For the weekend, I only had walking and doing housechores as my ways of moving. Saturday, we were all busy doing our own chores - sister was doing the laundry while I clean the house from "head to toe" because it's weekend (time for some general cleaning) and my brother's girlfriend was arriving from Cagayan de Oro. Delayed flight caused her to arrive here at our place around 9pm, and nearly 1am of Sunday, they left to travel to Vigan City. I was sleep deprived last Sunday, so I wasn't able to exercise (other than walking of course) because my head was aching so bad.
12:37pm - 1/2 cup rice, 3/4 cup Ginataang Kalabasa (Diced squash and 1 finger chili cooked in 3 tablespoons instant Gata mix diluted in water, seasoned with pepper)
7:07pm - 1/2 cup rice, 70 grams Tilapia fish (fried in soya oil), 1 triangle Toblerone (the brown one, 11 grams)
I was supposed to cook Ginataang Sitaw at Kalabasa, but I already used the sitaw on Kare-Kare, so I just cooked the kalabasa, just so I'd have some veggies today.
Sunday, 30 October 2011
8:30am - 2 pieces sliced bread with a little Malunggay Spread (from Bohol Bee Farm), 1 cup 3-in-1 instant coffee (Nescafe Brown n' Creamy)
9:33am - Kakanin Sampler(Puto, Puto with Salted Egg, Pichi-Pichi, Peanut Roll, and Kutsinta)
12:01pm - 1 1/4 cup rice, Pinatisang Pata ng Baboy (didn't weigh it anymore, cheat day..haha)
4:30pm - 1 piece sliced bread + 1 teaspoon egg salad spread (boiled eggs, mayo, minced red onions, salt and pepper)
6:06pm - 2 pieces Pandesal (French Baker's Pinoy Pandesal) with 1/2 teaspoon egg salad spread each pandesal
I decided to have light dinner tonight because I ate a lot for lunch and that I had some snacks in the afternoon.
Weigh-in is coming up in two days... despite a few setbacks, I am excited to see how much weight I have lost. I know I lost weight this month... I can feel it. :)
Like I always do, here's a report about the first three habit building blocks:
#1: Fix Your Water Intake - I decided to lower down my water intake this week because during one of my chit-chats with my sister, she told me drinking water can make me feel bloated and could add more weight. This week, while my minimum water intake is still 12 cups, my maximum would be 15. There were days I go below 12 cups, but all in all, I still get my average water intake of 12 cups for the week. I did get to drink about 2 cups of coffee this week and a sip of iced tea from an event I attended, but I was thankful I was able to let my iced tea sit on one corner of the table and just ask the wait staff to give me a glass of water instead.
#2: Move! - Movement this week is kinda like a yo-yo, I admit. I still am affected by the "Bloody Mary" symptoms (she still hasn't visited, but I am sensing it'll come soon), but I am thankful I get to walk more outside the house.
#3: Eat a Veggie - Vegetable intake is easy for me, I must say. I always ask myself what vegetable should I eat the next meal, and I can say I was able to eat vegetable everyday, even if I only had a small amount of bell peppers last Wednesday (hahaha, yes I am pushing my luck).
Resolutions? Well, I will go back to my exercise program (and be firm with it, promise)... and try to include walking / jogging. Sister just said she misses Colinas Verdes, and I think I am sensing that my walk buddy is coming back on track. :) You might ask why can't I walk alone. Well, aside from the fact that I prefer having a company, our neighborhood has a lot of stray dogs, which sometimes hinder us to walk. Aside from that, walking to Colinas Verdes requires walking on the highway, and walking alone is something we don't allow because of security reasons as there are spots without that much people. These reasons may be superficial, and yes, I am really hoping I strengthen myself by jogging/running/walking as it's a dream of mine to run a marathon, so if my sister decides not to walk there anymore, I am thinking of walking from our house to the marketplace, take the jeep to Colinas Verdes and do the same going back home. Will just increase time walking and jogging around. That's a good resolution, right?
Vegetables... I will definitely try to cook Alugbati this week.
So... it's Week 4 of Lyn's Habit a Week Challenge now, and it's about Increasing the Fiber. Yes, it's similar to Week 3, but we all do know that fiber isn't just found on vegetables.
It has been said that Psyllium Husk is much stronger than Oats, but even before (circa 2007 /2008), my ex-bf Doc didn't suggest I take this. At first I thought he was just trying to sabotage my journey, but last August, I was able to had my very first Psyllium Husk intake, and while the taste didn't bother me, one biggest problem I had with it was that I didn't poop for two days since I took it. Funny, eh? It had more fiber than oats, yet it didn't help me poop! It gave me much discomfort, and sister told me she had the same experience. Mom told us we should drink lots of water, and we told her we knew that already, and I even had 19 cups of water (a little less than 4 liters) that day, but it still didn't help me poop. I decided to stop it and just go for veggies as my source of fiber.
Anyway, people react differently when taking Psyllium (I took C-Lium in case you want to know), and I am just thankful I bought the sachets instead of the big bottle. Each sachet cost 11 pesos... I still three sachets, if you want to give it a try, I can give you my C-Lium sachets. :)
I wasn't able to even try eating carrots and celery for snacks, so I guess I will just go for fruits, since it's something I am not used to do. Either it's pineapple, or papaya or apple or pomelo, I will go for fruits now. Tomorrow, I will go to the marketplace and buy either pineapple or apple (since apple is more visible than pineapple - I prefer fresh than the canned ones, by the way).
I have finished my box of Nestle Fitnesse cereal, and since we still have no plans of going to the grocery (this journey of mine sure helped the wallets breathe, haha), I will rekindle my love affair with Oatmeal. While I can't go for the 30-day Oatmeal challenge, I will surely try to eat oatmeal for dinner starting tomorrow. I am now on a lookout for new ways of eating oatmeal, but if I can't find that much, cooking it with water or mix it with a sachet of Energen will be okay for me.
What's your way of putting fiber inside your body?
Today, I am thankful that weather is much better than the last two days. Well, eating out and eating a lot for dinner last night made me feel really guilty, so I really have to catch up today.
6:10am - Walk to the marketplace and back home (20 minutes)
8:16am - Billy Blanks Jr.'s Waist Workout (2.49 minutes) - 3 rounds with dumbbells (2lb each hand)
9:45pm - Hip Hop Abs Cardio (30 minutes)
2:10pm - Dumbbells (6 sets, 30 reps each set)
5:25pm - Hip Hop Abs Ab Sculpt (23.15 minutes)
I miss doing the Hip Hop Abs "Hips, Buns, and Thighs" workout, will definitely adjust my schedule to accommodate this one.
By the way, I found an online store that sells both Jillian Michaels' "30 Day Shred" and Shaun T's "Insanity." I still don't know when I will the copies, but at least I am thankful now that I have a way to own both fitness videos.
My food log:
8:35am - 5 pieces pandesal (toasted) with a minuscule amount of DariCreme, 1 cup instant 3-in-1 coffee (Nescafe Sweet n' Mild)
1:30pm - 1 cup rice, 100 grams lean ground pork with menudo sauce (instant menudo mix powder diluted in water)
7:06pm - 1/2 cup rice, 70 grams green beans (steamed), 50 grams beef bistek (lean beef slices and white onion slices cooked in oil, soy sauce, and kalamansi juice)
Total Cups of Water: 14
I wasn't in the mood to eat lunch, so I didn't make a trip back to the marketplace to buy ingredients. Around 1pm, my tummy started to rumble, I decided to eat. No other food in the house but ground pork, so thanks to the instant menudo mix, I still was able to eat. Hahaha. For dinner, I decided to eat lesser, and because mom and sis went to watch a movie ("Praybeyt Benjamin"), it was just brother and I who ate dinner. I saw some uncooked beef in the freezer, so I marinated it. Anyway, I asked brother to buy green beans for me because I wasn't able to eat vegetables for lunch, and just steamed it by placing it inside the rice pot 2 minutes before turning it off. This dinner of mine opened two big realizations - that eating 1/2 cup of rice can be enough to make me full, and that 50 grams of meat is actually just okay.
I just would like to make a little clarification about the pandesal... well, pandesal comes in different sizes, and the ones sold at the bakery near the marketplace cost 1 peso each. I forgot to ask them how much each pandesal dough weighed before they baked it, but even if it looks fairly big, it was actually hallow inside. Anyway, whenever I zoom to the bakery, I would always buy 20 pieces, so each of us here at home would have 5 pieces.
Thank God it's Friday!
Will sis and I go jogging tomorrow? I hope so.
I will sleep in a little while, so let me update this blog before I call it a night.
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
It was still freaking hot today, so I only was able to do two exercises - the Billy Blanks Jr.'s Waist workout at 7:15am (three sets), and the Hip Hop Abs Cardio at 9:25am. Although, I was happy to walk early morning today, I went to the bakery (at the marketplace) to buy pandesal for our breakfast. The whole walk took me about 20 minutes, and feeling the morning breeze was so good!
Today's food intake include:
7:47am - 1 cup Athena Milk, 4 pieces pandesal with ham and mayo
12:33pm - 1/2 cup rice, 1/2 cup Ginataang Kangkong (1 bunch Kangkong, 2 tablespoons instant gata mix powder - diluted in water), 1 piece Dinamita Wrap, 2 pieces Lumpiang Shanghai
7-ish pm - 1 serving pasta carbonara, Pizza Hut Tuscani - Supremo and All Meat (2 bite size cuts per pizza), a sip of Lemon Iced Tea
Total Cups of Water: 11
The pasta was already heavy, so I just tasted the pizza, because I have to blog about it. Good thing they allowed us to have our leftover pizza wrapped for take out - I was able to bring home my leftover pizza for my mom and brother.
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Exercise for today was the same as yesterday's, but instead of walking to the bakery, I walked to the market mid-morning to buy ingredients for lunch.
Today, I was a bad girl. I let my cravings get the better of me. It was two weeks ago when I craved for Kare-Kare (any kind of protein as long as the sauce does not use the instant sauce mix). This afternoon, Ms. Weng knocked on our gate to deliver the beef and two packs of Kare-Kare, which she said mom ordered last weekend. I didn't intend to eat a lot that dinner, in fact, I decided to just go for 1 cut of the protein and go for the veggies (I even added some sitaw when I reheated it to make me eat the veggies more), but it just tasted sooo good. It was the kind of Kare-Kare I wanted, and after finishing my first cup of rice, I still was craving for it. Brother told me, "just eat!" and eat I did.
After eating, a thought entered my mind. Four years ago, my dad had this sudden cravings for Kare-Kare and asked our neighbor to cook it for us (because mom doesn't really know how to cook it from scratch). When our neighbor delivered the Kare-Kare, my dad just ate it with gusto, and a few days after... he died. Me feeling the same cravings and me eating the Kare-Kare with gusto made me feel scared... Halloween jitters?
Anyway, I still hope to eat Kare-Kare anytime soon, but I will ask my family to be strict on me and not tolerate my cravings.
I am supposed to blog about my exercise and food log for yesterday, but my brother is set to travel with his girlfriend this weekend and I needed to send him the DiabetEASE magazines I bought for our aunt, so let me blog about this first - so he can secure the magazines as he is about to pack his things tonight.
In the Vol.6 No.5 issue (July - September 2011) of DiabetEASE magazine, it featured an article entitled "Eat Your Way to a Thinner Body" (written by Emil Karlo dela Cruz) which listed some kinds of food that can help burn fat, and since this blog is all about wellness, I just want to feature the food, but of course I am not copying the article word per word.
For many overweight people, the very first thing they do when they want to slim down is to eliminate many kinds of food, for they think that food is the main reason why they are overweight. While that can be true, eliminating food in our system can give us more harm than good. Remembering an episode of "The Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition," house dietitian Nadine Tengco said something like, "If food is the reason why you're overweight, food can also be the reason for you to lose weight."
With that, here are some of foods, which can help burn fat:
Foods rich in Vitamin C
Dairy products
Apples
Nuts
Whole Grain Cereals
Fish Oil
Chili
Green Tea
Beef
Chicken
Tuna
Want to know how these help burn body fats? Well, you have to buy the magazine to find out why. :)
One main thing the article said - these food may help burn fat, but its magic can only be utilized if proper diet is partnered with a good workout. Also, proportion has to be considered; as each food has its own calorie value per volume.
To borrow a quote from the article, "While it is nice to have a beautiful and lean body, health IS still the most valued treasure."
I feel much better now, thank heavens! However, sister and I weren't able to walk to Colinas Verdes because she was having an asthma attack. Anyway, since brother's computer was already on, I decided to check my sites and check videos as well. I searched for "Billy Blanks" and saw this...
Billy Blanks Jr.'s Waist Burner Workout. It was a short one, but enough to perk up the muscles so I decided to try it - and yes, I loved it (although the comments made on the video weren't so nice. I think I want to do this everyday to start my day! :)
Complete list of exercises I made:
7:45am - Billy Blanks Jr. Waist Burner Workout (2.49 minutes), repeated 3 times.
9:11am - Hip Hop Abs Cardio (30 minutes)
1:10pm - Dumbbells (6 sets, 30 reps each)
4:13pm - Hip Hop Abs Ab Sculpt (23.15 minutes)
Total Cups of Water: 13
It was too darn hot this afternoon! I was supposed to do the Ab Sculpt around 2:00pm, but I couldn't tolerate the heat, despite turning on the electric fan. When I did the Ab Sculpt, it was still very hot causing me a little headache, but of course I was able to finish the routine as the heat wasn't as much as it was after lunch.
Sister and I went to Tungko to look for Cindy Kurleto's "Sensual Aerobics" or Shaun T's "Insanity" or Jillian Michaels' "30 Day Shred". I wasn't able to see the last two videos, but I got to see a DVD that's similar to the one I am using now. It did have the "Sensual Aerobics" but since I already have a copy of it, I didn't bother letting the store owner play it for me to check if the audio and video jived. If sis and I walk to Colinas Verdes this weekend, I will go check it again. If the audio and video jive, I will buy it so I will have a low-impact workout to do during my "rest days."
Although am not doing it everyday, I can now feel my body getting used to the Hip Hop Abs Cardio. I am now on a lookout on different workouts just to mix it a bit, and this looked very interesting:
Billy Blanks Tae Bo Insane Abs. Each part has 10 minutes, meaning the whole routine will run for nearly 1 hour. I am thinking of doing this three times a week, and I will start next month. Of course, I would still do Hip Hop Abs, I just want to do up the ante come next month. :)
11:50am - 3/4 cup rice, 3 pieces veggie lumpia (each piece has 1 1/2 tablespoons of veggie filling - left over Ginisang Toge from last night, minus the tokwa) + dipping sauce soy sauce, cane vinegar, finely chopped red onions, ground pepper
6:47pm - 3/4 cup rice, Beef Sinigang (100 grams beef short ribs - weighed with bones, 30 grams taro, 20 grams sigarilyas, 10 grams sitaw, a few kangkong leaves)
Whenever Ms. Weng delivers beef short ribs here, I would immediately clean it and take out the fat and some litid, but of course, there were instances that I couldn't really take out the fat and litid. What we do here at home then is to parboil and pressure cook the beef right after eating lunch (or do it early morning if we plan to eat it for lunch), so we can let the stock/broth cool down and allow the oil to harden. Before cooking the dish, we take out the hardened oil, so we won't have any reason to put it beef oil into our bodies.
My dinner seemed "just right," afterall, I would eat this with 1 cup of rice - I just used the 3/4 cup just to train myself to eat lesser than 1 cup, yet after eating dinner, I was so full to the point that I felt as if I pigged out. My tummy felt it was about to burst! My mom was actually offering me some pineapples, but I turned it down because I can't take any more food. I guess my tummy's getting used to eating less na. Should we cook beef sinigang again, I might just go for 1/2 cup of rice.
- * - * - * -
By the way, I posted a very sexy video workout on my "blue forum" thread, and one member commented saying we are on a same boat (he's trying to lose weight, too). We were able to exchange messages, and I am just happy to know another person weighing his food, too. It feels great finding people "of the same feather" because it inspires me to continue doing what I am doing. Anyway, his diet plan was more intense than mine - he doesn't eat carbs, but this short exchange of message sure felt as if I am not alone in the journey.
I titled this "Food Log" because I wasn't able to exercise today, other than doing some movements while doing house chores. I am not making excuses today; I really wanted to exercise, but I just wasn't feeling good.
Let me just share the food I had for today:
8:35am - 1 cup rice, 1 piece fried tilapia
12:03pm - 1/4 cup rice, 1/4 cup Lucky Me! pancit canton (original), 30 pieces fishballs with sweet-chili sauce
4:17pm - 210 grams pineapple slices
7:20pm - 1/2 cup rice, 1 cup Ginisang Toge (mung bean sprouts, cabbage, green beans, carrots, diced & fried tokwa, ground pork), 1 saba banana
Total Cups of Water: 12
I woke up feeling dizzy. Thinking maybe I lacked some sleep or I overslept, I didn't mind it. For breakfast, brother cooked garlic rice (which was so delicious because he added some oregano - one of the "super spices" as they call it), but since my sister doesn't really eat breakfast and mom eats bread for breakfast, I am left with a big bowl of rice - possibly more than 3 cups of rice in the bowl. Our cats don't eat oily food, so my choice of just eating 1/2 cup of rice was upgraded to 1 cup, just so there won't be too much left over rice - something I can always ask brother to eat later for lunch.
I was still a little dizzy, and because I am used to not eat as much as 1 cup for breakfast, my tummy growl right after eating, and soon after I was inside the toilet vomiting all the breakfast I ate. I felt really bad the whole day.
Anyway, when we had lunch, I didn't plan to measure my food anymore (as I am sure I'd vomit it again), but my family is now used to my habit of measuring/weighing my food and jotting it down on my tickler before I eat. I already put some rice and pancit canton on my plate when brother told me, "You're forgetting something. You forgot to measure your food." His reminder made me stand up and get the 1/4 measuring cup, as it was the amount I intended to eat (as we had a lot of fishballs to eat). I did vomit after eating, but not as much as I did last breakfast.
Eating the very sour pineapples for snacks somehow stabilized my tummy, which allowed me to eat good come dinner. Our dinner is my mom's horror as she has mild arthritis. Well, we still had some Papaya-Malunggay dinengdeng left from last night, so I just reheated it for her.
It's not cool to be sick, so I am thankful that even if I am not 100% today, I didn't really get super sick.
...although I had a few trips in the toilet all night before I slept.
