Tag Archives: fitness

Oh Wow.

Posted on by Renée
2

It’s like a freaking ghost town in here, man

Hopi tumbleweed race

It’s already January 18th! How did this happen??

Well. I will tell you how.

New Years Came and Went. I had to work. That’s right. I work in financial admin and end of the month is end of the month. Bookkeeping stops for no man! Sure it sucks but don’t worry, blog friends, I get the time compensated. That whole festive feeling? Yeah, I didn’t quite have it.

The Holidays are busy times for all of us. Here in the Netherlands we have Sinterklaas, then Christmas, then New Years. In addition to that, my husband’s birthday is on the 12th pf January, then my stepson’s the 30th and the stepdaughters the 12th of Feb. I am broke my mid-February as you can imagine!

I was feeling pretty homesick around the beginning of December and I know it has a lot to do with wanting to see my Grandmother (she is 90, has Alzheimers and is living in a care facility near my dad), but also the holidays were kind of dramatic this year and while I won’t divulge too much, let’s just say celebrating here is more complex and, well, different than at home. And the atmosphere isn’t the same. There are no snow-capped mountains and the smell of juniper and pinon burning in neighbours’ fireplaces. There are no luminarias. No posole or bizcochitos. I know it’s not about food or lights or whatever, it’s about being with the ones you love. For me it just doesn’t work out the way I envision. No matter how I try. In any case I’ve decided next Christmas and New Year I will be in New Mexico proving most likely that the grass isn’t always greener, but, hey, I’ll get that out of my system once and for all.

Work has been stressful, even still; a lot of work to be done and not enough people. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t travel 130KM each way to work for almost 6 years now if I didn’t love my employer and my colleagues. Add a few other dynamic elements to the mix and that led to quite a lot of stressful days, emotional reactions, and, yes… chocolate.

I ended the year just under 80 kilos – just under at 79.8 I believe – which is still a slight improvement from the year(s) before, but at some point in 2012 I saw the number 77 and remember keeping my squeals of delight to a minimum to not wake up the entire neighbourhood. I know what I’m doing wrong. I know how to stop it. I just don’t.

So here we are. January 18th, 2013. I was the cook for my husband’s birthday party last weekend which meant total control over what went into the food and let me tell you, it was a huge success. Everyone loved my no-bean hummus and veggies, my lean meatballs and falafel and very low fat garlic sauce to fill up little pita breads. You know what I did though? I forgot to eat enough and ended up with a huge hangover! I haven’t had a hangover like that for years! Running and training has sort of “wrecked” (I’m not complaining) my drinking nights and I just forgot what that old life felt like! For the first time in aaaaaaages I didn’t run on a Sunday. That didn’t feel very good at all.

Food has been a total challenge so far this month. December saw quite a few old habits rearing their ugly heads – bread, rice, cookies, cake… well you know what the holidays are like. Don’t you love that excuse? I wanted a fresh start but I’m feeling uninspired. I’m lacking that drive I normally have to do the right things, as much as possible, when it comes to food. I don’t have desire for anything so I’m just stuffing everything in. I’m still tired, sad, bored, frustrated, missing home (odd, after 18 years of living in another country), wishing I could seemingly be like all those other people in the world who can just eat and do (or do not) anything they want. Poor me. Pity Party Table for One. Preferably in the Corner, thanks.

On the other hand, fitness has been pretty good! But I believe it was Tara who said “you can’t out-exercise a bad diet”. Too right, darlin. You can’t. However, So far I’ve run 38 Kilometers and amazingly BIKED 40 Kilometers in just 18 days. Biked. In the cold and snow. AND I’ve been to the gym 3 times. I actually went to the new GRIT class -and if you know me, you know that I am deathly fearful/ intimidated by classes – I want to do more and try more and experience more this year!

Speaking of which – I have a few things lined up already:
10 MARCH – DUNEA 10K RUN in Den Haag
21 APRIL – SHERPA LADIES 10K, SPIEREN VOOR SPIEREN CITY RUN in Hilversum (did this last year with Samantha)
15 SEPTEMBER – LEONTIEN LADIES RIDE in Rotterdam. Very excited to be doing this with Penny and Tammy!

and the one I’m most preparing for right now -
Berlin Half Marathon – 7 April! I said I would never do this again but I’m going to do this again. This time not just for me, a prepared me, a me who doesn’t compare to others, but also to a cause – I’m going to be raising money for the National Epilepsy Funds here locally in the Netherlands.

Well, I say most preparing for… mentally that is… I still don’t have a real training plan but I think I better get on that ASAP!

So yeah. Being blasé about food and my diet in general needs to stop. Back to focusing again. Feels much, much better when I focus (on a side note, I *am* going home on the 17th of February for a week so I can see my grandmother!! And be home!!! Even if just a week).

Vacation Part II – Eat, drink, stay Healthy!

Posted on by Renée
7

OK we all know what it’s like…

we go on vacation

especially “back home”

and there is SO MUCH good stuff to eat! Especially in New Mexico!

I mean COME ON!! “Red or Green?”

mannie's--chicken burrito

Sadie's is the best

Denny's

Red Robin - Lunch

Blueberry Waffles

Let’s not forget all the places I wanted to go:
Blake’s Lotaburger (green chile cheeseburgers)
Dairy Queen (chili cheese dogs)
Sonic (Sonic burger #4, cheese tots, and a large cherry lime)
Krispy Kreme (do I need to say more?)
Any dodgy looking taco house
Any dodgy looking BBQ house

the list goes on!

The reality is, all that stuff above, that made me fat. At least that sent me on my WAY to being fat. That was the time of slight gluttony, of throwing caution to the wind, of eating now and caring later. Honestly, I wanted that stuff. I really did.

And I did have some of that stuff. But I had the chili dog, no bun and a kiddie blizzard. I had a cheeseburger with a GF bun, I had the tacos, no sides. And then I did this stuff:

and then I did a LOT of this:

Other than that I also down to Starbucks to meet my brother (a mile down and back up the hill) – no big deal right, but it was 100 degrees F and my entire family was like “WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU!? TAKE THE CAR!” and another day whilst in Scottsdale (110 degrees F) we walked 1.5 mile down to the breakfast place and back. No biggie, gotta earn those Huevos Rancheros!

So my friends, indulge. Have fun. Enjoy! But be responsible. And make sure you have some ice cream too :)

Three Years

Posted on by Renée
3

Today is my wedding anniversary. Three years ago the hubs and I got married in Las Vegas with just a few people who were able to come and join us. We didn’t officially invite loads of people on purpose. We just wanted it to be small, intimate. In fact how it turned out is that a few people from high school were able to come (I am still friends with several, mostly all orchestra or girl scout friends), a few people I’d known for years from the internet that I’d never met before (Like NakedJen) and a couple of colleagues came. All in all we were about 15 people I think. Anyway, it was brilliant :)

We went to Phoenix, to Las Vegas and then drove over to Los Angeles and it was a really great trip for us both (with the exception of the fake daggers nails that I had put on before we left the Netherlands for our trip, the Nail Girl didn’t listen to me at all when I told her SHORTER). I mean, of course it was, we got married right? :)

Leading up to the event I think I attempted to lose weight about 23 times (this after the weight loss in 1999 – 2001 with the maintenance until around 2004- 2005), but I never really committed. I was going through a LOT of “stuff” (aka shit) and not coping very well with my life. And I was eating. And drinking. And definitely not exercising. I promised myself I would not be a 100KG bride, but unfortunately I walked down the aisle anyway hovering around 95KG (because I started AGAIN in January 2009). Well, no matter, I felt pretty good, my husband looked hot and well, more importantly we were making a pretty grand commitment to EACH OTHER and that out”weighed” my KG number on the scale.

And he has never had any issue with my weight. When we met I was around 68KG. So you can imagine from 68-100 in a short amount of time I was pretty out of control, but hubs has always said I am beautiful, sexy and gorgeous (he’s a keeper for sure – but we all agree it’s not necessarily what’s on the outside, the inside counts loads, right?). There’s always that moment that you have when you say enough is enough. I’m not sure I even had that moment in January of 2009 but I know AFTER we got married I had the big moment and that was when my 40 year old friend Michael suddenly died. Michael and I had been friends since 1997 and had both been on the weight loss – weight gain roller coaster. We got on health kicks together, went to the gym together, but we also partied together, traveled together, spent holidays together, you know that kind of stuff. I didn’t have a lot of contact with Micheal in the year prior to his death – we were both pretty busy and he was kind of a loner; loved to be by himself, he was a musician constantly creating his music at home coming up with newer and fresher songs than the last, tweaking and striving for perfection. I imagine he had “let himself go” again because he suddenly had a pulmonary embolism. I know you can just be genetically disposed to something like this, but it’s also fair to say that overweight and sedentary people ARE more susceptible to this that those of us who are more fit and healthy (and not overweight).

So Hubs and I got married, me not at an ideal weight but once we came back from the States we started the C25K program. Michael died about one month later. That was the moment that I said “this really has to be my last time.” And it is.

So here we are 3 years later and I know you all have heard me whinge on and on and on about it – since March of 2009 I have lost now officially 12 KG (and 5 prior to March). I am by no means anywhere near a number goal and let’s face it, I just can’t really have a number goal anymore. It makes no sense for me to have one and it only makes me feel unhappy. But in that time I’ve run more than 1,300 Kilometers, cycled more than 1,100 Kilometers, and participated in many races from 5KM to Half Marathon and I do it (almost) every single time thanking the Universe for how lucky I am that I am alive, that my body works the way it should and that I have a husband and two great stepchildren that came with the package for love and support. Back when I lost weight before on Weight Watchers and maintained it, I didn’t really have this kind of appreciation. I didn’t think about how lucky I was that I could walk, run, swim, I just thought about how many calories I needed to burn to work off the pizza and booze I stuffed down my gullet the night before.

Attempt 3,839 April of 2008. Again from about 100 KG down to 95:

September of 2009, looks like I finally stuck with it – 85KG:

So this time IS different. This relationship I have with my hubs is different, this relationship I have with myself is different, this relationship I have with my body is different. I am so, so lucky. I am so grateful.

One of these days I’m going to also reach a number goal, but hopefully you guys will stick with me, like my husband sticks with me, while I reach a few other goals instead.

Week In Review:: 20 Nov – 27 Nov

Posted on by Renée
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So, yeah. No idea what happened. Actually, yes I do know. Work happened. A LOT at work happened. It was a very stressful week.

I didn’t even get any photos for my Friday Foodie Post. That’s how bad it was.

I did prepare food again last Sunday for my lunches and that really came in handy. I can’t recommend planning enough! BUT, I also did the emotional/stress-eating again which pisses me off, but doesn’t seem to stop me doing it *rolls eyes into back of head*.

Plans were to run on Tuesday evening and go to the gym on Thursday evening. Neither of those things happened. I worked late Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (I was really late Weds), Thursday I worked from home (thank God because I was exhausted), Friday I felt somewhat “normal” again. I actually rode my bike to the station Friday because I was going out with colleagues after work and thought it best to have transportation home rather than having to wait for a bus or take a taxi so late. (Remember, I’m two hours from home generally when I’m in Amsterdam; the plan was to leave at 10pm which would put me home at midnight – turned out there was a massive problem with the trains and I ended up leaving around 8:30pm, still only getting home around 11pm).

Good Old Frida

So at least I got some exercise in on Friday – though I’m sure that didn’t counteract the starters, burger, fries and cocktails I had at the Hard Rock Cafe :D … maybe the sprinting to the train helped that a bit as well (I spent a LOT of time sprinting for trams, trains and buses last week…)

Saturday morning I woke up late – 11am! WOW I needed that sleep!!! My first thought was “well, I guess I’m not going to the gym”, but then I immediately turned it around; “Why not?” I asked myself. “The gym is open until 1pm. Get yourself a sandwich, a coffee and get dressed and get yourself to the gym!” So I did :) And I rode my bike there as well.

So here we are Sunday, I’ve made wentelteefjes (french toast/ eggy bread) (mostly) for the kids and I’m still deciding what to do the rest of the day. Probably some cleaning, maybe a run and definitely some planning for the week. I have to be serious about next week as I have a friend coming to visit from Sweden which means my whole weekend is dedicated to my guest (ie I have to go to the gym during the week!!!).

Not much of a weekly review, but honestly, I hardly had any time for myself that would be noteworthy to mention. Here’s to the new week!