#anythingbutnasi

Me? I've always tried to be on the Health track. Be it my stints at the gymnasium, cutting down on my food intake - sugar, condensed milk and the likes, drinking lots and lots of water etc. Just to add to that, lately I have been on a NO RICE diet. Been going on for a while now, I think around 2 plus months already. The rule is simple, eat whatever whenever as long as it is NOT rice. #anythingbutnasi if you may.

It is not too much to ask from me, I think because the alternatives are aplenty. I get my carbohydrates from eating pasta, bread, potatoes and the likes. It has also made me frequent my kitchen more. As my kids would normally have rice for dinner, so I end up fixing my own dinner after work. It's been quite a creative adventure in the kitchen too. Trying to come up with something that is supported by my pantry and fridge content as well as the NO rice policy. But, because of this I have tried and made:

Aglio olio spaghetti. 

Chicken and mushroom baked spaghetti 

 

Roast chicken salad

 

Midnight breakfast pan

 

Roast chicken sandwich 

Pasta bake

 

It gets a little harder when attending functions or when there's a makan-makan do at the office sometimes. As much as I could, I would opt for just the lauk-pauk sans the rice. As I would when having lunch at the office cafetaria at times. Other times, I could opt for the variety of mee / meehun and kueytiew soup / curry / Bandung / tomyam / goreng.

There was even one occasion when they had nasi lemak as the main dish. So I went down to MyNews and bought a loaf of Gardenia bread. Roti cicah sambal ikan bilis lah kittew.  Yummeh!

As a reward, I do allow myself some cheat meals. For example, I have cheated for Hassan Ayam Kampung and Nasi Ayam Chee Ming. Another that I would cheat for is nasi kandar hameediyah in Penang. I mean, I don't want to deny myself totally. Just trying to cut down on rice and stay as far away from it as I can for now.

It has shown some results, I guess. People have commented that I looked "kurus sikit" but it doesn't show on the weighing scale. Hewhewhew. Takpe la, but I do feel healthier and not as bloated. And that is a good thing!

-dillz blogging out-

My Road to Health : Week 2 Scorecard

I do believe that the key to making this work is not to deny your desires, but to control them. I have to make this a part of how I live my life. Not just a temporary way of doing it. So, as such, there will be engagements and birthday parties to attend to, as well as reasons for me not to check into my gym - kids' activities, dance practice, work commitments, what have yous.

Anyways, this is how I have done last week:

Exercise-front
Not too bad. Not too bad.

• 2 PT sessions this week - my PT let me experience the different kinds of cardio machines. This time around it was much harder, resistance was high and we were on the "Weight Loss" program - I sweat like a pig under the blazing sun. She also worked on my weakest muscles - the tummy are and the thigh. Loads of crunches in many different ways. Pumpinglah , apa lah. I didn't know I could hurt and sweat so much while staying put at a single point. Menggeletar, OK. More flexibility and stretches akin the stuff they do at a traditional Thai massage parlor. Needless to say that some of my joints popped and I was excreting wind from places you don't want to know about. Sorry, Jess. hihihihihihi. I like it that my PT does different things every time I come in. keeps it interesting. Just that I think I have to keep a journal on all the stuff she's asked me to do. After this PT sessions conclude, I at least have a reference point. Nak ambik PT sampai bila-bila, mau bangkrap. hihihihihi
  
• Walked up the 12 flights of stairs, all 144 steps of it 4 times last week. Itu pun, without my partner-in-crime who was out for training. So, extra effort and perseverance di situ. I also tried running up the steps for 4 floors and walked up the remaining 2 floors. Yeay me!
  
• Couldn't make it to Kids' Yoga or Dance last Saturday due to attending the 3 parties we had lined up.
  
• I made it up with 2.5 hours of dance practice at Khadra's school last Sunday. (This one is for the Teachers' day performance) On top of that my gluteous maximus and feet had loads of exercise courtesy if the amount of walking I made hunting for the perfect short can-can skirt for the performance. We scoured Pavillion and Sungei Wang and back. :)
  

Dietary-front

Except for the trying to eat more home cooked/prepared meal, I only tried to keep up with what I have done the previous week :

• Sukses on the air kaler-kaler thing. Absolutely NO carbonated drinks, or coffee, or teh ais on weekdays.
  
• The drinking of 2litres of water in a day is going on effortlessly on weekdays. Needs a little more concious effort to pass my mark on weekends.
  
• Drinking water only 30 minutes after my meal is becoming more a second mature to me. I am making this work even when I was out for a buffet lunch last week. Yeay! Succumbed to it a little at @mimpimurni's engagement party though.
  
• Bought 4x4 packs of Anlene concentrate, so that's going well. :) Still snacking healthily with cherry tomatoes and baby carrots.
• Started making more home made dinner. The secret to this is planning. Need to have the ingredients that makes up a quick, healthy meal in stock in my fridge. Wholemeal bread, cold cuts, cheese, salad, cherry tomatoes, etc - Walla, you have a home made sandwich! :) It really brings down my eating out , especially at night.
  

My Indulgence

• The team was treated to a Japanese buffet lunch on Monday. I had loads of oysters and salmon sashimi. :)
  
• 3 parties lined up on Saturday - Teelong's engagement , @mimpimurni's engagement and LJ's birthday bash for Kya and Kash. So, foods galore!
  

-dillz blogging out-

My Road to Health : Week 1 Scorecard

I was touched by toughcookie's tweets yesterday. Our replies to each other went something like this:

toughcookee reached d pool n realised it is actually raining. baru semangat nak swim nightly... huhu how to kurus la @dillazag??
dillazag @toughcookee hahahaha. Not heated pun you berani turun. Bagus2. teruskan semangat! :)
toughcookee @dillazag hehe... the semangat came from u la.. tu yg i semangat tu. tapi sekarang potonnnggg... :(
dillazag @toughcookee Takpe2. Start again, babeh. Every day is a new beginning. Esok plak try!
toughcookee @dillazag susah sgt want to get off my butt but i kept thinking abt u so tht i can be strong. tu yg a little frustrtd. takpe... esok eh...

So, miss toughcookie, I thought I'd keep both our semangat going. Instead of telling you want I wanted to do, I decided to tell you what I have done. This is, of course, in regards to all things related to me getting healthier (and hotter). The rights and the wrongs. Yes, even that McDonald's dinner will be included. ;)

I wanted to keep the scores for myself. You know, to keep me motivated. And maybe to keep you going too. :)

Exercise-front
All in all I thought I have been really good this week. The intent to do as well as actually doing it :)

• Had my first PT session on Monday where I did a little bit of cardio and was introduced to the various muscle machines. Then we did some stretching. I was told to continue with my cardio after PT session was done. I did 20 minutes on the bike, maintaing 85rpm (or above) all the while.
  
• Walked up the stairs twice this week, from the 3rd floor (where the office cafe is) to my office on the 9th floor. Am proud of that! Have enlisted @adnil9 as my companion. We try to keep each other motivated. :)
  
• Went to the gym again on Wednesday, this time before work. After I dropped off Khadra at school, I did a quick cardio on the elliptical and had a quick shower. Was all hyper and it really started off the day tremendously. :)
• PT was cancelled on Friday, but I went in anyways and joined the Latin Mix group exercise. Danced and got sweaty all in one. Me likey!
• Accompanied Khadra for her Kids Yoga on Saturday while I did a quick cardio on the elliptical. Did the weight loss program this time.
  
• I had time to go to the gym on Sunday, but decided against it as I declared Sunday as my rest day! Didn't want to overwhelm my body with too much! :)
  

Dietary-front
Started slowly this week with:

• Cut out my air kaler-kaler. No carbonated drinks, or coffee, or teh ais on weekdays. Can only indulge on weekends.
• Drank at least 2litres of water in a day. Did marvellously at the office coz I have one of those water tumblers with the measurements on it. Somewhat a challenge at home coz I was not keeping tabs on how much water I have drank.
  
• Only drank water 30 minutes after my meal. Sukses! (I drink before my meals)
• Started on the Anlene concentrate - a lil packet a day (on weekdays, coz I keep stock in the office)
• Snacking healthily with cherry tomatoes and baby carrots.
  

My Indulgence

• Could not resist the calling of McDonalds on my way back from the gym, Monday night. Had the burger and fries and a few sips of Coke. Can't help it, the drive-thru was calling my name! hihihihi.. Indulged in it. But didn't have any more fast food the rest of the week.
• One caramel macchiato from Starbucks on Saturday. Oh, how I have longed for thee. Sedappp!!!
  
• Nasi lemak ayam rempah Village Park and cupcakes from Wondermilk for dessert on Sunday
  

-dillz blogging out-