from pyramid to plate

Last month the USDA unveiled a new way for Americans to look at food, getting rid of the nearly 20-year old food pyramid in favor of the new food plate.

The shift is part of Michelle Obama's fight against childhood obesity, and is meant to help Americans visualize portion sizes in a more accurate way. I get it, the pyramid helps us visualize the scale of the foods in comparison to each other, but doesn't translate that to your actual plate and in recent years I never fail to be shocked at the increasingly large portion sizes we are faced with in restaurants. Our sense of scale is completely off kilter and in my weight loss I've discovered time and time again, that its not always what I eat, but how much of it I eat. I can still indulge, but it matters how big the portion is. When did quantity mean quality?


When I think back to how my parents grew up, and even the stories of my grandmother growing up, one thing is certain, growing up in the South people did not eat low calorie. My great-grandmother baked a pie every day for dessert, and she started cooking dinner in the early afternoon. So what are the big differences? Fresh foods being used over canned/frozen/processed versions. What else? Portion size. Back then, she was using full cream, rich cheeses, homemade butter and more. But nothing was in huge amounts. And guess what, they are petite in their pictures!

But did you know that the USDA has been doing food guides for nearly 100 years? There's a great article in the Huffington Post on it here - where you can see them all.

Most of us are only familiar with the food pyramid, but check out this one from 1916 about food for children.
I think the moral of the story is right, we need to readjust our portion size settings, the plate helps, but I think it could still be even better. It could be more clear on suggested daily portions and caloric intake. There are some cool interactive tools available for free though, so you can track your food intake daily, as well as your physical activity. Check out myplate at http://www.choosemyplate.gov/index.html

weighin in

159.8 today! Yes, this means I've made my 20 lbs goal. Yes this means I've broken another barrier and made it into the 50s - woo hoo! I'm now down 22lbs.

But even more exciting? Just because I've been slack on the blog (thanks to uber busy work) I haven't been slack on the diet/exercise.

Below is a recent picture of me (about 5 lbs ago) and you will already see the big difference in my face, I almost feel like my face is coming back.


How's everyone else doing? More to come soon, I promise!

thunder tea rice

This week a colleague introduced me to something that has eluded me since arriving in Singapore nearly a year ago - Thunder Tea Rice.

While this doesn't sound special, he had described it to me as very healthy, brown rice dish with veggies and green tea on top. Oh, you had me at healthy! Singapore is a haven for foodies and a dieters worst nightmare. But I've never seen this dish in any of the (many!) hawker centres we've tried.

So while out working an event together, he came back with orders of thunder tea rice for the team. It was delicious, not to mention high-fiber, low fat and packed with anti-oxidants.

Thunder Tea Rice has the following:

• Green Tea: Powerful anti-oxidant, helps to lower cholesterol.

• Basil & Mint: Anti-stress, for cooling & calming effect, aids relaxation, relieve colds.

• Fuliksum: Remove body toxins and fluid wastes, strengthen immune system.

• Chinese Parsley & Coriander: Ease digestion & gastric, combat flu & headache.

• Ginger & Ngal: Expel body winds & gas.

• Sesame: Maintain youth & enhance beauty.

• Groundnuts: High in protein, good for stein.

The green sauce is the green tea

defining progress

Over the past month, its no secret that a significant slow-down in my weight loss was both inevitable and disappointing.

Naturally my first couple weeks saw a faster drop than the rest of my journey will produce. However, 2 lbs in three weeks is slower-than usual progress for me (I consider 1 lb a week to be a good pace - after all, I still have over 30 lbs to go) and given that I've been pretty good, it was really starting to bother me.

Luckily, I had the foresight to measure myself at the beginning of the month. So yesterday, in my confused and frustrated state, I took my measurements a week early, just to see....

The reason is I truly feel I'm starting to 'see' a slight difference, even if I haven't dropped a full size yet and the scale is dancing around the same few numbers.

So I pulled out my tape measure and jotted down my measurements. Then I had to call almost everyone I know and share the good news - not really - but almost... In three weeks where I didn't see the scale move much, I've lost 1/2 inch off my waist, 1 inch off my hips and 1/2 inch off my neck (which sort of horrifies yet elates me).

Women today tend to be more barrel-shaped compared to the hour-glass shapes of our mothers and grandmothers. But I think with the right diet and exercise, we can get those figures back. I really think we eat too much, and too much of our food comes out of a box.

I strongly encourage you to measure your progress in more than one way. The scale is not always the best reflection that you are moving forward - especially when you are following an exercise routine.

Here's a reminder on where on the body to measure - and make sure the bust measurement goes over the nipple line.

weighin in

Monday February 21, 2010

171 today. Up half a pound. Oh to be so close, yet so far....

Tom Yum Soup

I know it seems like we're on a Thai kick, but this was just coincidence!

Last night I made fresh Tom Yum soup for dinner. Most people don't know what to order at Thai restaurants, curry is not a diet friendly choice, but Tom Yum soup is light, broth-based and has fresh seafood. It's always my go-to staple because its filling (hot soup!), has lean protein and a great tangy-spicy flavor.

The other day in the supermarket, I found a Tom Yum 'kit' in the fresh herbs section, it was just a baggy with lemongrass, lime, green chilis, kaffir leaves and some unidentified object that I just chopped up and included in the soup! In the US, you might have to go to an Asian supermarket to find the ingredients, but it will be worth it.

It was delicious, light and healthy. The kitchen was so fragrant, we were all excited to try something new, and my husband, whom I do not consider a soup person, loved it!

Homemade Tom Yum Soup!

Tom Yum Goong

4 cups water
1 cup fresh raw shrimp (peeled and deveined)
5 fresh mushrooms
1 sliced tomato
1-2 limes
1 lemon grass
3 kaffir lime leaves
2T fish sauce
5 sprigs cilantro (coriander), chopped
3 red or green thai chilis

• Start boiling the water in a 2 quart pot. Use the back of your cleaver to smash the lemon grass, just to bruise it to release the flavor. Tie the lemon grass into a knot (to make it easier to manage so you don't have to sift around it while eating). Drop the lemon grass in water and let boil for 5 minutes.
• Put the fish sauce and 1 lime's juice into the bottom of the bowls you will serve the soup in. Crush chili pepper and add to the bowl (careful, these chilis are extremely hot, you might want to start with just the littlest amount and work up, also wear gloves).
  
• Remove the stems from the kaffir lime leaves and add the leafy part to the pot. Clean and halve the mushrooms and add them to the pot.
  
• Add tomato slices, wait 1 minute.
• Add the shrimp and turn off the heat. (Shrimp gets too tough very quickly, and will cook even when it is just sitting in the warm broth. I was using very large tiger shrimp, so I let boil for 30 seconds and then turned heat off.)
  
• Scoop the soup into the serving bowls, you will see that the broth becomes cloudy because of the lime juice. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.
• Add more fish sauce, lime juice or peppers if it tastes bland.
  

rebound pounds

Recently, I've noticed a pattern. I lose a pound or two, breaking new ground, and the next day BOOM! I've gained 1-2 pounds.

I'm not celebrating my loss, or doing anything different. It's a little strange, almost like a natural yo-yo my body is doing. It takes a couple days to get those of, and I sort of stall for a day or two, then suddenly I break new ground again.

The first time this happened, I panicked. What had I done wrong the day before to make me gain three pounds? Only to wake up the next day and have lost half, followed by the remainder the following day. Then I broke new ground again.

The second time it happened, I'll admit, I was upset again. I evaluated everything I had done. Questioned salt, water, sweets. It's enough to make you cry with frustration.The third time it happened though, I had been perfect. And then I knew...

While it still annoys me to see those pounds reappear so quickly, I know that if I keep doing the right thing, the drop off again pretty fast. Then I can start moving forward again.

Does this happen to anyone else?

Thai-ish Salmon

Last week, I made a brilliant discovery. A website called Dinner, A Love Story. This woman not only believes in the importance of family meals together, but also loves cooking healthy things and trying to find innovative ways to keep great ingredients in family dinners - that kids will actually eat. You can tell she loves the challenge of it, and feels good when her family likes it. But she's not crazy and doesn't make you feel guilty at all - which I appreciate!

If you know anything about me, you'll know my favorite things when it comes to food are: fresh fish, shrimp and seafood of any sort, avocados, mangoes, papayas, plantains, very dark chocolate, chilis or any spicy peppers, red wine, limes and good tequila. Not necessarily in that order. Knowing this, you would not be alone in wondering why I'm overweight!

Despite my love of pretty much all fish, salmon has always been one I have struggled to find a good relationship with. It's hit or miss for me. Growing up in Florida, and now living in Singapore, there is so much fresh ocean fish, that I rarely eat salmon. However, I try to have it once a month as it is simply so good for you, and I would like my little one to learn to like it too.

So I made this recipe on Saturday, originally adopted from that great blog - although of course, I can't follow directions and had to change almost everything about it. It was still delicious, and even better, is my 3 year old ate all her salmon. I'm still patting myself on the back.

Note - I removed my daughter's salmon before adding the curry paste, as she doesn't like anything spicy yet.

Thai-ish Salmon

• Salt and pepper a 1 1/2-pound salmon filet.
  
• Heat skillet to medium-high heat and add a little canola oil. Place salmon in skillet flesh side down and cook for about 3 or 4 minutes until nicely browned. Remove from skillet.
  
• Reduce heat to medium-low. Add 1 tablespoon finely minced lemongrass (from the white part of the stalk) and 1 tablespoon chopped scallions and stir around for one minute. Then add 1 can of light coconut milk a generous squeeze of lime, and 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste (to taste). Whisk together and let simmer for five minutes.
  
• Add salmon back in, skin-side down, nestle into the sauce. Bring to a simmer, then add a handful of each of the following: chopped green peas, chopped broccoli, chopped white button mushrooms, 1 chopped tomato. Simmer another 7 to 8 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 1/4 cup chopped basil. (I think you can use whatever vegies you like, she used green beans, yellow peppers and shitake mushrooms).
  
• Serve with jasmine or long grain rice, more cilantro, scallions, and a squeeze of lime.

(one word of advice, was when making Thai-inspired dishes, include a dash or two of brown sugar. I didn't have any, but I think it would have improved the flavor slightly)

Image via Dinner, A Love Story. Mine was so delicious, I forgot to photograph it! Oops.

about to cross the line

Over the last two weeks, I've been pretty quiet on this blog. My in-laws have been in town, and I've just been maintaining - not continuing to make progress, but not doing damage. At first, I considered this a success of sorts. But then my Dad, who is also my virtual weight-loss buddy, had this simple line in his email, "everyone supports you losing weight. It's great that you are maintaining, but we've got work to do!"

Simple as that, and as true as the day is long. (I know that's not the saying, but I've made a change, ok?)

So I've been trying to make progress again the last few days, really hard, to get downward movement on the scale. Otherwise, all this running I'm doing is being wasted on simply maintaining my weight with the extra indulgences I've been having. There will be times where I have genuine plateaus, but this is not one of them.

While my next 'goal' is of course my next 5 lbs goal, a little unofficial, but nonetheless exciting goal for me is breaking into the 160s. Over the past two years, I've occasionally lost 5-8 lbs or so on various diets, but I never got into the 160s. I got into them before my wedding on weight watchers, but gained it all back after.


Needless to say, crossing this line will be hugely exciting for me, even if its not one of my weight goals.

Over the last week, I gained a lb, then lost it, then dropped to 170.8. Then today, my official weigh in day, I was 170.2... That's just so close it hurts! I'm still happy with more downward movement, but any day now, I expect to break that barrier.

You will know when I do, you'll probably hear me jumping up and down and dancing naked in my bathroom, halfway around the world.

Monday weigh in

Monday, February 14, 2011

Today I was 170.2 - which means I'm down another 1.2 lbs.

Total lost to date, - 11.4 lbs.

sometimes, life gives you chocolate peanut butter cake

I love the saying "if life gives you lemons, make lemonade." But even better, in my opinion, is "if live gives you lemons, ask for tequila and salt."

Yesterday, life gave me a huge slice of chocolate peanut butter cake. No joke. We went to a restaurant for lunch, had a burger with a side salad (w/o cheese, etc) and had a couple of my hubby's fries instead of having my own order. I was allowing myself to indulge without going overboard, completely in control, or so I thought.

Then, as we waited for our bill, the waiter brought over a HUGE slice of chocolate peanut butter cake, on the house. Proving that, no matter how good you are, sometimes things are just out of your control.

I mean, who would even think something like that would ever happen? But it did.


I allowed myself to have one bite, which turned into two small bites as the cake was so tall. Then, I deployed a dieting trick that I only use in desperate circumstances.

I put my fork on the table, so it was dirty, and couldn't be used again.

I used to do this in China, when we were eating Chinese food which is always served family style. Each person has a small bowl or plate and you eat directly from the communal dishes. It is very hard to keep track of how much you eat this way, as you don't have a visual measure of it. Also, it is rude for them to 'clear the table' while you are still sitting there, so in China they leave the dishes in front of you for the remainder of the time you are there. Which leads to excessive picking in my case, another little piece here, a small pinch of that there and so on. So I used to put my chopsticks on the table. As dirty as some Chinese restaurants are, using them again would likely result in instant death or violent diarrhea. Either way, a risk not worth taking.

However, Singapore is nothing if not clean. So this move didn't have the same affect and I had to fight the urge to have just one more bite.

But I was successful, and lost a half lb to boot!

out on the town

Last night a friend from Beijing was visiting, and it was so fun to see her. I had the best friends in Beijing, that were like family. Even better was a girls dinner that I went to monthly, and it was like free therapy. We would meet at a restaurant, have drinks and dinner, and dish. We called ourself the fab five - and all of us were varying degrees of working moms, career women and expats.

Having said friend in town was such a treat for me, and of course, we went out to dinner!

We went to a fab restaurant and I had looked up the menu online and planned what fish I was going to have in advance. I knew we would likely have an appetizer and drinks, so I was super cautious about calories during the day so I had some to spare for dinner. In fact, by dinner time I had only had about 435 calories.

She picked the starter and it was crab and artichoke dip, not healthy but this is life. And we have to control ourselves in it instead of avoiding it all together. So I had about 2T, plus some chips. Well that works out to about 300 calories right there! Add in the wine and my calorie count got pretty high, but not too bad. Planning for it the rest of the day really helped, and I'm pleased to say I didn't gain...

Here is what yesterday looked like.

Monday weigh in

Monday January 21, 2011

Today I was 171.4 - which means I'm down 3 more lbs, and even better, have made my next goal!!!

Total lost to date, 10lbs.

I am ecstatic to have made my second goal, now I am off to celebrate with my mani/pedi. Except I went to the salon and they told me its an EXTRA $10 charge because of Chinese New Year. I told them that they should be doing PROMOTIONS for cny instead of charging us extra. As you can imagine, I then had to tell them they'd lost my business and I left. I'm going to Malaysia this weekend and will get it done there.

Sometimes, I even amuse myself!

why business class isn't vacation

When I first took on the regional role at my company, I was based in Beijing and covering Asia Pacific. The first six to nine months were filled with travel, as I made my way to different offices in the region meeting people and press. Going from a network where the blessing of God could hardly grant you travel approval, this was a whole new culture to me.

At first it was exciting, business class, five-star hotels, corporate credit cards, etc. While I've always been very careful and never taken advantage of this, what it means is that you are pampered the entire time. Your hotel has complimentary happy hour, breakfast buffets, you're in a business class lounge at the airport with food and free-flow drinks and your hotel room often comes with complimentary wine.

a Westin Hotel buffet

Let me be clear, business trips are a LOT of work. You tend to work longer hours than you do at home, you are running around meeting clients or in my case, press. You are also trying to squeeze in as much as you can - so there is a reason that companies try to make it as comfortable as possible - you are exhausted!

Despite an ability to wake up early, I almost never have the chance to enjoy the hotel pool or gym, or even go out to eat outside the hotel. But I have taken my blackberry to the hotel breakfast buffet and my laptop to the free happy hour (if I'm not in the office still).

After the first few business trips, I learned an important lesson. Business trips are NOT vacation. And you shouldn't act like they are. Mentally, something happens when you're in a nice hotel and flying business class, you start to feel like you're allowed to indulge. But this is not a holiday, its a Tuesday and you're working.

Luckily, most hotel buffets offer the same spread, and I know what I'm having before I arrive. I'm not tempted by all the options anymore. There are plenty of healthy things, from fresh fruit, salad bars, sashimi and fresh steamed seafood.

The reason you haven't heard from me in a week is not because I've fallen off the wagon, its because I was on a business trip in Dubai last week, and was averaging about 4 hours of sleep a night. Despite promising myself that I would soak in the bathtub (we don't have one at home), I didn't even have time to do that!

But don't worry, I wasn't vacationing, so my healthy living continued on (save for one night where I had a few too many! But who's perfect all the time?)

Monday weigh in

I'm down another lb for a total of 7. Today is 174.2.

I was glad to make progress again since I gained a lb last week. Losing that lb back, plus an additional one is good. I just want to keep seeing the numbers go down. It's never going to be as dramatic as the first week, but here's hoping for 1-2lbs a week.

looking for motivation?

My Mom once told me about visual motivation to keep you focused on your weight loss goals. She had read about people hanging up their bikinis in their room so that they could see it every day and be motivated to drop those few winter pounds in order to get 'beach ready' for summer.

I think this sounds like a great idea, except for me, I'm not trying to lose those last few pounds, just yet anyway. It wouldn't motivate me, it would feel too far away from where I am. I think that's why I never lost much weight before, my 50 lb goal was too far away, that it always felt like it didn't matter what I did today really.

I'm down 7lbs now total, and I'm focused on getting off 3lbs to meet my next goal.

In keeping with this incremental mentality, this is my first visual motivator.

My Jessica Simpson sequin dress

It's a black dress with gold sequins that I ordered online. It was expensive, by my standards, and while it is my size, it is a non-stretch material that is pinched in at the waist. It zips up ok, but I look like a stuffed (sparkly) sausage in it. It's just too tight in the tummy for me right now. But with the sequins, it can't be taken in or out.

I estimate losing 10lbs will make a huge difference in how it fits, although, it may be even more than this.

Either way, its something that fits, that I just need to get a few lbs off for it to fit better. I can't wait to try it on in a couple weeks. When I meet my next goal, only 3lbs away, I'm gonna try it on and see if losing the first 10lbs made a difference. If not, it'll hang on my wall a little bit longer, maybe until the next 5lb goal.

Either way, I am SO excited to rock that dress.

tempting fate

Yesterday I posted before I had left the office. So yes, I had put what I was having for a snack and dinner in there and put it out there for the world to see.

I was taking charge!

But then life b*tch slapped me and told me not to count my chickens before they've hatched. Or, well, in my case, before they've defrosted...but I'll get to that in a minute.

My afternoon started to sour, literally, when I went to have my afternoon snack. I still have quite a few weight watchers mini cans of tuna in sauce from when I was doing that diet. They're not great, in fact, I secretly kind of hate them. But I decided I should use them, and they are low calorie and a good source of protein. So I packed some off to work and stuck it in my drawyer with a pack of ryvita crackers. A mini can on the cracker works out to be 100 calories, and obviously protein + hi-fiber is a winning combo.

I decided to go with the mango chutney tuna, I was feeling tangy, you know how it is. After a few bites, it struck me that this looks like cat food, so I took a picture for y'all. You're welcome. But then I started thinking that this tastes worse than I remember it... Choking down another bite, I tell myself that I'm just being paranoid because I've gone and thought about cat food!


I'm now nearly half way through forcing down my Ryvita and I pick the lid of the can up out of the trash. That's when I discover the tuna expired in June 2010. So, perhaps that's the sour taste.

You'll be proud of me, I didn't gag at my desk. But I threw the rest out. So my snack moves down from 100 calories to 50 rancid calories!

I took the opportunity to check the rest of the tuna cans, and don't you know, the rest are all good until 2012, so I picked just the right one.

As if this wasn't enough, I called my husband in the afternoon to ask him to take a chicken breast out of the freezer for me. I bought two fresh ones the other day and stuck them in there, and he was supposed to be out for his class that night so I decided I would just make some grilled chicken when I got home. Boring, but super healthy, and I always lose weight when I make it. Mr Supportive starts telling me that he can't see it in the freezer, but there is already one on the counter defrosting.

This sends alarm bells off for me, it means our nanny has taken it out of the freezer and is likely planning to stir-fry it for my dinner. Such a great thing that she is thinking of cooking for me, but at the same time, she will use a quarter cup of oil on that one breast. So I ask him to put her on the phone, but he says she's upstairs napping. So I ask him to please tell her that I'll just grill it myself when I get home as I'm trying to be healthy. She supports this and will totally understand.

But as I hang up the phone, I don't feel quite right about it, in fact, I feel a bit cranky but that could be because I just ate half a can of rotten tuna, who knows.

Well work gets busy and I don't leave the office till 7:15, which means I'll get home at 7:45 if I splurge and take a cab. Not wanting to eat too late, I do just that. The hubby calls me on the way home, while he is headed to his class and tells me that X (our nanny) had stir fried the chicken already by the time he saw her. Really... He then helpfully tells me that if I'm trying to eat earlier I should leave work earlier.

So, I had a small portion of stir-fried chicken and a quarter cup of rice for dinner, with some broccoli cooked in soy sauce. Just to make sure that yesterday wasn't the day I dealt with the sodium issue. (I looked it up, and a T of soy sauce has pretty much your daily max amount of sodium. Awesome).

An interesting side note is my hubby spent 30 minutes getting to his class only to find out they moved them from Wednesday to Tuesday, so it wasn't an off-night for only me. :-)


So, here's what Wednesday REALLY looked like.



Needless to say, I felt borderline hostile last night and ended up in tears before I went to bed.

Luckily, I'd lost a half lb back this morning. Is it annoying that more than half the week is gone and I'm still up a half lb from last weigh in? Yes, but at least we have downward motion again!!

post-lose blues

So after feeling great about losing six lbs last week, I've gained 1lb back and feel awful. One, I'm frustrated because there is not an obvious reason why, and secondly, because its been a half lb gain two days in a row. The first day I could deal with, a slight fluctuation is normal, but upward motion two days in a row is upsetting.

The only thing I can think of is that I had more Asian food the last two days, both home-cooked by my nanny and also eating out. While I don't think I went over my daily calories and I don't think that I over-ate, the only thing I wonder about is the sodium. I know the soup was salty last night, but it was water (fresh broth) based, not oily, so I thought it would be fine.

Last night I got to thinking about sodium in food, as my husband and I were watching The Biggest Loser. It was an old season airing here in Asia, and the challenge was that the contestants were forced to eat out every meal for a week. This is a great challenge in my opinion, because you can't NOT eat out, and its important to know you can do it and how to still be healthy. At a Mexican restaurant, one of the contestants had a salad with grilled shrimp, dressing on the side, and a small side of black beans (made without lard). So she thought she had a healthy choice, and Jillian Michaels starts harping on her about the sodium content. I felt like I missed something. Did this woman have high blood pressure, a heart condition? Or, does sodium affect weight loss? It could not have come at a more relevant moment for me.

Of course I know you can retain water if you eat too much sodium, but I've never thought of this as being a problem for overall weight loss. I drink lots of water and I guess I thought that will flush out in a day or two. But this is something I'm going to look into, I'm not a regular viewer so I've obviously missed where they had talked about this before.

The bottom line is, nothing is worse than thinking you've done the right thing and then not seeing results. It just makes me want to know where I went wrong, so I can fix it. It's the not knowing what to fix that is frustrating.

Today, I'm cooking all my meals and controlling 100 percent what goes in my body. My hope is that I still have progress by my next week weigh in - despite this upward motion.

Oh, and I'm so focused on sodium at the moment that I swear my hands are swollen today... Paranoid? Or am I on to something?


UPDATE!!!
Tracked down a video of Jillian Michaels explaining why sodium is bad for weight loss. This is a post about how to shed some weight quickly, like how to slim down for a special event, etc. But what's interesting to me is what she says about the role of sodium on weight in general, and I bet when I have Asian food, which often has msg and salt, plus sometimes soy sauce, that I'm getting way beyond the daily amount of sodium. This of course doesn't mean that I'm retaining 50 lbs of water weight, but it does mean I could be seriously impairing my metabolism - blocking my own progress.

Here's her key points:

• Sodium slows your metabolism
• Sodium causes you to retain excess fluids
• Limit your salt or sodium intake to only 1500mg a day so you won't retain any fluid (water weight) and for an extra weight loss boost...
• Lower your salt intake to 500mg for only a few days (usually no longer than 2 days) to shed those water pounds quickly and...
• The main high sodium foods to avoid are: canned, frozen, processed, & packaged foods and...
• Drink 2 liters of distilled water each day to flush out the excess water weight you're carrying around now - Distilled water is basically PURE water with no salt or minerals in it and...

See her explain it all here.

no more snooze

In my industry, people tend to work long and often unpredictable hours. My role in the ad agency is marketing and PR for the agency itself, not clients, so it means that I am usually not as bad as some of my colleagues - these hours are not diet friendly. On a good day, I'm likely to get home around 7:30 at the earliest.

My choice is then, prepare dinner, spend time with my family or exercise.

After a long day at the office, I'm ravenous, and I want to spend that next hour before my daughter's bedtime, with her.

What this means is that my only time for exercising during the week, is in the morning before work. This means getting up at 6:20 to go for a run. I HATE getting up early - which is surprising considering I'm a morning person. My ideal day? Getting up around 7:30, going for a run, checking some emails, grabbing a quick shower and making a healthy breakfast. Then being online for the day by about 9:30. I'm solid from about that time, until 2-3 in the afternoon. Then it becomes a struggle and I count the hours till I'm done. And I LIKE my job....but I digress.

The point is, I'm a master of planning to go for a run in the morning, setting my alarm, and either falling victim to the eternal snooze game or somehow, managing to sleep through my alarm whilst clutching it in my hand.

I've tried everything, laying out my clothes by the bed, texting with virtual running partners, as I don't have anyone around me to run with. But I've always found an excuse or a reason to not get up, arguing (as any parent can) that I need the sleep.

But the Couch to 5K running program requires 3 spaced runs a week. So two have to fall during the work-week, which means that I've got to break my vicious cycle and get out of bed earlier.

This morning is the first time I've had to do my morning run, since committing to my healthier life last week.

Last night, as I lay in bed agonizing over how I had to get up early, I started trying to pump myself up mentally so I wouldn't blow it in the morning. I knew that it was crucial, that I do it right the first time and that would really set the stage for me either succeeding at this new lifestyle, or falling victim to my history of 'two weeks of any plan'. Then something really simple occurred to me, how much am I really getting out of an extra 40 minutes sleep?

This seems so obvious, its embarrassing.

Needless to say, I went through my normal thought-process this morning at 6:20...

Devil: What!? ALREADY!! No.... I'm so tired.
Angel: No, I have to. I'm already awake now.
Devil: Why? I could just go back to sleep for an hour. C'mon, it would feel so good to just fall back asleep now.
Angel: If I don't go today, than this could potentially send us down the wrong path, back into our bad habits.
Devil: I can go tomorrow and run, its only Tuesday, it doesn't have to be today!
Angel: All this arguing means I'm already awake, and what good is 40 more minutes going to do?!

So I got up, and started the next installment of my running program. And it went well. And I got to work on time.

And I've officially turned over my new leaf.



Exercise - 33 mins (18 interval walk/jog) - week 3 of C25K program

Breakfast - 200

• 1 cups of coffee with low fat milk
  
• mila with 98.9% ff plain yogurt, 1 handful of blueberries

Lunch - 475

• mixed salad with cucumbers and tomatoes, vinegar
• roasted chicken (skin removed)
• 1.5c rice

Dinner - 600

• salad
• fish head soup (questionable if this is lean or fatty, and it was pretty salty)
• bread

Total - about 1300 cal

a case of the mondays

Monday, January 10, 2011

So today was one of my first days back in the office. Over the holidays, we moved offices - so try not to be jealous. As if moving 3 times in a year wasn't enough fun, moving offices is also a super way to ring in the holidays.

After standing in the elevator shaft yesterday morning for 20 mins (a new door lock system was implemented while I was away) to the realization that there are no Starbucks in walking distance of this office, I can say a "case of the Mondays" were in full effect by 9:30am.

While I had managed to pack a small salad for lunch with leftovers, it really wasn't enough to suffice as a meal, more as a side. So when colleagues asked me to lunch, I jumped at the chance to not have to 'explore' the neighborhood in the rain, but follow people who have been here for two weeks already.

We went across the street to a small food court type place, but its a sorry excuse for a food court. While I was secretly nervous about the limited healthy options a five stand outdoor food court would present, my colleagues quickly comforted me.

"This place is nasty," they said. "But its raining, so we don't want to walk 15 minutes back to the old office."

The old office had business centers on all sides, with everything from Subway, to small cafes, Starbucks, coffee bean, a small deli stand, noddle shops, etc. In short, you could easily go healthy if you wanted...not that I totally took advantage of that at the time!

So looking at the four stands of greasy noddles and deep fried meats, I saw a chicken rice stand! Diet saved, I thought. Chicken rice stands are immensely popular, the best part is that most of them offer a steamed chicken option, which is just steamed chicken over white rice. So I step up and order, only to find out they are 'sold out' - which is a term loosely used in Asia that can mean anything from 'we've never had it' to 'we're truly sold out today, sorry' to 'we will never serve that here'.

So, I went for what I thought would be the next best thing, roasted pork over rice. It's roasted, that's gotta be healthier than fried chicken or pork, and better to have a small serving of meat over steamed rice vs greasy noodles, right?

When my plate arrived, I realize the term 'roasted' had a different meaning.

what roasted pork looks like (although this is double my portion)

It was basically cuts of pork that had the lean meat, the fat and the crispy skin on on one piece. Tasty of course, but no one in their right mind would call it a healthy choice. It may have been the lesser of evils, but it was a far cry from diet friendly.

Luckily, it was a very small portion. Probably 3oz of meat total, and I only ate half my rice. Unfortunately, I was left feeling guilty for a bit over this dilemma.

But I shook it off, this is part of a long-term plan to turn my body/health around. And real life means situations like this.

And anyway, I'm pretty sure food guilt makes you gain weight on the spot, so who needs it!

Exercise - rest day

Breakfast - 350
1c noodle soup w fresh spinach and 1 egg
coffee w/ low fat milk

Lunch - 500
side leftover cous cous salad (1/3 c), and lettuce mix
roasted pork 2/3 c rice -

Dinner - 530
stir fried chicken with carrots and yellow pepper
1/2c white rice
1/2c cucumber in vinegar
chocolate - 90 cal

Total daily? Your guess is as good as mine! But approximately 1380.

five pound glory

Yes!! Today is my first Monday morning weigh in, and I've not only met my first goal, five pounds, I've surpassed it!

I'm down a total of 6!!

I've always loved the first week of any diet, you see such great results as the 'easy lbs' come off first - if there is such a thing! What I do know, is that I usually lose about 3-4lbs the first week of most diets, and up to 7lbs on some really hardcore ones.

I feel extremely proud of what I have done this week, the first week of being healthy - not dieting.

Pedicure here I come! I will enjoy meeting this first goal, while setting my sights on the next, now just 4 lbs away. Small, attainable goals.

hawker center hunt

Sunday January 9, 2011

Today we were meeting our good friend for lunch, and we were looking for cheap and cheerful, so decided to go to a food court. Singapore is famous for their foodcourts, also called hawker centers, which have little stands offering everything from Chinese to Japanese to Korea to Western, Indian, Thai and even more.

photo online that shows some of the standard food court options

While this sounds like you are spoiled for choice, and you are, they are a dieters worst nightmare! Eating at food courts means you are getting primarily oily rice or noodle based dishes, soup noodles, sizzling plates of meat, curry, etc. There is a severe shortage of things not-fried, drenched in sauce or carb heavy. It's great hangover food, but its not so awesome of your waistline.

For the first time, I'm committed to losing weight without dieting, but through common sense. I've found that I can do anything for two weeks. Live on cabbage soup? Sure. Cut out meat? No problem. Wait, now only eat meats and fatty cheese (hello Atkins!), can do. Oops, try low fat and reintroduce heart-healthy carbs? Sure. Ohhhh, its about the right kind of carbs (southbeach diet), I get it... I can have anything within my points, great, and so on and so on. From doing every diet on the planet, I think it boils down to just having enough common sense, often enough, to make a difference.

I want this to be sustainable. And it is unrealistic to avoid real life, so I don't want to not eat in food courts, because that would be missing out on a part of Singapore. That being said, it's so unbelievably hard to pick something good, so I had to plan my day around it. I had a late breakfast of just fruit and coffee, because I slept in today. Then I had a medium dinner, in fact, I would have had a larger portion at dinner but I wanted to compensate for the fact that my lunch could have had hidden calories.

I chose Korean at lunch, because Korean food is generally not oily like Chinese food, and the Japanese stand wasn't sushi, it was teriyaki, deep fried squid and shrimp, etc. The other possible choice was a Western stand that served italian style pasta, which may have been ok.

I got thin sliced beef on raw cabbage (hooray for something green!), with plain white rice. It was good, and I hope not too naughty..,because -tomorrow is weigh in day!


Exercise - C25K week 2: 33 mins (20 min interval training)

Breakfast - approx 55 cal

• 1/2 c fresh papaya
• coffee with skim

Lunch - approx 550 cal

• Korean stir-fried beef (4oz, lean) over 1/2c fresh cabbage
• 1/2t soy sauce
• 1.5c rice
• 1t kimchee

Afternoon
diet coke

Dinner - approx 475

• 1c whole wheat pasta with garlic, shrimp and fresh basil, mushrooms and tomatoes
• mixed veg salad w olives, 10 cal dressing
• 1 piece dark chocolate w chili - 25 cal

Total Calories - about 1080
(This is actually a bit low, but since we ate lunch at a food court with a friend today, I specifically ate low-cal the rest of the day as I can't be 100 percent on the calories at lunch. This could be higher on the amount of oil or sauces used).

pan seared red snapper

Here is the recipe for the super easy pan seared red snapper I made for dinner last night. I got it online, it's literally the first recipe that comes up if you google 'snapper recipe' and is via Allrecipes.

I cut down on the oil, I also don't have ground ginger in the house so I used shredded fresh ginger. I also couldn't find rice wine vinegar in Asia, so have substituted with rice vinegar, which is Chinese and stronger, so I just put less in the marinade. It still turned out great!

What I love about this recipe is that you don't have to plan ahead. You don't have to marinate for ages, etc. Although, yesterday (my second time making it), I did leave the fish to sit in the marinate for about 30 mins only because my family wasn't quite ready for dinner. I doubled the recipe for 4.

Bon appetit!

Pan Seared Red Snapper

Ingredients

• 2 (4 ounce) fillets red snapper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions

1. Rinse snapper under cold water, and pat dry. In a shallow bowl, mix together olive oil, lemon juice, rice vinegar, mustard, honey, green onions, and ginger.
2. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Dip snapper fillets in marinade to coat both sides, and place in skillet. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Pour remaining marinade into skillet. Reduce heat, and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Nutritional Information

The nutrition data for this recipe includes information for the full amount of the marinade ingredients. Depending on marinating time, ingredients, cooking method, etc., the actual amount of the marinade consumed will vary.

Amount Per Serving Calories: 224 | Total Fat: 8.5g | Cholesterol: 41mg

Cooking my red snapper, yum!

Saturday January 8, 2011

My husband and daughter returned home (we live in Singapore now) from an extended stay in England after Christmas. I've had half a week of being home alone, being healthy and exercising. It's easy to do when its just me. It's significantly harder when my husband is around.

Not that he isn't supportive, quite the opposite, he believes in what I'm doing. But that doesn't mean that he wants to do it, all the time.

Yesterday morning I woke up to him suggesting we go out to breakfast. How sweet is that?! That never happens, and I was excited about it. If we were at home in Florida (where I'm from) or in England (where he is from) I would have jumped at the chance. I could easily order and egg white omlette (which I love) or something healthy in most cafes. But where we live in Singapore, the option is the food court at the bottom of our road. Coffee made with condensed milk, white bread with butter and sugar and 2 soft boiled (runny almost raw) eggs. That's the traditional breakfast, of course I could also get a bowl of greasy noodles...

traditional Singaporean breakfast - Kopi (coffee), kaya +butter toast and runny eggs

My husband was devestated that I expressed concern, here he is being spontaneous! Oh, and he'd been up with our daughter since 3am, both of them extremely jet-lagged, so he was ready to get out of the house. I suggested I eat first at the house and go down with him and just have a coffee, which he told me would 'ruin it'.

So I suggested I cook a big family breakfast for everyone, and English breakfast! Baked beans, eggs, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms, the works. This was more exciting than the food at the food court, but significantly healthier (just don't tell him that).

So...here's my day!

Exercise - none, it was a rest day

Breakfast - approx 300 cal

• 1.5 egg scrambled with peppers and onions
• 2 T baked beans
• 1/2 slice wholegrain toast
• 2T grilled mushrooms and small tomatoes
• coffee w/ skim

Lunch - 325 cal

• Subway 6in roasted chicken breast (no cheese), all vegies and mustard

Afternoon snack - approx 200 cal

• 3 peanut m&ms (leftover from christmas!)
• 2 fresh vegie and meat dumplings, steamed
• small green apple

Dinner - approx 520 cal

• 2 bites of mac n cheese with vegies and chicken that i made for my daughter!

• 4 oz pan grilled red snapper
• 1 c cous cous salad (altho most is tomatoes with probably 1/2c actual cous cous)
• vegie salad with salad dressing spray (10 cal)
• 2 glasses dry white wine
• 1 square dark chocolate

dinner is served!

Total - approx 1200 cal

Friday January 7, 2011

I've already realized its not enough for me to just blog about my journey toward meeting my goals, I actually need to hold myself publicly accountable.

So I'm going to post my daily food and exercise diary.

Exercise
34 mins total (20 mins run/walk intervals - week2 couch to 5K plan)

Breakfast (about 300 calories total)
(unfortunately woke up at 4am a bit jetlagged, so had two breakfasts....)

• 1/3c fresh papaya
• 2 cups of coffee with skim
• mila with 98.9% ff plain yogurt, 1T fresh passion fruit, 1 handful of blueberries

Mila is an extremely low cal, hi-fiber seed. One scoop (which makes a small bowl) is 70cal

Mid morning snack (er, at 9:30 am given my early morning)

• 3 fresh steamed pork & vegie dumplings

Lunch (guessing around 450 cals)

• small bowl of leftover couscous and salad, with 1 strip leftover grilled salmon
• small, homemade turkey sandwich on wholegrain bread, with vegies and dijonaise

My leftover couscous and 1 strip of salmon wasn't enough for a whole meal, but was probably too filling to be a side? Oh well, will compensate with lighter dinner.

Afternoon snack - approx 100 cal

• diet coke
• 1 chicken wing (why? because they were cooked fresh in the kitchen in a yummy sauce. This my friends, is actually what spurred me to do the diary. Because that was mindless eating, eating it because I was offered it and I wasn't even hungry. I was in there to get more water).

Dinner - around 380 cal
2 skinless chicken wings
1/4 cup white rice
1/3 cup chinese spinach
1 square of 70% dark chocolate

Total calories roughly 1430... not awesome!

I have to say today was very hindered by being hungry all day due to my day starting so early. Here's hoping tomorrow is better.

the holiday weight debate

There are really two schools of thought when it comes to the holidays. Those who preach moderation during this special time of the year. Indulging in your favorite foods, if only for a little bite, but having them nonetheless.

The other school of thought, is that this is the proverbial 'get out of jail free' card, which entitles you to let loose and gorge yourself on anything and everything in sight, whilst washing it down with a fabulous cocktail.

In all honestly, I've probably spent most of my life falling into the latter group.

My ultimate weakness is nibbles. I would rather skip all my meals, so long as I can enjoy dips and finger food. In fact, I think this is yet another example of how I'm destined to live in Spain (tapas, wine, sangrias, siestas, yep - all my favorite things!), but that's another story.

This year, I tried a different approach. Gasp, I actually practiced moderation - my Dad would be so proud! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going to pretend that I had a lick of dessert and not a serving. Oh no, I indulged, but I was cautious, dare I say careful even, about my portion sizes. I didn't over pile my plate, go in for seconds, etc.

The result is that I gained 3 lbs over two weeks. Considering this year was Christmas in England (land of stodgy, filling food), I chalk this down as a minor victory.

Traditional English Christmas Dinner

Even better, is I've already lost 2.5 of the 3lbs!

So while the holidays come but once a year, its not as if I'm starving myself the rest of the year and saving up for them. No, so I think from here on out I'm going to go with the moderation approach.

Maybe this just means I'm finally maturing?

one objective, two goals

Obviously my main objective is to lose the weight, and get back to a healthy size. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that carrying excess weight in your waist is the most dangerous kind of weight gain.

That's always been where I've gained it, quickly followed by my face/chin.

Some people gain in their thighs and butts, I hate these people. They're called pear-shaped. I would like to call them 'people who can work it'. Pear shapes can, in most cases, easily cover their weight fluctuations in nice skirts, as a thin face and tiny waist, overall, make you look thin.

Not me, my face gives itself away - in fact, it probably makes me look even heavier than I am. I've seen people who have 200 lbs to lose, who have a tight chin, and you'd be amazed how you automatically think they are thinner than they are.

Let's just say, with a big midsection and face, I'm not 'wearing it well'. There's really not much one can do to hide the midsection. Flowy tops make you look pregnant, empire waists do the same.

So while it sounds vain, my sole objective is to lose the weight.

But I have two goals...

1. Eat Better - by this I mean to eat better more often but not 'diet'. I don't want this to be a temporary thing, I don't want to yo-yo. In the past few years, I've lost 10 lbs on the low GI diet, then gained it back. 20 lbs on weight watchers, then gained it back. I just can't mentally be on a diet the rest of my life. But, I am willing to count calories and be aware of what I'm eating, and compensate for certain allowances by being extra good before/after.

2. Get in Shape - I don't just want to shrink down, I want to build muscle and improve health through stamina and exercise. I want to be a runner, I want to get back into tennis, and I want to just be more active overall.

I've always been moderately active (gym a couple times a week) and I eat pretty well. I think its just not often enough, and not consistent enough. Most importanlty, I've never really gotten the two things working at the same time. I've either dieted, but was so hungry or too afraid to be hungry, to really incorporate exercise. Or, I've exercised and therefore felt like I was burning more calories so could eat more - only maintaining my weight at best.

You can see I have created a reward system for myself on this blog, to the right column. I've done a system according to weight loss goals, but also to fitness goals.

This is what I'm doing - the Couch to 5K Running Plan. Check it out here. http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

I'm starting at week 2, as I already do some running. Just did my first run yesterday, and it was good. Easy enough to make me want to go again today, instead of quit.

I plan to weigh in weekly, to track my progress on a weekly basis. Of course, I no doubt will weigh in between on occasion, but its crazy to hold yourself to daily fluctuations. Once I find my tape measure - I'll use that as a tool too. One thing I learned in WW was how important measuring becomes, as sometimes you don't lose weight, but you lost inches, which is as important.


So, here we go....

the ugly truth

I'm not a big person, really. I'm a small person trapped in a big person's body.

Seems like I may have heard that somewhere before...

Anyway, it's true! I've always been thin, active and relatively healthy. I struggled with weight to a normal degree in college, gaining the Freshman 15 30, and losing it by Junior year. Gaining some back partying senior year, and losing it after graduation. After that, I was pretty much at a healthy, manageable weight for me, and that is what I would like to get back to.

This was me then, 2005 @ 135lbs. I need to lose 50 lbs to get back to this healthy weight.

Let me be clear, this is NOT the weight that I was in highschool, and I don't have some unrealistic expectation. In fact, I enjoyed the first 10 lbs I gained after highschool, and I was grateful for the curves that came with them. I was a size 4 in highschool, without trying. I loved being a 6, and even the early days of being an 8 (before the midsection became disproportionate).

When I tell people I need to lose 50 lbs, they politely say 'you're crazy!' or 'you don't have that much to lose! There'd be nothing left'. But these people didn't know me before, so its hard for them to know the dramatic change that has occured in the last five years.

This is me now.
Ok ok, that is probably my worst photo ever taken. Of course I could show you ones where I'm hiding it better, but that's not the point of this blog. This is the ugly truth. This is my double chin and my baby belly that hasn't gone back where it belongs (before you say 'oh but you had a baby' or some other unhelpful excuse, my 'baby' is turning 4 this year!). Even worse, in a day and age when we are used to watching people shed hundreds of lbs on the biggest loser, 50lbs hardly seems like a lot. But it is. In fact, for my height it puts me in the 'obese' category. And I'll be the first to tell you I don't consider myself obese, but maybe our views are so skewed by how large society has gotten...

So there it is. I'm at 181.6 lbs and ready to shed.

Feel free to encourage me when I need the push, call bull-shit if I start dishing it, and share your anecdotes, successes and challenges with me.

I hope to have more than just my parents (who live halfway around the world!) rooting for me here. So bring it on.