back with another post for you all. This time its a recipe I am going to share yaaaay! finally a more happier post this time!
Now this recipe is inspired by a German/Austrian dish called potato rosti. This is a healthier take on this dish, since potatoes are not so good to have too often and this is a good recipe if you are a diabetic and you are on a low GI diet and you can't have so much potatoes. Also this recipe is under 200 calories and its very simple and easy to cook. And if your a vegan or vegetarian like myself this is a good dish to try out. It can also be served as a side dish.
Here is what you will need:
1 can of butter beans
1 red/purple onion (You can also use a brown onion if you don't have the red ones)
1 teaspoon of caraway seeds
1 teaspoon of olive oil
A pinch of sea salt
And this is optional but you can add a little bit of low fat cheese. (for all you Vegans you can use soy cheese or any kind of vegan cheese)
Here is how to cook it.
1. Heat the oil on a non-stick frying pan, then add the onions and cook them till they become slightly brown but not too brown.
2. Add the butter beans into the pan of onions and mix them in with onions.
3. Add caraway seeds, the salt and fry until the skin on the beans peal and become golden brown and serve but if you are using cheese add the cheese until it melts then take it off the stove and serve.
This meal serves 2 people. But if your having/serving it as a side dish then it serves 4 people.
This is what it looks like in the pictures above, I didn't use cheese when I made it at that time, but with or without cheese its tastes really nice.
Hope you enjoyed this and hope you give it a try and enjoy it.
I know its been a while since I posted something. I've just been running out of ideas. Anyway this post is inspired by the last post because I'm still dealing with the same issue but I'm coping so I might as well share my advice on these sort of things, as I myself think that this is an important issue to share to anyone, but of course more in particular those of you who are close to your goals.
First things first unnecessary advice:
What is unnecessary advice?
This kind "oh your getting too skinny you need to stop!"
basically people telling you that you are getting too skinny out of exaggeration or from their own bias and you look fine you may have a bit of flab maybe around your belly like me and you barely look anything like those sickly thin modals in those high fashion magazines. Yet you look normal and losing a tiny bit doesn't hurt.
Who gives me this advice?
This advice mainly comes from people either friends or family mostly mums or aunts grandmothers or anyone who is old enough to be your mother or they can just be one of your best friends who is around the same age as you.
Are they jealous?
It is true that it can come from jealous people as well but to answer your question, when it comes to a loved one telling you these things, no, they are not jealous they just get worried because some people find that being skinny is not good as they find its not healthy and some think that having lots of meat on the bones is a good thing as in they don't like to see skin and bones. It also could be because they are not used to seeing the new you. And also because you have chosen to eat less they automatically think that you're not eating enough as in they think you are undernourished even though you are nourished and you feel like a million bucks. They also might not have proper knowledge and can sometimes be biased to what an extremely healthy body looks like. I am not trying to speak lowly of them this is just my honest opinion.
How do I deal with being given this advice?
Well first of all don't let it upset you, remember everyone has their own opinions as to what a healthy a figure looks like. But if they try to hold an intervention or whatever try and explain to them what you are really trying to do, for example they tell you, you should not lose anymore weight but you want to lose the rest of your belly fat but at the same time you don't want to look skeletal, try and tell them that and explain to them the difference between what a slim healthy figure looks like and what an unhealthy slim figure looks like, because really there is a difference, you can take pictures from google images or where ever and show them the difference, as that might help them understand and save them from worrying and also tell them that you want to build muscle which WILL make you gain weight. So yeah tell them those things because they might not have the right knowledge and may need things to be explained. Here's another one they feel sorry for you when you can't eat too much or you decided to stay away from that high calorie cake or whatever, tell them some facts like a whole bowl of broccoli is equivalent to one small bar of chocolate or make it go like this "Oh really?, you feel sorry for me? well that cake has 600 calories in it and I just had a good nourishing meal I much rather a piece of fruit that tastes good to me too you know? so there's no need to worry!" Or simply just tell them that you are never hungry and you are enjoying life better than you were before you lost all your weight and you feel lighter and happier, you can also talk about what problems being overweight caused you in the past like lets say your doctor told you that you are on the verge of becoming diabetic or you had trouble walking due to extra weight and all sorts of health issues that came from being over weight. Tell them this stuff and they might very well change their minds.
What if they don't listen or they don't care what you tell them?
Well I don't know what to say and I don't know how I can help you with this one much because I struggle with this too but all I can say is this. They are either being biased or jealous, because even family members can get jealous(I'll talk more about jealousy later) but no one in my family is jealous and nor are any of my friends. But as far as them being biased don't let it worry you or upset you, keep doing what is best for yourself remember this is your life and they have no right to tell you what to do and they are not the boss of you, they don't know what is best for you, the only person who knows whats best for you is you. As long as you are eating well, keeping fit and active drinking your fluids, never hungry and your happy that is all that matters when it comes to your health. Their opinion is not the gospel remember that and just ignore what they tell you, just keep going until your at that place where you want/need to be and don't let anyone get in your way. You can't change their opinion but that doesn't mean that you can't reach your goals and at the end of the day its just an opinion. So basically just keep going and ignore what anyone says be them jealous or not.
How do I deal with jealous people?
Ignore them and don't worry about them. If someone is jealous of you than its their problem not yours. Anything they say or do to you is their own problem. If this person is a friend, stop hanging out with them, because that's a sign that they are not a good friend. You want to be around friends who will be happy for you and want nothing but the best for you. Usually the kind of people who get jealous are ones who are simply selfish, so get them out of your life, you don't need them because they can be very problematic like they will try to compete with you or they will have their eye on you most of the time or they will cherry pick you as in they will pay attention to what you are eating or find something to say that's not nice or they will accuse you of being arrogant as losing weight boosts confidence but some especially ones who are insecure will mistake it for arrogance or they will lie and tell you that you've gotten too skinny just to trick your mind. People like that can be manipulative so be careful who you hang out with. Also don't think that you can change these type of people by still being their friend LEAVE them and if they want to be nasty about it and talk bad behind your back then as I said earlier that's their problem. You should not give a care in the world about what they have to say about you because well you know why! Its their problem! So screw them they're the ones who are messed up. They are the ones who are arrogant not you. Once you leave them, perhaps maybe years later they might understand why you left them if they ever decide to change their ways who knows. But don't expect them to change if your still their friend. That's why I say get rid of them. delete them as a friend on facebook, delete their number on your mobile phone do whatever it is that you need to do and if they are sending bitchy text messages, don't respond, delete the messages. I know this sounds like a mean thing to do but trust me if you continue to hangout with them they will just try to make your life difficult. You really do not want that plus people like that need to learn where they are going wrong anyway.
And that is my guide on how to deal with this sort of stuff. I hope you found this post useful, because many of you should be aware that sometimes you will have people in your life who worry about you too much or some of you might have friends who get jealous easily. You have to understand that when you lose a great amount of weight there are sometimes new problems so its good to know what to do when these problems happen don't make it an excuse not to lose weight, not everything will be perfect but remember there is always a solution to these sort of problems, so hang in there.
Never let anything get in your way and stay strong, no matter what people say.
I decided to talk about what I've experienced lately now that I've lost my 30 kilos. I'm just gonna talk to you about the good and the bad things that I've experienced. It's also gonna be a bit of rant blog, so be warned I'm gonna sound angry in places.
I'm gonna talk about the bad stuff now please DON'T take this as discouragement I am in no way trying to discourage anyone to lose weight, please carry on with your journey I highly encourage it, this is just me and my experience. and bare in mind that it may or may not happen to you.
I haven't really experienced too many bad things. Only a few but now that I have lost all this weight I get told by friends and family that I don't need to lose anymore or not too much or I get told not to become anorexic. That bothers me because;
1. That is NOT what I am aiming for.
2. There is a big, BIG difference between looking fit healthy and slim as apposed to looking anorexic.
3. I am doing this the PROPER way NOT the unhealthy way. I am actually eating and I never skip meals I always eat. I actually go crazy if I skip a meal.
4. I do NOT have anorexia, anorexia is a mental illness and I do NOT suffer from any of the symptoms linked with anorexia.
here is an article of what anorexia is in case you don't know but it lists stuff that I don't really suffer from. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/anorexia/DS00606/DSECTION=symptoms
5. as much as I don't want to be obese I do NOT wanna look like a walking skeleton either I mean why do you think I want to gain muscle!
Sorry if I'm sounding angry, it just really bothers me when people think I want to look anorexic or they speculate that I have a problem or they think I don't know what I am doing when really everything is fine. I appreciate their concern but I really find it irritating because I mean I know exactly what I am doing, I've done my research on how to do this properly and safely and just when I do something properly I get the "oh I hope you weren't starving yourself" or the "You better be careful" I'm sorry but that really annoys me I mean did they ever worry about me when I was overweight, unhealthy and very unhappy I mean I've just made my life better and am decreasing my chances of becoming diabetic as well as keeping myself safe from other nasty diseases that come from being overweight as well as it being a gateway to a much longer life. Plus I feel so much better about myself as in my self esteem has improved plus I don't get as sick as I used to anymore like I caught the flu once this year but I got over the cold quickly WITHOUT going to the doctor for antibiotics. I mean yes I'm not 100% happy with the way my body looks so far but that does NOT mean I am anorexic. I AM happy with my body just not 100% but then again I don't want to weigh 40 kilos either and I am proud of my achievements. Had I have stayed overweight I would have had my life cut shorter because I was very depressed, got sick easily and felt really unhealthy. I really don't know where I would be now had I have not lost the weight. I thank god for where am now.
deep breath............
well that's one negative thing I've faced. But yeah when you get towards the end of your journey people who love you will worry about you. But whatever you do don't make that an excuse to discontinue your journey but always forgive people who tell you these things because it is understandable that they will worry, I mean yes it bothers me but I try to forgive them and move on. Now I know many of you will say they are jealous but that's not true they're not. They just don't have the right knowledge or they don't understand what a healthier weight looks like maybe. But yes people can get jealous although I haven't come across any jealous people but you know its just something you might face so be prepared for something like that to happen but don't let it ruin your plans or let it be an excuse to give up remember excuses are no good. I say keep going NO MATTER WHAT.
As far as other negative experiences well that's really it for me I mean I've watched people's weight loss journey videos on how they faced some problems in the end or towards the end of their journey, like I was watching this girl Nina aka beautifulbrownbabydoll's video on how you will face more problems after you lose weight, I'll show you the video.
She basically talks about how when you lose weight you will face more problems. Which can be true some people will face problems however a lot of the stuff she mentions in this video didn't really happen to me. Heck some of the good things that happened to her didn't happen to me. However this is mainly what she herself experienced. You might not share the same experience in my opinion, I think everyone is different when it comes to their own journey.
She says that she lost some friends as in friends who were not true friends. That didn't really happen to me. My weight loss hasn't hampered any friendships. I'm still friends with my old friends I haven't lost anyone because none of my friends are fake or were friends with me for their own vanity. So I must say I'm pretty lucky in that sense but what a shame it happens to some people.
She also says that you change as a person as in your way of thinking changes and you gain some confidence which as some people take as arrogance and will stop liking you.
That is true I have changed as in my self esteem has shot up but as for my confidence as in how I react with people, well that hasn't changed, I'm known to be very soft spoken and aloof and I am still like that. But really losing weight hasn't changed my personality much. I''ll admit I have become a bit vain but no I don't think I'm the most beautiful girl in the world or anything nor do I look in the mirror 24/7 but I don't know whether I'm vain or not, what I mean by that is I feel better about the way I look as in I find I look better than I did before. And no I don't think that the whole world evolves around me or anything. I'm not perfect but nor is anyone else. My self-esteem still isn't super duper high as losing weight hasn't really driven it above the peak. Even if I were 100% happy with my weight it wouldn't go above the peak either. all in all the only thing that's changed, is how I perceive my own beauty but as far as personality goes, my personality is still the same. I just feel better about the way I look.
As for whether people have stopped liking me well I got to be honest I am still treated the same by my friends. I don't know for sure how people truly feel about me. That's all I can say about that as I haven't noticed anyone turning their backs on me.
I'm now going to talk about how men treat me. This is a tough question because I'm not really around men a lot, so I don't know much about how men feel about me because I haven't been asked out on any dates. Because I go to collage and there is only women in my class and no guys my age. Had my class had any males my age maybe something would have happened I don't know. All in all I don't notice much of a difference in the way men treat me.
One thing though guys despite what I have mentioned and whats mentioned in that video. The type of people who turn away from you due to losing weight and stuff. I must say if you hang out with someone who gets jealous about these sort of things easily. those are the type of people in your life you need to get rid of. Remember its not you who is creating the problem it's them NOT you but in my opinion "friends" like that are always a problem whether you lose weight or not as in even before you lose weight they were always a problem. You Losing weight doesn't make that happen its THEM. You need to remember if someone tries to compete with you or become jealous or stop hanging out with you because you lost weight and they think your're this and that well that is their loss. You didn't create the problem they did. And isn't that a good thing? Because you do not want people like that in your life anyway and it helps to see who your real friends are, so please don't see it as your own problem you are on this journey for your own benefit not them and their own vanity. If this happens to you don't think of it as your own problem just move on with your life, you are not a selfish person, you are only doing whats best for yourself and its not arrogant to be proud of your accomplishments, or have confidence, remember that.
BTW I recommend you watch BeautifulBrownbabydoll's channel as she talks a lot about subjects like her weight loss journey and how to be confident etc she makes really great informative videos. she is also a specialist in psychology.
And yes losing weight isn't gonna make life perfect its true Nina is right about that. I'll admit my life still isn't perfect as in there is still other things in my life that I want improved and of course even though I've lost 31 kilos I'm still not happy with my body yet. This is life there will always be mountains to climb and I've only just reached the top of this mountain and there's more for me to climb, I'm not just talking about weight loss but other things in my life that have nothing to do with weight loss.
Now I'm gonna talk about the good things.
Well I feel so much more happier. I think I've spoken too much about the good things already but I just feel like I've lifted a burden off of my shoulders. When I was overweight it felt like I was lifting a burden. This is what you might feel like. Bare in mind everyone is different. All in all I feel fit and healthy.
And for the most part you will get heaps and heaps of compliments, people are gonna start saying that you've lost weight even people who you least expect to say anything will say something. People are gonna start talking even when your not there. They will talk. It can get pretty overwhelming. trust me that is bound to happen some people told me that they couldn't even recognize me. Its like transforming into looking like another person. Your wardrobe even starts to look like it belongs to someone else.
And that is it for this post. Sorry if some of it was negative but you just gotta know what your in for sometimes but hey you gotta keep going.
Stay strong in your journeys and don't let anything stop you .
I know its been awhile now. I'm kind of delayed in checking my weight because I forgot to check. Anyway here is my short post on how much I have lost.
Well this time I did not plateau. But I am so pleased to say that I have finally hit my goal! My previous weight was 60 kilos now I am 57 kilos! I have lost 3 kilos since then and my very first check in I was 89 kilos so I went a little bit over my goal so I have now lost a total of 31 kilos! and my original plan was to lose 30. I am so happy that I have finally reached my goal. I am now at the end of my journey of losing 30 kilos but there is no end to any of my new life style changes as I am always gonna be counting my calories and exercising, plus in order to maintain what I've done I have to continue doing what I did to maintain it.
So yeah I am really happy with my achievement but the only thing I am really not happy with is my belly fat. I still have that annoying flab which I want gone. One of my main goals for now is to get rid of that I don't know how many kilos that will take probably not a lot, perhaps less than 5 kilos I think. At this point I really do not want to lose too much weight as in I don't want to lose another 10 or 30 kilos Because I really do not want to look anorexic or anything. However my belly is going away as I am now close to 33 inches around my waist, but I am not quite there yet.
BTW I Think my last month of doing Insanity may have helped with losing my last three kilos.
Not only do I want to lose my belly fat but I also want to build muscle as well as tone up and that will effect my weight as in I can gain weight from doing that, but of course not fat weight, MUSCLE weight. That won't be a problem as It won't make me look fat anyway. Because as you should know BMI is not always very accurate as they count your muscle weight as fat.
Since I'm looking to build muscle and lose the rest of my belly fat. I think I'm going to focus more on measuring my waist, rather than the weight since the scale is not going to be very accurate if I gain muscle.
I am now going to list all the goals I have reached so far And the goals that I have not reached
Lose 30 kgs Done!
Become a 10 in dress size Done!
Lose all belly fat To be completed
Tone up and build muscle To be completed
And that's it for now stay tuned if you wanna see another entry. Stay safe and never give up on your goals!
Well my Insanity journey is now officially over I have completed this program so now I am going to talk about my last week then I will give an overall review.
Ok first I must say the last week I felt a lot more stronger in the workouts I didn't get too tired. The workouts were still really tough but I managed to get a little more stronger in them but I always struggled with the power jumps and with certain push up exercise like the side push ups and oblique push ups I struggled with going all the way down. but overall my strongest week for month 2 was the last week, the first few were the hardest weeks and that's all I can say about this week really. My last and final fit test again did not go so well no matter how hard I tried I just could not get better results for some reason so I'm slightly disappointed about that, but on the plus side I also measured my waist and I'm close to 33 inches around my waist!
Now for my overall review. I really think this is a really great program to do if you want to challenge yourself more in your workouts or you want to tone up, lose bit more weight and be more flexable then, this is a great program because Insanity is not just cardio, you also do strength exercises and there's even a bit of yoga involved. So if you purchase this set be aware that its not cardio alone that you will be doing.
However I personally would not recommend this if you are totally new to working out or if you have never done exercise before in your life because it is very difficult, so if you are new to exercise and you are thinking of getting this program I say start with something a little bit easier first. Overall I recommend this if you are a little more advanced with exercise. But that is just my personal opinion because I found the workouts in this DVD set were extremely harder than other workouts I did in the past. Also if you have heart problems than I don't think this will be a good idea for you, but of course consult your doctor first BEFORE you buy this DVD as you don't want to waste any money!
Now to answer your question whether this DVD will make you completely skinny/buff in 2 months well yes you will get stronger and you will get some great results as for me though yes I've noticed some pretty amazing results but since my tummy area is my trouble zone, I didn't lose all of my belly fat but some of it has gone as I have lost nearly 2 inches off my waist. But keep in mind though I did NOT take the recommended recovery formula, I did NOT take shakeology and I did NOT follow the recommended diet plan so I don't know for sure if using all that and following the recommended diet plan will give you the results you want. One thing I must say though, I don't want to sound discouraging but I am just being honest, I mean you will see great results but if you are around 89 kilos or 90 kilos you are not going to lose all of the weight you want because it takes more than 2 months to lose around 30 kilos or more, so keep that in mind. Don't get me wrong you will still at least see some results. But please don't think that you will look like Jillian Micheals or Michelle Bridges after this workout if you are around 65 to 90 kilos or more or your if you are like me and your tummy area is your trouble zone. When it comes to wanting to look like that it really depends on where your body is at for instance if you are around 60 or 59 kilos that might happen if lets say you want to lose 2 kilos and you want to get a six pack. You can also do the program again if you want more results as I am actually thinking of doing Insanity again but not anytime soon as I really feel I could use a break from it and there are also other workout DVDs that I want to try and also there are some really good YouTube workout videos that I want to try out for a while.
Overall I think think this DVD set was worth doing I have no regrets doing it as later in the future I might give it another go. Even though my body is not where I want it to be yet it still helped me lose at least some inches around my waist, helped to tone my body up really well, made me become more flexible and helped me reach a size 10. I'm just glad that it has at least given some benefit with my figure as I find I look best than I ever did before but of course still its not where I want it to be yet.
So here are my before and after photos:
After the first week side
After the first week front
After the first month front
After the second month side
After the second month front
After the second month side
Now the cost of the DVD set!
I bought my set from Ebay and I think from what I can remember it was around $84 or $85 AUD it was not cheap but I think it was worth the money anyway as I can still do the workout again, You also might be able to get them a little bit cheaper like remember seeing ones that were around $60 AUD you'll have to check Ebay out though to see for yourself, I also know that Beachbody.com sells copies. But if you want to get it cheaper try looking at Ebay because sometimes you will find good deal you can also check beachbody.com to see if its on sale, Amazon might also have it cheaper.
Oh and just to let you I am NOT sponsored by beachbody, I did not profit from them in anyway as I mentioned I bought this with my own money. This is my own personal review.
Anyway that's it for my last and final review of Insanity I hope this review was useful. If you have done this workout program feel free to share your experience in the comment section as I would love to see how it worked out for other people as everybody is different.
I haven't got much to say about it but this week I still feel the same the workouts are just so tough. I did the fit test again and I didn't do very well I find that I always fail miserably when I do the fit test. but anyway there's still one more fit test to complete so I'll have to see how I go on that one.
I went to the mall today and I popped into a high end store called Meyers today and I tried on a size 10 dress just to check if I could fit in one and it fit! so I am officially a size 10 I have reached my dress size goal because my goal was to be a size 10 and now I am, and I am so happy about that because now I can shop anywhere! lol Also when I looked at myself in the changing room mirrors I noticed that my body looked very different as in it looked more toned than usual. I think my hard work is really paying off! yay! I'm already heading close to my goals. But this is never gonna be over as I still have to be very cautious about what I eat because after all this is a lifestyle change, not a one-off.
Well I only have one more week left of this exercise program I can't believe that I only have one week left as it feels like I have been on this program for more than 2 months even though its been less than that it really feels like there's gonna be no end to it!
And that's all I have to say about week 8 sorry it's not much but I just feel the same as last week only difference is I've become a bit stronger in some of the plank workouts but still I Got as tired as I did the last week. Once I finish the workout I just get so worn out and tired and it feels like that every week of the second month because your energy just goes through the roof.
Here is my week 7 review of insanity. I haven't really got much to say about it but I must say month 2 so far of this is very exhausting! like at times when I am not working out I still feel really exhausted from the workouts. like even right now particularly my thighs feel really sore. I find that my muscles get most sore in month 2 compared to month one. I haven't gotten very used to the workouts just yet I must say But I am getting better at doing push ups but boy it really makes you sore.
I have been recently told by a few people that I look a lot slimmer now and I lost a few inches off my bust I was 37 inches now I'm 35 inches so yes I am losing my boobs!(I hope I don't lose them completely!) I also notice that I am starting to look a lot more slimmer as my new jeans are a lot more loose on me now my belly is not gone yet but I notice my abdomen it looks more flat and toned and I have lost one more inch I was 35 inches now I'm 34 inches. So I'm wondering whether I may have lost weight, but will find out about that next month when I weigh myself again.
I only have 2 more weeks left of this program now I can't believe I am already halfway through the second month. Time really flies by two more weeks and this is over! I will be posting a picture of what I look like once I'm done with this workout program.
