So... when was the last time I've been here?

I am a person who loves to write, and for some reason I have not been doing it. I know why to be honest...

Lately I've started to be on track again so I am not ashamed to talk about what's going on. What is the point to talk about failures? Talk about how I gained so much weight that I've seen 3 digits on my scale for the first time in my life. When I started this blog I was with 87 kg (191.8 lbs - 13.7 stones). To think I went up to 100kg (220 lbs, 15.7 stones), then I was able for a bit to go back to the 2 digits but be always on the verge to see the bloody 100 again... GOD NO! 

Did a bit of food control for a while, and worked, so I was finally with 97kg , starting to breathe. And then what happened? back to 99.8! NO NO NO! And when I panic what happen to me? I eat. I stress eat a lot and that's the main reason I gained weight. So yeah, saw the 100 for a second time. 101 to be honest.

So yeah I decided is time. Back to my exercising, to food control, to organize my life. For the last 30 days I challenged myself to do a daily workout, initially 30min a day, now I am up to 40min. And God bless I saw the first results. 3.7kg lost (8.15 lbs - 0.58 stones).

The difference this time is that I am not dieting, I am controlling my food. Diet in my concept is when you count the calories, just eat a restrict food from a program - dukan, atkins, paleo, keto, whatever - and NO ALCOHOL!  I don't want to do that because is not realistic for me. I am a wife, for a start, I don't cook only to myself. Second, I love when my husband is off and he cooks Italian recipes, we have a bottle of wine and laugh about life. I also think that I work hard everyday and sometimes I want a pint in the end of my shift, well deserved. I don't do it everyday, but I do permit myself to a drink a week after work with friends. So yeah. I need to control my eating to suit my needs, not the other way. So if I am having pasta and wine at night, I do a low carb during this day to not feel guilty when I suppose to be having fun with my husband. 

I am the kind that start to be paranoid very easily, if I am counting calories and eat a chewy I will be upset with myself the whole day. Even now that I am not that restrictive with myself I do feel upset when I know I've done something wrong. Like the other day after drinking instead of eat my salad I munched a bunch of croissants with dip sauce. If was 2 or 3 I wouldn't be so hard on myself, but I ate the whole package. Results, no weight loss, all my week effort down in one meal. 

As I said I work my day around it. To have no guilt. I want the burgers, the pints, the pasta, even fries to be part of my life because no one lives just dieting. As long as I don't lose control to when I should have those fatty delicious meals, everything will be ok. 

Basically that's it. Me, trying again. Ashamed of let myself be so heavy again, but at least trying to do something about it. And I am happy that I am doing. The quality of my life really change in this past month. My self care, my attention to what I eat - for a long time I forgot about fruits, and had no salad on my plates - and just stop having frizzy drinks to having water changed a lot. 

I do have half a glass of coca-cola here and there, but not everyday. The biggest change is because the food is lighter so I don't need the coke to help me wash down the food. So I am fine with water.

The plan now, after finishing this 30 days challenge is keep with the healthy food for most of the time, drink 2lt of water a day, exercise 40min everyday (walks, xbox - one of my 10 workout games, video workouts on youtube, dance classes, gym, anything that make me move). To be honest I like to do it at home. No excuses with distance, weather or whatever, but that is a subject for another post. I think I already wrote down a lot... that's the thing about not write for a while, the mind is too full!

See you latter!

Getting help, preparing myself.

Hello, how are you?! I am fine and pretty happy too!

Even not having a big change in my weight, I am having in my life. What is good. Makes me feel good. I have my weight in every 1st day of the month. I started with 87.5 kg (13.77 stones - 192.90 pounds), and at the 1st March I was with 87.2 kg (13.73 stones - 192,24 pounds) but the thing is, I gained a lot of weight in the middle of February because of Valentines Day and some parties around. I suppose to be on the diet, but honestly, I wasn't.  My weight went up to 89.9 kg (14.15 stones - 198.17 pounds) and when I started to watch my food and everything else I was able to be back to the start weight and lose more 300g. So yeah, I am pretty happy!

Sorry about the KG, but is how I work! kkk But I will always try to put the conversion to be easier to who have a different system.  

You know, when you don't exercise your mind to be stronger, is very easy to lose yourself in the middle of the way. Like this week, working in the coffee shop, was very hard to don't eat all the delicious things my friend Pati baked that day. She told me we would have some things, so I let to have my breakfast there to be able to taste it, and OMG was so good! But I also knew I need to control myself. Wasn't forbidden, I ate it, I tried it. But the tricky part is put a limit on your desires. 

Some people think are not able to control yourself and stop to eat some kind of food. It can work for a short period, but not for life (in my opinion). Unless is a life threatening situation, you don't have any reasons in your subconscious to avoid the food. And that's when you see yourself eating a whole pot of ice cream, a full cake, and anything else you said yourself was forbidden. And then you cry and think you are not capable of do it and give up. No! You are!

In my experience, after all the weight gain and lost, I give myself one day a week (usually friday or saturday) to have a meal or have a couple of beers in a pub. Because is part of life. And you know, take all that anxiety of need to eat, need to do it. Even in regular days, if for some reason I can't cook my meals and I need something ready like a pizza (around 750 kcal a medium size one), I eat. Half in the lunch, half in the dinner, and try do the rest of my day full off fruits, veggies, salads. Compensation. Is not something to do everyday, but happens. Is it essential make your food with all the love, less oil, low calorie, cooked especially in your daily plan? Yes. You can do it everyday? Probably not! So, reorganize yourself, don't panic, and eat.

The quality of food is about healthy, not just calories. That's why is essential to cook it or choose ready meals who suits your daily needs. You can have a diet only with fast food if it fit in your calorie program, but for sure will not be good for your heart. But that doesn't mean that one time a week, if you don't have any health problems who makes you avoid certain types of food,  you can't go there and have a meal. Shape the rest of your day around it and be happy. I do that with birthday parties, reunions, and especially the days I work in the coffee shop, because Pati surprises me everyday! kkkk The day of mexican food! OMG! I just wanted everything!

Another thing that helps is have support. For me write in the blog helps a lot, because makes me meet other people in the same situation who read it, leave comments. I can read and process my days, see what is working, what is not. I also think is essential to have some company, especially when you are close to have a panic attack. Someone to hold you together and listen what is frustrating you, to keep you on track, to ask how everything is going, to make you company in the walks, the exercises. Here I don't have it. Yet. Kind off!

Because of that I created "The Weight Off Support Group", will start this week in Kensington (55, Holt Road)  11.30am until 12.30 every Friday. Will be very nice! A chance to meet more people wanting lose weight, share experience, exchange recipes, I am exited about it! The Croissant of Inequality, the coffee shop I work as a volunteer offer me the space to do it, and I am very happy. It's Free. Like a book club, but will be a weight off club. I hope to see some people there! Fingers crossed.

See you later! Thank you for reading!

MY GOALS! What I am doing to get back on track.

Hello! How are you?! I am fine, thank God!

It's being very hard to get back on track. Bad habits are hard to lose. And the winter doesn't help very much. It's so cold and I just want stay home under the covers and eat, have a nice hot chocolate! But this is not what I need to be healthy. I know that, and after weeks of doing wrong I can officially say: I STARTED! Today is the second day. I know is too soon to say everything is ok in the process, but I have some hope now is for good.

All started after my Health Cookery Classes in Kensington. I learned how to cook a lot of different kind of meals and it made me remember all the pleasure I had cooking for myself. Sometimes we forget how important is to take some time for ourself. I am trying to squeeze time to cook everyday in my schedule. If I don't have time, I will let the meal ready in a day before, but I need keep control of what I eat, quantity, quality, things like that.

One of the things I saw it's making a huge difference in my diet  is have creamy soups at night for dinner. Other than that, I will have whole wheat sandwiches and omelets before bed.

My goal, according with my hight and body type, is to eat between 1200 - 1400 kcal. Drink 2lt of water and try include 1lt of tea, being 3lt of liquids a day.

For me the Ideal is to eat 1300. Stay in the middle. And I divide my day like this:

• Breakfast: 250 kcal
• Snack: 150 kcal
• Lunch: 450 kcal
• Snack: 150 kcal
• Dinner: 300 kcal

Of course the numbers can change. What is important is to try keep in your goal. Like today my breakfast was up to 270, so my lunch will have less calories to compensate.You also can have a snack before bed, usually I am full after dinner.

The best to keep track on how much you are eating is measure the portions and use a calorie counter. I use the app "MyFitnessPal", it have the most of the products there already and, if is missing something, you can add with the information of the product and save. It's really easy and help to programming your day.

Talking about program, I always go first to the APP and organize my all my meals. For me is better have everything calculated for the whole day. When you have what you will eat, all the portions, you have less chance to go off your diet. It's important to write and put in your fridge or in your diary what you can eat during the day. If you follow the program you are sure you are doing everything right and the results will appear.

This is an example of one of my days missing the snacks. (sorry, mine is in Portuguese because I am Brazilian, the website have language options. As you can see my meals are in English, because I go by the brands I buy here on UK)

Knowing I would like to add butter on my potatoes I took a very light breakfast. You always can change around what you want to eat that day. It's simple, fast, and make you sure about your meals and the affect on you body. I cook my meals without oil, that's why don't have any in the food diary.

Everything is about control what you eat. The physical activities are a bonus to help with the weight loss, but the quality of food is essential to keep your body healthy, with all the nutrients your immune system needs, and help your body functions as kidneys, intestines, liver and heart. So, EAT HEALTHY!

Snacks for me are fruits and juice (no sugar added). Is something you can eat/drink loads and is low calorie. But you always can add nuts or cereals.

It's important to add 30min of exercise everyday. A walk, a yoga class, a dance class, or any activity you enjoy and help you to burn some calories, also is important to avoid atrophy as we go ageing. If you have more time and resistant, 1h your can do miracles to your weight loss.

I hope I could help with those informations! Next time I will be back with some recipes and more about exercises.

Thank you for reading. See you!

1st - Who Am I and why I am here.

Will I lose some weight?! That's the question I ask myself everyday...

Hello! Nice to meet you!

My name is Andreia. I'm 27 years old, happily married, and I've being in Liverpool almost for 2 years. I'm from Brazil, and I move here to stay close to the one I love. I like my life here, but I still don't know a lot of people. Sometimes is hard.  When you have people around you with things in common, everything start to be easier. And that's the reason I am starting this blog. To know people in the same situation as I am, and try to support and share the experience in that "over weight life".

My weight now is  87,5kg (almost 14 stones, or 193 pounds). Is not my biggest weight, but is not my best either. 

Five years ago I started a diet and a blog (with the same name, but in portuguese) and I lost 21kg with the help of other bloggers. I was very heavy, with almost 100kg (98kg to be more precise - or 220 pounds, 16 stones)  and I start a diet and exercises. Then I met a blogger when I was with 90kg and started my own page. In December of 2013 I was with 69 kg (10,8 stones - 152 pounds). Then I moved to Liverpool in March of 2014 and all my life change! The weather, the lack of friends, the distance between me and my family, gave me reasons (or not!) to gain all the weight back.

May 2011 - September 2013

Miss you 69kg!

Now I have some new friends, I'm more used to the weather, and most of it, I know I need to be healthy. I want to be pride of myself again, and be better everyday. Have that same satisfaction I had when I lost all the weight. Feel more confident, start to like myself in my clothes and stop use bigger clothes to try hide my curves. 

I have a long way ahead, but everything need a start. This is me now, and I want to be a little bit like me back then. Not anyone else. No unrealistic plans, no crazy diets. Just be the better version of myself. Wish me luck!

all the weight back :/

The next post I will talk about my health cookery classes and what is the master plan to go back to my 69kg (my goal is 65kg).

Thank you for the reading, and see you!