I feel sleepy!!!!  I feel sleepy!!!!  Last night right before my flute lesson I went to the 99 Ranch market and picked up some stuff so I could cook when I got home.  Now, if now one is waiting for me to eat, I’m a slow poke.  I turn on the TV, wash some veggies, watch some TV, come back and maybe cut some veggies, watch some TV, take the dogs out to pee-pee….   So I started cooking at 9:45, and I didn’t finish till 12:30 a.m.  Then I decided I wanted to watch all these shows I had recorded on my DVR that I never got too.  Aaahh.. don’t you just love the convenience of all this new technology.  Makes life easier doesn’t it?  Or at least it makes me stay up late!  I was so sleepy, but I still wanted to watch my show, I laid horizontally on the sofa struggling to keep my eyes open.  But of course I pass out…   And when I woke up this morning, the TV was blaring, my door to the patio was wide open, all the lights were on, and my blanket was pull over my head, with my feet sticking out the other end.  Seeeexxxy isn’t it?  Aaaarrrgh!  So not worth it.  I’m SO tired right now.  I just want to put my head on my desk and PASS OUT.  And what else is weird is that right when I get home, I somehow get all my energy back.  Hmph.  Go figure.

 

Oh, and sorry if this is TMI….. But ever since I started working out consistently everyday, I have been going to the bathroom regularly.  I can’t believe it.  Cause this has been a problem for me since grade school.  And I know this is a problem for a lot of girl’s as well.  So .. in case you’re not regular, go work out.

 

Anyway, I got up this morning (late) and shoved some breakfast down.. because I wanted to make sure I ate about 1.5 hours before I worked out.  I had 1 slice of Milton’s whole grain toast with some spray butter, 4 scrambled egg whites, and a cup of coffee with a little non-fat milk no sugar.  Got to the gym and did 5 minutes of warm up jogging.  Then it was off to the weights.  I did mainly ‘pushes’ today.  So it was mainly shoulders and tripceps, and I finished off weight training with some abs exercises.  After doing weights, I did cardio on the treadmill for another 50 minutes or so and burned 515 calories.  The weight training, just to be safe, I would say burned about 100 cals.  So total today was 615 calories.  I also read on a forum that right after a workout, the calories are still burning at a elevated pace of 10 – 15% faster for … I can’t remember how long, I think it said 30 minutes to an hour?

 

OH and another interesting thing that I just read today on a forum is that a magazine said that 48 hours is the amount of time you can go without working out before your body will store the calories that you would typically burn as FAT.  And it was saying don’t be sedentary for longer than two days.  You have to do SOMETHING.  ANYTHING.  Go out and walk around for 30 minutes is counted as doing something.  Also there has been studies conducted on mice and showed after 2 days of inactivity, their fat cells showed 25% increase.  Okay after all the hard work I’m putting out.. I don’t want anything to be increasing!  I want; decrease!  Decrease!  Decrease!  And now thinking back how when I went on trips I never brought any workout clothes and shoes, never took advantage of the gym facilities they had on site…   which all could have been kinda fun.  I actually find workout out enjoyable and rewarding.  Whereas before, I would never get my lazy ass out to the gym this much.  And to think all those cruises I took and all I did was eat!!  The cruise ships had an excellent little gym on there.  I could have been working out and eating MORE!  Hahaha…  Next time.  I’m discovering a new me.  This is fun.

 

Dinner is going to be this new Shepard’s Pie I found in the frozen section of Trader Joe’s.  I have it at home, so I’ll going to swing home to eat dinner and then head back out to the office to get some work done.  OR maybe I should just do my work at home.  I don’t know, we’ll see.

 

So I realized that I like working out in the morning way better.  I may have to get up earlier than most people, and be sweating like a mad-woman while people are still comfy under their big goose down blankets, just so I can spend a couple hours at the gym, also shower after, do my makeup, get ready for work.  But it sure as hell beats really pushing myself to go after a long day of work and getting off at almost 10 p.m.  OR it beats wanting to go after a long day of work but only to find myself give in and head home.

 

My first day of workout starts on every Sunday.  And I’m still sticking with minimum 6x/week, minimum calories to burn 500/day or 3000/week.  So far this week I’m at a total of 1913.  YAY!!

 

So I’m allowed a cheat meal every once in a while.  Though on a day I’m having a cheat meal, I’d probably take it real easy during the day so I won’t feel like I’m poisoning myself with calorie overload.  Anyway, I was thinking if I’m really really good this week, I’d like to have a cheat meal maybe on a Sunday or something.  So far I have 2 things lined up that I want to cheat on 2 separate weeks.  First one is, I’d like to go to Denny’s and have their Chicken Fried Steak and Eggs.  Yum yum yum!  I haven’t had that in like.. a year or something.  Or I could just have their Moons Over My Hammy sandwich which is really good too.  Second cheat meal I’d like to have is  BIG MAC.  Don’t know why, I’m really craving these two things.

 

Okay, back to work…

 

 

 

 

For lunch I ended up going to Curry House in Rowland Heights and had their chicken salad with the dressing on the side.  Their salad was really fresh and their sesame dressing was actually pretty good.  I ate the salad by just dipping in the sauce, and used approximately 1 tablespoon.  Had I not asked for the sauce on the side, the salad would have been drenched in the dressing and I think it they use about ¼ of a cup at times.

 

I didn’t get a chance to eat my 2% fage yogurt yet because I still feel so full.  I think eating eggs in the morning really does help stay full longer.  I think I’ve read in multiple places about how eggs keep you satiated.

 

I’m debating on if I should hit the Chinese market to buy some food so I can cook at home tonight.  I’m also debating on taking a break from the gym tonight.  But I probably won’t.  I’ll probably just go and do 60 minutes today and get out, instead of something like 80 or 90 minutes.  So my goal today is to just burn 500 cals.

 

Found a new blog site introducing food in Taiwan  http://hungryintaipei.blogspot.com/index.html

 

Of course I worked out last night.  I had a call night at the office from 6 – 9 p.m.  Afterwards went to the gym for 80 minutes or so, did the treadmill and burned 633 calories.  I noticed that when I my hear monitor tells me I’ve burned 350 cals or so, my workout starts feeling increasingly fast.  Pretty soon I hit 500 and then I’m like, hey I can still go some more.  Hence all the 600+ days I’ve been reaching.

 

Went to Trader Joe’s yesterday with my little break at 5 p.m., right before call night.  I picked up some 2% fage, better n’ peanut butter, some 100 graham crackers, a greek salad, and rosemary chicken and wild rice.  I wanted to buy the 0% fage, but they were out when I went yesterday.  So I loaded up on the 2%.  Fage is a greek yogurt that low in cal, low in sugar, and high in protein.  I just recently learned about fage.. and it’s SO good.  1 container of 2% fage has approx 130 calories, 4 grams of fat, and 17 grams of protein.  And of course the 0% page is even lower.  I mix the fage with either a little bit splenda or a little honey and it really does taste just like a desert AND it’s good for you.  YUM!  Eating one container of fage is almost as much protein as drinking a serving of protein shake.  I’m not sure but I think the 0% fage has even a higher protein content.  Can’t guarantee that.  But the next time I go to Trader Joe’s (which will be soon) I’ll make sure to check it out.

 

Breakfast today was a fried egg with just a spray of olive oil and 2 strips of center cup bacon.  Just had water to go along with it.  Snack will be my 2% fage with some honey and splenda.  For dinner I was thinking I’d come home and cook something…  But I’ll figure that out later today.

 

And then this week it’s back to flute lessons starting tonight!!

 

I ended up not going to the gym Saturday because Tammy and I hung out a bit after dinner down in Irvine, and by the time we were done it was late.  But I did go on Sunday (which initially was my day off) just because I had to meet my 6 days a week.  So on Sunday (yesterday) I did the treadmill for a total of 90 minutes.  I did jogging for 45 minutes, and then I did 45 minutes of sprinting/walking.  Total calories burned was 655 according to my Polar heart rate monitor was 655.  I noticed as I’m working out, right in the middle of it I get SO hungry.  I get so hungry to the point that my stomach starts grinding and it really doesn’t feel good.  If it’s in the evening I’m exercising, I normally would have had my dinner 3 or 4 hours ahead of time.  And then maybe 30 minutes before arriving at the gym I would have had a snack of maybe half a fruit or something.  I wonder if my metabolism has picked up a bit since I started this running and burning 500+ cals everyday thing.  Anyway, the next time I go I have to remember to bring some protein bars with me or something.  Because the hunger pain I feel is not the kind that can wait till I shower, change, get dressed, and drive over somewhere to get food kinda thing.

 

So after running for 2 weeks, my weight hasn’t logged any changes… but I noticed my stomach is flatter and my waist feels smaller.  I also fit into my pants so much better.  I hear that sometimes the weight doesn’t really register till later because at this stage I could very possibly be building lean muscle while I’m burning a little bit of fat.  And a lot of times I don’t go by what the scale tells me since lean muscle is smaller in size than fat..  so it may not be accurate going by the scale.

 

Today for breakfast I had 1 scrambled whole egg with 2 egg whites with a little bit of salt and pepper, 2 strips of center cut bacon ( center cut is more lean, only 50 cals for 2 strips and something like 4 grams of fat.  Better than normal fatty bacon.) and a small cup of coffee with milk no sugar.  Total for breakfast was 159 cals.

 

Tonight I have a calling session going on at work.  So I’ll probably still hit the gym but after work at around 9:30 p.m. or so.

 

Back on to Saturday.  I had a awesome time with Beverly and Tammy.  We couldn’t stop talking.  We even ended up talking in the underground parking for 20 minutes before we could get ourselves to part.  It’s weird how there’s just so much to say.  Both girls are exactly what I imagined them to be and I would say we definitely clicked.  Beverly and Johnny also introduced me to Pinkberry, a frozen yogurt place that I am absolutely in love with now.  I think I’m going to find a time to go back and maybe take a couple of my girlfriends.  So pretty much we had a great time and I wouldn’t doing this again soon!  For dinner we went to this small Italian place and it was the cutest little restaurant maybe with 10 or 15 tables at most.  Service was great, food was awesome.  I had this pasta with meat sauce dish that I shared with everyone, and then I ended up eating half of it and boxed the rest home.  I also had some bread before the entree came out..  I looked up same ragu meat sauce with pasta and figured my entree was probably something like 450 - 500 calories.  And then the bread and olive oil I had was something like 200 cals.  So my entire meal probably max 700 cals.  Not too bad since I did leave room for dinner that night.

 

Some pictures….

 

When we first got to the Italian restaurant...

 

 

 

 

Bev's boy, Johnny, and Tammy's good friend out here in Cali -Mike...

 

 

 

 

Tammy waiting in line for her Pinkberry...

 

 

 

There were so good...

 

 

 

They were the cutest couple... and so awesome together..

 

 

 

Later I hung out with Tammy and Mike down in Irvine...

 

 

 

Us girls...

 

 

 

Pinkberry...

 

 

 

 

We were like the paparazzi...

 

 

 

too cute...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, even though I reached my goal of 3000 calories burned per week… I’m still going to go to the gym tonight after I get back home from dinner with Beverly and Tammy.  Since I only reached half of my New Year’s resolution.  I did meet my calorie goal… but I didn’t go 6x yet.  I’m only at 5 right now.

 

Last night I went to Vanguard with a girlfriend.  I knew in the daytime I was going to go have a few drinks at night, so I did save some calories for that.  Since alcohol pretty much has empty calories, I didn’t want to overeat during the day.  And I think it all pretty much worked out till later when I came out of the club and saw the street hotdogs!  I couldn’t resist and HAD TO have one.  YUM!  They’re just regular hotdogs wrapped in bacon and topped with grilled onions, green bell peppers, ketchup, mustard, and mayo.  Omg it’s SO yummy!  Had to have one.

 

I’m going to get ready and head out to LA to have dinner with Beverly and Tammy now.

 

Hope everyone has a good night.

 

I did good this week.  This is the first time in my LIFE that I’ve ever been this dedicated to running.  It’s weird how in just the short 2 weeks it’s starting to feel like a part of my daily routine.  My New Year’s resolution was to do some sort of gym activity 6 days a week.  And since I’ve been back from my trip (I know, it’s only been two short weeks), I’ve made it to the gym everyday except Sundays.  Over the last two weeks my running has drastically improved.  My heart doesn’t go all crazy at the speed I always run at now, and I can actually increase my speed and still have control over my breathing.  And before I couldn’t stay on the treadmill for more than 30 minutes even if my life depended on it.  But now I can pretty much do it for up to an hour an a half alternating between high intensity and low intensity.

 

My alarm went off today at 6:00 a.m. and I was so tired I didn’t hear it till 6:30.  So for half an hour it was ringing in my ear and I was sleeping like the dead.  My muscles have been aching for the past day, so I think it’s really draining me while it’s doing some repairing.  And also I normally have sleeping problems.. I always sleep late.  But lately, by 10 p.m. I’m ready to pass out.  And again, my neck problem is much better now.  I haven’t needed to go to the chiropractor.  So this morning I didn’t want to get out of bed, but after all it is my New Year’s resolution that I’m going to hit the gym 6 days a week, and burn minimum 3000/week by excercising…   So I dragged my butt out of bed, brushed and washed, ate half a protein bar for some energy, and set out to the gym.  The first 15 minutes on the treadmill I did not think I could do more than 30 minutes today.  Everything hurt!  And I felt weak.  But after the first 30 minutes I got all this energy from outta nowhere.  And I went for 94 minutes total.  Burned 632 calories.  My goal was to hit my daily 500 and that was it, so being over 132 has put me in a good place for my weekly goal.  I did 650 on Monday as well and went over by a 100 here and there on different days.  So even though I’m on my 5^th day of going to the gym this week and still have one more day to go, I’ve pretty much met my 3000 for the week.  Anything I’m doing tomorrow is just the extra cherry on top.  I’m so proud of myself I’m going to do the happy dance!

 

After I was done with the gym, I ate my other half of the protein bar while driving to McDonalds.  Then I ordered the egg McMuffin with no cheese, no Canadian bacon, but with an extra egg.  And I had a cup of water to go along with it.  I know McDonalds doesn’t sound very healthy.  But pretty much what I ate was a dry English muffin and two eggs.  Can’t beat a breakfast like that.  I got some good protein to replenish my teenie tiny newly workout muscles, and some carbs for extra energy.  YAY!! 

 

I also ordered my protein shake from www.discountanabolics.com . I got Cytosport’s complete whey protein in the chocolate mint.   Hopefully I get it sometime early next week.  I didn’t want to get it from the gym because for the exact same thing theirs is something like $90, while I’m getting mine for $21.

 

Tomorrow is going to be a full day.  I’ll hit the gym around 7 a.m., go home, take a shower.  And then I have to get to the office at 9 a.m. to meet with a client.  Then afterwards I’m going to Trader Joe’s to stock up on goodies.  I’ve heard some awesome things about the 0% fage, it’s high protein, low sugar, good-for-u-snack.  So gotta pick up some to try.  Then at night I’m meeting two lovely ladies I’ve been talking to here on Xanga; Beverly and Tammy.  I can’t wait girls!  It’ll be really fun finally getting to meet you both!  And I’m looking forward to our yummy dinner.  I’ve been really good this week with everything I’m eating.  So tomorrow night will be my cheat night.  Keeping my body on it’s toes with the stuff I’m doing..   Changing it up is a good thing so body here doesn’t get used to my routine and daily diet.

 

Alright.. off to a clients.  I’ll be back later. 

 

Ciao!

 

My workout this week:

CARDIOVASCULAR EXERCISE FOR THE WEEK OF 3/4/2007 - 3/10/2007

EXERCISE MINUTES CALORIES BURNED       Cardio - Elliptical 55 650 Cardio - 1 hour jogging on treadmill 60 500 Cardio - Treadmill jog 75 583   Weight training 50 100 Cardio - Treadmill jogging 60 483 Cardio - Treadmill jog 4.7 - 5.5 - 6.0 94 632       394 2948

3000

 

 

 

You know people think I"m crazy too, Redapple333.  But they won't when I have a hot bod and they don't! haha.. Okay, that wasn't nice.  But you know.. most people just don't set their standards that high.  If I'm fat (I know I'm not right now, but I was), I'd want to lose some weight...   Once I lose some weight, I want to tone up... Then once I tone up, I want to gain more muscle.  I think it's an ongoing process to always want to improve myself.  You know what most people's problems are?  Is that they have low standards.  And while it may not be on everyone's list to have body like Jessica Beil or Sarah Jessica Parker or Jessica Alba, but I think it would be *nice* if I could achieve a body like that.  I mean, why not?!  It looks good, and while in the process of achieving this great figure it's also healthy.  And it really just comes down to how bad you want it.  To some people they may be more happy to sit in front of the television 5 hours a day or go have tea with friends and chit-chat (and eat more junk while doing that) and they think they are spending their time wisely.  For me, I'd like to spend 2 hours a day at the gym.  And while some people think looks are not important..   I feel, looks aren't 'everything', but it's *something*.

This may not sound nice... but, unless you have a medical condition.. I don't really have any sympathy for people who are overweight and they feel sad or depressed about it, AND THEN they complain and whine how they're overweight.  I think it's competely within their control to start taking action.  And hey, who said looking good was easy.  It's not.  It's dedication, devotion, and will power.  I tell people that eating smaller meals and break it up into 4 to 6 times a day is better for them... they say "oh, I don't have time for that".  Well, heck, I'm always working till 11 p.m. and I have time to eat 6 times a day.  It doesn't take that long to eat a small sandwich or something similar.  And too many girls need to really educate themselves on dieting/eat habits.  It drives me nuts every time I see a girl trying to lose weight by starving themselves.  Yeah, you may be dropping pounds... but I guarantee you your fat ain't the first to go, it's your lean muscle that's going first.  And who likes twiggy for a girlfriend anyway?  Okay, maybe some guys... but I think most guys don't like twiggies.

I started the day out with the gym today.  I think I feel better when I work out in the mornings.  Seems like my metabolism is much better that way and I am way more energized throughout the day.  Of course people say working out at night is good too because it picks up the metabolism when it’s normally at it’s low.  So I don’t know, I’m just doing what makes me feel good.  Stayed in the gym for about 2 hours today.  I started out with weight training.  Did my shoulder and back muscles.  Then I did 75 minutes of jogging on the treadmill.  Burned 583 calories from the 5 mile jog.  I did the jog at a slower pace today because I think I was reading somewhere that in order to be in the fat burning zone the heart rate needs to be within a certain range for my age and weight.  For the weight training I’m guessing I burned at least 100 calories if not more.  But just to be on the safe range I’m just going to say I burned 100.  I think it’s more but not quite positive.  So all in all today I burned a total of at least 683 calories.  Okay, where’s my cupcake and cookies?!  Just kidding.  Actually being on 6 meals a day, I don’t even crave sweets anymore.  And seriously, one candy bar of 300 calories will take me 45 minutes of jogging.  Forget it.  So while I was jogging today I couldn’t make up my mind if I loved it today, or did I hate it today.  I think I kind of went back and forth.  And since today was the first time I did weights AND running together back to back…. By the time I started the treadmill, 10 minutes into it, I was already thinking I’m not going to be able to do it.  Then I just started playing mind games with myself like, okay 10 more minutes.  Then once I reached 20, it was okay.. 5 more minutes.. pretty soon I worked my way up to 40 minutes.  By the time I hit 40 minutes it was really easy from then on.  Right after my workout because I was supposed to eat right away but had to shower and get ready for work, I had brought along a small package of Keebler peanut butter cookies of 200 calories. I think tomorrow I need to bring a post-workout breakfast to the gym so I can eat right after my workout.

 

Breakfast today was scrambled egg whites with some mozzarella cheese with some salsa.  One cup of fat free milk.  Then for lunch I had a 6 inch turkey breast sub on wheat bread, no mayo.. but with mustard instead and some jalapeños  on the side.  SO good.  I was starving.  I also took a 6 inch sub to go for a snack later.

 

Other than my gym time and work stuff, nothing else is really going on.  Oh, Irvine Boy is leaving for Spain tomorrow morning for his little mini vacation.  So this week I’ll pretty much be on my own finding my own stuff to do while he’s away visiting a new place.  He’ll be back in a week so it isn’t too bad.  But bad for him because it’s such a short time to be visiting such an awesome place.

 

Oh oh.. one other thing.. I’ve been dying to go back to Trader Joe’s to see what other goodies I can find.  That place is like treasure trove, every time I go I find something new.  AND so many healthy stuff too.  I think Saturday day time I’ll be free so I can make a quick stop there to stock up for the coming week.

 

Okay, back to work… update more later.

I almost didn’t want to go to the gym today.  But then again, I almost didn’t want to go to
the gym everyday.  But I still went.  Did the treadmill today and jogged 5 miles,
burned 525 calories.  Some days I love
the treadmill and I love jogging. Some days I hate it.  Today I love it.  I was on it, and I wanted to keep going.  Unfortunately, the max time I could set was
60 minutes.  Or else I think I could have
easily gone another 30 minutes or so. 
But once if once I stop to reset the time, then I can't get myself into
the whole groove of running again.  For a
second I almost hopped off the treadmill and started running around in the gym.

 

For breakfast today it was 2 waffles with spray butter.  Then for lunch I had the rosemary chicken
with wild rice again.  Snacks I had 100
cal popcorn and the keebler peanut butter cookies, and also a promax energy
bar.  The promax energy bar is like a
full meal with something like 10 grams of protein and 290 calories.  Then for dinner I had some salmon sashimi and
some clemetine oranges.  Can’t remember
what other stuff I ate today, but I ended the day with around 1700
calories.  A little higher today but
still under my max of 1800/day.

 

Okay, I’m pooped today… going to shower and hit the sack…I’m
really struggling to stay awake now.

 

More tomorrow.

I started the week off right by hitting the gym this morning for some cardio and weights.  Did 650 calories this morning.  I hate doing cardio.  But it works, so I’m going to keep doing it.  Normally I start off with the first 20 minutes feeling like I’m going to die.  I can’t concentrate, I feel like everything hurts; my butt, my thighs, even my mind hurts!  But once I hit 25 – 30 minutes or so, it’s like I catch a wave or something and I’ll try to ride it for as long as I can.  Then somewhere around 15 minutes or so.. I start feeling like I’m tired again and like I want to just give up and get off the machine.  But no matter what if I stick with it.. after the one hour and after I get off the machine, it doesn’t feel so bad afterwards.  How the heck does one hour feel like an eternity when being in Taiwan for 3 weeks just flew by!  I don’t get it.  But all this cardio I’m doing better pay off.

 

Before my workout I had a pre-workout snack of 1 cup of sliced apples.  Then after my workout I had my rosemary chicken and wild rice pilaf.  Throughout the day I just kinda snacked on bars and such.  I found this really good bar at Trader Joe’s called the Luna Bar.  And so far my favorite flavor is the peanut butter cookie.  Well, I only tried this one flavor so not too sure on how the other ones taste.  As long as they have either chocolate or peanut butter, I’m sure it’ll be a hit with me.  Oh, and one of my snacks today I had the 100 cal hostess cupcake.  SO good.  The whole 100 cal snacks are really making a big hit.

 

And for you girls who like to read interesting tidbits…. Here’s a new site I found:

 

http://www.hungry-girl.com/index.php      -- Hungry Girl

 

If you go to the NEWS section… and just click into the weekly links… and Hungry girl will give you news on NEW foods that are out, OR some interesting news on a product or something.  It’s really interesting.  This website is another weekly read of mine now.  Man, I have so many things I want to keep track of.  But I think the key to losing weight is really being good about what you’re eating while still keeping it interesting.  Like for girl’s who a) starve themselves, or b) eat nothing but salad and water…    Uhh…. Please… how long can ANYONE stay on a diet like that.  But anyway, back to Hungry Girl, I love knowing what’s new out there to eat… or some interesting changes that some food company is going to make.  So hopefully you guys enjoy this website as much as me.  Let me know how you guys like it.

 

Not much in line for this evening.. it’s almost 8:30 p.m., I’m still in the office.. but I’m going to go home soon.  I think I’ll probably go home and cook something to pack to for lunch tomorrow.

 

Today I went to the hospital with my mom for her regular check up with the doctor.  Everything seems to be fine.  Since her surgery on her right hip… he left hip has started hurting.   I don’t think she’s going to choose to operate on the left hip yet since there are still risks that comes along with an operation in her condition.  That’s pretty much it with my mom..   Her next visit with the doctor will be end of April.

 

Taking off now.  Going to go home and hop into my pj’s….. watch some tv.. maybe cook…