Restart! Day 4: Wednesday, 6 June 2012 (Cruise - PV)

Haha okay, so to be completely honest, I've been off the diet since Christmas with occasional meals that are Dukan-friendly XD;;;;

I know I'm just making excuses, but most of the weight that I've put back on (3.5kg!!! *gasps in horror*) was from the past one month alone, where I was working 16-18 hour days just to pull everything together for a conference. Thank goodness it's over now though!

With my sister's wedding a month away, I'm now panicking over needing to lose the few kilos I've gained XD;;;; I'll need an intense 1 month of dieting and working out for my sister's wedding, but if I don't hit my target, I think I'll be fine - I'm not the bride, after all :) I restarted the diet on Sunday (with a small lapse already from yesterday's lunch *sighs*) and signed up for a one month unlimited pass at a nearby Yoga center.

Had my first pilates class on Monday, and another class today - so far so good! My body seems to know that I need it to lose weight because it's only been about four days with lapses and I've already gone down 1.5kg XD;

Pilates is more fun than I thought! Time passes really quickly, and I do concentrate more on using my muscles rather than "omg so pain", so it's a good distraction. Only thing is I really couldn't do some of the rolls they were asking us to do - basic stuff, but apparently I have a "sharp tailbone", which is supposed to be uncomfortable - yes it is, and I'm not sure if that crunching feeling I get is at all healthy XD;

(But honestly, part of the reason why I'm so determined to go for the classes at the yoga center is that I got it on promotion - nearly 90% off for one month! So I really want to try as many things as possible during this one month to see if I should continue with my membership or not ^^;;;)

My mum decided to sign up for the same membership to teman me :) She went with me for the first class on Monday, which was an easy level class, but for people with a little more experience. It didn't feel so bad when we were doing the exercises, and my mum kept complaining that she didn't sweat at all, therefore it was no good. I got pretty irritated at that - you don't sweat, but you can obviously feel the exercises working on your muscles, therefore you are working on your muscles! The aches kicked in much later - there was her own proof that the muscles were being worked on!

My parents are both of the mindset that if you aren't sweating, you aren't exercising - my dad used to go so far as to ban open windows, air conditioners and fans in the room with our treadmill so that we'd sweat more. The first time he turned everything off while I was on the treadmill, I just turned the treadmill off and refused to get on it again till he allowed the fan - the room has absolutely no air circulation and is hot as hell, and he wants me to run in there? No way. I'd pass out long before I hit the 10minute mark out of the stuffiness.

Worst is that both my parents always think that the only way to exercise is to either play a sport like football or rowing, or go on a treadmill. They don't believe in dancing or yoga as a form of exercise. So boring! I can't stand treadmills and situps - nothing to really concentrate on, and it's just doing the same bleeding thing for half an hour. Completely unimaginative.

At least now that my mum knows that these classes do work on certain muscles, maybe they'll let me branch out a bit more to something I'd actually like.

(Ahem, you can kind of tell this is a seriously sore point with me XD;;; I can't tell you how many times I've argued with them on this topic - and they still can't get it into their thick skulls that I hate the goddamn treadmill!)

Anyway - back to the story :P"""

I went alone for the basic pilates class today. (Mum had something else to do) It was both more and less strenous than Monday's lessons - I learned alot more of how to focus on the correct muscles, so I got more of a workout in the areas I'd like to reduce, but the places that were aching on Monday weren't really the focus for today. But I think it's good I came for this one - smaller crowd, so more attention is paid to everyone, and more individual attention. She also explains alot more about what you should do with your muscles.

Of course, as with everything, it takes practice to build up strength and to be able to do some of the exercises easily, so I just have to keep going back :)

Well, I guess that's about all! Ending this with the customary measurements & weight tracker thing I used to do.

As at Sunday, 3 June 2012:
Weight: 64.5kg
Bust: 92cm
Waist: 75cm Hips: ?? Didn't take this one, but I think around 103cm

As at Wednesday, 6 June 2012:
Weight: 63kg
Bust: 91.5cm
Waist: 73.5cm
Hips: ?? Again, didn't take this one, but should still be the same at around 103cm

Yeah, my measurements completely exploded :/

Alright, goodnight!

Recipe: Easy Speedy Dukan Bread Recipe

This recipe is adapted from a cake recipe on the Dukan website. That's right, a cake recipe! It tastes more like bread to my sister and I though, so we call it a bread recipe :P

Ingredients:
2 tbsp oat bran
1 tbsp wheat bran
2 tbsp skimmed milk powder
2 tsp cornflour
2 tsp baking powder
sweetener to taste (I use about 2 sachets - 1/2 tsp)
1.5 tbsp fromage frais (I just use yoghurt - about 2tbsp)
2 eggs

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl, then stir in the wet ingredients and mix well. Transfer to a deep-ish microwaveable bowl and cover with cling film. Cook at 800w for 5 minutes, or at 1000w for about 4 and a half minutes.

Do not overcook or the bread becomes very tough and chewy, and quite dry.

Variations:

• Add Dukan chocolate chips (mix 1tbsp fat-reduced cocoa powder, 1 tbsp hazelnut essence, 1 egg yolk together, then freeze until hardened and cut chips off the block) to the mixture for sweetness.
• Add 2 tsp cocoa powder and 1tbsp sweetener for chocolate bread.
• Add a small amount of matcha powder (I'm not sure - half a teaspoon should do I think, but I usually judge by colour) and 1tbsp sweetener for a sweet green tea bread.
• Serve with a chocolate spread made from cocoa powder, hot milk and sweetener.

Day 138 (Thursday, 23rd February 2012)

Phase: Cruise - PV
Weight: 59.5kg

Bust: 90cm
Waist: 70cm
Hips: 97cm
Thighs: 96cm

Notes: Haha, since CNY started, I've completely lost track of the diet! In fact, I've been almost completely off the diet since then, with the occasional PP-PV day. My excuse was that I'm on the consolidation phase now, but that doesn't really work since I'm actually planning on losing more weight XD;

Anyway! I'm pretty happy with my measurements, except for my bottom half, but I guess that bit is to be expected - I do have to sit for most of the day for my job.

I've also been kinda sick for a week - had an awful case of stomach cramps, the runs and nausea for a week and was unable to keep any food or water down at all. I gave in once it hit the one-week mark and went to see the doctor, who told me it was likely an internal infection of some sort. I'm not sure, I was in a bit of a daze by then, and couldn't concentrate long enough to listen hahaha!

But anyway, I took some meds and I'm feeling much better now :) But I did lose nearly 2kg in 3 days XD;;; Mostly water loss, but now that I've hit the 59.5kg mark, I'm feeling particularly determined to bring it down to 58kg, then later 57kg.... XD;

Only thing is I'm feeling almost permanently dizzy and woozy nowadays, so I can't work as fast as I used to :/ And at such a busy time, it isn't a good thing at all!

Not many updates life-wise. Mostly been bogged down with work. So many events to coordinate and only so much I can do in one day - why do people leave the office at 5pm and not 6pm?? ;___; I'd be grateful if we could extend the 9-5 working hours of most people to 8-6. It'd make things much easier to have those extra 2 hours XD;

Kay, I've actually still got stuff to do, but had to bring home because it was getting too late to stay in the office alone, and there were too many construction workers around in the area. Bye!

Day 110 (Thursday, 26th January 2012)

Phase: Cruise - PV
Weight: 61.2kg

Bust: 91cm
Waist: 70.5cm
Hips: 98cm
Thighs: 97cm

Notes: Whoops, haven't updated in so long!! I wasted about a month of my time on this diet :/ I went to visit my brother in Cambridge and lapsed pretty much the whole 10 days I was there, then Chinese New Year came up and I lapsed alot again... I managed to hit 60.8kg, but I've obviously put on some weight again ^^;;;

Now I need to be really disciplined and make sure I hit my target weight!! I know Ling and I have promised that we'd stop at 60kg, but I've told her that I'd like to continue to 59kg or even 57kg if she'll allow me to - if only to say that I'm 50-something kg :P

I need to take it slowly at this point - one kilo at a time is easy to tackle rather than "OMG need to lose 6kg more!" ^^;

I also haven't been taking my oat bran or drinking enough water - need to start back up on that habit again :/

I really need to work on reducing my hip and thigh measurements!! They're going down, but really slowly. Need to up my glutes exercise....

Btw, officially on the website, I've started consolidation phase, but I'm not really satisfied with my weight or measurements yet, so I think I'm just going to continue with the diet till I do.

Foods eaten:
2 types of stir fried vegetable
1 curry chicken drumstick
a portion of mutton
2-egg omelette with 1 slice cheese
6 chicken drummets
a little bit of braised chicken
a portion of fried choi sum