i need to start eating healthy again...

It's been a while. I've been terrible! I haven't been running in about 3 weeks this coming Sunday. I suffered an injury about 3 weeks ago. I'm not sure what it was exactly, but Mark said it might be a groin injury. That's kept me off of running or doing anything physical that pretty much requires my legs. Walking, running, biking, even casual getting out and about or around the house was tough. Sometimes I felt like such a cripple person (sorry, not trying to be rude here). But yes, there were times when the pain was so much each time I took a step... it was almost unbearable. Trying to hop on the good leg didn't even help! It still hurt!

Lalalala... anyway, the injury's getting better. I hope to get back to my old running form again in no time. Btw, I finally found a full-time (temporary) gig... finally working again, starting next Tuesday! :) I'm just glad... I feel like I've been out of work for way too long now, it's about time I get out there and start being normal like everyone. Over the last few months I've just been bumming around the house and doing random freelance gigs here and there. Anyway, let's hope all goes well. I'm excited. :)

Alright, new thing (or not) that I'm trying out. Okay, not really trying out, but more like really hoping to make a change. I need to start eating healthy again... eat more fruits and veggies, dairy products, etc. I'm terrible when it comes to this! So, here's my food options, etc. below. Yes, 1600 calories a day w/ all of these minimums. :)

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my daily eating plan:

total calories: 1600
exercise: at least 30mins

grains: 5 oz (at least 3 oz whole grains)
- brown/white rice
- bread
- pasta
- popcorn

veggies: 2 cups daily
- dark green veggies (vdg): 2 cups weekly
- bok choy
- broccoli
- romaine lettuce
- spinach
- kale
- mustard greens

- orange veggies (vog): 1-1/2 cups weekly
- carrots
- sweet potatoes

- dry beans & peas (vd): 2-1/2 cups weekly
- soy beans
- chickpeas
- tofu

- starchy veggies (vs): 2-1/2 cups weekly
- potatoes

- other veggies (vo): 5-1/2 cups weekly
- asparagus
- bean sprouts
- brussel sprouts
- cabbage
- cauliflower
- cucumber
- eggplant
- green beans
- green/red peppers
- iceberg lettuce
- onions
- tomatoes
- zucchini

fruits (f): 1-1/2 cups
- apples
- oranges
- bananas
- grapes
- berries
- raisins
- peaches

milk (mi): 3 cups
- skim milk
- cheese
- yogurt

meat & beans (m): 5 oz
- chicken
- turkey
- pork
- fish
- egg

fiber (gf): 20-25 g

sample day 1 >>
breakfast:
- 1 slice bacon (45)(1 o)
- 1 fried egg (80)(1 m)
- 1 slice whole wheat (100)(1 g)(6gf)
- 1 cup skim milk (90)(1 mi)

snack:
- 1 orange, sliced (75)(1/2 f)(3.1gf)

lunch:
- 2 cup romaine lettuce (20)(2 vg)
- 1 tomato (20)(1 vo)
- 1/4 cucumber (5)(1/4 vo)
- 1/2 chickpeas (145)(1/2 vd)(5.3gf)
- 1/4 cup feta cheese (100)(1 mi)
- lemon vinaigrette (100)(2 o)

snack:
- 1 apple, sliced (100)(1 f)(4.4gf)
- 1 tbsp peanut butter (85)(1 m)

dinner:
- 3 oz salmon (140)(3 m)
- 1 cup brown rice (200)(2 g)(3.5gf)
- 1 cup green beans (45)(1 vo)
- 1 cup skim milk (90)(1 mi)

snack:
- 1/2 cup frozen yogurt (140)

total: 1450 w/ dessert: 1590
g: 3
v: 2vg, 2-1/4vo, 1/2vd
f: 1-1/2
mi: 3
m: 5
o: 5
s: 140
gf: 22.3


sample day 2 >>
breakfast:
- 1 slice bacon (45)(1 o)
- 1 slice whole wheat (100)(1 g)(6gf)
- 1 tbsp jam (50)
- 1 cup skim milk (90)(1 mi)

snack:
- 1 apple, sliced (100)(1 f)(4.4gf)

lunch:
- 3 oz salmon (140)(3 m)
- 1 cup brown rice (200)(2 g)(3.5gf)
- 1 cup broccoli (60)(1 vdg)

snack:
- 1 orange, sliced (75)(1/2 f)(3.1gf)

dinner:
- 3 oz stuffed chicken breast w/ 1-1/2oz mozorella cheese, herbs (255)(3 m)(1 mi)
- 1 cup brown rice (200)(2 g)(3.5gf)
- 1 cup spinach (45)(1 vo)
- 1 cup skim milk (90)(1 mi)

total: 1450
g: 5
v: 1vdg, 1vo
f: 1-1/2
mi: 3
m: 6
o: 5
s: 0
gf: 20.5


sample day 3 >>
breakfast:
- 1 slice whole wheat (100)(1 g)(6gf)
- 1 tsp butter (35)(1 o)
- 1 cup skim milk (90)(1 mi)
- 1 banana (105)(1 f)(3.1gf)

snack:
- 1 apple (100)(1 f)(4.4gf)

lunch:
- spaghetti w/ pasta sauce (250)(1 g)(1/4 vo)
- 1 cup broccoli (60)(1 vdg)

snack:
- 1 orange, sliced (75)(1/2 f)(3.1gf)

dinner:
- 3 oz tilapia (150)(3 m)
- 1 cup brown rice (200)(2 g)(3.5gf)
- 1 green/red bellpeppers, cauliflower, snowpeas stir-fry (75)(1 vo)
- 1 cup skim milk (90)(1 mi)

total: 1330
g: 4
v: 1vdg, 1vo
f: 2-1/2
mi: 3
m: 5
o: 5
s: 0
gf: 20.5

happy birthday mark!

Today's Mark's birthday. We all went out and had breakfast at IHOP. I of course got everything from bacons, sausages and eggs to hash browns and those yummy buttermilk pancakes with butter and syrup. Yes, the whole sha-bang! It was yummy, absolutely yummy. Now I like to think I'm good for the rest of the day. We'll see... I just feel so sluggish right now and super full.

Anyway, today's also weigh-in. Turned out I didn't lose any weight. Still 101.2lbs. So yes, that just means if I want to dip below 100, I have to try harder. We'll see. Good luck to me I guess. K, more later. :)

tomorrow's weigh-in day... yikes!

Alright, I have to say straight up that I haven't been so good all week this past week. We'll see how that gets reflected tomorrow when I do my weigh-in. Hopefully it won't be too bad! Now I have to say, I did keep up with my running, running 3 times this past week like I have in previous weeks. The distance is pretty normal, your usual 3-4 miles, etc.

Anyway, tomorrow's Mark's birthday so we're all going out to breakfast. That should be good. Of course I already know I'm going to be bad at breakfast, feasting on 'em yummy pancakes, sausages, bacons, eggs, and you guessed it, hash browns! Seriously, I love American breakfast, especially when it comes from IHOP or Denny's. Dunno why, but just do. Now, if you ask me if I eat that kind of breakfast food at home I would say very rarely. It's just funny that I love diner breakfasts, etc... but when it comes to good ol' home cooking, especially with American breakfast meals (at home), it's awful. I rarely eat a normal breakfast... you know, whether it's eggs & bacons, sausages, pancakes, waffles, good ol' cereal, oatmeal, toast, etc., etc., you get what I'm trying to say here. Yes, I don't like breakfast food. I hate traveling and stopping at McD's during breakfast hours cuz they only serve breakfast food. I used to have to kind of starved myself cuz I couldn't eat/don't want to eat them anyway, breakfast food. It could just be that coming from an Asian background, especially my culture, we eat the same meal 3 times a day. I feel like it just feels me up more. I always tell my in-laws I could have my dinner for breakfast, or breakfast for dinner.. or lunch or whichever. It could be the same exact meal, twice or three times and I'll still be perfectly content with that! Now, if you ask me to eat cereal three times a day or something like that, no way! Let alone eggs & bacons, or toast or pancakes, etc... Lalalalala... I know I'm going on and on about this now. So enough of that.

So yes, tomorrow's breakfast at IHOP, for Mark's birthday. It should be great! I'm really looking forward to it. Now after that, for a late afternoon lunch/maybe early dinner (depends), I'm making my delicious baked garlic bbq chicken wings w/ sticky rice (maybe on the rice?!). Mark requested them, so I guess I will make it. They are absolutely delicious.. I'll see if I can take some pictures and post them up. What else? I don't know... maybe if the wings aren't enough, we'll have something else, and oh yes, of course, his favorite, good old-fashioned English style beer-battered homemade fish 'n chips... follow by a scrumptious birthday cake. That should be good enough. I know we're not totally celebrating his birthday tomorrow like we'd like to just cuz the girls won't be able to make it (more celebration to come later in the week when they're here)... but I just know it'll still be great!

Alright, enough said. I'm done. Oh yes, btw, ran two days in a row... taking a break tomorrow. Will probably run again on Tuesday or Wednesday. Dunno yet... still have two more run days to go this week. Should be fun. :)

OMG! who knew?!

Mark and I finally did it! We ran from Peter's house all the way back to our house. The run was about 5.8 miles long and took us under an hour... 59:07 minutes to be exact! I'm so proud of us... now, we just have to run there and back and that would be another great accomplishment! :)

Anyway, the reason why it was so huge was the fact that there are these mountains between Peter's and our houses. Coming from Peter's house was tough cuz about 80% of the run was uphill and the last 20% downhill. Overall, I'm very proud. Before, seriously, the thought of running from here to there or there to here was such an awful thought. Now that we've done it, it doesn't seem so hard after all. Thing is, both Mark and I agreed that the run did not seem tough at all (okay... well, maybe a bit about 40% in, but overall it was okay)... we both felt like we could go on forever! Now, I honestly feel like I can so do that half-marathon now. Maybe I should start thinking about signing up for the SF Half-Marathon taking place this summer. Ahhh.. we'll see.. stay tune for this I guess. :)

Lalalalala.... one final note, it was just a bummer I couldn't record this great run on my iPod/Nike+ cuz I wore the wrong shoes! Can you believe it? I ran 5.8 miles in my casual Adidas sneakers. Hahahahaha.. yeah. It felt fine though.. Mark used to do it all the time when he first started running (cuz he didn't have any running shoes).. and it was fine. :)

Alright, more later.

so far, so good...

I decided to measure my waistline just for the heck of it this morning and it read an inch less than it did when I measured it on Monday. So far, you can say I've lost an inch in my waistline. Who knew? But then of course, I don't know... it fluctuates all the time so I really don't know. I can't say it's a whole inch off for sure yet until I get a consistent reading on it days and weeks later. We'll see where it's at come this coming Monday and by the end of my whole 4-week challenge.


this is what i had for lunch today.. homemade! stir-fry lean ground pork w/ bell peppers & onions on brown rice... yummmy! :)

Anyway, I've been doing pretty good regarding my eating habits this week. Since the holidays have come and gone, I've really cut back on lots of sweets (of course, minus the Madeleine cookies earlier this week) and ice cream... or anything fattening. Take out foods are my weakness sometimes, but I'm doing okay with that at the moment. Of course, last night watching Top Chef, the thought of some fish tacos sounded delicious... but I didn't give in to the urge or cravings. Lalalalala.. one of these days, I'll get my fish tacos and eat it all and be just fine. :)

So yes, like I mentioned yesterday, Mark still needed to do his 3rd run this week. I said I wouldn't be able to if he was to do it yesterday cuz I ran like 9 miles already. Well, he ran last night... so of course, I couldn't. My legs were super sore after the run... it was crazy. But you know what? I feel so much better today already. Of course I'm giving my body a rest day. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Alright, that's all for now. :)

my longest run to date...

..I tried, I really tried! I mean, I really tried to run 10 miles today, but I just couldn't... or more like gave in. I ran past Westlake on the way back and the thought of sitting down and having a nice cup of frozen yogurt was too good to pass up. That was after I've already ran almost 9 miles! So I decided that when my iPod/Nike+ thing tells me 9 miles, I would stop. And I did, then walk around the shops to cool down. I went into Trader Joe's first and grabbed myself a banana and some water. For some reason my body craves bananas after a long run or any run actually. Anyway, got that.. and seriously, gobbled it down in like 2 seconds. After that I made my way to the frozen yogurt shop. I guess at this point I could have passed up on the yogurt, but since it was the reason for my stop I decided I'll just have a bit. Well, all and all, I think I ate up as much calories as I've just burned from this run. I'm sure the banana and frozen yogurt w/ all the gummy bear, fresh fruit toppings and sprinkles made up for all the calories burned. Who knows! With the toppings and yogurt together my yogurt came up to .52lbs, so I don't know?!

Anyway, I'm just really proud of myself for actually just going out there and doing it. Of course the thought of any runs longer than 5 miles sounds dreadful, but to have actually done one pass 5 miles feels wonderful! I'm glad I did it... at least now I know how/what my body feels like after running 90+ mins. :)

So, I think I'm done w/ all the runs for this week. Today's run was run #3. But hmmm... maybe I'll run w/ Mark sometime this week to finish off his 3 runs... that is if it's tomorrow or Friday... well, before Saturday ends anyway. We'll see. I just know I won't be able to run again today because my legs are sooooo sore!

Alright, more later.

i ran almost 50 miles in december!

That's right... almost 50 miles of running in the month of December! 48.97 miles to be exact! That's the most I've ever ran in a month... like ever! Well, actually, I know I used to do cross-country in high school running miles and miles a day, but I can't remember how much and how long. Anyway, I'm just super proud of myself. Now... goals for this year? To really just keep it up. Hopefully I'll run a few more miles extra this month than last month. Let's hope I do good. :)

So I've joined more challenges on the Nike+ website. There's a bunch of running challenges that users put on and you just join anyone you like. It's really cool in a way... cuz you get to see where you are and how far you've ran, etc... or where you place after the challenge's over. I can't believe I finished 146 out of 586 runners in the Healthy Holiday Challenge w/ my 48.97 miles. Of course the first place person ran like 527+ miles in the 31-day challenge... but that's okay, I'm never going to be a super long distance runner like him/her. I don't know, overall, I say it's pretty cool I guess. As much as I despise Apple sometimes... I can't say too much bad stuff about the iPod Nano and Nike+ running gadget. It's pretty neat cuz it helps me keep track of my runs and tells me how I'm doing when I'm running... so. :)

So far this week, Mark and I have put in our two runs (especially after tonight's quick run)... two down, just one more to go. We've decided that we'll run three times a week and do some cross training on the weekends. We'll probably go for a mini tennis match this weekend and/or a bike ride/hike. It all depends on how the weather is I guess. We'll see. :)

Oh, I know I've ran twice already this week... but maybe for some crazy reason I'll run again tomorrow. I've been pondering w/ this idea of doing the Lake twice. I hate loops, but hmmm... maybe I should just do it. I don't know... good luck to me?! Let's see if I do go out tomorrow and run... and not just run, but actually run 2 laps (which is about 9+ miles)! Ahhh! =/

Okay, more later. :)