NYE

12/31/2012

It is NYE! I am very excited about the upcoming new year and all the great things that I will be working towards and conquering in 2013.

Now back to the diet...I know that my calorie count today will be not precise to say the least. After having breakfast, a tiny lunch, and two snacks I have consumed 670 calories. Tonight I am going to Red Fish (feel free to take a look in the menu if you are curious about it http://redfishresto.com/nye/). Reservation is for 9PM (not the best time to eat, but taking into consideration that it is NYE, it is not so bad). I will do my best to behave but it will be a challenge to keep the daily calorie intake to less than 1000cal. The only promise I can make is not to touch pasta and rice, and drink alcohol with moderation. If you see any pasta on my plate when I later post the pictures from the restaurant, rest assured that I will not ingest those.

The upside of today is that I was able to do a lot of physical activities. I was very happy to be back to the skating arena after my broken arm in February.  I was able to skate for half an hour, and circuit training for 20 minutes.  After dinner we will be heading to a latin dance club, and therefore more chances to burn calories.

The downside is that I was so hungry during the afternoon(still hungry) that I felt lightheaded, dizzy, and having a mild headache. Not very fun but I guess that's what will happen until my body goes into ketosis, which is when the body starts using fat as a source of energy. According to some doctors, when you eat less carbohydrates, you turn to fat for energy, so it makes sense that more ketones are generated. Some of those ketones (acetoacetate and ß-hydroxybutyrate) are used for energy; the heart muscle and kidneys, for example, prefer ketones to glucose. Most cells, including the brain cells, are able to use ketones for at least part of their energy.


My breakfast today was pretty big. I had one blueberry dan active with blueberries, scramble eggs with fresh herbs and a laughing cow triangle, and a cucumber and cherry tomato salad with a pinch of macedonian feta. I also had coffee with 1%milk, and a brazil nut. It was delicious!

Lunch on the other hand was really tiny. I had cauliflower soup with a teaspoon of sour cream, and 100ml of red wine. One hour later I was already starving so I had to complement with red peppers and hummus. This is no doubt my favourite snack.




Later in the afternoon I had a handful of blackberries.










The aftermath of my restrictive diet will be hard to be calculated but I will list what I have until now:

• 670 calories
• 20 minutes of circuit training
• 30 minutes of skating

I will be posting the pictures from the dinner later on the evening.


Have a great 2013!
Fernanda

Update on my NYE dinner: Foraged mushrooms, tuna tartare, scallops on parsnip puree (so yummy), black code ( and just for the record I did not eat the noodles that came with the fish), and the dessert I cut in four pieces and only ate one. I had a glass of the Gewurztraminer, and a glass of sparkling with the dessert. I know that I did exceed my 1000cal limit, no doubt about it, but I tried to make good choices and avoid all the stuff that I knew that would bring the level of my insulin up.

Aftermath 12/30/2012

12/30/2012


Like anyone else starting a diet, I spent a large portion of my day thinking about food. What to eat, what to cook, what spices go well with the vegetables that you never cooked with before, and the list goes on...

My fridge now is filled with fishes, vegetables, and homemade soups. Today I made cream of asparagus and cauliflower soup.  I have realized that cooking all my meals (or most of them) will require a lot of time and therefore I will need to do some preparation ahead of time. I will try to make a few soups once a week to simplify things. Luckily today I had tons of time in my hands to kill and that said, preparing my meals was not a challenge. Starting on Wednesday, you will see less and less of my countertops as I will be back to work.

Here is the breakdown of my meals:

Breakfast:
Coffee with milk, blueberries, omelet with yellow pepper, and one laughing cow triangle,  cucumber and cherry tomato salad, and one brazil nut.

















Lunch:
Grilled salmon with honey mustard sauce, brussels sprouts, roasted zucchini, and pineapple salsa.

Snacks:
Hummus and cucumber, and camomile tea











Dinner:

Fresh cod fish, pineapple salsa, cucumber and tomato salad, and cream of asparagus

Aftermath of 12/30/2012:

• 941 calories
• 30 minutes of circuit training
• 1l of sparkling water

According to the calorie count app, I am "too low" on both fat and carbs, yay!

Tomorrow will be challenging as I will have 4 course dinner at the Red Fish resto. I will stick to the protein dishes and avoid carbs as much as I can, and of course I will limit my alcohol intake to a minimum (very minimum).

Fernanda

BREAKDOWN

breakdown spiritual awakening 

It was right before Christmas when I realized that something was not going well in my life. There was too much uncertainty and speculation going on at work, I was no longer in touch with the philanthropic side of me, I haven't gone regularly to the gym in the past months, single, 20lbs heavier... ouch.

I could not pinpoint the root cause of my newly found <unhappiness> but certainly I could no longer ignore it. It was there, staring at me. As Brene Brown would say "once you see a pattern, you can't un-see it". I somehow could not take into consideration all my accomplishments during that sequence of days. I could just look at what was not working, and I wanted to FIX IT.

I did not have much time to invest in a longitudinal study (I will let that for the therapists), so all that I could do was to look at the facts, and work on them. I thought that writing my new year resolutions was the first thing I could do to improve the situation. I believe that this was the first time when I realized that finding my soulmate was not on my priority list. I had shit to take care of it. I decided that 2013 would be the me, me, me year. When I say "me", I am extending the word to myself, my family, and my friends. I realized that I completely lost touch with "me"and I was living my life in function of the "others".

Long story short, I decided to put some pressure on living a healthier life, and that's why I will be blogging in 2013. I will be posting a picture of every piece of food that goes into my mouth, and I will log the exercises. As someone who enjoys going for dinners as a hobby, dieting is a nightmare, or a prison like experience. It will take sometime for me to adjust, and when looking at a restaurant menu, not going ballistic on foraging for carbohydrates.

Wish me good luck!
Fernanda