You who have read the blog have followed my journey of losing quite some weight and staying healthy while at the same time one of my life passions is trying new cuisines and restaurants all over the world. So how do I manage to stick to losing weight while doing this. Well I’ve come into a very good healthy of always choosing to indulge when I really want to and during the week I generally stay very lean and mean, no sweets, alcohol, unnecessary fatties and excessive portions. Honestly one of the biggest aha moments for me was portion control through my dietician Esther. She taught me only to truly eat 300-500 kacl per meal…I was probably hitting 750+ kacl without even realizing it!
Training!!!
Training both gives you a mental boost AND a metabolic boost. Something we call in business win-win?. My favorite exercise routine is definitely pimping weight, but my personal trainer Richard also taught me to get a few intervals in there to keep the fat burning for days! Usually I either start or finish my workout with 8X20 seconds intervals on a still treadmill. Having to push the treadmill yourself really kicks your cardio into gear, and best of all I’m not a runner so this is a very short but effective cardio workout!
Usually I try to get 3-4 workouts in a week…sometimes that doesn’t succeed but if it doesn’t I won’t beat myself up about it! Below is a 5 am jet lag workout with a view of New York at the Standard!
Make use of the jet lag and workout early on the other side of the pond
Food!!!
This is something I think I’ve already told you about. My diet only consists of around 1250kacl a day, so I truly need to keep it slim during the week. I am officially an expert on low calorie options for breakfast, lunch and dinner! One of my best friends is also my calorie counter app! I would really recommend downloading one. Going to my dietician every months ensures I keep on track…after all my competitive nature stops me from weighing in gaining weight month to month!
Results!!!
So how did my last week look? Well mostly pretty healthy. Most of the week I was on Zug and quickly threw together some type of salad or protein/veggie wok every night. Wednesday offered a simple salad with smoked fish, raw vegetables and a little bit of olive oil dressing. During the week I never spend more than half an hour to make dinner!
Simple everyday dinner
Once the weekend drew nearer I headed out for date night at a new restaurant in Amsterdam, French Connection. One word, amazing!! They serve up small dishes so you can order three or four per person and it’s also sharing concept. I think this is a true date night restaurant and the food was solidly inspired by the traditional French kitchen with a twist. My personal favorite was the amuse bouche surprise olive and the brioche with cheese was dreamy!
French Connection
Friday started off with dinner with one of my best friends at Amsterdams best Vietnamese according to me, O Mai! Menu is simple, very kind on your wallet and always fresh. They only have a selection of one wine so if I could have a say…perhaps extend it?! Whatever you do, don’t forget to try a Vietnamese coffee if you haven’t already!
raw beef salad from O Mai
vietnamese coffee
Of course I finished off the week with a relaxed Saturday brunch with my better half….this time some fresh bread with a pesto kale salad and turkey.
healthy brunch
Tonight I’m off for a mani and pedi to get my nail game on??. Speak later friends!
Yesterday I ventured to Izakaya in Amsterdam to try out their Sunday brunch. This is a concept they only do on an ad-hoc basis so securing a reservation wasn’t easy but my love and I finally did and boy am I happy I went! The afternoon starts out like a regular brunch, and the Izakaya kitchen serves up a feast of small Japanese dishes just like their regular menu…but as the afternoon unfolds live acts come out on stage and brings up the heat quite a bit and after three hours the roof was lifting and the music was beating. Below are some pictures from both the menu and entertainment! They also served Veuve Clicquots new champagne specifically targeted to a citrusy slightly sweeter pre-dinner drink!
Veuve Clicquot started the party!
Asian deliciousness
Some afternoon wine went down as well☺️
Live performances
Night club action at 3 pm in the afternoon
Despite the fantastic weekend I’m still feeling a bit under the weather though and I don’t know if it’s from general life/work stress or if there’s some bug just refusing to leave my body. Either way I’ve committed to myself to taking it a bit easy the next couple of weeks. After this upcoming weekends havoc in Stockholm I’m going to just relax with a wonderful weekend on the Zugersee. Nothing cures a little low energy like the mountain air. More updates to follow my friends!
The past few weeks I’ve been feeling less than energized. Some family problems, slow month in the office and a dragged out cold…so yesterday I was supposed to summarize how my year has been at work and I decided to pick myself right out of this miserable mood!!
Not only did I finish my evaluation, but I have myself a pat on the back for managing to almost learn a new language this year, lost 15kg of weight, start a new job and staying happy with my love at the same time!!
Have a fantastic Thursday and to celebrate I even posted a selfie of myself on Instagram! #todayifeelbeautiful
By the way…also got to show of my new gooooorgeous Kenzo pants! ❤️
Every year since I met my love I’ve taken him on a surprise birthday trip for his birthday…well it has seldom turned out to be a surprise exactly because I can’t keep a secret from him but all in all I think he’s loved all our trips. This year the trip went to Rome.We started off the celebrations on Thursday with a surprise birthday party (and yes this was definitely a surprise) with all of his friends, and then on Friday we flew off to a long weekend in Rome! Of course as many things in my life the trip revolved around some good food! I was weight wise in very good shape on Friday so I decided to truly enjoy a relaxed weekend in Rome and not worry too much about my next weigh in at Esther’s in a couple of weeks time. As icing on the cake I managed to lose my voice at the birthday party the night before so I spent two days without any voice in Rome!!? I did managed to kick off Saturday morning with a strong Italian coffee and a Sicilian Cannoli!!
Sicilian cannoli
For authentic Italian cuisine in a classic trattoria setting go to Costanza in Trastevere. The food was out of this world, it was so good I even forgot to take a picture! I indulged in truffle pasta and a saltimbocca! Trastevere is probably one of my favorite areas and despite being a bit touristy there are an abundance of lovely restaurants to chose from.
On Saturday we first had a lovely lunch just off Fontana Di Trevi at a little place called Chianti. I went for a simple cold cuts and radicchio salad…and yes we also managed to consume two bottles of wine??. Then we strolled around Via de Babuino down towards Piazza del Popolo. I managed to find the one and only thing I was in search of in Rome…a pair of black boots for the winter!
Post the shopping we sat down for some of the most expensive drinks in Rome at Hotel de Russie. The drinks may be 22€ a pop but again I have to admit the atmosphere sort of makes it worth it! Only downside to our Saturday was the dinner restaurant which my Italian colleague had actually recommended. It was called Trattoria Settimio all’Arancio. The carbonara was burnt and the service was lousy. We even sent back our food and the waiter refused to accept it at first. I’m not a person known for sending back my food, it probably happens once every five years so then appreciate how bad the food was! Whatever you do in Rome don’t go there!!
Sunday lunch however brought up the mood, and lunch was enjoyed at Casina Valadier with a stunning view of all of Rome. We first rented a scooter and drove to Colosseum and the Vatican but after some culture Saturday lunch was repeated in a different setting?. The restaurant is set in the outskirts of Villa Borghese so a leisurely stroll through the park can also be recommended. I went for some mozzarella dumplings and fried calamari and prawns.
fried mozzarella dumplings
Rome skyline
Taking charge of the vespa!
Colosseum
Pantheon
Of course there are a million other places in Rome to go and as long as you’re with someone you love you can’t go wrong! ??+❤️=??
I’m spending my weekend in Rome celebrating my loves birthday. Since we met I’ve started the tradition that we go for a weekend trip every year for his birthday. The first couple of years sported Paris and Barcelona and now the turn has come to Rome. I only have time for a short update but our first day has been spent walking through Trevi, down to Piazza Navina and over to Trastevere and there’s only one word for Rome…food! I’m seriously torn whether the spaniards or the Romans have the upper hand. What I do know is that after my afternoon massage I’ll be enjoying an Aperol on a piazza!
The past few weeks I’ve really focussen on some home cooking. When the weather goes from summer to a chill in the air, the cast iron comes out and the long cooking commences. Last weekend I cooked up both a simple stew that simmered for four hours and a chicken stew which was a bit of a play on a coq au vin. The beef stew is effectively chuck some cuts of meat in a cast iron pan, fry the off with some onions and whatever herbs you fancy. Perhaps add some tomatoes and carrots or peppers! Boil away at a low heat?
the picture may mot be too pretty but the flavoue was amazing!!
I also managed to cook up my regular banana pancakes to my loves delight!
banana pancakes and the morning newspaper on a Sunday, best start of the day
This week I’ve actually taken off work which doesn’t happen to often (and I still worked a little bit the first two days) so I want to get back on track withy diet. I haven’t really been off track, I’ve rather felt my body has decided at this point that losing 15kg was more than enough! I went to see Esther yesterday and she told me to focus for now on maintaining and perhaps in the next month we can break those final 5kgs I have to reach my goal!!
I went to fix my nails the other day and because the days have been getting shorter and there’s a chill in the air I opted for a lush Opi Christmas color…oh and I also got matching pedicure!! The small blisses of life.
Finally my regular nail technician was also back from vacation so all is well in the world?! She’s really fantastic and does a lot of the sculpting by hand without any machine which really leaves the final result with a very natural look and not as thick as acrylics can generally get.
On the beauylist I also just heard from a friend that Hotel Diplomat in stockholm has opened a blow at…and as a surprise I’m heading over there soon. Naturally I’m already booked for a Friday afternoon appointment.
I’m starting To approach my weight loss and health goal which is effectively turning the clock back four years to the day I moved abroad and was in reality my fittest of my lifetime! I have secretly been taking before and after pictures throughout the process so have a look at th below??
waiting to get weighed in and measured…
As always as I walked into Esther we had a great chat about various trends in nutrition such as Paleo diet. We both reached the conclusion we believe that a healthy lifestyle not excluding any diet is probably the best however in our current society we are overwhelmed by too much sugar in everything we eat! The. We also discussed vi real fat versus the fat under your skin and the healthy hazard of vi real fat. All in all I don’t think I have too much to worry about in that department…but you never know?!
Below you can see my progress in about four months and 15kg! I’d still need to lose another 4-5kg to be in my target weight but I’m starting to feel that the target is near at which point I can start focusing on maintaining the weight!
left before and far to the right after…and some progress inbetween!
The one thing I feel happy about though is I have found a fantastic nutritionist that will hopefully follow me the rest of my life! Esther’s already told me I can call her whenever, if I feel I need a boost after vacation or a tough period she’ll be there for me!