Lemony date energy balls

A couple of weeks ago I came across this post, and decided to recreate the recipe. Now I am not a big health guru (yet, haha), so I didn't have chia seeds at home, and decided not to bother for the first time, so I just went with the plain ingredients.

Ingredients

15 dates

1 lemon (zest + juice)

2 tablespoons of desiccated coconut

1/3 cup (50 g) almonds 

Method

Get rid of the stones of the dates, then put them in a food processor, along with the zest of the lemon, the almonds, and the coconut. I don't have a processor yet, so I used a hand blender, but it was a proper nightmare, so I am definitely going to but a cheap food processor. It took forever to blend everything, especially that the dates become very sticky. I used up all of the juice of the lemon, it gave the mash a better consistency. When everything is blended, form little balls with wet hands, then store them in an airtight container. They will last for a week in the fridge, but trust me, they won't. You will eat them before they would have the chance to go off. 

They are basically home made naked bars, just juicier, better, and cheaper. Brilliant snack. 

Update with a photo III + news

New year, same me, because I am fabulous. :D Jokes aside, I decided, that this year I am going to spend more time on writing my blog. So here is the first post of 2016, yay! Let's start with an other photo. 

19th of January on the right :)

This January I joined the under 90 club, and just signed up for my first running race ever, and went for 10k! :) 

Since we have one new year's resolution with the Mr, which is to cook more, I decided to share a couple of recipes. We were stuck on the same 10ish for a long time, which became boring of course, so we started ordering and eating out a lot, which is obviously not too great for our accounts, so this is this year's resolution, cook more, spend less. Also we recently discovered, that the Mr is lactose intolerant, so it is more of a challenge to cook than it was before, but we are great, and going to make it work. 

Also I am lazy, so even though we have a pretty good camera, I am still going to use instagram pictures for the food posts, as I am not too great with composing food photography, and most of the time they look gross on a proper picture, even when they are not. 

I promise there is going to be an other post soon, take care! :)

Update with a photo II.

It has almost been 2 months, since I last posted a picture about my progress. Funny enough, my weight hasn't changed much since then ( I lost 18.4 kg since I started, it is only like 3 kilos since the last picture), but now you can really see, how muscles weigh more than fat, because the pictures speak for themselves. 

23rd of July on the right

30th of September

13th of November 

I wear size 16 jeans now, the jumper I am wearing on the last photo is a size Medium from H&M, and I just bought a dress, which was a size 12. This one surprised me, as I am pretty sure it is not sized properly, but now I can shop anywhere I want, as everyone has size 16. :)) 

I still have a long road to go, but I am halfway down, which makes me really happy and proud. Also yoga makes me happy and confident, so please everyone try it out, it is brilliant, really!

Namaste

As I mentioned in a previous post, I started practicing yoga. I always wanted to try it, and there is a really promising studio on our street, which eventually I am going to try out, I just wanted to make sure at home, that I like it, I enjoy it, and I can benefit from it. I know it sounds silly, because literally millions of people practice yoga and they swear by it, but that doesn't necessary mean, that it is for me. Anyway, I was on a hunt for a good yoga youtuber. I tried out quite a few, but I always had the same problem with them. Way too fast for me, difficult poses, weird explanations. I wanted something understandable, I wanted someone who can explain stuff easily, but they don't take themselves too seriously. I never take myself seriously, and I like quirky people. 

I am happy to say, that I found the perfect yoga youtuber. :) Some of you, who are into yoga might already know her, because she is quite popular, I think. Let me introduce you to Adriene. 

The first practice I did with her was her 20 minutes beginners yoga. and I actually enjoyed it so much, that I was very sad, that it ended. I felt great, she explained everything just the way I needed it. And I love her way of thinking about yoga, she keeps emphasizing, that yoga is different for everyone, and just because her, or someone you saw practicing yoga before looks like this or that during a pose, it doesn't necessary mean, that you have to look the exact same. Our bodies are different, some of us have long legs, some have short arms, we won't look the same doing a similar pose. Do what feels nice, while trying to do it the way it should be. If it makes sense. I love this, and this is what I do during my practice. I started noticing a difference now, in my balance, and I am a wee bit more flexible. 

I find yoga a very good counter workout for running. Running is still a kind of meditation for me, as I run alone and I just completely focus on myself, but practicing yoga is a different kind of awareness. I like how I connect with the ground, how I literally feel my organs starting to work and do what they should do. I did a couple of her videos already, and I am going to keep exploring her channel, because I enjoy all of her videos so much. Now that the weather is getting more and more rainy, I am glad that I still can do something with my body, when the conditions are not good for running. I don't mind the cold or the wind on a run, but when it is pouring down, I just can't go out for a run. But then I am happy, because there is still yoga to do!

I actually enjoy it so much, that even tho today was a lovely day, and I went for an hour long run, I still did one of her practices later in the evening, just because I wanted to do yoga as well. I love it, that she makes me want to come back and practice some more and more. This is how I imagine a great trainer. Go, check her out! She is amazing.

Update with a photo :)

It has been 2 months since I last posted a comparing picture about my progress, so I decided to update you guys on this. If you follow me on instagram you might have seen it already, but anyway. :) I don't have a picture from the day I started changing my diet, so I am using a selfie from last year, which was taken literally a year ago yesterday. 

This is the picture from the 23rd of July

And this is yesterday, 30th of September

-15.1 kg so far. I would like to lose 25 more, at least. So I am almost halfway through, which feels kinda nice. :) The past couple of weeks I started doing 2 runs a week (almost 8 kilometers each time!), and 1 yoga. At home just now, just started to get the hang of it. I will tell you guys later who I found on youtube who is finally not expecting a full beginner to do the craziest shit on the first try. :D The weather treats me, I can still run outside, and don't even need to have warm gear on, but I am going to need to look into more warmer running clothes for the winter, so if you have any recommendations where to look for them, I would be more than happy.

My diet is still the same, lots of fruits and veggies, trying to eat the whole wheat version of everything, and no sugar. I have the occasional wee cake or a slice of pizza, but everyone needs to treat themselves every once in a while, right? I still write in my food journal daily, so I can check what my body likes or dislikes, how my weight reacts to the food I ate the previous day. It is almost full now, so there is an other reason to go to Paperchase again, yay!

I will try to post more I promise, I just lost the inspiration to write, but that didn't mean I stopped doing what I started, as you see it in the pictures. :)

Why do I enjoy running?

Earlier, even this year, I honestly thought, that people who run are crazy. The only experience I had with running, were the high school PE lessons, when everyone had to run around the school like a mad man, and no one cared if you had asthma, or a sore knee, or you just hated running. So making the decision that I am going to start running was quite hard. And the first couple of times I went out were even harder. Dundee is a giant pile of hills, so you can rarely find a land for running, where you don't have to battle up the hill. This is I think the only reason, why I am still not able to run for a long period of time without walking, because every 10 minutes I reach a point, where I have to climb up again, and I am not strong enough yet to run up the hill. But I will get there.

Anyway, back to the topic. I think it took like 3-4 weeks, but after that I said to myself, ok, I like this. Not because of the feeling during running. I just started liking that like 3 weeks ago. My main motivator is the feeling I have after I finish. When I get home, sweating like a dog, trying to catch my breath, and then I look at my app, and see the kilometers I just ran, and I feel like wonder woman. And after my shower, when I drink my green tea, I have this healthy feeling, which I can't really explain, but I feel like my body is happy and is working as it should. 

And it is true what they say, that a lot of things will get easier and better, just because you work out. I feel generally happier, my mood is better than before. My skin is better, don't really have spots any more. It is great for digestion and the bowels as well. 

What I also like about running: the other runners. Everyone smiles at me. Such a great motivator, it is like a secret club, when you see the other, and you don't have to say a word, you just look at each other, and know what the other is thinking, and you just run away smiling.

This is might be a local thing, but it is not just the runners, who look and smile at you. I run next to a hospital, and a lot of the staff comes out to the park to have their lunch (and a cigarette, which I hate personally, but it is their choice). Everyone smiles, sometimes they even say hello, or well done. I remember, when my husband and I started running years ago back in Hungary, we always went late in the afternoon, night even, just to avoid as many people as we could, as it was quite common to hear "run fatty", or laughing when we passed. It is just a different environment here altogether, which I adore.

I know, that running is not for everyone, it can be quite hard on the joints, and some people just can't get breath during it, so I am not trying to force everyone into running. But if you are looking for a workout, running is free (well almost, you need proper shoes), and it might be something you will enjoy, so it does worth a try. :)

How to compliment someone who is losing weight

So since my weight loss became quite visible (-14 kilos so far), I get a lot of compliments, and it does feel good. But sometimes even if I don't show it, it surprises me what people say. I never say anything rude back, because they obviously are trying to be nice and compliment me, but if they just thought for a second, they would realise it is not really the nicest thing to say what they just did. Let me give you an example. This is what I heard the other day: 

Well done you, you have a shape now, look at your waist! 

Cheers, are you saying that 4 months ago I looked like a brick? Because it is not true at all, I always had a waist, I always had an hourglass figure, I am just getting smaller, but not any prettier. I know she was just trying to be nice, so I just sad a polite thank you, but honestly I felt a bit offended. 

If someone around you is losing weight, do compliment them, because it feels nice and it will boost their mood and determination. But make sure, you do NOT bash their previous body. Don't say oh, look, you are so gorgeous now! Look how pretty you became! 

Instead try to say: well done, you! You look healthy! You are losing weight, congrats, keep it up! Try to say something nice without implying, that they were ugly, fat and not pleasant to look at beforehand. There is the same person inside the different body.