In memory of Birk of Knutsgården

When I was a child of 6 or 7 my older sister, Mrs N, bought herself a gelding named Raudur. A few years later my parents, Mr and Mrs G, bought a mare from Iceland named Birta. I was tought the basics of riding on these two horses and I spent all my time with them, caring for them, riding, playing etc.

When I was 12, on the night of the mid-summer festival, Birta had a foal by the stallion Sirkil of Stora Hofi. We named him Birk of Knutsgården an I was the first one to get to go close to him and he was mine. I would spend hours upon hours with him in the pastures. I would sit in the grass with him, race with him, brush him, wash him and spent all my free time with him. I even sang to him and taught him tricks. When he was 1 year old I taught him to be led and took him for walks. I would lay in the field during summer with my head on his neck or belly while we both slumbered in the sun. During winter I would spend my evenings in the stable tending him.

It's a better me: Diet week 5 - down 10 pounds!

I have been so happy this week! At last weigh in I was 10 pounds lighter, and that only from changing my diet to protein rich, low carb, low fat... Also called the Dukan Diet.

I stumbled over it in an article in one of my mother's glossy magazines this summer and thought it looked sound and healthy. When I got home I decided that as soon as school started I would begin my new diet too, and wow did it work! Since I damaged my foot some months ago I have not been able to go for long walks, so the only thing I did was change my diet and eat more regularly.

The first week I lost 2 pounds, and the next, and the next.. then I broke. I munched and restarted the diet. I gained a bit, got my period and then broke again. I have still not been able to get perfectly back into the diet since there has been a birthday, some parties and I have been sick for a week, but when I got on the weight yesterday I was another 4 pounds lighter! I could hardly believe my eyes! I went on the weight to check and see how much I had gained so I could know how much extra I had to give this week, but then I saw i had actually LOST pounds! It gave me the energy I needed to give it even more. 

I will be back with more!

Mrs. K.

The better me and the snag.

Lately I have been trying to work through some of the snags of life. I have slowly been changing my eating habits and are now much healthier than I was half a year ago. I eat breakfast every day, and after an extensive check at the doctors I know that I am as healthy as a horse on the inside. Go figure, since the outside looks like I have been living on the couch with a bag of chips for the last couple of years.

In my quest for lightness I have been forced to push my "thin woman" goal back a year since I seem to have hit the wall. For 2 months now I have not been able to loose any more weight! I have lost 5 kg (11 lbs 0.37 ounces) but now I can't get under 135 kg! I try not to sit still in my office too long but I have not been to the gym since Easter since my workout buddy has quit on me for the spring and summer. The gusto I need to get to the gym alone is too much and the excuses are many and varied.

Today I drew the line. I am getting up and at 'em, so to speak. I am working on collecting some tips to hang in there and change the day to day schedule to the better.
The first thing I am doing is inviting my husband to go walking with me. Saturday we walked in the spring sun for about 1 km (0.6 miles). Not a long walk, but enough for my foot to start hurting and a blister to form on my heal from the little-used shoes.

The second is that I am using the Noom app on my phone to keep track of what I eat and what I do as exercise every day. It is super easy to use and gives me challenges and tasks to do every day. It also shows how much I have eaten and how much calories I have burned the last 7 days on the home screen on my phone so I never forget to keep track (except on week ends when I rarely look at my phone except when I log the housework on Noom).

Third I am picking up tips from magazines like Weight Watchers and Shape. These are the tips I have found so far:

Menu planning

I have just started with weekly menu planning. It takes more work than what I thought it would. I have been planning a baking day for a while so I thought I would try to make a lot of food that I need. I also think that I will bake some cakes that I can store in bins and take out when we have guests or for dessert.

Here is the first week dinner menu I have planned:
Monday:  Chicken salad with green beans.
Tuesday: French blue mussel stew (with self picked blue mussel) and bread
Wednesday: Cabbage rolls
Thursday: Curry soup and cocktail medallions
Friday: The norwegian dinner course "raspeball" with salted pork and saussages
Saturday: Turkey cabaret with fruits and bread
Sunday: seafood table: Filled crab shells, crab toast, shrimps, white bread and whine, salmond paté.
and for dessert: either "American apple cake", "spice cake", fruit pie or macron hats.

For my baking day I will do
"the 3 hour bake"
"macron hats"
filled pies and baguettes
"ham hatts"
Fish pie
meat pie
filled horns
hotdog and hamburger breads
fruit pie
orange cake
spice cake
American apple cake
apple muffins

It's a lot of things so I might split it into more than one bake day, but I will make everything ready anyhow.

til next time
Mrs. K.

Hello again.

It has been ages! Christmas has come and gone, and so has January... all in a hurry! The first 3 weeks of January are always so busy with school, new books, money to manage, house to clean etc. but I have been in a rut all since christmas.

I got the flu on Dec. 26th and didn't get well again until 2 weeks into Jan. and that took it's toll on everything. On the good side: I lost almsot 5 kg in January... the bad: I gained it all again the last weekend of Jan. when the family had our annual family gathering / meeting of the stock holders. We were staying at a hotel that I love, and the food there is so amazing! So i gorged! :-(

I have been working out two times a week with a friend of mine at a local gym, and I have managed to loos 3 of the 5 kg again, but I am struggeling with a few things so keeping up is really difficult. I have been feeling down and depressed a lot, and it only gets worse since I can tell my husband is starting to struggle a bit again. It brings up a lot of bad memories I'd rather forget. I also have gotten back to not sleeping at night. I don't get tired, so I stay up all night... sleep all day...etc. It's unhealthy and difficult to break, but I will get to it. I also have gotten into the same old eating habits with lots of snacks and few meals, I don't even eat breakfast...
I am a mess, the house is a mess, school is slightly a mess... *sigh*

On the bright side: I am alive! I have finally gotten around to getting some plants into this house. We got book shelves for all our books now and a bed that is big enough for both of us to sleep comfortably. We even bought night stands! I love my new classes, and I like working out with my friend.

New goals for the year:
Loose weight as planned
Make do and mend
Keep a clean house
Get healthy and fit
Eat breakfast every day.

See you again soon
Mrs. Krogsæter