Lil Huntie and I are going to the beautiful island of PR this in May 23. This means I have roughly 8 weeks to completely de-flaab myself and not jiggle running around in my brazilian bikini. haha! Let's see how this goes.

To get started, I signed up for a 2 week free trial of bootcamp training where I live in Hoboken. I started yesterday, and I will be doing 4 bootcamp classes this week and the next. Let me tell you somethng, these bootcamp classes KICK ASS. Right now it hurts to walk, It hurts to go up or down the stairs, it even hurts to sit down.

Here's a pic of me and my fellow 7AMers.

The other great thing about going to these bootcamp classes is that they're held 1.3 miles away from my apt, meaning I have to walk 1.3 miles to get there, and then 1.3 miles on the way back. All in all, a great way to get started on my bikini bod\y!

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

Check out the site. Sadly, half that stuff looks awesome to me.

Eating off the pantry

Lil Hunt and I are moving in together in Feb 1st. The process of getting a new place to live has cost us, well, thousands of dollars. Literally.

We're so broke right now that for the next 2 weeks we can only eat the stuff we already have in the pantry and the fridge. Meaning, lots of rice and pasta (all whole wheat and brown though!). Lots of canned tuna. Canned chicken (yes, the make it). Hot dogs. Frozen manicotti. TV dinners. Frozen fried snacks. Mac'n Cheese boxes. Cake mix. Pancake mix. Pancake syrup. Alfredo Sauce.  Crackers.

Basically, all the stuff we didn't eat before Flaab deadline. But right now, we have no other choice as an assortment of brokers, movers and cleaners have gleefully taken all our money. w00t!

Hopefully the gym will help me stay in shape!

Counting Calories

I always hear people, or read people, saying they hate counting calories. Apparently that's why people go for structured diets like Weight Watchers and South Beach Diet. 

Me however, LOVE counting calories. It's the only way to know EXACTLY how much you're eating. I also count how many calories I spend exercising, so then I know exactly how much goes in and how much goes out.

For example, on Thursday, after making my weight, I went out with coworkers and celebrated with Wendy's baconator, french fries, and some nuggets. Total calorie intake came up to something like 1800. My total calorie intake, to maintain weight, is about 2000 cals. So, I had had 100 cals for breakast, plus the 1800 in Wendy's, I had 100 cals left that day to stay within maintenance range. Which I ate ni the form of salad. 

So, counting calories both helps me stay within my limits, and allows me to totally indulge because I know exaclt what I'm doing when I'm doing it.  My favorite counting calorie helper is fitday.com. You input all your food, and your exercice, and voila, you know how much goes in and out. Even better, they show you how you're doing on your nutrients! I discovered that I lack enough iron since I usually avoid red meats (except when I have double bacon cheeseburgers of course), so now I add more spinach to my diet. Like Popeye!

I see we've all been writing about losing weight by dieting, which is about my least favorite way to lose weight. I'm an eater and I admit it. So, I have to work out.

Tonight it's weight lifting (cuz I'm badass!) and Spinning. I LOVE spinning!! The music gets me all pumped up and I imagine myself looking all hot and sweaty competing in the Tour D'France kicking Lance's ass.

What's your favorite workout?

Shirataki Noodles - NOT like pasta!

And don't let anyone tell you they are! Only hardcore "I won't eat pasta, ever" people can delude themselves into  thinking this stuff is tasty.

Hunt and I decided to try them to see what all the low-carb hype is about. We (or rather I!) made them 2 ways, lo mein style and with alfredo sauce. Yuck yuck yuck each time. Just look at the picture. They look like worms. Tastes like worms too. :-!!

I will post pics later today, hopefully. You'll see my happy feet on a scale that says 137.5! w00t!

As much as it sucked to be on a diet during the holidays, it wasn't completely horrible. I did get to eat all I wanted on the key days -Thanksgiving, Office Holiday Party, and Christmas Day. Now that I reached the target for the deadline, I can take it easier and maybe I"ll rice once in a while! That's right, I'm a naughty, naughty girl!

I am done! I finally made it 137.5!! I couldn't weigh myself this whole week because I left my scale at my old apt. I couldn't go to the gym because of the whole process of moving. I was terrified I wouldn't lose the weight, but I did it!

I'm so happy. I really do need to go have some pizza to celebrate :-)  Ha! I wish! Now it's all maintenance baby. The reward tonight will be sushi :-)

And I have no idea how much I weigh right now!

I started ladies' week this week, and the day before (friday) my weight had gone up 5 ppounds to 144! Insane water retention. Oh, and I ate fried rice, fried shrimp, french fries and pizza the day before (that's how we celebrated Christmas!). That might have had something to do with it. oops!

Then I spent the whole weeken packing and moving, which according to calori calculators means I burned a whole lot of calories. Especially the 3 hours I spent carrying boxes upstairs to Hunt's (now mine too!) apartment. But then, I left my scale at my old place so I have no idea where I'm at right now. I'm pretty sure I'm back to below 140 because I can button my work pants. :-)

Either way, this week I will starve myself just to make sure I make the weight. Haha! Just kidding! We all know I can't do that! :-D    But I def I don't want a-hole Madoff to get $300. That might give him ideas as to what his new scheme could be!   (Just have people hate him and use him as his enemy here!)

I dream of pizza...

and cheeseburgers... burritos... quesadillas...fried rice...saag paneer...fried shrimp...hot dogs...french fries

Pure Beauty

Deliciousness

Yummo yummo

I miss you

I don't know how much more I can take.

This is just horrible. The deprivation. Soon. Will end.

I will get to the gym at all costs!

It's cold, it's windy, and now, there's a snow storm! But I will get to the gym regardless, because I am completely winterized, insulated, and ready for it baby!  Every inch of me will be covered from now on until March. Check out my new coat and snow boots!

Isn't he adorable?!?!

Hunt and I have decided to get a Pot Bellied Vietnamese Pig for a pet. I'm dying to get one of the lil porkers!! They're so cute! And we could go TRUFFLE HUNTING!

However, I feel that getting a pig for a pet will be a conflict of interest. How can I live with an adorable piggy and then go eat my usual Christmas pig? It will be hard to love my little Bacon, or Hamlet, or maybe Hammington, and then go and eat his brethren. It will also be hard to avoid the Pig on a Stick when I go home. It is very central to our Christmas celebrations, as you can see in the following pictures of Puerto Rican Nativity scenes.

 As you can see, in the Puerto Rican Christmas mythos, PR peasants started up a big Jesus birth celebration party that included roasted pig. Maybe that's why Christians can eat pig! 

Roasted Pork and the PR Christmas

I can't go home to Puerto Rico this Christmas, which is makes it the very first time I won't be going for the holidays :-(

So, to compensate, I organized my office's holiday party (we're 99/9% Latino, 50% Puerto Rican) and made it become the PR Christmas I'm not going to have. Of course, we had to call it holiday party, but we all knew which holiday we were celebrating.  Is it just me or does this pig look fabulous?

The party was great! We had many of the traditional PR holiday food: Roasted pig, plantains, rice with pigeon peas, and rum. Oh right. Does rum count as holiday food? It does to us! haha! Our traditional Christmas  drink is made with rum, coconut milk, coconut cream, condensed milk, egg yolks and cinnamon. It's delicious! It also packs a punch. One small cup and you're ready to SALSA baby!

Needless to say, dieting did not take place that evening. Hunt was there and tried to tell people about my diet and how I was breaking it and I had to stop him. First of all, I think it's obnoxious when people talk about their diets when everyone else is stuffing their faces. Second, I had already decided to enjoy my food and have some sort of PR christmas and talking about how I'm breaking my was going to spoil it for me. Either way, I only have 2 more pounds to go and have 3 weeks to deadline, so I can enjoy a lil rice! Besides he ingested in alcohol more than I ate in 3 plates  of food so we're even. Right, I had 3 plates. Oh oh! haha! It was good, but then it was hard to walk home.

Coquito! I just remembered we have some left in the office fridge!

Unless someone else remembered before I did and drank it already, arr!

Here's part of the party spread. Don't worry, people started dancing afterward.

Coquito! I just remembered we have some left in the office fridge!

Unless someone else remembered before I did and drank it already, arr!

There's no space for bland food in your diet!

I've been dieting for the last 5 weeks and  you know what,? It's been ok. Granted, I haven't been able to have some of my faves like fried rice with fried shrimp and french fries, but life is still good! I've basically cooked all my food for the last couple of weeks just make sure that I'm eating healthy AND tasty food. This is something that I first started researching a couple of years ago when I stumbled upon the book "Heathy Latin Cooking".

This book showed me some crazy stuff! Like, I don't need lard in my beans?? Nor do I  need to fry my plantains twice!?! And empanadas can actually be baked instead of deep fried!!?!?! What the hell? WHo does this guy think he is trying to fix something that isn't broken? :-) Turned out, food is still great after the healthy tweaks in the recipes in "Healthy latin Cooking".

This book taught me is that there is alsways a way to give your favorite heart clogging dish a healthy makeover and to have it taste good, which has been invaluable in the last couple of weeks. This is very important to me, since while food is a major source of pleasure to me, I'm also health being conscious. Although that consciousness kind of goes out the window during the weekends and it's time for the all-you-can-eat Indian brunch buffet, but hey, a girl's gotta maintain a balance! :-) - and no, no, I've been behaving throughout the diet! I'm talking about before! :-)

Sunday Funday

According to Wikipedia, Sunday Funday is a Christian video game that was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Wisdom Tree.

Hmmm. I think that Urban Dictionary got it better this time around: "By celebrating the "Sunday Funday" you can extend your weekend festivities just a little longer before hanging up your party pants. This day typically starts out with mimosas or bloody marys aka hair of the dog. It then typically continues through out the day until you find yourself wasted by about 6:30ish. Since the "Funday" ends early enough, you can rest assured that you will go to bed aka pass out early enough to be perfectly refreshed for work on monday morning."

Yes, exactly! It's awesome. Except when you're on a diet and you can't really say that 12 beers is the equivalent  of that cup of rice you avoided at lunch. And on top of that, Sunday Funday is happening right at you apartment, right outside your bedroom door. Then it's more like Sunday Hellday.

And my friends have no compassion.

That's right, I had to eat veggies with hummus while they had philly cheesesteaks and beer. These are the moments that make the DIET HARD!

Oh!! And the SALT MONSTER made an appearance! It wasn't happy it couldn't have Doritos!! It didn't go back to looking human until it ate some salted scallions!

Eating well on a DIET

Let me say one thing, dieting and/or going low carb is actully just fine if you know what to eat. As I've mentioned before, I LOVE FOOD. I love it. It fills me with joy and a deep sense of satisfaction. It touches all my pleasure  AND reward centers at the same time. Food is AWESOME.  I'm not going to diet to eat horribly bland food. I'm going to diet AND have awesome tasty food.  Like my crab crusted sirloin steak to the left  :-D, accompanied by a light version of ratatouille.

I also made these yummy mushrooms stuffed with crab and light cream cheese, and lots of garlic of course! Very good and very low cal.

          Chubs or Bones?

Interesting FACTS about weight and health:

FACT 1: Older women who gained 20 to 30 pounds after high school graduation were 40 percent more likely to get breast cancer than women who kept the weight off.

FACT 2: Every kilogram of weight gain after high school increases risk for Coronary Heart Disease by 5.7% for women and 3.1% for men

BUT: I weighed 115 pounds at time of graduation. Was I supposed to stay bone thin for the rest of my life?? I hate it when scientists make broad statements without delving into the details and the specifics. One thing that they say regarding breast cance that does make sense:“The more fat you have — fat cells are capable of synthesizing estrogen — the heavier you are, the higher your estrogen levels” - and thus higher likelihood of cancer.

 FACT 3: Calorie restricted diets may lead to longer life expectancy.

Who do you want to be? Grumpo of the right, or Doofus on the left?

EDIT: Why in the world does the human low cal diet consist of fermented soybeans, konyaku, and vegan sausage??!? Do they want to make it look gross on purpose? So that we plebeians end up eating a lot and die before they do????

SO, does this mean Mary Kate and Ashley and Angelina and all the other ones are going to be alive forever?! But who wants to live so long if you can't eat a donut?

FACT 4: The CDC found  that people who are modestly overweight actually have a lower risk of death than those of normal weight. "It was really a very surprising finding, and I think is confounding and confusing.", said one researcher.

No frakking kidding. You mean to tell me that all this time we should have all been going for chubby??!! I know why this would keep me healthy. Because it would keep me HAPPY!

I like to smile at my food. It makes it feel safe and happy just before the devouring starts.

BUT then, how does this mix with the research that says calorie restriction makes you live longer. Man, these scientists need to work out some explanations!

I don't know, I'm still waiting for the study that says a diet of beer and pizza, like that followed by the Afenuy Tribe is the best one after all.

Week has been crazy. For some reason I scheduled all my quality time with friends (as opposed watching TV w/Hunt time) for this week. Dinner out on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Actually there was no dinner involved on Thursday. Just good ole beer.

Wednesday I stayed in and made delicious tilapia with a light mayo, dry onion, parm cheese topping. It's my favorite healthy fish recipe. Super tasty!

One day I will learn how to take beautiful pictures and my fish won't look like puke. This I swear.

I forgot to say. I had a breakdown Wednesday morning. Had a beautiful egg, bacon and cheese croissant sandwich. It looked just like this: