Tag: calories

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What happened after nine months of no strength training?

Well, the photo says it all I believe. That 6 six-pack of desperados is killing me XD. Oké, but now the full story. I started with 9 months of strength training before lockdown after a big time of not doing strength training at all. I did it from 2012 until the end of 2015 and in 2016 I was leaning more and more to boxing. I did this very consciously, because unlike most people; you need to get me out of the gym and not force me into it. I really like it! I like to challenge myself in my strength, see what food can do for a session and in the beginning I liked the esthetic part of it.

At the end of 2016 I chose to leave boxing behind and strength training, because my body could not handle that impact. I am very delicate when it comes to training pressure, I always had that. My mom said that to me way back (something in the family), but I brushed that off. Eventually it did had impact on my menstrual cycle and I lost it. To regain it back again, I did not do any form of exercise for 2,5 years straight, except walking (and some other stuff, that will be available in the E-book about periods). In the summer of 2019 I chose to begin with strength training again after studying to be a NSCA personal trainer. I already had my period for 1,5 years back again. This is a big story, but to keep it short. I already lost it for four years before getting it back. And I lost it, because of high training volumes and changing my food up. Not really because of my weight (in the beginning).

Because of muscle memory, I was able to gain strength relatively quick. The same for muscle gain. I could achieve this with two times a week to the gym and doing full body workouts. Aiming for a hypertrophy range. Sometimes it was three times a week, but I saw my menstrual cycle going bad again. It became lighter, was not on time etc. So I stuck to two times a week.

And then came corona. I hate training @home. I tried it for two times, than during lunges my knee started to hurt insane (took 6 months eventually to go away) and I made the decision to walk again right there. Walking has been my exercise for the past 4 years and I love it more than strength training, simply because it is more practical. I can do it pretty much anywhere. But what happened with my body after stopping with strength training?

Well, the following:

  • less endurance
  • muscle loss (check the photo, I think from the 4 kg’s I lost, at least 1 kg was muscle)
  • back became less wider
  • skin became less tighter
  • strength loss
  • less formed ass

But what did I gained?

  • I got my chest back ( strength training really reduces your breast)
  • I lost weight, I could never do that with weight training (body can crave a lot of food after weight training, mine does)
  • My hormones balanced out (period is regular again and not light)
  • My body is manageable and I am more comfortable in it than with strength training
  • I do not need to time my food around training
  • I look more fit and leaner.

I value the second list more. I like to be not restricted to one sport. I do what feels good. Maybe it will not only be walking next year, but with swimming, strength training or hockey. I did strength training, because I like the strength. But there was a time I did it for the aesthetics. And for the peeps that are reading this and are doing it for this reason, don’t. You do not want to be dependent from a sport for your looks. Never go and do something, because you are not happy with how you look and you want to change yourself. It’s your mindset, not your body you need to change. Or be afraid to loss your gains, sports should be for fun and for challenging yourself. Not for you getting paranoid, because you skipped the gym for a few days and muscle loss is kicking in…..

Think about that. Especially the ladies, because we cannot build that much muscle in comparison with men.

Much love,

Queeny

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Why are you afraid to let calorie counting go?

Aahh calorie counting. I hate it that consumers have access to this :,). Not because I don’t want them to know. It’s good to gain more knowledge as a person with a goal. Makes the opportunity of succeeding higher. But it comes with a price. Let’s say a mental health price. For my own practice, two months tops of Myfitnesspal is enough!! Not a day more and even less is something I advocate. Get some insight in how much rice weighs per portion, how much oil is a good idea and call it a quits!

I work as a coach at a company and clients that mostly come to me either hate calorie counting, don’t do it completely or got a totally fucked up relationship with food eventually. This last thing is something that a lot of people really do not take seriously when they download Myfitnesspal in the beginning. If you feel anxious, because you can’t eat a meal you cannot track. You have a problem!

If you feel anxious, because the battery of your foodscale broke down. You have a problem. As a person who has been there, I am not afraid to say this. And the amount of suffering it gave, is something I would never like to have for others. People trust the food scale more than themselves !?€@#%!?? It is such a hard habit to get out of your system! So better do it now. You are not a bikinifitness model, you are not on prep and you won’t gain all the weight back!!!!

Especially this last one. This is the whole reason why people can’t stop. “Oohh I found a formula to keep myself forever this way”! Well, I can tell you this. It will not be forever. Maybe you have been struggling for years and years with your weight, but this is not the awnser. It’s a tool for insight in calories. Myfitnesspal is just like a diet. It will work for some time, but will lose it charms in the end. Cuz when you stop following it, depending how you react to it, you could gain some weight back. It’s the lie that everyone tells themselves. That calorie counting is not a diet, well guess what, it is!

So if you stop today, maybe stay the same in weight or gain 2-4 pounds (1-2 kilo). Your real lifestyle change can begin. People who use calorie counting often can calorie count when by themselves. But when getting a partner, being with friends or with your own damn kids later on. The craziness of it, will show. Getting to listen to your body, cravings, making healthy choices and sometimes nibble on something less nutritious and staying in balance. Is the key! You already can do that without that app, millions of people show that everyday. And guess what, your weight will always go up and down (2/4 pounds, 1-2kilo) and that is healthy. People think the scale either needs to go down or stay at the same number for all the weeks of the year……

Start with putting the food scale away. Than only use the app for a while. Challenge yourself to eyeball foods and drinks more. Become more easy with tracking (not specific with macro’s). And let it go. To be honest. This has been a thing for me for so long that I actually really am considering to not even start as a dietitian, because this bugs the shit out of me. It really takes away the joy of my work personally. Because I know that at the end, that people who are using this now are gonna give the biggest tantrums on not letting go. While I never even recommended it, but they start looking for information at the wrong sources or twist your advice…

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Why cheatdays turn into cheatweeks

Dear readers,

‘12.000 calories cheatday’, ‘ 15.000 cheatday ‘, ‘I ate a dozen donuts from Dunkin’ or ‘I ate everything I craved for a day’. For people who do this as a job on YouTube, well okey they make their bucks with this. If it’s a healthy relationship with food….Well it depends how they deal with it the days after and before the cheat-days. How much calories do they eat to compensate this and how much exercise do they do to compensate it. And maybe most important; do they enjoy what they do and can they keep it up or are they crumbling behind the scenes. Eating until your stomach feels painful is not the way to go in my opinion. Keeping track of your calories the days after, because you want them to be as low as possible to stay the same weight is not the way to go in my opinion.

Eating EVERYTHING you want for a day in high quantities is not the way to go in my opinion. Why? Because you are going too extremes and we do not live in a time that extremes are necessary. We don’t live with a shortage of food (at least I am guessing the persons who reads this, if not, my apologies). We don’t need to eat everything we got and as much as possible, because you do not know when your next meal will be.

Often the titles I have written here above and the behavior that comes with are from RESTRICTION. Nobody want’s to hear ‘no you can’t have that’ and it’s even more difficult if it comes from yourself. At some point you will maybe say ‘I just can have a bite’ or ‘ I have been good for the whole week, so Friday is my cheatday’.

There are some people who can handle cheatdays and have a cheatmeal or the same amount of calories they normally have over the day, but choose not so healthy products. But a lot of people have black or white thoughts, making them go crazy when the product that they want so bad is finally there to eat.

After thousands of calories and not having any structure anymore in your eating (happens often). A lot of people deal with an after-blow for 2 days or so after. So maybe it’s not a week, but it definitely  makes an impact

So why do you get a cheatweek or some cheatdays?

  • Restriction. Not eating when you want, how you want and how much you want.
  • Black and white thoughts. An apple is healthy, but eating a donut that taste like apples is a ‘shitty choice’, but my taste buds still want it (you feel torn in two thoughts).

How can you fix it?

  • By eating what you want, how much you want and how you want it.
  • Skip the black and white thoughts. It’s hard, but using less/no restriction can help that process. Food is not only fuel, it also has a mental aspect and taste aspect. You should try to feed that as well in healthy portions. For example take one donut a day as a snack, because it taste good and it reminds you of your youth. Not 12 on one day.

*One thing these cheatday binges are often not necessary for the body of healthy people. If you are underweight, have a low bodyfat or have an eating disorder these ‘binges’ might be very useful and your body is trying to tell you something. Go to your GP for help.

Hope this helps,

Queeny

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What I ate randomly the past two weeks

Dear readers,

Well these past two weeks were actually good, food wise speaking. I really enjoyed the foods I have been eating. I am not a person that really believes that you should eat oats only in the morning or a grilled cheese is only a lunch thing. So I eat the most random things at the most random moments. I try to opt for 200 grams of veggies each day and two pieces of fruit most of the time. It always ends in 3 pieces of fruit and either 300 grams of veggies or 100 grams or sometimes not at all. And to be honest that’s fine. You cannot always get what you want, right?

Next to this I ate some pork meat last week (19-26 april) and damn, not my jam. I was nauseous half of the day. I only eat some chicken sometimes and during my period a bit of red meat, in Dutch (ossenworst) a cured Jewish sausage on some bread. So that said, I think I’will keep eating a bit of meat (two days a week or less) and keep it vegetarian the rest of the week. Enjoy this one!

Simple slice of bread and an egg that looks like a fish if you ask me.

So these donuts were bought for the birthday of Dino (my dog) he got a little part on his birthday (22th of April) and we ate.. yeah the whole damn thing.

I am always team chocolate

I had a ‘whay I eat in a day’ on Instagram. This was rice with tofu and chickpeas. It was a high protein day without meat.

I call these my dietitian fries. low sugar and low fat sauces and fresh fries. It really saves you around 300 calories.

Tosti aka grilled cheese is my jam. Always.

Soaking biological chickpeas.

Some apple.

Some chicken with veggies. This was supper.

Protein shake with banana, almond milk and prozis whey.

Whole wheat egg breakfast wrap.

1/2 chicken burger with ketchup.

Dino’s birthday prayer (It’s a Hindu thing).

Dogfood at our home is almost always fresh meat, greens and rice.

I really craved this. Why on earth are there two in a package….

This has been either my lunch or breakfast. Banana, nuts, greek yoghurt 10% fat, jam and that’s it.

Your hormones (as a female) will be thankful for this or Turkish yoghurt 8%.

Brunch in the morning, cuz I had way too many appointments.

Fatty fish for the healthy fats.

Making a shake again :D.

These were snacks in the afternoon.

My breakfasts the last two weeks. Yes that’s soup.

I am so bad in pastry. And Lazy, so I often buy them. But these were Indonesian pastry with minced cow meat.

Greetings,

Queeny

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What are the most easy food swaps you can make?

Hello readers,

In the Netherlands we have/had this great campaign ‘eetwissel’ translated to ‘swapping products. I am a huge fan of this! It is a simple way to get more nutritious foods in your daily foodpalet. A little disclaimer; I do not own these pictures and if you want to know more, check out: www.voedingscentrum.nl Even if you Dutchies missed out, check this out. My general advice for not so healthy foods is that you can have it daily! Make sure that your base is good ( 2 servings of fruit, 200-250gr vegetables, whole grains, (vegetarian) lean unprocessed meats, (non) dairy and healthy fats. If that’s your base, you can sip on some juice, eat a biscuit or so per day.

food swaps

Swap fruit juice for infused water.

Swap gingerbread/cake slices/ biscuits for fruit. I would advice you to make some banana bread too.

You could also swap it for whole wheat bread.

You could also swap this for some veggies with hummus or seaweed chips in my opinion.

Some veggie patties are always a good idea! Try too look for some unprocessed meat replacements (seitan, natural tofu and tempeh)

Ham and other bread toppings that are processed can give you a higher risk on colon cancer. So swap it for eggs, cottage cheese, fruits and peanut butter.

You can make your own Ice tea by using normal bags of tea and let it cool down. Add fruit too it as well! Regular warm tea is just fine.

Always go for whole wheat for the fibers! It keeps you full for longer and it helps with cholesterol.

Do I need to say more…. Skip regular cola and go for diet/zero and preferable water of course!

You can skip the custard and go for some fruits. I would recommend quark or semi-skimmed yoghurt.

White bread, I rather call it acceptable cake! Whole wheat bread is always better!

Take care everyone!

Greetings,


Queeny

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What I ate in the second week of the lockdown.

Hello readers,

So this is a little overview of what I ate last week. It is at random and there are no calories involved or whatsoever. Just some Ideas! I ate more plantbased this week and chose for some semi-mono meals, because I felt like it. I have had some hormonal issues in the past, so it is very important to listen to what your body needs. Do you feel like eating eggs go for it! Feel like you need some chocolate go for it! Hormones thrive on fats and carbs. So skip those skinny meals (plain oats with water) and give your body what it needs! And if you have hormonal issues but are overweight or obese; try to find those fats an carbs in more healthy options (a piece of fruit or some semi-skimmed yoghurt).

Some airfry tofu and veggie soup.

Mango as a snack and some banana (I believe I ate an apple on the side with this).

A beef burger on white bread and an egg on it (I am not a foodie, so my photo’s are not always that great).

After I killed it with some ketchup and mustard.

Just some cooked veggies, because I felt like it.

Some fruit (this was packaged by the way, but this tasted so much better than I can remember from my youth).

Some fruit as snack again and something called boterkoek in Dutch. It is translated into ‘buttercookie’. It’s one of my favorites!

White bread with peanut butter 100% (with little bits of peanut). I always add salt, cuz ya girl needs salt.

A grilled cheese with 45+ cheese and 1/2 slice of Italian ham (I almost never eat pork, so this is special even for me xD)

Stir-fry with green beans, noodles, avocado, tofu and zucchini.

Protein-shake made with banana, buttermilk, strawberries and a scoop of prozis apple pie.

My friend found hummus and tahini in the supermarket combined together.. it is @jumbo in the Netherlands.

My friend making a red velvet cake

I chose to have my breakfast solo with fruits.

This was a snack and I chose to put salt on my banana with PB. This was not that bad.

Funny I did not took a photo of it, but I was eating a lot of kidney beans with brown rice this whole week (like 3 times) and legumes soup (dutch erwtensoep) and a bit of ice cream. Well still getting used to taking pictures of my food, so mind me with this one guys. 🙂

Greetings,

Queeny