Day 3

of my 30 - day challenge.

this is going to be quick cause i'm sleepy already.  today started really early.  and no i did not exercise.

6am - coffee, 1 cup corn grits, corned beef hash, lemonade

10:30am - a banana

12noon - 3/4 cup corn grits, an invented salad [i don't know what to call it but it was yummy], broiled fish, dessert: a banana with nut nougat spread, orange juice

2pm a cup of cofffee

5pm - 2 chinese lumpia, orange juice

7:30pm 2 servings of pork meatball soup with patola and bihon [rice noodles], orange juice

and i also had the following somewhere in between the above times: 2 jellybeans, 1/5 of a chocochip cookie, a handful of milo cereals. THESE WERE FORCE-FED TO ME BY MY BEBES

note to self:

• stop drinking juice, go by water instead.
• i can always spit the junk into the trash bin when the bebes aren't looking.
• i meant to experiment on a german potato salad recipe i just received but the hubby wanted soup for dinner, so soup it was.

Day 2

of my 30 day challenge.

Today started really great.  i had what i call the breakfast of champions because i actually copied it from the blogs of some of my fave weight-loss champions, Ben and Theodora. 

breakfast of champions

i had it at 6:00 am. can you believe that?  if i did not actually eat them, i wouldn't have believed it myself, lol.  once upon a time i was the kind of person who did not eat till lunch time.  well, sometimes i'm still like that.  but this morning i had to arm myself because i was going to be stuck in guela's school and the canteen serves mostly starchy and fried food.  so i decided to try the banana and peanut butter on whole wheat toasts which i often see in my champions' blogs.

i also brought with me a quarter of a cup of corn grits which i ate with guela's left over chicken nuggets at 10am.

i returned to my pilates class after a week-long absence and was happy that i aced all but one of the routines.  my shoulders were weak today and i could hardly finish one of my arm exercises.  but i sweat buckets so i declare the session a success, ha ha.

i had late lunch with the hubby at 2:30pm and had a cup of corn grits and something we call picadillo over here.  it is ground pork cooked with diced potatoes, peas and raisins, and it was good.  the downside was it was a bit too oily. =(

before heading out to the supermarket at 6pm i had a banana and a handful of peanuts.  i did this to stave off hunger so i wouldn't go berserk at the mall and order the first sinful thing i laid my eyes on [it worked!]

for dinner at 8pm, i had my last cup of corn grits for the day [shoo, go away cholesterol, shoo, go away evil sugar in my blood!] and the left over picadillo and 1 cheek of a ripe, sweet, juicy mango.

today was a big improvement to my usual convenient but really-bad-for-you choice of food.  i also bought more veggies to make our meals healthier.  i also chucked my plan of preparing fish and chips tomorrow and instead serve baked fish and german potato salad, the recipe of which was recently shared to me.

i hope to be able to make it to the gym tomorrow.  there was lightness in my step today.  maybe it's the excitement of taking on a challenge.  maybe it's the good feeling you get when you know you did right by yourself.  whatever it is, i hope to keep it up, so that the lightness i feel inside will be reflected on what is seen on the outside. =P

Day 1

of my 30 day challenge.

today was the last day of my frenzied concentration and preparation for two major work-related activities. well, at least for now.  so work took up practically the whole day which means, you get it, i did not get to do a conscious physical work out.  but if running around and going up and down a flight of stairs in heels count... no? err, okay, so i did not get to exercise today.

which means, i don't get to eat rice nor my itty-bitty-daily-indulgence of something sweet.  well, i think knowing this ugly truth made me eat everything offered to me today, which for the major part was, what our culinary students prepared for our activity.

the lowdown: [don't gasp, i'm outing myself here, you may cringe with me]

7:00 am 1 can of San Marino Tuna Paella, heated in the microwave

10:00 am Guela's left-over cheesy rice omelet [about 1/2 cup], 1 mug of coffee with coffeemate and cocosugar

1:00pm 1/2 of a modest club sandwich, 4 tuna-fita canapes, 3 spoonfuls of chocolate mousse [from the culinary class kitchen], 4 small pieces of bulad from cebu dipped in spicy vinegar with 4 spoonfuls of rice [from my dad's lunch box]

4:00pm 1/2 of another modest club sandwich, 3 spoonfuls of chocolate mousse, a cup of fruit punch [left-over from what we served our guests, eaten while relaxing with my colleagues, after the day's work was done

6:30 pm suddenly felt ravenous and went and ordered a plate of salisbury steak from red ribbon [had to go to the mall to buy something guela need's for her school activity tomorrow, i wanna bite the teacher's head off for informing us last minute]  i left about a half cup of rice on my plate.  downed what i ate with coke lite

7:30 pm a cone of milo-soft freeze eaten while browsing for books at booksale, was able to buy me three books and some adorable notebooks and pads

here's where it gets absolutely worse,

8:30pm - guilt eating, i had to eat what was prepared for me at home - 4 chicken nuggets, a cup of soup with spinach, 2 small slices of fried eggplant dribbled with knorr original seasoning, a cup of corn grits

10:00pm - 1 honey glazed dunkin donut with 1bottle of cerveza negra while blogging

bold notes:

• the club sandwich was modest because all the fillings were thinly sliced
• i love corn grits and i'm glad to find out they lower down cholesterol and blood sugar levels, i'm not saying i didn't mess up today just because i had corn grits
• the beer is for the period, which my grandmother taught me [not that she meant to]

so today was an epic fail at eating healthy, i know.  i hope i fare better tomorrow, if only to regain some of my dignity.

good night, the cerveza is no more.

updates and hitching a ride on the 30-day challenge bandwagon

i've been putting off posting anything because i don't have any good news to tell.  for this week.  nada.  but i finally thought of something which will make me make the obligatory daily post if i wanna win this battle i have staged.

but first let me give you the lowdown on my 1 week of absence:

• last monday i had chest pains which worried me enough to warrant a visit to the OPD.  i underwent some tests and no they did not approve my plans of going to the gym that afternoon
• on tuesday, i had to undergo more tests and being unsure if i was supposed to still rest, i cancelled my pilates session.  i then got my results in the late afternoon and the results are:

my blood sugar is 6.3, which means i'm .2 points over the highest normal

my cholesterol is on the high side

my kidney is okay

my liver is okay

the doctor then asked me to undergo another test for my blood sugar, this time without the need to do any fasting.  he said i can have it done anytime, no hurry.  and so i didn't hurry and now i lost the prescription. dang it!

 the doctor also said to watch what i ate.  to avoid sweets and fried food and to exercise.  i did none of the above this week, [explanation coming in a while].

• on wednesday my daughter's major exams started.  this meant a change in routine, more exposure to the intense tropical sun [i had to wait for her in the school canteen until she finished] equals, i was totally drained of energy by noontime. and of course i said no way jose to the gym.
• on thursday, the preparations for 2 major work activities were in full swing and i absolutely was not abandoning tasks in favor of the gym.
• on friday, i was up to my neck with work until the sun set so again... you already know what did not happen
• and today, was also work-filled for our BIG monday activity so you guessed it... no pilates!!!  and by the way, yes the left knee is still a problem, but less so.

am i pissed off at myself?  noooo.  to be honest, i don't want to beat myself up about my lack of gym time because i absolutely loved every minute of missing it! ha ha!

sigh.  more and more i see how this gym thingy has no place in my life right now... what to do, what to do??? i asked my self as i lay down my overweight self on my bed every night.

and tonight it finally struck me!  i am going to do the no-carbs/no sweets- if-no-exercise-30-day-challenge!  my challenge title is so lame, i know, but it is what i thought of doing.  i will not allow myself to eat any carbs or anything sweet if i don't spend at least an hour of exercise the day before.  so if i don't work-out on monday, i can't have even my brown rice on tuesday. and so on and so forth.  and of course, my cheat day will be on Sunday, which is tomorrow by the way, yipee!  [am i the luckiest challenge-taker or what!]

i figured that, even if i miss a lot of gym days, i punish myself by not eating "indulgent" food.  so i lose weight either way, by burning calories or by reducing my calorie intake.  so i win any which way right?

if it still isn't obvious how desperate i am, i don't know what more to do.  the other night i just wanted to call it quits.  write down my last post, wave the white flag, and let go of my pathetic attempt to get back in shape.


So,  whaddaya think?  will this love for carbs and sweets make me exercise daily?

this is how it's gonna work:

1. i start on monday.
2. i'm gonna post here everything that goes into my mouth for that day.
3. i'm gonna post if i exercised or not and if yes, what form of exercise i did for the day.
4. i am not going to lie.  i promise.
5. i am going to bore you because i will post the food details and the exercise details every single day
6. i will do this for 30 days so that means the challenge ends on November 18, 2010.

so, i ask you, my dear reader, not to laugh, nor snicker.  i ask you to wish me luck,  pray for me,  be my challenge-police.  be my anything, please, anything that will help me move forward.

if any of you want to join me in this challenge, please speak up so i can be your one-woman-cheering squad, if need be. =D

So help me God.

three things

1. i gained weight instead of losing it.  i gained 5 pounds in 1 week.  this better be pms or else i'm gonna blame it on the cardio work-outs. [of course i can't blame it on the food i've been ingesting]
2. my left knee still hurts, but i'm gonna do the treadmill just the same, tomorrow.
3. i made a deal with the hubby, starting tomorrow, we start eating healthy.  and no complaining allowed!
4. i'm going to go crazy if i gain another 5 pounds when the week ends.

okay, that's 4 things.  i'm just so mad right now.

p.s.  pilates was a breeze today.  of course i still thought i was gonna die after each set but i definitely cursed less. 

2-inch heels, a bad knee, and in need of advice

i bought 2 pairs of strappy 2-inch heeled shoes.  they were customized, hence the supposedly mere 2 inches.

but me, being the fitflop mommy, clicked my knee not even 2 hours after i started wearing them.  i was walking from the car to the bank and i heard my knee click or crack or probably snap.  whatever.  it happened yesterday.  and until now my knee still feels painful.  i don't know if it is because of bad bones or my legs being really ignorant when it comes to heeled shoes.

so we had to work-out around the bad knee at pilates class today.  i'm planning to just brisk walk on the treadmill tomorrow, at most.

or is there a safer way to burn calories?  i would appreciate if you can help me before tomorrow afternoon comes.

bummer monday

so i didn't get to work out on saturday.  nor did i get to do so on sunday.  to make the long story short, the hubby had some guests and i as the dutiful wife co-entertained them.  not that i didn't enjoy entertaining.  i did.  but i pretty much bumped off everything else in the schedule.  and when i finally had time. i was exhausted.

enter monday.  my supposedly getting back into schedule and planned routine.  which means my only window was lunch time today.  but this too was snatched away from me.  not that i didn't enjoy lunching with the hubby and his guests. but three days of no exercise! just when i had it going well!

tomorrow, i have pilates at lunch time, if i had nothing in the morning i would squeeze in gym time as well.  but still not THAT lucky.  i have an all-morning meeting.

so here's the plan: i will double up on friday and hopefully put in time on the weekend too.  to make up for the 2 days i missed.

good thing there won't be any guests any time soon. not that i do not enjoy entertaining. =P