Week 2

I started looking into making smoothies. I had heard about them on a regular basis but had never thought about buying or making them.

I found them in the supermarket. Tasty, fresh and sweet. It says there is no sugar added and maybe there is, but I wanted to know all the ins and outs.

I searched the Internet for how to make smoothies and stocked up on a lot of fresh fruit.
This was a beginner's mistake, too optimistic. I had mountains of fruit lying around, but I hadn't really thought about how and where to store it.

The result was that after a week I had to throw half of it in the garbage, because soft fruit in particular does not keep very well. So don't buy too much at once. At the supermarket they say every day fresh. So rather go to the store a few times more often, to the greengrocer, at least if they still exist. Or to the supermarket, wherever I always end up.

I looked everywhere for smoothie recipes, especially on the internet, which wasn't that hard, and I also bought a booklet with 500 juice and smoothie recipes.

I started to enjoy it, especially when I ordered a good blender. Luckily, the delivery was super-fast, so I was able to get started the next day.

All you need to get into the smoothie flow like me is a good blender, fruits and fresh vegetables suitable for smoothies. I can say almost anything goes.

Just find out what you like and what is good for you.

I also put in some seeds like chia seeds and also uncooked oatmeal. With a good blender you won't find any of that back. The seeds do a little bit, but everything is fresh, raw and therefore healthy. I still enjoy it to the fullest.

In my experience, a smoothie is really nothing more than juice that is thicker than usual with everything still in it. When you use a juicer, all the solids are separated from the liquid.

This does not happen in a blender, where everything you put in is blended and preserved. No nutrients and/or fiber or whatever gets lost.

Slowly I started to feel better, I started to get used to not using sugar at all. I had switched to artificial low-calorie sweeteners. It takes some getting used to, the taste is of course a bit different.

Soft drinks have been on my blacklist since day one, even the ones that say they are sugar free, I don't drink any of them.

Before I used to hate drinking water, but I got over it and now I only drink water, tea or coffee.
I have to say that I like it a lot. I don't really keep track, but I do my best to drink close to two liters of water a day. That includes tea and coffee.

I have started to exercise more, which was something I wanted to do as well. Every morning when I get up, I drink one or better two glasses of water and sometimes a small cup of tea and I'm on my way, outside for a long joyful walk. I'm trying to reach ten thousand steps per each day.

Establish goals, pursue them, and work diligently towards achieving them.

I'm sure you can find a guru who can get you to lose six or more pounds in two weeks. I think there are, but I don't have that much faith in them! In my opinion it's not possible.

Yes, it may be possible, but it is usually not permanent, and it will probably cost you a lot of money too. How often do you hear about people who lose weight quickly but don't really get rid of their bad habits and quickly go back to their old way of life?

My method has cost me nothing extra but has given me tremendous benefits. Slow but steady is the motto. I feel better, sleep better, am healthier and .... don't suffer from hunger!

Now almost every day I take about ten thousand steps, about seven kilometers, and sometimes more because if the weather is good, I do the same in the evening again.

Note that if you run at night, you have to make sure you are visible when it gets dark. There are all kinds of bands with LED lights on the market. See and been seen, especially in the dark.

At the end of the second week, I weighed 90.5kg.