Weigh-in for Week 4 – Lost 5 lbs!!

Yesterday was my week 4 since the new start.  During week 2 and 3, my weight topped at around 208 from 204.2 then it went down to 205.8.  That was the weirdest week.  I kept everything the same but I gained almost 2 lbs.  I was sad.

But this week, I lost 5 lbs! totally unexpected.  Maybe jumping ropes helped a little.  But what I did was since week 3, I exercised extra 30 minutes everyday and stopped eating 2 snacks that I usually eat during the meals (nuts and yogurt).  I didn't expect it to make this much difference, to be honest.  I don't know if this was a temporary weight loss due to the change in my meal plan, but I hope I can keep this weight and stay ahead of my weight loss schedule.

November will be really tough for me because there are at least 4 birthday parties to go plus the big Thanksgiving dinner.

Adding More Exercises

I'm currently doing 30 minutes of elliptical at home and stretching for about 10 minutes everyday. I think because of my long history of yo yo dieting, my body is just not responding to exercise. At least, that's what I think is happening.

I've decided to add more exercises. Since last week, I'm doing jump ropes every night. I started with 500 jumps and will be adding 50 more every week. I'm currently doing 550. When I had a membership at the Lifetime Fitness Center, I exercised at least 1 hour each session, but exercising at home, for more than an hour is pretty challenging.

Day 13 – Mall Food

13 days have gone already since I re-started my diet. So far, I'm doing OK. Not losing weight fast, but I see some progress with my eating habits. To start with, I didn't plan on drastically reducing my daily food intake. I was more focusing on replacing unhealthy food with more healthier food.

Today, I visited the Tysons Galleria in Norther Virginia with my wife to exchange a gift that we've received. We planned on eating out. We ended up eating at the food corner in the mall. Fortunately, because Tysons Galleria is a upscale shopping mall, there was plenty of gourmet food available.

I ended up eating Gyro platter with Greek salad. It wasn't bad at all. Gyro smelled like...hmm Gyro.. if you know what I mean. Anyway the food looked healthy and my stomach was full! When I left the house, I was really concerned about the lunch, but it worked out pretty well today.

Day 3 – Canned Food for Dinner

My wife and I had absolutely no time to work at the kitchen today because of baby, Candice. She just wouldn't sleep much today, demanding us to be right next to her almost all day long. I was working in front of my PC most of the day, but my wife had one of the worst days so far.

I didn't want to make noise or ask Sunny to cook my dinner tonight. Little noise can wake our baby up. If I wake her up, Sunny will kill me. Anyway, I had a canned-food dinner tonight. It wasn't that bad.

DelMonte Mixed Fruit Lite : 50 Calories
Trader Joe's Whole Kernel Corn : 210 Calories

Hmm... I'm still hungry :(

The Biggest Loser : Families – Season 6

My favorite TV show returns! "The Biggest Loser : Families", the two-hour season premiere is now available on the web. You can watch the full episode on NBC's website. Here is the link.

Watch "The Biggest Loser : Families"

Day 2 – Daily Diet Wrap-Up

We had to visit IKEA again today because we forgot purchase a curtain for our baby's room. While we were there, my wife and I ate ice cream! $1 each, non-fat yogurt, to be exact. It was non-fat, but I believe it had a few hundred calories. Anyway, I skipped my usual soda and coffee today because of that ice cream I ate.

Today was a successful day with my diet plan except the ice cream part. For my lunch and dinner, I ate beans and steamed vegetables with Bragg's Amino Acid. Steamed vegetables tasted much better! Ah... almost forgot, I drank a cup of soy milk around 7 pm and that will be my last food for the day.

Day 1 – Daily Diet Wrap-Up

I think I did pretty well today with my diet plan. I know I shouldn't skip the breakfast, but I didn't feel like eating at all until 11 am. My wife and I visited IKEA today with our baby Candice. We had our lunch there. IKEA has some decent menus under $6. I had herb roasted chicken for $5.99. It was very juicy and perfectly cooked. That's the only meal I had today. Ah.. I drank a can of Diet Pepsi MAX around 3 PM today.

My wife prepared a vegetable dinner for me already. If I eat that and eat nothing else, today's total intake calorie will stay under 1,500. By the way, I skipped my morning coffee as well. I'm sort of proud of myself :)

My dinner doesn't look that fancy, but it's a great start. I will have to come up with some alternatives soon, but I'm more than satisfied with what my wife cooked for me tonight. No meat!

My Lunch! IKEA's Herb Roasted Chicken Meal

My Vegetable Dinner!

Diet Soda and Coffee

There are two drinks I think I'm addicted to; diet soda and coffee. I drink at least two diet sodas (cans) and about three cups of coffee each day. I know I know... too much caffeine and diet drinks are bad..

So what should I do about my caffeine addiction? Although I usually put a tiny bit of cream and Splenda in my coffee, I can probably drink coffee without those. I will probably have to cut it to a cup a day. I once tried to stop drink diet sodas and coffee completely and failed miserably. This time, I'm going to reduce gradually.

I can survive with a can of diet soda and a cup of coffee each day. I know many of you are laughing! but it is a big challenge for me. I usually drink a can of Diet Pepsi MAX (the best!) in the morning and one at night when I'm working on my computer (I need some boost). I can drink a can at night instead of morning.

Well, these are my plans on my diet soda and coffee addiction. I've already done this successfully yesterday and I'm sticking to the plan today as well.

New Start

When I began dieting, I wouldn't think it was going to be this challenging. If I stuck with my original plan, I should've already lost 40 lbs by now. I made myself a good excuse for not continuing the weight loss plan with my new born baby, but I've realized that it was just a terrible mistake.

I'm a bit depressed on the fact that I failed twice already with my weight loss journey. I was determined on each try, but couldn't sustain my determination for a long time. Here comes my third try. I'm not as motivated as I was, but I'm going to do it anyway.

Even if I fail once more, I believe it is better than doing nothing. Oh God help me :) I truly have respect for the people who have accomplished weight loss goals. And I now understand why people say "if you manage to lose weight, you can accomplish anything you want" It's hard!

My new week 1 begins today. Wish me a luck.

Weight Loss Rollercoaster

It has been almost 4 months from the last post. I'm supposed to lose about 15 pounds by now. guess what? I've managed to lose weight down to 190 at the end of April and gain back almost 20 pounds back in last two months. Wow! this is much harder than I thought. The moment I stopped working out, the pounds started add up.

My baby girl, Candice was born in May and I couldn't exercise at all. My wife and I canceled the gym membership and purchased a used elliptical for us. So we can exercise at home. Now that the baby is settled own a bit, I have the time to exercise again. (excuse! excuse!)

I have to start again with my plans and goals. I was back to 210 in June, but I managed to lose 5 pounds at the end of June. I'm a bit embarrassed. Well, this blog is all about me struggling and battling against my 20 year old habit. So expect more setbacks..

Here I go again...yikes!