Tuesday thoughts

Writing this blog has made me feel uncomfortably superficial, so I´ll write down some of my thoughts about holistic well-being to balance all this body-centeredness...

I´m guessing I´m not the only one who diets because (or at least has it as high priority) of better looking body. Just let´s not forget about mental, spiritual and emotional welfare while taking care of our bodies! 

A lot of reasons why we want to look like something particular; slim, muscular, curvy; actually come from society, which is people around us, who, in the end, are ALL different. Even the general vision of what looks good is changing all the time, as it has changed in the past.

Perhaps people around us are even very accepting (maybe excluding California) but then there´s commercial media and it´s endless war against our self-esteem; to make us feel bad about ourselves; to make us want to fit in these weird unrealistic boundaries.

girlpower/retouch

No matter how good you look, no matter how thin and shaped you are, if you haven´t dealt with your emotional burden and fears, and learned how to be humble, loving and forgiving in the face of life, you will only end up struggling for ever more.

We all have met these people; a beautiful woman who just doesn´t make you light up inside; an average-looking, overweight middle-aged woman who´s sheer presence makes you feel better and happier, and who´s laughter gets your mood up for days.

Dalai Lama official website

Mother Amma official website

So what are we running after? In the end it´s just happiness... and happiness can only be discovered from within, not from the latest diet plan.

It´s not how beautiful we are outside that makes us attractive; it´s the love we have created in ourselves.

Body is our tool in this world; instead of shame and judgment let´s live in it wisely and give it lot´s of warm loving!

-Lilli

Sunny Monday

One week is done, and it went fast! Friday and Saturday I slipped into normal eating habits, but I think it´s healthier to eat more every now and then, to balance the scarce-ish diet and not get starved, right..! Weekends are good for that, if I just don´t go WAYY over with fat and sugar and other munchy stuff.

Todays foods:

Breakfast

-coffee with milk
-organic rye bread with butter, cheese, tomato and onion, salt and pepper (this is so good)

Lunch

-salmon salad (same as yesterday, freshly made)

Dinner

-rye bread with cheese and butter

Snacks

-carrot
-mandarins
-cup of dark cocoa made in milk with some organic cocoa nibs 

Today, around midday I sat for an whole hour next to Tammerkoski-river and snowy restaurant-boats, enjoying the sun and absorbing the lovely light and precious Vitamin D. Today I could feel the spring coming.

-Lilli

Sunday

Today I finally got back on track.

Evenings not done yet and I can still eat a few calories. Here´s what I´ve been eating so far:

Breakfast

-coffee with milk  
-piece of organic rye bread with butter, cheese, tomato and onion

Lunch

-big bowl of salmon salad ♥
   oven cooked and cooled salmon
   oak leaf lettuce
   romaine lettuce
   2 tomatoes
   some cucumber
   organic onion
   organic lemon (I eat this whole, skins aromatic oils give funky feeling in the mouth) 

Dinner

-one barley sausage with ketchup

Snacks

-an organic carrot
-some hard candies
-coffee with cream

I LOVE salad and I think I could eat different salads everyday! It doesn´t make me feel tired like heavy, cooked, high in carbohydrates foods, but I do get hungry again after a while.

But, after yesterdays overeating and extremely uncomfortable feeling that lasted for hours I think it´s better to feel a bit empty than absolutely bursting, no matter how good the food is...

I´m happy with today, and there´s still something nice ahead, Bodyguard is on TV in a few minutes! Whitney Houstons (RIP) and Kevin Costners nearly syrupy romance... great ending for a Sunday ;P 

-Lilli

Saturday is for Salmon

No calorie-counting today, I can´t say no to fish!

Salmon cooked in oven with cream plus mashed potatoes, and some cucumber, tomato and dark green lettuce on the side, can´t get much better than that.

"Dessert" was white chocolate-yoghurt-cashews... can´t really say no to them either :)

So I ate too much and my stomach hurts, uggh...

Also, no drinking beer this weekend which is always a small triumph.

Tomorrow I might make myself happy with some exercise.

Ta-ta!

-Lilli

Friday fatigue

Today I decided to forget the calories after feeling tired and dizzy till late in the afternoon. Nothing a little chocolate and banana couldn´t fix. In the evening I ate a biiig load of the most best chicken salad ever.

Recipe:

-oven-cooked and cooled chicken, cut in pieces
-two different kinds of dark green lettuces
-tomatos
-cucumber
-canned peach
-onion
-salt and pepper

Simple and so so nice!

-Lilli

4th day, Friday

I´ve been rethinking the cappuccino-calories and I don´t think it´s possible to be 500 kcal per cup! It´s just espresso and whipped milk? I did add some brown sugar but STILL. Doesn´t seem right. Maybe I´ll get some truthful information about that yet :)

Last night I was still so hungry that in the end I ate an orange, a carrot and a crisp rye bread with butter and cheese + a small piece of dark chocolate. Yummy!

I´ve been feeling the hunger every now and then, but it´s not too bad, and it´s easy to fulfill with some low-cal food, like fruits and vegetables.

Maybe when I get rid of my extra fat, the hunger goes away :)

-Lilli

Day 3 - Coffee clash

Holee crap! Everything was splendid when I started to add up my calories from today, looking quite nice after I added 1 cup of cappuccino I had in a bar.

Geez, went over the limits to app. 1300 kcal. It´s not possible to know the real calories of cappuccino you have somewhere and even the quantity might be a bit off, but I counted it with some mediocre values. It seems you might get 500 kcal from a cup of cappuccino, which in this diet means more than a third of overall calories of the day. Possibly not worth it...

Guess it´s espresso or regular "Finnish" coffee for me from now on... :)

Todays eatings:

-soft-boiled egg
-cappuccino
-2 carrot-pies
-organic apple
-a few almonds
-minced meat and pasta

Doesn´t look like much, doesn´t feel like much. Oh well, it´s not so serious and this was just another "lesson".

I did walk quite a lot! Even the sun was shining which always makes me happy.

Thanks universe, bye!

-Lilli

Done day 2

I did manage to get out today, for approximately 45 minutes in the fresh, not too cold winter air. Very nice!

Todays meals:

-coffee with milk
-oatmeal with blueberries
-a banana
-big bowl of raw veggie-salad:
   cabbage
   oak leaf lettuce (couldn´t find the right word so this is straight from Finnish)
   2 carrots
   2 small organic onions
   tomato
   cold pressed rape oil (oh my God it says so in the dictionary)
   unrefined seasalt and pepper
+ 2 soft-boiled eggs
-minced meat and macaroni- thingy
-an orange
-a small handful of organic sunflower seeds

There was a slight mishap with the computer; it shut down on it´s own and I lost my calorie-calculations so far. Anyways I kept on counting them and got probably pretty near my goal of 1200 kcal.

It was cool to notice that I can actually eat this "high in fat and empty carbohydrates yet tasting so good"- meat and pasta thing without going over my limits, point is just getting a small enough portion! 200 grams in this case which makes about 260 kcal + ketchup. 

Eating just cold, raw salad can - even if it is delicious and makes you feel good - leave you feeling a bit empty inside, to which something like hot pasta is the perfect answer.

I am not feeling hungry, yet I know had I not decided to count my calories, I would eat over these limits. It´s done so easily, just a couple of pieces of chocolate or a few nice sandwiches.

It´s a cute motivational cat! Looking quite a lot of like it´s larger cousin lynx, or Eurasian lynx, or bobcat (US) - never miss a chance to learn new words! S/ hes here just because nothing looks so content than a sleepy cat after a good meal.

Nights :)

-Lilli

Tuning into day 2

Mornin´, me!

I think I´ll go straight down to 1200 kcal and see how it goes since yesterday was such easy-peas.

I already had my coffee and oatmeal with blueberries, planning to eat some salad and eggs for dinner.

I haven´t been exercising for a few days if running around in Skyrim doesn´t count... so I´ll try to do some gymnastics today. When I get more money I´ll buy 10x yoga tickets to Om Yoga. Their quite expensive but classes are really good and versatile.

OmYoga

I should get some fresh air and go jogging, who knows I might even accomplish that today ;)

Anyway, felt a bit hungry when going to sleep but fine in the morning, I´ll just try and eat good healthy foods to get vitamins and minerals, in that way I think this diet might be a lot healthier than consuming vast amounts of empty calories to get what you actually need.

I think raw vegetables are really THE base for all diets. Plus them you really wouldn´t need anything but proteins; nuts, beans, meat if you wanna go there. Then some fruits and berries to fulfill your need for sweet ♥  

So colourful and beautiful!

And then there´s this.

Of all the wonderful things people do, circus must be one of the most creative, innovative, physical and emotional, taking us back to our childhood and world of wonder which we now know only occasionally any more...

I adore all the movies, music and art that take me there, to my innermost self, where love and sadness are the same and everything is pure heartbreaking beautiful.

By the way Alegría means Happiness and Joy, in Spanish :)

-Lilli

First day - check! ♥

My meals today:

-coffee with milk
-oatmeal with blueberries
-an orange
-some organic raw walnuts and almonds
-lentil-stew:
   red organic lentils
   organic onions
   organic carrots
   cabbage
   organic cold-pressed coconut oil
   fresh parsley
   spices: chili, curry, salt
   ketchup
-piece of baguette with 60% fat butter 
-dark chocolate (70% cocoa) this was Valentine´s chocolate, but I´ll count it in anyway ;)

All this adds up to 1321 kcal. Without chocolate I could´ve eaten a bit more "real food".

So I feel I´ve been eating pretty well but rather lightly and calories are somewhere in between my goals 1200-1500 kcal.

Not feeling hungry although I am having some nearly obsessed thoughts about food in general, but that´s been the case for a while now anyway. If I can get to a balanced diet maybe I don´t have to think about food so much any more?

So far, so good! :)

-Lilli

Guidelines

I will begin by reducing calories to

-1500kcal/ per day. Depending on how it feels I might go down to

-1200kcal/ per day.

Food

Meticulous measuring of foods and calories is not for me. I´ll do it in the beginning to have a good view of what I can eat and how much without going over my limits. I don´t want to be weighing my foods forever.

I don´t want to overdo this. I´ll still drink my coffee in the morning and indulge in junk food and chocolate sometimes.

I´m not much of a cook so I prefer simple dishes:

-oatmeal
-berries
-vegetables (raw and cooked)
-fruits
-nuts, almonds
-beans
-lentils
-eggs
-bread 
-cheese
-oils and fats
-spices
-pasta sometimes
-meats (not so often)
-maybe yoghurt

I´ll also eat some calcium-pills, sometimes Vitamin D (thanks to the lack of sunshine here up North), and sometimes iron in pills, since I´ve been diagnosed low iron-levels as it is.

I  might add some natural vitamin-boosters or "super-foods".

Possible stumbling blocks:

-overeating
-chocolate :)
-money (vegetables can be costly)
-lack of long term motivation

I´ll be using kitchen scale for measuring and following website to add it up:

kalorilaskuri (in Finnish) 

Exercise

As unemployed I have pretty slow rhythm, but I´m trying to keep up with some exercise, probably no threat of overdoing it, ha ha...

Planning to do some yoga

I´ll do some gymnastics at home (Lidl´s plastic mineral water bottles make pretty good weights when filled with water, they even have a narrow part in the middle to get a good grip)

Sometimes I´ll visit gym

Jogging (when Finnish winter and my own laziness give me a chance)

OK. Should be realistic enough for starters ;P

-Lilli

Beginning

Ok, so this is where it begins; my experiment on low calorie diet. I genuinely got intrigued by it when reading the studies about primates living longer lives when on low cal diet. The picture of two monkeys sais it better than words. The one on regular diet looks old and saggy, when the other one looks young and healthy.

New York Times article

I´ve had interest in this diet before, for example when reading about celebrities very restricted diets (and yes, slightly envying their very slim bodies). I don´t want to be anorectic. I just want to be slim, healthy and energetic. If I can achieve that with a diet, I want to have it a go.

Personally I think slim body is beautiful. I think most of the people feel the same although it might be inappropriate to say it aloud. And, I think, since it looks good to the eye, maybe it´s the way it should be, you know, it looks good because subconscioustly we see it as healthy; as optimal; as the way it´s "meant to be."

Curvy bodies can be beautiful also, Marilyn Monroe as a classic example, but they have good proportions also, basically meaning big boobs to balance the rest of the body. When my boobs are quite small and my extra fat accumulates mostly on my butt and thighs, my overall proportions just look better when I´m in a slim shape.

 I´ll add some photos of myself later. I´m not so big on scales (allright, I don´t own one), but I think photos can tell the truth better.

What I hope to achieve with this diet:

-more energy
-health
-slim body
-healthier lifestyle

If some of these are compromised, I won´t continue doing it. 

My English is not perfect and can sound annoyingly formal (to me it does), but this blog is mostly just for myself to write down this experience and give me extra motivation. I´m writing in English so if this hits off my experiences can help others interested in low calorie living and I get good practice in English.


I´ll be back :)

-Lilli