POLE DANCING

  My friends and I had a little get together recently. Our gatherings take place only once a year with this group because we all live in different parts of the country. So when we do meet it´s all about girly fun! This time we tried out pole dancing.

Only one of us had tried pole dancing before, and that was only once, so we were all new to the sport.

We did easy beginner´s moves of course, but still it felt awesome to let my whole weight hang on only one of my arms while swirling down around the pole. You know, doing something completely new with my body, something I´m not familiar with. Cool!

By the end of the class we all got a slight hang of it and were able to rely on our strength and body more. That was awesome, and I felt like a hyped up little kid learning her physical limits!

Some of the positions were really tough to do. Like this one I couldn´t master at all!

  My muscles were sore for days and days after this one hour session. It hit the muscles I never use in my everyday life. Clearly pole dancing would benefit my physique balancing out the usage of muscles. But it also made my skin wear out and bruised my legs. But it was so much fun!!! If given the chance, I´d definitely do it again!

LINGERIE SHOOT PICTURES

 It is finally here, the photos of the lingerie and evening wear shoot I did in August. The very reason that forced me to start exercising (even a bit =).

First some of the usual, a.k.a. with clothes on.

And then the picture I was so scared of! But it turned out okay, considering I had not done any exercising for ten years, and I´m pictured next to a fitness model seven years younger than me who has no kids. =)

  Thanks to this photo shoot I now do some exercising and feel more confident with only lingerie on!

MOVING IT

  As much as I resent exercise, I have stuck with my workout plan. But since the weather got cold again, I did some changes to it. No longer do I only go jogging and walking, I added a trampoline to the schedule too.

  Cold weather makes my lungs hurt when breathing heavily, so jogging outside does not feel good anymore. Instead, I walk briskly (and still jog down the hills to keep the heart rate up) to achieve that same approx. 130 kcal I did when jogging. This I try to do three times a week.

The weather outside these days rather draws energy than gives it to me. Not tempting at all.

   In place of jogging I now jump on my mini trampoline. It really saves me. Now I can still get a good workout, but in warm air, and I don´t even have to get a babysitter to do it!
  What I like to do is get up an hour before my daughter wakes up, jump up and down like crazy for half an hour, take a shower and get the whole biz of exercise out of the way before the day actually begins.

I set up the trampoline in our bathroom along with a laptop and get going. I enjoy watching clips on YouTube, which is something I otherwise never have time for.

  Up and down, up and down! This is more fun than running in the cold, dark rain. I have picked up some moves online to keep the half an hour more interesting.

  Three times a week is what I try to do with this one too. I can mostly get there.

  For someone who has never exercised in her life I consider this a major change in lifestyle. From zero to six times a week, plus Pilates once. Well enough for me!

BACK TO PRE-BABY WEIGHT?

  Okay, it´s settled. I will try to see if I can get back to my pre-baby weight after nearly eleven years!
  There is about seven pounds (3,5 kg) to drop, so it´s not that much really. But I guess mentally it makes a bigger difference. My BMI is now 21.0 and my goal is to drop it to 20.0. No more, I do not want to be skeletal.

  While getting ready for the lingerie photo shoot I came up with this plan for weightloss. It allows big portions of food, but restricts calorie dense foods to about 1200 kcal a day. Also apart from my usual lifestyle, I did some exercise. As a result I did see progress in less than two weeks!
  Here´s the plan:

Eating:
Include: grains, legumes, nuts & seeds, some eggs, berries, apples, and vegetables. Exclude: dairy, meats, seafood, sugar and fruit. Grains, eggs, and legumes cooked, everything else raw.

Apples grow here locally, and are now in season, so they are on my menu. Berries are the only other sweetish ingredient allowed, thanks to their locality. 

- Breakfast choices:
1. Viking porridge
2. Yogurt

- Lunch choices:
1. 2-egg omelet + 5oz. (150g) corn + raw veggies on top of the cooked omelet
2.  a generous cup (3dl) cooked pasta + 1/2 avocado +  raw vegetable sauce
3. raw vegetable soup + 1/2 avocado + 3 slices of wholemeal bread
4. vegetable salad + 1/2 avocado + 3 slices of wholemeal bread
5. a snug cup (bulging 2dl) cooked brown rice + 1/2 avocado + raw stir fry
6. a home made scone (2oz. (60g) wholemeal flour + pinch of salt + 1/4 tsp baking powder + 1/2 cup (bulging 1dl) finely shredded zucchini/carrot etc. + water. Combine all, adding water enough to reach a thick batter. Form into a flat round on baking sheet and bake at 440F (225C) for 15-20 min.).
7. 1 lb (400g) cooked potatoes + mustard/margarine/soy sauce + raw vegetable pieces

- Dinner choices:
Make a double batch for lunch and eat the other half for dinner to save time in cooking.

- Supper choices:
The same as breakfast.

Salt is used sparingly, but herbs in abundance. Cayenne pepper sprinkled here and there.

  All the above meals contain about 350 kcal, and if extra hungry, it is possible to have a fifth meal per day without gaining weight.
  Saturdays are the days off of the plan. Then I can indulge in anything I have craved during the healthy week. I have a massive sweet tooth, and it is utopia to think I´ll never eat sweets again. One day a week for the sake of staying clean for the rest.  

  Exercise:

On rainy days I feel heavy and soaked like this bumblebee, but I will need to overcome the uninviting feeling for a greater cause...

  Inspired by this I will do some jogging 3-4 times a week plus 30 min. walking (or other light exercise) twice a week. While preparing for the shoot I did 5min. walking for warm up, then 1min. jogging + 1min. walking x 15, followed by another 5min. walking for cool down. It worked.
  Now I´m doing 2min. jogging + 1min. walking x 10. Next step will be 3min. jogging + 1min. walking. Minute by minute rising the amount of jogging, keeping the total in 30min. so it does not become too time-consuming.

Light and pretty as a butterfly in the end?

   I will try to follow the plan until my BMI is that set 20.0. I have no idea how long it will take, but the firmer I am able to stick with the plan, the sooner I will see results.

  If I ever reach the goal, my pre-baby weight, it will be interesting to see what it would take to stay there. But I´m not there yet, so I´ll worry about that later. =)
  Now I´m off to the new start!

POST-PHOTO SHOOT THOUGHTS

  The photo shoot yesterday went really well. Although the fact that the other woman I posed with in lingerie was seven years younger than me and a fitness model, did not exactly maximize my fabulousness, but I still felt good and beautiful. Do I really have that good of a self esteem? I´m surprised myself.  =)

  The results of the shoot will be seen in November, so there´s quite a waiting period. The publication is nationwide, so it is another nerve wrecking thing to look forward to. But the magazine is totally family friendly, and there are also evening wear pictures, so it is of good taste.

Here´s all the glamor that´s left of the shoot.

   While standing there on the set, nearly naked, next to a fitness girl, I blamed myself for not having exercised, ever. Perhaps it is time to start now, that I know my modeling agency obviously can assign me to do revealing shoots too. I always thought those were for young girls only. But hey, they did tell me I look much younger than my real age (soon 37), and that´s why they put me up for this gig too. The other models were 30-31 year olds. Well, what can one do for being fresh and fabulous by nature?!  =)

  But it did get me thinking about starting exercising. To burn the fat that´s still there. I like outdoors and fresh air, so I´m thinking jogging might be an easy way to start. Not miraculous equipment needed, only the time that it takes, and it can be done anywhere (except at our summer home, where there are no roads because the whole island is so tiny). Definitely no gym, that´s not for me. Fresh air in and out of my lungs is what I need in addition to burning the fat. Perhaps I´d finally reach my original, pre-baby weight, that I´ve never yet been able to get back to.

  The only trouble is that while our daughter is still so small, I always have to take into consideration my husband´s comings and goings to be able to go jogging. But I´m sure he would enjoy the results too, if there ever will be any...

Should I stay or should I go? I´ll think about it over the weekend.

ICE SKATING

  Our neighbor´s small lake has frozen perfectly for ice skating! Not every winter is it possible to skate on natural ice, but now that it is, how could I not go there?!

It is so beautiful! Why do I always think I do not like winter?

Another neighbor of mine cleared out this track yesterday. Now it is just like a real ice rink!  And the neighbor, a retired 60 something, skated for 10 miles (16 km) on it today. Way to go! I only did four laps...

Santa brought me these skates the other X-mas. That makes last winter the first I ever skated in as an adult! Needless to say, my style is quite wobbly. Plus I had to drag this sled behind me, with a heavy toddler sittin on it. That explains the four laps. =)

In the midst of all this freezing weather it is difficult to understand that spring is just around the corner. In fact, Imbolc (Feb. 1st) marks the beginning of spring. Incidentally my grandfather, who sadly passed away three years ago =(, agreed with me on this. It was amazing to hear him say how he figured seasons to change exactly as the wheel-of-the-year states too (of course he had never heard of Wiccanism or the whee-of-the-year, but he had been watching the world turn for over eighty years, and come to the same conclusion. A wise man.).

Insanely beautiful snowflakes.

  I´m not pictured skating, because there is absolutely nothing to see there... I suck at it. But as long as I´m having fun, I don´t care about being lousy. Fun is all that matters, and if anyone else saw me, they´d be having a blast too!  =)

THE LAST DIP IN TO THE SEA

  Past weekend I went swimming for the last time this year. The sea water is getting so cold that I have no business in it anymore. No doubt my husband and son will continue for who knows how long, but this is it for me.

Yes, I know... What a wuss, wearing a wetsuit! But I swear, without it I would not have been able to swim much at all this summer. I can´t force myself into the water if the temperature is below 20 Celsius (68 Fahrenheit). Thank goodness for technology these days!

Never before have I gone swimming this late in the fall (nore have I owned this wetsuit either...). So this is a big deal for me, honestly.

Freezing, freezing...

But I did it! Yey! Well done me!

  Now the summer is officially over. It will take another long, cold, and dark winter before I can even start dream about swimming again. Some people go and keep swimming in natural waters throughout the winter, even cut holes to the ice to get in it, but that´s not for me baby. I´m more about comfort and relaxing. Let that start right now!

ABS WITHOUT EXERCISE

  When dressing up this morning I accidentally saw something strange in the mirror: my abs. Evidently I haven´t seen myself in the mirror too often recently, because such a difference has occured since the last time:

Now this is 11 months after having a baby. Never did I think a year ago, when eight months pregnant, that I would ever get my flat stomach back again. I´m so glad I was wrong!!! (Sorry about the non-made up look, but this was right after waking up...)

  Exercising is not my strongest points. In fact, despite one hour of Pilates a week, I do none. And that Pilates class has not yet made me sweat (once my ears felt warm, but that doesn´t count  =). I thought it was doing nothing for me! I will definitely continue going there!