My Life, As Told Between (Baby Cakes') Naps

I don’t really make resolutions, but each year I tell myself I’m going to be better about dieting and exercising.  Sadly, eating better becomes more important each year as my metabolism slows down and I’m no longer able to eat an entire box of See’s candy with impunity, no matter how much I exercise.  =(

Eating better is more complicated with T in the mix since I try to prepare foods he would like as well.  I could eat the same thing for a week and not get bored, but he generally needs more variety.  Between the lack of time and the inability to decide what to cook, we end up eating out a lot.  This year, I’m going to try to cook healthier meals at home at least twice a week. 

On that note, I made mushroom risotto and scallops (not super healthy but better than what we’d eat in a restaurant) and salmon with rice and broccoli earlier this week.  The risotto and scallops were yummy.  The salmon was solely for T as I hate salmon.  I had a store bought roasted chicken instead.

Inspired by my friend S, I made quinoa last night.  It turned out to be super easy and was pretty good.  T was out late bowling and I was too lazy to make a main dish, so I just had it with the roasted chicken I’d bought earlier in the week.  This apparently wasn’t appealing enough, so T opted for a sandwhich when he got home.  Today, I think I’ll use the rest of the quinoa and chicken in a stir fry.  Hopefully that will tempt him to try some. 

During my trip to Trader Joe’s yesterday, I also picked up some steel cut oats, almond butter, pumpkin butter, flax seed meal, and polenta (again inspired by S and several food blogs I read).  I had the steel cut oats this morning with 1/2 banana, a bit of almond butter, flax seed meal and a smidge of brown sugar.  It was super filling.  Not quite as good as rolled oats, but I feel fuller (may be the flax seed).  We’ll see if this lasts ’til lunch!

As for the exercise part, so far, so good.  I’ve been half-heartedly training for the LA Marathon up until this point – and have felt it on the longer runs – but I need to start getting serious about it.  With a 22 mile run looming this Saturday, I tried to be especially good this week so I biked Sunday, ran 40 minutes Tuesday, did 30 minutes of elliptical and 10 minutes of weights on Wednesday, and ran 40 minutes today.

Can’t believe 2009 is ending already! November just flew by. I threw a birthday party for T’s 30th’s in early November. Inspired by the recent pizza-making party we went to, I threw a panini-making party. We bought tons of breads, meats, toppings, and cheeses. I prepared some appetizers (bacon wrapped dates, crab rangoon, and stuffed mushrooms), T grilled up some steaks and we had friends make their own paninis. I’d also prepared some crepes so we had crepes and ice cream cake for dessert. As usual, we bought way too much food and had leftovers from the party all week. I’d originally wanted to host a nice sit down dinner, but when the guest list started growing, I realized my plans were exceeding my limited cooking abilities. In fact, I almost failed to pull the panini party off, but fortunately several of T’s friends are excellent cooks and, more importantly, arrived early enough to help get everything ready.

The next day, we headed out to Disneyland to take advantage of their free-on-your-birthday promotion. It was fun, but exhausting. I don’t know how parents are able to spend all day with their kids running around that place – we were tired by 5pm and had to head home!

The following week we were off to Maui for my friend K’s wedding. It was such a great trip. T and I rented a three bedroom condo we shared with friends who were also attending the wedding. The wedding itself was perfect. Small and intimate on a golf course overlooking the ocean. The weather was beautiful the entire time we were there, we relived part of our honeymoon by laying by at the Westin’s pool, went snorkling at Molokini and Turtle Town, got massages, drove to the top of Haliakala, ate plenty of shaved ice at an amazing shaved ice place, and went to the Feast of LeLe, the best luau on the island.

Got back late Wednesday night and drove up to San Jose bright and early Thanksgiving day, with a stop in Fresno to pick up Alfie from T’s mom (who was dog-sitting for us). My parents and sisters went all out on dinner and totally outdid themselves this year. Delicious turkey, broccoli and cauliflower sides, home made buns, stuffed mushrooms, pumpkin cake, etc. In fact, my parents spent the entire weekend preparing all of our favorite dishes. We both came back 5 pounds heavier.

The best part came at the end of Thanksgiving dinner, when my littlest sister’s boyfriend proposed to her in front of the entire family. It was so sweet. My mom brought out a brown package at the end of dinner and told L someone had left it for her on the porch. Staring suspiciously at her boyfriend, she opened the package only to find another box inside it, and another, and another…we all started staring suspiciously at H at that point. But the boxes kept getting smaller and smaller and soon it was too small to contain an engagement ring. He denied any knowledge the entire time. At the end, she got to a tiny box with a note in it, he got down on one knee, pulled a ring out of his pocket and proposed. We were all in tears, it was so sweet! So now we have two weddings in the family to look forward to! Can’t wait! I love weddings.

Needless to say, all to this eating has been horrible on my diet and my running. I’d gotten up to a comfortable 18 miles before we left for Hawaii, didn’t run much in the subsequent weeks, and had to struggle through a 14 mile run yesterday. Hopefully, I’ll get back in shape soon. I’m really looking forward to this marathon and the new route, so I’d hate not to be ready for it!

After a several weeks of eating badly and not exercising, I finally worked up the courage to waddle up to the scale this morning. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I’d lost 0.5 lbs since the last time I’d stepped on the scale (shortly after getting back from our honeymoon).  I made the mistake of calling T (who was already at work).

Me: Hon, I didn’t gain as much weight as I had feared. In fact, it looks like I lost .5 lbs!

T: Oh, that’s probably because you’ve lost muscle.

Me: ——

T and I bought a scale last weekend.  We’d registered for one, but figured it was unlikely anyone would buy it for us since weight can be such a sensitive issue.  I made the mistake of testing it out tonight.  I think our scale is broken because I’m at least two pounds heavier than I thought I was.  Or maybe it was the brownie sundae I had for dinner.  After all, it was a pretty heavy brownie. . .

Went on a nice long run with my friend V Saturday morning. Rushed home in time to drop T off at his beach volleyball game (so he could drink with his buddies) and get back before my friends J and A came over with J’s cute, friendly mop of a dog Baxter. After some initial play fighting (we discovered Alfie’s secret weapon is a wicked butt bump), Baxter and Alfie got along really well. Unfortunately, T and I planned the day badly and I had to leave in the middle of the doggie date to pick T up, but we returned in time to hang out with J, A and the dogs a bit before they had to head off.

Saturday night we went to V’s 30th birthday party. (All my friends are turning 30. I’ll be up in a couple of months. Sigh.) There was tons of yummy food and friendly people. I fell off my Weight Watcher’s wagon and indulged in home made guacamole, empanadas, and cupcakes. SO worth it. Yummm.

Sunday, my friend D came over with her husband and their dog, Shelby. We hung out, played Scene It, walked to BOTH nearby dog parks, had a drink at the Coffee Bean and grabbed dinner at C&O (decent food, best garlic knots ever).  Alfie was great all day, even when we left him and Shelby home alone to go grab dinner!

I miss my old co-workers, J and A, who became very good friends in the two years I was working at my old firm.

Today, someone brought in a box of chocolates to share with the office. The chocolates are sitting at the receptionist’s desk, tempting me. I’ve already swung by to grab a few pieces but that merely fed the craving for more. Sadly, the receptionist’s desk is waaaaaaaaay on the other side of the office from me and I can’t think of any excuse to wander over to that side of the office and surreptitiously steal some.

If J or A were here, I’d send them out to get some for me.

(And if you have to ask why I don’t just got get some more myself, you wouldn’t understand the answer.)

I am insanely obsessed with sweets, as Fat Mikey (aka my belly) can attest too.

On Sunday, I decided to wage war against Fat Mikey. So far, he’s winning the battle.

On Monday, I decided I needed a day to recover from the marathon. I can start my diet on Tuesday, I reasoned. Fat Mikey agreed that this was for the best.

On Tuesday, it occured to me I should eat all the chocolate at the apartment so I wouldn’t continue to tempt myself. Fat Mikey thought this was a brilliant idea.

On Wednesday, one of my co-worker’s started selling chocolate for her son’s school. I had to buy one and supoprt my co-worker’s son, I rationalized. Fat Mikey concurred.

On Thursday, I did a host of chores that had been neglected for awhile. Naturally, I had to snack while doing them to keep my energy level up. Fat Mikey started to gloat.

Today, well, today I discovered this site. I fear all hope is lost. My only salvation is that I’ve eaten all the chocolate in my apartment already (a better plan than it sounded at the time!) and I’ve forbidden my co-worker from selling me any more candy. So now I just need someone to sit and monitor me for the rest of the day to make sure Fat Mikey doesn’t do anything devious – like sneaking off to the store to buy chocolate while I’m not looking.

[Update] Fat Mikey struck at 1:15pm, after lunch. Before I knew it, I’d eaten half a bar of dark chocolate purchased at my local Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  Woe is me.  Double woe is me for having to get into a swimsuit and go to the beach tomorrow!

The LA Marathon was yesterday. Of the three marathons I’ve done, this was far and away my worse one yet. I think part of it was that I’d eaten too early the day before and was starving even before the race started (despite my friend’s thoughtfulness in sharing her boiled eggs!). I then ate too much during the run in an effort make up for it, but it didn’t digest in time to give me any extra energy – just an upset stomach!

“Hitting the wall” is when you’ve burned through your body’s fuel and it feels like you can’t put one foot in front of the other anymore. In a marathon, this often hits around mile 20 because your body can only store a certain amount of calories to burn (or something like that, but more complicated). Although I generally find the last 6 miles of a 26 mile run difficult, I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve never really “hit the wall,” at least not like yesterday. Yesterday, I felt like the wall fell on me around mile 15.

The new downhill course also did a number on my toes. I lost feeling in some of them relatively early on in the race. Combined with my waning energy, upset stomach and the unexpected heat, it was all I could do to keep running. Rather than enjoying the race, I spent much of it focused on just finishing. One. Step. At. A. Time. I finished in 05:23:17 and while I’m happy that I was able to finish the marathon without taking any extra walk breaks, I’m disappointed that I finished 33 minutes slower then my time last year and 48 minutes slower than my goal time.

I guess I’ve learned some lessons for the next race though (either San Diego in June, Long Beach in October or SF in October). And I was fortunate in that I finished without getting sick or needing an IV drip, which happened to some of the runners because of the heat. In any case, I’m giving myself one more day of semi-indulgence before I get back on my diet and attempt to destroy Fat Mikey (as I’ve taken to calling my belly)!

Found out yesterday that a good friend of mine from law school recently moved from NY to Virginia.  Another good friend recently moved from DC to SF.  It looks like the Frog is going to the East coast this summer and Roomie is moving to Berkeley this fall.  I however am staying put for awhile.  After all, I really can’t change jobs again any time soon.  Three different firms in my first two years of practice probably looks suspicious enough! 

Funny, after I graduated from UCLA in 2000, LA was the last place I thought I’d find myself living.  Yet, six and a half years later, here I am.  And it looks like I may be here to stay, for awhile at least.  I used to make fun of one of my best friends from high school for never quite managing to leave LA despite a professed desire to do so after graduating from UCLA.  I never thought I’d BE her!

Anyways, things are good.  Not much new to report.  Having some friends over for the Superbowl this Sunday.  Not that I really watch football, but I do enjoy eating and socializing and this is as good an excuse as any.  I haven’t decided which team to root for, but I’m leaning towards the Colts… 

T and I are celebrating our one year anniversary next weekend.  We’re going to see Wicked.  With his brother.  And his mom.  Yes, after insisting we do something to celebrate the occasion (I don’t really do celebrations, so this was totally T’s call), T promptly forgets the actual date of the anniversary (despite my lack of desire to celebrate said event, I am still a girl and therefore knew the exact date) and invites his mom and brother to see Wicked that night when he was offered some tickets.  Boys.  I guess I should just be thankful I was invited as well!  =)

Oh – one last complaint – I woke up this morning feeling fatter than I’ve felt in ages!  Maybe it’s because I’ve missed the last two long runs (an 18 miler and 12 miler) due to illness and being out of town.  Maybe it’s the entire box of See’s candy I consumed this past weekend.  Maybe it’s the fact that the heater has caused all my clothes to shrink (a possibility suggested by a friend of mine).  Whatever it is, it has to stop.  As of today, I vow never to eat an entire one pound box of See’s candy in a weekend again!

My new year’s resolution to eat better (mostly to cut down on the amount of sugar I consume) is not going as well as I had hoped.  Unfortunately, we still have an obscene amount of chocolate sitting around the apartment, left over from the holidays.  I’ve been snacking on a box of truffles all week.  Lately, I’ve taken to hiding the box from myself.  Sadly, I’m always able to find it though. 

T:  [Makes funny, vaguely insulting comment directed at me.]

Me:  Hey!  [Said in a mildly insulted tone.]

T:  Kidding, kidding!  You know I think you’re beautiful, smart, funny, kind and all around wonderful!

Me:  [Looking at him expectantly.]

T:  What?

Me:  You forgot thin.  You always forget thin.

T:  ——  [Crickets chirping.]

Me:  Hey!

T:  I just don’t think “thin” is necessarily a complement . . .

Me:  You think I’m fat don’t you?

T:  Maybe I’d better stop talking now.

Me:  This is going up on my blog.

Roomie sent me two interesting articles which involve the relationship between women and food.  There’s some interesting commentary to be had here (concerning conceptions of beauty, social pressures, gender inequalities, blah, blah, blah), but I’m preparing for a deposition tomorrow so maybe another time.  In the meanwhile, check out the articles here and here.

Update:  Not an article on women and food, but on Boston’s Big Dig project.  I had no idea it was faring so badly.

A lot of people have commented that since I’m running so much nowadays, I must be able to eat anything I want to and still lose weight.  How wrong they are.

Went running this morning with my running group.  We decided to run 9 miles.  After we finished our 9 miles, I thought, “Hm, if I run another 7 miles, I’ll be able to have another piece of chocolate (which Roomie had bought me either because she knows I’m stressed about work and thought chocolate would help or because she has a nefarious reason for fattening me up).”  So despite having to run the last 7 miles by myself and wasting valuable time in which I should have been working, I sucked it up and continued my run.  Just so I could have another piece of chocolate when I finished.

…which would have been all well and good if I’d only had the planned 2 pieces.  But instead, I had 5. 

And that is why, despite all this running, weight loss is really a zero sum game for me.  (Yes, I know I’m the only player and therefore it’s not a true zero sum game, but work with me people!).

Guy:  [*innocently*]  I think the waitressess have to be anorexic to work here.  They’re all way too thin.

Girl:  Really?  I think they look great.

Guy:  No.  They’re scary thin.  It’s really unattractive.

Girl:  [*accusingly*] You like fat women, don’t you?

Guy:  [*dumbfoundedly*] Huh?

Girl:  You think I’m fat, don’t you?

Guy:  HUH?

Girl:  I don’t want to talk about this anymore.

Guy: ? 

Note to readers:  For the sake of protecting the irrational, I’m leaving out any identifying information.  =)  Let’s just say this is Every Girl.

I am completely and utterly incapable of self-restraint when it comes to snacking.  If it’s there, I’ll keep consuming it until it’s not there any longer.  It’s not a super good characteristic when one’s trying to lose weight.  Through the years, I’ve learned to cope with my debilitating weakness.  The best method of coping is simply to not buy the food in the first place.  This is not always possible though as snacks seem to magically leap into my cart while I’m grocery shopping and insist on being taken home.  I am helpless to resist.  (“Whatever you say Mr. Hershey’s!”)

Lately, my method of coping is to simply throw perfectly good snacks away before I can finish them.  (I know, starving children, etc. – I already feel bad about this practice, but I don’t have a choice people.  I don’t have a choice!)  

I had an ephiphany today:  I suffer from a very efficient form of bulimia. 

On the way back from Tahoe this weekend, I visited my parents for the first time in several months. 

Mom:  Wow, you’ve lost a lot of weight Y.  You’re as thin as [your sister] B!

Me:  No way Mom.  B is super thin.

Mom:  Yeah, you’re right.  Well, you’re at least as thin as [your sister] L.

Me:  What are you talking about?  L is even thinner than B.

Mom:  No, you haven’t seen her in a few months.  She’s gained a lot of weight!

I read an article yesterday about the increasing weight problem in Vietnam.  One of the cases mentioned was of a young girl who weighs 114 pounds… and is 5’3″.  Um, does that strike anyone else as off?  Admittedly, she’s only eleven, but still, 114 pounds at 5’3″ is problematic?  That must be a mistake, right?  RIGHT?  PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TELL ME IT’S A MISTAKE!

*Deep breath*

Roomie told me a story about an American born Taiwanese friend of hers who visited Taiwan several years ago and made the mistake of shopping for jeans.  Asian women, at least those not raised in the States, tend to be very, very thin and generally pretty short.  Roomie’s friend K was forced to buy jeans made by a brand that, roughly translated, means “Whale.”  Thankfully, I didn’t attempt to buy jeans while I was in Vietnam.  If being 114 pounds at 5’3″ is reflective of Vietnam’s obesity problem, then I may never go to back to my native country…although this does go a long way towards explaining why my Grandmother is always calling me chubby.  Who knew she was probably being nice and understating the case?

Since I’m on the issue of weight (I know – when aren’t I on the issue of weight?), I love this rant.  There’s an excerpt from J.K. Rowling that just kicks ass.

I know, I know.  I owe y’all a new post.  I actually have one in the works which started out as a cute concept but proved to be too difficult to execute.  So, like everything else difficult in my life, I’ve decided to give up on it.  At least for now.

In the meanwhile, you, my loyals readers, will just have to bear with yet another ill-conceived, stream-of-consciousness, random hodgepodge. 

Since I’m sure you’re all dying to know what purse I currently covet, here it is. 

Isn’t it great?  Can’t you just see me walking along the beach with it at sunset?  I showed the purse to my sister, who first scoffed at the notion that I was contemplating yet another purse purchase, then drooled when she saw it and started emptying out her piggy bank (she’s a student). 

I also really like these shoes:

I see these resting on my feet as I sip a latte at a cute European cafe.

When not dreaming of trips to the tropics or a life of leisure in Europe, I’ve been working.  Work’s been a little crazy recently, everyone’s stressed out and slightly on edge, and I’ve been much busier than I’d like.  (Sigh.) 

Managed to sneak away from the office long enough to see the Ashes and Snow photography exhibit in Santa Monica this weekend.  The photographs were fantastic.  The rest of it was…interesting.  There were some great video images (mostly humans in repose next to wildlife – elephants, orangutans, and cheetas, etc.), but the accompanying faux-deep running commentary was kind of crap.  To paraphrase, “In the beginning, elephants used to fly and would sleep with one eye open to watch over us.  When you look into the sky, that’s what you see…”  (Seriously.) 

The marathon’s this Sunday.  (Yay!)  I’m super excited.  I just have to avoid injury for the rest of the week!  Being tied to my desk should help with that…

Diet’s going okay.  (Eh.)  I actually managed to wear my thin jeans for an extended period of time and not die though.  Admittedly, I may have blacked out for a few moments from lack of oxygen.  Whatever.  Breathing’s overrated.

Oh, and if you haven’t tried it – Starbuck’s toffee nut latte.  (Yum.)  Get it.

We were discussing diets in my office the other day, as we often do, when I mentioned I’ve been doing Weight Watchers on and off for the last couple of years.  One of the very nice, super-skinny secretaries gasped in a flattering manner and said, “You don’t need to lose any weight!  What are you, [redacted] pounds? (citing a range ten to fifteen pounds lighter than my actual weight).”

I froze, looking like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights.  Panic.  Someone had blatantly asked my weight?  What to do?  What to do?

Swiftly thinking (not), I mumbled, “Um, actually, I weigh [redacted].” 

The aforementioned secretary blinked once before blurting out, “No, really?”

“Yes.”

“Well, maybe you have heavy bones.”

Later on in the day, I recounted this conversation to JP1, complete with redactions. 

JP1:  So what do you really weigh?

Me:  I’m not going to tell you!  And stop right there, I can tell you’re going to guess.  That is never a good idea.

JP1:  You look about my wife’s size.

Me:  Um, is this the wife you mentioned is chubby?

JP1:  Yes.

Me:  You realize I’m going to tell everyone in the office you’ve called me fat, right?

JP1:  I’ve put my foot in my mouth again, haven’t I?

Me:  Yes.

Women are insane. 

I went to La Salsa today with super-skinny co-worker N.  N is, for some reason, still fanatically dieting for her wedding in Cabo. 

Anyways, we ended up in two different lines at La Salsa.  I order a chile-lime chicken salad.  It comes with chicken, tomatoes, chile-lime dressing, tortilla chip strips, avocados, and cheese.   I ask them to hold the chile-lime dressing, tortilla chip strips, avocados, and cheese. 

N orders a chicken taco salad which comes with chicken, tomatoes, rice, beans, guacamole and sour cream.  She asks them to hold the rice, beans, guacamole and sour cream. 

Maybe tomorrow I’ll ask for a bean and cheese burrito, but substitute chicken for the beans, tomatoes for the cheese, and salad for the tortilla.  =)

Note:  It’s been brought to my attention that the funniest part of this story isn’t very clear.  [*Pretend I’m Roomie*]  See – the salads were THE SAME.  They started out as entirely DIFFERENT salads, but ended up with the exact same ingredients!  Hence, the last line about starting with a burrito tomorrow and ending up with the same salad.  Funny, right?  [*Just agree with me*]