Ontem experimentei o meu primeiro vestido de noiva!Não posso dizer nada sobre isso porque é segredo...o meu futuro marido visita aqui o estaminé.
Não era a minha cara, apesar de ser extremamente bonito.
Mais hão-de vir nos próximos meses...
sexta-feira, 29 de agosto de 2014
On the brighter side of life...
Ontem experimentei o meu primeiro vestido de noiva!Não posso dizer nada sobre isso porque é segredo...o meu futuro marido visita aqui o estaminé.
Não era a minha cara, apesar de ser extremamente bonito.
Mais hão-de vir nos próximos meses...
quarta-feira, 27 de agosto de 2014
...e ainda sobre o post anterior
g) a minha avó morreu mesmo, não foi? nunca mais a vou ver, ou falar com ela, ou desdobrar-me para ir almoçar, ou ouvir as historias do fundo do baú, pois não?
O "nunca mais" é o que me lixa...
O "nunca mais" é o que me lixa...
Saber o que se sente
É bom. Sei a todas as horas do dia o que estou a sentir e porquê.Não é assim tão bom quando as minhas ultimas horas foram de mediano desespero, pessimismo e tristeza.
Sei que daqui a nada isto muda, e passa-me, mas agora só me apetece chorar.
Porque não vou ao IKEA com ele comprar coisas para a minha casa nova, porque apesar de ter uma casa nova não sei quando vou conseguir ir para lá viver, porque a incerteza é uma coisa tramada (e se demorar 20 anos a conseguir um emprego?!), porque ele está sozinho a fazer tudo e o meu coração está sozinho aqui, porque não tenho dinheiro suficiente para mandar tudo para o alto e ir-me embora de qualquer maneira (não quer dizer que o fizesse se tivesse, mas pelo menos tinha opção e assim não tenho).
E os únicos pensamentos que passam pela cabeça é como a) não sou assim tão boa, b) estou aborrecida porque não queria aqui estar, c) apetece-me zero menos dez ter reunião daqui a nada, d) ser boa a trabalhar não garante trabalho, porque as variáveis são imprevisíveis, e) se pudesse ir para casa agora sempre apanhava sol e estava com os meus irmãos a arranjar as coisas para a festa de logo, f) estou desejosa que esta nuvem passe para me sentir motivada e optimista outra vez porque estar assim não leva a lado nenhum.
O que vale é que tenho tanta consciência de tudo, é maravilhoso.
terça-feira, 26 de agosto de 2014
Isso
Respirar fundo é um ato muito menosprezado atendendo aos resultados maravilhosos que do ato advêm.Quem respira fundo irrita-se menos, discute menos, chateia-se menos...
Eu até propunha que houvesse o dia mundial do respirar fundo e que se ensinasse na escola. Se se aprender desde pequenino resulta muito melhor.
É muito mais fácil quando não se conhece a pessoa
Ontem, durante a minha jornada de 1.30h em cima da bike a minha amiga V. ligou-me.
Eu distante do mundo, porque metade dos meus dias são passados ou na Holanda ou a tratar de coisas para a Holanda não ouvi as noticias. Estas noticias:
http://sicnoticias.sapo.pt/pais/2014-08-23-jovem-esfaqueado-no-cais-do-sodre
É muito mais fácil quando não conhecemos a pessoa há uma data de anos, quando nunca falámos com ela, nem sabemos a sua história.
Não percebo como é que coisas destas acontecem às 3h da manha num sitio onde estive todos os fins de semana durante pelo menos 3 anos. Quem são os responsáveis? e porque é que não são punidos?
E pergunto isso mesmo e ouço um "B. eram ciganos, sabes perfeitamente que nunca vai acontecer nada". Irrita-me tanto, mas tanto. Porque um dia pode ser o meu filho, o meu irmão, o meu marido, o meu pai...e nesse dia vai ser o sentimento de impotência ao quadrado, daquele que sinto agora.
Eu sei que justiça não tira ninguém da cama do hospital, mas bolas...este país é o quê, a republica das bananas?
E vem o pior de mim ao de cima, o pior de mim que pensa que eles deviam ser todos postos a andar daqui para fora, que isto é um país de gente civilizada e não de bárbaros, que deviam também perder amigos e familia porque uma pessoa qualquer decidiu sacar de uma faca e pronto, acabar com tudo sem pensar que ali está uma pessoa, um homem, um filho, um namorado. Mas quem é que faz uma coisa destas? Que animal é que é tão baixo que dá 2 facadas a alguém no coração? Não é andar ao murro, ou dar uns pontapés, não...é matar uma pessoa a sangue frio. Não percebo, e quanto mais penso nisto menos percebo.
E sei que ódio gera ódio, maldade gera maldade e eu sempre achei que só com amor e compreensão se consegue acabar com estas coisas. Mesmo dito por mim, é tudo muito bonito em teoria, na prática só dá vontade de encher a pessoa de pancada, e deixa-la a morrer também, mas devagarinho e com muito sofrimento.
Eu distante do mundo, porque metade dos meus dias são passados ou na Holanda ou a tratar de coisas para a Holanda não ouvi as noticias. Estas noticias:
http://sicnoticias.sapo.pt/pais/2014-08-23-jovem-esfaqueado-no-cais-do-sodre
É muito mais fácil quando não conhecemos a pessoa há uma data de anos, quando nunca falámos com ela, nem sabemos a sua história.
Não percebo como é que coisas destas acontecem às 3h da manha num sitio onde estive todos os fins de semana durante pelo menos 3 anos. Quem são os responsáveis? e porque é que não são punidos?
E pergunto isso mesmo e ouço um "B. eram ciganos, sabes perfeitamente que nunca vai acontecer nada". Irrita-me tanto, mas tanto. Porque um dia pode ser o meu filho, o meu irmão, o meu marido, o meu pai...e nesse dia vai ser o sentimento de impotência ao quadrado, daquele que sinto agora.
Eu sei que justiça não tira ninguém da cama do hospital, mas bolas...este país é o quê, a republica das bananas?
E vem o pior de mim ao de cima, o pior de mim que pensa que eles deviam ser todos postos a andar daqui para fora, que isto é um país de gente civilizada e não de bárbaros, que deviam também perder amigos e familia porque uma pessoa qualquer decidiu sacar de uma faca e pronto, acabar com tudo sem pensar que ali está uma pessoa, um homem, um filho, um namorado. Mas quem é que faz uma coisa destas? Que animal é que é tão baixo que dá 2 facadas a alguém no coração? Não é andar ao murro, ou dar uns pontapés, não...é matar uma pessoa a sangue frio. Não percebo, e quanto mais penso nisto menos percebo.
E sei que ódio gera ódio, maldade gera maldade e eu sempre achei que só com amor e compreensão se consegue acabar com estas coisas. Mesmo dito por mim, é tudo muito bonito em teoria, na prática só dá vontade de encher a pessoa de pancada, e deixa-la a morrer também, mas devagarinho e com muito sofrimento.
segunda-feira, 25 de agosto de 2014
Being apart...
...is very hard.Não tocar, não olhar, não estar. Todos os dias, é difícil. É muito difícil.
E discussões por telefone são as piores, demora muito mais tempo a ficar tudo bem porque não há a palermice depois, o sorriso pela manha, o pé à procura debaixo do edredon, o aconchego no sofá.
A distancia magoa e deixa-me triste. Detesto.
Lista de To Do's de quem imigra
1) Casa (que se possa pagar)
2) Trabalho
3) Conhecer meios de transporte
4) Pé de meia, i.e. algum (muito) dinheiro acumulado.
5) Conhecer a língua (o básico, pelo menos, que dê para ir ao supermercado)
6) Voos a preço acessível para poder vir a casa.
7) Alguém como ponto de contacto (amigo/a, namorado/a, colega). Alguém!
8) Conhecimento sobre a cultura do país, como é que são as pessoas, de que é que gostam ou não gostam, quais os hábitos, se existem ou não algumas regras de conduta especificas, etc etc
9) Coragem.
Até agora tenho 7 de 9.
Falta-me o mais importante, ou dos mais importantes. Trabalho.
Keep Walking.
Pelo lado positivo e depois de muitas aventuras...já tenho casa!
Ohhhh yeahhh.
2) Trabalho
3) Conhecer meios de transporte
4) Pé de meia, i.e. algum (muito) dinheiro acumulado.
5) Conhecer a língua (o básico, pelo menos, que dê para ir ao supermercado)
6) Voos a preço acessível para poder vir a casa.
7) Alguém como ponto de contacto (amigo/a, namorado/a, colega). Alguém!
8) Conhecimento sobre a cultura do país, como é que são as pessoas, de que é que gostam ou não gostam, quais os hábitos, se existem ou não algumas regras de conduta especificas, etc etc
9) Coragem.
Até agora tenho 7 de 9.
Falta-me o mais importante, ou dos mais importantes. Trabalho.
Keep Walking.
Pelo lado positivo e depois de muitas aventuras...já tenho casa!
Ohhhh yeahhh.
The Ageless Body
Ou como eu costumo dizer...só o desporto nos salvará.
Vale a pena ler.
In vogue.
"The Ageless Body: Who Has It and How to Get It
A new guard of stunningly fit women is redefining expectations of the midlife body. At 46, Alex Kuczynski learns what it takes to attain a seemingly ageless physique.
Vale a pena ler.
In vogue.
"The Ageless Body: Who Has It and How to Get It
A new guard of stunningly fit women is redefining expectations of the midlife body. At 46, Alex Kuczynski learns what it takes to attain a seemingly ageless physique.
I’m doing push-ups. And, according to John Ligas, a New York City–based trainer, I’m doing them badly. I should keep my neck in a neutral position, belly button pulled into spine, feet hip-width apart, and glutes engaged. I need a notepad to remember all of this.
We are in hour two of our workout. Sweat has pooled on the floor below my head and my chest; even my knees are dripping.
“Are we almost done?” I ask with what I would describe as a groan if I were gilding the truth, but it was more like a sob.
“Discipline!” John shouts.
I fall over. Unsmiling, John crosses his arms. “You did one correctly.” Cameron Diaz, whom Ligas trains, would have done about 29 more. I’m really fit, John tells me, witheringly, for acivilian. Then he drops the bomb: “But compared to you, Cameron is a professional athlete.”
In Hollywood, on television and in film, in the news media and in public life, a remarkable phenomenon has taken hold: Women in their 40s and 50s and beyond—with their exquisite, off-the-charts-toned bodies—are transforming our notions of a mature woman’s figure and inspiring us to think about remaining healthfully vibrant for far longer than we ever have in the past. The expectations for women over 40 used to include the rude inevitabilities of a slowing metabolism and decreased muscle tone, but a new guard is showing us that the seemingly impossible is possible: Work hard and pay attention, and you may just be able to hit the pause button.
While Madonna once defined fitness, her sort of muscular, ropy silhouette seems overworked, even overthought, next to these women, who embody a kind of fit, effortless-seeming esprit de corps. Think of Robin Wright, with her seductive shoulders and lithe legs; Sandra Bullock’s lean, elegant beauty; Gwen Stefani’s defiantly adolescent figure, after three children; Sofía Vergara’s strong and sensual curves; Diane Sawyer’s slim physique and sculpted arms. These highly dedicated women represent the new ageless body.
“I know so much more about my body and how to nourish it than I did when I was 21,” says Diaz, who at 41 often plays roles a decade younger and who recently published The Body Book, offering advice about exercise and nutrition. “Now that we have access to so much information, it’s easier to maintain a certain high degree of health and fitness.”
Robin Wright, 48, chooses exercises that keep her muscles long. “You don’t want tight, big muscles when you are in front of a camera,” says Grace Lazenby, who has taught Wright and a host of other actresses in her Rockin Models class at Equinox in West Hollywood. The class includes elements of barre work and pole dancing, and lots of muscle-lengthening yoga moves. “You can love SoulCycle,” explains Lazenby. “But you can’t go to SoulCycle five times a week and do squats and lunges and expect to go on camera, ever.” Wright is tall but has a small frame, and in her Golden Globe–winning role as the imposing Claire Underwood inHouse of Cards, “they put her in jogging clothes or a suit, and if you have too much muscle mass, you’re going to look boxy in those straight skirts,” says Lazenby. Cycling, lunges, and squats can create bulky muscles, unless you’re six feet tall and weigh 120 pounds. Avoid heavy weights or risk looking like a quarterback.
Simone De La Rue, one of the high priestesses of the dance-cardio craze, also eschews heavy weights. “Nothing more than two or three pounds. Ever,” says De La Rue, who regularly instructs Naomi Watts, 45, and helped Sandra Bullock, 50, look physically about nineteen years old in Gravity. “If you want to have a long, lean dancer’s body, then dance. Move.”
But fitness is only one part of the equation. Diet is as—if not more—important. “There is a big perception that a lot of models and actresses starve themselves, or they have special chefs 24-seven,” says nutritionist Haçer Bozkurt, who advises Elle Macpherson, 50, and Connie Britton, 47, the Emmy-nominated star of Nashville, among others. “But that’s not always the case. These are highly motivated people. Their job is to look incredible.” One step every woman can take: Strive for six to thirteen servings of vegetables a day, a feat easily achieved with a Vitamix blender. (It won’t remove the fiber from vegetables as a juicer will.) Another useful tip: Anything that says it’s a protein bar is typically packed with as much sugar as a candy bar. Run away.
Looking incredible does take time—Gwyneth Paltrow has been known to exercise two hours a day, six days a week—and for those wanting tailored guidance, a not-insignificant financial commitment. For instance, if registered dietitian nutritionist Rachel Beller, whose clients include Sheryl Crow and Laura Dern, comes to your house, designs menus, consults with your personal chef (should you have one), and remains on 24-hour standby to review texts of pictures of food you’re considering putting in your mouth, that can run $3,000 a month.
Many women adopt strategies to counter the dietary pitfalls of a hectic schedule, which might not allow time for exercise or provide healthy food choices. Britton, whose enviably toned upper body seems only to have gotten even more defined with age, makes a habit of sitting down for a regular dinner with friends and family. “I try to think about what is good for me,” says the mother of a three-year-old boy. “Sometimes people get obsessed and think, I’ve got to be skinny like a 20-year-old, and I’ve got to do the most hard-core exercise, but I can’t risk getting injured.”
Increased risk for tweaked knees and torn tendons is just one of the many hazards that biology offers up to women after age 40. “There are a few cruel tricks that Mother Nature plays on us,” says Nanette F. Santoro, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, who specializes in aging. First and foremost, women lose muscle mass as they enter perimenopause and menopause, and fat aggregates around their abdomen and hips. “Women’s metabolic rates drop significantly in the 40s, by almost a quarter. That’s almost a meal a day,” she says. Women will come in to her “bitterly complaining” that they have not been able to drop the weight that has suddenly appeared. “They have to decrease their intake and increase their output.” And that can be very discouraging to tell a woman who may still have young children, is not sleeping well, and hardly has time to read the newspaper, let alone exercise every day. “I can tell you the single biggest factor in preventing lifelong weight gain,” Santoro says. “Lifelong activity.”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 53, is an advocate of daily physical activity. The Emmy-winning actress, currently starring as the American vice president in Veep, exercises regularly—she runs, hikes, and does a CrossFit style workout. Earlier this year she appeared at the Golden Globes in red figure-hugging Narciso Rodriguez, showing off sculpted arms, a beautifully defined back—and that jawline. And then there was the much-talked-about cover of Rolling Stone on which she appeared topless. “I exercise all the time because it makes me look good and I can eat more, and I love to eat,” she says, adding that she never weighs herself—“unless I can’t get my pants on, and then I have to have a come-to-Jesus moment.”
Over the course of the several weeks in which I spoke with the health and fitness experts who help keep these women in shape, I decided to be a guinea pig and test their counsel. I gave birth to my second child soon after my forty-first birthday, and my post-pregnancy body scared the hell out of me. I stepped up my game, and now I am more fit than I ever have been. I’m five feet eleven, 150 pounds, 18 percent of which, according to a DEXA scan, is fat (the average woman’s is anywhere from 25 to 31 percent), which puts me at the level of an athlete. (Ha! Even if John Ligas didn’t think so.) I ski and play tennis at a competitive level, lift weights, run, cycle (outdoors, on a bicycle that actually rolls), and swim. I’m now 46 years old and have a six-pack. I figured I could handle the workout of a movie star.
And, wow, what a wake-up call.
I took one of De La Rue’s signature dance classes, hoping I might look like a brave Sandra Bullock as she emerged in space-boy shorts and a wet tank top from her pod in Gravity. I was sore for two days. After a brutal session in the ultraprivate gym at SoHo’s Technogym with Josh Holland, who trains models from their 20s to their 50s, my waist and hips literally shrank an inch. “That’s really key for actresses and models,” he said. “An extra inch there, and you might be out of a job.” He tortured me on a Kinesis machine and with a Body Bar Flex—basically a giant wobbling rubber rain stick that exercises every muscle in your core.
When I spoke with Harley Pasternak, one of the most in-demand trainers in Hollywood, he said the first thing I needed to do was to get a Fitbit to measure my daily steps. To maintain weight, he advises his clients to move at least 10,000 steps a day (along with strength and core work); to lose, 14,000 steps a day. “This is a lifestyle commitment,” he told me. “And these people understand the importance of exercise, nutrition, and especially rest. Lack of sleep makes you less apt to engage in physical activity and more prone to making poor eating choices.”
That is clear. One night during this self-experimentation phase, my bedmate was my five-year-old son, who sleeps like the Tasmanian Devil taking a Bikram class. The next day, after maybe four hours of sleep, lunch was several spoonfuls of Nutella and crunchy peanut butter (but it was organic peanut butter!), and dinner was a vodka martini and 25 Tater Tots.
“Getting and staying in shape in your 40s is the new midlife crisis,” said Kira Stokes, who trains actresses and national news anchors and runs a cultlike series of classes in New York City out of Reebok Sports Club. “I like to focus on what I call ‘the transition zones,’ ” she told me politely when I met her before her Monday-morning workout group in Central Park. “Transition zones” are those areas that either collect fat or succumb to gravity as we age—triceps, core, and buttocks. On the day we met, there were fourteen women, some famous, some not, everyone in her 40s or older. I could barely keep up with 57-year-old Renata, who had the figure of a 27-year-old, nor the CBS News anchor (and mother of three) Norah O’Donnell, 40. The workout? Plyometrics, athletic-conditioning drills, resistance training. For two hours. I left after they decided to throw in some more core work.
Diane Sawyer, who at age 68 looks astonishingly trim and strong, has worked out with Jim Karas, a trainer who, she has said, “got me in the [best] shape of my life.” Karas, like Stokes, encourages interval-based resistance training; he discourages running and repetitive cardio, which can needlessly stress joints and increase appetite.
As for nutrition, I followed advice from both trainers and nutritionists. I started the day with a protein-packed smoothie or healthy deviled eggs (filled with hummus, not egg yolk). A couple of hours later: a cup and a half of vegetables and a protein. Wild salmon is a favorite as it has anti-inflammatory qualities, provides omega-3s for healthy skin and hair, and is a good source of protein. A snack later might have included a few cashews, or fruit sprinkled with cinnamon (another natural anti-inflammatory), or hummus with carrots. Dinner was often a cup of lightly cooked vegetables, perhaps a grain like bulgur or whole-wheat couscous, and a protein, often sprouted legumes. (When beans have sprouted, they are less likely to cause bloating.)
After about three weeks, my husband told me my eyes were sparkling, and I had ditched my daily antacid. (I credit the wild salmon and the sprouted mung beans.)
What I found most interesting was what all these professionals said not to do if you want to look (and feel) like a star:
Do not eat vegan.
Going vegan can mean eating fatty, calorie-dense food. Nutritionist Beller once took a vegan lunch back to her lab. The portobello tempeh burger and kale salad with peanut sauce checked in at 1,150 calories.
Avoid yoga.
Or at least certain aspects of it. Grace Lazenby does not allow her students to practice chaturangas. “More than five to seven chaturangas in one class is going to build up your back and rib cage,” Lazenby said.
No juice cleanses.
Almost every trainer and nutritionist said that a juice cleanse for more than a day for most people is probably one of the worst things you can do for yourself. Bozkurt contends that everybody needs to be assessed as individuals. However, she added, “Anytime you are just doing liquid, just juices, it is starvation, and people are shutting down their metabolism—and they’re lucky if they get it back.” Pasternak called juicing for any length of time “pure ridiculousness,” a quick way to rob yourself of fiber and nutrients. “Ditch the juicer. Love your blender.”
But aging does offer some positives. As women go through menopause, their estrogen levels drop. “That means testosterone becomes a more prominent hormone,” said Pasternak. “Which can leave the door open to get into even better shape.”
“Look, aging is better than dying,” Louis-Dreyfus said. And aging well is better than aging like most Americans do, with their high-fat, sugar-laden diets and sedentary lifestyles. “When I’m 75 years old, I want to be snowboarding and scuba diving and surfing and hiking, if I’m lucky,” Diaz added. “Getting older is a blessing, and not everyone gets to do it. It’s not a given. It’s a privilege.”"
We are in hour two of our workout. Sweat has pooled on the floor below my head and my chest; even my knees are dripping.
“Are we almost done?” I ask with what I would describe as a groan if I were gilding the truth, but it was more like a sob.
“Discipline!” John shouts.
I fall over. Unsmiling, John crosses his arms. “You did one correctly.” Cameron Diaz, whom Ligas trains, would have done about 29 more. I’m really fit, John tells me, witheringly, for acivilian. Then he drops the bomb: “But compared to you, Cameron is a professional athlete.”
In Hollywood, on television and in film, in the news media and in public life, a remarkable phenomenon has taken hold: Women in their 40s and 50s and beyond—with their exquisite, off-the-charts-toned bodies—are transforming our notions of a mature woman’s figure and inspiring us to think about remaining healthfully vibrant for far longer than we ever have in the past. The expectations for women over 40 used to include the rude inevitabilities of a slowing metabolism and decreased muscle tone, but a new guard is showing us that the seemingly impossible is possible: Work hard and pay attention, and you may just be able to hit the pause button.
While Madonna once defined fitness, her sort of muscular, ropy silhouette seems overworked, even overthought, next to these women, who embody a kind of fit, effortless-seeming esprit de corps. Think of Robin Wright, with her seductive shoulders and lithe legs; Sandra Bullock’s lean, elegant beauty; Gwen Stefani’s defiantly adolescent figure, after three children; Sofía Vergara’s strong and sensual curves; Diane Sawyer’s slim physique and sculpted arms. These highly dedicated women represent the new ageless body.
“I know so much more about my body and how to nourish it than I did when I was 21,” says Diaz, who at 41 often plays roles a decade younger and who recently published The Body Book, offering advice about exercise and nutrition. “Now that we have access to so much information, it’s easier to maintain a certain high degree of health and fitness.”
Robin Wright, 48, chooses exercises that keep her muscles long. “You don’t want tight, big muscles when you are in front of a camera,” says Grace Lazenby, who has taught Wright and a host of other actresses in her Rockin Models class at Equinox in West Hollywood. The class includes elements of barre work and pole dancing, and lots of muscle-lengthening yoga moves. “You can love SoulCycle,” explains Lazenby. “But you can’t go to SoulCycle five times a week and do squats and lunges and expect to go on camera, ever.” Wright is tall but has a small frame, and in her Golden Globe–winning role as the imposing Claire Underwood inHouse of Cards, “they put her in jogging clothes or a suit, and if you have too much muscle mass, you’re going to look boxy in those straight skirts,” says Lazenby. Cycling, lunges, and squats can create bulky muscles, unless you’re six feet tall and weigh 120 pounds. Avoid heavy weights or risk looking like a quarterback.
Simone De La Rue, one of the high priestesses of the dance-cardio craze, also eschews heavy weights. “Nothing more than two or three pounds. Ever,” says De La Rue, who regularly instructs Naomi Watts, 45, and helped Sandra Bullock, 50, look physically about nineteen years old in Gravity. “If you want to have a long, lean dancer’s body, then dance. Move.”
But fitness is only one part of the equation. Diet is as—if not more—important. “There is a big perception that a lot of models and actresses starve themselves, or they have special chefs 24-seven,” says nutritionist Haçer Bozkurt, who advises Elle Macpherson, 50, and Connie Britton, 47, the Emmy-nominated star of Nashville, among others. “But that’s not always the case. These are highly motivated people. Their job is to look incredible.” One step every woman can take: Strive for six to thirteen servings of vegetables a day, a feat easily achieved with a Vitamix blender. (It won’t remove the fiber from vegetables as a juicer will.) Another useful tip: Anything that says it’s a protein bar is typically packed with as much sugar as a candy bar. Run away.
Looking incredible does take time—Gwyneth Paltrow has been known to exercise two hours a day, six days a week—and for those wanting tailored guidance, a not-insignificant financial commitment. For instance, if registered dietitian nutritionist Rachel Beller, whose clients include Sheryl Crow and Laura Dern, comes to your house, designs menus, consults with your personal chef (should you have one), and remains on 24-hour standby to review texts of pictures of food you’re considering putting in your mouth, that can run $3,000 a month.
Many women adopt strategies to counter the dietary pitfalls of a hectic schedule, which might not allow time for exercise or provide healthy food choices. Britton, whose enviably toned upper body seems only to have gotten even more defined with age, makes a habit of sitting down for a regular dinner with friends and family. “I try to think about what is good for me,” says the mother of a three-year-old boy. “Sometimes people get obsessed and think, I’ve got to be skinny like a 20-year-old, and I’ve got to do the most hard-core exercise, but I can’t risk getting injured.”
Increased risk for tweaked knees and torn tendons is just one of the many hazards that biology offers up to women after age 40. “There are a few cruel tricks that Mother Nature plays on us,” says Nanette F. Santoro, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, who specializes in aging. First and foremost, women lose muscle mass as they enter perimenopause and menopause, and fat aggregates around their abdomen and hips. “Women’s metabolic rates drop significantly in the 40s, by almost a quarter. That’s almost a meal a day,” she says. Women will come in to her “bitterly complaining” that they have not been able to drop the weight that has suddenly appeared. “They have to decrease their intake and increase their output.” And that can be very discouraging to tell a woman who may still have young children, is not sleeping well, and hardly has time to read the newspaper, let alone exercise every day. “I can tell you the single biggest factor in preventing lifelong weight gain,” Santoro says. “Lifelong activity.”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 53, is an advocate of daily physical activity. The Emmy-winning actress, currently starring as the American vice president in Veep, exercises regularly—she runs, hikes, and does a CrossFit style workout. Earlier this year she appeared at the Golden Globes in red figure-hugging Narciso Rodriguez, showing off sculpted arms, a beautifully defined back—and that jawline. And then there was the much-talked-about cover of Rolling Stone on which she appeared topless. “I exercise all the time because it makes me look good and I can eat more, and I love to eat,” she says, adding that she never weighs herself—“unless I can’t get my pants on, and then I have to have a come-to-Jesus moment.”
Over the course of the several weeks in which I spoke with the health and fitness experts who help keep these women in shape, I decided to be a guinea pig and test their counsel. I gave birth to my second child soon after my forty-first birthday, and my post-pregnancy body scared the hell out of me. I stepped up my game, and now I am more fit than I ever have been. I’m five feet eleven, 150 pounds, 18 percent of which, according to a DEXA scan, is fat (the average woman’s is anywhere from 25 to 31 percent), which puts me at the level of an athlete. (Ha! Even if John Ligas didn’t think so.) I ski and play tennis at a competitive level, lift weights, run, cycle (outdoors, on a bicycle that actually rolls), and swim. I’m now 46 years old and have a six-pack. I figured I could handle the workout of a movie star.
And, wow, what a wake-up call.
I took one of De La Rue’s signature dance classes, hoping I might look like a brave Sandra Bullock as she emerged in space-boy shorts and a wet tank top from her pod in Gravity. I was sore for two days. After a brutal session in the ultraprivate gym at SoHo’s Technogym with Josh Holland, who trains models from their 20s to their 50s, my waist and hips literally shrank an inch. “That’s really key for actresses and models,” he said. “An extra inch there, and you might be out of a job.” He tortured me on a Kinesis machine and with a Body Bar Flex—basically a giant wobbling rubber rain stick that exercises every muscle in your core.
When I spoke with Harley Pasternak, one of the most in-demand trainers in Hollywood, he said the first thing I needed to do was to get a Fitbit to measure my daily steps. To maintain weight, he advises his clients to move at least 10,000 steps a day (along with strength and core work); to lose, 14,000 steps a day. “This is a lifestyle commitment,” he told me. “And these people understand the importance of exercise, nutrition, and especially rest. Lack of sleep makes you less apt to engage in physical activity and more prone to making poor eating choices.”
That is clear. One night during this self-experimentation phase, my bedmate was my five-year-old son, who sleeps like the Tasmanian Devil taking a Bikram class. The next day, after maybe four hours of sleep, lunch was several spoonfuls of Nutella and crunchy peanut butter (but it was organic peanut butter!), and dinner was a vodka martini and 25 Tater Tots.
“Getting and staying in shape in your 40s is the new midlife crisis,” said Kira Stokes, who trains actresses and national news anchors and runs a cultlike series of classes in New York City out of Reebok Sports Club. “I like to focus on what I call ‘the transition zones,’ ” she told me politely when I met her before her Monday-morning workout group in Central Park. “Transition zones” are those areas that either collect fat or succumb to gravity as we age—triceps, core, and buttocks. On the day we met, there were fourteen women, some famous, some not, everyone in her 40s or older. I could barely keep up with 57-year-old Renata, who had the figure of a 27-year-old, nor the CBS News anchor (and mother of three) Norah O’Donnell, 40. The workout? Plyometrics, athletic-conditioning drills, resistance training. For two hours. I left after they decided to throw in some more core work.
Diane Sawyer, who at age 68 looks astonishingly trim and strong, has worked out with Jim Karas, a trainer who, she has said, “got me in the [best] shape of my life.” Karas, like Stokes, encourages interval-based resistance training; he discourages running and repetitive cardio, which can needlessly stress joints and increase appetite.
As for nutrition, I followed advice from both trainers and nutritionists. I started the day with a protein-packed smoothie or healthy deviled eggs (filled with hummus, not egg yolk). A couple of hours later: a cup and a half of vegetables and a protein. Wild salmon is a favorite as it has anti-inflammatory qualities, provides omega-3s for healthy skin and hair, and is a good source of protein. A snack later might have included a few cashews, or fruit sprinkled with cinnamon (another natural anti-inflammatory), or hummus with carrots. Dinner was often a cup of lightly cooked vegetables, perhaps a grain like bulgur or whole-wheat couscous, and a protein, often sprouted legumes. (When beans have sprouted, they are less likely to cause bloating.)
After about three weeks, my husband told me my eyes were sparkling, and I had ditched my daily antacid. (I credit the wild salmon and the sprouted mung beans.)
What I found most interesting was what all these professionals said not to do if you want to look (and feel) like a star:
Do not eat vegan.
Going vegan can mean eating fatty, calorie-dense food. Nutritionist Beller once took a vegan lunch back to her lab. The portobello tempeh burger and kale salad with peanut sauce checked in at 1,150 calories.
Avoid yoga.
Or at least certain aspects of it. Grace Lazenby does not allow her students to practice chaturangas. “More than five to seven chaturangas in one class is going to build up your back and rib cage,” Lazenby said.
No juice cleanses.
Almost every trainer and nutritionist said that a juice cleanse for more than a day for most people is probably one of the worst things you can do for yourself. Bozkurt contends that everybody needs to be assessed as individuals. However, she added, “Anytime you are just doing liquid, just juices, it is starvation, and people are shutting down their metabolism—and they’re lucky if they get it back.” Pasternak called juicing for any length of time “pure ridiculousness,” a quick way to rob yourself of fiber and nutrients. “Ditch the juicer. Love your blender.”
But aging does offer some positives. As women go through menopause, their estrogen levels drop. “That means testosterone becomes a more prominent hormone,” said Pasternak. “Which can leave the door open to get into even better shape.”
“Look, aging is better than dying,” Louis-Dreyfus said. And aging well is better than aging like most Americans do, with their high-fat, sugar-laden diets and sedentary lifestyles. “When I’m 75 years old, I want to be snowboarding and scuba diving and surfing and hiking, if I’m lucky,” Diaz added. “Getting older is a blessing, and not everyone gets to do it. It’s not a given. It’s a privilege.”"
sexta-feira, 22 de agosto de 2014
Não, ainda não...
...temos casa.
Está muito mais dificil do que o que seria de esperar.
É um caos mesmo arranjar uma casa a um preço decente.
Ele está preocupado, eu estou preocupada.
Enfim, só queria este problema resolvido e rápido.
Está muito mais dificil do que o que seria de esperar.
É um caos mesmo arranjar uma casa a um preço decente.
Ele está preocupado, eu estou preocupada.
Enfim, só queria este problema resolvido e rápido.
quinta-feira, 21 de agosto de 2014
Funny thing
O luto.Passaram-se já quase 3 meses essa é a verdade, e no meio da confusão que está a minha vida, os momentos de dor vão-me apanhando desprevenida.
Como ontem.
Cheguei ao aeroporto tarde e a más horas, e fui buscar o carro a garagem.
O pensamento da casa vazia, no escuro, com os armários abertos, já sem metade das coisas deu-me um aperto no coração... e então decidi fingir. Consciente dos meus actos quis fingir só para ser mais fácil.
Fingir que estava tudo na mesma como eu conhecia, que só não subia para uma conversa rápida e um beijinho porque era tarde. Fingir que a minha avó não morreu e estava em casa, como sempre. Entre o fumo do cigarro, a novela ligada na TV e o livro pousado na mesinha. Tudo na mesma, sempre na mesma. E para a semana ia lá almoçar, como em qualquer outra semana, e íamos falar do casamento, dos preparativos, dos vestidos e de como ia querer tudo tão pouco tradicional e tão mais a ver comigo. E ela ia-me dizer o que eu podia ou não fazer, o que ficava mal, o que os outros iam dizer, o que é tradição...
E tudo estava normal.
Fingi durante pouco tempo, a minha cabeça percebeu rapidamente o truque que lhe estava a pregar e veio para cima de mim com tudo, lágrimas, soluços, nó na garganta, angustia, desespero e tristeza, tanta tristeza por não poder partilhar nada disto com ela.
Com ela que sempre me defendeu de tudo e de todos, que era má e retorcida e teimosa e mau feitio, mas que eu adorava na mesma, assim. Só porque sim. Ela era como era, como todos nós somos, e eu sabia e não me importava. E ouvia tudo sem ligar ao conteúdo porque afinal, ela sempre tinha sido assim.
E passei o dia todo bem e agora as palavras voltam a fazer-me chorar.
Funny thing o luto, mesmo muito funny thing.
domingo, 17 de agosto de 2014
Sunday in Amsterdam
Apanhar a bicicleta e pedalar pelo parque até chegar ao brunch.
Desfrutar da diferença de culturas, da língua, do tempo.
Voltar para casa e apreciar a tarde de chuva. Se não a podes vencer junta-te a ela, é uma filosofia que os Holandeses, de certeza, usam. Mesmo com o tempo encoberto e com chuva momentânea, não ficam em casa. Estão nos cafés, nos mercados, a correr no parque, a jogar a bola ou a andar de baloiço. O tempo só importa se nós nos importarmos, e eles for sure, não se importam.
100
Passei a marca dos 100.
Estou para ver qual será a % de sucesso destes 100.
Keep on walking Jonny Walker.
Estou para ver qual será a % de sucesso destes 100.
Keep on walking Jonny Walker.
sexta-feira, 15 de agosto de 2014
Isto!
Que é o nome dos oculos btw, que nunca mais chegam. Também só os encomendei ontem, mas pronto...
São lindoss!!!
Estou desejosa.
Skogeyewear.com
terça-feira, 12 de agosto de 2014
Por outro lado e sem vergonha de dar estes conselhos
Há tantas maneiras de se fazer as coisas.
Racionalmente é apenas uma delas.
Às vezes é preciso sabermos apenas o que queremos, e agirmos em concordância.
Hoje quero assim, não interessa o que acho que sinto, nem o que pode acontecer no futuro, nem o que a outra pessoa pensa ou sente ou quer, se ela não fizer nada, eu tenho o que quero.
Quero assim, e só quando deixar de querer é que faço as coisas mudar.
Tenho ficado mais fria com o tempo, só espero que as hormonas nunca me lixem isto.
E mais coisas
Encontrar uma casa em Amesterdão parece uma tarefa titanica. É só complicações, dificuldades e despesas...mesmo!!Temos 15 dias, e não se avizinha nada fácil.
Tudo o resto no entanto, parece só bom.
Sim, é isso. Vou morar para Amesterdão.
Tenho tudo já, tudo menos casa e trabalho!
Casa há-de ser este mês ou o próximo, e trabalho?! Trabalho nem sei...
Adoro o meu, mas não o posso transportar comigo.
segunda-feira, 11 de agosto de 2014
Lindo Lindo
É ter uma lista com 113 tarefas para fazer até ao casório.Vai ser perfeito, mas eu não me quero mesmo stressar, juro...
Casamento é para ser só bom, sem stress.
Assim que o sitio e o padre estiverem marcados, all good.
Depois só me falta o vestido...aiiiiiii, o vestidooooo!!!! E pronto.
Sem stress.
Logo são duas tarefas. Sitio e vestido.
Tranquila
Porque a vida é difícil, mas corre bem.Porque lutamos, mas nunca é em vão.
Porque deixo a tristeza vir, sem a tentar parar. E depois durmo e acordo mais feliz porque acredito.
Acima de tudo em mim.
Acredito no que sou, como resolvo a minha vida, como faço a gestão das ocorrências no meu coração, no feliz que sou e ainda vou ser, mesmo sabendo que a vida nunca vai ser fácil.
Não consegui sozinha chegar onde estou hoje, neste lugar equilibrado em que as coisas me batem (claro), mas não me quebram, atingem-me, mas eu remendo logo em seguida.
Pedi ajuda, procurei-a e tive coragem para sem medos poder dizer que: a terapia ajudou-me a ser o que sou hoje. Calma, segura, feliz, equilibrada, fearless.
Eu sei que há quem diga que não serve para nada, que são só bullshitadas pegadas, por mim tudo bem, respeito a opinião dos outros, mas como eu costumo dizer, a mim salvou-me a vida.
Sinto-me grata por tudo neste momento.
sexta-feira, 8 de agosto de 2014
quinta-feira, 7 de agosto de 2014
The trick is...
..."because they can". Samantha always knows better.Sem falsos moralismos, não sou inocente em ingénua. Mas há sempre uma linha que separa uma brincadeira de um perfeito cataclismo, e essa linha faz toda a diferença.
Oferta e procura, eles podem porque há sempre quem ofereça.
Sem mais comentários.
quarta-feira, 6 de agosto de 2014
Se eu soubesse o que sei hoje (escrito a 26/03/2013)
...tinha entrado no IST em Eng. Informática.
O que tinha sido só engraçado...
O que tinha sido só engraçado...
Do que soube ontem (escrito a 3/10/2013)
E eu ainda nem comecei a rir.
sábado, 2 de agosto de 2014
Juro
Nunca, nem nos meus piores pesadelos, nem nas horas intermináveis de douração e ajustamentos manuais, nem quando estava farta e pessimista e achava tudo o pior do mundo, achei que fosse possível.
Realmente o meu orientador da tese, quando me deu a cadeira de gestão de risco, é que tinha razão: "é preciso prever o impossível, pensar em todos os cenários que nunca sequer se pensa que poderão acontecer, e se um dia acordarmos de manha e não houver Euro?", perguntou-me ele uma manha de Sábado em 2005. Rimo-nos todos muito na sala, impossível!
Ele conto-nos do dia em que acordou uma manha em S.Paulo e o dinheiro que tinha no bolso, que antes dava para uma refeição, não dava sequer para um café, "30% de inflação over night". O impossível acontece!".
O impossível aconteceu.
E se me perguntarem porquê, eu digo-vos o mesmo que disse em 2010 "ele prefere deixar cair isto tudo do que voltar 40 anos atrás". Eu só não pensei que um dia fosse ter razão...
Realmente o meu orientador da tese, quando me deu a cadeira de gestão de risco, é que tinha razão: "é preciso prever o impossível, pensar em todos os cenários que nunca sequer se pensa que poderão acontecer, e se um dia acordarmos de manha e não houver Euro?", perguntou-me ele uma manha de Sábado em 2005. Rimo-nos todos muito na sala, impossível!
Ele conto-nos do dia em que acordou uma manha em S.Paulo e o dinheiro que tinha no bolso, que antes dava para uma refeição, não dava sequer para um café, "30% de inflação over night". O impossível acontece!".
O impossível aconteceu.
E se me perguntarem porquê, eu digo-vos o mesmo que disse em 2010 "ele prefere deixar cair isto tudo do que voltar 40 anos atrás". Eu só não pensei que um dia fosse ter razão...
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