sweets. Horrible. But I stood strong, nothing unhealthy passed my mouth. Yeah. Looks like I'm developing some willpower at last.

And you, some accomplishments?

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!