And so our journey begins…

My bags are mostly packed (Just need to add things that I still need to use tomorrow morning). Electronics are currently charging. Boarding pass obtained.

This is it. Our journey to Japan starts at 8:30 am tomorrow. We will be gone for two weeks. The first week will be in Tokyo while the second week will be in Kyoto/Nara. The last time I traveled internationally was when I was 14 to the Philippines. Hubby thinks I will have culture shock. I think he’s right. He’s somewhat familiar with Japan since he studied abroad there back in ’05. We plan to meet up with our friend, Saori, and his coworkers who live there. We will also make a day trip out to the little town of Tsuru where hubby lived. I also hope we have time to go to Tokyo Disneyland!

We should have wi-fi in the places we are staying and we rented a Japanese mi-fi for mobile data on the go. I will try to post updates of our trip here and pictures on instagram/path/facebook. If I can’t, then posts will have to wait til I get back.

See ya later!

ps. We wont be tracking our calorie/food/exercise intake there. We’re on vacation! =)

Week 1 progress

Been using the My Fitness Pal app for the past week. According to my eating and exercise habits, i’ve lost a pound and a half. I haven’t been able to keep at or under my calorie budget. It’s so hard to get in that range, but it has opened my eyes a bit about eating healthy. I’ve been able to work out more than usual (more walking and dance central) and i’m more aware of nutrition facts. Hell, I even went to Starbucks yesterday with Dad and hubby and I didn’t order anything. Hubby says he hasn’t seen much of a weight change for him.

We completely fell apart yesterday. Over did it at lunch. Made up for it by walking all over SF, but then lost it again at night. We went to his dad’s board game party last night. Party = lots of food. We totally cheated on our diet. Ate stuff and didn’t log it in. Maybe today we’ll be much better.

We’ll be continuing to track our food and exercise this week until we leave for Japan. I’ll have a phone with me but I don’t think we’re gonna keep track. It is a vacation after all.

Day 2 of trying to be healthy

I felt like I ate a litte more than yesterday, got slightly under my caloric intake, and managed to squeeze in a workout today.

Breakfast was a cup of green tea. During the work week I usually skip breakfast even when I’m hungry. I know that’s not good, but I can’t wake up early enough to have breakfast and I dont want to go out and spend money to get it either. The donuts and the left over red velvet cookies at work were tempting but I resisted. Lunch was leftover tuna noodle casserole. That took up a chunk of my calories for the day. For dinner I made butternut squash ravioli. No sauce, just parmesan cheese and a little bit of butter. I stuck to serving size on the box and made sure hubby and I only ate 1 serving. On the side of the pasta was brussel sprouts pan fried with olive oil cooking spray, pepper and garlic salt. While I was waiting for the pasta to be cooked hubby and I split an avocado. It was so good! I did have some sweets today. Kathy let me try some chocolate made by her friend and Mango creme girl scout cookies arrived from my niece. I only ate one cookie (I didn’t care for it so much). What I like about My Fitness Pal app is that I can scan the barcode for easy food lookup. Stuff like the parm cheese and the butter I had to guess. Using measuring cups and doing math to get the right servings is annoying, but I had to see for myself how much of this stuff I was eating.

For exercise, I went on my daily walk with Kathy. We use our afternoon break from work and walk a couple of blocks around Mountain View. 15 min walk = 30 calories burned. After dinner I did 30 min of Dance Central. 86 calories burned.

In terms of daily nutrients, according to My Fitness Pal app, I’m not getting enough potassium. That’s even with taking my Trader Joe’s Gummy Multivitamin. I guess I need to start buying bananas. Other than that I did ok. Only went slightly over my saturated fat, dietary fiber, and protein intake. Went way over in vitamin A and C thanks to the multivitamin.

It’s so weird. Now that I have this app, i’m so conscious of what I’m eating. I got hubby to download the app. He tracked his meals today and even walked around our neighborhood for 30 minutes. I envy that he has a higher caloric intake but that’s because he’s a lot bigger and taller than me. I shouldn’t complain.

Tomorrow is another day

Lack of healthy living

For the past few months, I’ve been trying to get motivated to eat healthier and exercise more. I bought a living social voucher for yoga classses in December. The new year rang in and I got sick. Then personal things got in the way and I got lazy. I still haven’t used the voucher. I bought some yoga pants in hopes of getting motivated. Not working yet. I have until next week to redeem it. Suzi, Kitty and I bought Groupon vouchers for aerial yoga. We’re planning to use them after I get back from my Japan and San Diego trips. I tried doing some dance central at home, but have only done it twice in the last few months. I was aiming to do it twice every week.

Hubby and I bought a weight scale today. Before that the only time we would weigh ourselves was at the doctor’s office. Hopefully weighing in now and then will help see how we fluctuate. I also downloaded the My Fitness Pal app for my phone. I used it for the first time today to track my food consumption. I like how you can scan barcodes with the app for processed foods. I tried to stick to my max calorie intake but it was hard. For a petite person like me, I have to consume less than 2000 calories. What I ate today wasn’t much. It’s nearly 8pm and i’m still hungry. Not sure how long I’ll be able to handle this.

The motivation is there somewhat, but not enough to make a real change. At least i’m trying right?

TGIF

This week has been super stressful. I had a small project with a small budget and a super tight deadline (which was today). I pulled it off, but not without pulling my hair out!

This morning I had to get some immunization shots before going on my Japan trip. 2 needles on one arm and 1 on the other. My arms are so sore. My neck and shoulders have been giving me pain this week and it doesn’t feel like it’s getting better.

I want to relax this weekend and enjoy my time with hubby.