Monthly Archives: December 2012

Dec 31 2012

A year in my life: 2012 edition

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Statistics:

Highest weight ever: 89.2 kg / 196.6 lbs
Weight on January 1: 78.4 kg / 172.8 lbs
Weight on December 31: 82 kg / 180.7 lbs
Total weight loss in 2012: +4.4 kg / 9.7 lbs
Total weight loss since highest weight: -7.2 kg / 15.8 lbs

Fat % on January 1: 41.3
Fat % on December 31: 42.0

Muscle % on January 1: 29.7
Muscle % on December 31:  29.3

BMI January 1: 26.2
BMI December 31: 27.4

Waist on January 1: 86 cm / 33 inches
Waist on December 31:  89 cm / 35 inches

Hips on January 1: 106 cm / 41.7 inches
Hips on December 31: 108 cm / 42.5 inches

Number and time of workouts in 2011: 177 workouts, total time 123 hours and 10 minutes.
Number and time of workouts in 2012: 198 workouts, total time 111 hours and 12 minutes. 

Total km’s/miles in 2011: 828.4 km / 514.7 miles
Total running time 98 hours and 29 minutes

Total km’s/miles in 2012: 485.9 km / 303.6 miles
Total running time: 57 hours 31 minutes

Walks with Bella:
244 walks, 135 hours and 35 minutes, 631.33 K / 394.6 miles

Races 2012:
04/22/2012: Sherpa Ladies Run, Hilversum, 5K, time 00:33:32.

Summary 2012:

  • For the first time in 4 years I end the year at a higher weight than I started with at the beginning of the year. All my numbers are higher at the end of this year. I’m not happy about this and am going to take action, starting Wednesday January 2nd.
  • I did more workouts than last year but in less time, mostly because the runs were shorter in 2012. I did 99 runs and 99 other workouts.
  • It’s logical that my miles were less than in 2011 because I have had lack of motivation when it came to running and had to start all over again.
  • Somewhere this year I decided to keep track of the miles and time I have walked with Bella and I was surprised how many miles we have walked this year. We walked more than I ran.
  • Overall this hasn’t been a good year when it comes to weight loss and exercise and it’s time for a change. More about that in my first post of 2013.

I thank you all my dear blogger friends for reading my blog in 2012, for being my internet friend and giving me support when I needed it. I hope you stick around to see what 2013 brings for me as I will stick around your blog to see what the new year brings you.

Wishing you a happy New Year’s Eve and see you on the other side. I leave you with my favourite pictures of 2012.

February 2012

April 2012

April 2012

May 2012

Italy 2012

Italy 2012

Italy 2012

Italy 2012

August 2012

August 2012

August 2012

September 2012

September 2012

October 2012

October 2012

October 2012

December 2012

Dec 27 2012

Thursday December 27, 2012: The post Christmas post

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Christmas is behind us, I hope you all had a great Christmas. Our Christmas was great. Christmas day we went to R’s brother where the entire family was (he has 2 brothers and 2 sisters). We were with 12 people at the dining table. We did table grill with all kinds of meats and salads. I didn’t take any pictures that day.

Yesterday we went to my Mom for dinner. While she was preparing dinner R. and I took Bella for a walk. I loved taking a walk in the area where I grew up and have lived for 25 years.

As a kid I used to skate here, I dreamed of living in that house in the background and when I saw it again yesterday, I still love that house.

Dinner wasn’t anything fancy but it was very tasty. We started with carpaccio:

 

Main was pork meat, salad, green beans and potato gratin.

I had made dessert: pannacotta with peaches.

I ate too much the past 2 days but not as much as I used too. I worked out both days, did a Turbofire HITT workout on Christmas day and went for a morning run yesterday. Normally I don’t exercise at Christmas but this year I did and I’m very proud of myself I did and happy too because of all the food following later both days.

Tomorrow we have a saying goodbye to 2012 party, as I like to call it, with friends. This is the first time we organized this (although it’s been in my head for a couple of years now). Our 4 closest friends are coming tomorrow around 5 pm for drinks and appetizers.

I’m also working on my plans for 2013. I have them in my head but have to put them on paper. I will reveal them in my first post in 2013.

Dec 23 2012

Sunday December 23, 2012: Merry Christmas

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I’m a bad blogger these days, not only don’t I post much, I am a bad commenter on blogs too. I promise I’ll change for the better but probably not till after the holidays are over.

R. and I both have a vacation now and we really needed it too. Our last vacation was in June. He has to start working on January 2nd and I a day later.

Last Friday I had a half day of work and at lunchtime the Christmas lunch at work started. We got a speech from our managing director first and as I had already expected (since I have access to all financial results): no Christmas bonus this year. I’m okay with that, I’d rather have a job at the end of next year than a Christmas bonus now.

The lunch itself was great, the food was fantastic and I did a lot of catching up with colleagues. I went home around 3.30 pm. We did get a Christmas box with lots of food in it and a DVD player with the complete Earth series by the BBC. Here are some pics of the afternoon:

Those of you who follow me on FB have seen this one. This is my new outfit I bought last week.

With 2 of my favorite guys at work

 

He’s such a sweet guy, he’s the one that lost his girlfriend in August.

 

We both didn’t get a Christmas bonus but we did save up money last year and we gave ourself a gift today: we bought an Ipad4 this afternoon. Right now R. is playing with it and if I’m lucky I can touch it too somewhere today. We have been talking about buying one for a couple of months now and our laptop is getting old and needed to be replaced by something else.

 

We’re spending Christmas at R.’s brother on Christmas day, the entire family will be there. The second day (Wednesday) we will go to my Mom. Since I don’t have to cook we’re having a modest Christmas dinner tonight. I am going to make 2 salads to take to R.’s brother and I’m making dessert for dinner at my Mom’s but other than that I’m going to have an easy Christmas as far as the cooking concerns.

I’m keeping it short today, no writing about my food, workouts (did 5 of them this week) or other stuff. It will come back, I promise.

I wish you all, my dear blogger friends, a happy Christmas surrounded by your loved ones. 

Dec 17 2012

Monday December 17, 2012: Mishmash

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Daily stuff:
A post without any pictures. While writing this I realized I didn’t take pictures of anything last week.

Saturday morning R. and I went shopping. This was unique because we both hardly go shopping and we don’t shop together. We went to a men’s and women’s store in our village and both scored a great outfit. I bought mine in a store that won a reward for the best store in Holland this year and the service was fantastic. I know you are going to say: show me.
I will but not today, I have a Christmas lunch at work next Friday and I will wear it then and will take pictures too.

Yesterday, it was exactly 10 years ago I started my current job. I was supposed to have a small party at work this afternoon but my manager has been sick and extremely busy the past couple of weeks and he asked me if we could celebrate this in January. He wants to prepare it good and give me the party that I deserve. I don’t mind to wait a little longer so we postponed. I did get my bonus letter this morning and got a great bonus for working 10 years at the company. It’s all going to my savings account for a new car.

Only 2,5 days of work this year and counting down!

Workouts:
Last week was a terrible workout week, not even worth mentioning. I did only 2 workouts last week. The plan is to finish the last 2 weeks of this year strong and I started this morning with a Jillian Michaels Extreme Shed & Shred workout. I loved this workout because of the great variation in exercises. It had yoga, plyometrics, kickboxing etcetera in it.

Total time: 39 minutes.

Bella and Fran’s Autumn challenge: walk at least 30 minutes every day:

Days till the end of Autumn (Thursday December 20): 90 days
Success: 69 days
Fail: 18 days

Almost at the end of this challenge, only 3 days to go and already I’m very happy with our result. This will be our last challenge but that doesn’t mean we give up the walking. We will take our daily walk as much as possible.

Dec 12 2012

Wednesday December 12, 2012: Mishmash

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Daily stuff:

Not much to tell from this side of the world. Work is busy and I am looking forward to next week when my holiday starts. I have a vacation planned from Friday afternoon the 21nd till January 3rd.

We decorated the Christmas tree Monday evening and I leave you today with some pics of our decorations.

Workouts:

 

I did a yogalates workout yesterday, an upper body workout.
Total time: 25 minutes.

I skipped my run this morning. I got up a bit too late and when I looked outside it was raining cats and dogs. I don’t mind running in the dark, I don’t mind running in the rain but the combination of the 2 of them isn’t that attractive to me. Because it was already a bit late the choice not to run was made quickly.

TV shows I watched last week

Mad Men, The Kennedy’s, Private Practice, Once upon a time, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones.

Movies I’ve seen last week

The Help

Finally watched The Help. I have read the book which I loved and I loved the movie just as much as the book. Great movie.

Dec 10 2012

Monday December 10, 2012: Snow!

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Daily stuff:
Well snow definitely arrived last Friday and a lot too. We didn’t go to the concert because of the weather. It snowed all day Friday with a nasty cold wind. Saturday it was still cold but a beautiful day: blue skies and sunshine. Even though I hate snow, I thought it was a beautiful sight. Yesterday it started to rain at night and by the time I got up most of the snow was already gone but the roads were still very slippery.

We were supposed to buy a Christmas tree last Saturday but R. had to work and wasn’t home till 8 pm. He thought the store was open yesterday and we went there in the morning but when we got there it was closed. So he would buy one today after work but they sent him on a job and he still isn’t home when I’m posting this so I went to buy one myself after work. I haven’t decorated it yet but when it’s finished I’ll show you.

Friday pics:

Saturday pics:

Workouts:

Due to the bad weather I couldn’t run this weekend and I ran this morning. Usually Monday is my rest day but since I hadn’t done anything the past 3 days, a run was the best way to start the week.

Stats:
Run-walk ratio: 2 x 10 minutes, 2 minutes walking inbetween (20 minutes running, 2 minutes walking)
Weather: dry, not much wind,5C(41 degrees)
Distance: 3.2 K / 2 miles
Time: 00:22:16
Last song on Ipod before finish: John Fogerty – Rockin’ all over the world.

Weekly workout review:

What can I say: not a good week. But it is what it is, this was all I had this week.

 

Bella and Fran’s Autumn challenge: walk at least 30 minutes every day:

Days till the end of Autumn (Thursday December 20): 90 days
Success: 64 days
Fail: 16 days

Bella loves snow, I don’t. But because she loves it so much we did go out for a walk even if it was snowing.

Dec 6 2012

Thursday December 6, 2012: Mishmash

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Daily stuff:
Thank you for the nice comments about the village where I live. If you ever visitHolland, you’re more than welcome to come and see for yourself.

Shelley asked some questions about the traditional costume women wear in the youtube video I posted. There are only about 270 women in the village that wear this every day. The youngest women in this costume is born in 1950. The costume is special by the use of the “kraplap”. You can see someone in the traditional costume every day in the village but it’s a dying tradition. The younger people don’t wear it except for special occasions. It is expected that you won’t see it every day anymore in 10 years.

Weekend plans: tomorrow night we’re going to a concert by The Golden Earring. The best Dutch rock band that we have but we haven’t seen them play live yet. You may know them because their song Radar Love was a huge hit in theUSAin 1973. When I looked it up I saw that Bill Clinton used the song back in 1992 when he was running for president.

But .. that is if the roads are good to drive. The weather forecast gives very bad weather for tonight and tomorrow morning: lots of snow. Hopefully the roads are clear in the evening.

We are also going to buy a Christmas tree. We have a fake one in the addict but it’s so much work to put it up that we tried a real one last year and we liked that. My company sells Christmas trees and I get a discount on it which makes the tree not too expensive. Do you have a Christmas tree yet?

Workouts:

I have decided to start over with the 5K training because I missed a couple of runs. The program is only 6 weeks and the “long” runs are adding up fast. It seems like it’s easy but it’s not because I’m working on my speed. I want to be faster compared to the running version 1.0 of me. That means that the running parts are fast (at least fast for me). But it went well.

Stats:
Run-walk ratio: 6 x 2 minutes, 1 minute walking inbetween (12 minutes running, 6 minutes walking)
Weather: dry, not much wind,0C(32 degrees)
Distance: 2.5 K / 1.5 miles
Time: 00:17:52
Last song on Ipod before finish: Glee Cast – Stronger.

This morning I did a Firm Express workout: cardio and sculpt.
Total time: 20 minutes.

Outfits:
Yesterday’s outfit

Dinner:

Wednesday dinner

 Turkish pizza: meat with onion, tomatoes, garlic and spices on a wrap heated in the oven with some garlic sauce.

Dec 4 2012

Tuesday December 4, 2012: Mishmash

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Daily stuff:
Last week I heard that Bruce Springsteen was coming back to Hollandnext Summer for a concert and of course we want to go. Saturday ticket sale started at 10 am and I was ready at 9.55 am. At 10.01 am I had tickets for us. Later that day I read on FB that a lot of people had trouble buying tickets and had to wait for hours to be able to buy them. I considered myself lucky that I got them so fast. The concert is in a park on June 22nd next year.

This might be fun to watch for you: if you ever wonder where I live and how my village looks like, watch the video on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTGLNiXbIdE

Yesterday a real life soap about a few people that live in my village started on Dutch television. I have seen some of the people sometimes but I don’t know them because I don’t participate active in the community. I wasn’t very impressed with the program either but R. likes it. The comment is in Dutch of course but it gives a view shots of where I live. The total video is only 52 seconds so it doesn’t take much of your time to watch it.

Workouts:

That akward moment when you are only a few minutes in your run and you feel like you have to go the bathroom. At first you keep on going and hope it will go away. But a few minutes later you know you have to get home asap if you don’t want to get in bigger trouble. This happened to me last Wednesday at my morning run.
With all my stomach problems, this was the first time I had to stop a run and go home because I had to go to the bathroom and I didn’t like it at all. Hopefully it won’t happen again.

This morning I did a Turbofire workout: HITT 25. I like the HITT workouts, they are intense but short. I had planned to do a 30 minute sculpt session after this but I overslept and didn’t have time to do it.
Total time: 25 minutes.

Outfits:

Today’s outfit

 

Dinner:

Monday dinner

Endive with mashed potatoes, bacon, onion, herb cheese and walnuts.

Tuesday dinner

A recipe I saw on a cooking show on the Dutch cooking channel: 24 Kitchen. Chicken with garlic, onion, spices, yogurt and herbs out of the oven, baked potatoes and mashed green peas with mint. I loved it, R. wasn’t that enthousiastic.

TV shows I watched last week

True Blood, The Walking Dead, The Kennedy’s, Mad Men, Private Practice, Downton Abbey, Once upon a time, Revenge, Rookie Blue, Game of Thrones.

Season 3 of Downton Abbey finally started here and I love this show. It’s easy going and I love the English aristocrat environment.

Movies I’ve seen last week

The Hangover part II

I liked part 1 better because of the surprise element but still this was a nice movie to watch on a relaxing Friday night.

Sint

A Dutch horror movie. We don’t have Santa Clause, we have Sinterklaas on December 5th. It’s the same principle: giving gifts. This movie was about bad Sinterklaas. This one was murdered in the 14th century and every December 5th when it is full moon his ghost came back to kill as many people as possible. It was scary sometimes and an okay movie, especially for a Dutch movie.