Monday, May 21, 2012

Friday, May 18, 2012

Appetite follows happiness

Since the last time I updated this blog, I've run three times, including a mile+ on Tuesday morning and a mile + this morning. I've started to extend my running route: I do my normal mile and then backtrack. On Tuesday and last week I backtracked to the entrance of an alley but today I ran past that to a stop sign. Last week I could feel my endurance level increasing; even without breakfast, I can feel myself stronger and less tired at the end (allowing me to push even farther). Running still sucks though :X This morning I took a sip of water right before my run and a cramp started forming not too long after I started. I pushed through it. Luckily it wasn't a bad cramp but it did make it difficult to breathe. After my run, I ate a quesadilla, although I think I missed the vital 30-minute window -- I bought vegetables from a CSA and I washed my lettuce over and over and inspected every millimeter because I kept finding bugs in the lettuce. At first I was just taking them out with a paper towel but after I got rid of 5 bugs I decided to just wash again. Gross! They don't go away with just the faucet. They need some encouragement and pushing to get off the leaf and down the drain. That was the first time I spotted that many bugs on the lettuce (tiny little green bugs that were still alive! I guess they can survive in the fridge with all food available). Who knows how many bugs I ate from the other times I ate leaves from that lettuce. I realize that I've eaten bugs without knowing before, but ew ew ew. The quesadilla would have been less bad for me if I used whole wheat tortillas but... I went for taste and saving $0.40.

Speaking of food, I caught myself wandering around in my kitchen yesterday trying to find something to eat when I wasn't that hungry! My appetite has come back. It was gone for so long that I had forgotten what it was like to want to eat for the sake of eating. I didn't understand eating for pleasure; I just ate to not get a stomach ache. It was a chore to eat. Yesterday I found myself thinking about food more often. Just two days ago I could only eat half of my bowl of rice from Chego!! It has been a few weeks since I left my job, and I'm not as stressed out anymore. Turns out I'm not a stress eater; I'm a happy eater! Some people are both hahaha. The stressed out eating I can understand: you're stressed out so you want to eat feel-good food. Happy eating? Not sure what's up with that. I'm happy so why do I need food to make me happier? Well, at least I found the answer to the question I was pondering last month: which is more stressful: being at a job I don't love or being unemployed? Granted, it's only been three weeks, so maybe I'm just in a honeymoon phase and the REAL stress of not having a job will come soon.

I weighed myself this morning: 115.2. Last week I was 117. I gain a couple or a few pounds on my period. I was reading that when you're on your period, your metabolism increases slightly. Not enough for the two In-N-Out trips I made!

I read an article that covered a TV show on TLC about obese pregnant women. I posted an article a while back about OB/Gyns turning away overweight women, so I already knew that OB/Gyns face challenges when it comes to treating overweight women with regards to our reproductive system. There was a video clip that accompanied the article and I don't know how much this woman weighed but they spent 45 minutes trying to stick her with the epidural. They could not tell if it was in the right place through all the layers of fat. They put the needle in her a few times on camera, but I'm wondering how many tries they did total. She was in pain every single time of course!! They eventually decided to put her under general anesthesia and perform a c-section. The c-section part honestly surprised me; I thought they were just going to say, "suck it up and give birth naturally." I've never given birth so it's easy for me to say, "suck it up," but I can't believe they resorted to open surgery so quickly. Or maybe there was something that I didn't see. The article also said that that specific hospital needed wider beds that could hold up to 600 lbs because the other beds could only hold 450 lbs. "Only" 450 lbs!! here's the full article: http://abcn.ws/LZfyvX

I got on the Greek yogurt bandwagon. I don't usually eat yogurt because, more often than not, it will contain gelatin. I read the Greek yogurt label a few times to make SURE it didn't contain gelatin. It's a lot thicker than regular yogurt but in taste there's not really that big of a difference. It's fat free, contains active cultures, and I looked at another brand and that did not contain gelatin either, so it's also vegetarian! That being said, I wonder if eating dairy makes me bloated. I might try no dairy for a week or two (eek Yogurtland) after I finish off this batch of Greek yogurt. Oh and cheese that I bought for quesadillas.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Stabilization of weight...NOT

Short entry today, a bit busy.

This morning:
113 lbs

I don't know what's going on or how in the world I lost weight from last weekend. I want to take a vacuum and use the hose attachment to suck out the fat in my lower abdomen and love handles, though!!!!! I wish it were that easy. hahah

Friday, May 4, 2012

How People Around Us Influence Our Eating Habits

Last night I went to sleep rumbly-free. YAY!!! And woke up hungry. Double yay!!

This morning: 113.8. Not back to normal yet, but getting closer. There's a complete linear correlation for my weight gain this week of 0.4 lbs/day. At this rate, my weight should stabilize within the next few days. If I end up at 160 lbs, it was not the food poisoning.

While lying in bed, I found an article from betterworks.com that talks about something we already know: our friends and family influence how we eat, and thusly, how fat or skinny we are. However, the exact numbers surprised me:

(click on the image to view the full article)
Are Your Co-Workers Making You Fat? How the People Around Us Influence What We Eat (Infographic)

I previously thought that these numbers were backwards: that the highest likelihood of being obese is if your spouse is obese and least likelihood of being obese is if your friends are obese. I understand the high relevance of friends but I thought that family had more to do with it.

I, of course, am an anomaly, as I don't think much of my food choices are dictated by my friends. Well, let me qualify that statement with: I don't think this study was meant to say anything about conscious or subconscious eating habits -- just that you and your friends have influence over what you all choose to eat, whether it's conscious or not -- but I do make it a point for myself to stick to my own dietary standards regardless of what others eat. And I say that because I've been accused of "making others feel bad" by eating healthy or not eating unhealthy. (Screw you. I didn't make you feel bad; you made yourself feel bad. Don't blame me, and if you're going to eat a brownie, freaking enjoy it.) However, I don't think any of my friends eat UNhealthy on a regular basis. None of my friends are obese, or even overweight. My friends and I definitely fall into the second category in the third section there, eating fruits and vegetables. If an opportunity presented itself to be friends with an unhealthy eater, I'm not sure how that would affect the friendship. So much of what we do revolves around eating -- first place to go hang out is an eatery, gatherings involve food, etc. I once dated a guy who ate unhealthy and did not like fruit. That did not go over with me well. But friendship, not sure. We live in LA though, which isn't the skinniest city in the US, but it is one of the more health-oriented metropolitan areas, so this may not directly sing to us as individuals here in the city of angels. I have heard that I rub off on others, though; that my eating healthy encourages others to eat healthy (or less bad) too. So the lesson is everyone should be friends with me. The end.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Starting to eat more...

Yesterday I ate Tuesday's leftovers. I grazed on the meal for a few hours. I ate crackers and drank G2 for the rest of the day because they made me feel so much better on Monday I thought those are the only things I want to ingest for the rest of my life, but I got super bloated -- which obviously makes sense because when I was throwing up, I WANTED to retain water. Last night I was STARVING but I had no food in the house! I went to bed and the crackers and G2 were not sitting well. The nausea and stomach ache were back :( I was 113.4 lbs yesterday or today, I forgot. The good news is that tonight I was able to eat rice and veggie fake meat stuff in one sitting in less than 0:20, which is great news. I was scared that I ate too fast. That was because today I had 1.5 servings of split pea soup and then I had a shift from 5 - 8:30 so I was, again, STARVING when it was 8:35. I debated getting LA Vegan Thai, but did not because it was farther south when I had to go north, and the walk back to my apartment would have sucked; and I needed to save money, so I just stopped by Vons on the way home and made rice. I only have a slight stomach ache but no rumbling noises. I've noticed that my patience while waiting before I eat has increased tremendously. I wasn't as grumpy because I knew that if I just ate anything that was next to me I would get a massive stomach ache and totally regret it. So I just rode it out and it paid off.

I'm not at all well enough to go jogging again. I still get shortness of breath and dizzy when I stand up too fast. Realistically I think I'll be back to my normal self by Saturday. Fingers crossed!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

It *WAS* the omlet!!!

The stomach ache from yesterday WAS from the omlet!! Grrr food poisoning... I threw up four times in three hours and was in bed for the rest of the night. That was NOT anxiety!! Special special thanks to Dennis for listening to me dying on the phone and walking me through symptoms and pain and solutions; Keith for letting me know he had Gatorade at home; Anj for going to my apartment and dropping off the G2 and crackers because I couldn't even make it across the street to Vons. Also I have to mention Armando because he came home last night at 1 and he didn't "do" anything, but his presence made me feel better. Goes to show that, as social creatures, our health can be altered by those around us. One example being that elderly people live longer and happier lives when they live with people, even in nursing homes.

I went to bed again at 2AM and woke up at 6AM and was shocked about how bad I did not feel. It was like I was never sick!! At 12-2AM I was hot but had goosebumps and chills, was burping a lot, had pain when I used my core muscles, found the need to take deep breaths a lot, felt nauseated in certain positions, had no energy. But not 4 hours later! It was crazy. I weighed myself out of curiosity today and I was 112.6 lbs, 24% body fat, 52.2% TBW. Also for fun I measured my waist and that came out to 25.5". That bulimia diet totally paid off! In real news, I am never ingesting anything again ever ever ever except G2 and crackers ever ever.

Monday, April 30, 2012

My Stomach Hurts

No running last Thursday or Friday but I did run on Saturday. 11-minute mile before breakfast. I was hurting pretty badly.

Saturday morning:
114.8 lbs

Yesterday morning:
116.8 lbs

Last night:
55.x% TBW (YAY finally something over 52% TBW)
19.2% body fat

This morning:
115.6 lbs

My waist is still a solid 26" but the size of my lower abdomen has decreased significantly since last year.

I paused this blog entry to make an omelet. I was thinking that I have been really bad about eating in the morning so I should eat in the morning now. I made a vegetable 2-egg omelet. I ate half and I am full. Full like my stomach hurts. It is not the omelet. I had this feeling yesterday when I ate 1/3 of my meal at brunch lunch (brlunch). So full. I have just lost my appetite. I have been really stressed out for the past few months. My stomach feels like it's in knots all the time, upside down and inside out and doing somersaults and backflips, so when I introduce food into the mix everything hurts. I already eat slowly but I have to eat more slowly than usual. My stomach is always hurting. I hate this feeling. I hope everything feels better for me soon. On the plus side I was able to fit into one of my dresses for the first time ever. My high school boyfriend's sister-in-law gave me a pretty red dress in 2003 but it was always too small for me. Not sure why I kept it for 9 years especially because I did not consider myself to have much mass to lose at that time but I guess the waiting game played off; I was able to fit into it. I am smaller now than I was in high school. That is slightly scary, but if there is one plus from being this stressed out I guess it is fat loss. Ugh, even saying that was forceful. I don't feel proud of it or good about it. I just see it as a physical result of mental and emotional stress. I guess this is why guys complain that girls will never be happy about their weight :P I wonder how the rest of my body is doing. I hope my immune system stays intact. I love my immune system. I am glad my acne is not stress-related. My skin has been doing pretty well. I still have my goggles tan though.

Sorry for the emo blog post. Thank you to my family, friends, and bf for putting up with my tears. :D

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Run, run, run!

My weight was all over the place this weekend, from 115 to 119 yesterday morning.

On Sunday Armando and I went for a bike ride. We went to the Ballona Creek Path for a total of 8  miles round trip. I skipped my run for that day. I only saw 2 ducks. I wish I saw more ducks. Also, riding my bike with my snowboarding helmet wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. My butt was hurting after we got to Marina Del Rey and had to take a break before we turned and headed back. I ate not great on Sunday: started off with two pancakes. That can't be good! I didn't eat enough vegetables and I ate too many refined carbs.

Speaking of eating poorly, yesterday I had "healthy nachos" for lunch -- that is, vegetarian without sour cream ;) After work I picked up my arm band from my sister, found my headphones, and turned on Pandora and went for my run. I was feeling really down about it because I thought it was going to take me so much to be able to get back to running a mile full without stopping. I got to my half mile mark and kept going. And kept going, and kept going... I went the full mile in 10 minutes! That was insane! I could not believe it! The music really helped me keep my mind off my feet and my breathing. At times it was just me and the music and I wasn't even paying attention to what my feet were doing. Don't get me wrong: I was really really tired and hurting in the end but I pushed myself. Here's my route:


View Larger Map

I had a hunch those nachos might have helped me, so this morning I ran without breakfast. I weighed in at 116 and hopped outside. It was really difficult especially in the beginning and end. When I got a few steps out the door I didn't think I was even going to make it to the halfway point. It was painful in more than one area. My legs were jelly. My lungs couldn't get enough air in them. My eyes were squinting from the light even though it was cloudy. It took so much energy to move my feet and I didn't even feel like I was going that far. But what do you know, I ended up doing the same route as yesterday. I forgot to time myself but I went through 2-3 songs on Pandora so I'm going to estimate 10-11 minutes. Also, I started to run on the asphalt instead of the cement on the bigger streets. Sidewalk is very hard and doesn't absorb any impact while street is just hard. More difficult to run on street, but better on the knees.

Last night I tried to hydrate up but I was SOOOO dehydrated -- 53%!

I need to up my fruit intake.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

More running

OMG!! HUGE disappointment... I ran more yesterday and today and I thought I ran 0.75 miles but I just calculated it and it was really just 0.5 each time. Lame!!! Bad maths!! Bad leg muscles!!! Omg I am HORRIBLE at this. I ran 1.3 miles for a total of 4 + 6 + 5 = 15 minutes. I don't remember the last time I was this out of shape!!!

Yesterday I was 116.2 or something and today I was 115.2 and 115.0. Somehow I managed to lose a pound overnight, cool.

Last night I was 54.4% TBW and 21.5% body fat. Take that, "athlete" status. This is such a horrible way to measure. I guess I could plot this on a line graph and see the trend. Blogger / Google should implement that in here.

This morning I ran my half mile (UGH) on an empty stomach. Well, last night I went to bed at around 10, woke up at 4, couldn't go to sleep for 2 hours, woke up at 9, stayed in bed until 11, and went for my run without eating anything. Probably not the best, but I was all lightweight at 115 and shit I was all, I can do this. It was a risk though because I know I have a tendency to feel sick if I work out on an empty stomach. But I wanted to work out in the morning before I ate because of the whole.. your muscles have a limited amount of glycogen because they were depleted of that overnight and your body burns through that soon and then starts to burn fat thing. I don't know what the time period is though to burn through the remaining glycogen (or what glycogen actually is.. I could probably look it up.) and resort to fat for energy but I'm hoping it was 0.25 miles of running or less. Actually, I ran the half mile and then walked and then picked up another tenth of a mile running. So I'm hoping I burned some actual fat there. And there was progress since last night.

It's 11:54 and I don't know what to eat for lunch. I ran out of food. I need to buy brown rice too for Armando.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Food today

I had an emergency this morning so I didn't eat breakfast. Half of a bad macaron I made last night (no feet AND it was hollow inside ughhhhH!!!), rice and a Tofurkey sausage, rice and a veggie burger. Then I had Sojourn tonight so I didn't eat at night. Not enough water. Tired and hungry. I'll give into tired.

SO out of breath.

Two things happened recently:
  1. Someone very close to me joined a weight loss competition where the stakes are HIGH.
  2. I went to Mammoth and two runs in my legs were aching.
I am helping the subject in #1 diet and exercise. Looking up protein powders made me want to go at it again. However, it was mostly the latter that made me realize exactly how out of shape I am. I decided to take on another shot at Insanity, but before that hardcoreness, I thought it would be a good idea to get into some sort of shape.

Yesterday I put on my running shoes (hello dusty little things), shorts (hello giant bruise I got from falling on a tree while snowboarding), and a t-shirt. I was so not in my mode. I couldn't find my armband phone holder thing so I could listen to music, and I know I brought my earphones from the house to my apartment but not sure where it is, but it's okay, I wanted it to be just me and the pavement. Keys and phone in hand, I hopped outside. My first thought was I had forgotten how to run. Ok, it's like fast walking with your knees slightly higher and your body bent slightly more forward. K, got that part covered. Then I realized I forgot to map it out. Oh well, just run around in circles and don't go too far or I'll get lost and be too lazy to try to find my way back and end up frustrated and crying on the grass a block away from my apartment. (The battery in my phone was dying, another reason it was okay I couldn't find my armband phone thing.) Problem solved. I hit an entire whopping 4 minutes for 0.3 miles before my whole body started aching, starting with my right side, then going to my left side, then my lungs, then my heart, then my trachea, then my pride and soul. I had to stop before I died. I walked a bit, then picked up again, telling myself I was doing Interval training. (I can convince myself of anything.) 10 minutes in I imagined if I had run the entire 10 minutes and was instantly intimidated by the daunting thought of running for 10 continuous minutes. Then my nose started running -- yup, forgot about how my nose runs when my feet do. Two girls also jogging ran past me separately while I was walking, their bodies as light as air, their legs with the strength of a raging fire (excuse the song lyric). Bitches.

I eventually made it home in one piece and realized, hey, it wasn't so bad. It was 20-30 minutes since I left which isn't too much time. I wasn't too sweaty. Exercising makes me stay away from bad food (I forwent the quesadilla I was thinking about). Exercising could make me hot. The time in between not exercising and exercising regularly is a PAIN but it could be worth it. I'm not that hurting today which I'm kind of disappointed at; wish I pushed myself harder. I need to get to a point where I feel comfortable enough to start Insanity, and summer's coming up REALLY soon, so that needs to be fast. So here I go again, blogging in an effort to encourage myself to keep up.

Current:
Weight: I weighed myself on Monday, Tuesday, and this morning (Wednesday), and I was 116.0, 116.2, and 116.4 lbs. I seem to be gaining 0.2 lbs by the day! :D Well, seeing as how Monday I was coming off from a weekend of endurance and dehydration, I'll stick with 116.4 as my starting point.
Body Fat %: 19.2% on Tuesday. "Athlete" by some standards, which is SO misleading -- I think it applies to "athletes" as much as it applies to "people who don't eat a lot."
TBW: 55.7%? 57.5%? I forget. I will weigh myself tonight.
Waist measurement: 26", which means I lost soooooooooooo much muscle because my waist was still 26" when my weight was 121 lbs.

Goals:
Body fat % to be 15%
Waist measurement: smaller than 26"! I've never hit smaller than 26".

I'll exercise by running for a couple of weeks, see how I feel. I want to be able to run a mile without stopping and I'm not sure if I can do that in a couple of weeks to be honest with the way I started out yesterday. A third of a mile before I quit! How shameful. I gotta push myself hard!