Tervis – Lehekülg 49 – Nourish, Train & Flourish

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I have never ever been the person to have New Year’s promises, goals or anything like that. Well, until now. I found myself creating a document called “Eesmärgid 2014” (“Goals 2014”) in the beginning of July (!!!) 2013. So I had about 6 months to set goals and I have got 20 written down. Some of them are related to school, some of them to working out, eating healthy etc, some are completely random. Today I’ll present them to you! It will beinteresting to make a post in the end of the year to see how many of them I actually achieved.

1. Get my Bachelor’s degree in June.

This is number 1 on my list for a reason: it’s the most important thing this year. I’m currently on my last year of Bachelor’s course and I am determined to get my degree in June. To get there, however, still needs a ton of work. I have no doubt I will get it all done.

2. Get an “A” for my Bachelor’s thesis and graduate cum laude.

Now that is a difficult one… But it’s been a dream of mine since January 2012. When I started university, I had no plans to graduate cum laude since I thought it would mean killing myself too hard. But when the first semester ended and I had done 42 EAP instead of the regular 30 EAP and my average was well over 4,6 that’s required to get cum laude, this thought of getting it creeped into my head. Hasn’t left since. Right now my average grade is where it should be but to get the diploma cum laude, you need to get an “A” for your bachelor’s thesis (really difficult mission!) and an average above 4,6 (that could be messed up since I have 2 really difficult subjects this upcoming last semester). I have hope but I’m not all that sure I’ll be abled to accomplish this goal. We’ll see.

3. Start my Master’s degree at the University of Tartu.

When I wrote this goal down, the creterias were different to get a spot in the Master’s course. Now it’s almost certain that I will be starting my Master’s studies from autumn 2014. Before you had to take a test to get in, now they look at the average grade of the most important subjects. It’s pretty good in my case. This goal will become reality, I’m pretty sure.

4. Compete in a smaller triathlon.

I haven’t registered for a triathlon yet but I do have one in mind. The only obstacle is the fact that I don’t have a normal bike. My old (over 10 years!) bike is just not good enough and is starting to fall apart bad. I either need to fix it up, buy a new one (any money-trees growing anywhere?) or borrow a bike from somewhere. I really want to take part in a triathlon though, it’s looks like so much fun!

5. Run a half marathon at the Narva Energy Run 2014.

So I might have done something crazy on the 10th of December 2013 when I had finished putting together a race calendar for 2014… I registered for a 21,1K at the Narva Energy Run on the 15th of June 2014. I’m determined to run a half-marathon there. I also have a training plan ready for it, starting at the end of March. I’m really scared but excited at the same time.

6. Work out at least 5 times a week.

Aka keep being as physically active as I am now. Pretty self explanitory.

7. Not to get any injuries.

This is very important to me. I do not want to get injured, especially when thinking about the ambitious race calender I have set up for myself. Last year I suffered from piriformis pains for some weeks before the Narva Energy Run. I do not want to get any of that or something else… Need to listen to my body, stretch enough and keep myself healthy.

8. Try at least 3 new workout styles.

In autumn 2013 I discovered BodyPump that soon became one of my favourite workouts. I tend to not want to try new things easily, so I have a goal to try atleast 3 new workouts. There’s a wide selection in my fitness club that I haven’t tried get. Will make up for that in 2014.

9. Try CrossFit at least once.

This ties in with my last goal. Everyone raves about this workout and I should try it.

10. Improve my breaststroke, backstroke and front crawl in swimming.

My swimming isn’t half as good as it should be if I want to compete in a triathlon. I want to improve my front crawl first and foremost but also my breast- and backstroke need work. I love swimming so much and I think I have a lot of potential to be a lot better at it.

11. Learn how to swim the butterfly.

This looks so complicated but I really want to learn it. I have yet to find any swimming schools or courses that teach the butterfly style to beginners though. Any thoughts or recommendations are very welcome!

12. Fix up my old bike.

I already talked about how my old bike is messed up and falling apart. Even if I buy a new bike, I should still fix up my old one just in case. And I should do that before spring. Otherwise it’s going to suck if the weather is all nice and I don’t have a bike to enjoy it with.

13. Stop keeping a food diary.

I’m waaaaaaay too obsessed with weighing food, marking everything down and counting calories and keeping track of macronutrients. You are not supposed to count calories on LCHF! I have troubles sensing when I’m full or hungry because I’m obsessed with numbers. Sometimes I eat too much because I have the calories to do that, sometimes I’m hungry after a meal but won’t have any extra if I don’t have the calories to do that. This is so WRONG! I’m going to try my hardest to stop keeping a food diary, listen to my body more and not gain weight while doing all of that. I already know it’s not going to be easy.

14. Keep my weight under 65 kilograms at all times.

I’m yet to reach my goal of 63 kilograms but even if I do that, I’m going to allow myself to fluctuate around the 65 kg mark. Everything below that is fine. I think I will fail in it atleast once because after coming back from travelling for 3 weeks in January, I must have gained weight. Soon we’ll see how that goes.

15. Not to stress about my weight all the time.

Am I contradicting myself now? I want stress less about my weight. Sometimes I get a little too obsessed with numbers. It’s not the end of the world if I gain a little sometimes, I have the tools to make it come off again. A human’s weight can fluctuate a little and that’s normal. No more crying over a 500 gram gain (yes, it has happened before).

16. Get my bodyfat percentage below 25%.

This is a recent goal I set after taking my second body analysis. 25% would be pretty good but that means losing 6% of bodyfat. All I can say is that hard work needs to be done. An unrealistic goal? Maybe. But I’m going to try.

17. Donate blood.

I really dislike it when my body is attacked by needles but I really want to support a good cause. I have pretty universal blood (type 0 positive) and since I’m a healthy young person, I should get my courage together and go donate some blood at the local hospital.

18. Give a Christmas present to a complete stranger / animals / charity etc.

In 2012 they had a campaign in the Maxima chain where you could give a present to children in need. Me and my mom gave a present to a 5 year old boy who had asked for a book and winter gloves. Last year they didn’t have such campaign… This year I want to give a present to charity, animals shelter or something similar again. It’s a good feeling to know you’ve done something good!

19. Go abroad for a vacation.

I didn’t have any plan when I wrote this goal down in the beginning of July 2013 but this goal will happen for sure since on the 12th of January, I leave for adventures in Thailand with my mom. Will be back on the 30th of January. Can’t wait! I have never been so far away from home of taken flights that long. Excited!!!

20. Be more relaxed. Not to stress too much. Be happy.

This sums a lot of it up. I want to be healthy, happy, relaxed and have lots of fun.

I really cannot wait to see what this years has planned for me. May year 2014 be even better than 2013 was! 🙂

I wish a Happy New Year to all of my readers! May all of your goals become reality as well!

Everybody who is trying to lose weight usually has a story. A story of how they got fat, what they did wrong or what they didn’t do right. Today I’m going to share my story with you.

Early childhood

I remember always being “bigger” than everyone else my age for as long as my memories go. Well… looking back and seeing old pictures of me being 3–5 years old: that was actually not true. Now I would say I was a normal size and weight for a 5-year-old. But what made me think that I was “big” was the fact that I was called fat, ugly, big etc by the local children I used to play with. I wouldn’t call them friends. Why did they think I was fat? Because they were all really skinny and tall, I was “normal”. But I wasn’t overweight! I used to be sad and cry and felt left out. The way bullies ruin your self-esteem is horrible.

Beginning of schoolyears

At the age of 7 school began. By that age I also wouldn’t say I was fat or overweight but I was definately bigger than those skinny girls in my class. Looking at old class portraits I am the “big girl” but not fat. Still, I was bullied all the time, called fat and ugly and a lot of other bad words by the boys in my class. I remember those weigh and measure days we had at school. The school nurse would measure and weigh us. She told me numerous times I was FAT. Actually I wasn’t back then, I just wasn’t stick-skinny. I was just well developed, by the age of 10 I was already starting to develope a womanly body shape. In my pre-teens I think I gained weight because by the age of 13, I was overweight.

Teen years

My teen years are the years of all the diets, weight losing and weight gaining. So by the age of 13 I was about 162 cm tall and weighed 72 kilograms: that’s clearly overweight (BMI 27,4). But you have to take into consideration that I was very young and still developing. So it’s kind of debatable if I should have started to mess with my body that early. But I did. My mom joined Weight Watchers and I also started doing the program with her. During that period we also started going swimming twice a week, plus PE classes at school. During about 6 months I lost 8 kilograms and looked decent after that (weight: 64 kg). But I still thought I looked fat.

Somehow I got back to old habits and gained the weight back. From that time on, it was a constant battle. Losing weight, gaining weight… Working out and trying to be “healthy”. During those times I did some Atkins, just tried to cut out sugar and white wheat flour, went back to Weight Watchers’ point counting… I tried it all.

In 2007 I had lost some weight, worked out and weighed 68 kg, I was 167 cm tall. About the same height and weight as right now. I actually thought I was pretty and got some compliments.

By the end of 9th grade (I was 16, it was year 2008) I weighed 72 kilograms. Again. After that time in 10th grade I gained a lot. About 7 kilograms I think. By the end of secondary school (age 19) I was 79 kilograms. In the summer of 2011 before starting university I decided to pick myself up again and start running and watching what I eat. I got injured and couldn’t run after 2 weeks but I continued with my diet plan. I still lost some weight, about 3–4 kilograms. Then university began.

University years

So when university began, I was around 75 kilograms I think. There I didn’t work out at all, only did a lot of walking. Also my eating habits changed, I started eating chocolate, rice, pasta again. My main goal was to live as cheaply as possible (poor student!) and that’s why I ate rice, pasta, potatoes with a little minced meat etc. In the mornings I had porridge with homemade jam. My diet was all high-carb, low-protein, medium-fat. But somehow, I don’t know how, I lost more weight during my first semester at school. Before Christmas 2011 I was 72 kilograms again.

From that point on I was gaining again. In the summer of 2012 I was 79 kilograms. By Christmas 2012 I was about 80–81 kilograms. I gained my last 5 kilograms during 5 weeks of winter break in January 2013. I weighed 85,5 kilograms by mid February 2013.

I had my “click” when I started going to a fitness club in Tartu about a week before starting LCHF because I had done about 3 Zumba classes with my friend back at home and liked them. I was bigger than everybody else at the fitness club classes. Plus, I saw myself in a full-length mirror. (I don’t have full length mirror in my home or in my dorm). I was so frustrated with myself, I was just big and fat. Obese. My clothes were all super tight and it was uncomfortable to sit because of the fat-rolls on my belly. Then my mom heard about LCHF and the new low-carb lifestyle began.

A couple of weeks before starting LCHF. I hid my fat very wisely (85 kg)

The rest is history! Now I’ve lost 18 kilograms. I’m happy now. I’m starting to look like the person inside me has always wanted to look like. And it can only get better from now on.

What do I have to point out?

I never got fat because of fast food. We don’t even have fast food restaurants in my city.
Junk food and sweets was also not in my menu. Pizza, chips etc: I rarely had that, maybe twice a year. Chocolate more often but not every week / day.
I got fat from simply eating too much. We had regular everyday home-cooked meals like any other family. But I ate way too much. Plus the food was very carby, low on protein.
My family loves baked goods. We baked about 2 times a week. I would have no problem eating 5 cinnamon rolls or even more as dessert. Or 6 homemade minced meat pies for breakfast etc. I could not resist.
My mom and grannies and myself are great cooks. The food is always really really good and tasty. That relates to eating too much.
I was never good at sports, so I avoided exercize. I think that has a great role in gaining weight.
The last 5 kilograms I gained in the beginning of 2013 came from eating all the time, binging, eating out of emotions and just being bored. I just ate all the time. I think 4000 kcal per day was no problem for me. It makes me sad thinking about it.

So that is about it. That is my story of gaining and losing weight, being bullied, feeling low and how I got to where I am today.

Rubriik: Tervis

My goals for the year 2014