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

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

Feeling The Change

Happy Monday (going on Tuesday... almost!)!

How was everybody's weekend? Mine was actually very nice. I got to go to Milan to visit my dad and my brother and I had a really good time. I so needed the change of scenary even though it was only for a day and a half. Tomorrow morning I'll be going back home (yea, since I work Saturdays and Sunday mornings my weekends have shifted a bit, they start Sunday afternoon and last until Monday evening).

I'm totally pooped right now, I think I walked a total of 6 hours today... got to catch up with the city, you know ;P ? On top of that this morning I did yoga for almost an hour. Dear Lord! Whoever said that yoga is easy or that it doesn't make you sweat, has clearly never tried it! I was dripping within minutes. I took a few videos on youtube from one of my favourite yogi's ever, Sadie Nardini. I did her Weight Loss Yoga part 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus some stretchig. Let me tell you, my arms and legs were shaking by the end of it and it felt awesome!

I love incorporating yoga into my workout routine. Not only does it give me a good workout, it also give me a good stretch.

***

28-Day Challenge Take II Update:

How did my first week go? Not too bad.

Was I perfect? Absolutely not. But you know what? That's ok, if it was ment to be easy, it wouldn't be a challenge.

I did a total of three workouts and I took them all from my girl Zuzana. I did one on Monday, one on Thursday and one on Sunday.

What I learned  from this first week:

* for as hard as you try, things don't always go as planned

* starting back working out after a two-month's break with the hardest workout I know might not be the best idea of all (Note to self: do not ever do that again)... I could barely move for two and a half days!!!

* you can surprise yourself. I did way better than I thought especially "mind wise". I found my motivation back and this is suh a huge thing for me! Two times out of three I fit the workout when I had little to no time because I wouldn't have missed it for nothing in the whole world! The past few months I found every possible excuse not to workout so it's nice to have my old self back!

So you live and learn, right? The best thing about week one is that now I have this great feeling that the weeks to come are going to go way better. I can feel the change :D

***

A couple of days ago someone asked me a few questions about my diet, so I figured it would be a lot more helpful to address this in a post (maybe even more than one, we'll see how it goes). As some of you may know, I struggled with eating disorders for a good 12 years. Recovery was not an easy thing for me and it took a lot of time, help, effort and self growth. Talking about it is not easy either but if sharing my story with you all will help even only one person in the whole world, I will be the happiest person alive. So check back for that!

I better go now, my little Panda (my kitty cat) is sleeping on my laps right now and she is determined to rest her head on my hand which makes the whole writing process a lot more difficult, believe me!

How did the first week of the 28-Day Challenge go? What did you get out of it? Did you struggle with it? And if you weren't in the challenge, did this past week teach you something about yourself? Did it change you in some way?

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

- Barack Obama

Love,

Elisa

Change Is In The Air

Hello everybody!

I've had some minor setbacks these last few days. I'm going through some pretty big changes, something that has been on my mind for quite some time but have actually never had the guts to do. And now it's happening all so fast, it's hard to keep up with it all. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will all turn out ok, it's terrifying and exciting at the same time. I know none of this makes sense right now, but I'll explain it all better in a couple of weeks tops when, hopefully, it'll be all a little bit clearer to me too!

Change requires a lot of strenght, more strenght than I've ever imagined, patience and faith that everything will eventually be fine.

I promise you my next posts will be a lot more uplifting.

For now I'll leave you with a couple of funny pictures of my lovely furry creatures. When I am having a sad day they always find a way to make me smile!

Sun lover Menelao,

yogi Piccolo,

and explorer Panda.

***

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But the is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life and in change there is power.

Alan Cohen



How do you deal with change? Is it something you are afraid of? Are you the type of person who remains stuck in a situation (even though you know it's not doing you any good) until you can't take it anymore? Or are you the type of person who can easily embrace change?

Love,

Elisa

28-Day Challenge

Good evening everybody!

I was a busy bee at work today, running around like a mad woman.

The highlight of the day though was this:

Has the sun ever looked so beautiful? If I didn't know it was Jannuary, I would probably think it was spring! I guess it made the day a whole lot more bearable.

So, while I was crazy busy working, my cats were busy tanning...

...and bird watching!

Lucky kitties!

The lovely Menelao kept coming towards me while I was trying to take pictures of him.

I guess he prefers cuddling rather than modelling!

Enough with the kitty talk for today ;)

***

This afternoon, while looking at the calendar, I realized... 28 days till the end of the month, this could be the perfect time for a 28-day challenge! I'm coming out a pretty long period of slacking when it comes to exercize and eating right, you know, there's the holiday season and then there was the flu and then just mere and plain excuses. It's time for me to kick my own ass back into gear. So, since it takes 21 to 28 days to build an habit, for the next 28 I will be focusing on building back those habits that kinda got lost down the road.

Here are my 28-Day Challenge's goals:

* Exercise 5 times per week:

[Source]

Exercising is pretty important for me, it's not only about the calories, it keeps my energy high throughout the day, improves my mood, decreases my headaches and it automatically makes me eat better. A win-win situation, right? Well sometimes, especially at 6am when I wake up to exercise, all these very valid reasons seem to magically disappear and a warm cozy bed looks much more appealing...

* Eat 5 smaller meals instead of 3 bigger ones:

Eating 5 smaller meals is so much better for you, it spikes up the metabolism, it doesn't leave you starving between meals and it's much better for your energy levels.

* Drink 2/3 liters of water per day:

[Source]

Well, water is just downright awesome for us

[Source]

* Do house chores at least 1h per day: 

It can be anything but keeping things clean and organized simply makes me function better!

***

Have you ever done a 28-day challenge? Was it helpful? Do you want to join the challenge? What are your goals?

Love,

Elisa