Day 19 - hibernate

The air for this morning was BAD! The PSI for today went as high as 400! 

After I woke up and had my usual yoghurt, I was busy trying to purchase mask and air purifier online. They were all sold out! The Husband and I took leave today, wanted to bring Zac outdoor. In the end, we spent half a day at home and only went shopping (at least it's indoor!)

Lunch : fish with xiao bai cai. 

After a few phone calls, I was lucky to purchase an air purifier through a friend. When it was delivered in the evening, we quickly set it up and purified the air in our sleeping room. Zac will sleep with us during this period. 

Dinner : sliced chicken breast meat with stir fry spinach. 

I wanted to eat the spinach as salad, somehow it wasn't as tasty as I thought. So I decided to do a quick stir fry. It tasted so much better!

Let's hide in the room after dinner!

Day 18 - golf at batam

It was a hazy day and we wondered if we should still head to Batam for golf. When we reached tanah merah after my yoghurt with mangoes, we saw there were a few other folks who were going to play golf as well. 

When we arrived batam, the air quality was better than Singapore. So we got to the club quickly and started playing in no time. I brought along Meiji crackers in case I got hungry half way through. 

The haze started coming after the first 9 holes, we were neither hungry or tired, so decided to finish up the last 9 holes quickly. Luckily, the haze got worse after we finished our game. It was a record for us, we finished in 4 hours. 

I was quite impressed that I wasn't hungry since I had my breakfast at 6am. I only ate my lunch 1ish Singapore time. 

Lunch : I prepared beef with cauliflower the night before and heated the food up before we left the house. Placed my lunch in the thermal and it was still warm when I are it. 

This was taken before I placed it in the thermal. 

 

When we returned to Singapore, the haze was worse than Batam! 

Dinner : craved for soupy stuff. And so I made seafood with xiao bai cai and shitake mushroom soup. It was spicy!

Been a tiring day! Time to sleep early tonight!!

Day 17 - hives

Morning : yoghurt with yummy mangoes..

Lunch : I brought my lunch home as I had hives attacked in the morning. I was scratching so badly that I told myself I needed anti histamine! So once I got home at 1pm, I heated up my lunchbox. 

Did I tell you that I love seafood? More seafood for lunch! I reckoned I had seafood consecutively for 3 days already!  What would my life be if I cannot take seafood? 

Dinner : more seafood! Here's pan seared seafood with salsa. It was so yummy! Good for a hazy and humid day!

Xoxo

Day 16 - hazy

It was a hazy day in Singapore! The burnt smell was unbearable.. Had to hide indoor!

Here's the quick update. 

Breakfast : yoghurt with mangoes

Lunch : I deviated today! Argh! I had to attend a business lunch today :( so in order not to deviate too much, I suggested lunch at sushi tei. There were so much yummy sushi and Japanese food but all I could order was sashimi salad. I requested to change all salmon to tuna and no dressing! My boss must be wondering what's wrong with me :)

I was too embarrassed to take a pic of my lunch but I thought, lets do it discreetly. Here'a my 1/4 eaten lunch. 

I had to eat the raw fish and squid with some wasabi, else it's really hard to place it in my mouth! :)

Dinner : more seafood! I made myself fish with zucchini. It taste much better than my naked salad I had for lunch!

And a can of coke light to end my day! 

Day 15 - my third week

This morning, I woke up early to weigh myself and took my weekly measurement. Nothing beats looking at my measurement and more weight loss on a Monday morning. It helped to keep my Monday blues away! :)

During week 2, I didn't have as much weight loss as week 1. This week was only 1kg. But I do see inch loss from my body measurement! More to come! I am 6kg away from my goal..

After seeing my happy results, I had my yoghurt and made my way to work. 

Came lunch, tadaaaaaa....

More seafood with cauliflower and celery. This time, I marinated my seafood with mustard powder, black pepper, salt and some chilli powder. The taste turn out very yummy! I should try mustard powder on my chicken breast meat next. 

Today, we have such bad haze from our neighbor, Sumatra, due to deforestation! The PSI went up to 140 in the early evening. I didn't want to stay too long in the kitchen smelling the haze from the tiny window gap, I decided to make salad! 

Pan fry beef with romaine lettuce and balsamic vinegar. It was refreshing and easy to eat in such bad weather. 

After meal, I had to hide myself in the room and waited for my 2 loves to return home. 

Hope the air will be better tomorrow!

Day 14 - 2 weeks mark!

Today is Fathers' Day! I woke up early to make a special breakfast for the Husband. But before that, I thought I should skip my yoghurt and make myself a sunny side up! 

Here's my sunny side up with portobello mushroom. I added black pepper, chilli powder, salt and balsamic vinegar. My first egg dish since the start of the program. 

This was what the Husband had for his breakfast. 

Follow by lunch, I was craving for son soupy stuff. So I made tofu soup with enoki mushroom and xiao bai cai. The soup is not as tasty as ikan bilis stock, but its better than nothing! 

 

At least my soup taste spicy from the chilli padi :)

We had a great day. In the afternoon, we went for a swim with Zac. After some swimming workout, I was hungry. I had an apple to keep my hunger pangs at bay. 

We had fathers' day celebration over at my cousins' place. While everyone were feasting, this was what I made for myself. 

Thanks to my mum who bought, cleaned and prepared the seafood for me. It could last me for a week and more! I brought my weighing scale with me to weigh my portions. My cousins and aunt were amazed by my healthy dish and my determination to lose weight. It was good to have encouraging folks to keep me going. 

Tomorrow will be my measurement day! I am all excited! 

Day 13 - a hot Saturday

This morning, I woke up at 730am to eat my breakfast so that its times correctly for my lunch at 12ish. 

Same ole same ole! 

Then, in the afternoon, I made another same ole dish, tofu with xiao bai cai. 

Come to dinner, I made myself another steak. It's dad's birthday and while the rest of my family feasting, I thought I should make myself a good meal. 

Black pepper steak with salsa and mangoes. 

The salsa was so appetizing and good for the hot weather today! I reckon my skill for cooking the steaks is improving. 

I felt so satisfied with my dinner! *grin*

Day 12 - busy Friday

Breakfast - yoghurt with more mangoes. Same old same old..

Lunch - black pepper beef with green pepper and cauliflower

Dinner - beef tenderloin with celery and mushroom

The beef was good. It was very juicy and tender. Looking forward to make another steak this weekend! 

It has been 2 weeks and I do miss my beer and wine! Oh well, I could only have coke light and imagine that's my beer!

What's for lunch tomorrow? I am always thinking what to cook for my next meal. Any suggestion?

xoxo

Day 11 - headache

Woke up with migraine this morning and decided to rest at home. Since I did not wake up early for my breakfast, I decided to eat brunch instead for a change. I have prepared my lunchbox the night before, and decided to eat it for brunch. 

Tau gua with celery. I started to feel sick of tau gua, and glad that I have finished my supply at last. I guess I will not eat that for awhile!

At 3pm, I made myself another meal. Coarsely chopped chicken breast with romaine lettuce. 

I like this dish! The warm chicken mixed with the chilled salad made it very appetizing for a hot day! I will make it again for sure!!

Since I had two main meals during the day, I ended my evening with frozen mango yoghurt. I scooped my allowance for both yoghurt and mangoes and placed the bowl in the freezer for 2 hours. It tasted so good for such a hot weather! 

You should give it a try! Good to satisfy those cravings for yami yoghurt!

:)

Day 10 - endurance

Today is a very interesting day for me. I woke up at 615am, had my mangoes and yoghurt by 630am and rushed out to do charity work. 

Just to side track a little, I went to Willing Hearts to help out in the soup kitchen. Willing Hearts a non-profit organization that prepare meals for the underprivileged, needy folks and deliver to various locations. 

The moment I stepped into the kitchen, it was huge, there were huge area for food preparation, 4 huge stoves with 4 huge woks, really huge rice cookers, and an area to pack the cooked food. 

To keep the long story short, I was assigned to pack lunch boxes. Can you imagine that I packed from 730am till 11am, staring at the different dishes for 3.5hours. I felt like I was a server at the economical rice stall. I was glad to prepare meals for the needy folks! 

With the current situation where I cannot eat "normal" food, the different dishes do looked delicious! Even the vegetarian pasta looked yummy! I did not salivate, ofcoz! Despite the delicious and simple meals, I was glad that I did not feel hungry through the whole morning. 

By the time I reached home, it was more than 6 hours since my last meal. To pamper myself a little, I made myself some beef. 

Stir fried tenderloin beef with xiao bai cai. 

I told myself that I was glad that I could make myself a meal, and very privileged to have beef for my lunch. There are many people out there who do not get to eat beef tenderloin and merely eat to live.

Be thankful!

Come to dinner time, I had tofu with xiao bai cai. 

Lastly, I ended my fruitful day with an apple! 

xoxo

Day 9 - busy day

This morning, I didn't have enough mangoes, so I added one Meiji cracker to my daily yoghurt. 

My ex-colleague came by and asked to do lunch with my colleague and I. Since I have not reached my 5 hours interval, I went out with them. All I had was a can of coke light and 2 pieces of Meiji crackers. The chicken rice was kinda distracting! :p

Anyway, I only managed to eat my lunch after I came back. 

Prawns and squid with cauliflower. I do enjoy my lunchbox. There was great satisfaction!

It had been a busy day for me. Rushing from one client to another after lunch. Glad that the meals I had today managed to keep me going. Before I ended my working day with a partner, I had a bottle of sparkling water at the cafe, as taking tea may make me feel hungry faster. 

Once I got home, I had an apple prior to dinner. 

Tonight's dinner consist of pan fried fish with more cauliflower and celery. I never get sick of celery. Simply love the taste! I was told not to take the skins of the fish, though its my favourite. What a waste! :)

No more frizzy drinks for dinner since I had my treats throughout the day. Now thinking what I should prepare for tomorrow. Maybe some beef will be good. Look out for my food pics tomorrow! 

xoxo

Day 8 - start of 2nd week

It's probably boring by now that I am telling you that I had yoghurt with mangoes this morning again. *LOL*

This morning, before I had my yoghurt, I did all my measurement. I was glad that there were 3 inches loss in total of my arm, thigh, waist and chest. When I stepped on my weighing scale, I was grinning from ear to ear with a 2.4kg loss. *clap clap to self* But I told myself, I should not be too happy about it yet, as its still far from my ideal weight. I should work harder! I can do it!

Fast forward to lunch. Sliced chicken breast with cauliflower and celery. I like the combination! 

I ate my lunch with my lunch kaki, ie iPad. I was watching my latest HK drama, 老表,你好嘢! That's how I spent my "me" time :)

For dinner, I made tofu with xiao bai cai again. This time, I added mushroom to add more colours. 

What do you think? It felt good having a can of coke light to replace my craving for beer! :p

No apples tonight! Will have it tomorrow! 

Day 7 - I made it!

Today marked my day 7 of my challenge. I woke up at 7ish to make myself some yoghurt. I was hoping to laze in bed, but that will mess up the rest of my meals in the day. We wanted to go out this afternoon to get Z his junior 7 iron club. So to ensure I can eat with the Husband for lunch,I decided to wake up. 

I added Meiji crackers to my mango yoghurt. 

Try it out. It's nice!

Made myself more tau gua for lunch today. This time I chose enoki mushroom with some xiao bai cai as my veggies combo. 

It looked like noodles eh? Just added more water to make it more soupy. Oh, not forgetting my chilli padi. I must say not too bad for my new creation. 

What's for dinner?

Zucchini with seafood. 

Yes, zucchini again! How many times have I ate that since the start of my program? More to come and I am always thinking of variations and creativities of my meals. 

Just thought I would like to share what my family will be eating tonight. 

That's alot of seafood aglio olio for 5 people. Mum packed 2 portions of the leftovers for the Husband's dinner for this week. Although I can't eat this yet, but its a nice feeling to cook this dish for my family!

Before I end my day 7, I am proud to consume 3 liters of water today!! *pat pat to self* :) and an apple to make up my 2 fruits allowance. 

Looking forward to my 2nd week! 

Day 6 - coming to a week!

This morning, I remembered to snap a photo of my yoghurt with mangoes. 

By mid morning, I was hungry and so I had 2 slices of crackers. 

At 1pm, I made myself tau gua and zucchini. Nothing special. Trying to clear my tau gua stock :/

I decided to give myself a treat by making tenderloin for dinner. Just a dash of salt, some black pepper and chilli powder to marinate. Viola!

I didn't pan fry my steak, instead I placed my portobello mushroom and steak in the oven to grill them for 9 mins. I would prefer some colours on my dish, I topped it up with green lettuce with balsamic vinegar dressing for sides. 

My family was over my place for dinner. While my mum cooked chicken curry, spinach topped with abalone, lettuce with oyster sauce and homemade char siew, I thought my steak wasn't too far off. I had to resist the temptation! 

Coke light and apple were my dessert! 

 

Day 5 - keep going

I had my usual yoghurt this morning. I was told to add  crushed Meiji cracker to it will taste better. Indeed! My new found healthy breakfast. 

Lunch was simple, cauliflower with chicken.. Nothing too fancy, as long as it taste edible :)

Had a busy day today, so when I got home at 8pm, I quickly whipped up a simple dish. It was ready in 15 mins. 

Viola! Tofu with xiao bai cai. 

I heated up the tofu using the microwave. Then I cut up the xiao bai cai into small bite size. Sprayed some olive oil in the frying pan. Added garlic granules. Follow by xiao bai cai. Of course a tiny pinch of salt and black pepper. It looked simple but I like the colour of my dish, at least it looked more appetizing. I had a glass of sparkling water to go with my dinner, just to satisfy my craving for fizzy drinks. 

Signing off!

Day 4 - hunger pangs

Started my day with my usual yoghurt. During mid morning, I was hungry! It must have been all the energy used for my brain cells. :) I had 3 pieces of my Meiji crackers with lots of water. 

Here's my lunch at 1230pm. 

Yup, that was what I prepared from late last night. It probably doesn't look fantastic, but it was tasty. I added dried basil to the chicken breast. 

Right after my lunch, I felt hungry again! What is wrong with me today? I had 2 pieces of Meiji crackers at 130pm since I needed 2.5hrs interval from the earlier crackers. 

I managed to control my hunger pangs till dinner. Before dinner, I treated myself a can of coke light. I thought probably some artificial sugar is required, as I didn't have any sugar intake since day 1. 

Dinner, celery with fish. Not only it looked good, it was yummy too. 

Lastly, I ended my evening with a small apple just before 9pm. 

As I was chatting with a friend who is also on this program, there are more recipes to try! I am all excited. 

:)

Day 3 - eating out

As I will be watching Dirty Dancing musical tonight, I have to prepare my whole day menu! It's impossible to prepare 2 dishes and so I had it all cooked and packed the night before. 

Started my day with yoghurt and mangoes. 

It was a busy day and so that kept me going and not feeling hungry. When its time for lunch, here's what I had. 

Pan fried tau gua with shredded zucchini. I have never been a fan of tau gua, but for this program, I shall give it a try. It was not that bad, thanks to the chilli :)

I had 2 external meetings in the afternoon. Since I can't eat out, I packed salad and mozzarella cheese for dinner. It's good to have friends or relatives working at CBD area :) So I left my dinner with my cousin (who has space in her office fridge) before heading for my meetings. 

I had a cup of green tea in between the meetings. I also did alot of walking today, from one end of Shenton Way to another. If it wasn't raining, I could have walked back to Raffles Place. 

While waiting for the Husband to pick me up from Raffles Place for our musical tonight, I had a bottle of sparkling water. It's healthier than coke light and has bubbles. 

Forward to dinner time, the Husband and I went to MBS foodcourt for dinner, somewhere he can order his dinner and yet I can eat my home packed salad!

Took me a while to decide if I should take a picture of my dinner at the foodcourt. The Husband said I should, so that I can update my blog. 

Viola! My first home packed salad with cheese to be eaten at the foodcourt :)

The Husband had one of my favourites,  beef noodles while I munched on my balsamic vinegar salad. For the slimmer me, I shall endure! 

After the play, I got home at 11pm. Took out the thawed chicken breast and prepared my cauliflower. I planned to cook the next day lunch in the morning, but I believed it will be too rush. So there, I whipped up my lunch in 15 mins. It has been a long day for me!

That's it for today! 

Day 2 - feeling hungry

This morning, I had my usual yoghurt with mangoes at 830am. While the Husband ate his kuay chap after dropping Zac off to parents place, I had a Teh-O kong song with him. I didn't crave for my fav kuay chap though. At 11am, I was hungry! Must be all the walking to my customers' offices. 

I will go hunt for 2 slices of Meiji crackers to tie me over until 130pm. I have only drank 800ml of water so far, at least 1.2 litres to go! 

Here's my lunch. Stir fry celery with shitake mushroom and prawns. 

Managed to last till dinner. Pan fried tofu with xiao bai cai. I have added some celery to make up my veggies allowance for this meal. 

Glad day 2 is over!

Day 1 - All set!

Today, 3 June 2013, marks the first day of my project. 

The day before, I went to Cold Storage to purchase my grocery for the next one week. After returning home, spent time cleaning, portioning, weighing based on my allowance, packing and labeling. I also arranged my meat according to the different protein types. With the amount of food I bought, it should last me 2 weeks! 

As a start of the day, I measured my arms, waist, thigh and chest. Hopefully I will see some inch loss soon. 

For breakfast, I made myself plain low fat yoghurt with mangoes. The yoghurt is sour since its natural. Thank goodness the mangoes are so sweet, it made my breakfast so yummy! 

Next, I have chicken breast with salad, dressed with balsamic vinegar. I prepared the poulet on Sunday, so all I need to do is to microwave the chicken breast at work. 

Did I tell you that the guideline says the interval between meals must be at least 5 hours or more, but not earlier. If hungry between meals, it's ok to have Meiji crackers or fruits based on my allowance. So I had 4 pcs in total today. 

What's for dinner tonight? Viola! 

My pan fried garoupa with xiao bai cai. How can I live without chilli padi? Chilli is part of the veggies category, so I had about 5g of my spicy dosage. I marinated the fish with a grind of salt, black pepper and 1/4 spoon of garlic granula. I sprayed 2 spray of the olive oil, pan fry the fish until its cooked thoroughly. Then, i plate the fish and stir fry the xiao bai cai. Added a grind of salt and black pepper. 

I told myself, I shall make some effort to make myself some healthy and appetizing meal each day. 

It is a good idea to prepare my next day lunch the night before, so I wouldn't have to rush every morning. Guess what's for lunch tomorrow? :)