Sick!

Hello everyone!

I've been away for a week and I apologise. Unfortunately I had the flu and I was in bed delirious most of the time :(

But now I am back, with still a little bit of sore throat but that will get better soon with lots of water and orange juice (I got lots of oranges to use up :D)

***

I'm also planning on doing a 28-day challenge recap very soon, so check back for that.

 ***

I'll leave you with a pic from "surprise Valentine's day"





Most fab pineapple-coconut drink I've ever had!





I was actually going to be in Milan to visit my dad on the 14th so my boyfriend decided to surprise me a few days before with a fluffy stuffed heart stuffed with my favourite chocolates (don't worry I've eaten just 2, the rest I am going to share... I think ;P) and taking me out to dinner.

The plan was to go to my favourite restaurant but when my boyfriend called to make a reservation he found out that it was closed and the same happened with a couple of other restaurant that I love... I mean, what's up with that!

So we decided to go out anyways and see what was open and go from there. We wanted to get out of our town and ended up going to Loano, a very nice nearby town on the coast. As soon as we got there, as it was a little too early for dinner, we decided to look for a place to have drinks first. I could not believe it but 90% of the little cafes were actually gelaterie! Imagine that, eating gelato in the freezing cold, right before dinner! Not going to happen!

Eventually we found a very nice place called Gipsy (too bad it doesn't have a website!), on the beach, with nice music, candles and all that jazz where we could finally have our drinks: bingo!

I got 1 2 drinks (made with fresh pineapple juice and fresh coconut... I was in love!). Lucky while we were there we realized they also served dinner on the 1st floor, which was even nicer, had very comfy wicker chairs (hope I'm saying it right) and overlooking the beach! Wow!

The restaurant made mainly fish but surprisingly they also had a lot of vegetarian dishes (since the chef's wife is vegetarian). I took the veggie lasagna which was to die for (no kidding, I'm still thinking about it!), a nice warm salad with feta cheese and we split a cheesecake (that was the only thing that wasn't that good out of all we ordered). Sorry guys, no pics everything was so good that I completely forgot about my camera taking pics with my phone (the camera is still broken). We definitely splurged coz it was so good but I don't feel guilty one bit, life is also about splurging every once in a while!

All in all our evening went way better than we actually anticipated it. The restaurant turned out to be even better than my favourite one! Plus I was really surprised by the whole thing and you can see that as I was wearing jeans and a top and I was completely makeup-less! lol

Isn't it really nice when life surprises you like that!

A story to me means a plot where there is some surprise. Because that is how life is - full of surprises.

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Love,

Elisa

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

Why I Love HIIT

Good evening everyone!

I'm doing pretty well. It's really late now and I should get to bed but before that  I wanted to share with you all a shocking (at least for me) but nice thing that happened to me a couple of days ago.

***

HIIT & Running

On Monday morning I decided to go running after a loooong time (I think the last time I went was back in August). Now, my running background is almost non existent.

[Extremely long intro ALLERT!]

I started running back in July and I followed the C25K (Couch to 5K) program (which I highly recomend for anyone who wants to start running). It basically is a running training plan that "gets you from your couch to being able to run 30min straight". You start really slow alternating jogging and walking (60sec jogging/90sec walking) and through the course of 9 weeks you build up to running 30min straight.

So as I was saying I started the program back in July. Within 2 months I was able to run for 30min straight. That was so incredible for me! Unfortunately around the end of August I sprained my ankle (of course I did) and I had to stop running. It wasn't anything major but I didn't want to make the injury any worse by running. That also ment I stopped exercising all together and became pretty much sedentary. I didn't ended up gaining a whole lot of weight because I was still eating fairly well, but I really didn't like how things were turning up.

It was around Christmas when it really hit me. I could not go on like that. I had to take care of myself like I was before. Exercising (when I happened to do it consistently) has always made me feel so good about myself, inside and out and I couldn't deny myself a chance of being truly happy only because I wanted to choose the easier way.

It was so cold out that I really didn't feel like running. The gym wasn't an option either as I didn't and still don't have a lot of money. So I decided to give home workouts a go. I tend to get really bored with workouts dvds, I should probably own way too many not to get bored. So that wasn't the way to go. What then? I had been following Bodyrock.tv for a long time (if you are not familiar with it, I talked about it in more details in this post... I even posted a really embarassing post workout face, I clearly didn't know what I was thinking lol) but I actully did try very few of their workouts as they were pretty much intimidating.

This time though I said to myself: "Elisa, you really have to give it your all, you can't say that you can't do the workouts if you don't give them a real chance!" And so I did. And guess what? I hated it the first time and felt like I was going to pass out; by the second time I still kind of hated it but I started to like they way it made me feel afterwards; by the third time I didn't want to admit it to myself but I actually enjoyed it; by the forth time I was basically hooked! And now I look forward to working out every single day or almost, you need to give your muscle proper rest when you feel like they need it. It was a little more complicated than this but you get the hang of it. Of course I had bad days but like a little soldier I kept getting back up and this last week I felt better than ever, worked out 5 day out of 7 and on Mondays I even decided to try to go running again.

I was pretty much ready for failure, I thought that after such a long break it would take me ages to go back to running like I was back in August. I had heard many times the great effects of bodyweight HIIT on cardiovascular endurance so I thought I might be even able to run 5min intervals vs the 60sec intervals I started with on my first run ever.

So, how did it go?

Not only did I not stopped after 5min but I kept going for 25min STRAIGHT! Can you freaking believe it?? I still can't! I am so happy and excited about it that I've been in my little happy bubble ever since, smiling to myself every now and again for no apparent reason. Never in my wildest dreams I thought something like this was possible. Of course my run was more of a jog than a run but still, I think this is amazing!

***

Wow, that was some long story! I really need to work on my rambling.

I better go to bed now, I am just happy I shared this with you all and I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring.

Have a good night/day wherever you are.

***

Have you ever tried HIIT? If so, what do you think of it? Have you experienced any unexpected results so far? If you haven't tried it, are you curious to try it out? Are you intimidated by it? What are your expectations?

***

Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is.

- Anne Frank

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