All posts filed under: Personal

How to do a home retreat and lose weight in the process

As some of you saw on Instagram recently, I have managed to drop a few more kilos since my article on intermittent fasting in October last year. Since I know how painful and miserable those extra kilos can make us feel, I just wanted to share with you what worked for me. Like a lot of you, stress and tiredness usually make me overeat on the wrong food (overeating on green beans never happened ha!). Those 3 months of intensive renovations to get CASA PYLA ready for the Summer, left me with a few extra kilos I had lost the year before. So at the end of June, I was feeling tired, bloated and worried that I would put back on all the weight I had managed to lose. At the same time, Mila had been diagnosed with a 20% scoliosis. Her job over the Summer was to do plenty of exercises like stand up paddle, physio sessions to strengthen her back and prevent scoliosis to get worse. Being a teen, she wasn’t taking things as seriously as I …

How I lost 11.02lb in less than 4 weeks on intermittent fasting

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

As mentioned on Instagram (here and here), I have started intermittent fasting and lost 11.02lb (5kg) in less than four weeks. I’m now down to 7 kilos (15.43lb), 2 kilos lost during Summer + 5 on intermittent fasting. When I found out that I had finally lost 7 kilos, I burst into tears. Tears of joy of course but also tears of relief and sadness. The last thirteen years were not exactly a walk in the park weight loss wise. While being pregnant with Mila at the age of 35, I put on 55.11lb (25 kg). A figure that didn’t really worry me at the time. I was 7.87 stone when I got pregnant (50 kg for 1.55m) and was very active. So I just assumed that once Mila was born, I will work out again and lose it all. Except I didn’t. Over the years, I lost weight and regained it after being hit by depression, and when my father died. By the time I started intermittent fasting on 08th Sept ’18, I was 70 kg …

Keeping things in balance…

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

Today I read the following (see full quote in my stories): “Just do your best to keep yourself in balance. One of the first things that causes energy misalignment, is asking or demanding too much of yourself in terms of time and effort. In other words, you just cannot burn the candle at both ends, so that you are physically tired, and then expect yourself to have a cheerful attitude…” So I went to the gym this morning and decided to take the rest of day off to fully recharge my batteries without feeling guilty. Interiors fairs like Ambiente fair in Frankfurt, are often great and inspiring but they are really hard work. I walked an average of 12Kms per day and you know how it is when you go from stand to stand…you walk slowly so stand a lot longer on your legs. Needless to say that my legs muscles were seriously aching by the end of each day. I flew to Frankfurt Thursday late afternoon and Steve flew from London in the evening to be with …

How to deal with criticism & improve your positive thinking

How to deal with criticism & improve positive thinking

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

Do you get hurt when you receive an unsolicited comment or criticism from someone close to you and would you like to know how to deal with criticism? Generally speaking, criticism sucks. It’s never nice to be at the receiving end of bad comments and even more when you didn’t ask for anyone’s opinion. A “friend”, once, told me that the item I wore (and loved!) didn’t suit me at all when I was telling her how much I loved that piece of clothing. I wasn’t hurt by her comment. I was in a good place in my life and when I narrated the conversation to my husband, it made me laugh thinking how rude, my friend’s comment was, given I hadn’t asked for her opinion. Some people need to work on their delivery and diplomatic skills I think. However, should I have been in a difficult place in my life at the time, her comment would have hurt me like hell I think. Since it was a recent friendship, I naturally distance myself a bit. …

5 feel-good things to do this year

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

I recently read my post from January 2016 about 4 feel-good things to achieve in 2016 and my excitement for the year ahead back then, made me smile. Considering, we had lost our dad two months before, my eagerness to move on as quickly as I could from the pain and grief, was a bit naive to say the least :-) 2016 was indeed a year of grief, acceptance and gratitude as we lost more loved ones and so did the rest of the world. I can feel this year has changed me though. I’m not sure if I have changed in a good or bad way but I certainly feel different with regular seismic kicks from my inner child who seems keen to get out and live her life to the full. How about you!? How are you feeling a few days in 2017? Business wise, 2016 was a big transitional year too. Closing the chapter on 10 years of my life when I sold the e-shop, was a big thing but I’m glad to say that it remains …

And so does the year 2017 begins…

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

2016 was a challenging, painful year for many people worldwide and close to us and sadly it’s not over for some but I’m absolutely convinced that we are turning a corner and here is what I wish for every single of you: * PEACE: To the risk of sounding like Miss World ????, I wish this world, our world…peace, love, understanding and gratitude and decent, honest, kind people in control of government matters. * HEALTH: To take care of yourself inside out by eating healthy whole foods and start exercising if you haven’t done it yet. Nobody is asking you to run a marathon but everyone can walk to work and it matters you matter! * LOVE: To love yourself just the way you are because YOU are unique and beautiful. * COURAGE: to make your dream comes true because believe me, you really can do this! * FORGIVENESS: To let go of things that hurt you & leave them where they belong…in the past. * RESPECT: To honour this planet we live on & make daily …

Weekend vibes | Beginning of December

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

Hi Guys, I can’t really say I’m in a fantastic shape at the moment. I’m in my 4th week of fighting this damn chest infection, which really leaves me exhausted physically. I sleep a good seven hours each night but feel like I had no sleep at all three hours after getting up. It is so frustrating… On one hand, my mind feels very alert, almost motivated enough to go for a run, while my body is saying “no way Jose” so I’ve decided to try to finish the year in one piece, take it as easy as much I can and keep my fitness cravings for the new year. The good news is that I have now received my new pair of glasses and I see things in focus so I have started editing the pictures I took of Aude last Summer in Hossegor (isn’t she beautiful!?) and took new ones of Florian over the weekend when he was teaching the kids to bodyboard (you can see more of them on People from the Sea). FINDING YOUR PASSION IS …

All the women in me are tired…

Published by BODIE and FOU Style Blog

The positive-thinking me, the resilient me, the resourceful me, the mother in me, the one who thinks that the world can be a better place, the one who doesn’t believe in racism, violence and sexism, the one who still hopes, the one who believes in friendship and humanity, we are all tired… I wanted this year to be different. I wanted to end it on a positive note and I can feel that I’m heading into the same wall as these past few years…exhausted, depleted but with extra baggage: the burden of having lost a father, a beloved aunt and a close friend. And I’m not the only one to feel the pain…there was Brexit, Paris, Nice, the US elections, the earthquake in New-Zealand. It’s probably not over so here is what I’m going to do and not do these next couple of months… 1/ I’m not going to do any Christmas shopping guide on the blog. Granted, it will be a loss of income in affiliates links* but one of the reasons, I wanted to stop running the concept store I …