Look at me!

Look at me! That would be 3 posts in 3 days. I am on a roll, man.

So who am I? Just in case someone cares to know, and it will be fun for me to see where this goes.

I am a 45 year old woman from San Francisco, CA. I can't even believe it. The 45 part.

I now live in a small Austrian village in the mountains.

I have lived here for 4 years, my German still sucks, but I keep trying.

I hope to move back to CA one day. (more on that later)

This blog is about fitness and hopefully some funny stuff about living in a small village in the Austrian Alps because there is plenty of material here, folks. (see photo, this is a common occurrence in these parts)

I am married to surprise, surprise an Austrian. I tell people that I was traded for Arnold, it usually gets a chuckle, even though I am so tired of telling it. But when your German sucks, you stick with what you know.

I have 2 kids, 8 and 5. Yeah, I started that pretty late.

At the moment I teach fitness classes. It is an eclectic mix of Muay Thai kickboxing, weight training and yoga. Because that's what I know.

My current goals are to really learn German (beyond speaking in the present tense with the finesse of a caveman) and to be a role model for the women in my community and anyone else who gets something out of my experiences. It IS a tall order but I am making it happen with Divine help and Trust.

OK, that's it for now.

Auf Wiedersehen.

Dressing Room Meltdown

I live in Europe. I am an American. We have this store over here (Europe) called H&M. Perhaps you know it? If not, it is the equivilant of The Gap. The Gap is cool for some things, but I have never been a fan of their jeans. I do have some cargo pants from the Gap or Old Navy, same thing. So when I moved over here, I checked out the H&M for your basic t-shirts and tank tops. Thought I would try some jeans too. You never know.

Well, I will admit it, I get hung up on sizes. Not as bad as I used to, but I have this aversion to wearing a size 8 or above. I want/need to wear a 6. I am 5'9", by the way. Even as I write this I am thinking who cares! Get over the size thing. I should find pants that fit nice and if they are an 8, 10 or 12, well so be it.

Oh yeah, back to the H&M. So, I look at those Euros sizes and grab the equivilent of a 6. It tells you right on the label the various sizes, UK, European, and USA. I believe it comes to what is called a 36. They looked a little small for a 6, but I was not going into the 38/40 territory. No way.

After nearly ripping the seams in a desperate attempt to get that denim over my booty, I was humbled. Could it be that the good ole USA has been making us feel like we are a size 6 when the rest of the world is snickering at us as we dilude ourselves into giant pants with a small number? I am serious a size 10 over here is a 6 in America. I have the pants to prove it.

So which is it, do the Europeans want to make their women feel fatter or do Americans want their women to feel smaller. Or does anyone care about their pants size? Maybe I am a freak that way.

And what is up with Plus sizes for kids???? I just saw that for the first time as I was checking oldnavy.com for my daughter.

Bust out the Big Hair

Damn. I used to love blogging and I actually kept up a decent blog back in the day. That would be a couple of years ago. I tried to rekindle the magic again and it just wasn't the same.

And now it appears I am going to another failure.

But something inside me wants to do this again. Like the 80's. I had fun in the 80's. I want some of that again. So, I am going to wear the leggings and I bet the shoulder pads are not far behind and get in the mood. No stirups though. Yeah I rocked the 4inch pumps with the stirup leggings.

I am going to give another shot. Oh yeah, I suppose it would help if I commented on the blogs that I read. I think that's how it worked last time.

Oh yeah, I need a picture. People like pictures.

How about those 80's. Is it just me or do I have vampire teeth in that pic?

Yoga and Fitness Auf Deutsche

I am starting a fitness class here in the Alps. Finally. It has been 4 years and I have worked up the nerve to bust out my caveman German to the poor souls that are willing to train with me. So far my "students" are requesting lots of yoga.

Translation: Don't do anything too hard.

So I made a little yoga video to quell any fears that we might sweat a little.

Off to Croatia before school starts.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Legs

Working on the legs. Muscle is there, fat too.

Yo-Yo

Finally some sun today. Rained solid for 2 months. I love this song.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

No Sugar, No Wheat= ABS!

No sugar, no wheat. Never ever would I have thought I would be a gluten-free, sugar-free girl. Did I mention never? Bread and tasty baked goods are a fine reason for living. Of course I tried to limit how much I ate and exercised intensely to counteract this passion. And I wish I didn’t have to use the word “try” here, but if the shoe fits….

But times change and sh$t happens. Namely, you might wake up one day and have a thyroid problem. You know the kind of thyroid problem that runs you into the ground. The kind that makes you feel like a burnt out cigarette that has been stubbed out into a very dirty ashtray. Sorry, but the analogy works. The kind of thyroid problem that makes you gain weight on a diet of 1200 calories and 2 hours of exercise a day. When you have that kind of thyroid problem all hell breaks loose, physically and mentally.

I did see an endocrinologist. One does not want to self-diagnose even if you had the energy to think straight and study up on the various thyroid problems. In a nutshell our whole hormonal system is very complex and can be a bear to regulate and get working to an optimal capacity.

I won’t bore you with the details of my medical diagnosis, but let’s just say, I was offered some standard care and therapies to fix my thyroid. One of them being to nuke the thing with radioactive iodine and hope that it doesn’t completely kill the bugger. No thanks. If I can avoid being on medication the rest of my life, I will.

I chose me. I will say this again and again, I am not conventional. And this bleeds over into how I treat my body. I got the info, I compared my options and I decided that I could tackle this problem and fix it myself. I believe my body is more than capable of this task. And later I will elaborate on the details of this healing.
* Disclaimer: This is my situation and not everyone has the options to do this, some people MUST be on thyroid hormones.

I am a couple weeks into the process and a big part of this is a nutritional supporting program. And that means no gluten, no sugar.

Guess what? I feel amazing. I mean really Amazing. I thought I tolerated starchy carbs pretty well and maybe I did in the past, but since this thyroid stuff, getting off the wheat and sugar has been the biggest jump in my road to optimal health.

I am also doing the P90X program, which is tough even if you are in tip top shape.

It has been a very challenging 6 months and I feel I have turned the corner.
And my abs are back! I haven’t seen them since this thyroid problem started.

Happy days.