No words needed!

Last week was crap!
Next week will be better!

Ups and downs ... mostly downs ...

Life seems to be getting in the way of my exercise schedule so last week was not quite as active as I would have preferred. 

The week started of very well. I went to the gym on Monday. First, I took a group session with strength training. We used free weights and our body weight for the exercises. It was fantastic. The instructor was this guy I totally love, he is a fantastic instructor. I’ve taken some cardio classes with him and always come out totally wet through with sweat, exhausted and completely happy. This session was just as good! Because I was working late I didn’t managed to be there for his cardio class, so I took this Step aerobics instead. It went horribly wrong. OMG, people. I felt like the biggest idiot ever. Usually, I’m not so worried about how I look while exercising. I’ve kind of given up on the idea of meeting some lovely sexy hunk of a guy at the gym and make him fall totally in love with me. When I’m working out, I usually sweat like a pig, breath like a whale and look like Charlize Theron in Monster! What is the point of not going to the gym if you don’t give it your all, so I sacrifice my love life for my health! Anyway, let’s get back to this step class. I’ve done a few step classes before so I thought this one would be the same. Those I’ve done are called Step Interval, easy step aerobics with intervals of strength training. But no. This was not like that at all. The instructor was nice and lovely, and smilingly saying that we would start with some easy steps and then build on them. OK, I thought. Sounds great. Let me just conclude that there is a reason for why I don’t do Zumba! I cannot dance to save my life and when you add a step platform, a huge mirror and twists, turns and twirls to the program, you can just forget it. So I left after 30 minutes of a 55 minute class. Still, got some training and most importantly, know never to do this class again!!

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were rests days. I should have gone to the gym or out running on Tuesday, but life got in the way and I went out with some friends instead. It was so great to meet up with my IMEC colleagues again, great to get to re-live my thesis semester through them and just to talk. The best part is that talking to my friends from my masters program always reminds me of what I want out of live, and what I want from my live. It reminds me of my dream. It is so easy just to get caught up in living your life that you forget about doing what you really want. I’m very busy now working and trying to make money, establishing myself in a new country, making new friends and doing a good job as a kindergarten teacher that I sometimes forget about my dreams. I’ve already realised three of my biggest lifetime dreams. I have a masters degree. I’ve studies abroad. Not just in one country, but three countries!! And I’m living and working abroad right now. But I still have a couple of dreams I really want to fulfil, both professionally as well as personally. So I’m thinking to make 2013 the year for some more dreams to come true. And for all of you out there that are reading this, I just want to tell you that all your dreams can come true. It takes lots of work and some courage, but they can come true if you really really want it and work for it. Belief me!

Vow, sorry for the sermon! So, on Wednesday I had choir practice and on Thursday I had my first singing lesson. I’ve wanted to take singing lessons since I was a teenager but never done it before, so finally I went for it now. So Friday was finally a day for gym again. I had to change my shifts at work and was working until 5pm, and after a hectic week with way too much to do I gave up and went straight home after work. No gym L I went home, made a delicious pizza from scratch, Skyped with a lovely friend and went early to bed. Exhausted. All weekend I’ve been working on an article and barely moved from my desk except to go to a dinner party with some singing friends. Next week will be better, I promise!

Regarding my diet, I just want to say that I’ve been totally miserable for some of the days of the week. Really craving sugar!!! It has made me irritated, frustrated, depressed and tired. But I stuck to my plan, no sugar at all, and it is getting easier. The hardest thing, I think, is just getting over the habit of having something to nibble during those few hours I get these days to relax with a good film or TV show. But it is getting easier and I will survive. I hope ...

Progress report 1 :)

This past week has gone by very fast, I've been very busy with different things but still managed to keep on track regarding diet and exercise. I've finished all my sweets and candy! On Wednesday, I had choir practice and someone brought the most delicious Icelandic chocolate (Nóa konfekt!!) and I couldn't help myself and had a few pieces. Other than this, I haven't had any sweets since last Sunday. Finito with that! So far it has gone well although I think I may be eating too much food to compensate for the lack of carbs and sugar. So my next step is to work on portion sizes. 

Today, I have nothing in my kitchen that has added sugar apart from ketchup and a couple of frozen baguettes. So next week will truly be the beginning of my non-sugar diet. I'm looking forward to the challenge as well as dreading it a little. It is very scary to change. I've done this before, but always given up after a few weeks and now I really don't want to give up. So I think that is what I'm dreading, failing. Still, I'm an optimist by heart and will just do my best. That is all I can do, really.

On last Monday I went back to my gym. I hadn't been there since October! It was so difficult to go there. I really had to make myself, force myself really. I pretend that the reason for why it is so hard to go is because of the the distance from work and home, I have to change the subway or take a couple of buses, so it is too difficult to travel all that way. Of course, I know that is not the real reason why it was so difficult. It was lazy me finding all possible excuses for not going. 

But, I went. And I trained. Hard! And it was lovely. This time I did strength training. 10 minutes of warming up on the treadmill and then 4 exercises for lower body and 4 exercises for upper body, 3 sets each with 15, 12 and 10 reps. I mostly used free weights but also some of the machines. I was also going to do exercises for abs and back, but was totally finished physically after the other ones that I just couldn't. Will remember next time to do abs and back before upper and lower body, just in case! It was so great to really use my body and feel the burn. And the next 2 days I could hardly walk, sit down or do anything without almost screaming out in pain. Maybe I didn't stretch well enough. But it was a good start. 

On Tuesday I went for a short walk around my new neighbourhood, trying not to look like Pinocchio, you know, walking like I was made of wood. I was really stiff and sore ;) On Wednesday I had a rest day. On Thursday I went back to the gym. This time I did a group session, cardio training. It was fantastic. I'm very happy with my gym, and the instructors there are really good at motivation and getting you to give it your all in the sessions. After the cardio session I did a short strength group session were the emphasis is on abs and back. It was also fantastic and I could really feel those muscles the next day. Friday was rest day again. On Saturday I went on a lovely hike in lovely Oslo, uphill and quite challenging. It was very cold, sunny and just perfect. Today, Sunday, I went for a short walk around the city centre but it was just too cold and I wasn't dressed properly so we were quick to jump into a café. Winter is back to Oslo! 

The plan for next week is at least 2 training sessions at my gym and at least 1 hike/running session. My schedule is getting very busy at the moment so my challenge will be to make time for training and not let the week just pass without going to the gym. Regarding my diet, the plan continues to be the same, no added sugar and sweeteners, and a crack down on my portion sizes. The challenge will also be to eat enough through the day which I sometimes forget when I'm so busy. I'm also noting down all the ingredients I need to get so I can start to make delicious healthy sugar-free brownies and other goodies. Can't hardly wait :)

Heart running ...

Just had to put this here, I love this site. Everything possible for people who like to run. I really love it. Check it out :)

http://www.runnersworld.com/

A new day dawns...

So, I‘m doing this blog in English. Obviously because I‘m hoping for world fame! Or maybe just because the majority of the people involved in my life these days do not speak or read Icelandic. So, here it goes. This will be a type of health-food-exercise-life lessons-philosophical blog. I‘m working on improving my health. I want to be healthy, in good shape, well-balanced and happy. So I am now taking a stock of my life, finding areas I can improve on and continuing with the things that have been going good for me. There are several things I‘m happy with in my life. And there are several things I need to do better. That is why I‘m doing this blog. Keeping myself accountable to something, even if it is just the vast endlessness of the internet.

My goals for 2013 are these:

1.      Remove added sugar/artificial sweeteners from my diet

2.   Remove gluten and dairy from my diet (these I might add back, just want to do a little experiment and see if I need to keep them out for good or not)

3.      Getting back on track with exercising, want to improve my 10km run time

4.      Other goals that are too personal for even me to publicise ;) 

The first I need to improve on is my diet. In the last few years, I have already been doing a lot to educate myself to eat healthy. And I think I do eat healthy. At least sometimes. My biggest problem is that I´m a simple carbohydrates junkie. I just love those simple carbs. I mean, seriously. Love them! I love them even though I know they are not good for me. I feel bad physically after eating them. But for that second when they are in my mouth, it is just heaven. Very bad! Very bad indeed! Chocolate is my favourite. Liquorice, Icelandic liquorice is just delicious. And the stuff that makes you fat, you know, chips, crisps, hamburgers, hot dogs, processed food. I just love it all. Still, these few last years I‘ve learned a lot and have seriously been re-programming my brain not to love this type of food and it has worked to some degree. I still need a lot of re-programming though.

So, I now have a shelf full of healthy recipe books, my bookmarks full of different sites and blogs about the issues and I’m just totally emerging myself in healthy eating thinking. I need to go slow. In the past, I’ve been too ambitious and gone completely too far too soon and exploded and given up. Not this time. So I’m going very slowly. This January, I will only be removing added sugar and sweeteners from my diet. ‘Only’ perhaps being the understatement of the decade! Some of the books I’ve been reading suggest taking a big black trash bag and throwing all the unhealthy food in there. I suppose those people don’t live in Norway! I don’t feel comfortable throwing out food, even if it is unhealthy. Having the experience of living on a 600 Euros a month scholarship for two years may have something to do with that; you just don’t throw away food! Therefore, I have been eating all the unhealthy food I had here in the last few days. Not that I had a lot. Now, almost everything is finished. I just have about a half a pack of Pringles. I may still have some food items that have some added sugar/sweeteners though. Some cheap orange juice, pasta sauce, some baguettes. These will be finished soon. OMG, this is very exciting. 

Will keep this blog updated at least once a week, maybe more often if I’m feeling it. Enjoy J