my own personal 4-week challenge

Yes, so it's the new year. Like everyone else vowing to lose weight, look better, etc etc, I've decided to give myself a four-week challenge. I really do hope I can stick with it... as that's always my problem. Everything's fine the first week or so... then of course comes week 2 or 3 and I get side track or distracted w/ other stuff. We'll see how this goes. :)

For now, here are my starting measurements:

weight: 101.4lbs
bust: 30"
abs: 26.5"
belly: 32"
below waist: 30.75"
hips: 33.5"
L thigh: 20.5"
R thigh: 20.25"
L calf: 13"
R calf: 12.75"
L arm: 9.75"
R arm: 9.8"
neck: 11.25"

I'm not super sure how accurately my arm measurements are... just cuz I did them myself and was having difficulties trying to get the tape measure to be in the correct place, read the measurements, etc... so... but I do hope that the measurement on it either improves or if it doesn't... that when I do look at myself in the mirror and even at my arms in person, it'll look good... I mean, notice a difference, somewhat. :)

Okay, so yes, today was the first day of this thing.. I did count my calories.. but of course, I'm already doing bad. I feel like I'm not quite 100% invested in this just yet.. especially when it comes to the eating part. It's so cold here, that I baked some cookies to keep the house warm. Madeleine cookies, that is. I asked for a Madeleine cookie pan this past Christmas and got it. I figured I attempt to bake some cookies. Of course the first batch was awful (just cuz it was too brown on the shelled side).. but the rest of the other batches turned out great. I think you just have to bake them for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees instead of 375 and you'll be just fine. For my last few batches I did them at 8 minutes at 350 and it turned out great. Bad thing about it all was, I "had to" test them to make sure they were all cooked through. That of course, led me to eating about six cookies. Oh well. Anyway, I'm running tonight w/ Mark so hopefully that will kind of make up for the six cookies. What a waste of calories huh? Each cookie had about 105 calories in it... oh well. Oh, for the recipe, you can go here.





Lalalalalalala... just an update, I don't think I'm doing the KP Half-Marathon come Feb. 1st. I haven't really trained for it. And right now the thought of running more than 6 miles isn't so appealing to me, let alone more than 5 miles. I know I still have until Friday or something to sign up for the race, but I really don't know. For me to really do that, I would have to attempt to run 13.1 miles sometime this week (raw) and do it under 3 hours to even register. Well, there's a backup.. and that's the 5K. I'll probably just do that... we'll see. The KP HM is a huge event, so it should be fun. We'll see.

Alright, more later. :)

i lost some weight?!...

Today's weigh in. So weird, I've been doing terrible these last couple of weeks. Anyway, I got on the scale this morning and it read 103. So I guess I'm 103... a 3-pound weigh lost from last week? Strange... but I guess I'll take it. I'm almost back to my pre-baby weight, just not my pre-baby figure yet. Ugh... I really need to get going on that weight training thing. I need to get my old figure back at least.. or look even better than before the baby!





Anyway, a friend of Mum's brought over a bunch of bananas the other day. Since the bananas were starting to brown, actually, some of them were already super brown, I decided to make use of it. Yesterday I came home to a house smelling delicious... Mum had made some banana bread. Alright, anyway... so yes, to use up some of the browning bananas, I made some chocolate banana cupcakes. Boy, I didn't realize the recipe was going to make so many cupcakes. I swear, I think it was at least 36 or 40 cupcakes in all! Anyway, I haven't frosted them all just yet. I want to try this new frosting recipe I found on this one site, so hopefully it'll turn out. Mark's a tough critic... he likes his icing a particular way. He hates meringue buttercream (which I absolutely love!) So I have yet to please him.

Alright, here's what I've eaten/plan to eat for today:

BREAKFAST:
- last night's dinner: spaghetti w/ turkey meat sauce (300 cal)

LUNCH:
- chinese chicken chow mein (800 cal)

DINNER:
- tilapia fish w/ less refined white rice + steamed veggies (300 cal)
- chocolate banana cupcake w/ icing (400 cal)

TOTAL CALORIES: 1800

yummy baked goodies :)

Guess what?! I did get to bake last night. Christopher was such a sweetie pie, he went to bed early! Lately he's been pretty crankly in the early evenings, but last night, he wasn't too bad. Anyway, after Mark put him down to bed, I got started on my baking. I made a pound cake and tried out a new pie dough recipe. The dough turned out perfectly so I decided to make hand pies instead of an actual pie. The verdict? Everything was fabulous and delicious. Of course, my hand pies weren't as sweet as Mark would had liked it (he's got a very sweet tooth... loves everything extra sweet, unlike me who's the opposite!).


my first attempt at pound cake -- using martha stewart's recipe :)


delicious raspberry hand pies -- so yummy! :)





Alright, here's what I've eaten/plan to eat for today:

BREAKFAST:
- 1 fried egg (75 cal)
- 2 slices turkey bacon (40 cal)

LUNCH:
- 1 sausage (265 cal)
- 1/4 cup brown rice (55 cal)
- some steamed green beans (30 cal)
- Whole Foods: 1 piece of chicken teriyaki, 1 bali chicken wing, 3 pieces of rosemary potatoes (450 cal)

PM SNACK:
- 1 raspberry hand pie (200 cal)

DINNER:
- homemade Vietnamese BBQ pork over rice (400 cal)

TOTAL: 1515

Update later. :)

i feel like baking tonight!

The last week or two here in SF the weather's been scorching hot! Anyway, just yesterday the temperature dipped or should I say went back to its usual temperature/weather, etc. So since it's back to its oooogly cold foggy weather, I can bake again! I definitely took that opportunity yesterday and cooked some yummy foods, plus baked some delicious brownies! Of course, as always, they turned out super yummy.



Here's a photo of what I had for lunch yesterday. Chicken teriyaki w/ brown rice & veggies. :) It was sooooo yummy; the teriyaki sauce I made turn out just right! Even Mark (who despise brown rice) said he would eat brown rice in this dish!

Anyway, I really want to bake tonight. I just hope Christopher will be a good boy tonight so I can bake... and not have to watch/babysit him too much! I think I'm going to make a raspberry pie and some pound cake. I know Mark will enjoy the pound cake (since he really does not like pie, any kind of pie.. period!). Alright, stay tune... hopefully I'll have some cool photos to show!

Oh, I almost forgot, because I forgot to weigh myself last Friday, I remembered to weigh myself this week. Stepped on the scale this morning, it read 106. So I guess I'm back up. Ahhh! I really need to get back into counting calories and working out. I know I really need to run. MUST RUN! Hopefully I can squeeze in some run sessions this week. We'll see. :)

Alright, here's what I've eaten/plan to eat for today:

BREAKFAST:
- brown fried rice w/ lean ground pork (330 cal)

LUNCH:
- brown rice w/ lean ground pork & cauliflower (350 cal)

PM SNACK:
- 1 small banana (95 cal)
- mini snickers (40 cal)
- 1 brownie w/ half cup 1% milk (205 cal)

DINNER:
- lean pork tenderloin w/ rice noodles, stir-fried (400 cal)


EVENING SNACK:
- 2 raspberry handpies (400 cal)
- 1 slice of pound cake (200 cal)

TOTAL CALORIES: 2020

Update later. :) >> UPDATE: I ran for 20 minutes tonight! Not bad, getting back into it again. :)

almost like newlyweds? :)

I know I haven't been totally committed to this thing... well, maybe not quite 100%, but definitely like 90 or something. Anyway, I weighed myself this morning just to see where I was. And hey, not bad... still 106, so that means I haven't gained (or loss).. but still doing okay. Well, I guess we'll see where I stand come Friday. I know I need to do/get back into exercising/running/etc... it's just that it's been kind of tough fitting it into my schedule at the moment.

Oh, last night was the first time ever Mark and I felt like an actual married couple, living by ourselves. Mum and Dad were spending the night over at Peter's babysitting Diana and Vanessa while he was out of town for the week and Priscilla and Laura were over at their mom's. Anyway, it was just so cute getting home last night. After work yesterday, I went over to Peter's to pick up Christopher. We didn't get home until 6:30pm last night, but everything was just so cute because Mark was waiting for us. He drove himself to work yesterday so he got home around our normal time.. 5:30ish. I'm sure he enjoyed his hour of peace, without anyone bugging him, etc. I don't know... everything just felt so right. Me getting home w/ Christopher, settling down... and then cooking dinner for us. Ahhhh... I love it! Anyway, we had the entire house all to ourselves. It's not very often that this happens, so when it does, I guess you can say both Mark and I really do enjoy it. It was just super nice and peaceful after Christopher went down to sleep. It was like 8pm and there was just Mark and I... sitting/cuddling on the couch in front of the TV, with the 2008 Beijing Olympics on in the background. Not too shabby, I guess. Oh, afterwards, I found myself in the kitchen baking some yummy chocolate chip cookies. Haven't made that in a while, and I remembered Mark asking for some last week. Anyway, the cookies turned out great... they were delicious! :)

Lalalalalala... anyway, here's what I've eaten/plan to eat for today:

BREAKFAST:
- fried rice w/ 1 egg scrambled, 1 cup rice, scallions, soy sauce (200 cal)
- 1/2 cup milk (45 cal)

AM SNACK:
- 1 kiwi fruit (50 cal)

LUNCH:
- lasagna (300 cal)
- water

PM SNACK:
- Special K's breakfast bar (90 cal)

DINNER:
- hot dog w/ bun, relish, jalapeños + ketchup & mustard (250 cal)
- french fries (155 cal)

EVENING SNACK:
- 1 homemade cc cookie & 2 shortbread cookies (180 cal)
- mini bits of plum wafer cookies (60 cal)

TOTAL CALORIES: 1330 -- okay, still not great!! keep trying :)

day 5

Okay, so I didn't go for my morning run this morning. Mark and I didn't hit the sack until almost midnight last night. Plus last night I was busy baking my mini cupcakes and cake. Yes, I've acquired this desire to bake since this past Christmas 2007 when I made my first set of cookies. Before that I had never really baked (you know, made stuff from scratch, etc) or lay a hand on cookie dough, a baking sheet, etc. (well, maybe except for brownies -- they're my weakness :P). Anyway, so I hadn't baked for a while. Yesterday I decided I would since I'm going to go back to Chico today for Kashia's wedding. I figure I could bring them some mini treats (that's who the mini cupcakes are for).

Alright, so yes... got carried away with baking the cakes, making my own vanilla and chocolate buttercream frostings. After all of that I had to clean up and of course, take a shower. Before I knew it, it was almost 11pm. Mark and I watched a little bit of Last Comic Standing (records automatically on DVR) before actually going to bed at 12 so.... yes, that's why I was super tired this morning to get up and run. But hey, I did do good. Instead of waking up around 6:30am this morning, I got up around 7 and did a little bit of pilates. I figure since I've been running the last three morning straight, it's okay to not run today. Plus, I was super tired.

Anyway, so far today, I did 40 minutes of pilates/stretching. Here's what I've ate so far:

BREAKFAST: (dinner leftovers -- always love it!)
- 1/4 cup rice (50 cal)
- 3 oz. salmon (130 cal)
- water

This is what I intend to eat today:

AM SNACK:
- 1 medium nectarine (75 cal)
- 8 oz. fat-free milk (90 cal)
- water

LUNCH:
- 1/2 cup rice (100 cal)
- 2.5 oz. ground pork (200 cal)
- veggies: snow peas & red/green bell peppers (50 cal)
- water

PM SNACK:
- 8 oz. fat-free milk (90 cal)

DINNER:
- 4 oz rotisserie chicken breast (200 cal)
- 1/4 cup rice (50 cal)
- small side salad w/ italian dressing (125 cal)

EVENING SNACK:
- TBD... heading to Chico tonight. Might go bowling or something... will probably end up eating a bunch of late night junk food (Denny's). Let's hope I don't... but if I do, that I'm good about it. :P

TOTAL CALORIES: 1160

Stay tune.. check back later. :)

Weigh-in Result: 107lbs (12 more pounds to go.. arrgh! :P)

-------------

UPDATE:

PM SNACK:
- 4 pieces of mini hershey's chocolate

DINNER:
- too much rotisserie chicken
- 1/2 cup white rice

EVENING EATS:
- 1/2 cup white rice
- 4 oz. lean sliced pork
- side salad from Denny's w/ ranch dressing
- seasoned french fries
- 2 bites of brownies

TOTAL CALORIES: too much!!!!! i think i probably ate like 4000+ calories, terrible!