Sunday, January 30, 2011

.:You were going to get in shape:.

"It's now the end of January. Are you still doing it?
It's cold -- there's snow outside. Work and family demands are too much. There's no time to squeeze in a workout.............. Their biggest complaint: They don't see any results. CNN.com asked fitness experts why we don't see changes despite best efforts at the gym, and how to reboot our fitness routine.

1) You're not changing what you eat.
The bottom-line diet: Eat less   "When starting out an exercise program, if you want to see a successful outcome, you work on food first," Yuam said.
This means fewer calories, or at least better-quality nutrition. Eat foods like an apple or cottage cheese that take more energy for your body to digest, he suggested. 

2) You're not having fun during your workout.
Watching the clock during a fitness routine is a bad sign. It means your motivation isn't there.
"It's about doing something for yourself," said Rogers, a sports and exercise psychologist in Phoenix, Arizona. "A lot of us are busy with family, work and so many commitments. The workout time can be viewed as the one hour of the day you dedicate to yourself."

3) You're only doing cardio.
Women tend to focus on cardio and neglect strength training, Yuam said.
He suggests resistance training at least three times a week to his clients.
Strength training helps decrease body fat, increase lean muscle mass and more efficiently burn calories.


4) Your goal is unrealistic.
Changing your fitness doesn't mean you have to vigorously work out seven days a week.
Set realistic goals and monitor your progress.
Take a picture of yourself the first week, and then take another in the following weeks to track how you're doing, Yuam said....."


http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/28/exercise.reboot/index.html?hpt=C2

Monday, January 24, 2011

.:January Dishes:.

Spicy Beef Meatball Mushroom Soup
I love it because it's LOW calories!! I made enough for me to eat this whole week. Today at the gym, I weighed in at 114lbs. I'm super excited (since I ate pretty bad over the weekend --Pho and Eggrolls at my moms). Goss, these last 5lbs are so hard to loose. I'm already working out and eating pretty healthy, so now I have to be on my toes if I want to accomplish my goal by March 2011. Last week's workout was all CARDIO. This week I am back to alternating between cardio and weights.


Spicy Pork/Shrimp Pad Thai
I made this within 20 minutes for dinner last night. The pho was left over from having Pho for lunch at my mom's. Of course I made it spicy. It was so good and probably the BEST Pad-Thai I have ever made. I didn't have any bean sprouts (which Duong is not a fan of) or peanuts around. I made two pans of it, so Duong has plenty more to eat. Lucky guy, eh?!


Shrimp Mushroom Soup

Mushroom soup that I made two weeks ago. I like that there were also straw mushrooms in it, but the shrimp doesn't bring enough flavor to the soup. I definitely like the beef meatball soup version better!


Masalam Curry w/Rice
Duong and I LOVE curry, so we bought four different kinds of curry from the Asian store to try them out. This is trail #1, Masalam Curry. I made it Kao-poon style with straw mushroom and bamboo. Duong had his with vermicelli noodles and ate it for 4 days straight (Yes, I made a huge pot of it). He ate it for lunch and dinner since he is bulking. :) Since I am dieting, I only ate one bowl and it was with Rice. It was very good with rice!!!

Monday, January 17, 2011

.:Weekend in Austin, MN:.

We has such a great time in Austin, MN with Laura's family. I absolutely adore and enjoy her kids. They are so fun to be around. Abe and Laura, you guys are great parents. I love how Kunnur mimics Abe's funny faces. I love how Halle can eat 3 cookies before everyone wakes up and finishes her milk on the spot. I love how Neve makes up her own jokes and can count to 42 in Hmong. I love hearing your tips and stories about being parents. You two making parenting so exciting and soooo magical!
Even though the girls and I did not step foot outside at all over the weekend, I had such a good time chatting, cooking, eating and playing with the kids. It was definitely a memorable trip. What made it especially cute was Halle's little crush on Duong... ;)
The girls and I agreed that if we didn't meet our weight loss goal, then we have to put up a picture of ourselves on FB as a profile for a week... Scary?!! Ecks!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

.:Running:.

Running, I have never been good at it. I remember the mile runs in grade school and how awful it was. How awful I was at it. People tell me and I have even read about it "anyone can run" just train your mind and body. So for the past year I have been trying. For the past 3 years I have wanted to run a 5K, but been too scared of not crossing that finish line. Today was my first day back on the treadmill in over two weeks. My body felt super heavy and I had to really push myself. I didn't run for the whole 60minutes. I was only able to do 20min, speed-walk 20min and ten run another 20min. I gained three lbs over the holiday break and I feel totally depressed. It was so hard for me to loose the two lbs to get down to 115.. And now I gotta do it over again! I never realized how emotionally draining it is to feel "fat" again.So this week, I am eating fruits and protein shake for lunch, tuna/chicken along with a salad and fruit for dinner. This is roughly about 1,100 calories. To be honest, this is very hard to do. Yesterday I was good, but today I cheated and ate a big cookie. I read that if you tell yourself "no," then you'll mostly not give in. So I am going to have to tell myself "NO!!" This week I am alternating my cardio and weight days. Starting next week I will just do cardio and then get back to weights/cardio. This is purposely done to focus more on training myself to run.


Check out this article about Diet Myths:
http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/15-worst-health-diet-myths


Enough about my diet and workouts... What else is new?
-Playing Kinect: It's fun... Duong's so good at it. My living room has been re-arranged to be "Kinect Friendly."
-Winter Trimester started the past weekend. I have classes from 8-12pm and then again 1-5pm on Saturdays! Busy, eh?! I feel like I have been in school forever! If I could turn back time, I would have just gone straight into Education. But it's okay... I really really want to be an elementary teacher!! 
-My HS girlfriends and I are visiting Laura this weekend in Rochester. We haven't seen each other in about a month... It's always so fun when we are together! I'm thinking about making sweet pork this weekend for the occasion. I just know we are going to drink and eat bad... :( I'll try super hard to control myself.. otherwise it's another weekend that ruined that weekdays of dieting and workouts... 

Friday, January 7, 2011

.:Hopping back on the wagon:.

Omg, it has been so difficult to go to the gym the past few days since I have been back from PA. I gained 2 pounds from my Holiday break... I am dumbfounded because I thought I did so good. Last night I literally had to drag myself to the gym. When I got to the gym, I had to mentally pump myself up to do 30 minutes of weights and 30 minutes of cardio on the treadmill. Boy! What's worst? I won't be working out tonight and tomorrow night because a friend is in town. We will be going out and celebrating, which means good food!!