Last Day Of 2012

Flo's paw as seen when sitting on the floor while she resides on the couch.

Last day of 2012. Only one more hour till 2013...

Resolutions/goals for 2013? Yes, some:

• Become a runner & run, run, run!
• Lose weight.
• Beat depression.
• Read more (e)books.
• Eat healthier. 
• Drink more water.
• Travel a lot.
• Enjoy Flo-time.
• Take more photographs.
• Clean the car more often.

Do you have any goals for 2013?

Happy new year to all of you & 
thank you for all your lovely feedback in the past weeks. :)

Food Diary

This is today's screenshot of my food diary on My Fitness Pal.

It's 7 p.m. in Germany and I just had supper (oatmeal with cinnamon, 2 tbs sugar, 1 Tbsp white chocolate sirup, low-fat milk).

I've set my daily calory goal on 1,200. I never achieve that goal... because the true, the real goal is 1,400  - 1,500 calories a day. But I have to aim lower or else I will eat more. 

Does that make any sense? I guess it's some weird psychology thing making me work that way. Want another example?

All my clocks and watches are 2 - 4 minutes fast. That's the reason I'm never late, I'm always on time or early. If they'd show the exact time, I'd always be late. Weird, no?

I had to take Flo to the vet earlier today and I guess I was more anxious than her. She's better but the vet suggests surgery nonetheless. I'm thinking about consulting a different vet because I got the impression the only reason for him suggesting surgery is that'll bring him 1,000 Euros (1,320 US Dollars / 820 British Pounds).

Some of the running shirts I had ordered on Wednesday arrived this morning. They are really cute. The ones I ordered for D have yet to be delivered. 

We've got temperatures around 0°C again and getting outside is uncomfortable as hell. I prefer taking longer walks with Flo instead of running when it gets this cold. 

D is still at work and I feel lost all by myself. I'm glad Flo is around. 

How is everybody else doing?

This is a post of "A Quest For Health & Fitness". 

It's over!

The holiday madness is over and I'm glad. The last couple of Christmas cards arrived in the mail today and I'll leave them on the mantle till New Year's Eve.

I haven't dared to step on the scales and check my weight. Although I tried to eat moderately, tracking my calory intake on My Fitness Pal (add me as a friend, I love extra motivation) told me that I still ate too much. Grrrr.

I'm still not quite myself. Yesterday, I started crying in front of the tv and today I still don't have my act together, or so it seems. I'm teary-eyed all the time and try to keep my distance to all things that could touch me emotionally. I can't even watch the news.

I haven't been running today, but I took Flo for a longer walk than usual. I ordered some new running shirts, too, not only for me, but for D as well! He even asked me to! Wow.

Post written by Sal of "A Quest For Health & Fitness".

Christmas Lazyness

How is everybody doing? Hope you all got nice presents and enjoyed great food.

Personally, I didn't feel christmas-y this year and I'm glad the holiday insanity is over soon. I usually love this season, but I'm still suffering from this depressive episode and couldn't care less right now. :(

Pretending to be happy and normal all the time is so exhausting but I can't afford to let anybody at work know. In my job, admitting to having a mental illness always means "EoC" - end of career. 

Today, D's picked up his mother and we went to our favorite Greek restaurant for lunch. Afterwards, we had the traditional German "Kaffee" at our house. 

"Kaffee" or "Kaffeetrinken" is not limited to drinking a cup of coffee, it often includes enjoying a piece of cake, too. Since I don't drink coffee (I'm not an easy guest if invited for "Kaffee"), I always include tea and/or cappucino. 

In northern Germany, coffee is usually substituted by tea. If you're interested in German (especially Frisian) tea culture, I wrote an article about it here: On Drinking Tea.

While D is taking his mom home, I enjoy playing on my new 3DS (which I can't stop calling "Gameboy"). I'm aware of the fact that I'm probably too old to be having so much fun with a device like that but I promised D and myself I'd do anything for my health and happiness. And this makes me happy because it reminds me so much of my childhood (I grew up with Super Mario).

I already changed from my festive dress into a comfy pair of jeans and a hoody bought in New Jersey two months ago. I like dressing up every once in a while, but lazy evenings call for different clothes.

So tell me, how did you celebrate Christmas (if you celebrated)? What did you have for supper and dinner? What presents did you get? 

This is a post by "A Quest For Health & Fitness".

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays!

Hope you all have a couple of days off work? It's a two-week vacation for me, yeehaw! :)

D and I went grocery shopping at 7:15 this morning. Gosh, I hate getting up that early on days I don't have to work! Afterwards, I went back to bed for another hour, hehe.

We had a late breakfast at ten, before we headed out downtown for a little pre-Christmas celebration. In Germany, we celebrate on Christmas Eve. The 25th and 26th are traditionally reserved for visiting family and friends.

D and I will have cake, coffee, and hot chocolate in a little while. In the early evening, we'll exchange presents (a jacket, a book, and the new AC/DC album for D, the Nintendo 3DS XL, Tetris, and perfume for me. - Why a 3DS XL? Well, it's easier to handle for people age 30+, you see?).

For dinner, we'll have salmon and spinach. D wants to watch a concert by Helene Fischer on tv later tonight and I plan on playing Tetris. 

D's mom will visit tomorrow and on Wednesday we'll visit my parents. 

What's your Christmas schedule?

Merry Christmas to all of you! 

Fröhliche Weihnachten!

Sunday Run

It has been raining for days now while temperatures rose to about 10°C. When it stopped raining for a little while, I quickly donned my running gear and got outside to run.

I didn't really want to run and it was sooo uncomfortable being outside. The air was warm and moist and I broke into a sweat after the first 500 meters. I had planned to run 2 to 2.5 kilometers, but then I didn't pay attention and stepped into a puddle. My left shoe and sock were soaked completely within seconds.

No more excuses needed: I went right home.

I feel bad for giving up so easily, but at least I made the effort to get outside. :)

Sunday Run:

Distance: 1.5 km

Time: 11:06

This is a post of "A Quest For Health & Fitness".

Bento Lunch & X-Mas Chaos

Okay, this doesn't deserve to be called "bento" but it's a start, isn't it?

What's in this lunch box?

• pretzels
• pumpernickel 
• three different kinds of cheese

It was fun to have unpack my own little lunch box at work.

My life is pretty busy at the moment. I'm totally exhausted from the chaos at work, at home, at the stores... My family is quite exhausting, too. My parents and mother-in-law are always pretty demanding around Christmas. They all expect D & me to please them. I'm really angry about their behavior at the moment. Wish I could cancel all the Christmas visits and just stay at home.

It has been raining for days again and I didn't run a single mile. Not even Flo wants to go outside and sniff.

How are you doing? What are your plans for the holidays? Do you stay calm around your family during Christmas?

This is a post of "A Quest For Health & Fitness".

Bento Box

It has happened: The bento-fever has grabbed me, too! :)

Have you ever heard of bentos? Seen pictures of cute bento boxes filled with laughing food? Yes, I meant that: laughing food. Because it does laugh sometimes. 

Check out these cute sites to learn more about bentos:

• BentoLunch.net
• Bento Monsters
• Bento School Lunches
• Happy Little Bento

I own quite a few lunch boxes but none offers the possibilities my new bento box (photo above) comes with.  I love the three compartments which keep different kinds of food seperate. I'm looking forward to fixing myself my first lunch in this box. 

I think fixing bentos for myself will make it easier to make healthy choices about food. I've already made a list of things I need to get from the grocery store tonight. I wish I could go earlier but I'm still waiting for the guy who's supposed to get the internet up and running. I hate it when they tell you to be at home between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. because somebody may or may not show up and help you.

I'm really worried about this whole changing-the-provider-thing...

This is a post of A Quest For Health & Fitness.

Weight Gain

I hate my scales. They tell me I have gained 2 kgs when I should have lost them. I'm not quite sure what went wrong. I logged every meal I ate and thought I managed to stay in the range of a 1.200 to 1.600 calories a day. But I must have been wrong at some point and I wonder where?

This really is discouraging.

This is a post of "A Quest For Health & Fitness".

Night Run

Finally! I was able to run tonight.Temperatures rose to 8°C and the snow stood no chance against that. So when we returned from visiting the Christmas market in a nearby city, I changed into my running clothes and coaxed D into joining me. 

D didn't want to run, so he had to take the dog for a walk and follow me within earshot while I was running. The route I usually take is not very well lit and somewhat lonely, that's why I liked having hom around. I ran 1.42 kilometres in 11 minutes. That's not very fast, I know, but I'm just glad that I went outside to run at all. I would never have thought that I would ever do that. I even missed running during the past two weeks.

My (first) goal is being able to run a distance of 2 km in 12 minutes or less. Is that goal realistic? Can anybody tell me? 

My next goal will probably be running 5 km without a pause, but that really is a long-term goal. I don't want to force myself because I usually quit if under too much pressure.

This post was written by Sal of "A Quest For Health & Fitness".

Back To Normal?

Hey guys, no more smartphone-blogging! We're reconnected to the internet and I'm so happy: Christmas shopping, here I come!

I had a bad week with my depression getting a stronger hold on me, but I feel much better today. 

I ate almost two cups of raspberries this morning and feel healthier already. ;)

And I have news: D got running shoes!!! We haven't been running yet thanks to the awful weather conditions (frozen snow on the ground, much better for ice-skating than running). It's getting a little warmer, though, and maybe we'll be able to run tomorrow.

This post was written by Sal of "A Quest For Health & Fitness".

Eating Crap

What I hate about the Christmas season is that temptation lurks in every corner. I cannot withstand cookies, no way! Can you?

I find it pretty hard to be conscious about what I eat when D and I are leading our regular lifes. We eat out a lot and I always choose to eat something I like and not some boring salad. Whenever D is on duty somewhere else where he has to stay overnight, I find it easier to make healthier food choices because nobody tempts me with the suggestion of eating out.

Has anybody else experienced something like this?

There is still no regular internet connection in our home and I am still using my smartphone for short blog posts.

Thanks to all of you for your kind comments. I have not answered directly yet because using the phone for this kind of correspondence is so annoying. How do you manage to type fast on these things?

Still Not Available

The internet seems to have "left the buildung" for good... Still no connection. The ever-helpful provider offered to send somebody to try and fix it today. Took them one and a half weeks to come up with that brilliant idea. Still, I do not believe they will be able to do anything about the whole mess. I do not trust them anymore.

So I am still blogging via smartphone, something I truly dislike doing.

What else have I been up to? Not much, really. It has been snowing for a couple of days now and traffic is awful thanks to that. Temperatures have dropped below zero which causes the snow to freeze. In a bad way. I have not been running since the last time I told you about it.

And, to my horror, I have gained one kilogram back. :(

How is everybody else doing?

No Connection

The internet at my house has been down for three days now. The providing company has absolutely no help to offer. All they keep saying is "hm, it should work...". But it doesn't.

So I am blogging via smartphone once again. :( I really dislike doing that because it is hard to properly add photos and typing is awfully annoying, too.

I wanted to write a longer post, telling you about my new coffee machine and how I don't know what kind of running shoes are appropriate for running in snow. Any suggestions?

The Working Dead

It is my lunch break and I am typing this on my smartphone while feeling like The Working Dead.

Yesterday, I had another stupid migraine attack. I do not know if it was caused by the ever-changing weather or by myself.

You see, I constantly put myself under some kind of pressure. This time, I could not keep myself from worrying about today's grammer test.

I applied for an English language course. Unfortunately, applicants are required to take an English test beforehand. A GRAMMER test. I hate grammer, no matter if it is grammer in my native language or English grammer. Hate it.

However, I took the test earlier today. I have ansolutely no idea if I scored high enough to be able to participate in the language course.

What I do know is that I have never heard the word "tether" before. Is it really common to say "I am at the end of my tether" in English?

I have always been a perfectionist and it bothers me that I got the tether-question wrong.

What I really wanted to say is that I probably caused the migraine attack myself because I could not - cannot - stop thinking about the test.

Have you ever experienced anything like that?

Did not run or eat healthy yesterday. Did not make healthier choices today. Feel like crap. End of post.

Sunday Run

It's really cold and unpleasant outside. Running was uncomfartable and no fun at all. I had originally planned to run a longer distance but I couldn't bring myself to do it once I had completed the first three rounds.

Mr. K. and I had (not so healthy) buns for breakfast and a blue-, straw-, and raspberry low-fat yoghurt shake each. 

Later today, we'll head downtown to enjoy hot drinks on our local Christmas market and watch the people skating on the ice-skating rink.

What are your plans for today?

Today's Running Details:

Distance: 1.82 km
Time: 15:37
Average pace: 7.0 km/h
Average pulse: 154
kcal burned: 155

This post was written by Sal of "A Quest For Health & Fitness".

Support, please!

by Sal
("A Quest For Health & Fitness")

The guy is Mr. K. (a.k.a. "D"). The shorter one is me, weighing 10 lb less. The picture was taken in Clearwater, Florida, Feb. 2012.

I've been trying to convince him to join me running for ages. He usually agress to do so and that's it. A spoken agreement, than nothing. He won't run, he won't join the gym. He will criticize me for skipping a meal or dessert or for leaving stuff on my plate, though. *sigh*

How do you guys convince your other half to show a little support and join you in your efforts?