The Cake Chronicles

Success!...don't get to say THAT very often

Cake — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:37:50 GMT

Two pounds gone! In 5 days!

This is unusual for me. Last time I tried the South Beach Diet I lost 5 pounds in 2 weeks, but I think I only lost 1 pound the first week.

I weighed myself this afternoon, after my 30-minute Glutes workout on the elliptical (with incline and resistance flexibility), and I am 148.

To get to this in 5 days, I simply ate lots of protein. I consistently had eggs for breakfast (mix that with some cheese and veggies, and you got a meal!); I had some beans and salsa with grilled chicken and cheese (splash of plain yogurt) for lunch, and I usually ate meatballs and veggies with marinara for dinner.

I'm the kind of gal who can pretty much eat the same thing every day, so these three meals really sustained me this week.

Thursday was the only day of the 5 that I was unable to workout, but the rest of the days I did a standard 30-minute workout on the elliptical. I just watched a movie on my iPhone and made sure not to get lost in the movie, but to consistently push myself in intervals, and voila!

Hopefully this isn't my peak. Hopefully I'll continue to lose at least 1 pound a week. You'll be the first to know!

(If you're doing your own workout and diet with me, let me know how you're doing and what kind of meals you ate in your first week.)

That (Un)magical Moment

Cake — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:35:56 GMT

Sometimes you can't help but taste something you shouldn't.

Today is only my second day on the South Beach Diet, yet I technically already broke it.

In sifting through the fridge for something to eat for lunch --hard when all you have is cheese and carbs-- when I came across some really good tortellini I made recently. And as luck would have it I have some extra marinara sauce from Monday's dinner too.

So my resolve started to break, crack apart like the Berlin Wall at Reagan's feet. I suddenly found myself finding every which way I could to justify my eating this tortellini for lunch.

- It's not bad for me, so what does it matter? In moderation, it's fine.

- Moderation is the way to go anyway! It's my life's motto!

- How dare my boyfriend make me feel like I can't be moderate and eat this tortellini, now I'm stuck on this stupid South Beach Diet.

- Well, I should just taste it to make sure it's still good -- 'cuz if it's not, I should know so I can throw it away.

- Hmm, it's not rotten. Let me try another one, just in case.

- I could just eat this for lunch and be really good for dinner!

- Y'know, why the hell am I dieting anyway? I'm a pretty girl, I don't need to do anything extraordinary. I just need to eat healthy and in moderation.

But after the third piece of tortellini, I forced myself to put the lid back on and put it back in the fridge. (I still can't bring myself to throw it out -- so wasteful!) Yes, moderation is a good thing. Yes, it's a jack-ass thing to feel like I can't eat tortellini because of my boyfriend. Even if I can eat the tortellini and he'll still love me (which of course he will), I still hate that I'm so insecure as to feel this way.

And if I'm going through this roller coaster of self-hatred and trying to convince myself to eat something, when I absolutely don't have to, then I may have to admit that I do have a problem. Just eat something else. Just put it away. You don't have to have this, there's always something else and you won't feel guilty, and you won't feel gross, and you'll still be on track.

As soon as you start justifying eating certain things, having a mini-dialogue right in your own mind, then that's probably a clue you shouldn't be eating it. More than that, it's a clue that eating might not be a problem, per say, but it is something you should pay closer attention to.

Maybe you're not eating as healthy as you thought if you're craving tortellini on the second day of the South Beach Diet, for instance.

Anyway...still plugging away, hoping to do better, hoping this time the weight will stay off, hoping some day I'll feel like my body is beautiful, hoping someday someone else will think it is too.

Tuesday Meal Plan - SBD 2

Cake — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:27:01 GMT

Breakfast:

1 egg, fried (with pepper and salt)

handful of mushrooms, stir-fried with sundried tomato oil

2 tablespoons Pace salsa

1.5 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese

- I fried the egg and stir-fried the mushrooms until cooked through. Then I piled the mushrooms on top a small pile of the salsa, melted the cheese over the egg just as it was finished frying, then put that on top of the salsa & mushroom pile. Voila! Delicioso, and less than 300 calories.

Lunch:

Cooked 2 chicken tenders in a pan with some sundried tomato oil, salt and pepper

Heated about 1/2 cup to a 1 cup of black beans in the microwave and melted about a tablespoon of cheddar over the top.

I threw in a dollop of plain yogurt, some Pace salsa, and the chicken tenders cut into cubes.

Serve it warm and it is absolutely to die for delicious. Yum. I sorta like it when everything on my plate sort of melds together -- on Thanksgiving, my mashed potatoes become a place where the other foods go to die. It's like a pile of all the Thanksgiving goodness in one bite. Which is why I like meals like this you can serve in one bowl, 'cuz all the flavors are compact.

Dinner:

4 meatballs with marinara sauce, and a sprinkle of parmesan

Roasted vegetables (zucchini, eggplant, broccoli, garlic, tomatoes)

Snack:

A few tablespoons of reduced fat peanut butter

Monday Grub: Chicken Meatballs and Marinara

Cake — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:24:17 GMT

Do not try to make chicken apple sausage Italian.

As a continuation of my South Beach Diet Day 1 (which has been very difficult, already! Grrr.), I decided to make meatballs and marinara sauce.

There are no breadcrumbs involved in the meatballs, so it's still SBD. Here's the recipe for CHICKEN MEATBALLS WITH MARINARA

Ingredients:

SAUCE:

1 lg. can of crushed tomatoes with basil

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 small onion, diced

MEATBALLS:

3 Chicken sausages (fully-cooked; I used chicken apple sausages because they were leftover, but that is a HUGE mistake. Disgusting to mix that sweetness with the tomato and garlic flavor of the Marinara. My Recommendation: use unflavored chicken sausage, or Italian-flavored chicken sausage -- Lastly, 3 chicken sausages is good enough for 1-2 people.)

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

1 handful parsley

1 egg

DIRECTIONS:

Start the sauce first. Heat a dutch oven. When hot, pour a couple tablespoons of olive oil in there. Toss in the garlic until aromatic. Throw in the onions. Cook for about a minute. Add the crushed tomatoes, stir. Lower the heat and cover.

While that cooks, prepare and cook the meatballs. By the time you're done, the sauce should be reduced.

For the meatballs, put everything in a food processor. Heat a pan with oil (sundried tomato oil, if you have it; olive oil, if not). When hot, drop the meatballs into the pan and cook until browned on both sides. This should take 3-5 minutes.

Put the meatballs in a bowl, pour some of the marinara over it and sprinkle some shredded mozzarella over that.

Voila! SBD Yumminess.

Monday's Workout

Cake — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:17:24 GMT

Monday:

Elliptical where you can adjust the incline and resistance.

Workout using the Gluteal regimen provided for 45 minutes.

Increase the resistance at 10 minutes / 15 minutes / 25 minutes / 35 minutes, then decrease the resistance gradually until you're finished.

No weights today. We'll hold off on that 'til tomorrow.

Stop Being Scared of Eggs

Cake — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:33:28 GMT

It's important for you to stop being scared of eggs for breakfast. Ellie Krieger, perhaps one of the most famous nutritionists in America (check her out on FoodNetwork.com), has assured us all that it's former taboo presence on the breakfast table is no longer accepted by nutritionists and doctors.

Eggs are...

- High in protein (5.5 grams ea.)

- Low in calories (68 calories ea.)

- Eggs promote weight loss! (a study reported that those who ate 2 eggs for breakfast instead of a bagel, lost 2.5 more pounds than bagel-eaters, had more energy, and experienced an 83% decrease in waistline)

- Eclectic, since you can mix them with vegetables you love or a bit of cheese to create something new every day.

This morning, I re-started my South Beach Diet. So, I am making 2 hardboiled eggs for myself. If you're interested in following along and starting the diet with me --I'll also include my work out regimen-- then maybe fire up some eggs for yourself. They don't have to be hardboiled. Experiment! (I'll have some more egg recipes as the next 2 weeks go on.)

What's the Difference Between Fair and Asshole?

Cake — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:18:00 GMT

When is it okay for your spouse to tell you you're overweight?

For women especially, it's the one sign (besides physical abuse) that you should leave "the bastard". To call your girlfriend fat, or to comment at all on her weight, calls for the immediate annulment of a relationship. Cheating, you may take him back, but recommend you lose weight? Misogynist pig!

But my grandmother, of all people, once casually remarked how she was embarrassed to be overweight because, "Let's be honest. I don't want a fat man either."

I was still in high school and weight was my biggest source of anxiety, panic attack, embarrassment, self-hatred, and self-awareness. It felt like a woman's issue, and a White Elephant. It was taboo to talk about it, which is why high school kids loved to talk about it.

But when my grandmother made the bold, feminist suggestion that women too want their men to be fit and attractive, I began to soften my insistence that men simply take me for who I am.

A romantic relationship, after all, requires two people to be naked around each other. It requires not only seeing but touching --and wanting to touch-- the other person's body. Indeed, wanting to see it. But what happens if that person gains weight, and they are still the woman or man you absolutely love, adore and cherish, but they have let their body become a squishy cousin of its former self.

Suddenly, you don't want to touch your lover's body. You stop wanting to see them undress, or to even have them fully undressed when you're making love. Sex becomes something you do because you need to, not because you can't help yourself.

What do you do then? Should you still remain silent?

The answer, I think, is a glaringly, surprisingly, resounding "No!" You should still be sensitive -- weight is an incredibly vulnerable topic, for any gender. But if it becomes a problem, then you should address it. Not only that, but the other person should be okay with listening to it. They should be mature and in love enough to accept their lover's concerns.

Part of our obligation in a romantic relationship is to be attractive to each other.

So is it okay for your boyfriend to tell you you need to stop being lazy and go to the gym more and stop eating so much bad food? Is it okay, or is it still the greatest taboo in a relationship? Is it okay, just so long as the approach is considerate? Is it okay, so long as the judgment is in earnest and made with love, not out of any kind of chauvinism?

I think it is. And I think it's time for women (and men) to stop naively thinking that the "Take me as I am" principle holds for every facet of yourself. If you are truly loved by your partner, and if you truly love them, you will want to be the best you can for them. You will want to make them happy. We all have to change when we enter a relationship -- it's simply the nature of suddenly melding your life with another person separate from yourself. Part of that may have to be your eating habits, your gym habits.

Part of that may have to be the hard truth that, once and for all, you need to do something about your weight. But hopefully this time your motives will not be out of self-consciousness and self-hatred, but out of love.

Life: Bench It!

Cake — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:29:15 GMT

Life gets in the way of everything. It just sits there on your shoulders, heavy as a brick sweater, pointing you forcefully in directions you'd rather not take if you had a choice, had it your way.

I haven't written here in a while. The reason is life, and it brings me to something I've been wanting to talk about for a long time (but haven't had the time to).

I look around and see women who are perfectly put together. "Pretty as a picture" is a proper cliche, because you could see these girls in a magazine advertising camping gear or something that banks on showing people in perfect joy.

How do they do it? They're not naturally pretty as pictures, most of them. They have makeup that brightens their cheeks, softens their skin, opens up their eyes; electric equipment that straightens their hair, a style magazine that shows them how to wear their sweater, and 98% of the time, money to spend on the clothes that suit their bodies.

How do they do it?

I have time to pay my bills, to do my laundry, to write my daily quota, to work, to read for work, to write for work, to eat, go to the gym, to feed my cat, to help my boyfriend out when he has a problem. I shower, but it's completely unromantic in its utility.

But time to stand in front of the mirror applying eye makeup, time in CVS to find just the right lotion for my skin ($20? You're worth it!), the right hair salon shampoos and conditioners. I don't have time for a "treatment" every day.

Or, if I do, I prefer to spend those extra moments with my boyfriend, cooking, reading, writing creatively, or playing Indiana Jones Lego!

I guess it's different priorities. I guess it's not about Life getting in the way. But it is. Because those pretty as a picture girls don't have time to spend reading and writing. They dress up, go to work, go to the gym, come home and watch TV or go out for a drink with friends.

Right? Or am I missing some sort of time consortium where people go and get pockets full of time that allows them to do what they want AND look how they want all at the same time, like magic?

Sometimes I think I need to bench Life, shove it to the sidelines, in order to really LIVE life. Other times, I wonder if I just need to learn how to manage my time more. Because those pretty as a picture girls always seem so calm and composed, nonplussed by their Life.

I wish one of them could tell me what I'm missing.

A Sensible Dinner: Teriyaki Chicken and Veggie Noodle Dish

Cake — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 05:17:27 GMT

I ate a large breakfast this morning of eggs, mushrooms and avocado in a warm tortilla with cheese. So I skipped lunch with ease.

I decided to round out the day with a nice, healthful portion of a really tasty, fully flavored sensible dinner: Teriyaki Chicken with Veggies Noodle Dish.

For 2 lovebirds...

INGREDIENTS:

2 chicken breasts, cut in bite-sized pieces

1/2 cup julienned carrots (shave 'em yourself, it's fun!)

1/2 cup green peas (I used frozen, but whatevs)

1/4 mushrooms (use your fave/s)

4 green onions, chopped

6 oz. angelhair or spaghetti whole wheat pasta (break in half for easier serving; eyeball it, but this should definitely be enough for 3 servings...in case someone wants seconds)

1/4 cup low-sodium teriyaki

1 tablespoon dark sesame oil

2.5 teaspoons chili garlic sauce

3 cups spinach or bok choy

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon dark sesame oil

1 teaspoon soy sauce

pinch of salt

RECIPE:

Cook the pasta according to directions. Reserve 1/8 cup pasta water after you drain.

Heat 1 tablespoon sesame oil in a nonstick pan/wok over medium-high heat. Add green onions, carrots, peas, mushrooms. Season the chicken with salt/pepper and add to the pan. Flip the chicken after about 3-5 minutes to cook through.

Meanwhile, make the sauce: Combine the teriyaki sauce, reserved pasta water, and chili garlic sauce. Mix well.

Start heating 1 teaspoon sesame oil in a small frying pan. Add the minced garlic. Once this becomes aromatic, add the spinach/bok choy. Cook until slightly wilted. Add soy sauce.

Once the chicken is cooked, add the cooked pasta and the teriyaki sauce mixture. Mix to combine well.

Serve with the spinach/bok choy and enjoy!

Origin of the Beer Belly

Cake — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 04:59:44 GMT

Drinking alcohol and trying to lose weight at the same time does not work. I've just learned this wonderful fact recently, so listen up all ye after-hour pub crawlers, you cheese plate winemongers, and margarita-sipping slinkies...

If you have been drinking heavily, when your body goes to burn energy it will burn the alcohol in your body first. This means that by the time you're done with your workout your body might not have even begun to start eating away the fat in your body and turning it into energy.

In short, if you drink 3+ drinks a night, you either have to work out twice as much, or cut down. Your body's burning off your alcohol, but it's leaving the fat behind. Ick.

...The beer belly is starting to make sense.

Guilty Confession of the Week

Cake — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:10:55 GMT

Guilty Confession of the Week:

I can't get enough of tater tots. It's ridiculous. The place I go to trivia every Monday night has added tater tots to their menu for the past few months, and every Monday I look forward --literally, get excited over-- to eating the tots.

But these tots aren't goopy, greasy, squishy tots that cafeterias usually dished out --and even those were good, in my opinion. These have a spice to them that sort of takes you aback, makes you curious.

I did very well today, eating-wise. Until the tots. Mondays, they're the death of me.

Family - Can't Live With 'em, Can't Tell Them No

Cake — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:16:10 GMT

Family is going to kill me. While it's nice to feel bundled in the warm embrace of familial bonds and what-not, the force-feeding is out of control!

Visiting my boyfriend's family is a wonderful event that I always get primed and excited for. They live in one of the most Portuguese neighborhoods in America, a blue-collar segment of Massachusetts that has brought the world Emeril and Battleship Cove. Unfortunately, in an environment like this, meals are the center of, well, everything!

In a sleepy suburban town, the only thing to do this weekend was to help paint the deck in preparation for Winter, and eat.

So we wake up, and the first question out of anyone's mouth is: "Ahhh, what's for breakfast?" Because we're considered guests for the weekend, it always has to be something that causes a ruckus. Portuguese sweet bread fresh from the Portuguese bakery, or carting the whole family to the local diner that's been planted in the same place for almost 100 years. Coffee has to be had, of course with lots of sugar because I can't stomach coffee plain --and can't refuse coffee, as it's a morning tradition in the house. I mean, technically I could refuse it, with some looks of "what-a-strange-California-species-you've-brought-home, son". But it's actually a very warm and pleasant, safe feeling to wake up with them and to all sit around in our pajamas, our hair all mussed, and have coffee and talk about the day.

So after coffee is sweet bread. Already a buttery bread, my boyfriend's family likes to butter each side and grill it to a beautiful golden brown. Delicious! The kind of delicious that soaks through the paper plate. (Of course my boyfriend goes on to butter it with a thick layer of butter afterwards...I'm amazed none of them have had a heart attack yet.)

After a little bit of a rest, a little bit of painting of the deck, it's suddenly lunch time. And a series of meetings begin as to where lunch shall be had, because of course lunch is another chance for us all to sit around communally and be a family.

Lunch, of course, has to be had at a restaurant of some kind. This means large portions. This means chain restaurants, usually, that have old lettuce in their salads --I can never order a salad in a chain restaurant, ick. This means restaurants that don't serve wheat bread or low-fat alternatives. This inevitably means a sandwich and french fries somehow. And it's noon and already we're in trouble.

Dinner causes even more havoc. It's off to a Portuguese restaurant for dinner. Must get the Portuguese thing in there when I visit because I'm a Chinese-Caucasian Californian -- i.e. I'd never met a Portuguese person until I met my boyfriend. So it's off to chourico meat sandwiches and fries and stuffed quahogs and kale soup with chorico and white bread rolls. In other words, it's grease city with white starches to soak it all up.

And, the way my boyfriend's family works, there is no activity to compensate. Usually, it's come home, get in the pajamas, and watch some TV and joke around until bedtime. It's no wonder we feel quite disgusting in the belly region by the time we get back to Boston and our everyday lives.

...I'm thinking I'll be hitting the gym every day this week.

Ah, Family. Can't Live with 'em, can't tell 'em no.

Week Three - So Far, So Good

Cake — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:49:29 GMT

Three days in a row of hard-knock hitting the gym. Thirty minutes every day, either on the treadmill or the elliptical --no messing around either, we're talking Interval Workouts!

Then some Strength Training exercises in there to make the muscles sore and strong. Good stuff.

Hopefully I can keep it up. Who wants to bet I can do 6 days? (It's never happened before in the history of Cake, so we shall see.)

As far as eating goes -- more fruits, less food.

BREAKFAST:

piece of toast with reduced fat peanut butter

LUNCH:

chicken sandiwch, one slice of reduced-fat cheese, low-fat mayo, mustard, whole wheat bread

banana

1/4 Coke Zero

SNACK:

1/2 mocha light frapp from Starbucks

So far, so good...

Week Two - Life Gets in the Way

Cake — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:58:20 GMT

I look at the thin and well-kept and I want to run to them and shake them by the shoulders and say, "How do you do it?"

Not because I don't think I'm beautiful or could be thinner, but because I've never looked as picturesque as some girls can look on a daily basis just because life gets in the way.

Maybe my hair's frizzy and I'm rushing out the door or am in a hurry to get to my writing, so I just put it up in a ponytail and leave it at that.

Sometimes I get off work late and can't make it to the gym because then there would be no time to make dinner, let alone eat it, or write or study or do the other many many things that make up my after-work day.

Or, like in this past week, my dad has a stroke and I have to go to California to be with him. There are no Boston Sports Clubs in California, so I had no gym. I thought I'd get to ride my mom's bike on the extensive bike trails, but because my dad got out of the hospital and needed an escort everywhere (they took his driver's license away temporarily), I was with him 24-7 and had no time for exercise.

I asked if we could walk to breakfast one morning, which would require going up and down a pretty-good-sized hill. Probably all told -- 1/2 or 3/4 mile. My dad, a lover of exercise, thought that was silly and insisted on driving.

Moreover, living in Boston and visiting my family for maybe the 3rd time in a year, it was vacation. Vacation means restaurants every day. Restaurants mean big portions, uncontrolled calories. And in my family, it means Cheesecake Factory and PF Chang's. Even though I ordered "healthier" items on the menu (like salads, potstickers, lettuce wraps), I felt like I was eating out of control -- and was.

So...you people who manage to look pristine daily, I have a question for you, "How do you do it without letting life get in the way?"

Guilty Confession of the Week

Cake — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:41:09 GMT

Guilty Confession of the Week:

My boyfriend and I ordered a Domino's pizza. It was a rainy day, pouring. Without a car and in Boston where public transportation is a pain in the fattest ass in America, there was no way we were going out to get groceries or fast food. We had very little food in the house. Stuff to make spaghetti with some frozen spinach or something, maybe, but that was about it. So, my boyfriend eagerly suggested pizza.

Yes, I can --and should-- just say, "Go ahead, I'll just make myself something simple." Or, "No, I'll order a sandwich or a salad." But I didn't. I don't. Ever. I had a dream once where I woke up saying "I don't want any pizza!" and my boyfriend's comment was, "I've never known you to refuse pizza before. It must've been a dream."

(On a contextual, justifying note -- I never ate pizza as much as I do now before I met my boyfriend.)

But it's not the eating of the pizza that is my guilty confession. He ate his 4 slices, and I shoved down 3. I was full at two, but it just looked so good and was still so hot, I ate a third. I couldn't, literally, stomach a fourth. So, my boyfriend left the box on the stovetop for us to throw away in the morning.

In the morning, I thought about the pizza. I really did. I thought, well, when he's in the shower, I'll eat that piece. I didn't even want the damn pizza! I wanted to eat something healthy, even my body felt that way, but my brain was like -- "Now's your chance to get that fourth slice!"

So, when my boyfriend went into the shower, I made to throw it away and then took a big bite of it. ...then I felt disgusting. I felt utterly and ridiculously disgusting. And I thought, Why do you feel you have to do this? This isn't normal.

I spit it out.

There are some things that are getting out of hand. That is why the 1 pound a week is an important accomplishment, and though small, not insignificant. I need to meet this goal before I can move on to the next.

Any words of advice?