Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of great news to report since my last post.

In fact there’s kind of some bad news. My gym, my NEW gym, at least the branch in Arnhem, where I live, has been taken over by another company. That means I can no longer go there. This also means that I am not seeing the personal trainer anymore, nor have I actually been to the gym for a couple of weeks.

Funnily enough, remember back when I went to the gym with a friend of mine, in another town (I thought I’d mentioned it anyway but I can’t find the post)? Well we both belonged to HealthCity and then her branch was bought out by Basic-Fit. They took away a lot of the classes, no more trainers and you had to pay extra for things like showers and lockers. At HealthCity they also had things like free beverages (non-alcoholic) and child care services (not that I needed it, but still), but that’s all been dropped as well.

What pissed me off the most is that they just assumed I would switch over to the new membership and they deducted the money from my account, whilst my company also deducted the membership fees from my salary. I got the money back, thankfully.

But now what? I can go in Amsterdam, but that means being home pretty late, so I’d need to really re-think my food schedule (not only eating something before gym, but AFTER the gym, since it’s 2 hours to get home, but ALSO that food is already prepped for the next day, since I won’t have time the rest of the evening to prepare). I could go in Nijmegen (a city close to me) but I can’t take public transport at all. I’d have to go home first, eat, get the car, drive a half an hour…. You get the picture. Again, I’d have to re-do my food schedule as well. I could go in Utrecht, which is halfway between work and home, but again I have the same challenge really.

This is quite annoying.

I quit my other gym to go to HealthCity and now I really don’t think this is going to work out. I signed up for a year! I feel like I’ve been tricked! Surely they knew they were going to sell. You don’t just make this decision from one day to the next. I started in Feb, they officially changed 1st of May.

My biggest fear is that my company also are not going to get me out of this contract and I will be paying eventually for two memberships, since I really do NEED to go to a gym to work out. I want to do strength training and I don’t have the space or the equipment at home.

In the meantime this means that any and all weight loss is stalled yet again because basically I’m only doing the bare minimum.

I realize this really is a luxury problem, but it still could end up costing me quite a bit if I end up not going to any HealthCity. No one likes to just piss money away, whether it’s a luxury or not!

What am I going to do…?

A few months ago I signed up for the Spieren voor Spieren (that’s “muscles for muscles” literally translated) City Run in Hilversum (the media capital of the Netherlands). I knew it was the week after Milan and I thought it would be fine since at Milan I was “only” running 7KM so no big deal right?

Milan came and went and I was pretty darned exhausted the week after, not to mention crazily busy at work and I thought “really, Pinky? what have you done!?” I was not really in the right mind set to do another race so soon afterwards.

The nice thing about it though, was that my colleague Sam, was also running! What I didn’t know was that it was her VERY FIRST race! And a 10K to boot! So probably by Wednesday/Thursday last week I was feeling it a little bit more and looking forward to at least meeting up with her and her partner and starting the race together.

Hubs was once again gracious enough to get out of bed early on a Sunday to accompany me to the race. Hilversum is not so far away, but not close either, so we still were out the door around 9:15 to start the journey to get there. I used to work in Hilversum (it’s where I worked when I first came to the Netherlands) and I have a soft spot for the place (many of my “firsts” in this country happened here) but I didn’t really research where the route would take me so I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. Turns out the course went through the Media Park (never been there) so it was fun to see all the television studios. It also went up the street where I used to work and around one of my most favourite buildings in the country, the Hilversum Town Hall (by the famous architect Dudok)

The weather was fairly cooperative and I felt good and it turns out I ran my fastest 10K to date!

For me this is real improvement! In June of last year when I ran Rotterdam, if you recall correctly, it was completely on my bad knee. I had to stop running after this and now I know it was the best thing that could have happened to me. I’ve learned a lot about how to take care of myself in order to run better and stronger and I’ve learned something VERY important:

NEVER COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS
YOU ARE YOU
YOU ARE UNIQUE
YOU HAVE YOUR OWN SPECIAL QUALITIES

I have been WAY more relaxed about running since I started up again and I have absolutely NO DESIRE to do any more than I know I am capable of at this time in my life.

When you are relaxed, you just perform better. When you don’t CARE if you PR or not, you just perform better. By that I mean, if you are good in your head, no matter what the outcome, it is ALL good.

As you can also see I have already some other races lined up and I am truly looking forward to them.

A Public Service Announcement:

I realise this may be slightly out of character for me, but please bare with me as a friend of mine is in serious need for help and I want to do whatever I can to get her through this really rough period.

My friend Melissa is just an everyday, ordinary girl who lives out in California. We became friends several years ago on an online community (gosh it must be AT LEAST 10 years now), bonding over similar tastes in music, tattoos, concerts and a “different” sense of humour. I’ve never actually met Melissa in person, but I am positive that if I ever did, we would get along swimmingly.

Lately, however, she’s been struck with a string of bad circumstances. After years of being told her occasional back flare-ups were “sciatica,” she found out last February it was actually two extremely extruded (bulging aka herniated) discs. The doctor who first gave her this news pointed her in the direction of several out-of-pocket treatments that sometimes greatly improve the condition, as to avoid surgery. She did so for months with some luck, only to be completely sabotaged by a co-worker knocking her to the floor last April.

After that, she did physical therapy as long as insurance would allow her — but it was pretty much a done deal that surgery was the only option and no improvement was coming any other way. Five months ago, she had to have major back surgery. When she came out of it, she was met with news of serious complications and then her surgeon admitted he had also greatly mishandled her pain management (i.e. she had NONE during surgery or after that worked until day 2 post-op). This not only kept her in agony and in the hospital for NINE days, but set her back recovery-wise from the start. Once home, it took almost four months of bureaucratic drama to even begin proper physical therapy. After only a handful of appointments (and FINALLY seeing improvement), her recovery was brought to a halt due to a sudden lack of disability income or healthcare.

Aside from the immediate needs (for the next month she is definitely having to pay cash for her many appointments and medication refills), until the entire situation turns around and she isn’t relying on disability income (which she again is not currently receiving), she may not even be able to afford to pay for the health care extension program they have in the States (COBRA) for long.

To make a tough situation even worse, she is also dealing with a completely out-of-the-blue breakup with her long-term, live-in boyfriend, for reasons that were never given but can easily be surmised by those close to the situation. He had insisted on being her primary caregiver and then he dumped her out of nowhere, left her practically homeless with a week to find somewhere to land, knowing full-well that her savings had been depleted and it was the one time she actually needed to lean on him temporarily for any sort of financial assistance. She is now in a bind worse than this blurb describes or she wants to admit and she desperately needs immediate help, so that she can land on her feet again.

For the time being, she is now living with her mother – hours away from her job (which she will be returning to when healthy), doctors, friends, and basically everything she’s known in her life for the past several years.

She has never before in her life shared her problems this publicly or asked anyone for money; has worked since she was 18 and had a very stable job (still does technically) developing The Sims video games for Electronic Arts for the past six years, following previous stable jobs — so the degree of need should speak for itself if she’s even willing to share, let alone ask or accept. The overall need is unknown, but it is truly urgent right now – and probably to a degree for the rest of the year. Of course, Melissa does not expect anything from anyone, especially nothing more than anyone can afford.

Melissa is in a really rough place right now, and she needs as much help as she can get. Here’s where you come in:
1. If you can spare a few dollars, Melissa’s paypal address is beegrrl [at] gmail [dot] com (two r’s and no i). I know she would appreciate absolutely anything.

2. No money? No problem. Do you have a blog? If so, please consider spreading the word in support of Melissa (either copying and pasting my blog entry, or writing up something of your own). The goal is as many eyeballs as possible, because hopefully someone will find it in their hearts (and wallets) to help her out.

3. No blog? How about posting a link back to this post on your facebook, twitter, other social media?

I’d like to compile a list of everyone that has shared this (or donated, if you prefer to not remain anonymous), so that Melissa can really see how many people care about her. I will update this entry with links as I hear from people.

I know it’s not my usual thing, to post outright pleas like this – and I’ll definitely go back to food, running and other amazing drivel I come up with on a regular basis – but I feel horribly for Melissa, and this is one of the biggest things I can do to help.

Thanks for reading and wouldn’t it be wonderful if even one person reading this could help a girl out?

I know it’s a week later but it’s been crazy since I’ve returned from Italy! Where to start?

I actually took Thursday (the 12th) off of work because I hadn’t actually had much time to prep for the trip and the race. A few days before I received a phone call which inquired whether I would be able to leg 2 instead of leg 4 (10K vs. 7K) as the organisers had kind of messed up our order. Considering that I hadn’t really trained for 10K I stated my preference and hoped for the best. On Thursday, just in case, I went out around lunchtime and did 9K here in Westervoort (it’s a 1.5KM walk to the bridge and then a 7+K loop back up to the bridge again) as I didn’t want to do 10K cold after only doing little 5 and 6K training runs with the Hubs. Afterwards I was able to get my bag packed and prep up some food to take with me to be prepared for hunger and not give in to carbo-snacks.

On Friday I was up just a little earlier than usual and out the door a little earlier than usual and on the train at 6:45 to Schiphol. I’m one of those like to be early rather than late so to be sure I could check in my bag on time and get some coffee I arrived at the airport around 8 (my flight was at 10:20). Admittedly I did eat a muffin from Starbucks (and I did enjoy every bite without any stomach repercussions) but that was as exciting as my time at the airport got. The flight was uneventful (well besides the group of quacking ladies sitting all around me) and I arrived in Milan two hours later. I picked up my bag, and caught the €5 shuttle to Milano’s Centrale FS (Central Station) and then picked up some metro tickets to get to my hotel. Of course being the control freak I am, I had already studied the underground map to determine which metro lines I needed to get where I wanted to be Of course I figured out later that Centrale FS was totally walkable but better to have taken the underground instead of schlepping my wheelie bag down the street a kilometer.

My hotel was luckily recommended by a colleague who is originally from Sicily but lived up in Milan for probably the last 15 years. Originally we were told that we might have accommodation paid for by MCM who was sponsoring us in the race, but sadly this was not the case. I was happy anyway with my hotel and the location which was extremely central and I would most definitely go back there again.

I got settled in and was a little bit tired so I decided to take a quick cat nap before going out to have a look around. Once I was up and fresh again I decided to walk down the main road my hotel was just off of Corso Buenos Aires (a major shopping street), looked in a few shops and then decided to go to the Duomo, walk around, maybe get something to eat.

(the weather wasn’t so great and I only had my mobile phone camera with me)

I’ve been to Milan once before and I am still in awe of this building:

Of course this is the major tourist section of town and I just wanted to get a salad but at prices around €20 I really didn’t want to stick around there. I was looking at one place and the waiter was trying to get me to come in but I said no, it was too expensive and I just needed a salad nothing else, so he actually recommended me to go somewhere very close to there as it was cheaper. Unfortunately that salad was €12 and I could have made a better one myself but with fresher ingredients and less money. Ah well. They did have a good espresso

as much as I wanted to, I did NOT order my favourite Sicilian dessert that happened to be available at this restaurant…

At that stage I got a message from Monique that the VIP party was at 8pm that evening and could I come? So after I finished up my sub-par salad and coffee I headed out to the Expo where the MCM Village was located. Of course I didn’t fully get that right and ended up walking in the rain quite a bit but finally found it.

Amazingly enough as I was walking out I heard someone call my name! Hanna, who I’ve never met before, recognised me from my photos here and on Daily Mile How coincidental is that? I mean, sure, it was possible I suppose, but we didn’t plan on meeting there and I had no idea she would be with her boyfriend who was picking up his race packet for the marathon! We chatted for a few minutes and we went out separate ways. I headed back to the hotel, with a slight detour to the supermarket to pick up some snacks. Then I hung out for a while in my hotel room before going out again to the Expo to meet Monique and go to the VIP Party.

To be honest, we were a bit late in and maybe that’s why, but the VIP party wasn’t much. We did get a complimentary beverage and a water bottle, and there was food available but we did not partake.

Monique and Alessandro, one of the MCM organisers:

Monique had quite the adventure just even getting to Milan so we both were not 100% into the party. Ended up back at the hotel I’d say around 9:30 where I chilled out with a glass of wine and some nuts (pistachio – paleo style, yeah!!)

Saturday morning up early to meet the girls (Maya and her mom and sister and Monique; Hanna lives in Milan and skipped the tour) at the Duomo for a walking tour. As I said, I’ve been to Milan before but I don’t recall much from the trip and I certainly didn’t do anything touristy so the walking tour was a really nice experience. We spent about one hour alone in the Duomo, and then through the Galleria and up a shopping street until we reached the palace, which happened to be where the finish line of the race was

Fun Fact: I did not know that Leonardo da Vinci actually lived and worked in Milan for quite some time

When I saw this I really started feeling nervous and excited!

After the tour we went and had lunch, then went to the Expo to pick up our race packets and goody bags and got our T-shirts personalised (and I went and finally had a cappuccino even though it’s totally not done in the afternoon in Italy) and then at some point we all parted ways again at least for a few hours. Hanna was kind enough to not only invite us for dinner, but even made sure she had something for me to eat since she knew I was off grains (serious hospitality!!).

Quickly back at the hotel I prepped my luggage, my race gear bag and my clothes for the next day and then off to Hanna and Francesco’s for dinner!

Race Day

As it had been raining off and on I was still hopeful that we would have some sunshine on the day of the race itself but sadly it wasn’t meant to be. It was already raining when I woke up at 7:30 and it just continued. I had my breakfast and did my final checks before leaving the hotel (I had to check out but leave my luggage there) and I was off to my part of the Marathon (the red bit at the end)

I arrived quite early for my leg but wanted to be sure I could drop off my bag on time. I spent probably the first 1.5 hours in McDonald’s of all places (I know ) because I just wanted to sit next to the window, have a coffee and stay warm (did you know in Italy they actually steam the milk for cappuccinos unlike in most other countries??) while I watched the first Marathoners come in around the 33K mark. At around 12:30 I walked back up to my area, waited the obligatory ages to use the loo for the last time and then I waited in my section for Hanna. I thought she would be in anywhere from 1:15pm to 1:30pm but alas she was there much later and it was absolutely bucketing down (and of course I had to use the loo again by the time she arrived but because I didn’t know where she was, I didn’t) – I felt so bad for her, she really got the worst of it.

Then suddenly, she was there! She passed off our timing chip bracelet, I started my iPod and my Garmin and off I went! The first KM marker was 34… remember I was supposed to be doing 7K??? Yeah, it was definitely going to be more than that! It rained the WHOLE time and I was soaked to the bone. I actually ran all the way through except for maybe a minute and a half when i had a little stitch in my side around 6K. In the end I came through in 1:00:58 at a smidge under 9 kilometers.

I found my bag and my teammates eventually and we took some photos (that I’m still waiting for *wink* Maya), Maya headed off with her family and Monique, Hanna and I went over to a Gelato place for coffee and, well, gelato! Francesco was still moving and smiling after completely the Marathon so he joined us as well.

Hanna and Francesco were kind enough to let me shower at their place and afterwards I sadly had to go back to the hotel, pick up my luggage and go to the airport. My adventure was over.

Lots of things learned about this experience, mainly that I need to really do something about my need for everything to be organised and sorted out in advance. I do think I would have done a few things differently but I think all in all Monique had a pretty tough task in front of her to bring four busy people together for a Marathon relay. I’m really glad I was asked to do it, and I’m glad to have met 3 (plus one mom and one sister!) lovely ladies I wouldn’t have met otherwise. Would I run Milan again? I’m not so sure. Maybe. Maybe not. The race wasn’t bad, I found the organisation good, I thought they took quite good care of us but personally I don’t think the route is that beautiful. My leg was quite OK but only at the end did I get to see some amazing architecture and history in front of me. It’s not the Marathon Organisation’s fault of course if the route isn’t gorgeous, I just think I’d like to try a few more places like perhaps Barcelona or Paris in the future.

You know that saying that goes around all the billions of weight loss boards, communities, groups and what not?

Well, it’s pretty true. I’ve been doing different stuff over the past couple of years but still pretty much the same. You know, maybe less of this and more of that, or different combinations of foods, more protein, less carbs, no carbs before 11am, only carbs before running, etc. One thing I didn’t do very successfully was cut down on pasta and rice in particular.

Until a couple of months ago of course… now that I’m getting used to NOT eating grains, it’s actually OK. I even went to ITALY and DID NOT EAT THIS:

But instead I went to the supermarket and for example I ATE THIS:

I mean, seriously, I never would have imagined I would go to Italy and NOT have pizza (I was tempted whilst we were out, but I had a salad instead) or pasta (and thankfully my relay team-mate Hanna who lives in Milan invited us for dinner on Saturday and her boyfriend made me a special meal of steak and salad while the rest of the gang carb-loaded). Actually, if you ARE A meat eater, Italy is a great place to be, plus the vegetables are wonderfully ripened by the sun, the olives are divine, the cheese amazing. You don’t even NEED pasta or pizza, there are plenty of other choices.

I have to say too, I feel good. I feel strong. I feel kind of lean. It sounds strange to say it maybe but when I’m running lately my core feels really strong – I don’t think I’ve ever felt like that before.

Anyway, the whole point of this is that I am actually losing weight:

and down 900gr according to the scale at the gym this evening, from the last time I weighed in.

So yeah. About time I did something different!!

Remember that little Marathon relay I was going to participate in? Well the time has come! I’m on my way to Milano!

Updates and the latest food posts coming after the weekend. Wish me and my team luck!

Sometimes I get a little sick of how limited I feel at the moment with food. So what I know how to cook I’ve been trying hard to make not only look nice but taste delicious as well.

Saturday night I made salmon. That’s a really great fish with loads of good oils in case you hadn’t yet read the memo. With it I had sugar snap peas (OMG – I thought these were off the list but in Melissa Joulwan’s Well Fed book, they are listed as yes foods), broccoli, sesame seeds and sun dried tomatoes. I made some rice for the Hubs (needed a break from cauliflower) but stayed away from the fluffy white stuff myself.

I use sun dried tomatoes that are NOT in oil already; I basically take them, add a bit of white wine vinegar, 1 TBSP olive oil and boiling water and let them swell up for a bit.

I “marinated” the salmon in lemon juice, garlic and 1 TBSP sesame oil – for two pieces of fish (1 was 140gr and 1 170gr), fresh rosemary and sesame seeds, salt and pepper to taste.

I steamed my vegetables but put a bit of lemon juice and sea salt on top – this made the colour stay incredibly green!

The end result was really amazing! Just a simple meal that really looked and tasted amazing. No one can say that eating healthy is boring!

More Health and Fitness News & Tips at Greatist.

After more than 2 long years of nothing happening in the weight loss department, it seems I have had some success for more than a few weeks in a row. I haven’t noted all results here on the blog, but I have been tracking on My Fitness Pal:

Interesting enough is that I started this “silly” Paleo thing in February and my first weigh-in (on home scale) was on the 23rd of Feb (the few weigh-ins prior to that were after I’d started at the new gym). As you know, in the beginning I was struggling to find my way, struggling with the concept of not eating grains – rice, bread, pasta – but after several attempts, and several chats with my PT there is a clear path of moving downwards. Check this out:

Translation:

lengte – height
gewicht – weight
BMI
BMR
Vet% – Fat Percentage
Vet Mass – Fat Mass
Vetvrije Massa – Fat Free Mass
Lichaamsvocht – Body Moisture
Ieasle Waarden – Ideal Values

I think all the numbers look quite interesting, especially the vat percentage change and the amount of kilos (fat mass). Then if you look at the Ideal Values, I’m actually close as far as Fat Mass goes, with being “normal”.

This is more convincing to me than just losing weight – of course we all know how much i would love to be under 80KG and dareIsayit I do think it may just be possible, but I’m most interested in being fit and reaching other goals than just the one on the scale. I want to be LEAN and FIT so not necessarily fitting into the “perfect weight” box with the actual amount of kilos in total.

For you food porn lovers, a few things I’ve eaten recently:

Chicken sausage. Goat’s cheese, mushrooms, red onion tomato, courgette

Turkey, bimi, light feta cheese, sundried tomatoes, bit of olive oil

Little omelet the hubs made for me

Cottage Cheese with cherry tomatoes, celery, spring onion, teaspoon olive oil

Cottage cheese with courgette, cherry tomatoes, avocado

Leftover meat (spaghetti) sauce with steamed broccoli and fresh parmagiana cheese

My famous tuna salad with romaine lettuce (I have this often, changing the veg or “salad” type, but always use a small tin or Rio Mare Italian tuna in oil)

A little snack: chicken, chorizo, celery sticks and mustard

I found this recipe and then changed it a wee bit by using Salmon instead of tuna and sun dried tomatoes instead of mango chutney. My vegetables used were string beans and broccoli with 2 teaspoons sesame seeds. So really I just used the recipe for an idea and it turned out really well yummy

And finally – recently I participated in Ali’s photo contest for Running With Spatulas – here’s me, well, “running” with spatulas (I didn’t win, boo, but I still love you Ali!!)

As far as exercise goes, finally a good workout yesterday at the gym but OMG do the kettlebells KILL!! Last week I ran once and cycled 35ish KM. Trying to just stay active but not overtain. Milan is not this weekend but next (!!!!), week after that I have a 10 K, one in May, 2 in June, and one in September! I’m excited to have a few races lined up!!

In February I signed up with a personal trainer. To be honest I am not sure that I am a better person for it. But fine, I signed the contract, I’m in for 3 – 4 months.

Part of the deal is that I give a specific diet a try even though I said several times I did not want to diet because I was sick of it being such a focus in my life when nothing ever changed. And, only three days in I was pretty much Bitchy McBitcherson and convinced I would not give it any further time or energy. I spoke to my PT about it, he helped me figure out how to work it into my life and schedule and so I carried on.

It’s something like 6 weeks later and nothing has really changed that much. At least not on the scale. Well, wait, that’s not the truth because I have seen 81.5 KG recently, which is a whopping 700 grams less than when I started the diet So, just weight wise, I’m not super convinced. I have NOT been 100% and I’m just putting that out there because I am fully aware that I can not blame the diet, the trainer, the candy jar, or anyone or thing else for ANYTHING except for myself.

As we have had a fairly rough start (he’s been ill and cancelled many appointments) I also don’t see a huge change in my body shape or fitness level. On Monday I went to my appointment and basically said “I want to get fit. I want to work out. I don’t want to diet.” However, I promised I would give it another 30 days with the weekdays being full on and shooting for under 1500 calories and the weekends being a bit more free and having bread if I want it (and I don’t eat much bread but Hubs makes it fresh and damn if that is not hard to pass up!), for example.

I did notice that after 3 weeks of no pasta, one night I decided I was just going to have it, I totally felt a difference in my digestion! My stomach was working VERY hard to process it! This was even whole wheat pasta, you know the stuff that is supposed to be good for you! Now I’m not going to tell anyone to throw out their pasta and rice but honestly, had I not gone without it, I wouldn’t have known. I also had rice a couple of times and noticed a slight tinge, but not as bad. As for dairy, I still have a wee bit, but again I never really had much milk for example, and was limited on cheese. I tried coconut milk on my cereal (well muesli – and on this plan I have TWO carb meals a day and FOUR protein/veg/fat meals) and I LOVED it! So, score on replacing some dairy. Goat’s cheese is fine, cottage cheese is fine, kwark and greek yoghurt is fine too (as a protein though, so NO fruit or sugars with it, I’ll pass thanks). Yoghurt is fine but it’s a carb, so I have it with fruit (preferably berries, totally skipping my banana for the time being).

The change we’ve now made is to have only ONE carb meal a day and replace the other with or a little protein or just munching on veggies. That’s fine, I am prepping a load of veggies on the weekend and then just taking little baggies with me. I’m eating so many vegetables, it’s kind of insane. Like at least a kilo. I feel LESS hungry than before I was eating this way.

I am getting a little bit bored with what I have so I’ve actually bought a cook book called Well Fed and I’ve been listening to Robb Wolf‘s Podcasts of the Paleo Solution. I like the science behind the solution, but I do not think I could fully avoid grains, dairy, legumes and potatoes the rest of my life. I do think I could sustain quite a lot of the plan, simply because I feel pretty good at the moment.

I also feel good because Operation Get Enough Sleep is actually working out quite well and that has a lot to do with the supplements that my PT recommended – namely Magnesium Citrate and Melatonin. I am also going to be picking up some Vitamin D soon (even with sun you can be deficient) and I take Valerian from time to time when I feel my stress levels rising. So actually food, plus exercise, plus sleep, plus less stress actually is not a bad deal. It really shouldn’t be able the scale, even though I am still officially overweight. I’m going to say it again, I don’t want it to be my focus, it doesn’t create a good feeling for me.

More food on the paleo front:
Chicken jalfreezi with sauteed courgette

Chicken sausage with mushrooms and spinach

And look I’m still running, in fact hubs started running with me again!