This whole working on my thesis has really brought back all my bad habits. Just fifteen minutes ago, I poured myself a bowl of cereal and topped it off with a dollop (a big one!) of peanut butter. And yeah, I was already in bed when the hunger pangs struck. I had quelled all those bad late night eating habits already, but because of the stress this project has caused me, the emotional eater in me has reared its ugly head again.  The upside, however, is that I am still able to maintain my vegetarian diet. But that doesn’t mean I’m eating well and correctly. After all, cakes, chocolates and ice cream isn’t meat right? Har. By the way, I’m octo-lacto vegetarian, so milk and dairy is still part of my diet.

Besides the emotional eating, I also have stopped working out Sadness. I don’t have time to do it. Or energy. And so goes the vicious cycle, right?

Anyway, as I was feeling guilty for eating that bowl of peanut butter drenched cereal, I saw a post about a boot camp!

One of the country’s leading fitness coaches, Coach Jim Saret will be leading a boot camp called THE FITFIL FITness (F3) BOOT Camp. This will run from May 21 to June 15, 2012 at the Bonifacio High Street grounds. I checked out the poster and it looks quite exciting! I am going to sign up for it  and will finally make it to boot camp mwahahaha. I’m looking forward to trying the CrossFit, Pilates and TRX sessions.  They will also have yoga and all sorts of other fun and different exercises.

I hope boot camp will help me shed the extra pounds I gained this past month. I really feel heavy again because of this unhealthy lifestyle. Another reason I am excited to do this is because it will help me get my body in shape for yoga teacher training. Exciting!

If you’re free for the rest of the summer, come join me at boot camp! There is a similar program to be held in Cebu. Please check out Coach Jim’s website at http://www.coachjimsaret.ph/2012/04/join-coach-jim-sarets-fitfil-fitness.html for more details. You can sign up from there too

Hope to see you there!

I once swore I would never buy a pair of FitFlops (then again I said that about Havaianas and Crocs) but for some reason, the other day when I was browsing around Solenad, I went into ResToeRun and fell in love with this cutie patootey pair.

One of the claims that FitFlops makes is that it gives you a workout while you walk. So, is it true? Honestly, I don’t know! Hehe. I haven’t felt the difference really, but it’s cushion-y feel is definitely uber comfortable. When I go walking with my boys, I do sweat a lot and fee my legs working, but I’m not sure if it’s the slipper itself or in what way it contributes. I’ll give it about a month and see what I can say about them then

But one thing is clear: they’re cute, right!!!

During our departmental workshop, my friend T and I were in charge of planning and attending to our team building game. We decided to do a second run of the PsychMazing Race, a game we did last year. Obviously it was an off-shoot of the popular television show Amazing Race, modified to suit our  facilities and time for the game. It was so much fun. This year we added the element of holding on to your team boards. One of my colleagues joked that we should have gotten a little garden dwende or dwarf, just like those on the real show (yeah, I should have gotten one of those garden gnomes for sale in my nearby botanical store!) but the board was good enough. It was soooo funny how the PsychMazing Race kinda ended up being like Survivor because the other teams resorted to being cunning and sneaky in order to win! But then again, it was a team building exercise, right? And so no one really won, and no one lost teehee Fun Fun Fun.

If meat could talk, it would probably ask me this. I swear. Teehee. I’m a few days shy of two months since my transition to vegetarianism (minus the four meals I had before totally committing to my new lifestyle) and many times since then, I have been asked “don’t you miss it?”.

Hmmm….

I never really thought very much of it, but during an overnight workshop with my colleagues of about 7 years now and I finally found an answer to that question. Do I miss meat? NO. I do miss, however, the texture of eating meat. That realization came to me during dinner when my friends were having big hot bowls of beef sinigang. It’s not that my dinner was not yummy, but as I chewed on vegemeat, I realized it really has a different texture to meat. But the flavor, I don’t really miss at all.

It was really nice to have a colleague who is also a vegetarian with me at the workshop. I got to talk a lot to her about alternatives for meat and how to expand my diet, which perhaps will change the whole “I-miss-the-texture-of-food” feeling. Let’s see what I can cook up from now

]]> http://fatgirlnomore.com/2012/04/dont-ya-miss-me/feed/ 0 http://fatgirlnomore.com/2012/04/i-wanna-climb/ http://fatgirlnomore.com/2012/04/i-wanna-climb/#comments Sat, 21 Apr 2012 12:52:26 +0000 Fat Girl No More http://fatgirlnomore.com/?p=1223 I did swear off climbing (or trekking should I say) a mountain ever again. My trip to Mt. Arayat several years ago was such a traumatic experience I’m not sure I want to do it again. No amount of cute gear and even one of those nice dakine backpacks will entice me. Or at least I said. Now that I am a healthier and stronger me because of the weight loss and the yoga, I’m kinda thinking I may explore that again. Perhaps not yet a mountain, but I sure want to try wall climbing. Let’s go?

This came in the mail for me today. Several boxes, in fact As I have said many times over in this blog, I’m such a cheapskate I rarely buy stuff to try unless I’m sure it will work. Once I know it’s worth it, however, I don’t mind spending. Hehe.  And  so I’m really grateful for the package that was sent so at least I can try this Let’s see what happens. Will let you know how this works out for me.

I’ve been asked whether South Beach diet is good or whether a juice cleanse helps.
All I know is that it works for me. Whatever I share here are just my ideas and experiences but I don’t have any scientific knowledge about things. Other questions include does arginmax work? Is a raw diet healthy? What is the difference between vegan and vegetarian? I am just offering my opinion based on what I know or experience but I am not an expert I may talk about products at times and I may share how it was for me, but I am not categorically endorsing them or saying it will work for you I leave it up to you to try and explore.

Again, I am an inspiration, not a nutritionist One thing I hope I inspire you to explore (besides green juices) is a vegetarian lifestyle As for the nutritional value of vegetarianism, I don’t really know yet because I am still exploring, but on an emotional and physical level, I must say it feels quite great

Well, things should change soon. Since I have decided to take a yoga teacher training course this August, I want to work on losing at least 15 pounds by then. Well, at least off of the top of my head that’s what I’d like to do. And so to get there, I plan to keep up with my vegetarian diet and to do a juice cleanse mid May. In terms of writing about the weight loss, I hope to blog more consistently. Maybe a blog makeover will inspire me to do so, what do you think? I think having a brand new look to this site will motivate me to write again. I just don’t have time to do it. I need a good website creator‘s help! Any recommendations???

What started out as a day trip ended up being such a soul-filling long weekend What’s more, being there gave me a chance to take the time to get back in touch with the very core of me.

As I said, my trip there started out as simply a day trip for an AntiGravity Yoga class, but it ended up being much more than that. I got to stay over and found myself in an unintentional detox weekend It was then that I began my transition to vegetarianism. I  never really imagined myself going down this path, like I’ve said many times, but it has been a month and a half now and it looks like this is really what I want for myself.

The weekend also allowed me to be more sure about an important decision I was making: that I want to be a yoga teacher. I do admit I still have fears about this decision, and that I still feel frightened by making this leap, but I have no doubts about it. I know I want it. I know it is where I want to be. But like anything new and unfamiliar, those pangs of fear are still there.

It was also then that I finally, finally started finding my way back to being at peace with a loss that I had been dealing with for the longest time. I remember that after one of the yoga classes, I told my friend (who I had met at The Farm several months earlier) that I was so grateful to have been there at that moment because it gave me a chance to go full circle. The first time I went to The Farm, I was nursing a broken heart, but that weekend, allowed me to quell the heartache. It was then, too, that I was able to talk about my aching and sad heart for the first time without bursting into tears.

I loved sitting by the pool at the spa area and just watching the peacocks.

Sitting by the waterfall pool allowed me to just quiet my thoughts and make amends with things that were bothering me.

The food was also AMAZING Who would have thought raw and vegan food would be so tasty and marvelous??? And I got to do a whoooole lotta yoga too. Yummy. Like I said, it was truly an amazing and life changing weekend!

Now that I am all better and in a different place in my life, I want to go back to there and continue growing and discovering more of myself. I was thinking that it would be a good place to go for Mother’s Day but I don’t know if it’s something my mom would really like. Let’s see. Whatever it is, I do wish I get to go back to The Farm soon.

I must admit, the price tag for a trip to The Farm at San Benito is quite steep. I can’t really afford it right about now, especially since I am allocating my funds for my Yoga Teacher Training.  If I had a bottomless pit of money to spend on my well-being and on what my heart desired, The Farm would definitely get a big chunk of it!

Coconut water comes from young coconuts, and should not be mistaken for its more mature and richer counterpart, coconut milk, which is often used for cooking food like curry and for baking. Lucky for us in the Philippines and other Asian countries, we can easily access this fresh from our market but in places like the US, it is available in tetra pak.

So why go nuts for coconuts?

Well, coconut water is perhaps the next best thing to natural water, but what gives it its edge is the fact that while it contains zero calories, zero cholesterol, zero added sugar, and is virtually fat-free, it is jam packed with nutrients and electrolytes that hydrates the body. It is even said to contain twice the potassium of a banana, and we know how important potassium is to keeping the body healthy and in reducing muscle cramps. Besides potassium, coconut water contains the essential electrolytes sodium, magnesium, calcium and phosphorus, which helps balance out the body system after light to moderate exercise.  It helps alleviate fatigue and revitalize the body after a workout. Similarly, it can help replenish the body of lost electrolytes when sick or after a heavy night of partying, which is something regular water cannot do.

It is not only beneficial to athletes and gym goers. It is a great replacement for sodas and the other sugary drinks. It is a natural thirst quencher and is quite refreshing. It comes in a variety of flavors and can even be incorporated into smoothies, shakes and the like.

Besides being a natural isotonic beverage, coconut water helps promote weight loss. This is because it helps raise one’s metabolism and keep it at its optimal level, thus allowing the body to burn necessary energy through the day. Of course, it must be said that like any other product that aids in weight loss, drinking this alone will not make you shed those pounds! Also, although it has no ADDED sugar, it does not mean it has NO SUGAR at all. There are natural sugars in the fruit and so it can actually work against you if you take too much of it.

Further, coconut water helps cleanse the digestive tract and helps detoxify the body. Want to look younger and healthier? Well, coconut water can help do that for you too. Because it rids the body of toxins and keeps you well hydrated, it can leave you with a healthy glow. Not only that, it can be used topically for scars and blemishes.

Coconut water further has been found to be beneficial in warding off illnesses as it boosts the immune system and helps the body fight of viruses such as colds and the flu. It has even been said to help reduce the risk of cancer and can help control diabetes. Not only that, it can help treat kidney and urethral stones and urinary tract infections as it aids kidney function and can act as a natural diuretic. Research even shows that coconut water helps lower blood pressure. Coconut water has even been used as a replacement for intravenous fluids in cases of extreme emergency wherein no medical saline was available.

As it is natural, it is safe for consumption for almost anybody. It is gluten free and vegan-approved, and some brands say it is kosher as well. It is said to be more nutritious than whole milk, as it has less fat and no cholesterol and is even better than processed baby milk because of its lauric acid content. A note, however, this does not mean it is a good substitute for breast or baby milk, please check with your doctor beforehand.

While the health benefits of coconut water are numerous, it cannot be denied that there are some who question whether touting it as a “sports drink” or a cure all for illnesses like cancer, diabetes and hypertension is merely a marketing ploy and is exaggerated. As with any other health drink, food, or fad we get into, moderation is key.