Body By Design Day #62

On Saturday we did our last workout of Phase II.  Very tough as always and we were very tired afterwards.  Did some grocery shopping to get ready for the week and succeeded to buy all the ingredients for my first weekly menu ever! Whoo hoo!  I decided to follow a weekly menu to use the food we have more efficiently, plan ahead and therefore, eat better and more varied meals!

This week's menu included:

• Cauliflower Soup
• Carrot Cake
• Quinoa & Black Beans
• Stuffed Cabbage (trying to eat more cabagge.  I love it but don't know how to cook it!)
• Minced broccoli, carrot & kidney bean salad (from Stephanie @ The New Healthy)
• Cabbage, potato and Tempeh hash (looking forward to this one! yum!)
• Chili Bean Burgers 

Very excited about the menu and eating the same things but in different ways.  We'll see how it goes!


We had dinner at Villa Antonio, an italian restaurant.  Our friend Kelly gave us a voucher for $50 and we had the most delicious dinner.  Don't even want to think about the calories...yikes! But the service was amazing and they had live music and the piano player played "How sweet it is" which is our wedding song :-)

 

Excellent food, ambiance and service!

 

We only ate half...I promise!

Body By Design Day #61

I was really good on Friday and went for a walk @ lunchtime and then to the gym after work!  Very proud.  Tired, but proud and ready for the weekend!!!

  

Lunchtime walk findings

 

Hello gym...again...

Body By Design Day #60

Thursday is Day #60 but to celebrate, I watched like 4 episodes of "24"....Arrrghghghg I have to go to the gym straight from work or else I just won't make it.  When I get home, my favorite spot in the house just looks so comfy all bathed in natural light and warmth, it's so hard to resist sitting there to read or watch something good.  Friday will be cardio day and I'll go for a walk at lunchtime!

Celebrating Simplicity

Saw this video today and totally inspired me.  Beauty, simplicity, balance...  Those are my wishes to you today.  Enjoy and Happy Friday!

My friend Maia from julia warr on Vimeo.

Body By Design Day #59

On Wednesday I did not cook anything to have for lunch so I went out and got some tofu and vegetables at the Asian Market.

It wasn't good.  At all. It felt so greasy and just not fresh.  I've noticed that since I'm eating home cooked meals 95% of the time, whenever I eat out, if it's not at least fresh, my stomach will reject it.  It was so bad that I couldn't have dinner and just had my VEGA shake before we went to the gym.

The asian market is really cool because they have fresh fish and all the Asian products I love but I'm not eating there again!

I went home and make a chickpeas and vegetable stew. There is such power in cooking your own meals.  You know exactly what's in it, you can customize it according to whatever you feel like eating and most of all, it will be fresh and it won't be overcooked when overcooking will decrease the amount of nutrients that will end up in your body.  Also, as I said in my manifesto at the beginning of the year:

COOK AS A FORM OF MEDITATION AND

AS A LOVE OFFERING TO YOURSELF AND OTHERS

Body By Design Day #58

On Tuesday I on the way to work I took this photo:

I love how the light just takes over everything.  It's a good reflection of my morning commute which is such a peaceful time of my day.  I never listen to radio and I just either pray, quiet my mind and thoughts or talk to my mom on the phone.  A year ago, my commute consisted of rushing out the door to catch the subway, pass out in the subway for 30 minutes, run to catch another train and again pass out for another 30 minutes until my phone alarm went off alerting my that I had reached my destination.  Total time: 1-1/2 hrs.  HUGE change.

I went for a walk but did not go to the gym at night today.

Body By Design Day #57

On Monday we were back at the gym.  Last week on Phase II of Body By Design and after this, is Phase III which will last three weeks and we'll be finished! 12 weeks my friends!

Today  I also went for a walk at lunchtime and found this little surprise (try to ignore how many lines there are in my hand..I know it's weird):

Have I mentioned how much I love lady bugs? They are just so adorable!! So tiny and colorful.

I met a friend for dinner and had a very delicious salad. 

 
I've been craving salad lately and I chopped up a bunch of lettuce and spinach to have ready in the fridge.  Had another salad for lunch that I made with chickpeas, onions, tomatoes, some cranberries ( I love a little sweet in my salad) with a homemade tahini dressing.  It was very good and satisfying.

Thanks for visiting!

Body By Design Day #56

On Sunday I focused on moving around furniture in my office. No gym today :-(

Body By Design Day #55

On Saturday we went to the gym and did our last Saturday workout of Phase II.  I've mentioned how tough it is.  Just long and hard but I get to work on my legs a LOT and I love how strong they're becoming!

I've been struggling lately with what to eat for breakfast.  I understand how important it is and know that if I skip it (which I never do), I'll be tired and hungry all day.  So I always try to have something.  A smoothie, an egg with a slice of bread, some oatmeal...  I want to try to develop a breakfast menu so that I don't have to think about it while I'm trying to rush out the door in the mornings.  I'll be working on that soon.

Thanks for visiting and I promise to post some photos and more interesting happenings around here.  Than you for your patience!

Body By Design Day #54

Friday finally arrived and again, I was feeling bored with the diet... This week was a tough one with all the events at work and the food involved.  Sorry for the lack of excitement lately.  Life's been...happening.

Body By Design Day #53

And the events continue.  Thursday I think I overdid it.  It was one of those days when I felt I didn't do anything right about diet of exercise.  I think we're only allowed to have a very limited amount of those days before you start to see the consequences on the scale.  I didn't watch my portions, I had a couple of very sweet mixed drinks, I didn't walk at lunch time and I didn't go to the gym at night.  Ouch!

Today's Friday and the plan is to eat small portions, go for my lunch time walk and go to the gym tonight.  I'll let you know how that goes by tomorrow :-)

Body By Design Day #52

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are going to be an exception.  There's a series of events at work (which include lunches and dinners) and I'm planning to enjoy them.  It'll all be over on Friday.  So I won't comment of what I'm eating (or drinking) :-)
I did go to the gym today and we did the Wednesday workout after a work dinner and having a divine Key Lime Pie :-)