Tuesday, July 02, 2013
Tuesday workout
Total cal burned: 572 but it took me 1:40 min to do it.
Post workout meal: roasted chicken with stir fry veggie and some watermelon for dessert.
As far as eating at work: I ate my home made lunch 2 days in a row and did not drink any coffee.
Baby steps one day at a time.
Monday, July 01, 2013
Creature of Habits
Weight management is 80% diet and 20% exercise, I need to focus on changing my eating habits to reach my goal. One gal posted on the internet that she lost 10 lbs following the Paleo diet.
Eat:
- Grass-produced meats
- Fish/seafood
- Fresh fruits and veggies
- Eggs
- Nuts and seeds
- Healthful oils (Olive, walnut, flaxseed, macadamia, avocado, coconut)
Don’t eat:
- Cereal grains
- Legumes (including peanuts)
- Dairy
- Refined sugar
- Potatoes
- Processed foods
- Salt
- Refined vegetable oils
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Time for change: Continuous improvement for the mind and body
During body pump class, I was really bothered by my belly hanging out when I was doing deep swats. There's no hiding of the muffin top effect when the weigh gain occurs in the mid section of the body. I was able to hide it with workout clothes but when my belly is hanging out as much as the pregnant lady behind me, I need to change the way I eat.
I lost 15 lbs back in July 2010 and I've been slowly gain the weight back since. As of today, 3 years later, I gained back almost 12 lbs of those 15 lbs.
I tried joining the biggest looser at work as motivator for weight lost in February but I only lost 4 lbs in 3 months.
It's amazing to see the transformation of one girl in the gym lost 25 lbs in 6 months. She inspired me to get back on track.
Today is the beginning of my eating healthy/getting back to my goal weight.
Strategy for week one 6/30/13.
- Increase water intake: I've been drinking coffee instead of water. Some days I drink may be 12 oz at work and 12 oz at home so must get back on track by drinking more water or tea. Goal: 72 oz/day
- Bring my own lunch 4 out of 5 days of the week. Better portion control when I bring my own food instead of eating out. Kale salad, dinner left overs etc...
- Target calorie intake to be 1500/ day
- Eat brown rice instead of white rice: It doesn't taste as good so I eat less of it.
- Increase activities: Currently 3 hrs/week so will increase to 4 hrs/week for week one. Calorie goal: 600 cal/workout so total output goal: 2400 cal/week.
- Make my self accountable by posting my calorie burn.
- Cycle & Body pump: 682 cal.
Sunday, April 07, 2013
Father's Day weekend written in June 2008
We stayed home for the 1st time ever during Father's day. Typically we would visit both our dads and take them out to eat. This year, hubby's dad went up to LA to celebrate with my brother inlay and my dad is so concern about gas prices that he said to celebrate next weekend when we plan to celebrate my nephew's birthday. I had menstrual crap after coming home from cycling so all I want to do is lay in bed and rest. It's interesting how I was fine when I was exercising but after showered I started to feel pain. We got free HBO previews for the weekend so the kids watched part of the "Night at the Museum" Once the pain subsided, we went to Costco and bought some Carne Asada and salad for dinner. Secondo liked it but Danielle stuck with her chicken nuggets.
Danielle, at the age of 8 does not wanting to tag along with her parents anymore. She said that she wanted to stay home and play with her friends and that going to Costco was boring and a waste of her time. After laying down the law of that she's not allowed to stay home on her own, we all got in the car and went.
On Saturday morning, I took Danielle out for a jog. The goal was to go 5 miles but she did 2 miles of jogging and walking. We ended our exercise at the supermarket close to home, eating breakfast and she told me how nice it was not having Secondo around. Secondo tends misbehave or interrupt Danielle just to get attention and I can tell that Danielle is tired of it. I should plan the weekend so I spend some alone time with each of my child and hubby.
Secondo is making good progress with doing her #2 business in the potty. I started to have her sleep in her underwear overnight after she had no accident for the last 2 weeks. Last night @ 1PM, she woke me up and said that she has to go and she DID it in the potty. When we went to Costco yesterday, I didn't bring a diaper bag with me. Good bye diapers and so long diaper bags!
Friday, March 29, 2013
Six Sigma Black Belt March 2009
One of my accomplishment is March is completing the 19 weeks six sigma black belt refresher course and taking the 4 hours exam on March 7th 2009. I'm asking the Universe to make sure that I passed the exam and don't have to go through it again. I'll find out in a week if the other test takers felt the way I felt not so confident about how I did. I'm regaining my 1 night a week back and life goes back to normal state with the family.
Fast forward to March 2013.
I passed the test back in 2009 and had been officially Lean six sigma black belt holder or in the industry LSSBB. People think I know martial arts but I just tell them I know mental martial arts to help your company function more efficiently with less problems or variation.
I realized now that it is to my best interest to work for a company that truly appreciate the power of lean six sigma.
Good Friday
Secondo's Christmas singing was fun too. She was all in to hand gestures and sang her heart out. She was so happy to see me in the audience and sang with more energy and oomph. I wish I was a stayed at home mom but I treasure every special moments with my two girls.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Change of heart
Monday, August 24, 2009
Summer is almost over
We got school supplies, some clothes, & socks for Danielle so Secondo complained that it's not fair that I was buying lots things for her sister and not her. Danielle firmly told Secondo that the purpose of the trip was to buy school supplies for Danielle and Secondo will get to do the same when she's in 1st grade. There are still some items on the list I missed such as
- Hand sanitizer
- Reams of papers
- Graph paper
- Basic calculator
I don't recall being that mean to my younger brother.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Mid Feb Update
After reading Sundry and Eclectic, I felt guilty about not keeping my promised of monthly blogging. Being that it's President's day, the kids were snuggling in their own bed when I left them for my morning commuting in the rain to go to work. I so wish I was not working today.
We had a busy weekend celebrating Valentine's day & Danielle's Birthday. I still can't believe my 9 lb 9 oz baby turned 9 years old yesterday. I still remember vividly the night we went to the hospital for induction because she refused to leave my belly on her own term. Now she's an independent young lady who doesn't need me and some times talks back and want to have the last word.
When I went to 99 Ranch market on Saturday for 2 hrs, Secondo had a gum in hair incident. Since hubby was in charge, I wasn't able to get the story from either party. Instead of using peanut butter to remove the gum from her long hair, hubby chopped of 6 inches of hair to remove the gum.
To celebrate her birthday, we had a sleep over with 2 of her best friends. They went to see a hotel for dogs, played games and talked until they drifted off to sleep. Secondo wanted to participate but was kicked out by the older girls who wanted their privacy. Over time, they did include Secondo when they play house where Secondo was their cat name princess. On Sunday, her cousin came over and they played mostly video games.
Danielle has an oral presentation coming up and she hasn't decided on the subject yet. My guess is it will be either about dogs or hamsters
Secondo loves to add "though" at the end of the sentences lately. She'll say "But Mom.. I like to eat ice cream before dinner though." or " I'm too full to eat dinner though". She had her 1st ballet recital in January. She did not do the steps that she rehearsed but it ended in less than 3 minutes. I'm not sure how much she's really learning but she enjoys going to her ballet class.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Christmas is around the corner
We spent Thanksgiving with hubby's family on Thursday and drove to Las Vegas on Friday and spent Thanksgiving with my parents. Traffic was horrible and there were so many people on the streets. I had the impression that we were in resession and people barely have enough money to sustain the basic. Hubby and I ate buffet dinner at the Cravings within Mirage and it was a disappointment. For $35/person, Sushi bar was mainly rice with seaweed and kings crabs were tasteless. Luckily, the seabass was edible and they were serving wonton soup. The casinos & shops were full of people and smoke. We stayed at the Mirage and the kids were happy playing in the hotel room. I realized that Vegas isn't the best place to bring kids or hubby and I. We drove back on Saturday and traffic was bad. It took us 6 hours to get back to the OC. We had pho noodle soup at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant Thanh and the whole bill was about $35.00.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Camp Pendelton Mud run 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Fall post
What happened after my last entry?
- Cookie our hamster the third died so Danielle is working hard persuading hubby and I to get her a new one daily & hourly. Hubby came up with a system where Danielle would collect hamster points if she cleans her room and keeps it clean, picks up after her self and sorts her own laundry. When she earns up to 250 Hamster points then we'll bring one home.
- Danielle is in 3rd grade and she's learning multiplication tables at the moment. She's also learning to use the computer. From the back to school night meeting, the teachers told us that our kids will be able to use PowerPoint to present their work by the end of school year. She's also envious of her classmates who have laptops in class to use when she had to share with other class mates using the desktop. I won't spend $2000 for a laptop for a 3rd grader. I asked her to save up her money from Christmas and Chinese new year. Hopefully by the time she's in 5th grade, she'll save enough money to get a laptop. Reading wise, she's reading the Beverly Hills Chihuahua and any dog related books.
- Secondo started preschool this fall in a new school so drop off was a little difficult the 1st 2 weeks. She loves the fact that I pack her lunch in her princess lunch pail. When I asked her what she did in school, she replied: "I went to chapel, ate lunch, go night night and come home" I guess those were the important milestones in a day of a 3 year old. She only wear dresses to school and the weather is getting cold. She's taking ballet class on Saturdays and is really enjoying it.
Friday, July 25, 2008
July is almost over
We went to Legoland on Monday and it was Secondo's 1st trip there. She enjoyed the helicopter, boat and the safari jeep ride. After lunch we hung around the play area before Danielle and I went on to the aquazone. The line was short so we went on it twice. We left the park around 4PM and checked in to the Carlsbad Holiday Inn by the Sea. The hotel looked nice on the website but did not meet my expectation. A more accurate description would be Carlsbad Holiday Inn by the outlet mall. The sea was not visible from the hotel. We grabbed a bite to eat and visited my friend who lives 2 blocks from the beach.
We were lucky enough to catch the sunset and Danielle unwilling posed for my friend. The kids played in the sand and we sat and enjoyed the view.
We stayed until dark and headed back to our hotel.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Secondo and Dora
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Wii Fit
I set a goal to loose 5 lbs in 1 month and Danielle's goal is to gain 3 lbs in 1 month. We tried to input Secondo's in the system but she wasn't able to stand still for some of the body tests.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Summer reading
Last night after I picked up Danielle from her summer camp, we went to our local library and sign up for Summer reading programs for both of us. When she reads 20 min/day for 6 days, she'll get some special gift from the library. She checked out several books from Chronicles of Narnia and is reading Prince Caspian at the moment.
Summer reading for adults are a little different, I'm required to reading and review4 books tin order to participate in a drawing for goodies. I checked out 3 audio books so far
- Count Karlstein by Phillip Pullman. I really enjoyed Pullmans dark material series and wanted to read his other works.
- The Sun Also rises by Earnest Hemingway. This is one of the book on "1001 books you must read before you die" list so I'm reading it.
- Purpose driven life (What on earth am I here for?) by Richard Warren. I've seen Richard on PBS while channel surfing and I hope to learn want my purpose on this planet is after listening to this book.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Getting back on track
Yesterday, on my birthday, I almost continued with my negative mind set snow ball effect because I didn't feel like going to the gym. I got up @ 6:30AM and watched movies with the kids. We toyed around the idea of going to the beach but hubby wasn't so eager with the idea so I went to the gym like always. Besides, I was feeling fat so didn't want to be seen in a bathing suit.
At the gym, I practiced jump rope and cycled with a substitute, Mary who used to take the class with me. Jump rope is fun but hard on the knees; however, it's one exercise I could do anywhere. I'm glad that I decided to go to the gym and burn off 600 calories. I felt sore and old after the workout.
We ate leftover for lunch, & I took a short nap to let my aging body recover.
After putting the kids to sleep, I stayed up a little late and watched Dr Oz "You on a Diet" program where he helped obese folks reduce their waist line to 35" for men and 32" for women via eating healthy and exercise. The eye opening part of the show was when, he showed his clients the differences between a healthy heart and an obese heart. Healthy heart was the size of my fist and the valves were rubbery and the plumbings were clean. Obese heart was 3 times the size of the healthy heart and there were fat or cholesterol deposits on the wall of the plumbings. He also showed a cross section of a person's body where fat surrounds our internally vital organs ( liver, intestines, etc) that could result to heart attack/death. On his shows, most of them were like me. They were on track for the 1st 3 months and then they went back to their old ways of eating and didn't see any result. Dr Oz said to them that it's OK to have set backs because we will and the important thing is to get back on track. He used the analogy of a GPS system. If we missed our exit, the GPS doesn't chastise us but says to make a U turn on the next legal opportunity. After the show, I went to bed rediscover why I spend my time exercising and what my goal still is. My goal is to reach and maintain 32" waist line by eating healthy and exercise. It's OK to stray from the program as long as I get right back in the next opportunity I have.
Today, I stop chastising my self and I made a U turn this morning by eating a healthy breakfast and packed healthy snacks and lunch.
Today I'm proud that I weigh less than I did a year a go and I also found a Wii fit.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
I'm changing
Last night, I didn't feel like going to the gym but I told hubby that I'm going so I was committed to the task.
The night before going to the gym @ 4:30 AM, I usually don't sleep well. Last night for instance, we got in bed by 9PM and I got up at 11:30 PM to the bath room. I was abruptly woken up by opening of garage door, thinking that I overslept so I checked my watch and it was ~3:00AM. I tried going back to sleep but felt irritated and angry because I should be sleeping through the noise until my alarm goes off. Next thing I remember, my alarm went off @ 4:10 AM so I got up and got ready for my morning exercise. I was scheduled to run 5K but I didn't wear the right bra so I jogged for 10 min and got on the bike for 20 min. I forgot to wear my heart monitor belt so I didn't track how much calories I burned. I did some arm work and walked out of the gym. It was day light and the air felt crisp and fresh on my sweaty face. I took several deep breaths and asked my self if all the apprehension I felt the night before workout was worth it?
It's been 3 months since I started this taxing 4:30 workout regiment and I need a new routine. Next week, Danielle will be out of school, and we don't have home work duty for at least 3 months. I'm going to workout at night twice a week and get a good night sleep.
How does one live with out having regrets? Lately, Danielle would say, I wish I had done this or I should have done X instead of Y.
Juliet,
If you are reading this blog, I hope I could be added to your list of reader. I miss reading how your boys are doing.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
June Entry
It felt as if I just blogged last week but in reality a month has passed and now we are in June.
I. Secondo
Since my last entry, we celebrated Secondo’s 3rd birthday at my parent’s house on 5/17/08 with friends and family. Mom and mother in-law contributed lots of food for the party and I did not remember to take pictures of such festivities. Dad made his special almond pudding dessert which was a hit every time. I took some pictures but they have yet to be downloaded for posting. I rented the jump house for the little ones to bounce off the wall. It was scorching hot that day , the kids could not stand bouncing on the hot vinyl for more than 5 minutes. Some of the brave souls sang Karaoke while the older kids played video games upstairs in mom & dad’s room. One of my friends who lives in Santa Clarita Valley didn’t make it down so I was a little disappointed. One monumental thing Secondo did on her birthday was that she pooped in the potty with out being asked. After she finished her business and announced to the world “ I poo poo in the potty!”. Everyone in the house clapped their hands and cheered as if gasoline price has gone back down to $1.25/ gallon. To side tracked a little; I paid $ 4.45/gallon today at Costco. I’m looking into the possibility of taking the train to work. Back to the story: From that point forward, it was one step forward, two steps back on her being proactive. She would poop in her underwear if she was too involved in a task or when we didn’t pay attention. When we see her eyes get watery, hubby or I would sit her down on the potty. Last weekend, she had been pooping in the potty and I’m so hoping that this is it. She’s finally getting it and no more cleaning after this child. The potty training journey has been long and painful and I’m beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. She started in the 3 year old class this month and she’s not used to it since all her friends are still in the two year old class.
II. Reading
I’m currently listening/reading the dark material trilogy of Phillip Pullman. I saw the movie Golden Compass prior to reading the book and the book goes into more details about Lyra’s journeys, her deamon and her enemies. I like the material and not sure if Danielle would be interested in the book. I’m listening to Subtle Knife , 2nd book of the series and she’s traveling to different world looking for scholars to help her find “dust”. I looked up the movie version of Subtle Knife and it’s coming out in 2009. One movie that I can’t wait to see is “Time traveler’s wife”. It’s suppose to be out in 2008 and I haven’t heard any buzz about it at all.
III. Danielle
Danielle is into Webkinz now. Webkinz sell stuff animal that can also be a virtual pet that she feeds and takes care of on line. Polar plunge is her favorite game and candy bash 2 is mine. I helped her earn kinzcash by playing games and joining tournaments. Next Wednesday will be the end of the school year and she’s looking forward to getting her report cards. She earns cash if she does well in school and she’s ready to buy more webkinz. She gets bored easily now and doesn't draw as much as she used to when she was younger.
IV. Workout
On the workout front, I’ve been running less after I injured my left ankle while learning to jump rope 3 weeks ago. It looked easy for the instructor to jump and land on her heel but when I did it I twisted something. I went back on the treadmill this morning after resting for 3 weeks and it felt OK. I’m planning to do a 5K charity run on July 4th around our area and my time is 13 min/mile. I tried to get Danielle to run 1K with other kids and she said no. I’m tired of my workout music that I have so if any of you has any motivating song list, please post them on comment section. I still exercise 4 times a week and 4:00AM morning calls are easier to get up to and it makes the week go by faster.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Mother's Day & Pre-school week 4
On Saturday, we had a potluck lunch with hubby side of the family. It was supposed to start @ 12PM but we were running late getting there so we didn't eat until 2 PM. After a big lunch, I played Mario Kart on Wii with the kids and it was entertaining in a stressful way. I drove too fast and fell of the cliff a couple of times and I felt tired and sweaty after a couple of races.
Around 6PM, we went to my parent's house, hung out a bit before taking my mom & dad out for Thai Dinner. We went to Thai BBQ & Noodles in Cypress for the 1st time and we really liked it. The best dish we enjoyed were their Panang Beef and generous portion of Beef Sate. Pad Thai was a little too sweet and the kids loved the fried rice. After dinner, we went home and Secondo had 2 melts down on the freeway. First, the bow on the back of her dress was bothering her so we had to stop at Mickie D and take her dress off. After we got back on the freeway, she had to go pee pee. She was wearing pull up so I told her that it's OK to pee pee in her pull up because there's no potty on the freeway. She refused to do so and cried " I got to go pee pee!" until we stopped at a book store near Irvine. After she peed, we had a peaceful ride home with both kids sleeping in the car.
II. Secondo
As far as pre-school goes, Secondo is making progress with not crying during drop off. I sit with her for 5 min while she's eating her breakfast and she's more comfortable when some of her two year olds friends are there. Mondays and Fridays are tough because the 2 year old teacher doesn't get there until 8:30AM. Secondo likes the 2 year old teacher and showed more independent when she's around. When we get home she liked to do reverse roll play where I was Secondo and she was Mommy.
S: " OK Secondo, I have to go to work now so don't cry when I say bye and make mommy sad"
M: " But mom, I don't like this class room. I want to go to Ms G's class room."
S: " I'll stay for 5 more minutes and I'll have to leave for work."
M: "OK mom. I'm not going to cry"
She is wearing underwear to school now because she's able to tell her teacher when she has to do #1. Unfortunately, #2 is still difficult to for her to let us know before the fact. I hope to god that she'll get #2 under control before Summer is over.
I'll be busy preparing for her birthday party this coming weekend. I made the her a Dora banner and she really liked it.
III. On Exercise
I decided to participate in the Camp Pendleton Mud run in October with some co-workers from work. It's a 10K run in mud, hills and etc. I consulted my friend Carolyn who runs all the time and she gave me a program to train with. Today, I did the tempo run on the tread mill where I warmed up 5 min on the treadmill and then run @ 6.0 pace for 1 min and slowly work it up to 0.25 miles with an incline of 1.0. I covered 2.7 miles in less than 30 min. Before the mud run commitment, I used to do intervals @ 5.0 incline & walk @ 4.0 pace for a song and run @ 5.0 incline & run @ 5.2 pace for a song. I was able to complete 3.1 miles in 40 min. My goal is to complete the race in 75 min or less.