This one is on me :)

I know this is a blog mainly about interior decoration, which is a huge part of my life,

but I also do other things :)

This post is about food, exercise and the willpower to make a change

(in more ways than one)!

It all started 6 months ago when I found myself overweight,

nicotine free (hence the extra pounds) and rather miserable....

I hadn't really let myself go, just quitting smoking and the fact that I am 37 years old made me look like something taken from a horror movie.

I have always been a bit slack when it comes to exercise and I have always enjoyed my foods but it was time to make a radical change.

I started to follow the diet LCHF (low carb, high fat) to my boyfriends delight (lost a lot of weight) but to my horror. I gained even more weight. Probably due to the fact that I'm used to large portions and subsequently ate too much. Panic is an understatement! I then decided to eat more in the lines of GI (less and more healthier carbs). I need my carbs....I even lose weight when I eat them!

Note! My body is always acting against the norm! It's weird but true - I can eat a whole meringue cake (yes, by myself!) + exercise one week and lose more weight compared to another week with hardly any sugary or bad food + exercise?? Ok, this is not something I do every week but the body needs a break every now and then.....a week with no exercise (you WILL come back to the gym stronger, more focused and more determined than before), a few days of almost binge eating (for me, I know when this is what I need because I am hungry 24/7 - so eat!) and last but not least, change your exercise routine!! We are a bit extreme since we change things almost every second week but you should change it up at least every couple of months.

We have gone through a few different exercise regimens on this journey.

It all started with the classical 3 sets with 12 reps.

Not lifting heavy enough - not seeing much results!

We then changed things up my doing less reps with heavier weights.

Still not lifting heavy enough but made a little bit more sense.

I then hit a plateau and lost no weight at all! We then used the Max Workouts and that really helped. I started to lose weight again and the exercise was all new to me. Lots of compound exercises and a lot of cardio. This exercise is tough! I didn't shed any tears but not too far from it...sometimes you just want to scream in agony ;)

I think Max Workouts are great and we both saw some real results but it is tough and we started to miss lifting weights old style....

so we have now switched back to normal weight lifting.

We now follow MAX OT and we love it! We do between 1-3 sets with 4-6 reps and we lift as heavy as we can. It's not very lady-like grunting like a pig in the gym but it really delivers so we will keep doing it for a while. I plan to throw in Max Workouts for a couple of months here and there but right now we are in a good place.

So, my starting weight was 65 kg and my current weight is 59.5. I still want to lose 1.5 kg if we just talk numbers but I can't since the goal is to also gain muscle so the exact number is impossible to guess. Let's just say that one smaller size in my jeans would be great and to tone up a bit more!

So for exercise, I really recommend Max Workouts and MAX OT!

They both worked really well for me.

OMG! I can't believe I'm letting you all see this :( This is 6 months ago.

Now, let's talk food!

I have no character when it comes to food so I need a regimen that fulfills me....or I will be the first one with the hand in the cookie jar. I could have lost a lot more weight if I had followed a more strict program but the chances are that I would have failed or got bored. The goal is to find something that works for you for the rest of your life...basically :)

Example of last weeks dinner menu:

Chicken, roasted vegetables (broccoli, beets, parsnip, carrot, beans, sweet potato) and bearnaise sauce (or any other high fat sauce).

Oven baked chicken with wine, garlic, chili, olive oil and parsley with mashed cauliflower, cucumber.

Panfried white fish covered in polenta, potato, cucumber and sauce made from low fat yoghurt, mayo and pickled greens.

BBQ chicken (no skin), small serving rice, cucumber and sauce made with low fat yoghurt, mayo, curry powder and shredded green apple.

Sushi

Beef with lots and lots of panfried onions and bearnaise sauce and a mix of cucumber, red onion and cherry tomatoes with vinegar and spices.

Panfried mix of sausage, broccoli, mushrooms and onion.

What about breakfast and lunch? We exercise first thing in the morning when the gym opens with no food in our stomachs. All we consume is a drink of amino acids before leaving home. If the tummy rumbles, I eat a handful of nuts. It works really well to exercise with no food! As soon as we get home we drink another drink with amino acids. I then try to fast until lunchtime. Usually I get too hungry so I eat lunch early, like 11 am. Then in the afternoon around 2-3 I eat more nuts. Then we have dinner between 5 and 6 pm.

We also take supplements....mainly basic ones. Unfortunately, half of the time we forget to take them so it's not an everyday thing :)

beta-AMIN-X from NutriVision (this is my favorite! Taste great and works really well)

Vitamin B

Zink

Omega 3

Vitamin C

ALA

Calcium

Casein before bedtime in the form of mousse

Well, this is how we live, breath, eat and exercise...

I would love to know what works for you!