Brace yourself, Autumn is coming

September is close, very close... Which means that autumn and its rainy and foggy weather won't be long in coming. While a lot of people actually enjoy autumn because you can sit at home, watch the rain drops slide down your window while sipping on a cozy hot chocolate or tea along with some delicious cookies and crackers, there are still some weirdos who leave the house and workout. Yes, these kind of people do exist.

Honestly I favor being one of the first-mentioned ones as I hate rain and this moist autumn weather. That's why I mostly workout indoors...well yes and because you don't find weights in the woods...

However,sometimes I love to go out for a run when it's colder , but this only happens when it's cold and DRY, let it be understood. Nevertheless, everybody who practices outdoors knows how fast you can catch a cold, flue or even pneumonia if you are not dressed adapted to the weather, especially in autumn and winter. Therefore I wanted to share these fancy and thermal sportswear with you, just as some accessories if you prefer to stay in the dry but still want to workout a bit. 

Brace yourself, the cold weather is approaching... 

Nike Fuel Band Gold
Nike Tech Hoodie
Mxdc Sport Last Atomic Ice Tights
Röhnisch Nicole Sport Top
Kari Traa Butterfly H/Z li
Röhnisch Sport Nylon Bag
Nike Long L Medium Res Band
Nike Ankle Weights 2,27kg
Nike Therm Run Gloves
Nike Run Slapband
Adidas Az Sw L Tights

Muscle Soreness

me after a great legday, which I am suffering from now. hrhr

For those who follow me on Instagram, PumpUp or Facebook-page know that I exaggerated a bit during my previous workout routines.

Normally I don't do this because I don't want to risk an injury, but since I only have a little bit more than 2 months left for my competition, I felt like I had to speed up to reach the form I want as soon as possible, which was a mistake... Because now I am suffering from muscle soreness and I am walking like on eggshells. Haha

My calves are hurting so much that I have struggle to unbend my legs in the morning and let#s skip talking about going downstairs. Nevertheless am I afraid that my arms will feel like this too by tomorrow. 

I know feeling sore should make you happy, well it makes me happy because I know that I workout hard enough, but hellooo... It hurts like hell afterwards...

That's why I wanted to give you these little helpful tips to relieve your muscle soreness:

• Ibuprofen: If your muscle aches are really bad, this will help you to get rid of it. It's a low-dose painkiller which has been proven to decrease muscle soreness.
• GENTLE stretching:When your muscles are in recovery mode, they tend to tighten up, meaning you feel sore. If you slowly and gently stretch your muscles, you will relieve that tight feeling and diffuse the pain. But don't stretch too much or too hard.
• Light massage: Massaging sore muscle can be very painful, I know. Thus it helps to reduce the tightness while promoting blood flow. This will help you to speed up the recovery and shortens your muscle soreness. You can also do your own massage at home with this awesome foam roller by +Nike .I tried it out once, and it's simply amazing. (picture below)
• Warm bath: Just like the massage, a warm cozy bath will loosen up your muscles and improve the circulation in the muscles. A better circulation means more oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood flowing through your aching muscles, helping them to recover faster. 
• Hot/Cold treatment: Apply an ice pack for 15 minutes, followed by a heat pack for another 15 minutes and do this over again. It has been shown that this treatment is highly effective in promoting blood circulation and muscle recuperation. 

Personally, I don't take painkillers like Ibuprofen when I have muscle ache. Simply because I am convinced that once you take pain killers, you are suppressing the pain and you could risk an injury as you don't feel any pain anymore. But I know from a lot of people that Ibuprofen really helped them, so try it out yourself. But whatever treatment you are going to pick, if you go back on track be careful and listen to your body. 

Have a nice end of the week. 

The magical foam roller by +Nike 

After yesterday's arm-pump-session.

Fairy starting Yoga

Hello.

So this morning I woke up and I decided that I want to start yoga again...

Over 2 years ago when I was teaching poledance classes I also had yoga/pilates classes for beginners. I have to admit that I really enjoyed the combination of relieving the inner tension and stretching the whole body. When I was younger I always thought that yoga would be something grannies do, as  I believed that it wouldn't be hard at all, but I proved myself wrong.

Why?

As already mentioned I enjoyed the fusion of stretching and relieving stress ,which is unconscious in most cases. What you need is only a pair of comfy pants, a shirt and a yoga-matt , you can also do it on the floor if you have a carpet. (I wouldn't advise to do your yoga routines on cold tiles because you should feel comfy and not freezing hihi.) So you don't even have to leave the house to switch off the world and the stress, which is great especially on such rainy days. 

Plus, yoga brings along a lot of benefits that can really improve your health, like:

• A refreshing outlook: Doing one hour of yoga raises the level of your brain by 27% compared to people that only read quietly. 
• No more aches: If you are suffering lower-back pain (like I do) , yoga is the right thing for you. Even a 90minute yoga class once a week can help you to get rid of 56% or the soreness, while pain meds only lessened the pain by 16%. Doing yoga poses improves your posture and strengthens your back muscles to keep back-aches at bay.
• More and better sleep: A study found that insomniacs who did a 45-minute yoga routine for 2 months fell asleep 15 minutes faster and slept even 1 hour longer each night. Yoga will help you to relax and makes it easier for you to switch off. 
• More confidence: Yoga may be your ticket to love your own body. A research has shown that 20% of those women who practice regularly are more satisfied with their body than those who took aerobic classes. The secret could be that yoga helps you to tune in to how your body feels and what it can do, not how it looks. 
• Toning: Dumbbells and Kettlebells aren't the only way to sculpt a beautiful body. Yoga can also become a strength training as you are using your own body weight to form posture to posture. In certain poses, you even lift every pound of it. 
• Inner calm: Yoga the stress away. If you go to the mat once a week for 2 years you will release 41% more tensions that normally make you feel tired and moody.

If you are not sure how often you should practice yoga, here some advice:

- If you are a beginner and want to lose weight, increase your flexibility,strength and relieve stress I would consider 3 times a week for about 1 hour. Along with some cardio 2-3 times a week (e.g 20-30min HIIT) and a healthy diet you will have great results and feel way better. 

- For advanced yogis I advise a heated power yoga session 5 times a week and 1 yoga routine to chill and calm down and of course 1 complete rest-day. If this is too much for you, just decrease your yoga-practice to 3-4 times a week. 

- To build strength after an injury,stretch muscles weak from lack of use a smooth combination of yoga and stretching 3 times per week would be your ticket. 

But always remember to listen to your body. Yoga is not about forcing nor tearing your ligaments. It should be your moment where you will be able to switch off the world, relieve tensions and find your inner peace and ease. In case you have no idea where to find good yoga videos or channels, check our Adriene's youtube channel, they are pretty good and well explained. 

I wish you all a great and easy week. 

Review: PumpUp App

Hey fitfam

I have something great to share with you.Yesterday I was scrolling through my Facebook-feed and suddenly I spotted a comment about a new app called 'PumpUp'. After reading the comments I realized that the app functions after the same principle as Instagram, but with slight differences.

PumpUp is no different as Instagram in the following : you share photos,like photos and follow or interact with other people and do a search by using hash-tags.

Here comes the turning point: PumpUp is all about fitness,health and workouts.
When signing in, you can insert your weight, hight and set your goals. 

Awesome features like customized workout routines.You can also log your activities by time, intensity and the type of workout (skating, baseball, weightlifting, gymnastics, dancing and more) make this newly-discovered app even more fun.

• Photo sharing:

I guess everybody knows how that works, am I right? Just take a picture of your healthy meal, your sexy abs, a 'before/after' pic or a sweaty post-workout selfie and share it right away. Add a comment, some hash-tags and wait what happens.

• Customized workouts:

If you don't have a specific training schedule, you can workout with this app as well. I analyzed several workouts and they seem to be pretty good at first glance.

Step by Step : 

- Open your app (duuhhh...)

- Touch the '+' sign in the middle of your app

- Select 'Start workout' 

- Follow the instructions and press again  '+'

- Choose your Training goal (lose weight, get toned, build muscle or simply be healthy)

- Choose your level, duration and what equipment you want to use and off you go.

They offer about 500 exercises in HD motion images, so you have a free, tiny personal coach while working out which also tags the clock for you, isn't that cool?

• Activity Logging:

Whatever may be your workout (running, dancing, weightlifting, crossfit, playing soccer...etc) you can log it with PumpUp. All you gotta do is select the '+' button and follow the instructions and icons. 

• Tracking your weight:

Once you signed in you set your weight and track your progress through the app. The progress is pictured through the the diagram-icon, which you'll find right under your little biography. This might help you to stay motivated.

I have to admit that it took me some time to figure out how this app really works. But after a couple of minutes I had the knack and I started posting my progress, my meals and more. And I have already become addicted, whoops... 

This app is perfect for gymrats. I know there are some great fitspirational accounts on IG as well but still, this app is ONLY about fitness and health.
I think this app is even better than Instagram if you want to inspire and motivate other people with your progress or maybe if you want to find motivation through other people's progress and pictures. 

If you're still not sure whether you should download it or not, just do it and give it a try. It won't hurt and it doesn't cost a dime.

P.S: You will find me under ' liftingfairy ' of course. See you there.

Portion Control

Strawberries from my breakfast

Ever since I started the diet for my preparation I got so many comments on my meals, like '' OMG is that everything you eat? '' or '' Don't tell me that this is your lunch, I am sure you must be starving...'' and even '' You will get an eating disorder if you go on eating like a bird''... 

Okay so first of all, I want to compete on stage and I'm not a fan of Jigglypuff's body image...When you are about to go on stage in 2 months , well you simply can't eat a plate full of pasta, pizza, cheese macaronis or whatsoever. You really need to watch your macro intake and well, eat less calories and burn even more to become shredded and lose fat. 

Preparing for a competition made me think about how easy and how often people actually overeat without realizing it. I am not saying that everyone should have an eye on their macro-intake, especially if you are not about to compete. But still, if you really want to lose weight or fat, it matters though. Have you ever wondered how many calories you eat during a day? I bet way too much.

As far as I'm concerned I used to eat 2.000-3.000 calories a day , but that was before I got interested in Fitness and everything around it. The I reduced my caloric intake to a max. of 2.000 calories, which is still too much for a girl of my size, age and activity. 

To give you a hint, now that I am closer to my first competition( and my real shredding-phase hasn't even started yet) I eat between 1.200 to 1.300 calories a day, depending whether it's carb-day or low-carb-day. You must be thinking ''well that's not very much''.. But the magic trick is to eat the RIGHT things. 

Let's have a look at my carb-day first:

Breakfast:                      Mid-Morning Snack:                             Lunch:      

4 Eggwhites                    Iso-Whey Shake                                       Lean Beef     

2 Yolks                                                                                         Quinoa      

Spelt bread                                                                                    Vegetables

Stewed Apples

Afternoon-snack:          Post-workout:                                         Dinner:

Tuna                                Iso-Whey Shake                                     Chicken

Pineapple                                                                                      Vegetables

Quinoa Crackers

And my low-carb-day:

Breakfast:                       Mid-Morning Snack:                               Lunch:      

Quinoa crackers               Iso-Whey Shake                                         Turkey    

Strawberries                     Handful of nuts                                         Sweet potatoes

Chickenham                                                                                    Vegetables 

Afternoon-snack:            Post-workout:                                           Dinner:

Iso-Whey Shake               Iso-Whey Shake                                         Salmons

                                                                                                      Cod

                                                                                                      Vegetables

I am not listing up the exact amounts of everything, because this diet-programm was created according to my personal needs and data and I don't want anyone to just take a program because it  won't fit your own personal needs. 

What I wanted to make clear you with this post is, that even if you cut down your portions and calories, you are not automatically starving everyday if you eat the right foods. Before I started this whole diet program, my stomach was used to bigger portions as its volume was bigger than it is now. And my body was used to have more energy, meaning calories, than it has now. But your body can adapt itself to everything and it's only the first few days that SEEM hard for you once you are changing your eating habits.

I really hope that this opened your eyes on my daily caloric intake. And now for the last time: 

I am not starving, I am not hungry the whole day, I have a lot of energy to get through every day and every hard workout , I feel better,I don't catch every single flue because I get all the vitamins and minerals my body needs through my food, or supplements.

That said, I wish you all a relaxing weekend. 

Carb-day breakfast

Low-carb lunch

carb-day lunch

Happy Birthday Sir Ken from Dumbbell

My superhero, batmaaaaan.

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday dear (Sir) Ken (from Dumbbell),

Happy birthday to youuuu! 

I have to say that I am really thankful to have you in my life because you are one of the main reasons why I started hitting the gym.

When I met you almost 2 and 1/2 year ago, I wasn't doing any specific sport expect pole-dancing once in a while at home. But because of you I started to eat healthier and live healthier. I registered for a dancing school again and I payed more attention on my eating habits, because honestly they were anything but great...

The year I started dancing again was also kind of a hard year as it was also my last year in highscool and my finals were about to come, and yours too! So before summer we didn't get to see each other that often which was really hard, but I can call myself lucky to have such a good boyfriend who supported me in everything I did. When you were nominated back then I was the proudest girlfriend ever. You just made it, you reached your childhood dream and this makes me so happy for you.

After our exams, my dancing year was over too, so we decided to hit the gym, and that was when we became gym-buddies. The best thing that could ever have happened to us. We both started the 'clean eating' thing and somehow this bound us even more together.

A lot of people were curious if we managed to live together as I am a little cleaning-maniac and you are just normal ( but for me you will always be my little messy hehe). But no matter what may come, I know that I can always count on you and I hope that you know that you can always count on me. I try to be the best girlfriend you have ever had and I wish you all the best for your future plans, that you will reach every goal you set but most of all , I wish you the best health and luck in the world because you totally deserve it. 

I love you, and I will always do... Happy birthday!

Pssst, keep that secret for yourself, my boyfriend is batman hehe

Diet Pills and their side effects

Hey beauty! 

Yesterday night I was watching TV and I saw this report about diet pills , which inspired me to write this post because I want to open people's eyes.

Actually what they told in the report was nothing new to me, but I realized that especially women tend to fall back on such 'wonder pills' as they wait for a miracle to happen. And I don't want anybody to do harm to their body and health.

Without losing too much time now, here is a Top7 list of the risks that come along with diet pills:

1. No Guarantee:

The problem with diet pills is that very often they are not even approved from the Food and Drug Administration and are therefor taken from the market after a while. Meaning that a lot of unsafe and unhealthy pills find their way into pharmacies. So even if your pharmacist tells you that they are 'okay', they usually don't even have an idea of what this pills consist of and what side effects come along with these pills.

2. Risk for heart attack and stroke:

One of the main ingredient in such 'magic pills' are found to increase the risk for heart attacks and stroke. Normally these kind of stimulants are prescription level drugs and are therefor banned from the market. But illegally they still can make their way back to these pills due to a poor control of dietary supplements.

3. Addiction:

More often than not, diet pills also contain amphetamines, anti-anciety drugs and antidepressants. It's not just that this is one of the most dangerous cocktails, they can also make you highly addictive.

4. Multiple side effects:

Logically, diet pills contain fat blockers which should decrease the nutrient absorption and may cause stomach aches. Further side effects could include constipation, headaches and mood swings. That's a real 'magic pill' if you can switch from one mood to another...*irony*

5. False claims:

Do me and yourself a favor and don't believe everything you read on labels of dietary supplements, see in television or read in magazines. Just let me illustrate something for you: a report which was released by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services analyzed 127 dietary supplements (including weight loss pills) and found that 20% made illegal claims on the label. Meaning they stated that the product cured or treated disease...

6. Ineffectiveness:

What is the first thing you read when you look at the ingredients? Caffeine and other diuretics, am I right? Well they actually only cause water loss... So the lower number of your scale is nothing but water-loss actually. Thusly, once you stop taking these pills, the water weight will return. Plus, losing to much water can also cause dangerous dehydration, leading to headaches for example.

7. You won't change anything:

I always preach to people that diet pills won't change anything except a damaged health. You won't change your eating and exercise habits , neither are you motivated to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Believing that diet pills would be the right thing because '' you see results so fast'' will never ever encourage you to gain a better understanding of how foods and exercise affect your weight and health. 

The only thing that diet pills cause is dispair because you will gain your old weight back once you stop taking them. You will be less likely to check food labels, record your food intake and fit in your exercise if you really think that a PILL could do the work for you. 

I have to admit that I also fall back on diet pills years ago, they were called ''XLS Medical'' and are the biggest bull**** I have ever taken. I constantly had stomach aches, head aches and I couldn't eat anything because my stomach bloated initially and hurt.

Do you really think that a pill could help you ? Do you really think that I would work my ass off 5 times a week and keep track of my food if a pill could perform miracles? 

Seriously, stop lying to yourself and telling yourself that a pill is the right way. Get your ass up and workout, eat healthy and nuturing and you will see that you will get what you deserve, namely a good health and great results.

That said, I wish you all a great and successful week.

How to survive ''Schueberfouer''

Photos: (c) Gwenael Piaser, Laurent Schwaller & Steve Kayser

Since 1340, thousand of people from our little country get together between the last week of August and the first of September to enjoy a fabulous time at the marvelous 'Schueberfouer'. This year it will be from the 22nd of August until the 10th of September. 

Those who have ever visited the 'Schueberfouer' know that you can enjoy so many different things. You will find everything; from food from all over the globe, to roller-coaster and even little markets and little amusement arcades (like ''Loona park'') .

This sounds great, doesn't it? But if you want to go to the fair without indulging to much, I have a good advice: STAY AT HOME.

First of all, it has become so damn expensive that even if you only spend one afternoon or evening at the fair, you will leave at least 50€. Which I think is a lot if you only have a drink, buy something to eat, maybe a dessert and enjoy 2 minutes on a roller-coaster.

And second, the temptation to break down is just too big because you can even smell the food at a 500m distance.

But I don't want to act like the grinch. 

Unless you are not on a diet or starting a preparation, just visit the fair, enjoy a good time with your friends and family but most of all, indulge in the delicious food. The fair only comes once in a year.

Oh, and if our paths cross, don't fear to say hello, I am always happy to meet my readers and followers in 'real life'.

Enjoy your sunday my loves. 

Photos: (c) Gwenael Piaser, Laurent Schwaller & Steve Kayser

Healthy Rainbow Cake

Hi guys.

I'm confident that everyone of you is going to love this post. Last year, my mum baked me a super delicious rainbow-cake for my birthday,but ''unfortunately'' it was the biggest calorie-bomb I have ever eaten. But still, it tasted great.
I guess most of you like the idea of having a fancy rainbow cake which doesn't come with thousands and thousands of calories and tons of sugar and other fattening ingedrients.

I came up with this recipe idea after browsing Instagram and it's basically a healthified version of the famous rainbow cake.

What you need:

-For the cake layers: 

• 750 gr. whole grain flour
• 8 beaten egg whites
• 8 egg yolks
• 300 ml olive oil
• 500 ml sprite zero 
• sweetener, to taste
• 6 rainbow food colorings

-For the frosting:

• 1.500 gr light curd or greek yogurt
• 1 1/2 packages of gelatin fix
• Sweetener, to taste 
• vanilla essence 

Directions:

1. Mix all the cake ingredients until smooth.
2. Split the dough into 6 equal parts.
3. Add to each as much food coloring as you want. The more, the better. 
4. Pour the first colored dough in a cake form & bake at 180°c for 8 minutes.
5. Repeat this for the other colors too.
6. After baking all the rainbow-colors, let them cool down.
7. Then, add all the frosting-ingredients and stir to combine. 
8. Alternately put a layer of colored cake and one layer of frosting on a cake plate and repeat until the last layer of cake.
9. To finish, cover your whole heavenly cake with frosting.
10. Put in the fridge for at least 5 hours. 
11. Garnish with whatever you want, et voilà. 

I hope you like it and enjoy your weekend.

Make sure to have 6 equal bowl for the doughs 

 

Sprite Zero 

let it snow , let it snow with egg whites hehe 

 

 

The more color you add, the brighter they will get 

Make sure that the baking form isn't too tall! 

smurf poop anyone? haha 

 

first layer , yellow cake and second layer , frosting 

Tadaa! Healthy Rainbow cake by Lifting Fairy

New Arrivals

Hey what's up my lovely crowd? 

Yesterday, we went for a 'little' shopping spree to the Zweibrücken Style Outlets and uuhm, there is this huge Nike store... and you know how much I love +Nike ... 

So yes, I allowed myself to buy a couple of new tights to hit the gym. Why? Well first of all, why not? Second: New gym-clothes equals an even better motivation. Third:  My two favorite pairs of pants have holes which is anything but fancy. Fourth: My BetterBodies-tights are slowly becoming too wide around the hips #firstworldshreddingproblems. 

It's obvious that I have this little obsession for nike gym-wear, but I just love the styles and the different designs and the perfect fit. But most of all, they are so damn comfy. It's actually the first time that I bought this kind of length. Normally I opt for Capris or full-length tights. But you know, sometimes you have to try out new things. But the best is yet to come... *drum roll*...

A few months ago, I used to wear Medium or maybe Small,yesterday I had to buy an XS! You can't imagine how much this made me smile because it means that I lost a considerable amount of inches. I was so grumpy when we arrived at the Outlet, because I hate longer car-drives, but this totally made my day and I was in the best imaginable mood.

If you like the, you can get similar ones here.

I hope you enjoyed your day as much as I did. Talk to you soon my dears!

Throwback Tuesday

Hey people!

Here are some throwbacks from my last Instagram-week. I am so happy actually that I fell over this app almost 1 and 1/2 year ago.

At the beginning I wasn't sure what it was all about, but guess what... I became addicted so damn fast , it's unbelievable. Actually Instagram was the reason why I started the clean-eating thing, as there were so many healthy-food profiles with so many different and heavenly recipes that I couldn't resist to try them out. But then, it happened! 

I discovered the profiles of bikini athletes...thus it happened that I got interested more and more in competitions. And finally I decided that I want to do the same! I wanted another challenge, another goal, something different... And here we are, I am on my way to my first bikini competition and I am so happy that I have so many followers who motivate me every single day! And it makes me so happy, when I hear that someone started hitting the gym or changing his or her lifestyle because of me! That's the biggest present I could ever be given! 

Thank you all so much! 

 

btw, that's my best fluffy buddy Mumble, a Bernese Mountain Dog