I'm back!

Hello everybody and sorry about my absence and the lack of updates. There has been this huge project in my life called thesis so I have been concentrating on it. The good news is that I submitted it on Saturday and now I’m just waiting for feedback and correction suggestions from my advisor. Maybe one day I’ll graduate.

Now I’m having way too much free time and that means I have nothing to do. Have not been going to the gym for over a month, but I’m still following Cambridge Weight Plan. Doing a separate post about that part of my life. I also visited Finland in October, we had a Halloween fancy dress at work and I’ve trying to get a social life, but no results yet. Slowly but surely.

During this week more happenings here, trying to keep you posted!

Feeling happy!

London, day 2

Sooo, here I am again, writing about the Bank Holiday weekend which was already three weeks ago, but feels like only few days. I have had so many other things in my mind, but today I'll write the whole trip here, so that it won't haunt me forever.

On the second day V wanted to go sightseeing before the Warner Bros studio, so we decided to take the Piccadilly line from Kings Cross and started our adventure. With my normal luck, it was raining quite heavily, I did not have good waterproof shoes and my umbrella broke down. We walked from Leicester Square to Victoria Embankment, had some "breakfast" from Starbucks and continued walking and taking pictures. There was Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and so many different locations to see and all the time it continued to rain. My shoes were soaked. Then we decided to walk to Victoria Bus Station so that we would know where our bus would be leaving for the studios. Went there, but we still had way too much time before so I googled the nearest Waterstone's and we walked there, because my fried had wanted to buy a London tourist book.

On the way, I bought a new umbrella and we also visited a tea store called T2 Tea. They had different teas to taste, nice looking cups and teapots and I felt like in heaven. My tea addiction here in UK has gone to new dimensions. I did not buy anything, but I know where it is, they more stores in London than one and they also have a online store, so I'm going to buy their tea soon. Maybe buy a new teapot and a travel mug for tea.

Then at Waterstone's I saw so many good books that I wanted to buy, but only got two, that is enough for me now. My friend did not find a good book and soon we started to walk back to the Victoria Station. I wanted to buy something to eat, I was so hungry after walking so much. We had booked our HP tour from the Golden Tours, because it was the easiest way for us, because it included the trip to both ways and the ticket there. Our trip begun from London at 3 pm and they showed Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone on the way.

Soon we were there and I can say that it was so amazing and I really wanted that it would have been real.Some people have so good imaginations and J.K. Rowling is one of them, and I'm really happy that I grew up when I did and reading the Harry Potter books. They were a big part of my childhood and I love the books so much.

We took huge amounts of pictures there, so I let the pictures do the speaking for you.

The end of the pictures. I tried to put them in some kind of good order and that there would be a "theme". We took so many photos with my friend and I had to leave some of them out. But if you're a Harry Potter fan, I do recommend visiting the studios. You can buy Butterbeer and different candies from there.

Wednesday weigh in!

The numbers are getting smaller. Yesterday was my weigh in day and I really thought that my weight would have stayed the same because of my period, but actually it had gone down by 2,7kg! So in the last two weeks I have lost 5,8kg and I’m feeling awesome all the time.

Lime water

Next week everything is not going to be normal, because my consultant is attending a funeral, so that’s why today at the gym I’m hopping on the scales, checking my weight and telling it to M and do the same thing next Thursday, so that we’ll know how much I have lost, even if I’m not having the weigh in at her place. Maybe one point I should buy scales. Would be easier.

Key Lime Pie

So at the moment I have dropped 17,9kg and that means after dropping 2,2kg, I have lost more than 20kg. That is huge amount. My next goal is that my weight is going to be under three numbers. It should not take that long and with good work and routine, it might be happening during October.

Banoffee Pecan Pie

I’m also started baking more, which is a good thing, because baking is really relaxing. But from the diet point of view baking is not so good, but there is a good solutions for it, I just bring all of my baked goods to the office and they disappear very fast. Last night I baked a Banoffee Pie and a Key Lime Pie and both were gone before lunch hour. Did not taste them myself, because ketosis would be screwed, but everybody said that they were really delicious. So I’m happy and satisfied.

Only crumbs left

London, day 1

Finally posting about first day in London. It was awesome!

Benedict Cumberbatch, Emma Watson, Colin Firth, Patrick Stewart and Johnny Depp.

Tom Hanks, Morgan Freeman, Kate Winslet, Katniss Everdeen and Sherlock Holmes

On Sunday we woke up, had a big breakfast, tidied my room quickly, I packed my stuff and continued towards Reading Train station and from there to London Paddington. Because we were staying in London for almost three days, we decided to buy visitor Oyster cards, put some money on them and then took the tube to Kings Cross Station and walked to our Hostel called Keystone. It was okay price, on a good location, but our room was underground, smelled quite badly and the air was moist. Also there were people still in the room when we arrived. They had paid for extra time, but they thought they could stay until midnight and not midday. We had to wait at least 30 minutes for our room to be cleaned, so we went to Backpackers pub that was upstairs and I had a sider. From there on my diet went south.

Sister Mary Clarence, John McClane, Terminator, James Bond and Shrek

 I had noticed that I had forgotten all of my products home, so the whole time in London, I was eating normal food, which was not a good thing. And I ate chocolate, candy and all these unhealthy things, but it’s now history, I’m going to concentrate in this day and the future. We settled to our room, had a small break and then continued towards London.

Elvis, Freddie Mercury, Michael Jackson and The Beatles

Adele, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Rihanna and Britney Spears

We had booked the tickets to Madame Tussaud's closer to the evening, around six pm, so before that we went to Baker Street. There was this Sherlock Holmes museum and a gift shop, but we did not visit the museum, it was quite expensive. Before Madame Tussaud's, we went to Sainsbury’s, bought something to eat and ate them in Regents Park, quite near Tussaud's. At 5:45 we walked to Tussaud's, and started our magnificent tour there.

Princess Diana, Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Margaret Thatcher and Barack Obama

All the wax people were really well done. We took pictures and the whole tour was around two hours of even more. My favorites there were Robin Williams, Benedict Cumberbatch, Morgan Freeman, Captain America and the whole Star Wars section. Some of my photos are blurry and does not look that good, but luckily my friend had her camera also, so we both took huge amounts of photos. There was also this “car tour” in London aka we sat in this lookalike taxi and it went this route inside the building. After that came the 4D Marvels Avengers movie and last, but not least, there was Star Wars section. They were so awesome. I’m such a nerd.

Hulk, Nick Fury, Clint Barton and Captain America

From there we took the tube, went to buy some burritos from nearby restaurant, ate them and went to bed. It was a really busy day, lots of walking. Even the weather was okay. It was not awesome, but not raining.

Sherlock and I, George and V, Sister Mary Clarence and I, Shrek and V, Robin Williams and I, Hulk kidnapped V. 

It felt weird to eat normal food again, but I got used to it quite fast and I knew I would gain some kilos back, but life is. This whole journey is about learning how to eat right, and sometimes there will be these days that you do not follow the plan. Life gives you lemons, but maybe you do not like lemonade. You just have to go with the flow. That is something I’m doing. From last Wednesday, I have been following the plan to the t, so I suffered the withdrawal symptoms again, but this time it was not so horrible, because I was sick and did not smell anything and my appetite was gone.

Star Wars, so marvellous and brilliant

I so wish these would be real!

Weigh in day after one week off

Yesterday was a weigh in and the feelings before it, were really nervous, but still excited because week before that, I did not have a weigh in, which was a good thing. So yesterday I was feeling bloated, maybe it would be that period coming again so there was no expectations about a big weight loss.

I have been following the plan, drinking the water and I could say it paid off. Stepping on the scales and waiting for the number to settle. Breathe in, breathe out. There it was. The number and it was smaller. The scale was showing 110 kg meaning that I’ve lost 3.1kg in two weeks. Maybe I’ve should have taken the last weeks weight up, so I should’ve known how much it went up, but I’m happy now. The motivation is high again, feeling that I can do anything. But next Monday I’m going to be feeling anxious again, nervous about weigh in, if I have lost anything or if it has gone up.

But today is a happy day and I’m enjoying it while it lasts. This is a good Thursday,

September is here, autumn is near

Time has flown away, because a moment ago I was on my way to Heathrow airport, picking up my friend, waiting for this long bank holiday weekend and London. That was last week. Now it’s already the 7^th and I feel like there are so many things I’m missing.

The weekend started by me leaving little bit earlier from work, cleaning my room and then getting a rail air bus from Reading station towards Heathrow. Luckily the return ticket was cheap, around 20£. At the airport I had to wait, her flight was few minutes delayed, but finally we could take a bus back to Reading. We went to Tesco’s, bought some breakfast for her, extra pillow and a comforter, because I did not have any. The extra mattress/bed looked awful and I’m so happy that I did not have to sleep on it. My poor friend.

On Saturday we had breakfast, I cleaned up my cappuccino shake that exploded in the kitchen and around noon we started towards Reading centre. My friend wanted to visit Hobby Craft store, because she had read they sell some kind of glow in the dark paint. I managed not to buy anything new, even if I felt like buying everything for projects that I do not have any time to do. We also walked around Reading, went to Oracle shopping centre, I bought BareMinerals lipstick, mascara and a face primer for oily skin, only costing me around sixty pounds. Feel so poor at the moment.

That afternoon we also went to see a movie called Inside Out and I think it was really great. Imagine these little emotions like joy, sadness, anger, disgust and fear living in your brain and they decide all your reactions. It was well done and not just for kids. There was also a short movie called Lava before the actual movie. It was about a lonely Volcano who dreamed about love. There also was a song that can be stuck in your head for days. Happened to me. It still there, the song stuck in my head. Not nice and bit annoyed about it.

After that we went to Tesco, bought some ingredients to make dinner. After eating we watched another movie from my computer, it was called Lucy. Interesting, but would not say that it’s completely my type. Then we started planning more for London, stuff to do, places to visit. She really wanted to visit Madame Tussaud's, so we bought tickets from online, they were cheaper that way.

We both were excited and not tired, so we played a board game called Hotel. The main idea was to buy property and build hotels there and later on upgrade the hotels. Very similar to Monopoly, but still not the same. I bought it from eBay, well technically my sister bough it, but it was cheaper to post to UK than to Finland. I just have to take it to her in October.

Later on postings about time in London and days after my vacation.

Weigh in day, again!

Today was a really good day, went really fast, was busy doing my thesis product so that I'll maybe graduate one day. The thing that I was really waiting, was my weigh in at 7 pm. I had the normal feelings, thinking if there would be any loss or not, hopefully not any gain. First we talked about my upcoming weekend, because my dear friend V is coming from Finland and I'm going to eat some normal food.

So starting from tomorrow, I'm going to be on Sole Source Plus until next Wednesday. If I would not do this transition, I would crack and eat really much of unhealthy food and on plus I'm allowed to eat this small amount of protein and veggies. Meaning I can use a fork and knife, use my teeth, chew the food. Well of course you can chew the Cambridge bars, but sometimes it is really nice to eat somethings else.

This is on my wall, motivating me to lose those 8kg! I like these motivation notes on my wall. I have so many of them :)

Next week I will return on Sole Source, because there is so much to lose and I put another goal for me. In six weeks I'm flying to Finland and participating to our annual family party and I want to be -20kg lighter and lost quite many inches/centimetres. I want to see their reactions when they notice that I have lost weight. That might be vain, but I am. I have always been one of the fattest there, other relatives have lost weight or they just are slim, but I#m just this fat cousin/niece/some distant relative but no more.

On today's weigh in I lost 1.9kg from last week and that is more than I had put on my weekly goal. So now I have 8kg to lose in six weeks and I can do it. There will be no crackings, I have my goal and I'm going to reach it. This next week is going to be hard, but I've got two bars for every day, one Malt Toffee and one Lemon yogurt. We'll also be doing so much and walking around London, so I think that one thing I have to be worried about is drinking enough water.

Now of to bed and having happy thoughts about everything.

Happy selfie afterwards! 

Freezing feet

Today was again a London day. My normal London days are that I'm going to London in the morning, taking a paper to legislation office, waiting there 30 to 60 minutes that its ready and then head back to the office. So mostly I just sit in a train or a bus, because it takes quite some time.

It was okay weather when I left home, forgot my jacket home, but luckily did remember my umbrella. It started pouring when I arrived to London. I was so soaked even when I took the tube, there were these huge puddles and I had to step on some to get on the other side of the road. My converse shoes are not waterproof so my feet got soaked. Like totally. You could hear the splish splash noises when I was walking. So not good for my poor feet.

Need a washup

Short story even shorter, I did not drink enough water during the day, got a really back headache, freezing feet that started to get little warmer around eight pm. I decided to have a lazy day, just browsing different blogs, watched The Prince of Egypt and drank lots of water and some Chamomille tea. No evening Bootea today, next time tomorrow.

My aunt gave me those woollen socks as a Christmas present quite many years ago, but I still love them. They say "Left" and "Right" in Finnish, because when I got them, I was in the army and had to remember which is which. Maybe I should learn how to knit socks. Its not that hard.

Now off to bed, normal day tomorrow, maybe even to the gym before work, we'll see.

Makeup

The saviour of a bad day, but only if used well. There was a time, when my makeup “routine” included on putting on mascara, sometimes maybe lip gloss. Nothing more. Would have thought that there would be more makeup in my life, because having two older sisters, but no. They never taught me anything about it, so I never gained interest. Until few years back, when starting university. Watched so many tutorials, learned more about applying makeup and different kinds and now I can say that I’m okay doing it. Still trying to learn how to make some nice looks, but I’ve got time.

 Many of the brands that are sold in supermarkets or those kind of stores, are bad for my skin. Tried so many and every time my skin decided flare, pushing the pimples, annoying the living hell out of me. So more research in the future. Read about mineral makeups, people were saying that their skin problems vanished. Then my sister told that she has tried brand called BareMinerals, have worked okay with her so I decided to give it a go. Bought some, first it went okay, but my skin seemed to get little bit worse on some areas. Some of the BareMinerals makeups have this ingredient called Bismuth and it can cause some skin problems with people. Not with everybody, but I got them as did my sister.

1. Cosmetic Warrior from LUSH 2. Just my clean face 3. Putting on some moisturiser (Enzymion from LUSH) 4. Well moisturised skin.  

So the next step was to find something to replace BareMinerals. Luckily my sister found this brand called Everyday Minerals, the company is based in US and seemed okay. Other good thing with Everyday Minerals is, that you can order a sample kit, because you want to try the different tones, which one fits your face. I ordered one, the tones are awesome and no skin problems. I have decided to wait sometime when ordering more of the base makeup, because I have some from Clarins. I do not want to have this huge collection of makeups that I won’t use. This is me trying to save money.

5. After Adding BareMinerals Prime Time Foundation Primer 6. After adding light layer of Clarins Skin Illusion 

Now days I feel like that I'm taking better care of my skin, washing it in the morning and evening, using right type of moisturiser, not using too much make up, using gentle face masks few times per week, cleaning the pores. Here in pictures I've shown you my daily makeup routine before work. Well I do not use the mask everyday, but I do wash my face well in the morning. Now I'm waiting for some Everyday Mineral Makeup samples to arrive, hopefully they do not take long.

7. Final stage is coloring my eye brows, putting on Lumene Natural Code Mascara, Burts Bees lipbalm, Max Factor Scarlet Ghost and on top of it Power lipstick from LUSH, gives it a nice tint. 

There is also picture of my makeup "station". Good height for me and enough room for everything I have. There are also the new EM Makeup Brushes that I ordered last week. They work like a dream.

Pictures after six weeks!

Short post about the change in my body. There has been times when looking in the mirror and not seeing any change. But today it is so different! I decided to take a lovely mirror selfie before going to gym and after coming home made a before after picture. And I love it! I just stare at it. It rules!

First picture taken on 8.7 and second today (22.8.) 

I just feel so awed that I have managed to make the change and now I can see it, not just imagine it. This really motivates my journey to continue forwards. Sorry about that I'm not smiling, just too serious in the morning time. Now my smile is huge.

Styles changing

After going through my photos, I wanted to make a collage about how my hairstyle and colour has changed from January to this day. I look so different in the first picture.

This kind of monthly face picture collage could be my next project.. Let's see what happens.

Bootea

After trying so many things, it really feels like they do not work for me. Maybe it's that Cambridge is not that suitable for my body, because the constipation is starting to annoy me so much. On Wednesday started my seventh week on CWP and I can truthfully say that I usually go on number two once a week and that is usually after long work and effort.

First I just tried over the counter Senna Laxatives, they did not help me at all. Followed the directions, but nothing. The only effect that I got was growly stomach, so annoying. Before buying the Fibre from M, I wanted to try some other things as well. So I bought another laxative, this time it was Dulcoease, some flaxseeds and chamomile tea, because it was said that flaxseeds and chamomile tea should help getting rid of constipation. The tea should also help to get better sleep, so that would be perfect for me. I did not notice any difference with the tea or flaxseeds, but Dulcoease helped a bit, not that much, but some. Number two came twice a week with that, but still felt bloated.

After opening to my sister A about my annoyance for this whole subject, she recommended this really good stuff, called Dulcolax Pico Liquid. It worked really well, going to the bathroom was awesome. The instructions said that you should not use it too much, because if you did, there might be problems later to go without it. So maybe once a week using it, but also eating the Cambridge Fibre, so that maybe it would be good, getting a normal rhythm. First it worked and then it stopped working. Went on last Sunday, felt way bloated whole week, dropped only 0.6kg on Wednesday, took a dosage of the Dulcolax liquid on Wednesday night, hoping that it would work well and could use the bathroom before work on Thursday. But nothing happened on Thursday. Finally today around noon came number two, but it hurt. No need to tell you more, you get the point. 

My coworker L suggested Bootea Detox for me. The concept is that you drink morning tea after waking up every morning and one just before going to sleep every other night. They also recommend that you start it on weekend or a day off, because if your body reacts badly to the evening tea and you have to run to the bathroom all the time. So I drank my first tea today around 5 in the evening, because I really want to have the evening tea and start the whole process. In few hours I'm having the evening tea. I bought two 14 day packages so I'm doing 28 days aka four weeks of detox. Tomorrow morning I'm taking pictures and measurements so that I can compare it. This is like scientific research for me. 

28 days worth of Detox Tea.

So if any of you readers have any experience, feel like asking questions or just curious, please comment them. If you have done this detox, it's really nice to know about your experiences. Luckily the daytime tea tasted quite good.