Cris Ramis - The Baron's Blog

Birthday celebrations...the finish is in sight

Tonight I have my last official 39th birthday celebration.

It's been 10 days of socialising, eating and enjoyment.

A sincere thank you to all the family and friends involved.

It began last Thursday with a visit to the Taj Mahal Indian restaurant in Leigh-on-Sea with Tom (who I've known since secondary school) and Dave (a friend for 15 years).

The pic below illustrates my meal:

 

On the right hand side you can see my starter - chicken honey tikka, which is essentially chicken tikka with a honey-based sauce - just beautiful. I highly recommend it.

Saturday night saw a visit to La Tasca in Southend with close friends I've known for almost 35 years in some cases.

I was going to take a picture of the feast, though I forgot and just got stuck in. Glorious.

Sunday daytime, my brother drove my Mum and I to Brighton for the day. I've been to Brighton once before, though that was for a 5 day intensive course (Chek Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level 1), and left little time for sight-seeing.

This time I could take in the somewhat liberated, Bohemian, new-age vibe of certain parts of Brighton, stroll around the shops (buying nothing as I'm part of the 'non-consumer society') and enjoying the view and sights on the beach.

It doesn't surprise me one bit that Brighton Pavilion was the first UK constituency to elect a Green MP, Caroline Lucas, in this year's election. Yay Brighton!

I would point out that other parts of Brighton town centre are just like any other, so don't think the place is populated solely with new-age, flower children because it's not.

Below you can see the brunch I had at a restaurant called 'Giraffe'. Very nice indeed. Lots of vegetarian shops and restaurants around if that's what you're after.

 

A lovely day out was followed by another evening out at Pizza Express in Southend with my brother and two old long-standing friends whom I've known since we all trained together at a now defunct gym in Southend called 'SMARTS'.

Once again, no pic as I was too busy talking, listening and then eating to take one. The Toffee Fudge Glory for dessert was most welcome. They looked exactly like the ones below:

 

Yum-ola!

Fast forward to Thursday just gone and it was back to La Tasca with 2 friends who'd been unable to catch-up with me thus far. I went for the gluten-free tapas selection, which I think is a brilliant idea by La Tasca. My friends bought me dinner and once again it was awesome, quite frankly. Thank you Stu and Eve for a lovely evening.

This brings me to tonight. A drink in Leigh with anyone left who hasn't been able to make it out with me so far. I'll be watching everyone else drink in my honour. I enjoy my nights out far more that way.

Sunday lunch tomorrow will be wheat-free lasagna followed by a simply enormous dessert. My clients know of my sweet-tooth and have gave me chocs and treats as gifts - bless 'em! It'll be my pleasure to consume them.

I'm having my bodyfat re-measured tomorrow. That'll be interesting.....

Stay well, happy and full.

Cris (El Baron)

39 today, 39 today...

I've got the key to the door, never been 39 before.....etc

And so it begins. The choc and treat frenzy began at lunchtime (organic of course), and is scheduled to continue for the next fortnight or so.

Huzzah!

Stay well and happy.

Cris (El Baron)

Calling in 'The One'...

A few weeks ago my colleague, Nyali (http://www.embodyforyou.com/EB/?k=161510), sent an email to many people with a very generous offer.

She's undergoing training in a course called 'Calling in The One'. It is based on a book by the same name by Katherine Woodward Thomas.

Both the book and course consist of 7 weeks of daily practice and homework in the form of journalling, meditations, mental/emotional exercises. By the end of the course you will be in a far better place in which to attract the love of your life.

In order to complete her training, she required 2 people to be taken through the course....for free!

The normally costs hundreds of pounds. The prerequisites for it were that the participants had to be:

1. Single

2. Have already done much work on themselves

3. Be willing to go deep inside to heal what needs to be healed

After scratching my head and thinking 'Who can I send this too? Who would benefit from it?', a proverbial light bulb went off above my head and I realized that I was the perfect candidate.

So I offered myself, Nyali and I had a consultation to ensure the course was right for me and I'm now into week 3.

It's been demanding in terms of self-examination, and has thrown up some new realizations for me that I was previously unaware of.

I've found some of the exercises really helpful in terms of identifying my own relationship needs, and old programmes that have been running and helping to sabotage my love-life and other areas of my life.

So far, the main things I've discovered are:

1. How I'm not accepting myself 100%.

2. How I'm not respecting myself and my achievements fully.

3. How certain fears are holding me back.

4. How all of the above is mirrored in my relationships with others

I'll write more when I'm further into the course. Weeks 2 and 3 are the toughest in terms of soul-searching.

Stay well, happy and self-loving (it all begins with loving yourself).

Cris (El Baron)

Bodyfat and training update....

Had my brother take my bodyfat and measurements today.

As I've been sprinting 3 times a week for 20 minutes for the last 2 weeks now, have been getting stronger in the studio and leaner in the mirror, I've been looking forward to a re-measurement.

I'll cut to the chase and summarize the results:
I'm stronger - yay! - always good. I get stronger in the gym from session to session and week to week.

My muscle circumferences have mainly improved where I want them to, especially compared to the last measurement at the end of May.

My waist has reduced, as has the bulge in my lower abdomen (see the accompanying pics below).

 

I've lost just under 3 lbs of fat, gained just under 2 lbs of muscle and am now 10.6% bodyfat (down from 11.9% at the end of May).

Next measurement will be the end of July.

Overall I'm very pleased. I've dropped out root veg from my diet and replaced it with above-ground green veg. Finding it all very easy at the moment, and looking forward to being under 10% by the end of July.

Stay well and happy.

Cris (El Baron)