Day 9 - Sabotage

Why is it when you want to change, the people closest to you hold you back? Instead of encouraging and reinforcing, you hear phrases like, "one dessert won't kill you", "it's healthy so it doesn't count", and my favorite, "you will work it off tomorrow". Why don't they tell you to be stronger, or take food away from you in an encouraging way, or remind you of your goals?

I love my mom more than anything in this world.

That said, she came over last night with moussaka, which is basically a Greek vegetable lasagna, and something I happen to love. I told her over the phone I couldn't eat it, but that I would serve it for dinner. She asked me about my new diet, so I told her I needed to eat 4 clean meals a day that were comprised of 30-40% protein, 30-40% carbohydrates (from vegetables or brown rice), and 20-30% fat. Without any hesitation she told me I was going to destroy my stomach lining.

When she arrived, she pulled the moussaka out of the trunk and said, "it's probably not that good, I made it very light." As soon as we entered the house, she took the lid off to make sure it was alright, but I know it was to tempt me with the smell.


She repeated a few more times the moussaka may not be good because it was light, so I finally asked her what that meant. She went on to explain that she didn't use any cheese or cream and that it was made with the leanest ground beef, eggplant, squash, homemade tomato sauce, and love. Since my last meal is lean red meat and vegetables anyway, I made the mistake of serving myself a small plate.

As soon as I took the first couple bites, my mother adds that she did use some Parmesan cheese and potatoes. Please tell me your mom does this too?!

Long story short, I finished my plate and woke up with a stomach ache. Since I am not having dairy, I am sure the little amount in the dish, mixed with the starch and sodium, went straight to my gut.

My advice, stick to your plan and ignore all the little temptations. Trying to rationalize eating anything other than what you planned will hurt you in the long run.

I feel like I am in a cartoon fighting my way to some magical land and these little monsters come out to keep me awy. I'm not winning all the battles, but the more I go on, the stronger and more focused I become. I will win this war.






Today's workout was amazing. Larissa and I did chest and back super-sets and ended with quarter mile sprints with sets of abs in between. My hips are a little tight so we are going to 8 pm yoga tonight. I am very excited!

If your knees or ankles hurt, or you just want to switch up your cardio, try rowing. The goal is to go as fast as you can for 500 meters, with a minute rest in between sets. You can get water or make it an active recovery by performing low impact exercise. Try getting through 4 sets. It's a short workout, but if you really push it you will feel it the whole day.

My shortest time was 500 meters in 2:07 minutes. I've done better.

For breakfast today, I made a kale and beetroot juice and it was disgusting. It looked great but tasted like garbage. I will try kale and papaya tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

Day 8 - Top 10 Food Fumbles

Top 10 Food Fumbles from Muscle and Fitness Hers Magazine (Sept/Oct 2011):
Click the link to see which ones I've already made ;)

1. Waiting too long between meals
2. Zero sodium throws of body's fluid balance. 
3. Counting all calories equal
4. Overindulging after the diet
5. Eating non diet foods while dieting, even if it's just a "bite"
6. Insufficient carbs
7. Extra "bites" of clean foods
8. Fast digesting carbs pre-workout
9. Slashing calories too drastically
10. Skipping meals

I feel terrible after the past weekend but I am back home and kicking the day's butt with my super healthy breakfast:

• 10 oz fresh juice made with spinach, parsley and carrots
• 5 egg whites
• 1/4 avocado

I did a leg and shoulder plyometric workout and finished off with 25 minutes of sprint intervals.

Cardio Workout:

• Warm Up - the plyometric workout
• 4 minutes at 5.5
• 1 minute at 9.5
• repeat 4 more times 
• Cool down - 3 minutes at 3.5

For lunch I enjoyed cantaloupe and chicken with some avocado and hot sauce.

I am celebrating my 60 Days to go with a little inspiration: The winner at the inaugural Bikini International competition at the Arnold Sports Festival 2011 was Nicole Nagrani. No big deal, but she is a 19 year old and in pre-med. She has no excuses and neither should any of us.

Days 6 and 7 - You Are What You Eat

Since Friday's set back, I did not had a single craving for chocolate. My coach reminded me that I am doing this for myself. No one cares if I eat the whole cake, except myself when I look at the results in the mirror.

On Saturday, we were invited to for lunch in Houston. I promised myself 20 minutes of sprints in the morning to make up for the extra calories, but we took off right after breakfast. It goes to show you can negotiate with yourself all you want but it won't make a difference once the damage is done.

I grabbed a protein bar for the 3 hour drive and ate it 3 hours after breakfast. I was not hungry but I wanted to be armed and ready for lunch at my cousin in law's home. We picked up a rich chocolate cake from Whole Foods, which is a risk considering my condition.

To my surprise, we were greeted with warm hugs, iced tea, cucumbers and carrots; best appetizers ever! For lunch, they served 4 types of protein (shrimp, chicken breast, sirloin kebabs, and ground beef skewers) as well as 4 salads (tabbouleh, quinoa, tomato and onion, and beans with tomato sauce). They offered richer options as well, such as Mediterranean pizza, but I was thrilled with the healthy options. For dessert they served coffee and tea, as well as the chocolate cake we brought, chocolate truffles, and watermelon. I was content sipping on my cappuccino and nibbling on the fruit. This meal was absolutely delicious. It would be a miracle if I could eat this well everywhere I went.

Colored veggies in ranch

There are so many ways to display healthy foods in an elegant way. Do a little research and don't worry about what your guests think; they will feel better in the long run and hopefully learn from your example.

On the way back, there was a massive wildfire which forced us to detour, and forced me to go another 7 hours without food. By dinner I was starving. We went to sushi where I ordered my sugar-free, virgin Mojito; miso soup; seaweed salad; and calamari. We ordered a truckload more, but the service  was so slow that after an hour of waiting for our food, we canceled the full order and went home. It was probably for the best.

On Sunday, it was time to fly home. This was probably my worst day of eating. The hotel promised us a full breakfast as part of our stay. I will never eat free food again. The eggs were over cooked and greasy, the fruit was so stale you could smell it, and the oatmeal was sweetened. I ate peanut butter and whole wheat bread with coffee. Not really the best option. At the airport, I ate half a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread with avocado and mustard which I regretted it immediately. It wasn't the calories, I could feel my stomach bloating as I ate it. I grabbed a protein bar for the flight.

I arrived home exhausted, fat, and hating life in general.  What you eat not only affects yourself physically, but emotionally as well. Many studies show that lack of certain micronutrients leads to depressions, paranoia, addiction, and worst. It becomes a downward spiral; you ate poorly so you feel bad, because you felt bad you didn't workout, you felt guilty that you didn't workout so you ate to deal with the guilt. Who's been there?

Movie to Check out: FOOD MATTERS 
 

My new mission in life is to design nutrition programs for people who travel, starting with myself. Working out was easy for me, however I need to be ready the next. If anyone has tips that don't include traveling with a jug of protein, please let me know. I can't skip meals and I need fresh clean food.

Days 5 and 6 - I Caved

Friday was rough. I tried, but not hard enough. Being away from home, not having my 4 meals readily available, and a lack of healthy options are wearing me down.

After lunch, I went 7 hours without food. By the time we sat down at Perry's Steakhouse, my judgement was slightly impaired. I split a salad, avoided the bread, sipped on iced tea, and ordered a petit fillet mignon with broccolini. I was satisfied, then the waiter came around and asked if we wanted dessert. I reluctantly said no, but he insisted I needed to hear about the decadent Godiva chocolate cake with molten center and melted white chocolate on top, served with a scoop of creamy vanilla bean ice scream. Anyone who knows me will tell you my weakness is chocolate and coffee. I would give up just about anything for a good chocolate. I said, "bring it on" without skipping a beat.


Luckily, it took 20 minutes for the dessert to be assembled, so I had time to reflect on my decision and text my coach, like a true chocoholic, for support. She sternly reminded me that I have 9 weeks till I parade around 500 people in a bikini and the sugar will show. I asked my husband to help me be stronger. I want to win more than I want chocolate (it's a close tie, but I would rather look amazing). He let me have two bites, then he devoured the rest. He blew up right away.


After dinner, we hit up town. My favorite cocktail was a sugar-free, virgin mojito. On a side note, the bartenders get confused when you ask for this so let them know you just want muddled lime and mint with soda water. They will still mess up, but it's yummy and you don't feel out of place at a bar with this mocktail hand. When I could find iced-tea, I would drink that instead. The wine is not mine, I promise.







What I learned the past two days, is that I should have packed/bought snacks to help me through the day. Most people binge on 2 meals a day. If I had protein bars, I would have maintained my 4-5 mini meals per day so that by lunch or dinner I was not famished. That was my biggest mistake.

I did my leg workout on Friday as scheduled, and planned to run sprints on Saturday, but never got to it since we drove to San Antonio after breakfast then walked all over town. I knew I burned enough calories, but nothing leans me out like sprints. For lunch, I had a chicken burrito without cheese or sour cream, but only ate the inside. I wanted the fajitas for the grilled veggies but was worried it would be soaked in oil. For dinner, I enjoyed fresh guacamole, made in front of us, herb crusted fish, and apple pie gum for dessert.

I wasn't perfect, but I avoided cheese, creams, alcohol, sugar, and processed foods. I drank so much water, I am sure I am flushing out most of the sodium. My stomach feels rock hard but my legs are swollen from the heat.

We had a blast on the River Walk. Check out my first magazine shoot. It was great motivation to stay on track ;)
















Today is my usual day off from exercise. I ordered breakfast in bed; fresh fruit, two egg scramble, coffee and water; best wake up call ever. I am going to be honest, I've had more coffee and gum this weekend than ever in my life. I am very full now, but it will be 6 hours till my next meal. We are invited to lunch, so I can't check out the menu before hand to pick the healthiest option. I will let you know how that goes.


- Posted from Linda's iPad.

Location:Congress Ave,Austin,United States

Day 4 - Bigger in Texas

Friends warned me it would be hard to find healthy options in Texas, but I figured I could turn anything into a balanced meal. Today showed me it might be harder than I thought.

The day started with my 9 am workout. With help from my superband and TRX, I did 20 superband assisted pull ups and focused the rest of the workout on legs and core.



I'm out with Ali and his business partner and they picked out a BBQ place for lunch. I don't want to be complicated but it will be hard to make smart choices at a place that specializes in sweet sauces, meats, beans, and biscuits. They chose to eat at the County Line, which has the best BBQ in the area.

Once they sat us, I noticed a sign encouraging me to indulge and not worry about my waist line. Thanks County Line!



There was absolutely no salad options on the menu, no grilled veggies. The healthiest carb option was a baked potato. There was coleslaw, but it was loaded with mayo, the processed kind. I ordered the grilled chicken breast (I asked them to hold the garlic butter they cook it in), the baked potato (chives on the side, nothing else on it) and an unsweetened iced tea, which was HUGE! The whole meal should have come out to 300-400 calories, which isn't bad at all, and was super clean.

My meal:


I didn't touch the beans or coleslaw, but I let the others dig in, I ate half the baked potato and all of the chicken. I have never had such an amazing baked potato; it was so perfectly cooked I didn't need to add anything to it. The chicken was grilled and spiced to perfection.


Everything is definitely bigger in Texas, but it's delicious!


- Posted from Linda's iPhone

Location:Kennelwood Rd,Austin,United States

Day 3 - Dieting and Traveling

We are headed to Texas for Labor Day weekend. Texas, where everything is bigger and I am supposed to maintain my diet. The working out is easy for me, but this is my first time trying to diet and live out of a suitcase. With only 9 weeks to go, I can't afford cheats.

So my new obsession is Dessert Delight gum. The Apple Pie really tastes like apple pie!!!!!



I may have gone overboard, but it helps when my husband eats a Mrs. Fields cookie.

Since I am flying today, I need to start my morning off with a bang.

This morning I had a parsley, broccoli and papaya juice and my usual 5 egg whites.

For my workout I did 100 push ups. I broke them up into sets of 10 and super set them with back and abs. After that I ran to Hopper's Hands and back, a total of 7 miles.

After my run, I devoured this tuna salad.






- Posted from Linda's iPhone

Location:Patrician Way,Las Vegas,United States

Day 2 - Going Strong

The hardest part of this diet is the social aspect. I know it is only day 2, but yesterday I met my entire family out for dinner at my favorite Indian Restaurant. My family centers everything around the dinner table; if you are not eating, something is wrong. To make my things more complicated they were two hours late. My solution to both of these issues was to eat my own dinner (spaghetti squash and round eye steak) at my usual time (6pm). I stayed on schedule, wasn't hungry, and therefore wasn't at all tempted by the delicious naan and curry.

At dinner, I had a huge glass of water in front of me. When food was passed around, I served myself a piece (about 1/2 an oz) of chicken boti (grilled chicken, no sauce), and one tbsp of spinach and one tbsp of eggplant. Everyone was so busy with their food they didn't notice my plate.

I feel full all the time. It is only day 2, so I am still happy with my meals but I am sure I will start to get bored soon.

I'm up at 5:30 to enjoy my favorite breakfast. It's kind of like a breakfast burrito bowl: salsa, avocado, brown rice, and egg whites. It is sooooooooo filling and yummy!!

PS this is a mixing bowl. It is a about 500 grams of food for less than 400 calories. Something to think about.

Workout today: kettle bell workout and abs



Post workout meal:





My 3pm meal:





- BlogPress from Linda's iPhone

Location:Filbert St,San Francisco,United States