It's not going down!

After six months, my triglycerides went up! Again! From 175 to 375! Okay, okay... tsk, tsk! I stopped my medications. I figured it's almost close to normal, I should not overdo this otherwise my liver would suffer. I might probably right with my theory. However, it was just the medicine that lowered down my triglycerides. If I want to live without being a druggie, I should start a healthier lifestyle that would keep my dangerously high triglycerides within normal range. But, what to do? Laziness always gets the best of me! 

I plan on taking Krav Maga, maybe paying a hefty amount every month would force my slacking bum to move some more. Yes, move! I'm curious about this type of self defense technique by the Israeli military. Learning how to kick ass and looking like you really do kick ass is a plus! Wohoo! And I visualize my tiny self with defined abs, not the round shape.

Speaking of round, it's alarming how many of our friends think I'm pregnant again! WHY!? Well, I still wear my maternity clothes. Darn! It's the only comfortable ones. I only have a few clothes... but why should I buy new ones when clearly my  body still looks like I'm infanticipating! What to do?

• Krav Maga - need to find a babysitter that can help me with the little ones why I go to the gym (if possible, daily)
• Eat Well - yes, EAT! I need to eat properly. At the right time, and the right food....
• Sleep Well - maybe when I'm tired with the exercise and all those kicks and punches my body will learn to sleep earlier.
• Smile - I tend to get upset so easily. I need to lighten up and just be happier!

This should work! I will go back for another routine check in two months. Let's see if it goes down without medication.

Working it Out

Went back to the gym... Will try running. I'm joining my girl friends every Saturday morning for a lovely run and breakfast. This would bea nice way to unwind and have my personal time. As of now, my best is at 21:30 for one mile hehe!

Hopefully, will be good enough to stick with south beach diet. Need to eat healthy to maintain healthy levels - triglycerides, sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol, hormones, etc. I stopped taking my medications for my triglycerides, currently on fish oil supplement. May these do wonders  for my body.

Can't wait to be fit and healthy, and of course fabulous LOL!

Jump Starting 1

So yesterday, I started my exercise routine. I was on the elliptical for almost 20 minutes, then did several sets in the gym (hoping to tone these flabby arms) and gain muscles to help me lose unwanted weight. I also did crunches using my fit ball. I was done maybe within an hour or so. Note that I had to go down to the basement then back up for some baby intermissions LOL! I needed to puff (albuterol) right before and once during when I started coughing like a (mad) dog. This proved to be very helpful! However, now my bad knee is acting up. Grrr!

What did I eat yesterday? Hmmm....

• Brunch: A spoonful of greek strawberry yogurt, half egg, bits of bacon, pan de sal with butter, coffee with nonfat creamer.
• Late lunch was a whole lot of leftovers -- rice, bacon, coffee, yogurt, and I forgot.
• Dinner were leftovers too -- rice, pancit bihon, patatim (I know! LOL!)

Earlier today, I had:

• Breakfast: hot milk chocolate 
• Lunch: greek yogurt, salad with ginger dressing, cheese wontons, rice, lemongrass pork chops, california roll, miso soup (burp)
• Dinner: rice, roasted cornish hen with potatoes and carrots
• No exercise!

Hopefully I will just have desserts twice a week... to manage my sugar. Good luck to me!

Almost 150

The very reason this blog was made was to document my journey to reaching one hundred and fifty. That means my triglycerides better be 150 or below... and today, I am at 175! That's quite a dive from 700+ two months ago. I thank God for my medication (Lopid) which I take twice daily. 

Starter Kit

Okay, I haven't been exercising nor consciously eating well. However, after two months on medication I lost a good five pounds yehey! Now, I only have ten more to lose before I go back to my pre-pregnancy weight (two years ago). Well, a good fifteen would be nice to shed to get back into my old weight (a decade ago) before I became a mother. But the point really is to lower my triglycerides level to 150 or below. I have to wait another two weeks for the blood test results. 

I seriously need to jump start my exercise regimen. Maybe November will be a good month to kick off with, a challenge-full couple of months with all the holiday feasting! Let's see how I can hold up to that. I cannot for the life of me get into  my planned South Beach diet, I just seem to fail successfully. I don't know how I did it a couple of years ago. How did I manage to withdraw from sugar for two weeks? Seriously, how? Oh well...

Today, I woke up feeling refreshed compared to yesterday's blues. I took a quick shower and pretty much made myself up. I had a spoonful of Greek yogurt. Just that while feeding the little one. Then had a bowl of chicken tortilla soup (store bought from our grocery's deli) and a few saltine crackers. It seems light I know. But wait, I have a Halloween party to attend to in a few... so I shall see how much more I will stuff my belly with for today.

As to exercising, maybe I should get real. Perhaps doing cardio twice a day for fifteen minutes each would do wonders. Maybe I can stick with that, rather than an hour long exercise routine. I said to myself that once I discipline myself to sleeping earlier than usual, I may be able to discipline myself to exercise. And proudly so, I can sleep early now. Not because I am trying, but because I am just so exhausted when clock strikes at nine  in the evening. Other days I can stretch up to midnight and maybe a couple nights up to the wee hours, but I could not really tolerate it anymore.

So here I am, starting anew (again)! Hopefully the effects of exercise would go beyond lowering my triglycerides... make me feel and look good! Who does not want that, huh?

Rice Free

Chic-fil-A's Chargrilled and Fruit Salad

Picture above was lunch, along with a few sips of their chicken noodle soup. Yes, that was it! I did not finish the greens. I wasn't a fan of the way the chicken tastes like, much more the vinaigrette that came along with it. I savoured the fruits -- strawberries, apples, mandarin orange slices, and grapes! Oh I enjoyed the soup as well but had to share it with the little one hehehe!

I couldn't survive with this lunch at all! I was starving and my palate couldn't help but imagine bursting flavors and whatnots. I hoped for an Indian dinner. Although I am not sure how much calories there are in the chicken tikka masala with all its creamy and savory glory... Good thing the husband suggested we have Japanese instead. Oh my! Thank goodness for Asian flavors!

Had miso soup, shrimp tempura (I didn't care about the batter!), lemongrass chicken, gyoza (ah fried! grrr!), and my greens with the ginger dressing (alleluia, flavorful at last!)... very filling sans rice. I successfully ignored my craving for some coke, tang, and whatever drink besides water.

Could this be start? To that phase of eating consciously and wisely? To sometimes boring appetite? To bland-I'd rather just drink-no choice in the menu life? Ahhh, whatever it takes. Now, the challenge is to create wonderful dishes with just fish and chicken (and maybe sometimes shrimp), vegetables and spices.... Emphasis on fish! I have never been a friend of seafood. Why? Because I can't eat them, sometimes. It's itchy, it's stinky, it's not hypoallergenic. Oh well.

Btw, no exercise for today and oh brunch were two slices of toast with chicken salad and non fat milk. For dessert earlier in the evening, I had one little clementine to tame my about-to-be-harsh throat.

Tomorrow, I hope to be good... geesh as I type this I just remembered my medication (Lopid)! Got to take it! Darn! And why is Tang calling my name? Aigooo!

Wake Up Call!

A literal wake up call is what I got from my doctor yesterday afternoon. I was amidst a semi nap nursing a migraine, when the phone rang. "Your triglycerides are very high!", she said. WHAT? 700+ and the normal should be below 150?!  Oh no!!! 

I will be picking up my medications, perhaps tonight if it's ready. I will be taking Lopid to prevent my liver from producing too much triglycerides. I don't know why this happened to me? Sigh. 

I have been worried about my high triglycerides since 2007...  Two years ago, I successfully lowered it from 500+ to 200! That shrank my waistline and I dropped about thirteen pounds...  Got pregnant soon after, gave birth, and got pregnant again when I was about to take my medications to manage it. Now, it has increased way too much.

So what's my plan?

• 15 mins (at least) daily cardio
• medications twice daily
• fruits and vegetables
• white meat only (bye bye porky, bye bye moo)
• high fiber, whole grain (bye pastries)
• truvia instead of sugar
• non fat milk, yogurt
• egg whites only

Wish me luck!

Diet

And so I plan to go back into shape... hopefully lower my triglycerides... and not wear maternity clothes anymore!

I'm taking it one day at a time, especially I haven't really replenished the pantry. Cutting calories here and there, avoiding sugar if at all possible, and most of all -- MOVE!

Breakfast:

Green Tea w/Honey

Omelette w/non fat milk, parmesan cheese, and tomatoes

Lunch:

champorado!

chicken salad w/tomatoes and crackers

Snacks:

half a cup of chocolate milk

Dinner:

Shrimp Lo Mein

Orange Chicken

A little of salisbury steak and rice

Raspberry Juice

Midnight Snack:

Milk Tea

I feel terrible for not going to the gym... but honestly my body hurts because I carry Raio almost all day long! Oh well.... I hope running after Miro counts too...

The Sexy Back?

Today, I went to the gym for almost an hour. Fifteen minutes at the elliptical, ab work with a fitball, weights, and squats. My diet was no good.

breakfast: coffee with milk and sugar, cupcake

lunch: rice and salisbury steak

dinner: chicken tikka masala, nan, veggie samosa, chocolate milk

snacks: cupcakes and chocolate milk

Hopefully I can get back to South Beach diet pretty soon...

I hope to lose three inches by August!

And so it begins...

Today was a failure! Moments before I started this entry, I had potato rings, soda, and hopia! I didn't have any exercise... but I have a happy belly LOL!

Post-Baby #3

Last year, my annual lab tests showed that I still have high triglycerides. I was about to take prescription fish oil to manage it and get on with my goal to reaching a healthy 150 level of trig. However, lo and behold I got a huge surprise -- I was pregnant with my third child after only five months of giving birth to my second.

Fast forward, I now have baby ninja -- Raio! My third prince, after Kuya Akio and Kuya Miro, is a wonderful gift indeed...

Seriously, I need to get back into shape so I can handle all these hyperactive boys!

How Am I Doing?

Well, the waistline still sits on that dreadful 30-31 mark! I still don't know the results of my blood work from last week. And I don't have a weighing scale, maybe I should get one. Well anyway, so far I have been doing mini cardio daily but skipped the abdominals because I am still in pain around my wound area perhaps because I am PMSing.

I still eat rice, bread, nutella, darn! But I enjoy my greens once in awhile. I need to overcome my laziness as to preparing my salads with my meals. I also keep forgetting my fish oil supplement, brrr! Water has been my friend and so is coke zero just to satisfy that sweet craving (I also have a sugar free, light ice cream hehehe!)

Today, I hope to increase duration of my cardio exercises and start yoga (if I may).

Clearance

:pre-baby @ 94 lbs:

:: almost 4 yrs post partum @ 100 lbs ::

:: 3 mos postpartum w/2nd baby @ 113 lbs::

Today, I had my routine annual check with my primary care physician. I got the heads up to continue my exercise regimen. Yey! These things I feel around my wound should go away in a matter of months, some scarring and nerve endings healing, etc. Hopefully I will be able to do this more religiously without the qualms of ripping my belly open (oh God forbid!).

So back to square one, baby steps...

• continue my fish oil supplement
• eat well, lots of veggies and fruits
• minimize sweets, avoid if at all possible (you think?!)
  
• 10-15 mins cardio, i.e. walking daily increasing duration each day
• 15-30 reps abdominals daily, increasing reps gradually
• pilates thrice a week
• water, water, water

I give myself three months to lose maybe three to four inches, and perhaps a good ten pound shed. I now sit at 113lbs (with a waistline at 30-31!), 13 lbs more than my pre (second) pregnancy weight, almost 20 lbs more than my pre mommy weight.

The Truth

I still can't make myself go through a serious heart pumping regimen. What gives? My belly, the tender and sore part marked by the emergency c-section four months ago. This has been bothering me since I started going to the gym a month ago. Tonight, I am most anxious. Scared that something is wrong. Argh! I can't go through being under the knife again. The thought kills me, enough!

So, I'll manage what I eat and just be active around the house. Maybe my little king Miro will shrink me to fab-ness... he's becoming to be a handful now. I can't make him jump on my belly, it will hurt me bad! I use him for strength training, hopefully it will tone my forsaken arms. The baby blab belly will have to stay there for the meantime.

The sad part is I can't wear the little black dress for the christening. Maybe Christmas? Bwehehehe!

Feeding Myself

It's always a challenge to plan and prepare what you need to eat daily, even more challenging when you intend to eat 'healthy'. Ah, for the past week I tried punishing myself for over eating. Hoping to get my belly into shape. Restraining it from wanting to eat more (it has become a bottomless pit lately), and choosing the healthier option. But somehow it made me want to crave for cake and ice cream and whatnots. Skipping rice must have done that to me...

So now, I will feed myself! I guess I'm happier that way... way better! I love this multigrain loaf I bought from an organic grocery in the neighborhood. Supposedly a good source of fiber and keeps me full. I also tried greek yoghurt, a bit creamier than what I'm used to, I will not buy it again.

Here are some in my pantry:

• fat free yoghurt
• feta cheese
• grapes, apples, pears, bananas
• raisins
• oatmeal
• multi grain bread
• spinach, spring mix
• poppy seed dressing
• turkey bacon
• ground pork
• chuck round sirloin
• salmon
• skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• whole chicken (can't wait to try making "the ragen")
• apple juice
• cranberry pomegranate juice
• nutella!
• cereals

Exercise routine ho-hum, my lower abdomen around the stitch has been sore the past few days. When I was at the elliptical yesterday, it even hurts when I sneezed. Have to take things lightly until I see my doctor next Friday. I do hope holding little Miro around, lifting him up and down, bouncing/squatting while carrying him, and many more count as cardio. (Makes me wonder how come other people lose weight when they don't get enough sleep? I hope that applies to me...)

Today, I hope I would be able to do some cardio. Yesterday, it was cut short because the king woke up. It was like in the middle of a warm up... well everyday is a struggle. Good luck to me!

Fourth of July

So today, was the feast day of America's independence. I started the day with a full brunch of rice (oh yes, couldn't help it!), corned beef, and egg downed with coffee and apple juice. Snacks was an afternoon full of juicy candies (those little gummy fruity candies!) with my little boy. Dinner was a quite healthy one with chicken (skinless thigh) bbq, salad w/poppy seed dressing (a very yummy discovery), watermelon, diet coke, and sugar free chocolate ice cream!

It somehow helped that the hosts of the party we went to are on South Beach diet! I am full but I don't feel like I am about to burst... hopefully I'd get to doing the cardio SOON!

Light and Free

It hasn't been a totally sugar-free week, but I have successfully ignored the rice no matter how tempting it maybe. I tried to punish myself by just having yoghurt for breakfast and hard boiled egg for lunch, I nearly puked. I had to wash it with some leftover spaghetti bolognese. The hard boiled eggs, I mashed with mayo (not even fat free) and slathered it onto a hotdog sandwich the next day. Unfortunately, my stomach couldn't handle it any longer I had to throw the rest away.

This week has been full of water, fruits, whole grain, dairy, and positive thinking. No major trip to the gym yet as I have been feeling bum-lazy, I still survive a three to four hour sleep. After writing this, I hope to do a mean cardio.

Maybe, I should try to revive my food diary:

Breakfast:

Omelet (fat free milk, parmesan, and slithers of meatballs)

Hot Choco

Yoghurt

Lunch:

Spinach w/Red Bell Pepper Salad in vinaigrette (lemon juice, olive oil, splenda, garlic powder, black pepper, salt)

Meatballs

Sweet Corn

Apple Juice

Dinner:

I plan to make pot roast for later that should go well with salad.

Downer

A ten day vacation translates to a ten pound gain as well! LOL! I really don't know for sure, because I don't know my base weight. My waistline is back to a disgusting xx, just like how it was after I popped out my babies. I looked post natal, but without the boobs to speak of. Yak! My appetite has gone to one hungry animal who has never been fed for aged!!! I blame it to PMS, I could =P

On my last day, my stomach was giving up on me. It was about to burst. I couldn't breathe, couldn't burp. I had to take antacids hoping it would go away, making sure I wasn't having a heart attack! After some time of relief, I get the same pain again once I eat something. My digestive system was definitely on strike, refusing to take the garbage I've been stuffing my face with.

When I measured my non existing waistline, I almost cried. Instead I laughed and thought, oh well. Tomorrow is another day. I have been promising myself to start eating healthy without the toxins, and hopefully get to one hundred fifty (triglycerides) level. Thankfully though, after getting my period today and skipping dinner (because I think my stomach can go on hunger strike) I lost two inches! YAY!

So there is HOPE! And hope I will... and since my little boy blue sleeps better now I will have the energy to hit the gym and sweat it out. Oh Lord, please help me shrink.

Baby Steps

In the hopes of trying to manage myself throughout the day, I twit whatever I eat to my health police. She is one fierce friend! I am really scared when she asks me what I ate or what I did for exercise.

I can't be diligent with South Beach phase one -- no carbs and sugar! But I'm doing it slowly, little to almost no rice. Sugary stuffs only from fruits. And I move, move, and move! The body is aching now because I cleaned the garage and the car. I will never run out of this type of activity because really there are tons of things to do at home!

I also went back to pilates the other night. Stretching helped me sleep better, I am more relaxed and well 'stretched'. Oh the difference a decent sleep made!!! Once I don't feel exhausted and sleepy throughout the day, I will go back to the gym.

Downhill

Yesterday, I almost ate an entire pizza by myself. Almost... I left one slice for the husband. You see, I love crusts. If you must know, I end up eating the edge and leaving the one with toppings. But with a very thin and crispy crust, I just couldn't stop! CPK frozen pizzas will be my demise... oh no!

In this hot weather, I can't be having pizza without an iced cold lemonade (no soda in this household unless there is a party), and ice cream. Ben and Jerry's tops my list. Classic favorite is the chunky monkey, but I had banana split yesterday by the porch while my big boy was playing with his gang and the little boy snoozing in his stroller.

Now, my tummy feels like it's been inflated! I couldn't blame this bloating to anything or anyone but myself. It's like a huge bottomless pit that can down a cow! Another scorching afternoon, I practically drank a pint of melted ice cream which I left in the kitchen table while napped with my big boy. Sometimes lactose and I aren't friends. Good thing I didn't have to run to the toilet while the big boy was being evaluated for kindergarten.

How can I reach my goals? When sometimes I couldn't help myself? I got the answer when I woke up today. I had my period. So the crazy hunger pangs was not me (if you know me, I don't eat very much unless with company hehehe!), it was my alter ego that comes to visit me once a month.

But I would like to think that I compensated all those unwanted calories by running and walking by the beach (oh well a man made beach of sort here in the reservoir near our place). The sight of a body of water excited me and almost brought me to tears! I miss home, I miss the beaches, I miss the ocean. Being in this land locked state, I will just have to settle with this -- a lake and a mediocre quality sand. Boy was it hard to trot along the sands with flip flops on and carrying a huge bag filled with goodies and whatnots for the boys. I also ran around with the big boy, but had to stop because my belly just jiggled and it hurts (I so want to chop this off! argh!)...

So the blabbing goes on but no action... it sounds pathetic. I promise to do well this coming June. I will strive to eat healthier and move a lot more! The weather is perfect to be outdoors, to sweat, and to enjoy life as I melt the pounds. (The husband plans to do an easy trek to the falls this coming Monday, I am excited!)