Upping my game

I seem to have hit a plateau. It's not a solid, sturdy plateau, since I see my weight bounce up and down a bit (I am still weighing every day and really should not do that...) but it's making me a bit annoyed. According to the BF, it's because I am now building up MAD MUSCLES YO, meaning that my weight might go down slower now that my body is adjusting to more muscle tissue. If so, this is of course a good thing. We'll have to wait and see. I have been taking down measurements this weekend and will compare next weekend to see if there is any difference.

Even though my mother (who I have casually informed of my change in diet and subsequent weight loss, as she came with me to the gym yesterday and I had to discuss it with people there) thinks she can see some difference in my tummy, I am not really noticing any difference in my overall appearance yet, though I have noticed a slight difference in a certain area. My boobs are not their bountiful self! In fact, if I have a couch-potato day (hey, we all have those every now and then, right?) they feel particularly tea-baggish at the end of the day. So yesterday I asked for some more exercises that target the chest muscles, to help them perk up a bit more while I lose weight.

That was yesterday morning. I am now really, really sore... Making me realise that I had little to no real exercises that target that area! It's a good thing I asked.

While the trainer was explaining my two new exercises, I asked him about planking since pins like these have been making the rounds on the fitness-boards recently and I was curious. According to various pinners, this exercise could also do wonders for your chest, but my trainer informed me that, while this exercise will engage a lot of different muscle groups, it is mainly meant to strengthen your core, and is not a good exercise if you want to build up overall muscle. He even told me that, with my training schedule and the 3 workouts a week I have planned, there was no real need to include workouts at home on the off-days. It was an interesting conversation, to say the least, because it was contradicting to a lot of things I had thought I learned over the past few weeks. I might keep up the sit-ups and exercises at off-days, though. It feels good to do them.

Another interesting conversation I had yesterday, was with my physical therapist. While I was doing calf raises to stretch my deeper calf muscles, the source of my injury, he was explaining about nutrients and how common knowledge about them was severely outdated. We have a saying in Holland (originating from a commercial from somewhere in the Nineties): 'Two ounces of veggies, 2 pieces of fruit, they'll keep you fit for a long time!' (that's a very liberal translation, by the way, of "Twee ons groenten, en twee keer fruit, dan hou je het een heel stuk langer uit!") However, the decline in nutrients in fruit and vegetables over the past years makes it so, that you'd need a hell of a lot more than two ounces of veggies and 2 pieces of fruit a day to reach the recommended daily intake of nutrients that are most common in fruit and vegetables. He thinks that it would be in anyone's interest to include multivitamins in their daily diet. Once again, interesting perspective on what I always thought to be common knowledge!

He also explained another up-side to my change in eating habits and diet that I hadn't actively noticed: due to the taut muscles in my calves, I got a lot of midnight cramps in my legs, at least as often as once a month. However, when I switched to a different diet and included a lot more nuts and fruit into my daily intake, I started to take in certain nutrients that counter this effect! I haven't had any crampy legs these past three weeks. (Though I must add, not thanks to midnight cramps. Those calf raises yesterday were killing, and my legs were so painful that it took a lot of effort last night to find a pose in bed to sleep comfortably.)

To make a long story short, I am still on the right track. With the help of proper exercises and therapy, I might just be able to make my goal of losing those 30 kg before the end of the year, but not only that, it'll also help me with other issues I did not even realise were caused by my bad health and habits! And that idea is making me pretty excited to see what the future will bring.

Physical therapy and positive thinking

As you may have read in my welcome-post, my attempt to start running was thwarted by a painful leg injury and I was forced to stop before I even really began. I was able to get a free appointment with a physical therapist through my gym and the conclusion was: no more running. For a while, at least. Needless to say, I was bummed. The cause of my injury was a muscle in my calf that was too tight, causing the connective tissue to get stuck to my bones, which hurt, which caused the injury. I probably made it worse by continuing to run after it started to hurt.
Today, during my intake, he explained that exercise and stretching might help with this problem, but he agreed with me that losing weight would help as well, since my injured leg wouldn't be carrying all that extra weight while running.

So now I'm in physical therapy. He was talking about multiple sessions, adjustments to my fitness-schedule, more cardio (DO ALL THE CARDIO!), specific cardio-exercises... and keeping a close eye on my weight and weight loss. I'm no longer allowed to weigh myself at home, (not that it'll stop me, but hey.) but I'll have to be weighed at the office every 3 weeks, or so. When asked what my average intake of food was, he was very impressed with my meal-plan yesterday. I explained that it was in no way representative of what I ate before on a weekday, since I only just started with the adjustments in my diet, but he told me I was on the right track. He even asked where I found the information on the changes because the types of food I ate (like an after-dinner snack that consisted of berries and nuts) and was surprised when I explained about my fitness-board on Pinterest.

 This morning has taught me several things. One: that physical therapy fucking hurts. Oh, my. It is supposed to make it better, but so far.. Ow. I couldn't even climb the stairs afterwards...

Two: that the internet taught me all sorts of good things about changing my diet and eating habits. Go Internet! Point for you.

Three: that my work situation will benefit from taking regular exercise breaks during the day, instead of one big exercise moment at the end of the day. In other words, because I'm behind the desk all day, I'm better off going for several 15-minute bike rides, instead of going for a 1-hour ride after dinner.

So, in other words: I'm on the right track. And that's making me feel pretty good, just knowing that I made some good decisions. The fact that my progress will be monitored will give me a push to keep going, to stay motivated, and hopefully, to get me to where I want to be.

Planning exciting things

Exciting things are afoot! Or well, one main exciting thing. The other has already kind of happened.

I got sworn in as a translator! This sounds more exciting than it really was. I brought my sister with me to the courthouse but we were so busy monkeying around on the way there that I forgot to take any pictures as evidence. We turn into rambunctious twelve-year-olds when we're together for a longer period of time. Ask my mum and she'll agree that we're impossible to handle when we're together... Anyway, by the time we got to the courthouse and found the right room, it was all over before I knew it! Two minutes inside, three words spoken, and I was out the door again, sworn in as a Dutch-English translator.

Apart from that, I am also planning a reunion of my secondary school's final year! I met up with an old schoolmate in January of this year to talk translation as she is a professional translator as well, and we got to talking about our old classmates, and how they were doing... It's only been seven years, but I'm no longer in touch with any of my old friends due to time restraints, getting degrees, work, in some cases even marriage and children! Now, I found a number of them through Facebook already, but there's nothing like a good old get-together, right? So, after some struggle, we now have a reunion planned for the 23rd of this month and I only have a week and a half left to get everything sorted! EEEP!

I want to keep it low-key, so we're having a barbecue in the garden next to the cafeteria of our old school. We're not allowed to serve alcohol though, so we're off to a bar afterwards to relive some old times and get ridiculously drunk together. I've been using the wonderful world of Pinterest to find some inspiration to keep it both fun and low-budget and so far, my inspiration is mainly 'fooood' and 'pictures'.

(1. Photo props by Oh Happy Day, 2. Wedding centerpieces with books, 3. Bbq party calculator by The Food Network, 4.Photo garland by Emmaline Bride, 5. Chicken Satay by Rasa Malaysia)

Have you ever held a reunion with your old schoolmates? What was your reunion like? Do you have tips on cheap decoration or food serving for me? I would love to hear them!