Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Year's Eve Celebration foods

So I haven't been eating the healiest recently.  I'm actually looking forward to the holiday season coming to an end.  Only a few more days left and then I'm going to kick it in full gear again :).

I made some New Year's Eve celebration foods today.  I baked a choco chip cookie pie thing.  Tonight for dinner we made some Vietnamese summer rolls.  They're really yummy, fresh and healthy.  I was only able to eat three of them, and they were filled with a lot of veggies, so I was really happy about that. 

I'm really craving healthy foods, not that I haven't been eating healthy recently.  But they're normal healthy and not low GL healthy. 

Monday, December 26, 2011

The holidays are almost over

The holiday season is almost over.  Still have a couple of big celebrations left, then it'll be back to dieting.  I will return to low GL diet after New Year's day.  I look forward to getting back on track and losing weight again :)

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Side Plank Victory!

Today I had a non-scale victory!  Yippie!!!  For the first time ever, when I was doing yoga today I did a full side plank on both sides.  I'm really proud of myself, I've come a long way compared to last year. 

I'm still here!

I haven't had time to really write, it's been pretty busy for me. Also I haven't been exactly on track with low GL, with all the festivities. But I am making good choices here and there, and not stuffing my face as much as I thought I would.

Yesterday was my Bday get together, it went really well. It wasn't low GL, but I am glad to say that I barely ate 1/4 of the Almond Jelly I made because I felt it was too sweet. Everyone else thought it tasted perfect, but it was too sweet for my liking.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Food Log (16 December 2011)

Today was weigh in day, but I'm going to skip it, since well somehow from yesterday and today I gained 2 lbs. Though I ate the healthy past couple of days compared to the rest of the week, but the weight went up. So I'm going to pass on this time. 2 lbs just from yesterday and today is just wrong. Just on Wednesday I was still on STS.

Breakfast: Oat porridge with raspberries, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, milk and agave syrup.

Lunch: Broccoli, cottage cheese and barley/oat/basmati rice mix.

Snack: 1 clementine

Dinner: Schnitzel salad.

Snack: 4 almond pocky sticks.

Exercise: Pushups, crunches, and 32 minutes of yoga.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Food Log (14 December 2011)

Okay these ginger biscuits are too yummy. Thankfully they're very thin.

Breakfast: Oat porridge with raspberries, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, milk and agave syrup.

Snack: some ginger biscuits (snaps).

Lunch: Pork, bamboo shoot, and bell pepper stir fry, with barley/oat/basmati rice mix.

Snack: 2 ginger biscuits (snap), half a glass of julmust.

Dinner: Hambuger with multigrain bread, lots of green lettuce and tomatoes.

Snack: 3 Ginger buiscuits (snaps).

Exercise: Pushups, crunches, and 32 minutes of yoga.

Adventures with Warrior III Yoga Pose

Last week Esther Ekhart posted a new yoga video on youtube on the Warrior III pose.  I never tried doing Warrior III before.  After watching the video, I decided to give it a shot.  The first time I tried it I almost fell forward to a face plant on my yoga mat, and that happened twice.  Luckly I caught myself both times. 

It made me look back to my first time doing yoga this past summer and how difficult some of the very basics poses were.  Sure a lot of yoga poses look easy, but if you've never done yoga before, you'll soon learn it's not as easy as it looks to hold a pose for 15 breaths.

For the past couple of days I've been trying to do the Warrior 3 pose.  It's a little bit of a wobbly 3 breaths for me.  I know it's a bit embarrassing to keep my wobbly version of the pose for 3 breaths, but it's a start and I can't improve if I never give it a shot and try.  I need a stronger core and balance to get this pose down.  But it's something I hope to work on and eventually be able to do.  Sort of like the plank pose, where it's getting a little easier everytime I do it now.

Everything's about babysteps and yoga has helped me embrace it.  That it's okay if you don't do it perfectly the first time or master it.  Keep working on it everyday and gradually you'll see or notice changes.  Hopefully in some months time I'll be able to have a non-wobbly Warrior 3 pose, and hold it for 30 seconds to a minute. 

Here's is the video link Yoga with Esther Ekhart, Yoga Pose: the Warrior 3 , enjoy!



Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Food Log (13 December 2011) & Pepparkakor

Ohhh how the holidays are here now. Today I went to my cousin-inlaw's for a lesson on how to make Swedish pepparkakor, aka: ginger biscuits (snaps). It was my first time ever making them, she was shocked that I've never done this before. They were very fun to make, and the outcome was very delicious. Though her cookies came out much prettier, while mine came out with arms, legs and heads being ripped or misshaped. I stuck to the mini cookie cutters with easier designs, such as a pig, heart, bell, tree, and a few goats. The woman and man designs were difficult for me.

I felt very much like a child today with trying to roll out the dough super thin and properly without ripping it everytime I rolled it out. But it was very fun, and hopefully it will be something I can do together with my kids oneday .

They sent me home with all the pepparkakor we made today. Now I'm trying to resist eating them all as they're so wonderfully delicious. They taste 1000x better than the store bought ones. Darn you holidays!

I ate lunch at her house today. She made some yummy Swedish style enchiladas. Very interesting and yummy.

Breakfast: Oat porridge with raspberries, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, milk and agave syrup.

Snack: a cup of tea and two mini ginger biscuits (snaps).

Lunch: 2 Swedish versions of tortilla chicken enchilada, with tomatoes and cucumber

Snack: a ginger biscuit (snap), half a glass of julmust.

Dinner: Pork, tomato salad, with oat/barley/basmati rice mix.

Snack: 3 Ginger buiscuits (snaps).

Monday, December 12, 2011

Food Log (12 December 2011)

Christmas is around the corner. There are so many things going on over here. I'm doing ok with all the going here and there. There are still many more get togethers to go to before Xmas. Food isn't the perfect choices, but I am still getting some low GL in there. So that's a good thing

Today is a strict low GL day. Feels pretty good

Breakfast: Oat porridge with raspberries, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, milk and agave syrup.

Lunch: 2 slices of rye bread, peanut butter and jam.

Snack: Cottage cheese with pumpkin seeds, and 2 clementines.

Dinner: Chinese pork, bell pepper, bamboo shoots stir fry, with oat/barley/basmati rice mix.

Snack: 2 pieces of dark chocolate.

Exercise: Pushups, crunches, and 32 minutes of yoga.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Sasaki Asahi's Champagne Gold Eyes Tutorial

I've been a huge fan of Manwoman films for a long time now.  She has really great and easy to follow makeup tutorials on youtube.  During the summer she won Youtube's Next Up, and after that I didn't see any new videos from her.  About a month and a half ago I found out that she's making new videos under a new youtube name Sasakiasahi.
I really enjoy her makeup tutorials, they're easy to follow and with many fun ideas.  She's also really pretty too, I can only dream of having such flawless skin as she does, also to look that great before and after makeup.

Here's her new make up tutorial for the holiday season Classic Party Makeup Champagne Gold Eyes - Sasaki Asahi .  I love the shimmery colours, they're warm and has the feeling of celebrating elegantly.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Come on September (SoA)

My guy got me hooked to watching the Sons of Anarchy last year.  I know a lot of people here in Sweden watch SoA, and it has become quite popular.  It's a really good series, and I have to say that this last season ended completely different from what I thought it was going to.  I don't want to say anything else about the show, as I don't want to be spoil the show for people who haven't seen it yet. 

Too bad the seasons are so short, now we have to wait until next September for the new season to start.   

Christmas Challenge Update 9!

STS this week >_<


Cranberry Christmas Challenge 2011
(2 weeks to go!)


lose 13lbs (5.2/13)

Twenty Third Weekly Weight Update!

I didn't have the greatest of foods last weekend with going to a birthday party etc, but the weight did go down everday after that.  I even made it to weigh in weight on Wednesday.  But then Thursday morning came and the scale went up again.  I ate low GL those days too, but it went up. 

Wasn't sure what to expect for weigh in, I was terrified I was going to have a gain this morning.  Luckly I didn't have a gain, but I also didn't have any loss :(  So this week's weigh in was a STS.  I'm not too thrilled but I'm not upset either.  I'd much rather take a STS than a gain anyday.

I've come to the conclusion that dieting through the holidays and winter time isn't the easiest task.  I need to be realistic and either don't eat a single winter/holiday food, or don't go out at all and be completely anti-social to avoid the parties etc.  Or I can simply say to myself be happy that you either lose a pound or two during the holidays or make it out alive with STS and no gain. 


Here's the 23rd weekly weight update:


STS (Stay the same weight)  

Total amount since started: -21 lbs (-9.55kg)

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Food Log (8 December 2011)

Not feeling that hungry tonight, and wasn't really in the mood to cook dinner. Though I know I had to eat something so I wouldn't end up starving myself. Looked in the fridge and thought hmmm, fried eggs with soy sauce is always yummy. Tonight's dinner is breakfast. Can't really complain since it was yummy.

Breakfast: Oat porridge with raspberries, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, agave syrup and soy milk.

Snack: 1 piece of dark chocolate

Lunch: 2 slices of rye bread with a little bit of last night's leftover eggplant, ham and bacon tomato sauce.

Snack: 1 clementine and some Göteborgs kalvkorv.

Dinner: 2 fried eggs, a tomato, and a slice of rye bread.

Exercise: Pushups, crunches, and 30 minutes of yoga.

Multilingual....ummm, wait what was that word again!?!

I've lived away from Japan too long, I totally had a brainfart.  I was on the phone talking to a friend and  I couldn't remember the word dinner (yuuhan) in Japanese.  Simple everyday words that I know, but just sometimes I can't think of the word. 

This doesn't only happen with my Japanese, but I get brainfarts in English now too.  It's even more embarrassing when it happens in English, since I still use English on a daily basis.  Though the type of English I use here versus what I used back home is completely different.

I really have to watch myself from using a mix of Japanese, English and Swedish, since that seems to be what my brain thinks in these days.  I blame Sweden for my language brainfarts >_<   Any other multilingual people out there having the same problem???

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Food Log (7 December 2011)

Food today was pretty good, yippie! I also did yoga so it's a double yippie day! 

Breakfast: Oat porridge with raspberries, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, agave syrup and soy milk.

Lunch: 2 slices of rye bread with a little bit of last night's leftover eggplant, ham and bacon tomato sauce. 

Snack: 2 clementines and some Göteborgs kalvkorv.

Dinner: Cooked Ham with pineapples, Halländsk grönkål (Hallandic green kale), and a slice of rye bread. 

Exercise: Pushups, crunches, and 34 minutes of yoga.

Good for eyelashes!?!

Ok, so this post has nothing to do with dieting, losing weight or yoga.  Today I was talking to my mom on the phone and she mentioned she'd seen a video on youtube about using petroleum jelly or olive oil on your eyelashes to help them grow.  The reason why she mentioned it to me was because she noticed last time she saw me that I lost a remarkable amount of eyelashes compared to just a couple of years ago.  I used to always have really full and thick eyelashes.  My Japanese grandmother used to think I wore falsies all the time.   

Sure I'm getting older, and the eyelashes aren't growing as fast as they used to and I noticed a few spots that are thin.  Last year I tried out Max Factor's Masterpiece High Definition Masacara Waterproof Black and it was really horrible.  It just didn't work well with my eyelashes, it felt like I was putting on black thick goo with an awfully designed rubber spiked so called brush.  It would straighten out my curled lashes and when I washed it off (even with eye makeup oil), it'd yank out lashes.  So I ended up with a few bald spots.  Thankfully my eyelashes are in better shape now, but it's never quite recovered.

The only reason why I bought that mascara was because I ran out of Shu Uemura's Basic Black Mascara, my ultimate favorite.  So I had to run to the local place here that sells mascara, and the sales lady recommended that Max Factor one for my type of eyelashes.  Shu Uemura stopped making Basic Black Mascara, and now they made a new Ultimate Natural Mascara to replace it.  I'm still using the last tube of Basic Black so I don't know how the new Ultimate Natural will be yet. 

Anyways, I'm thinking of trying the jelly on the eyelashes thing, to see if it helps out a bit.  I get really dry skin out here, have issues with eczema when I'm here in Sweden.  But as soon as I go home to Japan it goes away within a week.  So I'm constantly using this super heavy duty Swedish cream called Idomin salva on my dry skin spots, I guess I can just rub them on my eyelashes too.

I'll have to do an update later on to see if I notice my eyelashes are growing better or not.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Food Log (6 December 2011)

Today goes in the book for 80/20 kind of day. I made some dorayaki with my cousin inlaw today, and had a small one. Dorayaki - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We had about 2 inches of snow overnight. I had to do my penguin walking to not slip in fall. I don't know how the Swedes walk around on the snow and ice as if no big deal. I should buy spikes for my shoes .

Breakfast: Oat porridge with raspberries, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, agave syrup and soy milk.

Snack: Dorayaki (Japanese sweet pancake redbeans)

Lunch: 2 slices of rye bread with a little bit of last night's leftover pork and zucchini.

Snack: 1 clementine and 1 piece of shortbread.

Dinner: Eggplant, ham and bacon tomato sauce with spelt pasta.

Exercise: Pushups and crunches.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Food Log (5 December 2011)

It snowed over night and it felt really winter like today. Cold air and slippery walkways. It's time to start walking like a penguin.

I was at my OH's nephew's bday party, and got two compliments from both his sisters. Do have to admit it felt really nice that they noticed it. It's almost hard for me to imagine that I was much heavier 5 months ago. Hopefully in another 5 months I'll reach goal weight

Breakfast: Oat porridge with raspberries, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, agave syrup and soy milk.

Lunch: 1 slice of rye bread with peanut butter and jam.

Snack: A peeled apple with cottage cheese and pumpkin seeds.

Snack: 1 piece of shortbread.

Dinner: Pork with zucchini and mushrooms, and quinoa.

Exercise: Pushups, crunches, and 30 minutes of yoga.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Food Log (3 December 2011)

Having a food weekend, but a much better one. Having some low GLs with some naughties.

Yesterday's food was Schnitzel salad for brunch, and hot dogs with multigrain fiber buns. Lots of snacks here and there some low GL and some weren't.

Today was ok meal wise, but had a bunch of none low GL snacks. Though it's my food weekend so I'm ok with it

Brunch: Hungarian Goulash with half a slice of rye bread.

Dinner: Hungarian Goulash with half a slice of rye bread.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Christmas Challenge Update 8!

Ok so I'm far from my goal, but at least this time I have a minus so it adds to the total goal weight


Cranberry Christmas Challenge 2011
(3 weeks to go!)

 
lose 13lbs (5.2/13)

Twenty Second Weekly Update!

So I have to say that I'm really happy today.  I didn't expect a loss at all this week.  Why???  The past weekend I was naughty and ate alot of high GL foods, and didn't even keep track of it.  Though I have been working out and being good with my food the rest of the week and it seemed to pay off a bit :) 

Low GL is so forgiving and so kind.  I haven't been losing as much as I want to, but I know I haven't been following low GL too well recently.  Naughty holiday foods, and of course the get together with friends and family doesn't help either.  Oh well, I just really look forward to the holiday season being over.  Not that I don't like the holidays, the foods are so wonderful.  Though they aren't wonderful when you're trying to lose weight.  I can understand why so many people begin their diet after New Year's day, and not diet during the holidays.  I'll be happy if I can lose some more weight during the holidays or not gain any weight.

Right now I'm at really strange size, I'm not big enough for my fat clothes and not thin enough for my normal to skinny close.  I'm sorta in between clothes sizes atm.  I also feel that I'm not fat but I'm not normal size yet.  Some days I feel I'm huge and some days I feel normal size.  I am glad to say that when I see myself in the mirror now I recognize myself :)

I'm thinking of posting pictures of my progress so far...  maybe a before fat picture, a fat picture and a now picture.  

Here's the 22nd weekly weight update:


-0.8 lbs (-.36kg)  

Total amount since started: -21 lbs (-9.55kg)