Where the bluehourbird flies ....
- Thread starter bluehourbird
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bluehourbird
New member
Some serious cookin' going on. I just got back from Subway myself.
No subway for me ... I haven't spotted any in Germany yet, but even if I did, they sell my ENEMY NUMBER 1: bread!!!
If I am ever indulging in that, it won't be theirs, it will be some German delight straight out of the oven of a local organic bakery or from the farmer's market ... bread being one of the BEST things about Germany, the sheer variety in taste & recipes ... *sigh* ... I tend to go off bread without any further prompts in the UK or the US unless I can get fresh home-made stuff, cause it just can't compete!
MrVee
New member
They actually will give you all the stuff without the bread. But for some reason they charge you more for that. I don't understand why having less bread = more money, but that's apparently how they roll. I'm going to send an e-mail to Jared and ask him what the deal is.
As for Germany, my entire experience is the Hamburg Airport, the History Channel, and Run Lola Run. Not entirely sure what to make of the country from that.
bluehourbird
New member
Yeah, probably not quite a representative sample, but I AM grateful you didn't just say "the Octoberfest"! I think the things that strikes me most everytime I come back here is just how diverse it is, each region is so different, as a Southerner I do feel like I'm in a different country being in Berlin ... but then it hasn't been a 'nation' for all that long, late 19th century...
Anyway, if you want a bit more along the lines of current Germany, this is a rather funny (and pretty accurate, although of course not comprehensive) description of the Germans in their natural habitat written by an Englishman: . Have fun!
bluehourbird
New member
Oh, and of course what did I spot today in a railway station? A Subway! How ever the cue in front of the Doner Kebab stand was way longer and looked more cheerful, so I joined that one. they are nice enough to provide plastic forks for no extra price so you can eat out of the bread that holds it all together, and as long as you order one with everything (3/4 salad that is) and hold the sauce and ask for a piece of lemon instead, it's not that fast-food terrible and way more tasty!
anna.banana
New member
Mmm I think doner kebabs are one of the better take out foods, Especially if you are smart about it by not eating all the bread, I often get yoghurt on mine too. Way better tasting than subway!
bluehourbird
New member
2 fairly good days considering I've been feeling on the verge of getting sick and that always screws up my appetite and most of all any sense of morale ... once again, not having temptations in the house pays off! But today I had to go out into temptation land and got side-tracked into a bakery by the smell ... then to my astonishment and the sales-person's couldn't find anything I actually would want to eat! Same stuff there that I could not resist a few weeks ago, 0 interest. That only happens when I've made it past the detox/cravings stage, and it's never been that fast. Yayayayayayay!!! I won!!! Now for an evening of calorie-free self-pampering to reward myself
bluehourbird
New member
Hmmm, mostly I've been good, but PMT is upon me and so the last 2 days willpower is down and all I want to do is to snuggle into bed with christmas cookies, hot chocolate and a book that has no discernible value other than being an entertaining distraction. Or a few of each. Instead, I have to see clients who think it's fine first of all to ask for a session on the Sunday and then not show up because "they just needed to sleep"! I know I agreed to the Sunday session, and first I was just worried whether they were ok or not, but retrospectively I'm rather p-ed off!!! Enter the cookies ...
So I try to just fill up as much as I can with healthy food first to leave less space for the cookies ... 3 bags of which unfortunately my flatmate has donated to me since he's gone off to sunny California.
Oh well. This too shall pass. I just hope it passes quickly.
So I try to just fill up as much as I can with healthy food first to leave less space for the cookies ... 3 bags of which unfortunately my flatmate has donated to me since he's gone off to sunny California.
Oh well. This too shall pass. I just hope it passes quickly.
bluehourbird
New member
Ah, better. It's shaping up to be a very busy holiday season, I've decided to push my coaching training (life- or personal performance coaching that is, not fitness!) and all these lovely practice clients and fellow trainees have come out of nowhere ... looking very good for me to complete my practical assessments by early February as planned.
Now I just need to find a way to fit in everything else ... like studying and writing up the assessment papers, oh, and Christmas! Must not forget about Christmas
Finally found a nice organic shop in the neighbourhood yesterday that has a larger selection of lentils and beans, so today there will be gorgeous Tuscan white bean soup. One of my vegetarian favourites, very simple, but very winter-warming.
Oh, and I have discovered a new delight: Coconut darjeeling! Doesn't work with the high-end tea, but with the everyday version, coconut milk is delicious! So now I can enjoy dairy and guilt-free caffeine.
Now I just need to find a way to fit in everything else ... like studying and writing up the assessment papers, oh, and Christmas! Must not forget about Christmas
Finally found a nice organic shop in the neighbourhood yesterday that has a larger selection of lentils and beans, so today there will be gorgeous Tuscan white bean soup. One of my vegetarian favourites, very simple, but very winter-warming.
Oh, and I have discovered a new delight: Coconut darjeeling! Doesn't work with the high-end tea, but with the everyday version, coconut milk is delicious! So now I can enjoy dairy and guilt-free caffeine.
bluehourbird
New member
A belated happy new year everyone! It's good to be back after visiting family and friends and putting on 5 pounds and losing 3 of those again in the last week, thank goodness, I am now at 170.4, or 77.3 kgs. I was quite ok with the 5 pounds I lost before Christmas given that currently typing is my main form of exercise ... not so ok with putting back on but quite allright realizing that it's not a matter of portion size, I didn't eat MORE, as a matter of what I eat. With my family, bred, pasta, rice etc are staples and hard to avoid as soon as I was back on my own and cut all of that out 3 pounds just dropped without any effort. How do I know? One of Santa's better ideas was a scale
bluehourbird
New member
76.9kg as of this morning ... 100 grams to go until my pre-Christmas weight. Not bad given that this week's exercise consisted of typing and grocery shopping (ok, I do that on foot, but a 15 minute walk with a moderaltely heavy backpack isn't exactly demanding for me). The diet approach seems to be working then, if slowly ...
I am loving soups and stews in this dreary winter weather we are having, currently something vaguely mediterranean (aubergine, carrots, leeks, homemade chicken stock with meaty bits, and tomatoes and herbs) which despite the 'let's see, what can I do with the leftover veg in the fridge' provenance is actually very very yummy! You know it is once you wake up wondering if having a bowl full for breakfast would be too early
I am loving soups and stews in this dreary winter weather we are having, currently something vaguely mediterranean (aubergine, carrots, leeks, homemade chicken stock with meaty bits, and tomatoes and herbs) which despite the 'let's see, what can I do with the leftover veg in the fridge' provenance is actually very very yummy! You know it is once you wake up wondering if having a bowl full for breakfast would be too early
bluehourbird
New member
Away for a loooooooooooooooooooong time it looks like ... being unemployed and looking for a job over the past few months has taken quite a toll on my time and mood and the energy to devote to weight-loss, although I am very very very happy about the fact that I have managed to at least hold my weight somewhere around 77-78kgs the entire time and believe you me that wasn't always easy! Good habits that I had already established really helped.
But since it now looks as if the job-search if finally over (nothing signed yet but it looks like I might next week, fingers crossed) I am re-routing my energy towards losing weight. Here in Germany, a meal replacement shake called Almased is all the rage at the moment and I have met a large number of women who have successfully lost a lot of weight that way, so I will give it a try.
For the initial phase, it's 3 shakes a day and nothing else, then after a few days to a couple of weeks max moving on to 2 shakes and 1 low-carb meal, and once you have reached your goal weight or if you just can't keep doing that, 2 meals and 1 shake.
Now I have about 6 weeks before my holiday comes up, so the plan is to lose as much as possible before then by starting with 14 days purely on shakes, then adding 1 meal, maintaining for those 2 weeks with 1 shake and 2 meals (also the least obtrusive on holiday surrounded by friends, who will no doubt all have an opinion on whether I should be having these shakes or not), then work on losing the rest.
We'll see how I go, I'll aim to update daily just to have a record of how this is working for me. SO far so good, I am now going for "lunch", a little hungry but not excessively so. I am very very lucky that I happen to like the taste, not everyone does! SO I am hopeful that it won't be too hard to stick with it.
But since it now looks as if the job-search if finally over (nothing signed yet but it looks like I might next week, fingers crossed) I am re-routing my energy towards losing weight. Here in Germany, a meal replacement shake called Almased is all the rage at the moment and I have met a large number of women who have successfully lost a lot of weight that way, so I will give it a try.
For the initial phase, it's 3 shakes a day and nothing else, then after a few days to a couple of weeks max moving on to 2 shakes and 1 low-carb meal, and once you have reached your goal weight or if you just can't keep doing that, 2 meals and 1 shake.
Now I have about 6 weeks before my holiday comes up, so the plan is to lose as much as possible before then by starting with 14 days purely on shakes, then adding 1 meal, maintaining for those 2 weeks with 1 shake and 2 meals (also the least obtrusive on holiday surrounded by friends, who will no doubt all have an opinion on whether I should be having these shakes or not), then work on losing the rest.
We'll see how I go, I'll aim to update daily just to have a record of how this is working for me. SO far so good, I am now going for "lunch", a little hungry but not excessively so. I am very very lucky that I happen to like the taste, not everyone does! SO I am hopeful that it won't be too hard to stick with it.
bluehourbird
New member
Very very hungry last night and this morning, but that's getting better ... and most importantly I HAVE A JOB!!! That is a big weight off my chest and I am hoping that with sleep and mood improvements it will also make it easier to lose the physical weight ... I have 18 days before I start, so will use those to get as much physical activity in as possible too, maybe a quick hiking holiday? Let's see if my bank account will let me ...
Anyway, the relief is profound, no more applications, interviews, waiting for replies, no more dependence on benefits with all the restrictions that implies ... oh, life is very very good today! Celebrating with a glass or two of delicious organic vegetable juice and a bubble bath instead of the usual pizza and ice-cream
Anyway, the relief is profound, no more applications, interviews, waiting for replies, no more dependence on benefits with all the restrictions that implies ... oh, life is very very good today! Celebrating with a glass or two of delicious organic vegetable juice and a bubble bath instead of the usual pizza and ice-cream
bluehourbird
New member
Thank you Clarissa! It's good to be back and to have the time and mental capacity to really engage with losing weight! And you are almost out of the 300s, great!!!
77.4kg this morning - so far that is likely all from going off solid food but I will take any movement in the right direction. One down, eighteen to go ...
And it's the first weekend in a loooooooooooooong tme not spent scouring the newspapers and web for job adds and writing applications ... whatever am I going to do with myself? I think I'll start with a round of decluttering, amazing how much STUFF accumulates around you while you are not looking... getting rid of a couple kilos of paper should be no problem at all!
77.4kg this morning - so far that is likely all from going off solid food but I will take any movement in the right direction
. One down, eighteen to go ...And it's the first weekend in a loooooooooooooong tme not spent scouring the newspapers and web for job adds and writing applications ... whatever am I going to do with myself?
I think I'll start with a round of decluttering, amazing how much STUFF accumulates around you while you are not looking... getting rid of a couple kilos of paper should be no problem at all!bluehourbird
New member
At exactly 77kg this morning, which is much nicer to report in pounds because it gets me under 170! No longer quite so hungry, but thirsty all the time, feels like I can't drink enough to ever catch up despite yesterday's 2 litres of water and at least 2 litres of herbal tea and veggie juice. Oh well, I'll just glue myself to the water bottle today then and see how much I can possibly drink without feeling sick.
Also took some time yesterday to put together an admittedly minimal exercise routine - I know myself, unlike with a diet, with exercise if I am too ambitious in what I decide to do I just won't do it at all, so I'm starting with a bit of kettlebells and the like, easy to do in my room at any point in the day, shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. Better than nothing, and hopefully a starting point for more.
On "other", it was a particular pleasure to dispose of the mountain of letters and forms from the jobcenter which I no longer need to act on or fill in because I now have a job. Ah, the joy of standing on your own two feet and providing for yourself. I cannot wait until the first check!
Also took some time yesterday to put together an admittedly minimal exercise routine - I know myself, unlike with a diet, with exercise if I am too ambitious in what I decide to do I just won't do it at all, so I'm starting with a bit of kettlebells and the like, easy to do in my room at any point in the day, shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. Better than nothing, and hopefully a starting point for more.
On "other", it was a particular pleasure to dispose of the mountain of letters and forms from the jobcenter which I no longer need to act on or fill in because I now have a job. Ah, the joy of standing on your own two feet and providing for yourself. I cannot wait until the first check!
bluehourbird
New member
76.8kg this morning, and I am slowly recovering from the stress of the last few months, starting to sleep better and wake up more refreshed in the mornings, with a brain that feels a lot clearer! Spent the morning running from one governement and council office to the other, contract signing and bank are on the agenda for the afternoon, all in all I will easily have walked a 10k by the end of the day, if not in one go. Soooooooooooooo nice to be out moving!