My daily caloric burn and food intake

Date	Weight (lbs)	BMR	Workout	Workout Burn (calories)	*Total Daily Burn (calories)	Total Food Intake (calories)	Net Caloric burn
Feb-5	123	1332	Zumba Sculpt	560	1950	1530	420
			Ab 200	58
Feb-4	123	1332	Zumba Cardio	637	1969	2100	-131
Feb-3	123	1332	Zumba Cardio	638	1970	4000	-2030
Feb-2	123	1332	P90X: Yoga	269	1601	1530	71
Feb-1	123	1332	P90X: Chest & Back	775	2155	2430	-275
			P90: Ab 200	48
Jan-31	123	1332	None	0	1332	2350	-1018
Jan-30	123	1332	P90X: Plyometrics	869	2201	1570	631
Jan-29	123	1332	Zumba Sculpt	702	2114	1780	334
			P90: Ab 200	80
Jan-28	NA	1332	None	0	1332	2200	-868
Jan-27	NA	1332	None	0	1332	1570	-238
Jan-26	NA	1332	None	0	1332	2350	-1018
Jan-25	123	1332	Zumba Sculpt	658	2060	1850	210
			P90: Ab 200	70
Jan-24	123	1332	None	0	1332	2500	-1168
Jan-23	123	1332	P90X: Legs & Back	846	2232	1860	372
			P90: Ab 200	54
Jan-22	123	1332	Zumba Cardio	698	2030	1630	400
Jan-21	123	1332	None	0	1332	2500	-1168
Jan-20	123	1332	Zumba Cardio	617	2018	1410	608
			P90: Ab 200	69
Jan-19	123	1332	Zumba Cardio	366	1698	1510	188
Jan-18	123	1332	P90X: Yoga	340	1672	1530	142
Jan-17	123	1332	None	0	1332	1710	-378
Jan-16	123	1332	P90X: Chest & Back	814	2203	1940	263
			P90: Ab 200	57
Jan-15	123	1332	P90X: Plyometrics	883	2215	1800	415
Jan-14	123	1332	Zumba Sculpt	745	2161	1800	361
			P90: Ab 200d	84
Jan-13	123	1332	X-Stretch	NA	1332	4000	-2668
Jan-12	123	1332	P90X: Legs & Back	834	2166	1980	186
Jan-11	123	1332	Zumba Cardio	748	2156	2320	-164
			P90: Ab 200	76
Jan-10	123	1332	P90X: Yoga	325	1685	1430	255
			P90: Ab 200	28
Jan-9	123	1332	P90X: Chest & Back	762	2094	1650	444
Jan-8	123	1332	Zumba Cardio	737	2138	1500	638
			P90: Ab 200	69
Jan-7	123	1332	Zumba Sculpt	769	2101	1880	221
Jan-6	123	1332	P90X: Plyometrics	984	2390	1850	540
			P90: Ab 200	74
Jan-5	123	1332	None	NA	1332	2480	-1148
Jan-4	123	1332	Zumba Cardio	748	2080	2490	-410
Jan-3	123	1332	X-Stretch	117	1479	1280	199
			P90: Ab 200	30
Jan-2	123	1332	P90X: Legs & Back	872	2204	2520	-316
Jan-1	123	1332	Zumba Sculpt	723	2055	2680	-625
Dec-31	123	1332	Zumba Cardio	754	2157	2350	-193
			P90: Ab 200	71
Dec-30	123	1332	P90X: Yoga	310	1642	1520	122
Dec-29	123	1332	P90X: Chest & Back	801	2133	1570	563
Dec-28	123	1332	P90X: Plyometrics	941	2336	1580	756
			P90: Ab 200	63
Dec-27	123	1332	Zumba Sculpt	433	1765	2600	-835
Dec-26	123	1332	Zumba Cardio	701	2133	4000	-1867
			P90: Ab 200	100
Dec-25	123	1332	P90X: Legs & Back	829	2161	4000	-1839
Dec-24	123	1332	Zumba Cardio	708	2040	4000	-1960
Dec-23	123	1332	Zumba Sculpt	670	2069	2280	-211
			P90 Ab 200	67
Dec-22	123	1332	None	0	1332	3080	-1748
Dec-21	123	1332	P90X: Core Synergistics	609	1941		-169
Dec-20	123	1332	Zumba Cardio	687	2093	1650	443
			P90: Ab 200	74
Dec-19	123	1332	P90X: Chest & Back	686	2018	1515	503

·         Total daily burn: is equal to BMR + Workout burn.  (* Total daily does not account for the calories I burn from normal daily activities.)

·         Net Caloric burn: is equal to Total Daily Burn – Total Food Intake

OMG! Don't exercise on a full stomach

I'm visiting relatives in Houston, Texas for the holidays and it seems everything in Texas is big, big, big.  Cars are big, houses are big and food portions are BIG.  And so, I'm ashamed to say that confronted with a land of such boundless plenty, I failed to control myself again and went on a crazed food binge.

The day started out hopeful, I was munching on a healthy and yummy apple as my husband and I were heading out in the morning to my sister-in-law's house to spend the day with her family (she has three of the cutest little girls).    But then I got to her house, and I felt so hungry.  The big honey crisp apple was long forgotten and all that was left was thunderous grumbles in my tummy and a definite whiff of cupcakes in the air.  And low and behold a huge cupcake with creamy strawberry frosty was sitting on the dining room table.  The kids had made it for me!  How could I break their little hearts and forsake their efforts; so I had to eat it, didn't I?  So down went about 500 calories. Then my eyes caught sight of a bag of fresh cheese bagels; and you know, I just can't resist bread. So down went another 400 calories.  

The rest of the day was a blur of one feast after another.  First, we had lunch at a super delicious Vietnamese shop that served up the most flavourful chargrilled pork sandwiches.  The pork had the perfect balance of lean meat and fat to make the meat heavenly tender.

Vietnamese chargrilled pork sandwich, delicious!

Then in the afternoon (which was really only 1 hr after lunch), we went to a big block party.  Literally, the entire block was cordoned off with police patrolling the premises to keep out loiterers.  The party was like something out of Animal House but G-rated.  There was artificial snow that transformed the front yard into a winter wonderland (it was 78 degrees that day!) where countless little kids high on sugar rushes were screaming and squealing as they pounded each other with snowballs and wheezed down dangerously in snow tubes.   There were two pens with mechanical rodeos that were flinging more squealing kids off left and right; live reindeers roaming around in pens; a Santa Claus in cowboy boots and hat; and a real cowboy on stilts that made kids jump through his lasso (plain weird!).  

But most of all there was food!  There was a mobile food truck serving out platters of free burgers and fries.  Two huge chocolate fondue fountains (one milk, the other white chocolate) accompanied with a buffet of fruits and ahhhh so many bad things.  Another buffet of savoury finger foods next to the fondue buffet, I suppose the host wanted to make sure his guests got a "balanced" meal of both sweet and savoury.  A trolley serving 4 flavors of Italian ices close to another station that was turning out hot, greasy and powered-sugary funnel cakes!  But most of all, there were trays after trays after trays after trays of chocolate truffles and bonbons.  I thought I walked into a Godiva factory!  But one that allowed visitors to eat for free! And I certainly didn't pass up the chance.  

I gorged myself with nearly everything in sight: hamburgers, fries, chocolate fondue, finger foods, and I descended on the unsuspecting trays of chocolate truffles like a starved pterodactyl.  I had to try every flavour, then I had to retry everything again to make sure I didn't miss any flavour and then again just to be doubly sure.

Then we went to another party that featured another table laden with a buffet of food.  At this point, you would think that it's  physically impossible to fit anything more into my stomach, but the strength of willpower and the elasticity of the human stomach can shock you.  Too bad my willpower was in gorging myself to death.  I won't go into the gory details but lets just say that it involved lots of thick sausages, meatballs, sweet potato casserole, raviolis the size of saucers and generous portions of pecan pie blanketed in sweet gooey molasses (they sure know how to spoon out the hospitality in the South!).  

When I finally rolled myself home my conscience finally kicked in.  (Took it long enough!)  My guilty conscience thought to repent for all the tasty sins I committed that day by doing some hardcore aerobics workout.  And like a warrior, I strapped on my heart rate monitor and readied myself to do battle with Zumba Cardio.  I gave it my all.  I threw myself into it; I've never shook my booty soo hard or so high before, I nearly dislocated my hips.  My heart rate was sky-rocketing; 60%, 70%, 80% and then bam!  It all came tumbling down.  I felt nauseated; I was going to throw up; I couldn't breathe, the heart rate monitor felt like it was cutting off my circulation and air supply. My head was dizzy.  I paused the video.  I took a sip of water and I tried to shake it off.  I restarted the video and started to samba again like there was no tomorrow, but, "Ohhhh, I'm going to throw up!"  I was literally one burp away from vomiting all over my mother-in-law's plush-carpeted living room.  

I crashed, I couldn't go on any more; it was too much for my body.  My body was simply overloaded by the mountain of food, the exertion, and the added huge intake of water and air due to the exercise.  I ended up doing only 33 minutes out of 45 minutes of the Zumba video.    

But the good news was that I performed one of my best exercises ever.  My average heart rate was 149, the highest ever!  In the 33 minutes of doing Zumba I ended up burning 486 calories, which is close to being 15 calories per minute.  That means that if I had stuck with the entire video, I could have burned over 700 calories, a record in my books.  

But, what should be the take home lessons from today.  First, DON'T over-eat, (which I had already stated in another post.  I got to start listening to my own advice!)  Second, should you "accidentally" over-eat, never EVER combine it with hard exercise; it will only lead to sickness or disaster.

The only trouble now is remembering these lessons tomorrow when after a long, nice sleep I wake up feeling hungry all over again...sigh

An apple a day keeps the munchies away

Beautiful Granny Smith

  

I love apples because they're the perfect snack when the munchies attack. Apples are sweet, crunchy and you can eat soooo much of it guilt-free.   

Literally a huge apple, (we're talking about at least 3.5 inches in diameter, weighs about 400 grams) will only be around 200 calories.  That is a meal in itself.  And because they're so hard, you're not only chewing a lot (so it feels like you're getting a lot to eat) you really feel full afterwards. 

Recently, I've been obsessed with honey crisps and I'm eating a mega-sized one for breakfast everyday.  Forget about "keeping the doctors away," keep the munchies away instead!

Huge honey crisp, (3.5 inches in diameter but only about 200 calories)

My Stats

• My Daily Caloric Burn & Food Intake
• My Workout Stats

Lost the Battle with Food!

I ate sooo much today.  I knew it was coming, my cravings for sweets and all things fatty, but oh sooo good, had been building up these past few weeks and finally today the flood gates burst open.  The day started out as usual, I was sticking to my healthy low-calorie diet but I still felt so hungry, starved, empty.  I wanted more.  A deep craving was bubbling up inside of me which I quickly stomped on.  But a number of events this week have spiked up my stress-levels.  First, I'm in the middle of moving, so there's a lot of packing, cleaning and everything is a mind-boggling mess.  Second, I got my monthly "visitor" (my period), and oh, we girls know that it's never a good time during that time.  I get especially tired, grouchy and sore.  But most amazing of all, my appetite becomes like a bottomless pit.  I'm like a starved animal prowling; my one focus, FOOD, especially yummy sweet, carbo-rich foods.

All the junk I ate.

Now, I'm not justifying my food binge, instead I'm noting how stress-levels, physical fatigue, emotional distress, etc, can really make us vulnerable to our sneaky rationalizations, i.e., those thoughts that make us do things that sabotage our real goals.  And today, I was stressed-out, tired and emotionally feeling the disorder around me.

But I think how we crack on any diet is that your mind finally rebels against all the "self-denial".  The stress and fatigue, etc, are only triggers, like the spark that lights the canon, but the cannonball was already there.  In truth, my resolve had been cracking this whole week; sneaking a little bread here, peanut butter there, a spoonful of ice-cream here, but nothing serious.  But each time I "denied" myself, e.g., "no, no more ice-cream", "no, can't eat those cookies", "no, can't have pizza," the craving just became worse.  My cravings have been like an unruly teenager; each time I say "no" to her, she becomes even more unmanageable until one day she says, "hell, with you, I'm getting that tatoo on my ass!"

This whole week I've been like a famished women lost in the Sahara desert; I've been seeing hallucinations of oasis of ice-cream, of loaves of freshly baked bread, and clouds of cream-filled puffs.  I've been on a restrictive 1300-1400 calorie low-carb diet since starting P90X.  And the more restrictive it's gotten, the more obsessed I've become with food.  I daydream about lunch in the mornings, then I dream about breakfast at night.  Like a love-struck teenager, instead of scribbling the name of my future husband in my notebook, you'll find me scribbling my meal plans.  Ahhhh, pathetic.

And today, all the "self-denial", pent up yearning for food finally reached its limit.  I remember walking toward the kitchen, almost zombie-like; I no longer had any conscious control over myself.  My hand closed onto the fridge handle and pulled.  The light inside filled my eyes and there I saw it, the object of my deepest desire, the BREAD!  I reached for it, ohhhh, soo soft, soo cushiony to the touch.  Then I turned and saw the jar of peanut butter, extra creamy, extra smooth, droooool.  I cradled these two precious cargoes to the kitchen counter.  I think my hands were shaking with excitement when I twisted open the packaging on the bread.  A whiff of such heavenly buttery fragrance filled my senses.

I gently pulled off a small piece of bread and twisting open the jar of peanut butter, I spread a layer of creamy, velvety goodness on it.  Slowly, and quivering slightly, I put that small morsel into my mouth...I can only describe the experience of such blissful happiness that I could have fainted right there and then.  Then, without thinking I reached and tore off another piece, this time bigger and spread some more creamy peanut butter onto it.
"Oh, such paradise!"

Then I took out an entire slice, but I halved it first, and repeat.  "Oh, but there's the other half!", I exclaimed, and so repeat again.  And then again, and again.  And then, "Whoa, there's some Nutella.  I've never tasted Nutella and peanut butter together before.  Wonder what it tastes like?"  Uh oh, there goes the top off the Nutello jar. "Wooooo, so creamy and chocolaty.  Just a little now.  Oh! I need another slice of bread!"  Before I knew it I had scoffed down nearly half the loaf, ahhhhhh! Why do things happen so fast when you're having so much fun!

But this was only the beginning of the end.  I couldn't stop at just peanut butter and Nutella now.  I couldn't let this heavenly bliss stop.  I reached for the cupboard, my movements frantic now.  I scanned the shelves desperately, "Ah ha! the raison and oatmeal cookies, with chocolate chunks!" I grabbed for it, hugging them close to me less someone tries to wrestle them away.  I opened the package and once again I was enveloped in the sweetest, most buttery fragrance ever imagined.  I scoffed one down.  "Ahhh, such pleasure!"

I was a woman possessed.  I ran to the freezer and yanked it open.  A gallon tub of ice-cream sat there in the dark recesses of the freezer, almost forgotten.  I grabbed for it, a big tub of coconut ice-cream with blondie chunks and caramel swirls; I plied open the top.  Dug my spoon in deep and lifted; gooey caramel whirled around snowy white peaks and blonde rocky chunks.  There was no turning back now.  I closed my eyes and let destiny lead me. And, it led me to the bottom of that tub of ice-cream!

I was in a frenzy now, "Must have more, must have more."  I ran over to my forgotten pantry and opened the door, the hinges creaking.  I dug beneath a pile of dry goods and miscellaneous knick-knacks until I reached a mysterious bulky brown paper bag.  I reached for it with quivering hands and opened it.  Glittering like jewels, a pile of sweets, chocolate bars, candy, toffees, and all sorts of "sugar and spice and everything nice" filled my field of view.  This was my emergency stash; the bag of "food" that would save me should World War III or Armageddon break-out.  Well, today was my Armageddon; I reached inside and pulled out a Baby Ruth, slowly peeled off the wrapper and...."Oooo la la, you're certainly my baby!"  And then a Mars bar, "Wooo, turn me into a Martian now!"  And then I don't remember what happened next, perhaps my brain blacked-out from the surge of sugar entering my body.

When I finally came around from my "drunken" revelry I was half a loaf of bread gone, many tablespoonfuls of peanut butter and Nutella less, a tub of ice-cream cleaned out, and countless empty candy wrappers strewn all over the kitchen floor! (I only had one cookie at least).  I was dazed.  I was speechless.  I was mortified.  But at least I was finally full.

In the wake of this catastrophe, I asked myself, what lessons have I learned?  First, never eat so much in one go; I gave myself a huge tummy ache afterwards.  Second, dieting through denial will only spell-out disaster.  I remember when I was eating, especially the ice-cream, I was almost indignant.  I was spooning in each mouthful with such fire and heat; it was like I was venting all the pent up anger that I felt at being denied my "human right to stuff my face, damn it!"  And I think this demonstrates that when we put ourselves on a restricted diet of "no eating this, no eating that," that it is like being indignantly slighted.  It's the same "sting" that we feel when we're ordered by our supervisors to carry out idiotic assignments, or when an obnoxious jerk steals your parking space, or when you've been ripped off by false advertising.

Now I'm not saying to go out and vent your indignation by eating whatever you want, quite the contrary.  The point is that the battle with food has to be won up in your head first.  The key is your perception of the diet.  If you view your diet as a form of "suppression", then each time you say "no" to yourself, and each time you see your friends and family (Ahem, husband!) wolfing down everything you want to eat, then you're only building up resentment instead of resolve.  Sooner or later, you'll burst from all that pent up "suppression."

But, on the other hand, if you perceive your diet as the "vehicle" to your ultimate and glorious transformation, then it is actually your "saviour", your means of redemption.  But, it's necessary to first have a strong sense of the person you want to transform into; the kind of lifestyle you want to live and then to have a healthy diet that supports those goals.  Therefore, in the end, a successful diet has to be healthy, balanced and reasonable; trying to live on 1000 calories a day, or just cabbage soup ain't going to cut it; and if you're a "foodie" like me, you'll literally go temporarily insane.  The diet you adopt should be a diet that you would want to maintain for the rest of your life; your aim is not merely to change your physical body but to adopt a completely new lifestyle.