Gratitude is the new attitude

Health- we always take if for granted until we no longer have it.

Clean eating- day 2

My breakfast this morning.

Now I just have to get used to drinking my coffee black. All that sugar and creamer add ups to 10-20 extra grams of sugar, which is not good. My other alternative is usually green tea. I try to squeeze on some type of caffeine ervyday to jump start my metabolism.

What do your clean breakfasts consist of?

Clean eating starts today!

After Thanksgiving's binge, I felt somewhat relieved getting it out of the way. Even though I still have a few more holiday parties to attend this month, I'm making it a point to start eating cleaner and healthier...like as in now. It is the last month of 2012 after all, so might as well live it out right.

Admittedly, this sudden urge of motivation came upon me today as it was spent watching hours of "before & after" weight loss videos on youtube. Seeing these women overcome their struggles and achieve their goal weight is so uplifting. I just want to give them all a big hug!

Holiday binging has begun

This may not be good, especially for the simple fact that I will not hold back. These are the times I like to enjoy with loved ones, live in the moment, and indulge in the feast.

Fall is here (and I just started bikram yoga)

Fall season is here, and I'm just loving all the beautiful colors and cooler weather. I wish it were longer.

I took on a new daily routine- bikram yoga. It is said that one session can burn up to 1,000 calories, so I decided to give it a try (well, and with other reasons and benefits in mind.) My friends and I signed up for an unlimited month of classes and we're going to stick to it for 30 days. We're using each other as motivational coaches. It's working. We started Monday night straight after work. We were sweating our butts off and enjoyed every 90 minutes of it.

Towards the end, we were feeling like we couldn't push ourselves any further, but then we made it through and felt fully accomplished. It was a wonderful first time experience for our body, mind, and soul.

Weekend binge

I treat myself to whatever I crave on the weekends. All week is steady and strict eating, then Saturday and Sundays are my "fun" days. In time, I'll eventually wean off Sundays and stick to just Saturday binges. 

I've been on and off again with the "Myfitnesspal" app. The main reason being- I eat the same thing everyday. It gets boring and repetitive recording the same meals. I pretty much know what 1200 calories a day looks like.

I measured myself today, and the results are pretty much the same. Not that I'm disappointed, but just a little surprised that my healthier eating habits haven't effected my numbers.

Starting tomorrow, no more white carbs. I'm promising myself that much at least. I read somewhere that fruits don't help contribute to weight loss as well. Well, let's put that to the test. Fruit and white carbs are black listed for now during the week. This is definitely a challenge. Let's hope this works.

Mini sandwiches

Lately I've been packing these small sandwiches as a mid-day snack. Normally I don't slather the bread with butter, but today I was feeling a little bold.

Filling up on water

When it comes to drinking water, I've heard different tips from every which where.  

1. To help lose weight, drink at least half your body weight in ounces.
2. Drink a warm or room temperature glass right when you wake up and right before you go to bed.
3. Avoid drinking ice cold water as it's harder to drink more at a time (in which I totally agree with.)
4. Drink 1 liter of water in the morning, 1 in the afternoon, and 1 more spread out between the hours of 5-8pm.
5. Drink water half an hour before you eat and half an hour after. 

I've been trying to incorporate all of the above into my daily routine. So far it's been good and I have been pretty consistent with my new water schedule.

Enjoyed my last "all out weekend"

So little chips, so many fat grams. 

Some days I eat better than others. This whole weekend was classified as the "others." It started on Thursday. I was c-r-a-v-i-n-g Velveeta's macaroni and cheese and just had to have that for dinner. Not to mention that earlier that afternoon I indulged in some Cheetos at work. My taste buds must of been in need of some faux cheese.

Friday was filled with carbs galore. A co-worker brought in bagels for breakfast and then there was cake for another office birthday. Lunch was just a couple of fruits. I was saving room for dinner which was 2 rushi rolls, Vegas and spicy salmon. Oh, I don't hold back on the soy sauce either.

Saturday was my resting day. I pretty much just lounged around the house making it a Sex and the City marathon. Man, what I would give to have Sarah Jessica Parker's body. I went to the gym earlier that morning followed by a thick protein shake. Come lunch time I was so hungry I had a plate full of brown rice mixed with multiple side dishes. Dinner was a lazy one- ramyun noodles. Then an hour later I was feeling in need for a treat. Ice cream sandwiches, so delicious AND addicting. And now it's the last day of my weekend, Sunday. Breakfast was skipped due to sleeping in. I had buffalo wings with a side of carrot sticks and butter rice for lunch. For dinner it was spicy tofu soup with a small side of white rice. Of course I was craving a dessert AGAIN. This time it was a piece of white vanilla cake.

Tomorrow is a new start. I'm excited. Oh, and a new beginning of my quasitarian diet begins. 

Taking my vitamins

I've been taking my fish oils for quite some time now. However, I just recently started adding my b-complex pills. I take them every morning with my hot tea. You could call it part of my daily breakfast.

Day 1- Yoga

It's raining outside and the storm makes all the better for a  relaxing evening. I got home late from work and was actually pretty motivated to workout. I was thrilled to see my Rodney Lee DVD come through the mail. Yoga For Beginners is the title and it was perfect for a night like tonight.

Dinner was leftovers from an India wedding we attended. I so love spicy curry. I skipped out on the white rice though.

I stepped in the scale...

I can't believe it. I stepped on the scale today to find the few pounds I worked off are now back on. Maybe it's my new muscle weight. Maybe not. Actually, yeah. I'm sure it's not. I haven't been consistent with my strength training in months.

Big sigh. I keep telling myself that I'm going to work hard at this, but I always find some really good excuse to talk me out of it. I mean, Sex and the City just can't wait any longer from a day's worth of hard work. 

Tomorrow. I promise. I will start on my new fit and healthy body transformation.

Tired of egg whites for breakfast

Eating egg whites just doesn't seem to get me full. I'm trying not to eat more than half a cup per serving but most of the time I wind up hungry an hour or two later. I need a new satisfying breakfast routine.


I might just look into "protein pancakes." Sounds interesting and filling.

Vegetable day

Breakfast: cherry tomatoes sprinkled with pepper.


Drink: a juiced veggie drink


Lunch: (pictured) cucumbers, bean sprouts and 1 scoop of white rice. So much for my "no white carb" challenge. I'll start over tomorrow.


Dinner: Kale and spinach salad topped with cilantro dressing.

Weekend Grill

Meat tastes so good cooked on the grill.


Maybe I can do this "no-carb" thing for a week.  Serena said she tried it and in time her stomach didn't look bloated or stuck out as much. She started to see more definition in her muscles and felt lighter.


I've already cut out all of the sugary white carbs easily, so now I need to challenge myself on sticking strictly to protein and vegetables. I'm going to say I can do it...easily. Let's hope I don't get cranky on the way.

Mean green juicing machine

I juice just about everyday. I haven't in a while though since I fell off my healthy eating and workout routine. I went to Trader Joe's and stocked up on some greens for my breakfast juice. I pretty much stick to the same ol same ol: kale, spinach, green apple and lots of carrots.

Happy hour with the girls

Wine and cheese. This was my dinner with the girls. It's nice to catch up every now and then and just talk about good times. I cherish moments like these.

Internal thoughts- recovering from my weakness

Gosh. When will I ever stay focused and dedicated to my daily workout routine? I could come up with a million excuses, but that's all they really are, excuses. I somehow find the time to watch Youtube, my regular tv shows, catch up on my book trilogies, meet up with friends for happy hour, but can not find 20-30 minutes out of my day to squeeze cardio in.


It's already summer and the pressure is on.  All these sexy bikinis, Victoria's Secret catalogs popping up in my mailbox, women with 3 kids walking through the mall with better bodies than me!


I need to get this body into shape. I need to start feeling "sexy" again. I need to feel empowered and in control with myself. Discipline has not been enforced for quite some time now so my body took the initiative by doing so and added some more blub on my thighs and stomach. *sigh*


Whenever I sit down on my bed naked I stop and think to myself, "If I were strolling around the beach would I find this body attractive? No...not so much." I try to be real and harsh with myself, but the reality of it all is that I'm just flat out lazy. After working 9-5 and getting home by 6 after traffic all I want to do is rest. I don't feel like working out when I can just sit there, eat a nice plate of whatever I cooked that night, and watch The Office. But I know I need to get out of this mode. I think it's the evil sugar speaking to me. It's breaking me down and making me weak. Did I mention we had another birthday to celebrate at work this week? Yep, you know what that means. Sugary Pillsbury cake time with extra frosting on top. Man, did it taste good. I had like 3 pieces.....then a salad for lunch. Why the salad? Don't know. Guess I was trying to cover up my guilt with spinach leaves thinking that would do actually do something.


Okay. For sure this time I'm going to get up and going with my fitness routine starting Monday. I browsed through some motivational fitness pictures on Pinterest so I think I'm good now. Fighting!

Hummus for breakfast

multi grain bread

chili flavored hummus

fresh radish

a dash of salt

spinach egg

I love breakfast time.

Cake cake everywhere

This week has not started off strong at all. I thought I was going to be able to add some cardio to the end of my day, but that hasn't worked out so well.


It just so happens to be everybody's birthday at work this month. Call it spring love, why don't ya. Last week we celebrated by getting together and eating (of course) out at a nice bar lounge. The 2 margaritas, fried calamari, and cheesy stuffed peppers didn't help much either. 


Just look at how thick this cake icing is. Talk about "whoa!" I was a good girl and scraped some off, but for the most part I really did enjoy the sugary flavor. 

And here's another one. My, aren't my coworkers so nice to bake/buy a cake and bring it in for everybody to share? 


And if I decline? Then I look rude. So, I happily took the offered piece just like all the rest of us. Did I mention that this was at 11:00 in the morning? Yup, just getting ready for the day.

Easter Dinner

Always grateful for the friends, family and blessings in my life. 


I definitely didn't hold back on dinner tonight.


Sweet Hawaiian bread rolls, spiral honey ham, veggies, buttery mashed potatoes, topped with brown gravy. 


Did I mention there was cake topped with sugary vanilla frosting and confetti sprinkles? Yeah, today was a good day.

I'm baaack....and so is bikini season

Wow. I can't believe it's been 2 months since my last visit here. A lot has definitely changed between now and then.


First off, my fitness routine completely fell apart and spiraled down the drain. Just as I was starting to feel the results I messed it all up. It always feels better to pin the blame on something, so with that being said, I blame it on work.


I've taken on a new role at my place of employment and it's been draining all of what little energy I have left of me. By the end of the day I just want to plop down on the couch and catch up on my favorite shows. My favorite colleague just got promoted and transferred to another city, while I'm here left to pick up where she left off. It's not necessarily a bad thing, being that I'm slowly strengthening my role by gaining more skills so to speak. But it's definitely not helping my body at all either.


I've been too scared to step on the scale. I'm afraid to see higher numbers staring back at me which will then result to finicky mind games slowly generating in this little brain of mine. 


If my broken routine wasn't discouraging enough, I walk into target and see a wall full of bathing suits. Really cute...and some even sexy bathing suits.

Is it bikini season already?? Where has the time gone?


Starting Monday (because tomorrow I'll be busy stuffing my face with buttered bread rolls and mashed potatoes) I'm finding my inner focus and getting back on track. Until then, I'll be having a really really good "last supper" tomorrow.

Late night discoveries

I'm laying on the couch resisting my heavy eyes as the clock reads midnight. I always know when I've stayed up too late when the tv shows have been replaced with hyper sale pitched infomercials.

This night was actually going to be worth it for once.

I stay tuned to this one in particular and my eyes are glued to these great bodies and defined abs. (Isn't that how they all start out anyway.) It's too late. I can't look away now. The girls look nice and slender while the guys look muscular and tone. It's that moment where I look down at my own body and question why I wasn't just born with some nice tight buns or sharp sculpted arms. Yes, it was one of those fitness infomercials, but one that caught my attention.

Shaun T's Insanity workout is what it was called. I liked what I saw, I liked what I was hearing, and I liked to imagine I could achieve those same results as those people on that commercial. Now two weeks later here I am with the collection in my possession.

Wow. This thing is no joke. I thought P90x was hard. Phew, that is nothing compared to this. Who would of thought that doing some cherry pickers and mountain climbers, things that I had once learned in elementary school, got me down a pant size in just under 2 weeks.
I sweat so much with this high intensity cardio workout that in the end my throat is burning from me gasping for air.

So far so good. It's rewarding knowing that I actually achieved something productive (health wise) and can actually feel the results.

Here's a preview of the high interval workouts. It's not easy, I'll tell you that. When I did the first video, The Fit Test, I started sweating after 4 minutes. I don't think I even made it past the 15 minute mark. That's okay though. Where ever I leave off I just pick up right up from there the next day.

Burn, baby, burn.

New year-New Inspirations

I feel like my body's going through a major exhaustion and physical extortion. Why? Because I've been squeezing in some quality time with Ms. Cardio. Yes. I decided to give 'er a whirl once again and our relationship has been going steady. I must give thanks to this new year's inspiration.

You see, I hate cardio. Actually, let me rephrase that. I hate the boredom that seems to follow with doing cardio. And by cardio I'm referring to those long hours on the treadmill, endless runs that lead to no where, and speed walks that seem easy enough for me to barely break out a sweat.

As you may have seen from my last post I took on yoga. That's been going pretty well I'll say. But there's something else that's been really pushing me to my limit. This is what's been keeping my spark with Ms. Cardio alive for a good 2 weeks now. I'm so glad I discovered it....I'll share it with you on my next post. (I'm too hungry to continue writing and we all know how grouchy we can be when we're on an empty stomach. This is to be continued, don't worry.)



Yoga

I started Yoga for the first time yesterday.

All these years I would hear just how great yoga was and how beneficial it is to one's health. I always brushed that "opinion" off to the side and continued on with my life.

Yoga just looked, well, like easy stretching for adults. How could this popular workout fad help you lose weight and add to with core training?

Yes, I was so ignorant back then. I obviously didn't know anything about health and certainly wasn't aware on just how out of shape I had become over the last couple of years.

Although I didn't make an official new year's resolution, I promised myself that I would at least stay active 5 times out of the week. Be it gym, neighborhood walking, or home workout videos, I needed to do some type of physical activity.

Today I was too lazy to go to the gym (and I hate driving anywhere during rush hour.) So, I turned to my handy dandy Netflix and resumed back to this yoga video I found yesterday. I figured, hey, it's free. Why not see what this whole yoga thing is all about. Will this really give me a workout and leave me with a sense of challenge?

Thirty minutes later and I was feeling pretty good. The exercises actually targeted muscles I forgot I even had. I learned how to control and focus on my breathing while still feeling relaxed. I must say, I'm pretty hooked now. It's my second day and I'm somewhat sore already.

If you have Netflix, I recommend checking out Healing Yoga- For Common Conditions by Lisa and Charles Matkin. In my opinion, it's a good beginners video with a steady pace making it easy to follow along.

Have you tried yoga? How was your experience and what are your favorite videos or exercises?

Breakfast Lover

Breakfast is my absolute favorite meal of the day. Nourishing my mornings on a start of good food gets me ready to conquer whatever may come my way. Today was a 1 egg-2 egg white mini omelet topped with spicy chunky salsa from Trader Joe's. I added a handful of spinach for some healthy greens with buttered whole grain toast on the side. Beverage choice of the morning- just plain hot water.

Sweet Temptations

I walk into work today and I see this lying on top of my desk-

A nice belated holiday gift from a coworker.

Must. Be. Strong.

It's been a year and 1 month exactly since I last had these. (I know this because the last time was valentine's Day and I finished the box in 2 days.) I did sneak in a piece or two, no lies there. Was it good? Yes. Was it worth it. Yes. Will I be working it off later today. Not really.


Every now and then it just feels good to be rewarded. I like to enjoy the sweeter things in life without having to worry about the consequences. (Although, this is what lead me to my weight loss journey.) With my overall smarter eating habits, it's okay to indulge every once in a while. I mean, how can you resist something that's you're absolute favorite? I just make sure my "rewards" are consumed in reasonable moderation.

A Happy and Fresh New Year!

Well, it's here. The new year has arrived along with our expectations to follow through with our ever predictable resolution-to lose weight. While some may disregard the yearly tradition to get back into shape, it's actually helped me get back into it.

It wasn't until my last year's resolution where I found the umpf to jump start my new healthy lifestyle. Reflecting back on the year 2011, I've actually accomplished a lot to get me on the right path.

• started going to the gym on a daily basis (4-5 times a week)
• cut out fast food completely
• avoided buying unhealthy snacks to beat temptation
• started juicing and eating more vegetables
• gained knowledge of healthy eating habits
• cut down my eating portions (This rule of thumb came in handy for me- Eat like a king for breakfast, a prince for lunch, and a pauper for dinner.)
• replaced morning coffee with green tea
• started taking fish oil and multivitamin pills everyday
• became familiar with workout and weight machines at the gym
• drank water 90% of the time
• bought less processed and microwavable foods
• started buying organic meat and produce (and yes, I notice a taste and quality difference, especially in chicken and beef. Cleaner is better)
• replaced the little sweets that I had left with fruits
• avoided foods that contained high fructose corn syrup (although some I just couldn't, such as ketchup and what not. Yum.)
• cut down consumption of enriched flour and opt for whole wheat/grain as alternatives

Of course, I didn't achieve these all at once. Everything takes time and so did my new eating habits. It also helps when you have support on your side be it friends, family, partner, or even coworkers. Just them knowing about your goals help motivate the continuation of your process and pushes you to prove to them that you can achieve them.

It's more rewarding when others see how strong and determined you are about your weight loss journey. Encouragement is a big factor that plays in the struggling path of weight loss. You need all the help and support you can get. Whether it's books, blogs, websites, social communities, neighbors, etc, try to surround yourself with positive people and energy and you'll be able to succeed in your new resolution. Believe in yourself and this journey will lead to a better sense of well being along with physical and mental strength.