News update

Friday update ~ after my 10km run on Thursday my groin was really very sore, struggled to climb the stairs in my home, struggled to move my legs without it causing pain in the groin area.

So on Friday when I saw the weather was 10 degrees, the sky blue and the sun shining I decided to take my camera and my body for a long walk up hill all the way to the top where a really old Tower is situated....This way I was getting out to enjoy the beautiful winters day and also burning a few calories....

I noticed during my walk that my groin felt perfect, NO pain what so ever....

On the way down I decided that I needed to run...so with my camera in hand I ran all the way home....

Was out for one hour and 15 mins and burned 680 calories...and lots of divine photo's on my camera...

Saturday ~ The postman dropped my lonnnnnnnnng awaits Oxygen magazine in my letter box....I placed my subscription end of December and thought that I would never see my first edition arrive....but here it is ~ I was so excited, I did the * thrilled * dance when I saw it in my letter box....with a few screeching noises of * its arrived, its arrived * !!!

Today is my first off day since last Sunday.....did lots of walking today with hubby, but also lots of sitting in the car as we drove around...

Looking forwards to either a treadmill run at gym tomorrow if the weather is bad, if not my neighbor and I are going to do a walk/run outdoors.....either way...this gal is going to train.

P.S I got a new Polar Heart Rate monitor today....I've had two over the last 6 years and had such bad luck with them...so hoping this new one is going to be a lot better...

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Trail run.....

I LONG FOR MY WORLD TO BE ALL GREEN AGAIN....

These pictures were taken last year July...summer is such a beautiful time in Germany.

Pity the winter is so long and cold.

Saying that, I do feel very proud of myself * the girl from Africa * as this is the first year since I moved here 6 years ago that I have run outside during the winter months. My first run this year outdoors was in January when we had temps of 8 degrees, then in Feb I did a few runs with temps as low as -3 degrees but with a beautiful blue sky and sunshine which really helped. I'm hoping in March that the weather gets warmer and that I can run outdoors more often as at the moment I have this * thing * about going to the gym to train....last year I loved the gym and was there every single day...but this year I am hating it and not going except on a Sunday morning with my hubby.

Today I looked outdoors and saw snow falling so thought i might as well take today as my rest day, that would mean I would have three days of no training which was not what I wanted this week...but hey, its snowing and I'm not liking the gym, what else is there for a girl to do...anyway the snow stopped and around lunch time I put my head out and thought its not tooooo cold, checked the temp, saw 2 degrees and told myself that this was perfect running weather, to get dressed and get out...which is exactly what I did.

The first 2,78km are all uphill, so I told myself to take it easy and to try run as much of the hill as I could....I kept going, then told myself that I should try run at least 5km and could walk a little after that...got to 5km and still felt strong...then hit a hill again and told myself to run as much as I could and then to walk...I kept going...6km mark I knew the pathway downhill would get me to 8km so wanted to run till 8km.....got to 8km and went straight up a hill again, slowed my pace down as I got a terrible pain in my groin...then downhill I went and straight with one more uphill home to get me to 10km...without walking _ I did the hills, all of them....the last 3 km my groin was really sore I struggled to move my leg....now am stiff....feel like an old woman, I can hardly move after that run....but I feel good cause its the first run this year where I've done a 10km all run.....can only get better from here.

Love my teaching days

Yesterday I had such a good class.....was so bored all day, that when I arrived at the hall to teach, I found myself yawning and yawning....think it was the first time I got some fresh air after being indoors in the heated house all day. Anyway, once I got going I found I was filled with energy to give everyone a good workout out. Can read from the faces of the women and know if they like what I'm doing or not, if they bored, or if they think I'm pushing them too hard. Faces from where I stand tell are unspoken words.

After class I got * chatting * to a few of them

( As much chatting I can do in broken German and them in broken English )

They are all loving the classes and are so pleased I am back for another 10 sessions once we have finished this one...

I love Tuesday's and Wednesday's as I go through the whole day without having to talk to myself to get out and train, its the two days I know I'm going to be getting a workout no matter what!!!

I did do 300 sit ups both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings while watching on Tuesday ~ UK's Biggest Loser and on Wednesday ~ USA's The biggest Loser on TV.

I struggled to find a WHEY protein without sugar, Aspartame, Fructose etc.....I eventually found this one on Amazon.de and ordered it. I was so excited to give it a try, but once I did I hated it...the taste was terrible without the sugar, sweetener, etc. At that time I was still FULL into sugar ~ could not drink my coffee without 2 tsp of Agave syrup or honey ( 8 tsp's a day ) to all the sugar filled foods that are hidden so never thought of it as sugar. I tried this Whey for a few times and then packed it way. Yesterday I thought I must give it another try with my GREEN shake I am having for a snack in the mornings.....I could taste the Whey Protein, but this time not as disgusting as it was before....so today added another scoop into my Green shake.

Before I say good bye I want to leave you with this....

Diet Soda Isn’t Any Better
For those of you with a diet soda in your hands, the news isn’t any better, in fact it’s worse! Carol Simontacchi from her book The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children states, “One liter of an aspartame-sweetened beverage can produce about fifty-six milligrams of methanol. When several of these beverages are consumed in a short period of time (one day, perhaps), as much as two hundred fifty milligrams of methanol are dumped into the bloodstream, or thirty-two times the EPA limit.” So, you’re poisoning your body, too.

And when it comes to saccharin, which is a noncaloric petroleum derivative estimated to be three hundred to five hundred times sweeter than sugar: “More than a dozen animal tests over the last thirty years have demonstrated the carcinogenic effects of saccharin in the bladder and other sites, particularly female reproductive organs, and in some instances at doses as low as the equivalent of one to two bottles of diet pop daily.”

With diet soda, you’ve gone from high calories to poisonous levels of methanal and an increased chance of developing cancer. Not a very good trade.

Good Start To The New Week

My new week started off well....

It was minus 8 degrees Celsius today

The sun was shining and the sky was blue...

At 4pm it was minus 3 ( freezing ) but somehow with the blue sky and sun I felt it was okay to get out for a run....

I did a 6km run in 45.54 mins, I walked the two steep hill and ran the rest of the way...

Did a combination of Trailer and Road run.

I've never run in temps this cold before...First time for everything!

Food wise I am still tracking and counting calories.....Cant wait to start my new food journal I got from Sarah in March....have something to look forward to now.

I am watching my sugar intake...and thats SUGAR in all forms...( See the list below )...

I am having a GREEN drink daily of Spinach, orange and 100ml plain yogurt. Today I added a kiwi and celery to the shake. The celery added a fresh taste.

I also eat one apple a day....as I'm on iron tablets for anemia I find I need lots more fiber and there is no better way to get your fiber than from fruit...not banana's as too high in sugar...Apples are a great source of fiber as is Flaxseeds...of which I have one Tsp a day, both work very nicely for me.

I am having fruit 3x a day now...Black Berries with my muesli, orange with my shake, Apple for late afternoon snack......with cutting out the bad sugars I have managed to get control of the Candida and also my weight is coming down due to a low sugar eat plan.

Sugar (in one form or another) is added to more food products than you can imagine. There are also a large number of "variants" of sugar - depending on the kind of processing that has occurred.

Here is a list to get you started in identifying sugars. I'm sure you can come up with many more names for sugar.

1. Brown sugar
2. Corn syrup
3. Demerara Sugar
4. Dextrose
5. Free Flowing Brown Sugars
6. Fructose
7. Galactose
8. Glucose
9. High Fructose Corn Syrup
10. Honey
11. Invert Sugar
12. Lactose
13. Malt
14. Maltodextrin
15. Maltose
16. Maple syrup
17. Molasses
18. Muscovado or Barbados Sugar
19. Panocha
20. Powdered or confectioner's sugar
21. Rice Syrup
22. Sucrose
23. Sugar (granulated)
24. Treacle
25. Turbinado sugar

25 more names if you are interested in educating yourself.

I read this today....

Sugar can cause autoimmune diseases such as: arthritis, asthma, and multiple sclerosis.

Click here if you want to read more THE 76 DANGERS OF SUGAR

If you have time listen to the 2nd video, its long, but honestly an education....

Taking Control

I didn't have a good week when it comes to my training...

Motivation as I have said before was VERY low.

Thank goodness I had to teach two lessons cause its not possible for me to get out of those workouts unless I'm sick and lying flat on my back.

Let me recap my weeks training.

Monday ~ My official day off

Tuesday ~ Taught a Workout class

Wednesday ~ Taught a Bootcamp class

Thursday ~ No training

Friday ~ Indoor cycle for 15km and toning for 15 mins

Saturday ~ No training

Sunday ~ Treadmill run for 7km, 51 mins, no walking

Burned 2166 calories

4 days out of 7 I trained.

Last Wednesday we had the most beautiful day here in Germany...the sky was blue and the sun shone.....my mood was lifted, I was full of energy, I wanted to be active, I wanted to get out....

That didn't last for long cause the next day and since then the sky has been grey and dark and the its very cold...my mood changed ~ I felt miserable again....

I've given myself a talking to....

I can do nothing about the weather, weather is weather!!

Why am I allowing something I have no control over to affect my life in this way

So blogger friends

I'm going to make changes in my life

I'm going to get to gym no matter how cold it is

I'm going to go for an outdoor run whatever the temp at least once a week

Weather is not going to have control over me anymore!!!

Where has my motivation gone???

I taught my two aerobic/workout classes on Tuesday and Wednesday now for the rest of the week I have to find the motivation, desire within to train...thats the hardest part for me right now as I cant face the gym....I know why, cause its so stuffy and I end up being annoyed and not enjoying myself as I struggle to breath with the windows and doors all being closed as that's the way the older generation like to train....so not for me.....I now wish I had a treadmill at home as do think I would run more often if I had one...Hubby says I have to chose...a gym membership or treadmill and right now am still in the middle of my two year contract and cant get out of the membership.

I'm waiting for the fire of passion to fill me again...the passion to train.

Whenever I make baked veggies I pour 1 Tsp of this olive oil over the veggies and bake it in the oven...Hubby has been complaining that his stomach is playing up after veggie bake and he feels there is too much oil over the veggies ( 1 Tsp over a huge baking tray??? ) anyway, last might I made veggie bake again and left out the olive oil and he turned to me and said * These veggies taste much better * ~ so now am wondering if everyone adds or leaves the oil when baking veggies???

In Germany you can't find Instant oats...they make oats, but not the instant type like you can get in other parts of the world.

The only place I can buy Instant oats in in Cologne at The British Shop where they import the Instant oats from the United Kingdom..... my friend Sarah often posts me the Instant oats from the American Base shop in her part of Germany as well.

I wanted to start making Oats for breakfast from this week but have so much Plain and Greek yogurt that I have to use that up first before it expires. I do look forward to Oats for breakfast again after weeks and weeks of muesli.

I got a reply from Oxygen magazine to say that I can expect my first issue, the month of March addition around the 16th FEB.....which is today, have looked in the letter box but nothing arrived today....I hope it arrives as a friend of mine posted me photography magazines from the UK and its been more than a month and a half and nothing has arrived as yet.

Greek and a parcel

I have read all your comments regarding the Total Fage Greek yogurt that I managed to find last Friday...Will look for the o% version next time or see if I can speak to the store manager to hear if they have it or getting it in.

I bought 6 tubs of this yogurt and eat 100g's at breakfast so a tub will last me for two days...

I ate this Greek yogurt with my muesli this morning, wow, wow, wow, plain yogurt does not come close to the taste of this Greek yogurt.

I have two big tubs of plain yogurt left which I will use with my GREEN shake that I am making daily....cause now that I have tasted my breakfast with Greek yogurt, how am I going to go back to plain again!!!

I've checked the ingredients of the Greek I have and see its very different to the one's a lot of you are eating...for example per 100g the Protein is only 6.8g's compared to what the rest of you are getting...20g's

I have been online to see what is available.

I think this GREEK is new to Germany.

PROTEIN & DIET

FAGE Total As a Part of Your Healthy Diet.

FAGE Total makes a great addition to any healthy eating plan because of its high concentration of all-natural protein, raw ingredients, low calorie count and unique versatility.

It’s packed with powerful protein.

FAGE Total’s unique straining process yields luxuriously thick yogurt, but also something else extraordinary: a high concentration of all-natural protein. Protein is a powerful, muscle-building nutrient that helps deliver steady and sustained energy throughout your day. So with up to 20g of protein in each individual cup. FAGE Total can help you through your day.

It’s all natural.

Healthy food starts by being all natural. FAGE Total uses only raw, 100% natural whole milk and cream supplied from rBGH-free* cows. This means you get all the calcium-rich benefits of real dairy ingredients, with nothing artificial.

It’s low-calorie — but filling.

FAGE Total is inherently low-calorie. Because we don’t use any artificial sweeteners, there are no extra “sugary” calories to keep track of. And in several cases, FAGE Total has fewer calories than other common dietary snacks and proves more filling:

Today my doorbell rang.

I ran down the 3 flights of stairs to the front door.

A parcel from my blogger friend Sarah from the USA but now living in Germany

I will share more about this parcel on my other blog tomorrow but wanted to show the food planner she sent me.

It's fantastic.

I'm going to use it from March...and cant wait.

Thank you so much Sarah...you know me well girlfriend!!!

Happy Valentine's ~ No cooking

Happy Valentine's EVERYONE

Have taken the day off today...

So no training for me

But am watching what I eat as off to dinner with my hubby later this evening.

Guess what I found on Friday while out grocery shopping

GREEK YOGURT.

Have not tried it yet as want to finish the other yogurt I have in my fridge.

See lots more calories per 100ml for Greek compared to plain...but sugar wise a better choice.

Weekly results

I didn't get to train on Friday or Saturday

Friday, I did my grocery shopping and was wanting to go for a run, but never did as I hate running once I've done my hair and make up for the day.

Saturday my hubby and I went to Frankfurt for the day, so besides lots of walking, which actually counts for nothing as your HR doesn't go up...I didn't train once again...

Two days in a row.....makes me feel a little on the cranky side to be honest.

I love adding the GERMAN foods photo's I eat to my blog as I think its always interesting to see what foods are available in other countries...I love seeing the foods the American's have as the variety always seems so much more than here in Germany or South Africa where I come from.

As you can see the foods I eat are all BIO, which means Organic and most are the brand ALNATURA which is the organic brand at one of our supermarkets...buying that brand I know I can rely on them to have no added sugar, sweetener or bad fats to the products....I always double check the ingredients before I buy anything, and this brand I am always more than satisfied with.

Today Hubby and I went to the gym for our usual Sunday workout....I head straight to the treadmill every Sunday while hubby does his cardio on the bike and elliptical. We usually train for an hour each Sunday.

Today I did 7.64 km in 55 mins.

I walked for 5 mins, ran for 30, then did 3 sets of walk for one min, run for 4, last few minutes I walked to cool down, then it was time to get out of there.

When I got home I make myself a GREEN shake of spinach leaves, 1 orange, 100g plain yogurt, a stick of celery and ice...

My weeks training was as follows.

Monday ~ Ran for 7.57kl outdoors

Tuesday ~ Taught Aerobic Dance Class

Wednesday ~ Taught boot camp class

Thursday ~ Ran 5kl outdoors

Friday and Saturday were my off days

Sunday ~ Ran 7.64 on the Treadmill

Did total of 20 kl this week

Burned Total of 3094 calories

Did 5 Workouts.

Did 900 sit ups this week

Am now two weeks away from my weigh in day and not feeling as if I have lost anything...

Eat Sweets????

I've been spending a lot of time reading up about different eating plans online and going through my eating plan books, to see what the common denominator is amongst them....

So far MOST say SUGAR IS THE NO 1 ENEMY

I found a book called THE X DIET which I bough about 10 years ago, this book was written by a registered dietitian in South Africa, so to me this had to be a good eating plan.

When you look at this book you can see I've read if from cover to cover as it has lots of stains on the pages as well...

What this plan was all about was....FAT...keeping that as low as possible in your plan

I read this from the book

EAT SWEETIES!

AS A GENERAL RULE, SEE-THROUGH SWEETS (AND MARSHMALLOWS ) DO NOT CONTAIN FAT, AND YOU MAY EAT THEM FREELY ON THE X DIET!

KEEP A SUPPLY OF JELLY BABIES, WINE GUMS, MARSHMALLOWS AND BOILED SWEETS ON HAD FOR QUICK ENERGY BOOSTS.

BEWARE OF CARAMELS AND TOFFEES AS THESE OFTEN CONTAIN HIDDEN FATS.

Now trust me while I did this plan, this gave me a free passage to eat sweets and I did.

I filled a Tupperware container with sweets and my hands would often be dipping into the bowl as this was fat free!!

Lets remember that fat free is ASPARTAME FILLED...

I was very excited when I went to teach the group of ladies I teach on a Tuesday evening that they have decided to have another 10 sessions with me once this 10 are finished, and then again another 10 from September before I leave to Cape Town on my Christmas holiday with my family.

Last night I taught 4 ladies from my street, we meet every Wednesday evening, gave them a hard workout, but did feel very alone before and afterwards as they were speaking German to each other at a very fast pace and I had no idea what they were saying. As I'm not hearing the German language being spoken from one Wednesday to the next I'm finding it really hard to feel part of this group.

The last photo is of me and my five grandchildren....taken in November while on holiday to Cape Town...I went home to be at the birth of my 5th grandchild, who I'm holding...she's my little Nunu that one!!!

My son has three children...My Princess, Super Dude, and Beautiful boy ( blogger names for them)

My daughter has two.....Clever boy and Nunu....

I'm really blessed but wish I was able to spend more time with them as they in Cape Town and me in Germany!!!

I'm all dressed and ready to do a run today...but so chilly outside...

Have no idea if I will get out today....lets see.