After losing some weight during summer & ever since I started my quest to weight loss and healthy living, I've been getting tons of questions about my diet and exercise routine. Got asked for the nth time today so I decided to make a blog post about it. Of course, I just had to include the mouth-watering photos because I love taking pictures of food!
"Raleene, I was wondering, at what times do you eat and what do you usually eat for breakfast, lunch, & dinner? I live in LA and the veg food is expensive! &Do you ever cook your own meals? Sorry for the long question! Your healthy lifestyle is contagious!"
Veg food is too expensive? But the organic food markets and farmers markets there are so accessible! You're lucky you live in L.A.! Not to mention, you guys have Whole Foods! I wish we had that here :)) LOL
Anyways, here's what I usually get and crave for on a typical day:
Breakfast: 7AM
-watermelon slices
-oranges
-green tea / coffee (only if I'm seriously sleep-deprived)
-vitamins (vegetarian multivitamins, calcium & vitamin C)
Lunch: 12noon
-grilled vegetable sandwich on multigrain bread OR
-vegetable tempura (has eggplants, broccoli, cauliflower, slices of carrots + potatoes + sweet potatoes & string beans)
-lightly-fried "fake meat" from the Thai food section OR
-a BIG bowl of salad drizzled with some vinaigrette OR
-Cooked/steamed mix of veggies that we have at home (usually tons of broccoli, squash, watercress, bitter gourd, cauliflower, cabbage, okra or just ANYTHING! lol) OR
-veggie pizza/pasta/burrito/burger
*Dinner: 6-7 PM
-fruit OR light vegetable soup
-coffee sweetened with Stevita or green tea
*I don't like eating dinner since I find that it makes me sluggish to work/study at night and I don't like sleeping when my stomach's full. Gives me nightmares. Eeep.
When I get hungry for some odd reason (usually when I lack sleep or I crave for weird things), I'd usually grab some fruit or snack on some Fit crackers (loaded with Fiber). Or if I'm lucky, I get the smallest serving of frozen yogurt.
My lunch is ALWAYS the heaviest meal of the day but I make sure I don't eat any more carbs after that (and I try my best to stay away from white bread).
I need to eat good stuff cos I need energy, and not some sugar rush fueled by corn syrup, to work out and survive my hectic schedules.
I make sure to load up on fruits for energy and greens to heal and alkalize my system.
I also make it a point to drink at least 10 glasses of water a day aside from the tea/coffee/fresh fruit+green juices I drink.
So yes, it is safe to say that I have a healthy appetite. I DO NOT starve myself even if I look like I've lost so much weight ever since I graduated from grade school and high school... I was at 150 lbs. when I was in 5th grade (and I think I was only 5' then) and it was during high school when I decided to get fit. I did this by taking up modern jazz lessons (and I got hooked to that plus cheer dancing all throughout high school) plus I added different types of cardio to my routine.
My weight loss journey took years. I transitioned into being a vegan on December 2008, and I successfully eliminated all animal by-products in my diet for 3 months... I gave up on that and switched to being an ovo-lacto vegetarian (I can eat things with egg and milk) since it was kinda hard to find vegan desserts in Manila. I still stay away from milk and would rather take Soy Milk, but I love eating cheese occasionally, and sometimes I feel the need to eat eggs (only free-range and organic ones of course) for the protein boost in my diet.
The food log I've posted above is NOT what I eat everyday. I don't wanna be too uptight on what I eat, plus I love eating out with friends, so I enjoy variety in my diet.
As for my current exercise routine, it involves going to the gym 3-4 times a week. I do cardio (treadmill/elliptical/stairmaster/cycling) for 30 minutes to an hour, then I do some weights and use the machines for another hour (I rest, of course. And catch a glimpse of the TV every now and then. LOL). And then I do some matwork- a couple of Progressive Power Yoga and Pilates routines for 20 minutes (a combination of what I've learned from all the Power Yoga and Pilates DVDs I've worked with for about a year) and I finish off with stretching so I don't experience any aches the following day...
My workout routine has to change every 2 months or else my body becomes too accustomed to it and fails to recognize it as exercise. Sometimes I also do laps on the pool or do other things with friends (recently tried wakeboarding, hiking, running, rock climbing)- just anything that will keep me active is good.
7 comments:
omg. that is making me hungry, girl! haha.
you take lovely pictures
anyway, i congratulate u cos of your transition in becoming a vegetarian.
it takes great perseverance to do that! cos i can't. i can't go on without my chicken.
thanks for sharing.
but could you blog everyday on ur meal plan so that i could try eating what you're eating?
plus, do u think that there are pilates or yoga workout cds available here in our country? i don't know anyone abroad.
Thank you!
I don't plan my meals... I just eat whatever's available off the menu and whatever Gigi or I can come up with, depending on our stocks at home... I usually tweet about my meals every day so just follow me on Twitter! :)
I got all of my Pilates DVDs here in the Philippines, from different music stores :) My Progressive Power Yoga DVDs are the only ones from America. The CDs I got here are actually cheap! They don't go beyond 350 Php per CD... Good luck! :)
YUM YUM!!! :D I love this post! Im a lacto-ovo vegetarian too since 2006..i eat eggs so ill survive sleepovers in my friends' house or when i eat in carinderia hehe! :) i have to try the chelsea "pretty" sandwich with potato wedges! mukang MASARAP! i think you're so good with food photography :)
wow.. good that u have good apetite ;)
made me all hungry here x)
This is the best post EVER!!!!!! :D
grrr.. this was not a good idea to look at this post at the middle of the night! -.- nice photos ral! :)
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