MOCCAMASTER

After 20 plus years of serving coffee every morning "Anna" our Krups coffee machine decided that it is time to retire. I scrambled, after a week of manually brewing the invigorating morning drink, to find a replacement. The agency aka Google introduced many candidates and after some intense interviewing we decided on the MOCCAMASTER coffee maker.

Why this and not that?

A delicious cup of coffee starts with fresh water, quality beans, consistent grind, and correct grounds-to-water ratio for a flavorful and complex brew. A brewing temperature of 196° - 205° F is necessary to release coffee solubles essential for a savory outcome.
Entering the MOCCAMASTER, a handmade coffee machine made in the Netherlands. Their claim for fame is the unique copper boiling element which is guaranteed to reach the aforementioned temperatures as well as an optimal pulse-drip method which allows for the perfect coffee bloom and saturation time, in this case between 5 and 6 minutes.
The flavor of brewed coffee is determined by how many solubles are extracted during the brewing process. This is measured by the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) coffee to water ratio. Moccamaster brewers produce the perfect TDS yield of 18% to 22%, as required by the European Coffee Brewing Centre¹.

The machine itself is absolutely quiet during the brewing process thanks partially to a funnel on the coffee pot lit which reaches down to almost the bottom of the pot.

I have to admit that the MOCCAMASTER is a bit on the pricey side, but it does come with a 5 year warranty, and above all, it produces great results. We wholeheartedly welcome "Alice" to our family.

"life is too short for bad coffee"

¹ Explanation from the moccamaster website.

Customer Support/Service

Yes, one more time.

Misfit

As I wrote before about that Misfit customer support is exceeding my expectations, it still is the case. My shine stopped recording and left me high and dry. After I contacted customer support via email the usual question and answer email ping pong occurred. Once it was settled that the unit was malfunctioning they promptly sent a new unit, actually an upgrade from the shine, to me. Very friendly and accommodating.

Booking.com 

Outstanding customer service for booking a flight way in advance. The price could not have been better either. Great follow up by the representative.

Diet Day 20

Time flies when you are having fun. It seems an eternity has passed since I started this diet. Meanwhile I feel much better, lighter, and much more alert. However, my soccer game on Saturday proved otherwise, my reflexes were not present at all.

The weight loss over the last two days was slow, half a pound or close to it. I can look at the scale past my stomach without bending forward - hurray!!!
Imagine to wake up and carefully slide your feet on the scale, I do that since in my mind I want to ease the scale into it, and hope for the best. Well, the best was there this morning:

164.1 pounds : fat mass 23.4% : BMI 24.9 

(below the recommended 164.4 pounds top for weigh,t and the top 25 BMI  level - by a hair)

Lost:

19.655 pounds : fat mass 5.8% : BMI 2.9

Although the fat mass played tag with the weight several times, this one is higher than my lowest one of 21.2% a couple of days ago. But I'm confident that the fat mass will drop again.
Here is another really nice thing about this diet - inches off your waist. It was nice to put on my pants, close the button without taking in my stomach and the latter not hanging over the pants and making them look tight like skinny pants.
Tomorrow is the last day of the first phase. Tuesday kicks off 72 hours (not 3 days) until the second phase starts.

Dr. D is a genius

Withings Part I follow up

Here is the follow up to some of the other gizmos I bought and tried:

Withings Scale

The scale has not disappointed so far, on the contrary, it performs well day in and day out. It was even updated to tell me the weather once I look down to see my weight,body fat, and air condition - automatically.

I decided to the get scale because of the additional feature of the CO2 reading in the room, Now I'm glad that I made this decision although it set me back a couple of dollars more than the standard edition.

Withings Blood Pressure Monitor

Also well designed and easy to use. I have been tracking my blood pressure for several weeks now and found that it is not only easy to use but also the results are easy to read on the iPhone. In addition the website is very user friendly.

Diet Day 15

Second week down, one more to go. I'm getting the hang of it - I think. More scheduled meals, more water, and more sleep.

Melba toast never looked that good ...

I'm dreaming (literally) of my favorite, fresh french baguette with mayonnaise, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, ham (lots of ham) and Camembert cheese.

However

168.4 pounds : fat mass 21.1% : BMI 25.5 as of this morning.

Lost so far
15.355 pounds : fat mass 8.1% : BMI 2.3

Diet Day 8

A grueling first week. I'll spare the details, like eating the wallpaper of the wall and such. However, it started out not feeling too bad since I was still full from the prior days overeating. The withdraw from the sugar and starch, speak bread, was somewhat unexpected. Thanks to unlimited coffee which acts as a hunger suppressant I got over the worst parts, although I struggled in the sleeping department somewhat.
In order to be successful with the diet one has to follow the guidelines to a "t". When it says 100 gr it means 100 gr with little or no deviation. Yes, the portions are small but with some magic fillers like salad this can be overcome as well. Here are some of the meals:

Radishes

100 gr ground beef with pickles

Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Lots of water, at least 64 oz a day. Here is the first intermediate result:
172 pounds : fat mass 25.2% : BMI 26.1 as of this morning.

Lost so far
11.755 pounds : fat mass 4% : BMI 1.7

Onward Upward ...

Diet Day 4

I feel like a blimp. The last three days was an eating frenzy, I can hardly move, feel tired  and very sluggish.
This morning the scale showed that the weight went from 179.579 to 183.755 pounds in three days. The diet starts tomorrow. I typed in that my weight loss goal is 165 pounds with the target date being 21 days from now, April 13; the iPhone (Siri) laughed out loud.

Start:

183.755 pounds : fat mass 29.2 : BMI 27.8

Diet Day 1

Although I'm a very active person, it was time for the spare tire to be deflated.

Today I'm starting a three week journey I have never taken before - a diet. But not just any diet, this one is tailored to reduce the body fat and the weight.
Since I have been tracking my health status for some time now, I know that my BMI is shouting out that I'm overweight for my height. My last checkup produced some raised eye brows on my doctor's face when we discussed diet and weight.
So here I'm embarking on this diet recommended strongly by my personal physician Dr. D, who amazes me on an ongoing bases with intricate knowledge about the body's interaction with food.

Here is the plan:  

loose 20 pounds in a controlled fashion in 21 days

yes, that is at least one pound a day. Where did I hear that before? Everywhere ... For me it meant to go from

to this

But I also wanted to go from 
TO

                                                                       

 So the plan starts with: eat everything fatty under the sun for three days and gain as many pounds as possible - good start to the diet.

Follow this one to the next entry

Withings Blood Pressure Monitor

Along the Withings product lines is also the Blood Pressure Monitor. A portable sleeve to measure your blood pressure and via the iPhone track it - as simple as that. Optionally you can transmit the results to your doctor as well.

Fresh out of the box I "blue toothed" it to the app on the iPhone and within minutes I had my first result.

It continues to function well, however, the sleeve might be a bit tight for people with more muscular arms at first but the sleeve expands.

The only observation was the difference in heart beat compared to the scale which has consistently higher results.

Activity Tracker

After I watched the world cup in soccer last year, one statistic stood out and remained in the back of my head which was the distance a player runs during a game. Being an avid soccer player myself I set out to find a tool which was able to do so and was not hindering the playing. Nike had a need little gizmo you attached to you shoe and it would track the steps, however, the application went to the smart phone which prohibits the tracking while playing. Around Christmas time I browsed through the computer stores' fitness sections to look at the gizmos on the market.

Of course the offers were manifold. During play time you are not allowed to wear any jewelry so that ruled out any arm wearable tracking device.
Then there is Misfit, a small round disk with a clip, wristband or necklace style wearable. It was not expensive if you opt for the hard plastic model called "Flash" for $29.99. The app is free and shows you steps taken, calories, sleep cycle etc etc....

I do question the sleep cycle tracking, however, it does give you an indication on the "good" deep sleep cycle.

For me the more important part was that I was able to wear it on my hip invisible to others, small enough to not be felt if a ball hits it or I collide with another player.


It comes in different colors and, of course, has a lot of different add on pieces for a price.

If you are simply want to track steps without being obvious about it I can definitely recommend this one.

Scale

I was curious about gathering information about my surroundings, my weight, fat mass, and all the other indicators which makes me tick without going to get it measured outside of my home. About a year ago I snapped a picture at Best Buy about this scale which transmits your data to an app on the IPhone.  I recently purchased one. There are three different companies who offer such device. I opted for Withings, it gives you a reading for weight, fat mass, heart rate, and air quality in your home. This scale is able to recognize up to 8 users. Everyone can have their own user profile and access it independently.

Tracking is very easy, download the app, configure it, and, finally, connect it to the scale via blue tooth. Eager to test it I tried it several times to compare the data with the existing scale.

The results were a mixed bag, the weight fluctuated, the heart rate value was somewhat in the right neighborhood so was the body fat reading. Consistent was the air quality and temperature in the given room. Since, I moved the scale around with similar results for the latter readings.
Don't get too excited if the scale tells you that you weigh less then you anticipate, it might be off. Try it several times during the morning hours, the last reading might be the accurate one.