Beginning the Clean Program!

Hello everyone!!!

I have decided that as of August 1, I will be starting Dr. Junger's Clean Program.  A friend of mine was kind and very generous enough to send me the kit (Again THANK YOU!) and I might as well use it and it would be in my best interest to do so.

I looked through my cabinets and found some approved items:

Dry chickpeas

Dry Cannellinis

Dry Lentils

Canned Black Beans

Canned Kidney Beans

Red Rice

Brown Rice

Miso paste

Tea

Olive oil

Sesame oil

Almond Milk

Frozen asparagus

Frozen green beans

Frozen snap peas

Organic Gala apples (not sure if they're still good)

Kimchi (Made with cabbage, onion, garlic, sea salt, and chili pepper, which is OK IF you know you are not allergic to nightshades. I do not think I am.)

My friend and I took a ride to whole foods and I picked up some more:

Low-sodium organic Tamari (gluten free soy sauce)

Quinoa (really cheap in bulk)

Organic walnuts

Almond butter (for eating with apples or celery)

Rice pasta

Quinoa/Amaranth/Rice pasta
Brown Rice Syrup

I forgot to pick up nutritional yeast (for that cheesy flavor) and sea salt.  We might go back to the store and I might pick up some teff flatbreads so I can make sandwiches.  

Another thing I noticed- You cannot have any form of beef on this cleanse but you CAN have Buffalo.  My friend told me that she had buffalo before, and it tastes just like steak.  Next time we go shopping I might pick up a few Buffalo steaks to freeze/use.

Really excited about this, this will challenge me and really help me expand my culinary horizons in a way.  Anyone else doing this, or going gluten free?  Any tips/tricks for a newbie?

Have a great weekend!

Hello everyone!

Been having more second thoughts about my dieting.  I am thinking about just plain eating clean rather than taking any extreme measure.  I had a talk with my friend about my dieting and I also remember a comment someone left a while back about my jumping into things too quickly. It has been suggested to me by not just my friend but also my doctor (which I will get to in a moment) that rather than go to extremes, I should reduce my calories and do my best to just eat clean as much as I can. No giving up animal products, however not eating too much of them either.

My diet these past couple of days more reflects these principles than veganism.

Tuesday July 26-

Breakfast:

Coffee and oatmeal

Lunch: 6 pieces of falafel with a salad on the side

Dinner: Kept it light again, didn't feel a huge appetite so I had pita chips and hummus again with a bottle of Vita Coco coconut water.  Later on I ended up going to a middle eastern restaurant with a friend and ended up having a few bites of her meat.

Wednesday July 27-

Breakfast:

Coffee and oatmeal

Lunch: Veggie burger with a diet pepsi

Dinner: Ramen noodles (soup drained off) with a bunch of added mushrooms and some chopped onion. 

So Ramen wasn't the best choice, I did pick up some Tofu Shirataki noodles from the store (Kind of like Miracle Noodles) which are made of tofu and yam flour.  

As for exercise, Tuesday I went for a walk for about a half an hour, last night I did fall asleep early but woke up at about 10 pm and got my MS done.

My water consumption these past two days has been good.  8 glasses on Tuesday, 10 yesterday.  

7/26/2011 Day 1

Hello everyone!




Today was both good and bad, good diet wise bad exercise wise. But first, this is day 1 and here are my starting stats, updated every 11th day.


Bust- 48 inches
Waist- 46 inches
Hips- 53 inches
Left thigh- 31.5 inches
Weight: 276.9 pounds (I lost weight after all that cake eating for my birthday... Weird!)


Why was exercise bad?  I ended up skipping my first day of metamorphosis, I unexpectedly had to work a double shift and cover for my coworker. Needless to say I was exhausted when I got home.  I later attempted a power walk, lasted 10 minutes then I really felt like I was going to drop.  However, being as I am on metamorphosis level 1, and having done it quite a few times, missing one day is likely not that bad.


Now for my diet. My first part of my transition to being a full fledged vegan is cutting meat.  Also I am watching my calories. Here's what my day looked like yesterday.


Breakfast:


Iced latte with skim milk (my only dairy of the day)
Oatmeal


Lunch:
Had to go to the cafeteria to get lunch today, didn't have time in the morning to plan anything.


Veggie burger on whole wheat bun, bun not toasted because they do it on the grill with all the oil. Had onions and mustard on it, no cheese or anything else.


Small bag of pretzels, my choices were pretzels, chips, french fries, or onion rings. Pretzels had the least calories and were the only unfried thing.


Dinner:
Too tired to make a real meal, so I just had some Hummus and Pita chips with a glass of orange juice. 


My daily net calories (after exercising is factored in) are 1500, today I had about 1800. Going to be much more careful from now on.  


Where do I get all my info about my calories and such?  I have an app from myfitnesspal.com. Really good dieting site and a great app, best of all it's free!


Day 2 will be much better. :)  Have a great day!

Happy Birthday to me!

Hello everyone!!!

Sorry I have been a bit quiet here. This week has been less than ideal, at least in terms of working out and dieting.

It's probably been in the news, a great deal of the United States has been going through a horrific heat wave. High humidity plus temperatures in the 90s (F) or 30s ( C ). It has been absolutely miserable- especially since every room in my apartment is NOT air conditioned (and very humid) except my bedroom. My SMALL, no-room-to-work-out bedroom. Today we finally have some relief- thunderstorms and a drastic cool down.

The humidity and heat made it just plain unsafe to work out in my living room, and I have been eating takeout and fast food because cooking in my kitchen was just masochism.

Speaking of bad eating, today is my 26^th birthday! And birthdays mean treats, at least in my case. Yesterday I had a lovely lunch with my friend, some starbucks, and even hit Target and picked up 1 pound wrist weights for continuity! Accomplishment!

So the plan is- enjoy my birthday weekend, then hit Metamorphosis and veganism hard on the following Monday. I already re-did my calendar to reflect it. :)

Have a great day and a great weekend!

Another rant...

Hello everyone~


I am really feeling like crap. Mentally and physically. 


Mentally: Because I didn't get my ass moving yesterday and do my workout, mainly because it's really really HOT outside (as it has been all week) and yes, that is sort of valid but at the same time is sort of an excuse.   I am feeling really failish. Working out isn't supposed to be “comfortable” yet whenever the environment isn't, I give myself all sorts of reasons NOT to work out. I really need to be slapped sometimes.   I always get all determined, plan out a bunch of stuff with good intentions and then screw up. I missed two workouts already and feel really bad about it. I hate that the thing about weight loss is it's easier said than done. 




Physically: I did eat well yesterday, or so I thought.  Here's a layout of what I ate.


Breakfast: A bowl of oatmeal
Lunch: 1 cup of brown rice, 1 cup of edamame and some miso soup
Dinner: Soba noodles (cold) with dipping sauce. 


¾ of a gallon of water (3 liters)


And all was well until today. (TMI alert) Today I have been having a really hard time in the digestion department.  I feel like I am clogged up and I think it's all the grain I have been eating.  Also the heat is making me feel mildly nauseous. 




In short, I really need a good ass kicking. No, really. I do. I hope those of you in the US who are experiencing this horrible heat wave are staying cool and hydrated. 

I know this is SORT of random but it's also SORT of relevant.

Hey everyone.

It's about 1:30 in the morning on Sunday and I have been doing a lot of thinking, especially when it comes to my diet.  I am both nervous and excited to take the dive into veganism.  Excited because I hope this will help this bastard weight to come off, nervous and scared that like all the other times before, I am going to start strong and then totally f*** myself into oblivion later by cheating day after day.

Yesterday, I took the time to go through my cupboards and fridge and find all the vegan stuff, and write down what I have and how much. I also put it all in a special area in the cupboard/fridge for them.  Unfortunately I cannot throw out all the food, living with someone else makes that rather inconsiderate of them.  I live with someone who eats junk, meat, and all the stuff I am going to kick. 

Although my ultimate goal is to be grain free, I think that has to be a weaning process.  I have 2 canisters of steel cut oatmeal to eat, a bag of brown rice, and a box of whole grain pasta.  Waste not want not, also these items do have fiber and given my digestive state, could be helpful at first.  However I am not going to eat grain with every meal.  Breakfast and lunch at the most, with a light dinner.  I know they say eat 5 times a day or whatever but I just don't have an appetite that often and I feel like it will inadvertently give my mind the feeling that I have a "license" to indulge.

Speaking of indulging, I just found out that one of my favorite coffee drinks, Starbucks frappucinos, can now be made vegan by asking for soy. 

As for drinks on a regular basis, my goal is to drink a gallon (4 liters) of water a day, with tea when I want something else.  I have plenty of good Japanese green tea in the cupboard and it's not going to drink itself.  Water intake has always been one of my weak points, usually not drinking enough and rather going for the gatorade, soda pop, etc. 

I really hope I can go through with this, I really am sick and tired of feeling sick and tired and overweight. 

As for working out, I really need to stop being such a lazy ass.  Sometimes there are times I know I have all the time in the world to get my workout in, but I don't and end up having to cram it in later all inconvenientlike. I need to get in the habit of getting it done and overwith so I don't have to deal with it later.

Random post, I know, but when I am up late, sometimes things like this fill my  mind and won't let me sleep!  Really looking forward to start meta Monday and I am taking updated measurements later today.

Metamorphosis is happening again... For real this time.

Hello everyone!!!

It looks like I am going back to doing my Tracy Anderson workouts.   The other stuff didn't pan out so well.  Why, you may ask?

1. There was a lot of squatting and lunging that I am sure are great for you, but my knees were obliterated after 2 workouts. I have been out of commision in the knee/lower leg department but it feels better today
 

2. I enjoyed Tracy's workouts so much more. I actually somewhat feel a little bit of TA withdrawl.

So, I have decided to start my Abcentric journey on Monday. I have also thought out some modifications to the plan.

1. I am not following her diet. I felt like I was spending way too much on food, some of which I think is a bit on the nasty tasting side.  Instead I am going to go as clean and vegan as possible, I eventually also want to kick grains and eggs. Also the calorie cap will be 1500. No more than that.
 

2. As an alternative to dance cardio, walking briskly will also be an option.  When I have been walking lately, a brisk 30 minute walk leaves me red and sweaty with a good heart rate going. It will depend on how my mood is and how the weather is which one I will do.  The end goal is 60 minutes of dance cardio when my endurance kicks up.
 

3. I am also going to try my damndest to get 7-8 hours of sleep a night AT LEAST. I have seen lots of stuff saying how not getting enough sleep can hurt weight loss. My 5 am wakeups have been pretty much a fail. I was able to do it a couple times but my body just slept right through alarms and everything.  Also, my insomnia doesn't help one bit.

I have my calendar all written up, and stuck on one of the doors in my apartment where I will see it all the time as motivation.  Taking new before pics and measurements over the weekend, but the pictures will not be put up right away until I have another comparison point.

I am also going to utilize the online community more and also track my progress on my profile thingy. If you want to add me, my username is teenytinyquest. 

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Figurerobics Day 2

Hello everyone!

Day 2 (yesterday, these posts are usually delayed a day)’s workout was a doozie.

Day 2 I did the Figure Dumb (short for dumbbell I am guessing) and all I have to say is ow. Just ow. The good, got a good workout in ow, but still. In this video you use dumbbells (the ones in the video are 1.5 pounds, the lightest I have is 3 pounds that I use for my Tracy workouts.)

This workout killed me. By the time it was over I was absolutely DRENCHED. I also could not do all of the reps that they were doing, especially on the legs.  I am noticing a pattern in these videos, that all the moves get repeated, so you’re doing 2 sets of reps. For legs I could only do one, sometimes not able to do the full set even (but still eked out some reps, so I did try.) Maybe it has to do with me using 3 lb weights instead of 1.5 but I doubt it, the leg work didn’t require too much dumbbell involvement, but squats, lunges, and some other leg moves.

Again the audio is in Korean, subtitled in Japanese, still really easy to follow.

Part 1: http://youtu.be/F6f9NKAjeMM

Part 2: http://youtu.be/dA1_AK2W_0o

Part 3: http://youtu.be/elMXnmzkDIA

Part 4: http://youtu.be/CQSQ3F-5xk0

Part 5: http://youtu.be/rkFLoepDv9Q

So far I have found that these workouts only LOOK easy (especially if you’re unfit like myself) but can actually whip your ass.   I was so tired and sore from this workout, (and it was blazing hellfire outside) that I did not go for my walk as planned. But I did sweat profusely for 30 minutes, that’s something.

Have a great day!

Figurerobics Day 1

Hello everyone!!!
As I said before, I did start trying the new Figurerobics workout that I got.  But before I get to that, I will go over the plan that I came up with in more detail as well as my starting weight.
As someone in my previous post commented that I was taking on too much at once (as she had in the past) I really realize now what she means.  I am the kind of person who does tend to take on too much because in my mind, it seems so easy, etc. but when I actually go and do it, it blows up in my face BIG time.
I think with these figurerobics videos I have found something doable.
Each video is 30 minutes, and while it is similar to TAM in some ways (lots of unweighted arm movements that burn like hellfire for example), the pace is a bit slower, but I still feel a HELL of a burn from it.   Also a huge difference in this and Meta- Meta would take me MORE than 30 minutes to do the muscular structure at 20 reps because I would often stop to yawn, stop to rest, stop stop stop.  With this, you keep moving. It's hard but not so hard that I can't keep moving the whole 30 minutes.  It makes the time go by SO much faster and makes it seem less arduous and chorelike.
I am also going to keep the power walk to 30 minutes. Last night I took my first power walk in the evening, I was red and sweaty by the time I got home but not to the point of feeling like dying on the living room floor.
I started my figurerobics rotation with Figure Dance, to watch, click the link below. I will be doing a different video every day, in rotation. Every 4 days I will go back to the first DVD.
http://youtu.be/JZ3KK_uKrDM  part 1
http://youtu.be/CsfQz57ZVd0 part 2
http://youtu.be/OXkX6t7dUn8 part 3
http://youtu.be/eZWWBZhqA_4 part 4
http://youtu.be/udI4EVA_sWA part 5
Yes, she is speaking Korean with Japanese subtitles, however the language barrier shouldn't be TOO much of an issue because the moves are straightforward. (I understand some Korean, most of what she says are counting, and what direction to move your body part that you're working) She does 2 sets of each group of movements.
Now for my starting stats:
Starting weight: 276.6 lb/ 125.73 kg
I have also started eating 5 small meals a day. It's awkward for me as I am not used to eating this many times but it isn't so bad after giving it a try.

A little change of pace...

Hello everyone-










If you haven’t seen it, I posted on one of my other blog, www.roxyloveskorea.blogspot.com about some Korean workout DVDs. I was able to watch them and after doing so, realized that I would like to try them out and give them a review (since there aren’t any in English that I can find.). The name of the workout is Figurerobics by Jung Dayeon.






She created this workout system after once being overweight herself. (Much like Tracy Anderson)

Before….






And after!

And she's in her 40s.




Another reason I want to give her videos a whirl is because I think TA might be a little much for me right now at my current weight. I don’t feel like I am getting the most out of it, to be honest. Being too heavy makes the DC (probably the more CRUCIAL component) difficult. I am going to try the figurerobics videos (there are 8- 4 are regular aerobics/strength, the other 4 are using a balance ball) and walk for 30-60 minutes. Since there are 4 videos that I have, I am going to rotate them out. Still kind of thinking about how to do it, thinking of doing a different one every day and repeat. Walking I will do 7 days a week and keep to a more Asian-like, low calorie diet (about 1200 calories a day)






Will I go back to TAM? Of course. I just want to try something different.






I hope you guys have a great Monday!

Another new plan

Hello everyone!







I’m starting to feel a little better, cold wise. In my downtime, I have given some things some thought and came to more realizations.






Realization #1: In the evenings when I get home from work, hell, evenings in general (which is usually when I work out) I have as much motivation to do so as a sloth that just smoked a pound of marijuana. Yeah. None.






Solution: Starting to wake up at the buttcrack of dawn and work out then. Then it’s out of the way, out of sight, out of mind. Today I started the early waking by waking up today at 5:15. My goal was 5 but for a “not morning person” like me that’s progress. I am going to have to start waking up like this every day, even on weekends, or as a friend of mine (who also used to be a night owl) said I could really mess myself up by sleeping in every weekend.






Realization #2: The Dynamic Eating Plan that comes with Metamorphosis is not really for me. Why? 1. The preparation. Making all that food for me, is a pain in the ass, heats up my kitchen, takes a long time (Yeah making purees seems like a quick thing to do… Until you actually do it.), etc. 2. The cost. I am still a “broke college student” who is LUCKILY not living on ramen noodles yet. For the time being, spending 50-60$ a week on food just doesn’t seem reasonable for one person. Maybe after I get a real job in the real world, that can happen but for now, no.






Solution: I am going to follow the KISS plan- Keep it simple, stupid! My new plan is to basically eat cleanly and stay around 1200 calories a day. Mainly I will follow this by eating a lot of Korean food which is very healthy, clean, and inexpensive as I live near 2 Korean supermarkets. I will be posting recipes and such in the future. Koreans have the lowest obesity rate in the developed world (3.5%- Used to be Japan which has a 3.9% rate) because of how they eat (I think the whole “Asians have better genetics” thing is bull. I know a lot of fat Asians. If they really could eat whatever they want then why aren’t they all skinny?). Korean food is mainly complex carbohydrates and they do not eat a lot of meat and dairy usually. Also a funny thing- in Korea and Japan they do not eat a lot of fruit. (Fruit has been thought to hinder dieting because of the fructose) They instead handle fruit like a dessert- a treat to be had time to time. I have more to say about the health and weight loss benefits but that’s another blog for another time.






Realization #3- Sticking with ONE metamorphosis, not two, is probably best for me right now. Why? My fitness level is the main reason. Looking back on my noble intentions, I thought “Are you INSANE? Doing one is pretty hard in itself!” Also this goes without saying but overdoing it = injury = no exercise = UNHAPPY ME. Also doing the high impact cardio for more than 30 minutes at my current weight is a suicide mission in the long run, especially for my joints. Sure, I have good shoes and they don’t hurt yet, but there’s the keyword. Yet. Things like this like to creep up and screw you over later.






Solution: Sticking with Abcentric and sticking to it for continuity as well. Gotta lose my “pregnant” belly! Also doing the 30 minutes of Dance Cardio if I can, if I am really NOT feeling like dancing, then I will take a brisk one hour walk weather permitting. If I do my dance cardio, then I will still take that extra half hour walking later on weather permitting. Metamorphosis will be a 6 day a week thing, and on my day off still a 30 minute walk. Also I’d like to work some yoga into my routine in the evenings when I feel up to it. Stretching never hurt.










I started the sleeping plan and eating plan so far today, and I plan on implementing the metamorphosis plan starting Monday, until then I will walk and do yoga because I am still not fully feeling up to meta without dripping snot all over myself.






This week is almost over (thankfully, it’s been rough). Have a great day!

July challenge... Do you have one?

Hi everyone!

I know it's a little late to be posting about a challenge for July (it's the 5th already) but better late than never.  I think sometimes making a challenge for yourself for a certain month can be a great motivator. It makes small goals seem more attainable.

I have a challenge for July-  Doing my Metamorphosis work 6 times a week, with 30 minutes of cardio a day and 30 minutes of walking when I am not doing meta.   Cardio is my main weak point, I have no trouble doing my MS but cardio often requires me to be beaten with a cattle prod (not literally but it's getting close!) . A few friends of mine are doing challenges too, which also helps with the motivation.

It's not too late! Do you have a challenge idea for yourself in July? Post in the comments so we can be motivated.