14 May 2011

My Fitness Diary (2)

Yesterday I had another one of those A-HA! moments so I thought I'd share. For the past few weeks I've been a bit stagnating on the weightloss front, even though I've kept it up with fitness and eating right. Granted, I have been adding in a bit more alcohol again, and a few more cheat meals here and there. But overall still staying on track with my veggies and lean proteins.

In the last couple weeks I have been working out a lot. P90X gave me a really big boost and renewed interest in keeping fit. I think I was just getting super bored of the same old work-outs all the time. So I was surprised that nothing was happening on the scale - 1kg lost, that's it.

I didn't let it bother me too much; yesterday I tried on a pair of short-shorts from my "skinny suitcase" that I couldn't get into several weeks ago without sucking in like crazy and without major muffin top action (haha), and low and behold they slid on with ease and felt comfortable. Wow! I was happily surprised and it gave me a huge reminder that I don't need to focus on the scale and the numbers. I guess my body is actually starting to build some muscle and melting away some fat in return - woohoo! Although I can't actually see much definition yet but it seems to be working. Slow and steady wins the race...

Last night I indulged in an utterly decadent and delicious authentic Italian home cooked meal. I invited friends over and made an appetizer platter of mixed crostinis (one was with roasted Mediterranean vegetables, proscuttio ham and arugula drizzled with balsamic glaze, another variety was a caprese of sliced tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and basil drizzled with extra virgin olive oil), main course was Spaghetti Puttanesca with fresh grated Parmesan and a side of salad, and dessert was Tiramisu. Wow, I just loved cooking that and enjoyed it so much. I think I relished it even more since it was a special treat meal and shared with friends, and I used high quality and fresh ingredients. I think it's important to stay focused and on track, but not deprive oneself. As a total foodie, it's so important to me to still have those occasions when I can make people happy with my cooking.

Later I was watching TV in bed and I saw a British TV show called "Fast Food Baby" - it tracked the lives of several families who feed their young children nothing but junk food and take out meals - not a fruit or vegetable in sight. I was shocked! Babies drinking coca cola from their bottles, toddlers stuffing themselves with pizza and kebabs and fries. And not just once in a blue moon - every day! It disgusted me - what lazy slobs of parents, really. That sounds harsh, but I felt horrible and sad for the kids, who will probably grow up to have a whole assortment of health problems throughout their lives. It shocks me that this is actually a reality for some poor kids who never learn proper nutrition habits. I've read in many articles that eating habits are formed at a very early age, and become so much harder to break and change in the adult years. I can only count myself extremely lucky that my mother always cooked healthy, balanced meals at home, and junk food was an extremely rare occasion for us.

That's not to say you can't make a change - you can do it! Some people asked me, how can I lose weight if I don't like vegetables? My response to that is - become a better cook! Some people just don't know how to prepare healthy food in an appetizing way. A huge no-no for me is boiling vegetables in water - yuck! Even I hate boiled vegetables - perfect way to deplete the food from all vitamins and flavor. I would suggest to buy some good cookbooks and learn some different ways to prepare vegetables. One of the quickest and tastiest method is roasting in the oven with some fresh herbs and garlic and olive oil. It's really all about experimenting. Cookbooks are the easiest way to learn how to cook, and once you get the basics, you'll find you don't need cookbooks at all anymore.

As I write this I am feeling totally groggy and suffering from cramps, and all I want to do is curl up in bed with a movie - but you know what? I'm going to pop in my workout DVD now, power my way through a 1 hour leg work out session, then take a shower and only then curl up in bed. I want to reach my goal, I want to be fit. And there ain't no other way around it.

21 comments:

  1. This story about those kids... That's just horrible. Never heard about something like that. o0

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  2. wow, i am having a hard time losing weight..i must try to eat more fruits and veggies too..

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  3. You are an inspiration to me Julia! I did manage to lose 25 kg with Weight Watchers 5 years ago, and am still at a very healthy weight now - but at times I stop paying attention, start eating some crap again, and this past Winter I took back 3kg I can't seem to get rid of. But I HAVE to because 3 is just the beginning of the way up to 25!! And I don't to sports, I don't like it - but I've been following your example and I do at least a 15 min workout every day. It's not much but I figure it's better than not doing anything and hopefully soon I'll feel better and will be back on the right track :)
    Thanks for sharing your journey with us!
    xx

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  4. Oh, and feeding kids that crap? Totally irresponsible, a shame really - but those parents probably grew up eating that crap as well :( It's really sad.

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  5. Anonymous3:44 pm

    I enjoy reading about your updates on weight loss. I find it very motivational, thanks:D

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  6. Anonymous4:02 pm

    your progress is awe inspiring, I myself am trying to focus and get fully on track with my weight loss goals. I totally enjoy your blog.

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  7. MewishKSiddique4:15 pm

    This was a motivation! I have two lil ones, and keeping up with the gym has been sooo hard, but after reading this.. I'll be going back Monday! And I totally agree, boiling the vegetables is grosss!!

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  8. Anonymous6:18 pm

    Keep up the weight lifting, you will get better results than just cardio alone. Your probably burning at least 550 calories in one hour using that P9oX CD. Cardio alone would leave you "skiny fat".

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  9. continue with these updates on weight loss, is so inspiring.

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  10. Taking measurments of your body parts is a good way of keeping track if you are getting smaller or not. Much like your "skinny suitcase".

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  11. I love the last few sentences of your post. :)

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  12. I know of two sisters, and the way the feed their children is so polar opposite, its not hard to tell who's the better mother. One feeds her child healthy, nutritious food, with one trip to McDonalds per week. Her child is well mannered, sweet, and grabs veggies before french frieds any day of the week.

    The other mother feeds her kids coke from a bottle or sippy cup, fast food every day, pasta with nothing but olive oil all over it, and they are two of the worst mannered kids I've ever met. I give them an apple and they calm right down and behave themselves.

    Kids know what their bodies need to feel good. They're smart little buggers. It's often times parents that are the dumb ones.

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  13. hello greetings from Peru, I like your blog, it is true that sometimes because of laziness, not prepare healthy food and junk food we buy is never too late to make healthy food so to get batteries, congratulations on your achievements.
    I invite you to my humble blog there you will find fashion, makeup, exercise video, etc
    bye
    http://conestilodeysimari.blogspot.com/

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  14. I think it's great what you are doing. I watched your earlier posts where you got a little emotional about your weight loss journey. Lots of kudos to you and keep up the good work. Variety will keep you interested in your workouts. I myself decided to be more fit a couple years ago and went from 168 to my current 136 pounds. It wasn't easy but I try to mix it up. My latest thing is running and I've recently bought an incline trainer (treadmill that starts off at an incline of 10% and goes up to 20%). I like the ifit live component it comes with - helps me mix up my workouts and keep track of them. I am such a fan of your makeup tutorials so it makes me happy that you're doing something for you that makes you happy. Like I said before keep up the great work, you continue to inspire me!

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  15. Great thinking!!! a cheat meal now and then is fine, just be careful to not have one every other day!!! and about the scale... don't worry too much about those numbers, you know muscle weighs way more than fat (a pound of lean meat is really tiny, but a pound of butter or pork fat??? comparatively, is almost double in size!!! ha!!!). I think you're changing your body composition, instead of just losing weight, you're burning fat and making muscle, which is great. The best way to know how you're doing is exactly what you're doing, trying on "skinny clothes".

    Congratulations!!! keep up the great job!!! as a dear friend of mine says, "work hard and expect success"!!!

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  16. hi julia...danke für den tollen beitrag...das mit den kochbüchern ist wahr,aber ich finde es recht schwer die richtigen zu finden...kannst du denn einige empfehlen?

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  17. Hi Julia, could you please post the recipes for the Italian meal. I would really appreciate it. I really enjoy reading your weight loss writings. Please continue and congratulations!!!!

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  18. Hi! I've been following you for the last 18 month and I would like to know if you are intrested in putting spanish subtitles for your videos for all the people in South America and Spain. I don't know how subtitles works on YouTube but if they have to be made in .srt .sub .ssa (or similar) I would love to do it for you and send you the file a day after you put the video on line, I think It would be great for all the people who can't realli understand your videos :)
    I don't want you to think I'm a busybody :P I didn't mean to disturb you.
    Thanks for all your videos!

    Micaela (in case you want the subtitles: pradomicaela@hotmail.com)

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  19. Anonymous9:22 am

    I really admire you for having that discipline!

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  20. You're so right about boiling vegetables! My mom's always been a vegetarian and we've always loved anything she's cooked. The trick is that she cooks the veggie dishes as main courses, not some auxiliary side dish, thus paying attention to every little detail and taking her time with spices and cooking methods. So her dishes are never boring and so delicious! And you have so many Asian, Greek and Oriental dishes without meat, and they're tasty too.

    I have to add that I just love your attitude (to all the things you mention in your videos and posts), I wish you lived a little closer! :D (I'm still in that awful place where I'm trying to find my place and a life in Switzerland.) Congrats on your success and keep up the good work!

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  21. Anonymous6:08 pm

    I love love love your healthy tips and motivation. I do P90x as well but sometimes I get lazy, please keep posting about your p90x journey, everytime I read your blogg I get motivate it again.

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