Healthy is expensive.

I was supposed to do my weeklong detox this week, but because of an event midweek, I had to postpone it.  I mean, I can’t be invited to an event and not eat.  Come on.  That’s just rude.  Hehehe.

So this week, I decided to just prepare for it.  Controlled eating and healthier meals would make the detox easier to transition into.  So for today, I had a good breakfast, and salad for lunch.  I had light snacks in between — nothing too white — but what I realized is this:  eating healthy is expensive.

This is the salad I ordered from Wendy’s.  I already ate about one or two forkfuls and already, it looked like this:

It’s their “Big” Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken and bacon bits.  The dressing was not tossed in the salad, which is good.  I can just have the dressing that can still consider this salad healthy.  Can you imagine that this salad cost me P160?!

It’s not a new thing.  Everyone knows that when Jollibee comes up with 39-peso meals, it’s pretty hard to resist that offer.  They’re tasty and as they say, sulit.  You can have two of those meals and still save money!  My salad, although satisfying (?), would have afforded me FOUR of those meals.  Gehd.

I wish they will make healthy food more affordable so more people will find it easier to eat healthy.  I kind of like the fact that SM Supermarkets have set up fruit and salad bars.  It allowed people to mix and match their salads (but if you go there almost at the end of the day, the fruit and salad bar will already look like a warzone if not a hamlet of sorts) to their liking, and customers just have to pay according to its weight.  I believe 1kg of mixed anything is P158, still cheaper than my nowhere-near-1kg salad.

I’m just complaining because I don’t want to fail my easing-into-detox week by succumbing to cheaper, more processed, most probably synthetic options.  Not only is it sometimes hard to eat, it could also easily burn a hole in the pocket.

Pray for me? :)

Do not worry

Update on the physical fitness challenge:  I managed to go to the gym 3 days in a row.  Yesterday, I did four rounds in the circuit.  Man, it felt good.  Today, I didn’t even notice it was the fourth one. :)  I would like to think I am doing very very well.  I am keeping it up by matching the workout with more health conscious choices in food.  Let’s all pray that this works.

I just love this quote that I found on Pinterest.  Lately, Dylan has been worrying a lot and I am hoping that he looks at my blog somehow.  So Dy, this is for you, my love. :)

And for the rest of you who worries too much, this is for you too. :)

Creating a Habit

I heard from somewhere that you have to repeat something 21 times in order for it to become a habit.  So I guess that will be my new challenge.

Backgrounder:
I have gained approximately 20 pounds since our management training started.  I know it’s a lot; I practically ate my way to passing the training, and now I can’t seem to stop.  I’ve tried a lot of exercises (running, Plana Forma, yoga), but right now the 360 Fitness program is my favorite and I’ve been doing it for two months now.  Unfortunately, I’m not doing it as often as I should, so I figured I should bundle it with diet and a home exercise in the morning.

I’ve looked at a lot of options — blogs, magazines, and Pinterest (it’s a fantastic source of everything) — and I gave myself this challenge.

I sampled the 100 workout.  It takes me about 25 minutes to finish, but the first 100 makes my ankles hurt.  So I said to myself, I’ll do the 100 workout in tandem with the 100 Calorie workout.  Here’s the breakdown of both.

 The challenge here is having the time to do all these.  So here’s the plan:  Everyday for the next 21 days, I will do either one of the two before taking my morning shower.

It’s exactly what I used to do before (I used to run and do yoga every morning until I had to replace them with studying).  When I feel like I won’t be able to workout in the afternoon, I will do The 100 Workout.  If I will be able to swing my 360 Fitness, I will do the 100 Calorie Workout twice.

Is it a feat?  Of course.  It’s not easy to get up at 5 in the morning to subject yourself to pain.  But if I want that gap between my thighs, a tummy that can substitute a plate, and buns that float midair, I have to do something.  Dylan is getting tired of my complaining about my body (which he claims to love [though I really shouldn’t say that in THAT manner, because he really does love me in whatever shape or size I choose]) and I don’t want him to feel like he’s stuck with an insecure woman.

And I want to feel better about myself.

So…. care to do it with me?! :)

Time to go healthy!

I credit my recent weight loss initially to Plana Forma.  To be honest, I want to go back to doing that, but their studio is way too inaccessible for me.  I’m hoping that they set up a Makati studio soon.  Anywhere in Makati is accessible for me.

So when I stopped Plana Forma (I did about 10 or 12 sessions?  It’s sooooo good.), I resorted to the company gym.  Mondays and Tuesdays, I run.  I usually just run too on Wednesdays, but when I discovered Taebo at the Penthouse and how it gallantly kicks my ass, that has officially settled in as my Wednesday routine.  First week on this schedule, I lost three pounds.  I better keep it up.

I started looking for food that will easily be a healthy fix.  If there’s something I need to cure, it’s my spontaneous eating habits.  Then I saw this:

I want to know where I can find blueberry cream cheese.  I just had second breakfast, and now, I want to eat again!

This is sooo not helping my diet.

Plana Forma Day 2

As scheduled, I made my way to Jecoprime Building yet again yesterday to catch the 11:30 class.  I knew it was somehow going to be a light day at work, though it held very little promise to remain light.  Grabbed a cab and had him drive to McKinley Hill, and this time, I downloaded Google Maps.  Ha!  I outsmarted myself.  Though by not much coz I should have done that in the first day.

Because of the map, I am once again presented with a reason why I do not like Global City (that much).  The first one was the amazingly depressing exit to C-5.  Have you tried that?  Fucking awful traffic!  Went that way with Anj one time, got stuck for 30 minutes.  That’s a trip back to QC along EDSA right there!  The second one is the stoplight.  Correction:  STOPLIGHTS.  Every single corner has one!  I left the office at 11, grabbed a cab at 11:02, and I should have been there in say 15 minutes.  I got there 11:27.  Not.  Fun.

I hate rushing.  Really.  Especially rushing dressing up.  I was in a dainty dress and had to slip into my leggings and top real quick.  And when I did manage to do that, I remembered I’m wearing the wrong bra.  So went in and changed that too.  Then the class started and I had to hop out while putting on socks.  UGH.

The class instructor Mae Evangelista is really interactive.  I guess because there are only four of us there, she managed to memorize all our names (and I think she also met us one by one before class).  This is the part I really like, the small class.  She was able to call us out when our form wasn’t good, boosted our spirits when we no longer want to continue, and well, she was exceptionally chipper.  I swear she hops.  She doesn’t walk.  She really literally hops.

It’s much much much much much less painful.  I did quiver 50% of the time, but Mae was quick to praise and say “shaking is good” coz apparently, that’s the burn.  Funny how my body can’t seem to be used to it.  They were right when they said the first time will always be hell.  The second was far breezier than I expected.

I liked the mat exercises a lot.  Mae really made us work for it, and I regretted just eating a power bar before heading to the studio.  But I felt it all in my ass, the movement I mean.  It was like a workout for my but and my big butt cannot lie.  Midway through the exercise, the movement started to feel more natural… until the thigh exercise.  Hahahahaha.

Plana Forma never fails to surprise me.  I mean, I still hate the thigh stuff, but Mae was quick to point out if I want to lose the weight I want to lose, and be toned the way I want to be, I should do them.  And do them I did.  For a moment it felt like I’d be more familiar with the routine, but different instructors seem to be the spice here.  I can never expect the same exercise.

I ended up signing up for their Newcomer Monthly Unlimited.  For P3,000, I get to join as many classes as I want.  It’ll expire 30 days from the first day I use it.

Let’s just say I can cope better now.  I managed to come back to the office, nibble on my fish lunch and hold two more meetings in the afternoon.  I was supposed to have Day 3 today, but yeah, the late movie made me wake up late.

So there.  Let’s see…. hmmm… Lost a couple of pounds already, and I’m surprised.  Maybe if I tweak my eating…