P90x Chest & Back & Food Friday!

Not even 11 AM and my workout is done!!!

I'm going to fit in a run later, just found out that my parents are having "company" over and I would like to be out of the house if possible. That means a long run! I have a scheduled 5 mile run tomorrow, so maybe a 3 mile run today since I haven't ran in a while.  Today's workout was good. Day 2 of trying out C4, and I like it. I can cycle that with jack3d. A friend also sent me a mix he made and it got me hyped up! I love long [like an hour +] mixes! Thanks Vivo! It just "gets me going," that shiz cray! Haha! This workout, even if its the one I have a hard time with, went by awesome and I did pretty well. I still have to improve form, but I'm working on it. Hard to do when someone isn't there to observe, but hey, if I can do it with shoulders & arms, I can do it with chest & back!

I seem to have a habit of starting some sort of "_______ [insert day of the week here]" and not keeping up with it. But FOOD FRIDAY seems do-able and it might inspire others for healthy eating.  I'm not the best at eating and I gather ideas from everywhere in order to inspire me to eat healthy but not get bored of it.  Why not throw some ideas into the internet world? It might help. Food is such a big part of getting fit, being healthy, being a live and its so much fun and yummy, I think a little motivation for me and for others is something definitely worth being consistent in.  I'll eventually break down the nutrient information in the future. But for now, lets keep it simple!

We shall see tho, I'm scatter brained [working on that] because I'm so interested in so many things, but here we go!

ITS PEANUT BUTTER TURKEY TIME!!! PEANUT BUTTER TURKEY!!!

This was my immediate post workout meal/snack/breakfast I have no clue what to call it. Its 2 slices of Ezekiel cinnamon raisin bread with Laura Scudders all natural peanut butter, two slices of turkey breast, & some frozen blue berries. I had it with my whey protein shake. Surprisingly, I'm not very hungry after working out, I was thinking of eating this with some oatmeal but I'm not hungry.  I'll probably get hungry in a couple of hours but right now, not too hungry. To make this a more complete meal, I would probably throw in some greek yogurt in there. I try to limit my fruits & carbs in the morning because of sugar content. So this is a perfect lunch/morning snack for me.  I love the sweetness of the bread with the savory peanut butter and turkey.  It has some healthy fats, carbs, & protein. So yay! I hope this is "simple carb/quick enough" to qualify as a post workout meal.  I really can't find much simple carbs here that isn't so sugary, we have kids cereal- does that count, but I guess sugar is okay.

Anyway, time to be productive! Go to the bank, gas up the car, buy some brie [I love cheese] and find some new pants!

Have a strong day everyone!

PS. For those lost on the reference, here you go, you're welcome!

High Carb Day, The Right Way

I'm carb cycling the proper way this time.

Before, on high carb days, I would have at most two slices of Ezekiel sprouted grains bread and an oatmeal.

On "low" carb days, I would have none, on medium, maybe one.

So, yeah, pretty much doing it wrong.  So today is a high day, and boom sauce:

I found the generic brand of whole wheat pasta and 1 cup dry is about 210 calories.  Not bad at all! It could be worst, but when you're carb cycling, you do what you do.  I normally portion out my chicken so I know the calories, but I didn't this time around, which reminds me to buy a food scale. But anyway, this is 1 chicken breast sliced thinly, which according my approximations will be 100-150 caloreis. Plus the tomatoes, I have no clue, plus a wedge of Laughing Cow Light Sun Dried Tomato cheese, 35 calories, this meal couldn't have been more than 400-450 calories. Which isn't bad at all! My meals on my low/no carb days are around 300 calories each, fluctuating my calories daily won't hurt [its like carb cycling meets calorie zig-zagging] because I know I'm staying active and my body needs the fuel. If you can't tell, this is me rationalizing my carb intake, I hardly eat carbs and I'm feeling "guilty." Anyway, I loaded that up with some peppers [the ones you sprinkle on pizza] & also Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb seasoning. So spicy good.

For breakfast, I had oatmeal with blue berries, and greek yogurt with blue berries and a serving of almonds. I love almonds. I'll probably have a rice cracker with peanut butter later and for dinner. I'm not sure what I'm eating. Little carbs [I keep the majority of my carbs in the morning/early afternoon], but I have a ton of spinach and I'm looking forward to that. Maybe I'll buy a slice of salmon or something. I want some fish.

Training today calls for 3.5 miles, I'll do that in an hour or two when the food settles. After that run, its time to eat again! Amazing!

Also, I broke a weight plateau today! I know, its probably all food, and weight is NOT a good indicator of how well a job I'm doing, but its exciting none the less. Haha.174.9, 175 has been stuck on there for EVER. that .1 makes  difference to me and makes me happy. Body composition is changing as well. F*CK YEH! I don't know how people don't like doing this whole eat right and be active thing. Its fun!

Lesson #1- EAT!

I just got a question in regards to eating & working out. Its funny because out of everything relating to fitness [including strength training & running] EATING is what I struggle with the most. Let me put my usual disclaimer, I'm not a nutritionist and what we need will vary from what our goals are & what we do.  When strength training is my focus, I up my lean protein by a lot. I don't eat a lot of carbs to begin with but when my focus is running and I'm running a lot, I up my carbs.  Its really a learning process and finding what works for you and what doesn't.

HOWEVER, it doesn't mean that there are things that generally apply to all of us.

Even before I go to Lesson #1, let me state a fact, DIET is not an evil four letter word. Its just a four letter word. You don't go on a diet, you already are on a diet. It maybe a good one or a bad one but you're already on one. Simply put, your diet is what you eat. So take away the negative things associate with the word diet. Because if you think its a bad thing, you're never going to want to stick with it.

Now that we got that out of the way...

Lesson #1- EAT!!!!

A lot of people, me included, didn't get this part for a while. But if you're exercising/working out to loose weight and cut back on your intake, sounds logical that you'll drop weight, and you will.  But pretty soon, you're going to plateau. Why? Because your body is only interested in one thing, TO SURVIVE.  Once your body learns your routine, its going to adapt to it.  Your body doesn't care how much you weigh, its just interested in surviving.  So if you don't get enough, enough being at least your BMR [basal metabolic rate] which is typically is 1200 for women & 1800 for men- its actually a lot higher than that, in real life, your body will fight to survive.

How will it fight? By storing fat.

This is how it might go down between you and your body:

you: I'm going to start running and lifting weights! I want to drop some pounds!
body: What is going on? I feel the burn! I feel the burn! This hurts, but it feels good!
you:  Oh man! I want to drop pounds faster! I'll cut back on my eating.
body: This physical activity is good for me! Wohoo! But wait a minute? I need some fuel. Whats going on here? Fuel? Where you at?
you: I think I'll skip breakfast. Maybe have an orange for dinner too.
body: OH NO YOU DIDN'T! Wheres my fuel? I'm not sure when I'll get a full tank next so I'll save whatever I can!

How does the body save fuel or energy?

In the form of fat. Which is what you're trying to get rid off right?

So EAT!!! Like I said before, and my friends will vouch for this, I was probably the worst eater in the world. I called myself a lazy eater. And I was.  Part of it stemmed from the fact that I didn't want to get any bigger, and my mentality was "I got this way because I ate so much." Part of it was because I was just pure lazy.  But now, I'm constantly eating. Every 2 hours, 3 hours max, you'll find me eating. Its crazy, but I wouldn't be doing it if didn't work. By eating smaller more frequent meals, you're also always revving your metabolism.  For me, I learned to manipulate my metabolism so that it will do some of the work for me. By always having it on high, I'm always burning. If you treat it right [eat right, build muscles. get proper rest, etc.] you can manipulate your body into doing a lot of the work for you (-; I've noticed a big shift in my metabolism, and a lot of it really comes from how and what I eat.

STOP HERE! I forgot to mention something as well!  DRINK WATER!!! DRINK WATER!!! If you're peeing every 20 minutes or so, you're doing it right. Okay maybe not 20 minutes, but if you find yourself peeing a lot, you're doing it right. Stay hydrated. For zero calories, water cleanses your system, keeps your body running, & keeps your metabolism going! Drink green tea too! Coffee as well! I learned to drink the tea and coffee without sweeteners to keep them at zero calories and just because I like bitter things. But yeah! This is something I had to learn too, drink a lot of water!!!

How much should I be eating?


Now that you're willing to eat, you gotta know how much you should be eating.  To find that out, you have to know your BMR. Basal metabolic rate, which in simple terms is how much calories your body will use up just to survive. If you were to lie in bed all day, and stay alive, that is how much your body will use. 1200 calories a day for women and 1800 calories a day for men is a good baseline to go with, but those aren't magic numbers. For a more precise number, go use this calculator at my favorite website to read, bodybuilding.com

Anyway, here is mine:

What do those numbers mean?. If you want an almost exact number, go get a heart rate monitor and wear it and do nothing. Anyway, this means that I should be consuming at least 2087 calories per day.  To me personally that number is super high, I'm used to 1500 calories a day. But guess what keeps on happening to me? I'm always not always but often plateauing- I'm on one right now or I'm tired.

Anyway, lets say I do eat that much a day. Lets take my 2087 calories per day and break that down.

Like I said, I'll eat every 2-3 hours, that translates to roughly 5-6 small meals a day.  For the sake of ease, lets do 2000 calories a day at 5 meals at 400 calories each. That is a pretty high "allowance" for food per meal! 400 calories is A-LOT if you change your mindset. Most people hear "meal" and think "#1 meal!" That #1 is probably 1500 calories with a truckload of sodium.

Since I don't follow that meal plan, yet [I'm re-evaluating my meals at the moment] I'll describe to you my typical intake.  I don't like counting calories that much, nor am I strict with it. I just eat clean and eat enough. I still have my cheat meals and I don't deprive myself of those! But for the most part, you're going to find that I'm a creature of habit. If it works, I'll stick with it till it stops working or I get tired of it.

Cat's Day In Food

Breakfast- 400-600 calories.  I know not all of us are breakfast people, I wasn't, but never skip breakfast.  You just woke up your body needs fuel. Don't skip it. I personally devote a lot of my calories during breakfast for a couple of reasons. I usually do a fasted workout, I workout right when I get up [or really an hour after I wake up] on an empty stomach.  So I devote a big part of my daily intake to breakfast because I want my body well fed after my workout.

• oatmeal [the normal ones or steel cut, not instant or quick oats]

• 5 egg white omelet with spinach & cheese

• greek yogurt [non fat 0%]

• rice cracker with all natural peanut butter or Nutella, or both, so good! don't over do it with the pb or nutella, less than a teaspoon of each is fine.

• Ezekiel toast with cheese [I love the laughing Cow wedges!]

I'll usually eat one of the first two with one of the last three with my whey protein shake. If I'm still hungry, I'll eat one of the first two with two of the last three. It really depends. But I don't mind eating a lot for breakfast.  

Snack- 100-200 calories. I'll usually have a rice cracker with some peanut butter or a Balance Bar. I love those things.  

Peanut Butter or Chocolate Almond or Smores!

Lunch- 300-500 calories. Lunch is tricky for me. It really depends on what I'm doing that day, but here are some things I might have for lunch.

• 200 calorie salad from the grocery store. Its pre-portioned and its good. 

• Tuna on Ezekiel toast or with carrot sticks. Tuna salad: tuna, greek yogurt, & curry powder. Its so good. Or instead of curry, Mrs. Dash seasoning. I like the Fiesta Lime, pick what you want. 

• Spinach with Cat's Sauce Boss [its what I write on the tape on the tupperware!] I make a big batch of sauce in the beginning of the week. Its pretty much jarred organic spaghetti sauce [always watch the sodium on these] with lean ground turkey breast and Mrs. Dash Seasoning. It lasts me about a meal a day and is about 100 calories a serving. 

• Orowheat Sandwich Thins toasted with cheese & Cat's Sauce Boss 

"Sloppy Joe" with Spinach & Rice Cracker with all Natural PB

• the ever present greek yogurt

• rice crackers

Snack- 100-200 calories. I try not to have more than 1 Balance Bar a day. Another snack idea is greek yogurt [I love yogurt, can you tell] with cinnamon & Bear Naked Granola- the protein one.  

Dinner- See Lunch (;

Cat's Sauce Boss with Spaghetti Squash

Like I said, I keep it really simple.  I'm not a nutritionist and by no means do I claim that what I eat will work for you, but its what works for me. I have people who see that and really think its not enough, and I have people who say its okay.  Like I said, I'm re-evaluating because I'm currently finding myself in a plateau, I can't break out of that 175 pounds. I know the scale isn't the end all be all to measuring health. My body composition is changing and I'm gaining muscle, but I know that I have fat to drop so I do expect the number on the scale to change.  I'm still putting in the work working out so I know I need to dial in nutrition to see change. Ideally, I would love to be at 130, but supposedly (and I'm starting to see why) that isn't at all healthy for my height, I'm 5'6.5" and my body composition, the way I carry my weight. I'm already a size 10 at this weight, and my goal was a size 8, so I'm thinking if I'm at  130-120 [120 was my original goal, wtf was I thinking] I'm going to be not muscle skinny. I want my muscles I worked hard for them. As I go on this journey tho, the more I'm convinced its not about the pounds on the scale, but the pounds I can lift! Heck yes lets get stronger! Haha! The numbers will just be the numbers, my health, my strength, those things will be the determining factor (-;

Anyway, that is my typical day in food. I'm not starving and you guys don't have too.

With all that said, the whole point of Lesson #1 is this:  You shouldn't starve yourself. 

Go eat! Eating is a good thing, food is so yummy and the occasional burger or pizza [I'm craving The Habit real bad right now] is NOT a bad thing. The occasional "cheat" meal will also prevent your body from getting used to clean eating.

Pretty awesome cheat meal! 

I still manage to fit all of these into my life <3 <3 <3

Now that we've established the fact on why you need to eat, Lesson #2, which I'll save for another blog entry, will just go a little deeper than calories and into macros.


PS. That entry might take a while or I might ask someone else to write it because frankly, it still confuses me sometimes, but I'm not as clueless as I was when I started!

PPS. Yes, I take phone pictures of what I eat! If I can't think of anything to eat, I look through em and pick one!

Hit & Miss: Food

I feel like I'm always on a constant state of carb cycling. I'm probably messing myself up becuase I'm such on low carbs ALL the time than even on my "high" days, I'm only eating 2 slices of Ezekiel bread. I love love love bread, the reason I maintain distance from carbs is because I know I can over do it. Just give me a loaf of San Francisco sourdough, and I'll be fine.

Anyway, its also been a while since I've had spaghetti. I'm Filipino and we Filipinos are notorious for our sweet spaghetti. Combined with the pasta, all that carbs/starch, its just not a very healthy thing. Its been a while since I've had spaghetti.  Today, I finally had some.

nom nom nom!

Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti!

• spaghetti squash, cooked
• jar of organic tomato sauce [no added salt or sugar] 
• fresh mushrooms
• lean ground turkey

1. Prepare spaghetti squash the easy way! Split it length wise (the hot dog way) and place cut side down on a shallow dish with .5-1 inch of water. Microwave for 10-12 minutes, until tender. Time will be determined by the size of your squash. After done, let it sit and cool a little bit. Remove seeds and strands surrounding seeds- don't remove the flesh! Use a fork to scrape out the flesh into the strands. Set aside.
2. Spray a pan with some Pam and brown the lean ground turkey.
3. Pour the jar of sauce into browned turkey.
4. Add mushrooms.
5. Mix with spaghetti squash and enjoy!

That recipe sucked! Haha. its more like guidelines!

Its really easy tho.

I used turkey patties I had in hand already, not lean ground turkey breast.  It added to the calorie count a bit. But its okay. I also used the jarred sauce because it was simpler than making my own. It also was tasty and no added sugar and salt meant it wasn't that bad for you. It was 60 calories per serving (1/4 a cup) and the jar had six. The mushrooms were left overs I wanted to use. I'm sure you can add bell peppers and any other vegetables you wanted. 

As for the nutrition information: squash vs. pasta (1 cup serving)! Calories 42 vs. 221. Carbohydrates: 10g vs. 42g. With the way I made it, I approximate it to be 150 calories a serving.  Which is a generous estimate. But yeah. 

Its good. I like it and now I have enough sauce to last me this week. 

A miss tho is this:

I wanted something chocolatey and read somewhere that greek yogurt + cocoa powder + some sweetener is a good dupe for chocolate pudding. I love greek yogurt and I know it has a tang to it, so I was hesitant. I ate this but it wasn't that good. I used Stevia as my sweetener and the tang of yogurt is just not comparable to pudding. I don't mind tho, I still love my yogurt!

Anyway, have an awesome day, or night everyone! 

Eat happily!

Lunch Time!

I'm constantly eating, its kinda scary, but I wouldn't be doing it if it works.

Post workout lunch:

Tuna sandwich composed of 2 slices of Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel bread [its high carb day for carb cycling] & tuna spread [tuna, greek yogurt, sichimi togarashi (japanese pepper blend) & curry], spinach & tomatoes. With my whey protein shake.

Its my favorite tuna. I normally eat bland foods so I like to make my food spicy without adding too much sodium or fats.  Sichimi togarashi is just peppers & spices. Curry is spices. Greek yogurt is a good replacement for mayo, and its a lot healthier. Ezekiel bread is just my favorite. And its sweet, the cinnamon raisin one, which is good enough for me!

Can't go wrong with sweet!

I'll have more food posts up soon. I know I struggle with eating, I eat clean M-Th. F-Sn, all bets are mostly off. Haha. Need to change that.

Have a strong day everyone!

Oh Man...

I follow alot of other fitness blogs, and I saw this in one of them:

Damn.  I'll be honest, I was kinda angry when I read this! "Did someone just call me a dog?!" Then I was like I like dogs, they are awesome and keep me warm.

I'm not trying to be the fit police or the food police here. This one really just "hit home" so to speak.

I don't really eat food as a reward, its not like I work out and then use that to justify why I ate cake.  The closest thing I do is my "simple carb" right after a workout. This one still spoke to me in terms of eating healthy & clean.  Healthy as in eat enough to fuel myself & clean as in you maybe meeting your calorie levels, but not your nutrients.

I know if I am more strict about intake, I can seriously seriously improve by leaps and bounds.  If I can eat not as clean and see this much progress imagine if I re-vamped and amped up intake? Which is a big big big part of fitness. I would see progress quicker and feel better over all.   Eating clean or super clean isn't necessary for everyone, but for my goals, 2012 is the year of abs, it is a big part of it. 

Anyway, something to chew on think about.

Meal Time! More Food Talk

Been working on eating right, but still enjoying food since I can't really work out due to my pinched sciatic nerve issue going on. Today is one of those days when I want to eat everything. Since I lost weight, my basal metabolism went down to 1600. I used to limit myself to 1200 calories but I'm going to bump that to 1500 and add working out. 1200 worked but I was fatigued physically and mentally. I just pushed through it cuz I was determined as f*ck to drop weight. It wasn't smart. I'll save my 1200 clean days for when I need to break through plateus.  So I'm adding 300 calories more and when I get over this nerve thing, I'm upping intensity to burn through stores, HIIT & weight lifting supersets galore. February, mid-february, starts half marathon training! My next one is in April, and quite possibly another one in May.

Calorie couting isn't bad, its not hard either.  Figure out your basal metabolism, and "use up" more than you take in for weight lost. Make sure you consume at least 1200.  The higher your starting weight, the more it will be, but if you starve yourself, your body will keep/store everything.  So don't starve yourself. Strict counting can benefit you if you want to break through plateus or if you're into body building and  you do shows, or just want that look and not necessarily have to do shows.  Its good "discipline," but by no means be a stickler about it. I would also eat 5-6 smaller meals. For my 1500 plan thats 5 meals at 300 calories.Or 3 meals at 400 calories and 2 snacks at 150 calories. Break it down however you want! Its up to you.  Enjoy food :-) Just make sure you're with in your "budget" and make your calories count. But don't give up if you give in, "every breathe is a second chance."- Switchfoot

As I've said before, I'm a pretty lazy eater. One reason I tend to binge is because I'm so repetitive with what I eat. Nothings wrong with that, but I've been almost at it for a year and I pretty much eat the same thing. So now, I'm trying to think of ways that I can still eat healthy and maintain what I need. Especially this season when all I want it something sweet.

Heres one of my favorite meal, part of a meal, or snack!!!

I normally use berries [Black, Blue, Strawberries, Raspberries] but I ran out so I had to use this. Peaches, mangoes, & strawberries. Not bad, but I prefer the berries and I believe its healthier. But anyway.  This is perfect for post workout because it has some natural sugars for quick energy replacement & protein [greek yogurt is awesome] and it has fiber- well, in forms of children's Benefiber]

Recipe is pretty much the same!

1/2 cup non-fat greek yogurt
1 cup of frozen fruits
1-2 tbsp of water
2 tbsp of Childrens Benefiber [Yes, I do put this in my smoothies.  I don't get enough fiber even tho all I seem to be eating these days are salads & protein]
small handful of Bear Naked Protein Granola
drizzle of honey.

Blend the first four ingredients in a blender, add water if its too thick, it will be thick, the fruits are frozen and greek yogurt is just thick. Blend until desired consistency[ I like mine chunky & eaten with a spoon]. Top with granola and drizzle of honey!

I love this meal.  Its about 200 calories, give or take and greek yogurt has a lot of protein.  Its sweet, and its filling! If I'm having this for breakfast I'll eat it with an Ezekiel cinnamon raisin toast. Its so good. I just had one right now, that one in the pciture.  I'll probably have a salad with turkey for dinner.

Variations
I've found other "smoothies" that work too! I have weird tastes, so really try it, experiment and find what you love! Calories vary, so just pay attention.

Chocolate
This one is awesome post workout. I normally have my whey protein shake with water and thats it, but if I'm headed out right after working out and won't be able to eat for a while, I'll have something a little bit more substantial.

-greek yogurt
-chocolate whey protein powder
-ice if you want it to be smoothie-like, no ice if you want a "mouse"

Chocolate & Berries
If you like the flavor combination, its pretty much the above recipe (with the fruits, sub mixed frozen berries) with the addition of chocolate whey protein powder- its what I have so its what I use!

-greek yogurt [or you can use just water/soy milk/milk]
-frozen mixed berries
-chocolate whey protein powder

Thats really it. Haha. I only have so much I can work with but I'm sure you guys can be creative and come up with your own.

Today...

Today, will be the last of my ugly eating days.

I just had some chocolate covered Ritz. Umm... what?!

Add that candy bar from earlier today, and I fucked myself over food wise today.

Start over Sang, start over. You're starting from a new, better, beginning. It will come with its own challenges but as you know, it will be worth it.

This was dinner,

Its a good dinner, minus the tortilla, if I hadn't eaten all the other unnecessary calories.  I should have skipped dinner, but home made "fajitas," someone grabbed the wrong tortilla, and mango salsa was calling my name.

Tomorrow is a new day.

You're too young to give up.

"Crispy Tenders" & Cinnamon Raisin "Bread"

That is a whole lot of " " up there, but I had such a good lunch today, I had to share:

The grocery store I frequent is FINALLY stocking other flavors of Ezekiel Bread! I'm so happy. Now they just have to carry the Ezekiel tortilla then I can be set for LIFE! FOR LIFE! I'm such a fan girl of the Ezekiel breads because I really love bread but I'm careful of carbohydrates because I just am. Its something that has to change when I start adding miles to my runs again, full marathon next year, I'm scared; but the Ezekiel breads are wonderful! They are sprouted grains, low calories, and low GI.  A slice of bread is 80 calories [nutrition information] and no fat! I love cinnamon raisin bread, its perfect when I want something sweet. Ezekiel Breads can be found in the frozen food aisle, so look out for it. I'll eat eat the cinnamon raisin one frozen, but the normal bread can't be eaten frozen.

I also love chicken fingers. I can wax poetic about my love for chicken fingers. So I wanted to try these gardein crispy tenders.  They were surprisingly good. They were pretty tiny [the plate I'm using is a salad plate for comparison] but at 100 calories for 2 [Serving Size: 2 pcs Calories: 100 Total Fat: 3.5 Carbs: 8 Protein: 8] its not bad at all! The taste isn't bad either! You just have to toast it as microwaving it leaves it super soggy.  I probably will just sub chicken breast for these because these things are pricey. For a bag of 10 pieces, its almost $5.00

I also had turkey breast deli slices because I had some I need to use up. I have no clue why I put mustard. I just saw it there and put it on my turkey. On after thought, I probably shouldn't have. I'm normally not a fan of mustard.

But that was my lunch and it was lovely.

Today's workout will be at night! I'm doing a long, fast paced weight lifting circuit. I have a love hate relationship with cardio right now because I know I'm going to be doing a lot of running really soon.

Have a beautiful day everyone!

It All Starts Here...

Most people, when they want to get fit, head to the gym, but really, it starts HERE:

the bright yellow kitchen!

for the past 5 days, i didn't run or p90x. goes without saying, i was restless & mildly depressed but i did it to prove a point, mostly to myself. a lot of times when people want to "get fit," they head to the gym, what most people don't realize is that getting fit starts in here, the kitchen. i have the worst eating habits ever [not eating enough or eating enough but not nutrient dense foods], & i decided for 5 days that i would just concentrate on eating right. to me that meant bumping my 1200cal/day to 1500-1800cal/day [even when i wasn't working out, but still doing active things like living life. this was hard]. making sure i was getting my carbs [i don't normally eat carbs. i <3 bread, & if its something i <3, i normally do or die it] & making sure i get my fiber, iron, and all my nutrients in. but i also gave myself some room to eat what i wanted- specifically speaking, pumpkin pie.

five days later? I'm down a solid 5 pounds & broke the plateau that was pissing me off & I've been on for 3 weeks. i think 5 days of no running & p90x messed with my emotions [lack of endorphins] much more than anything. it sucked but i learned something about a big part of working out/getting fit that i couldn't have learned other wise. I'll do another long, separate blog post on what to eat, everyone always asks what i eat, these are just a few things that i learned on the past 5 days.

DO... eat clean! eat your veggies! for me, this is no problem, i love vegetables. i just needed to add more dark greens for iron. eat lean meats! turkey breast, chicken breast! protein helps you stay full!

BUT...

DON'T... deprive yourself. i know thanksgiving is this Thursday & it marks the start of yummy eating. just be smart about what you eat, in other words, don't use working out & eating clean as an excuse to binge. go ahead, have a piece of that dark meat or some yummy ham. i seriously ate pumpkin pie and a biscotti during those five days and i was like i'm effing myself over, but in reality, those "breaks" in food just helped me not to binge, which i know we all do over this season.

DO... keep active! its cold, nothing better than being indoors wrapped in a blanket. but stay active! i know i didn't work out & run during those 5 days, but i wouldn't be surprised if some of those 5lbs i lost were muscle weight. i know its all not because i also measure myself & weigh myself so i'm pretty familiar with my body. but keeping active- not just running or weight lifting- go snowboarding, ice skating, walk downtown, etc. will also help your metabolism to always be "on." thats another thing i'll talk about later on, how to manipulate your metabolism. i know my metabolism is always "on," i can tell, and its crazy how if you have the know how and the drive you can make your body do crazy awesome things.

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY...

DON'T... forget to have fun. its an awesome season. everything seems to be so magical and awesome. its a time to be with friends & family. a time to reflect & be grateful for the past year & the years to come. life is a gift, meant to be enjoyed & lived to the fullest, being healthy helps you live a long one [trusting in the One helps you live forever]. enjoy it, LIVE IT!



PS. I broke my non-workout streak today with Shoulders & Arms for P90x. It feels good to be back <3 Now to shower & walk laps in the mall- I really need new pants. still wearing the same pants since before i started, i'm now down 6 sizes. i think i should buy new ones.

with the workout nectar of life, jack3d

Manipulating Metabolism

I know this is a predominantly "running" blog, but for those who are new here, I started to run because I wanted to drop some weight.  That didn't work, running became addicting [and was hunger inducing] and while I still want to drop weight, I love running and run for much more than creating a calorie deficit.

Anyway, one thing I was taught was to learn how to speed up [manipulate] my metabolism. Instead of just loosing weight, learning to manipulate my metabolism would allow me to get to know my body a lot better. It would also involve strength training, which I love love love!!! So lately, I've been insanely hungry. I haven't ran a serious run for a week- I just had my hilly half last Sunday, and I'm debating about doing a trail half tomorrow [I'll see tho, trails take a different toll on my body, I'm kinda scared, but I want to do a Halloween Run & get a finishers!] but I haven't done any serious runs since then. But I've been so hungry.

I've been nursing a bag of Pumpkin Spice Hershey's Kisses- so good. Eating Pumpkin Spice Ego waffles with Nutella or Almond butter and just eating not as clean as I'm known for! So I'm really surprised that I'm still loosing weight. For the longest time, I've stuck with 1200 calories as my daily intake- I know, so very very very bad, even when I was training for my first half marathon. And now I'm anywhere from 1800-2000 calories and to me it feels like I'm binging, but I'm still dropping weight.

For breakfast, I had this:

Thats four egg whites, a handful of shredded chicken breast, jalapenos, & cheese "omelet" with cholula [I love spicy foods!] with a Pumpkin Spice Waffle and 1/3 of Justin's Maple Almond Butter. In contrast, I'll normally have an Ezekiel toast with a wedge of cheese, which is 115 calories. This one is a kicker for me, that breakfast is heavy!

So this whole metabolism thing is working. Weight lifting, increasing protein, drinking green tea. All those things are adding up and helping. But I think I did myself a disservice by only eating 1200 calories a day for such a long time. I've been teeter-totting from weight to weight and I'm trying not to obsess so much about numbers, I just want to get out of the teeter-totter stage. I know I can do it, I have a goal to drop at least 10 more pounds by the end of the year, then its time to evaluate.  I have an idea in my head of what I would like my weigh to be [120-130 pounds] but according to people [both doctors & normal people] that would be really low for my height, 5'6.5". So I'm just taking this by feel. One "weight bracket" at a time.

But yay. Even though weight loss has taken a "back seat" to running, it really hasn't.  Haha. Running is really just fun and its not something I do to drop weight, its beyond that. Loosing chub is a proverbial cherry on top while improving my running!

Happy Saturday everyone!

Food Friday

Breakfast

Thats the nasty Yoplait Plain Greek Yogurt. I really like Chobani or Fage or Dannon a whole lot better. I just wanted to eat it so I can get more in a different brand. Thats one container at 120 calories and about 60, maybe 80 calories worth of frozen blue berries. I don't really trip too much about the fruits because berries are really good for you.  So for about 200 calories, its not a bad breakfast. Haha.  I wanted to drizzle some honey in there but I don't have any more.  Going to go grocery shopping today to stock up on my healthy foods! So that means a lot of vegetables, a box of quinoa, frozen berries, yogurt, and other stuff. Maybe I'll go to Whole Foods! I don't like shopping there but I can eat there. Their stuff is crazy expensive! Haha. I just want a sandwich from there. Really, what I wanted for breakfast was Ikea breakfast. But yeah, the yogurt will do. At least it was high in protein!

Go muscles go!

PS. Yeah, I'm wearing that white tee again. Its cold here.
Have a good day everyone!

My Go To "Snacks"

Today, I decided to stock up on some "snacks," my usual go to foods when I'm not that hungry or when I know I need to eat. Remember that I'm a lazy eater, while there are times I binge, like when I'm out of town, for the most part, I need to remind myself to eat, that food = fuel. Note I'm not the type of person to take out a measuring spoon and measure everything to the line. I'm not that neurotic and I like to enjoy life, and eating is part of that. I'm going to be bringing up numbers and calories here, but really, I want you guys to enjoy life and a big part of that is being able to eat good food! I'm not the food police.

I say "snacks" because these are sometimes my meals. My usual meal is around 200-300 calories per meal at about 4-6 meals a day.  And note usually.  Yesterday, I had a protein shake at 120 calories, 100 calories worth of Rold Gold pretzels, and a steamed bun- 310 calories. Thats not even 600 calories worth of food and I worked out. I just wasn't hungry. If I know I'm going to eat a big meal, then I skip one or two small meals to compensate. But there really isn't a set "breakfast, lunch, dinner" meals for me, I learned to just count calories. I'll have oatmeal for dinner if I want. Haha. And also, for beverages its either tea or water. I'll have my days where I run on nothing but energy drinks, and those are my "meals" so I don't really count them as "beverages." I rarely drink milk, except chocolate milk post a long run, but if i do, its soy or 2% or less. I don't drink much of anything else. I'll only drink soda if its the only thing there and if its Dr. Pepper. I only drink juice as chasers [honesty is the best policy].

Anyway, so here are my go to "snacks/meals!" You'll notice a trend here.

Do you see it?

Click on the picture to make it bigger.

If you still don't see it, its PEANUT BUTTER!

Its high in calories, but usually 1 tablespoon is 100 calories and that bread is 100 calories = 200 calories = wining! Its high protein, provides energy, and its nom nom nom!

Okay, so I gush about peanut, & almond, butter. Let me explain my choices here.

Orowheat Sandwich Thins are awesome. 100 calories for two slices! They also come in minis that I have stowed in my freezer that are 50 calories for two slices! They are so cute, the size of sand dollars! I'm averse to carbs just cuz I love, love, love, baked goods (Andersen, Panera, & Specialty's are my favorites) and if I love something that much but I know its not that awesome for me, I do or die things. So all or nothing. This is why I have a hard time carb loading for long runs. But anyway, this bread, and also

Ezekiel Bread are my go to bread. Ezekiel is sprouted whole grains, so it might take some getting used to for those really picky people, but to be honest it doesn't taste any different to me than normal bread.  I usually eat the Ezekiel for breakfast, if I have time. I find mine frozen at my local grocery store, so I have to toast it. But if you read up on Ezekiel bread a lot of people swear by them. Low GI- 36,  good balance of protein, carbs & fiber. I believe its 80 calories per slice. I usually eat mine with brie cheese- 70 cals, and greek yogurt. 80 cals. That is some protein packed meal right there!

Laura Scudders All Natural Peanut Butter- Nutty This is by far my favorite peanut butter! Its all natural. Seriously, the ingredient? Peanuts & a smidgen of salt. You can also get unsalted if you want, but only the smooth kind. If you're seriously exercising, you shouldn't worry too much about sodium. You'll need to replace it when you sweat, especially running. Anyway, its 200 calories for 2 tablespoon and I usually only use one.  Peanut butter is a good way to fulfill that craving for something sweet, if you aren't allergic!

Greek Yogurt is now my default yogurt! It has a lot of protein and it taste good and its filling.  I usually get whatever brand is on sale.  Its pricey- if its on sale about $1 per container.  Sometimes, I'll have this as a meal with frozen berries! I like to buy the plain ones and just add my own honey or fruit.  I like control! Just kidding. Usually the ones with the fruit are either too sweet or tart for me.

Blue Diamond Almond Butter is the awesome!!! I love this stuff but its expensive!!! That giant jar of Laura Scudder's peanut butter was $4.xx.  That tiny jar of almond butter is now priced at $7.xx. When I started buying almond butter, it was "only" $5.xx for the same size, which was already expensive. Anyway, I think almond butter has a bit of an edge "health wise" over peanut butter, but seriously, I just like the way it tastes. I don't think its going to make too much of a difference if you pick almond over peanut butter as long as your peanut butter is all natural. Which means no Skippy or Jiff.

Balance Bars are my ultimate go to food. If I can be sponsored by a food company, I would want to be sponsored by Balance Bars. I certainly buy enough of their stuff to warrant one! And of course, I have the Peanut Butter and Chocolate Peanut Butter flavored ones. Its convenient and its perfectly balanced, hence the name, in terms of protein, fat, & carbs

So for the most part, these are my go to "snacks."  If I'm tired of bread and peanut butter or whatever else is on here, I'll pick up an apple or some other fruit. You don't have to starve while trying to get rid of weight or maintain your weight.  You just have to be informed about what to eat and how to fuel your body.

Remember that food is nothing but fuel for your body. Its okay to let loose once in a while, or if you're like me, more than once in a while, and eat a burger or some chili cheese fries or chicken fingers and fries [chicken fingers & fries = winning binge food] but not all the time. Don't deprive yourself, life is fun and beautiful and if you don't let that mantra expand in your food life and not eat "fun" foods once in a while, you're going to be miserable even if you live in Disneyland, the happiest place on earth.

Also, while I always say that if you really want to lose weight, be more careful about what you eat than worry about what latest exercise to try, its easier to understand why you should eat certain foods- and for me why you should eat period- when you combine eating right with a good, solid exercise regimen.  You learn more about your body, how it responds to certain foods, what it needs during certain times (for me its learning the necessity of carbs while training for running and protein for strength training).  Every body is different.  Find what foods work for you and stick with it  until it doesn't work anymore, then change it up! In the end, knowing your body is what I want for you guys to walk= or run- away with.

Training Run 08/21/11

Did a 5k with the Palo Alto Nike Running Store's Run Club. I like going there but I'm sorely intimidated and I feel unqualified but one thing I learned is that -most- runners are nice and very very supportive. 

It was a 5k and I PR'ed it but not by much. Its still a new PR.  I'm finding that with my runs, I'm not improving a lot in terms of time.  I also can't seem to manage negative splits! Its sad. My miles were like 11, 12, 13. Damn. Hahaha. Sad.

I know I need more runs that focus on my time so that I can improve on that, but I know a big factor of it is nutrition.

I weighed myself everyday for a week and I've been consistently dropping a pound a day for a week. Thats CRAZY. I know some of it is probably water weight but I know its mostly not because I've been drinking like crazy.  I mean A LOT. I've been making it a point to drink.

So while I'm happy about that weight being gone, I've been mentally and physically drained and that lack of fuel- I know I haven't been eating much- is affecting my runs.

SIGH.

Running is "supposed" to make you hungry and my long runs make me hungry but I don't want to eat since I also want to drop weight... its like crazy.

Blah. I don't want to talk about it right now because its getting to me. But yeah, I ate like crazy today. Well not really. Did that run had trail mix & OJ and then didn't eat till dinner. A bbq burger with sweet potato fries. Then tiramisu.

Haha. That better fuel me for my early run tomorrow. I'll try to head out at six and just run the streets since the park doesnt' open till 8 and I have work.

Anyway... its weird how my priority is running vrs. dropping weight. I know that dropping pounds will benefit running but I really want to make sure I'm fueled for my runs.  And being that I'm a naturally lazy eater, its easier for me to not eat and work and drop weight like that as opposed to dropping weight slower but in a way where I'm fueled for my runs.

I can only eat so much turkey & broccoli I guess. Haha.

Confessions Of A Snack-a-holic

I am a snack-a-holic.

I am a lazy eater. Super duper lazy eater. Don't get me wrong. I love food. Food is so darn good. But ask someone who knows me, I'm a lazy eater. I will wait till I'm so angry from hunger till I eat. Or I'll eat when someone tells me to. So if you catch me in a bad mood, you should just come with some food offerings. It will for sure turn my mood around because that means I haven't eaten.

Although I'm a lazy eater, I will have moments (like obviously NOW) where I will have a snack attack and turn into this snack-a-holic.

I didn't eat much this whole day so I'm probably going to be snacking till pretty late. I had toast with almond butter, some Mediterranean stuff I found in the fridge (thanks whoever!) and thats about it. Haha. Lazy eater!!! Hahaha. Maybe thats why I didn't get my run done. Lols.

And what is a runner-loosing-weight-while-still-fueling-for-run's snack of choice?

Pirates Booty

Pirates Booty is awesome! This one happens to be the veggie flavor but they have some cheese flavor ones that are equally awesome!!! I just picked this up cuz I always get the cheese ones and I wanted something new.  So why are they awesome?  First of all a bag is 4 servings at 130 calories each. I usually divvy em up in zip lock bags right when I get them so that I can pace my self.  Chips is one of those things that are bad for you if you don't watch it.  My mentality is, if I'm going to snack on chips, they might as well be organic! Haha.  But yeah. Not too bad for you compared to other chips! Try em!

Curious George Fruit Snacks MUST be the Curious George ones! Until they come out with a cheap version of Hello Kitty, it has to be Curious George!

Fruit snacks!!! You would think this would be like the biggest no-no in the world! But I actually use this in lieu of GUs when I run.  Sometimes I just want something to chew and fruit snacks are nothing but sugar and carbs and its conveniently portioned out in 100 calorie packets!!! So for those who need a little glucose boost- which GU does provide, but GU has caffeine and stuff too- this cheap alternative, about $2 per box for a packet of 6, will happily suffice!!! Is it still a snack if I use it to run?

Beef Jerky! I'm not picky of the brand but it has to be either beef or turkey, no pork.

Beef jerky! Protein! Nuff said! Hahaha. I like beef jerky. It gives my jaw a workout and gives me a lot of protein!  Beef jerky isn't that bad for you.  Some people say watch the sodium, but if you're putting in honest work in working out or running or in the best sport in the world- SOCCER, you're sweating and need that sodium anyway!!!

Yeah, so a random snack entry because I didn't eat meals today and got hungry and ran out- okay drove- to the store to get these and some green tea!

And for those who are questioning my choice of food, just to let you know, and yes I'm partially bragging here, I'm down 40 lbs =] Loosing weight/getting in shape, doesn't have to be that bad in terms of eating. Whoever told you it has to be that bad doesn't realize that you only have one life to live, you might as well live, and eat, it up!!! And I also don't eat like this everyday. If I did, this would NOT fuel me at all for my runs.

Still Learning...

Today, I got told by a nutritionist to do two things a)eat more b)eat more carbs.

Normal people's reaction would be like "I just got told by a nutritionist to eat more! Not just that, but eat more carbs!"

DREAM. COME. TRUE.

Me? I'm just worried. I have a draft of that promised food post but I'm hesistant to publish it because I'm still learning here. Obviously I have a lot to learn.

I seem to be loosing weight in 10 pound increments and every time I'm about to, I have a hard time getting those last couple of pounds out. I'm not sure if its because I'm increasing intensity or what in running and just subconsciously [is that possible?] eating more but I'm really trying to stick to my 1200 calories and low carb way of eating. I'm constantly tired and hungry lately and since I hit that plateau, I've been sad and worried and really cut back on calories.

So I was told to get at least 1800 calories and get half of those calories from carbs.

I made no promises to apply what I heard but I refuse to let my training go to waste. I want to make sure I'm fueled properly for my runs and still maintain that weight loss. I want to get rid of at least 5 (ideally 10) more pounds before race day. I should be able to hit 10 if I'm really strict, but August is my birthmonth and its a month long celebration!!! So maybe I'll listen if it helps my performance but thats a lot of carbs.

At least I won't feel bad when I bite into a cheese roll from Portos!

Hey, the doctor told me so.

Haha. Just kidding. I'll probably apply what I was told but keep my food super clean save for that one week celebration. Have to scale back from one month to a week, but the marathons are coming up! Yes, marathonS!!! I decided to do another half on October to get a series medal!



PS. Today is rest day. I can feel my body begging for rest. I don't think people like me are supposed to be putting this much strain on their body. I have no clue what "ease into training" means. Just jump in head first. Do or die!!! Also updated race calendar! I'm doing a 5k a week before my half. Or maybe a 10k. Its for the church I grew up in.

EveryBODY Different

By no way am I a dietitian, a nutritionist, a personal trainer, nor do I consider myself knowledgeable about all things concerning health.  But what I do know comes from advice of those who knew before me and application of those advices and seeing what worked and didn't work for me. By no means am I anywhere near my ideal body (if you want to know its runners lean!) but I have no doubt that I can get there =] If you don't want to read the entire thing, its fine, just at least burn off 1 or 2 calories by scrolling all the way to the bottom of this post, the bottom line should help you. I'm also putting this right after telling you to scroll down cuz it has a greater chance of being read, know this as well: the way you look will not fix your insecurities. That statement will be left at that, just take it for what it is. You can add "not a shrink" to not a nutritionist or a personal trainer =]

I recently saw a bunch of family and friends in a party, I haven't seen them in at least 3 months. People have been asking what the hell I do. They all said one or more of these things

• "You lost a lot of weight!"
• "How much did you loose?"
• "What do you do?"
• "What do you eat?"
• "You're disappearing!"
• "I want to do what you're doing!"

There were also a few other random things I chose to leave out, they were weird comments 8-)

I'm going to be one of those people who say this, there is no magic pill, its pure diet & exercise!

Lets break it down yo! Grab popcorn (no butter) and get comfy!

Exercise
I, obviously, do a lot of running. But what you need to know is that running won't drop your weight for you. Haha. A lot of people think running is a cure all for weight loss, but from MY experience, it isn't! When I started running, I lost 5lbs and then didn't drop anymore for a month. It was like thats it?! And half of those was probably water weight from sweating so much!  So why the hell do you run?! I run because I love, I mean LOVE, the feeling of endorphins after my runs. Its crazy addicting. I also love seeing progress! Its one of those mental benefits of running. Running, is after all, just you and the road. You push yourself, you lift those damn legs, and move. Its for you, by you! That is why I run.  Why won't running help you loose weight? Running alone won't help you because its an aerobic exercise. Its good for your heart, its good for your lungs but really aside from your legs, you're not building muscles (remember: muscles burn more calories than fat). A lot of people say I'll go running to justify what they eat. There lies the problem. Remember its diet (which means what you eat, not cutting back on what you eat. It just means what you eat) AND exercise! So really, the approach most people take to running/exercising is a means to justify what they eat. Which is okay if you're trying to maintain weight, which I'm not, I'm trying to cut weight and gain muscle. And most of us is trying to cut weight. So do I attribute some of my weight loss to running. Most definitely! I do, but its not just running alone.  I also attribute a lot of mental benefits to running, but thats another blog entry =]

Like I said above, aside from your legs, running doesn't really help you build muscle. And unless you change up your running surface (trail or road) you're probably just working the same muscle groups all the time and still not building a lot of muscle since its constant strain on one set of muscle groups. So aside from running, I also do some strength training in the form of P90x!!! I love love love P90x! Its one of those things we all cringe at in the beginning but you get into it and you feel the burn and you feel bad ass! Especially since I'm a girl, I get all proud and feel all bad ass when I finish and finish well! P90x is an anaerobic exercise. I'm not going to go to deep into the difference between aerobic & anaerobic exercises, I'll let this website do the talking. For the link phobic, its like a hybrid vehicle, first they rely on the electricity part then when they hit the faster speeds, they rely on gas. For the most part, we rely on oxygen (aerobic) to fuel our cells, but when intensity is bumped the oxygen is not enough and the body relies on other chemical reactions to fuel itself- which creates lactic acid which is why we experience muscle fatigue. Obviously, P90x is a high intensity type of training. Any weight training regimen is intense and requires a lot of energy making it anaerobic.  I don't think you really had to know the difference. I just got carried away! Haha. Why is P90x necessary? Really, any strength training is necessary. First of all, it helps build muscles and when talking body, more muscle is always better! muscle > fat is always a good thing! Plus muscles help pull everything in. Weight may not change for a while, but you will drop inches and its better to go by inches rather than weight. A pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat =]

So over all, the exercise part is running (cardio) & P90x (strength trianing). A good balance, 30 minutes of each is good, but really, people are lazy (including me sometimes!) so if you can only do one, strength train! Build those muscles and let them burn fat for you!

Diet
I'm going to start by saying this: diet doesn't mean you change your food intake, diet is simply what you intake. Diet has such a negative connotation, like I'm going on a "diet." In reality, you're already on one, it just depends if its a good or bad one.

Now that that is out of the way, I'm going to say one more thing: I'm on a very low calorie diet and I'm running and strength training at the same time. Albeit, I did cheat over this weekend when I was in SoCal, but thats why I'm so strict when I'm at home. With that said, here are the basic specs of what I do:

"Cat's Not Recommending this Diet" Diet

• 1200 - 1800 calories a day; 6 meals 200-300 calories a day
• The ratio I try to stick to: 50% protein, 30% carbs (cuz I run, I would generally do 20% & add the other 10% to protein) 20% fat.
• Food List: eggs (mostly white), Ezekiel toast, cheese, 2 Balance Bars (2 meals right there), turkey breast, chicken breas, lettuce, brocolli (really any non starchy vegetables; but brocolli is my go to! High fiber, low GI!). Thats it. I have a boring food in take at home =]
• Water or Green Tea
• One day of cheating!

Macro-Nutrient Ratios
A lot of people rely on counting calories to control their diet.  Thats cool and all but think of food as fuel. You can consume 1200 calories of cake for an entire day but your body won't be fueled. Why? Your body is fueled by chemical reactions that uses carbs, proteins, & fats! A slice of cake will have fats (unhealthy ones) and carbs, but very little protein. So its also important to look at the macro-nutrients. Depending on what you want to try to do (like for me its cut weight & build muscle- low carb, high protein- while still providing enough energy to fuel my runs, which is hard cuz carb is fuel for runs but I really try to cut back on carbs for weight loss- which some say is unnecessary but I love bread the only way for me to do it is DO OR DIE!), ratios is something that you should look at. Generally speaking I believe 40% carbs, 30% protein, & 30% fat is what is the norm. It took me a long time to get ratios down, and to some extent, I still don't have it down, but once you have a basic understanding of ratios, you can start to manipulate your ratios, i.e. carb cycling! Carb cycling is something I tried to do but had a hard time doing since I'm so anti carbs, but I started doing it sub consciously, I won't talk about it too much till I get my head wrapped around it solidly, but it works! For those who are trying to loose weight and is putting in work in exercising (both kinds) I would just go with the 40/30/30 ratio. Once you figure out what your goals are, you can start to manipulate your ratios.

Thats it. I can break it down specifically to what I eat but generally speaking, thats how my diet consists like. I know a lot of people are asking for specific foods, but seriously if you ask my sisters or my parents who are at home, thats really the majority of what I eat. Preparations may be different, but I stick to those meats, veggies, bread, etc.

DISCLAIMER I don't recommend this diet because at my weight and height, my basal metabolism is almost 2000. That means to do nothing but lie in bed all day and keep my body functioning, I burn 2000 calories. I'm consuming 1200 calories a day and so by that calculation I'm already down 800 calories, take into consideration that I strength train and/or run everyday, means I'm really down on calories. This may seem bad ass, (& to be honest I sometimes think I have an eating disorder. Haha, I don't! I'm just really careful cuz I know I eat not so cleanly when I'm out of town, & I'm out of town a lot) but its dangerous. Do you see that flashing *DANGER* sign? Its there!

If its dangerous, why do you do it? Here is the beauty of exercising and "getting in touch" with your body. You learn to read your body. You learn to listen to your body and its demands. You learn to know what works for you and what doesn't.  I'm still learning this eating thing as well because I'm a very lazy eater. I don't want to complicate things and I'm sure theres variety of foods I can eat aside from turkey and chicken and turkey, but I like to keep it simple. I don't want to think too much since if I get information overload, I'll give up. It may also seem that I'm super duper strict food police, but I'm really not. I can be flexible when the occasion calls for it. If theres an occasion, I'll eat what I'm served. Like right now, I just got back form SoCal, land of good food a plenty, so you know I"m really strict on what I'm eating right now. I'm probably going to cut back on carbs some more unless its the day before a long run. And I'm going to bump up the intensity/duration of my strength training/runs. Generally speaking tho, what I listed above is what you'll see me eat. And it seems like its really little food, but I'll eat a ton of broccoli, like two crowns of broccoli. Or a big plate of salad. Its just learning what your body needs. For example, I learned through trial and error and learning how to read my body that if I have a long run the next day, I'll eat a bit more carbs the previous day (ratio manipulation!) and if I know I'm going to be in a rest day I'll ease up on the carbs and just load up on veggies. Its things like that.

So, if you don't recommend your diet what do you recommend?
Learning to read your body and your tummy and what it needs is probably the most important thing anyone can learn as opposed to being told what to eat. In a way, I believe we all know what to eat and what to avoid, we don't need to be told that. I will put up resources on this, but theres so many conflicting information in the internet that really, I would advice to read up, find something that you think is do-able for you. Do it. If it works, keep on doing it. If it doesn't find another thing. If it STOPS working, by that time, you'll probably be able to read your body. Like I said, I'm still learning, and by no means do I consider myself a nutritionist. PS. I'll update another post with resources. I'm sifting through a ton of them right now. LOLOLS! I will however say this, don't go by the food "plate" pyramid thing that the gov't released. Its bs!



EveryBODY is different. This is what worked for me, since a lot of you asked. I can go into so much details (like this isn't detailed right? I haven't even talked about my supplements! lol) but I think this is already wordy enough. I'm still on this journey, its really life long, and would be more than happy to help anyone out.  But I'm letting you all right now, what works for me, might not work for you at all. A lot of people just asked what I do, and heres my answer.

If you don't want to read the whole thing, just read the bottom line:

 eat clean, train dirty & keep at it.

07/05/11 Run Recap

This is what I have to run with, my black neoprene knee brace. It is one of the worlds greatest inconvenience while running. I'm not sure if I'm KT-taping right because my knee still hurts when I run with the KT-tape for too long- it does help tho, so I chose to run with the neoprene. Its black, it attracts and retains heat and now it is soaked in sweat. I had perhaps the slowest mile I've ever walked not just "run" but walked. And it was hella slow. But its okay. I'm not going to be sad over it, not going to trip over it, I'm just so super proud and glad that I still went out there and did something. Granted, this "injury" is pushing me behind in my half training but the only things that its really affecting are my long runs because it really starts too hurt. Maybe once I get over 4 miles, it will all just be mind games and I'll just have to push through the pain. Pain will come, I will choose if I want to suffer. I can suffer in an ice bath later.

At least I had a nice view while running! I actually ran/walked more than what the Daily Mile widget says. I don't want to reveal where I live in Nike+ so I start and stop the watch significantly farther from where I live. I know I hit about three miles so I'm not that bummed. One day I'll be more accurate when I'm running not near my house. Anyway. I "ran" okay more like walked or crawled in the park today. I would go there more often but its really hilly and I seriously need to find a flat surface to run in so I don't mess up my knee some more. When I ran in the grass my knee wouldn't hurt as much so I know softer and flatter surfaces help.

I also took a Honey Stinger energy thing and I'll just stick to Chocolate GU. Haha. The taste was weird! I heard the waffles were good, but I don't want to eat solids. Maybe when I run longer runs I'll move onto solids. But that won't be for a while. Although I've read reviews that the waffles taste like STROOP WAFFLES which are my favorite baked treats from Europe. Those things are BOSS. Imagine one designed for fueling exercises?! But taste wise, I don't recommend the Honey Stinger at all. I had a hard time swallowing it.

Pause!

I'm going to pause my carb cycling.

I'm having a hard time tracking my carbs and really eating that much carbs is a chore for me.  I'm kinda discouraged by it since it should be pretty simple, but its pretty hard for me, but there isn't a point dwelling on that. I'll just put it off till after the half.

I know I gained weight because of the two weeks I was on it, and I know my running will use up the fuel, but right now I'm frustrated cuz I have to think about what I eat and marathon training so I'm just going to pause that one aspect of life right now.

I also know I'm loosing muscle mass, which is also frustrating. I knew my P90x was going to suffer while training for the marathon, but I worked hard for what little muscles I have so I'm sad about that, but I'm going to kick that up a notch.

So right now, I'm just going back to really low carbs and listening to what my body needs after its run. If I need a little more carbs, I shouldn't/won't be afraid to eat some good for me carbs.

Also, being a girl runner sucks. I think guys have it better, here is a list why:

• Guys don't have boobs. They don't need to spend at least $20 for a really good bra. I double up my bras and it gets really hot and uncomfortable.
• Guys don't have periods. You don't have to be bloated, crampy, and irritated.
• Guys have bodies that were built to run. Girls have child bearing bodies.

Those are just some reasons that randomly came up in my head. I hate having to deal with the first two. The last one, that isn't really an issue cuz our bodies are smart and adjust. But imagine running in 90 degree heat, wearing two sports bras and on your period. That is probably the worst case scenario for a girl.

I'm also thinking up more races for the future. I'm going to be traveling a lot till the end of the year and I'm excited for that, but it makes it difficult to see which races I can do. I really want to do another 5k soon, even a 10k, but there isn't much events in my area.

Debating about doing the inaugural Hollywood Half but its really expensive for a half, and I'll have to travel down there, which means it will probably cost me 3x the registration over all to just do the run. I don't mind, since I can see my fam there, but at the same time, why can't NorCal just be more runner and marathon friendly? It will save me some serious cash!

But planning trips AROUND marathons are also fun! I want to do the Niagara Marathon which is the only marathon that spans two countries! You need a PASSPORT to run the race! How exciting is that? I also want to do Peachtree next year! And just so many random events. I'm so excited. I wish someone would take up the same interest as me and would find all this worthwhile cuz traveling is always fun with someone! But I know my friend wants to check out random places anyway, she should be down to travel (not necessarily run) with me!

600 & 0

I'm currently at 600 calories right now at 8:13 pm.

I did P90x this morning had a protein shake (120) & greek yogurt (100) = 220

Went to work for four hours.

Had a turkey "burger" (bread: 80, cheese 70, turkey patty 170 [where can i find turkey patties that are lower than that damn 170!]) = 320

Then had some strawberries = 49

Went for a run just now & ate nothing.

TOTAL = 589

Round it up to 600 because its almost there anyway.

This is compulsive calorie counting for me & its normally my signal to chill & stop. I'm really peeved at my weight and I really want it to change fast.  This mentality is what gets me in trouble because I won't eat. I'm already a lazy eater to begin with. Like really lazy but I seriously need to change this mindset.  Its not helping me mentally or physically to think this way.

My self esteem is at 0 but not eating right won't fix that.

I should force myself to eat -_-



---Edited to Add---

Its 10:34 pm

I ate a turkey patty at 170 and a Balance Bar at 200

for a grand total of 970.  Its not entirely my daily requirement, but better than 600. I can feel the lack too since I ran and P90'ed.


Dear Cat,

Sure you were discouraged and your self esteem is at zero, but today is almost done. Tomorrow doesn't have to be the same.

Love,
Cat