My Fitnesspal

Ever since my roommate told me I shouldn't wear white on my own wedding because it would make me fat, I got into thinking. I don't consider myself fat, not even close but it's true that I gained a few kilos under the couple trap. Gaining weight in a relationship is quite normal. Cooking for my boyfriend mostly turns out to be less lean and healthy (he doesn't like green salad and complains about veggie meals) and going out to restaurants does its share, too. I don't like gyms but I'm a big fan of dancing (haha - who would have guessed that??) - I stepped it up to 4x2hours per week. Thus I don't think, I can handle any more sports, so it must be the food.

When I went to the US to study, I started counting calories for my yoga class because it was combined with a nutrition class once a week. And it really startled me how many calories I was capable to eat and I became more cautious... also because the US is famous for making big people. The homepage, the teacher recommended used to be really great because it contained all kinds of meals - of course, it was more tailored for the US market because it was a governmental project. It really helped me to restrain myself. But it has changed and somehow I wasn't able to give the homepage my measurements anymore. Looking for a better homepage, I found My Fitnesspal << click >>.

from today, including dancing and breakfast :D

It works just fine - you can type in almost all meals and it comes up with calories, carbs, fat, proteins, etc. I found out that if I want to lose weight, I'm only allowed to eat only 1200 kcal on my normal days - dancing for 2 hours increases my possible intake to 2000 kcal. It's nearly impossible to eat only 1200 kcal for me - I can't help but feel hungry. The good thing about this homepage is, everyone is able to define new meals / food with its nutrition facts or sports with the exact kcal consumption and all the other users are also able to use it. It is very easy and convenient. Since it seems to be quite famous,  a lot of German groceries are also included. For people with smartphones, you can even use an app. Besides the weight, you can also write down your neck, waist, hip measurements. Especially if you just start to work out, your weight might not change but the rest will because muscles are heavier than fat. For people who have difficulties to drink enough water, you can also keep track of your water intake ˆ.ˆ

from Saturday because it's complete...
incl. 2h hip hop and 1h zumba

I almost lost 2 kg within the last month - thanks to this homepage...

Shaun Evaristo

Shaun Evaristo is a professional dancer and choreographer from California. He is only 27 but has already worked with several major artists, such as Omarion and Vanessa Hudgens, and also major Korean popstars like Taeyang, Big Bang, 2NE1 and Se7en. Could you guess? I love precision combined with his musicality.

Edit:
Shaun just wrote down the story of his life as a dancer << click >>. So, I'll update my post from last year (July 2011). There are many things I haven't known before.

He moved to LA in 2006, trying to succeed as a dancer. LA has always been the Mecca of all dancers. If you want to take classes, the probability of finding the best teachers is the highest over there... It only took a month until he started teaching for Millenium Studios (again this is THE place to go). It's also the time around when youtube started to evolve and he became famous... That's how he got to Kpop and to travel internationally to teach all over the world.

He now has his own dance studio Movement Lifestyle << click >> but it's much more than "only" a dance studio... it's a concept - evolving from dance, combining art and artists through dance, choreography, design, filming.

It is because of him and other major dancers that dance is truely a profession nowadays. Something one can really do for a living. Please don't laugh - apparently, that's making him angry when someone doesn't take his job seriously...

We're still far away from that point in Germany but it's a great start...

Photoshooting

Last week, my dance group and me went to a photoshooting. Thanks to the photographer Florian Schmitt (http://www.photofloh.de/), I can show you some of the pictures. From the whole day, each of us could pick 2 pictures to be profesionally edited but we can keep all of the other small jpg-pics for our homepage, for Facebook etc. I haven't decided which ones I want to be edited... For the pictures below I did it myself using Gimp - just to make the color pop out even more and to cut some of the edges...

What makes the shooting very special is the photographer. He's sitting in a wheelchair but still can make great pictures. His wheelchair is also a bit like an elevator so that he can take pictures from all perspectives... It's very impressive!

photographer Florian Schmitt
(http://www.photofloh.de/)

photographer Florian Schmitt
(http://www.photofloh.de/)

photographer Florian Schmitt
(http://www.photofloh.de/)

Outfit #10 - Smooth Criminal

Although I'm not a big fan of Carnival, my group had a performance on "Rosenmontag" (In Germany it's on Monday, not Tuesday like Mardi Gras).

We danced to Smooth Criminal from Michael Jackson. Thus, here's my Outfit. It's basically only black and white. The hat is from New Yorker (5 EUR), the white button-up from H&M (15 EUR), the vest from Orsay, the black shirt underneath from New Yorker (~10 EUR), pants from the Dominican Republic, shoes from Deichmann.

The Nailpolish was P2 #650 Fever which used to be P2 #221 Charismatic.

For the Make-Up...
It was more on the heavy side because it was for the stage. Everything as to be so much more dramatic.

Here are the products:

1. Catrice Photo Finish Foundation #050 Deep Bronze on the outside of my face
2. Maybelline Jade - Mati Teint Make-up in Natural Beige - for the inner parts of my face like the T-zone and part of my cheeks
3. Jade - cover stick #24 (green corrects redness)
4. Maybelline - pure. cover mineral concealer #1 (nude beige).
5. Astor - Anti Shine Mattitude Powder (# 005) to set the foundation and concealer.
6. P2 - Bronzer - Sunshine Powder #030 (Bali Heat)
7. Sleek Blush - Scandalous
8. Essence - eyebrow pencil #02 (brown).
9. ELF - mineral eyeshadow primer
10. Essence Ballerina Backstage LE # 01 Dance the Swan Lake - Eye Soufflé
11. Essence Ballerina Backstage LE # 03 Grand-Plié in Black - Eye Soufflé 
12. Essence Eyeshadow #01 Chill Out (Shimmery white) for the inner corners of the eye and as a highlighter underneath the eye brow
13. P2 matte dream Eyeshadow #010 black attitude for the outer corners of the eye (also to set the eyliner later)
14. Astor Eyeshadow #740 Silver to blend 
15. MNY eyeshadow#625 (shimmery dark black) - to darken the outer corner even more
16. Catrice Gel Eyeliner #010 Black Jack with Jack Black to line my upper and lower lash line and doing a little wing
17. Catrice - All Round Mascara Waterproof #010 Blackest Black
18. Essence Lip Liner #08 Red Blush
19. Mac Creamsheen Lipstick - Brave Red

That just got me thinking - I need to buy the Mac Russian Red... Can you believe it? I can't find a Douglas store which sells MAC products.... *grrr*

Bachelorette plans - Update

As I mentioned before << click >>, my two soon-to-be-married friends are a bit complicated when it comes to their bachelorette party. The new turn is that we won't go anywhere together...

It's just like I thought, one doesn't really want to go on any trips. She rather wants to spend her bachelorette party with her friends in her new home. That's perfectly okay - BUT couldn't she have said so earlier?!?