I should be on Week 9 right now but there was a bit of a hiccup. Several weeks of debilitating illness has set me back. The exact same thing happened precisely a year ago when I fell down the stairs. It completely ruined Campaign Weightloss 2008.
But I am officially back. 100% or close enough. I don't want to get discouraged, even though I am, so I just want to start over. It's too bad because right before I got sick I was at the 10 pounds lost mark.
I most certainly put weight back on, largely in part to my iron deficient anemia. I changed my diet while I wasn't feeling well. Eating a lot of red meat and a lot of meat in general... and I don't really like meat.
So I'm starting over. Back on the diet, back exercising. And from here I would like to lose 21 pounds. Seriously. That puts me in the range of weight when I worked on Knitty Gritty, when Marie & E got married, and not my thinnest but definitely ok. Yeah, that's 21 pounds away!
Oh yeah, and I'm going to Italy in June. So I should just stop eating until then because I'm going to pork my way through Rome and Florence and feel great about it.
Tomorrow: Fruits for breakfast and kickboxing.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
An Average Day
It's time I get into the habit of blogging again, and now that Meredith is a fierce blogger I have to keep up with her now!
Since probably all of you never see me on an average day, here's how it goes. I wake up anywhere between 6:15 and 7:15, depending on if I have to wash my hair and how long it takes me to get out of bed. I hit my snooze for 30 mins. Its terrible and I could actually hit the snooze longer but my phone only allows 30 minutes. The snooze factor is something I've picked up from my parents and I absolutely hate waking up in the morning. Not only am I not a morning person, I'm actually 100% concentrated evil. If you dare talk to me I will surely yell obscenities.
I have to set two alarms because there's always that possibility that one will not go off (it was set improperly, battery died, etc) and also because I am in the habit of turning off my alarm when it goes off... but I am still asleep and then never wake up.
Immediately from my bed I hop in the shower. It's the only way to wake me up. After the shower I have a quick breaky, which is usually fruit, or iron fortified cereal with soymilk. I hate the taste of HK milk and have to drink soy, which isn't a big deal anyway cause I like it. Between 7:30 - 8:00 AM ABC nightly news is on, and I prefer it to watching CNN or god forbid, Fox News. I like it cause it's real American news and not international stuff that I don't care about. Ok, that's not true. It's just mostly that I care about dear USA, so I'd like to hear more about it. Kind of a drag not watching local news in the morning though, because I have no clue what's going on in HK! I wouldn't watch it anyway. Local news is so poorly done and some of the news anchors really bug me.
I eat my breaky, watch some news, check the email, do my hair and make up and try to get out the door by 8:00 AM. I walk a few minutes to the MTR station and on the way grab a local paper. That's how I'm caught up on the HK haps but really I still don't have a clue. Nor do most Hongkies anyway.
I take my blue line subway train one stop to the red line in central. I've been thinking about just walking straight to the central line. It would probably be about the same time anyway, and at central station I could stop by this good bakery deli place and pick up a yogurt and sandwich. I'm obsessed with their yogurt. It's greek yogurt. Tastes like sour cream. It's fab. Anyway, yeah, maybe I'll try walking straight to central station but not on a rainy day.
My commute is pretty simple. Walk to MTR station, train ride, walk to office, and that takes 30 minutes. And then starts my work day.
I have no idea how to explain what I do. I receive tons of emails. I deal with my head office in LA, the other office in Thailand where my boss is, our materials suppliers mostly in China, and our garment factories in Thailand, China, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. So that's the merchandising side. There's also the office manager side (there are only 4 of us and since I'm the boss I buy the toilet paper), the HR side, the IT side, and often times I'm the cleaning lady too.
Last year I worked a lot. Even when I didn't have to. I stayed in the office very late just because I felt I needed to. My resolution this year was to work less. I mean, get the job done but be productive and leave at a decent hour so I can do other things and be happy and therefore a happier little worker the next day. So now I leave between 5:30 - 7:30. 5:30 pm on wednesdays so I can catch Pilates, but on other days it's more like the 6 pm range.
Oh, and I take lunch breaks now too! In our old office in Lai Chi Kok, we were in a very industrialized neighborhood with very few places that spoke English. My co-workers would have to order me food and I never knew what I was really going to get.
But now we are in a great neighborhood. Chances are if you've been to Hong Kong your hotel was in this hood. Tsim Sha Tsui (pronounced Chim Sha Choi, kinda) but since I'm a dumb gweilo I just say TST. Yes, it is kind of touristy with all the shops, hotels, but it has a spectacular view of HK Island. It's also more diverse here, everyone speaks English, and there are plenty of lunch options.
My lunch usually consists of Subway, a salad at CPK, something easy from a coffee shop, or a pizza and salad from Pizza Express. Those are my usual stand bys but like I said there's lots of options.
After work I will go to the gym across the street for kickboxing class (Tuesday), take a bus to Tai Koo Shing for piano lessons (Monday), dart to the gym close to home for Pilates (Wednesday), or just take the ferry home. The ferry takes 15 minutes longer than the train but it's a gorgeous ride through the harbor and puts me in a good mood. I essentially walk from my office to my apartment, except for the 6 minute ferry ride.
I might join friends for a dinner or drink, might hit the gym, or might sit around and watch tv. Tuesday nights I occasionally go to quiz night at a pub. It's a pretty big deal and people get super competitive. It makes me feel really stupid though because the questions are definitely not tailored for Americans, and the bulk of the crowd consists of Brits and Aussies.
That's my average weekday. I try to get to bed around 11 ish, sometimes don't make it until midnight or 1:00. And then there was that one time I got to bed with one hour to go before getting ready for work. It was not pretty, but they happen once every few years.
Since probably all of you never see me on an average day, here's how it goes. I wake up anywhere between 6:15 and 7:15, depending on if I have to wash my hair and how long it takes me to get out of bed. I hit my snooze for 30 mins. Its terrible and I could actually hit the snooze longer but my phone only allows 30 minutes. The snooze factor is something I've picked up from my parents and I absolutely hate waking up in the morning. Not only am I not a morning person, I'm actually 100% concentrated evil. If you dare talk to me I will surely yell obscenities.
I have to set two alarms because there's always that possibility that one will not go off (it was set improperly, battery died, etc) and also because I am in the habit of turning off my alarm when it goes off... but I am still asleep and then never wake up.
Immediately from my bed I hop in the shower. It's the only way to wake me up. After the shower I have a quick breaky, which is usually fruit, or iron fortified cereal with soymilk. I hate the taste of HK milk and have to drink soy, which isn't a big deal anyway cause I like it. Between 7:30 - 8:00 AM ABC nightly news is on, and I prefer it to watching CNN or god forbid, Fox News. I like it cause it's real American news and not international stuff that I don't care about. Ok, that's not true. It's just mostly that I care about dear USA, so I'd like to hear more about it. Kind of a drag not watching local news in the morning though, because I have no clue what's going on in HK! I wouldn't watch it anyway. Local news is so poorly done and some of the news anchors really bug me.
I eat my breaky, watch some news, check the email, do my hair and make up and try to get out the door by 8:00 AM. I walk a few minutes to the MTR station and on the way grab a local paper. That's how I'm caught up on the HK haps but really I still don't have a clue. Nor do most Hongkies anyway.
I take my blue line subway train one stop to the red line in central. I've been thinking about just walking straight to the central line. It would probably be about the same time anyway, and at central station I could stop by this good bakery deli place and pick up a yogurt and sandwich. I'm obsessed with their yogurt. It's greek yogurt. Tastes like sour cream. It's fab. Anyway, yeah, maybe I'll try walking straight to central station but not on a rainy day.
My commute is pretty simple. Walk to MTR station, train ride, walk to office, and that takes 30 minutes. And then starts my work day.
I have no idea how to explain what I do. I receive tons of emails. I deal with my head office in LA, the other office in Thailand where my boss is, our materials suppliers mostly in China, and our garment factories in Thailand, China, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. So that's the merchandising side. There's also the office manager side (there are only 4 of us and since I'm the boss I buy the toilet paper), the HR side, the IT side, and often times I'm the cleaning lady too.
Last year I worked a lot. Even when I didn't have to. I stayed in the office very late just because I felt I needed to. My resolution this year was to work less. I mean, get the job done but be productive and leave at a decent hour so I can do other things and be happy and therefore a happier little worker the next day. So now I leave between 5:30 - 7:30. 5:30 pm on wednesdays so I can catch Pilates, but on other days it's more like the 6 pm range.
Oh, and I take lunch breaks now too! In our old office in Lai Chi Kok, we were in a very industrialized neighborhood with very few places that spoke English. My co-workers would have to order me food and I never knew what I was really going to get.
But now we are in a great neighborhood. Chances are if you've been to Hong Kong your hotel was in this hood. Tsim Sha Tsui (pronounced Chim Sha Choi, kinda) but since I'm a dumb gweilo I just say TST. Yes, it is kind of touristy with all the shops, hotels, but it has a spectacular view of HK Island. It's also more diverse here, everyone speaks English, and there are plenty of lunch options.
My lunch usually consists of Subway, a salad at CPK, something easy from a coffee shop, or a pizza and salad from Pizza Express. Those are my usual stand bys but like I said there's lots of options.
After work I will go to the gym across the street for kickboxing class (Tuesday), take a bus to Tai Koo Shing for piano lessons (Monday), dart to the gym close to home for Pilates (Wednesday), or just take the ferry home. The ferry takes 15 minutes longer than the train but it's a gorgeous ride through the harbor and puts me in a good mood. I essentially walk from my office to my apartment, except for the 6 minute ferry ride.
I might join friends for a dinner or drink, might hit the gym, or might sit around and watch tv. Tuesday nights I occasionally go to quiz night at a pub. It's a pretty big deal and people get super competitive. It makes me feel really stupid though because the questions are definitely not tailored for Americans, and the bulk of the crowd consists of Brits and Aussies.
That's my average weekday. I try to get to bed around 11 ish, sometimes don't make it until midnight or 1:00. And then there was that one time I got to bed with one hour to go before getting ready for work. It was not pretty, but they happen once every few years.
It's Oh So Quiet (Ssh, sshh...)
Hi Friends. I've been quiet lately because I've been sick. Not a cold or flu sick. Possibly a virus, coupled with iron deficient anemia, and I've been flying low on the radar for about 6 weeks.
It was bad. It really knocked me out and now I'm on the road to recovery. I'm nearly there! I've been productive at work and finally made it back to the gym after several weeks off.
So, you haven't missed anything.
Easter was super chillax because everyone else was out of town, and because I wasn't feeling well I didn't go anywhere. The weather has been very gray with rain sometimes, but on Easter sunday I made it to Shek O beach by myself for some reading. The cool thing about Easter here is it's a 4 day weekend!
Coming up, there's lots of birthdays ahead and next weekend heading to Sanya in search of sunshine!
It was bad. It really knocked me out and now I'm on the road to recovery. I'm nearly there! I've been productive at work and finally made it back to the gym after several weeks off.
So, you haven't missed anything.
Easter was super chillax because everyone else was out of town, and because I wasn't feeling well I didn't go anywhere. The weather has been very gray with rain sometimes, but on Easter sunday I made it to Shek O beach by myself for some reading. The cool thing about Easter here is it's a 4 day weekend!
Coming up, there's lots of birthdays ahead and next weekend heading to Sanya in search of sunshine!
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Scuba Diving
Add it to the list of things I probably would have never done unless I moved out here.
Joel was asking me if I knew of any good diving places in the Philippines, since his friends were interested. It just so happens that my dad's cousin manages a place: Planet Dive. This is the same place we went to last year.
So we started planning a trip. Turns out the original party couldn't go, and all of our other mutual friends couldn't make it and in the end it was me, Joel, and his GF Ting.
It was a super leisurely weekend. And very quiet too. We spent lots of time in the water snorkeling, but it was challenging with the swarms of jellyfish that we somehow couldn't avoid.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Polaroid Party
I had to put this pic first, because it's too funny.
Last weekend my friends Tim and Alex held the first of a series, summer rooftop party.
Host Tim
Host Arex
Because everyone we knew of in Hong Kong was going to be at this party, we also dubbed it the Eviction Party, since the boys have gotten into enough trouble already with their building security and management.
I thought this would be the right opportunity for me to finally bring out my polariod camera. I got this camera as a birthday present from Jeff, Cang, and Daven, and while it is actually not a polariod (polaroid went bye bye) I prefer calling it that than instant mini print fuji camera-lama-ding-dong.
I love this little gadget. I really do. You have the instant gratification element like a digital camera, but because you are only given 20 shots per cartridge and an actual print, there is a sense of permanence and commitment that has disappeared with today's digital images.
And it looks old school and I dig it.
DJs Powers and Daven kept the beats pumpin, and as far as I know the party was a success and without incident.
Ok, maybe we were short on the jello shots, cause tons of randoms showed up. I don't have pictures of those randoms because I didn't want to waste my instapix! Yes, all of these fine peeps are my pals.
And of course I snagged a couple of regular digital shots too. I couldn't let lil G9 get jealous. This is me n Pete, haven't seen this guy in a while.
A great party for sure, and a nice excuse to take my lil insta-cam out for a whirl. That leaves me, in my teeny lil flat, with 1 instant camera, the G9, the rebel, the 20D, 2 phones w/ camera... and now that beach season is approaching, I might get myself a waterproof olympus!
Campaign Weightloss Week 5
Weight lost this week: .02 pounds, and that's ok.
I've been not so well recently. This week was tough. I somehow made it through the earlier part of last week even though I wasn't feeling great, but by Thursday I just couldn't function. I slept and slept and slept. This is similar to whatever went down a couple weeks before. I've got a doc's appt coming up on Wednesday so I'm just trying to hand in there.
To make myself feel better I've been feeding myself a lot more than I should and only made it to one kickboxing class and thought I was going to faint. I'm going to put all activities on hold until after my doctor's appt.
I've been not so well recently. This week was tough. I somehow made it through the earlier part of last week even though I wasn't feeling great, but by Thursday I just couldn't function. I slept and slept and slept. This is similar to whatever went down a couple weeks before. I've got a doc's appt coming up on Wednesday so I'm just trying to hand in there.
To make myself feel better I've been feeding myself a lot more than I should and only made it to one kickboxing class and thought I was going to faint. I'm going to put all activities on hold until after my doctor's appt.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Campaign Weightloss Week 4 Update
Today, for the first time in who knows how long, I am able to reach the 4th notch in my belt. This is how my belt was worn when I bought it and as I traveled with Clever. I'm not down to a normal weight yet. And it's kind of deceiving since the producer pants I would wear sat much lower than these jeans. But this is definitely good. The last quarter of last year, I could barely get this belt on.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Don't Stop Believing
Journey Concert in Macau
I've been to Macau twice, and both times have been for concerts. Even though we left HK a bit early on Friday, we still didn't end up with much time for sightseeing. So, we chillaxed, threw back some drinks and enjoyed the Venetian.
I wanted to pick up the tickets and then maybe check out the Portuguese colony and architecture, but instead of rushing to cram stuff in, we lounged about which was better anyway. Amy and I met up with Cathy and some of her friends from Minnesota who were in town for drinks and tapas. And then...
So maybe it's not the same without Steve Perry, but I've heard good things about the new guy. A Filipino dude who was discovered while singing at the Cavern in Hong Kong... a place which I've been to many times before!
When the show started I was really taken aback at just how spot on this new guy was, and how great his hair is. It was a great show but like all the concerts I've been to out here, super short.
We didn't stick around afterwards and Amy had to catch another ferry to her home in Lantau. So we headed back home to Hongkers, grabbed a couple more drinks and snacks, and Amy had to make a run for her 3 AM ferry.
Wheel in the sky keeps on turning
I don't know where I'll be tomorrow
I've been to Macau twice, and both times have been for concerts. Even though we left HK a bit early on Friday, we still didn't end up with much time for sightseeing. So, we chillaxed, threw back some drinks and enjoyed the Venetian.
I wanted to pick up the tickets and then maybe check out the Portuguese colony and architecture, but instead of rushing to cram stuff in, we lounged about which was better anyway. Amy and I met up with Cathy and some of her friends from Minnesota who were in town for drinks and tapas. And then...
So maybe it's not the same without Steve Perry, but I've heard good things about the new guy. A Filipino dude who was discovered while singing at the Cavern in Hong Kong... a place which I've been to many times before!
When the show started I was really taken aback at just how spot on this new guy was, and how great his hair is. It was a great show but like all the concerts I've been to out here, super short.
We didn't stick around afterwards and Amy had to catch another ferry to her home in Lantau. So we headed back home to Hongkers, grabbed a couple more drinks and snacks, and Amy had to make a run for her 3 AM ferry.
Wheel in the sky keeps on turning
I don't know where I'll be tomorrow
Campaign Weightloss Week 4
Total pounds lost: 5.
This is good news. Moving in a good direction. The fat is not flying off as quickly as I'd like, but it's steady and according to the experts this is a good pace. And losing weight too quickly may result in more weight gained back.
I didn't have much time for the gym last week. I think I only hit one pilates class and that was it. I'll try harder this week.
I've also noticed, the more sleep I get, the more weight I lose. Maybe I didn't sleep much last year and it made me fat!
This is good news. Moving in a good direction. The fat is not flying off as quickly as I'd like, but it's steady and according to the experts this is a good pace. And losing weight too quickly may result in more weight gained back.
I didn't have much time for the gym last week. I think I only hit one pilates class and that was it. I'll try harder this week.
I've also noticed, the more sleep I get, the more weight I lose. Maybe I didn't sleep much last year and it made me fat!
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