Camera Fail

Good afternoon everyone!

I'm doing pretty well today but yesterday was just one of those days...

I started my morning with a really nice breakfast: coffee with my breakfast soy bread. Such a delish!

I made some small changes this time, as always (I can never stick to a recipe, even if it's my own). In this case I soon found out I didn't have enough soy flour so I used 90g of that and for the remaining flour I used whole wheat. For the pureed fruit I used mostly bananas (I think it was 280g) and a little bit of apple. Chopped the rest of the apple and mixed it to the batter.

Yummy! The chopped apple made the bread really moist.

Proceeded enjoying my morning and the absolutely stunning weather. Doesn't the sun make you feel instantly better?

I took advantege of the day and took a few pics. There were signs of spring everywere...

Those two are loving the warmer weather...

This guy was particularly happy... in case you couldn't tell...

I then made myself a lovely freshly squeezed orange juice with one red and one orange orange ;P

<3 the contrast!

A nice glassFULL :D

And some hummus.

First time trying it, I have to say I was pleasently pleased.

But then bang! My camera crushed. Brand new camera broken in less than 2 months!!! I'm so clumsy, it's not even funny. So now I'll have to take it back to the shop to see if it can be fixed, lets hope so! That will take a while though since I have to find the time to go to Milan.

***

On another note, I've given my body a 2-day break from exercise since I felt very sore all over but I can't wait to working out tomorrow again. Still don't know what I'm going to do though. I'd love to go for a run but it's freezing today and it looks like it's going to rain any minute (I've been freezing my butt off at work!). Let's hope tomorrow gets better! I might just do some HIIT at home.

Have a lovely day everyone!

Love,

Elisa

The Power Of Words

Happy Thursday everybody!

I can gladly say that I feel great today!

Yesterday was such a lovely day for me. I was planning to sleep in a bit since I had to be at work later but my internal clock didn't agree with that and by 7am I was wide awake. So I decided to take the morning slow and enjoy it since I don’t often get to do that.

I turned on my computer ready to check my emails, Youtube videos and all that jazz and stumbled upon all the nice replies to this comment I left on Bodyrock.tv two days ago. I was just so overwhelmed I almost cried of joy. People were just so supportive and kind beyond my wildest expectation. Why am I telling you this? Because reading those kind words gave me such a boost that all I wanted to do was suit up and workout… and that is exactly what I did and I loved every minute of it.

It’s amazing how kindness and support can turn someone else’s day!

Funny enough, just when I finished my stretching after this brutal workout my alarm went off since I had forgotten to turn it off when I woke up earlier on. I was even happier because I got my workout out of the way without even realizing it. How wonderfully can things work out at times if you just capture the moment.

After a warm shower and a nice breakfast I was out the door by 9.45am.

The weather was gorgeous yesterday but the wind was so cold it took my breath away. Btw I must get better at this whole take-the-camera-with-me thing! I always forget :P

So when I got home my tummy was screaming for some warm and fast comfort food. Thank lord for leftovers! I heated up some delish stir-fry (onions, carrots and cabbage with soy sauce) I made yesterday paired up with some quinoa and sliced turkey. Yum yum!

My belly was finally satisfied and I could go on with my day :D

After getting some work done at home (oh, the beauty of working from home!) I decided to take advantage of the beautiful day, called up a friend and went out for a walk. We walked quite a bit and by 5pm we were starving. My friend was craving ice-cream, I really wasn’t though… did I mention how cold yesterday was? But I decided to go along with that anyways but I ordered plain yogurt (not the frozen kind and with no sugar added) and fresh cut up strawberries and banana. One word: de-lish! Who said that healthy options have to taste bad?! I enjoyed it much more than I would have ice-cream and it was good for me too. Double score!

We walked around some more and by 8pm we were ready for some dinner and we opted for a nice Chinese restaurant. I had the spring roll, a stir-fry and some spicy aubergines. I actually wasn’t going to order anything else after the stir-fry but my friend insisted that I took something else since she was going to. Don’t you hate when people do that? I know I could have said no but we were having such a nice time that I didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere. So I opted for some light-ish aubergines (thank god they were not deep-fried)! When dessert time came around though I really had to politely insist not to have any. I was certainly not going to ruin my dinner by taking something that I really didn’t want, no matter what everyone thought. People should really respect that.

***

How do you handle these kind of situations? Do you try to stick what you want? Give in? Or somewhere in between? I usually am somewhere in between: if I find a way to accommodate the other person without compromising what I want too much, I do that but only to a certain extent.

***

Off to cook some lunch… I am starving! :D

To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater.

- Bono

Love,

Elisa

Mugs, Cats And Taste Buds

Hello everybody!

Sorry for being MIA lately. It's been a really crappy week for me even though now I feel a lot better. As I wrote in a comment on Bodyrock.tv:

"I've been absent for a little less than a week. Some personal stuff really struck me bad this past week and I ended up feeling like crap, eating like crap and not exercising. This is so me and when things go wrong acting like this makes them only worse. I stop caring about myself and it's just all a downward spiral from there. Having recovered not long ago from bulimia does take a lot of strength not to go back to that dark, dark place. In the past these "bad periods" would turn into months or even years. But today, after a few days of not exercising and eating poorly (nothing compared to before tho!) I had a moment of clarity and turned the whole thing around, I started caring about myself like a mother would with her own child. I ate wholesome and nutritious food, cleaned up almost the whole house (it always makes me feel better and more in control) and did one of Z's ass kicking workouts. I feel so good right now.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to share this with you all, it's so hard to feel vulnerable but I owe it to this wonderful community to be true to you and myself. Life can be a real struggle at times and it's ok to slip every once in a while as long as we get back up and keep going, remembering that no matter how hard life may be we have the choice and power to take control. And God, does it feel good!"

It really struck me how well I reacted compared to when I was still suffering from my ED. It really shows how much I have grown in the last few months. Nobody is perfect and I do know I will have set backs every now and then, but now I have the tools within me to fight back and it feels so freaking awesome.

***

Today it's been very laid back, I worked from home plus I got a lil bit more cleaning done but overall I've just relaxed, I so needed that, and for whatever reason I just kept smiling throughout the whole day... without even trying! How crazy is that? Isn't it nice when that happens?

I guess this lil guy helped me stay positive...

Camera shy dear?

Before he was sleeping on my lap and was purring so loud, he quite literally woke himself up if that's even possible!!!

Now I am in my comfy robe enjoying a hot cup of green tea and guess who was waiting for me while I was taking this picture... :D

 

Yes, I do have a Hello Kitty cup! My ex housemate was pretty much obsessed with Hello Kitty stuff so when I left she gave me this as a gift, isn't she a sweetheart? On the other hand, I am obsessed with mugs, I don't know what it is about them but if it was for me I'd drink out of a different mug every single day.

And for the record Menelao is still on my lap. You can see his grand scheme in action:

1.      making sure I am not going to stand up until he is ready to do something else aka dinner time!

2.      measuring the distance from the floor to the chair

 

3.      pretending to be still measuring but really just begging to be lifted… he is sooo lazy!

 

4.      purring like truck on my lap! Sorry I missed the picture, he made sure I was focusing on him and him only!

Note: I am not a crazy cat lady... Just crazy! ;P 

***

Funny thing about green tea, until a few months ago I used to utterly dislike it, for the life of me even though I really wanted to like it, I couldn't stand it at all! And now I drink 1 to 2 mugs per day and love it. I find so fascinating how much taste can adapt. My taste for foods has changed immensely over the course of the past few months. Since ditching sugar and switching to a mainly clean and vegetarian diet (I eat turkey, chicken or tuna only a couple of times per week), I find that my taste buds enjoy the true flavour of natural foods way more than processed ones. Do I like stuff like pizza? Of course I do, but I also love almost every vegetable you can name (I wasn't always like that, I used to be a very picky eater), I enjoy things like candy way less than before, I actually don't eat them anymore. I'd rather have an homemade baked good (coz I know what's in it and it's not as sweet as those store-bought ones). And all this coming from someone that used to put 2 packets of sugar in her cappuccino and now I genuinely like it plain (and with no foam :P, I know, I am one fussy costumer!). It’s all about starting slow. My taste didn’t change overnight, it did over the course of days, week, months but I learned to appreciate the process. 

Wow, this is some ramble! I apologise ;) I guess my thoughts were pretty much all over the place... I wanted to talk about something totally different but I went with the flow today :P

The brain works in mysterious ways haha.

***

I see another ass kicking workout in my near future and maybe some yoga too, we’ll see. Go with the flow, right?

***

Do you find yourself rambling a lot? If you have made changes in the way you eat, did you find them affecting your taste for foods? And last but certainly not least… are you obsessed with mugs too or am I the only one?

There is no failure unless there is quitting!

- Me (I guess. I don’t know whether I’ve heard it somewhere 

but I always say this… see? Rambling again!!!)

 Love,

Elisa

28-Day Challenge Take II

Hope everyone had a fantastic day!

The weather here in Italy has been so lovely these past few days... nothing compared to the last few weeks when it was miserable!

Yay for a day off yesterday! I haven't had a free day in so long (except for last Wednesday) I was beside myself with joy when I knew I was off!

As you might have figured out, the 28-Day Challenge did not go as planned. Lately things have not been going so great for me and probably I picked the worst moment to start a challenge as I couldn't commit to it at all.

Anyways, I'm not giving up and I'm ready to get back on track. I feel way better and I plan on succeeding this time around.

So, as of yesterday I'm giving the challenge another go! It will be slightly different this time around though:

* I will have only one goal aka exercising at least 4 days a week.

Exercising is my biggest issue when it comes to slacking. When I miss a couple of workouts, it's really hard for me to get back on track. On the other hand, I find that when I exercise consistently, everything else in my life automatically falls into place. I eat better, drink more water, I'm a lot happier...

My ultimate goal is to be able to exercise 5 to 6 times per week but I know too well this is not going to happen overnight and I do need an achievable goal.

***

So to kick this challenge right in the booty yesterday I had an awesome workout!

I went back to three of my favourite ladies on the web: Zuzana from bodyrock.tv, Angela from ohsheglows and the lovely lady from YouTips4U on YouTube. I'm sure you already know them but in case you don't, go check them out because they are amazing!

If you are familiar with Zuzana's workouts, you know they are not for the faint hearted. They are mostly bodyweight HIIT (high intensity interval training).

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) or sprint interval training is an exercise strategy that is intended to improve performance with short training sessions. HIIT is a form of cardiovascular exercise which is beneficial to burning fat in a short and intense workout. [Source] 

Here are some of the benefits of HIIT:

* Maximum Cardio Benefit in Minimal Time

* Turns Your Body Into a Fat Burning Furnace

* Improve Your Endurance and Stamina

For the whole article click here.

Anyway this girl is truly amazing! She has you sweat like no other in very little time, so that even if you don't have time, you can fit in one of her workouts. She also has tips and modifications for beginners, which is great otherwise I would have never had the courage to even try her workouts!!! So even if you are just starting out, do not get discouraged, give your body a chance to surprise you. I sure was surprised and I still am every time I complete one of her workouts (modified of course :P )! Plus you can't get bored of them since every workout is different and fun in... a masochist kinda way. No, really they are fun ;)

So to start off the workout, I chose probably the most brutal of all her workouts (and man am I feeling it right now!), the Swimming In My Own Sweat Workout. Let me tell you, I almost drown but I felt awesome afterwards.

Note: if it's the first time trying her workouts, you might want to start with one of her shorter workouts. And anyways do not get discouraged, you will improve over time. I'm still a beginner myself but I'm waaay better than the first time I tried doing her workouts!

After that (I seriously don't know what got into me yesterday...) I did this video from YouTips4U.

And then I did attempted doing some core exercises that I took from OhSheGlows but after the first three exercises I had to admit defeat!

This workout really kicked my butt. I have to say though, I felt like a million dollars afterwards!

I didn't know if I wanted to show you all my sweaty face after the workout. But then I thought, I must not be the only one looking like a hot mess after a workout but that's what makes it real!

Warning: sweaty, make-up free and sleepy face!!! Keep reading at your own risk :P

That's what I'm talking about!

The good thing about this is that you know a shower will be in your immediate future.

Much better!

Sorry about the make-up free face, I really was in a hurry.

So here you have it, my first workout for the 28-Day Challenge, I do have a good feeling about this one!

***

What are your favourite workouts? Do you look like a mess after it or do you keep your cool?

 

Love,

Elisa