It's been a long time since I blogged my progress/activity, but these past two weeks were very full with all sorts of exams and assignments due! However I have reached some major milestones!!!
Firstly, last wknd I went to see mummy in Alicante & the reviews I got from here, Fran & Brian were so motivational - they really noticed a weight loss and made me feel very good about it! So I kept up my gymming all through this week although I was exhausted from all the late night studying!
And then.... on Friday I went to get my photos taken for my passport & whilst I was waiting for them to be proccessed I decided to kill time looking in the various shops nearby. So by chance, found a pair of jeans I liked in my 'normal' size and decided that I'd try them on, just to see how far I had to go & I tried them on AND THEY FITTED!!!! On top of tights I might add!! It was the happiest I've felt in a long time and it has encouraged me to keep going! I've only got 2/3more kilos to lose!! Also, my cravings for sweet things has really reduced as has my cravings for ice cream, yoghurt & even though I only have a couple of days left on this diet, I think I'm going to continue on it for a while.... maybe introducing fish back in, not too sure yet!
Ok off to dinner:)
Sunday, 17 October 2010
Saturday, 2 October 2010
Week 2
I've been slacking a bit at keeping this up to date, however I have almost completed 2weeks of veganism and I feel good! Last week was extremely busy as I had my first midterm exam, a bunch of things due and food to make for 'Malawi day' at my university.
Malawi day is part of a new concept started by my school where every 2weeks a different country is going to put on a small display of local cuisine, music and produce and students from SLU can come a learn a bit more about the country. Ramona and I are the only Malawians at SLU and we're always volunteered for anything related to diversity at our school. So I spent Wednesday night cooking mandasi, banana fritters and banana bread - and I did a damn good job at it, they turned out deeeeeeliciouss!!! I was so happy bouncing around the kitchen... my roommates thought I was hilarious!
As far as my digestion is concerned I ate some Indian food Monday night (wasn't very spicy and they were so accomodating) and had a bit of a sore stomach the next day. This tummy ache worsened throughout the week especially on Wednesday when I ate some bread (quite a lot) for lunch and it didn't settle correctly. I was in so much pain, and it made me question whether I can't handle gluten in large amounts!?! Anyways, I shall track that down in the future as I'm going to go to the doctor sometime this week and shall ask him what he thinks.
At the moment I'm in London staying at Jess' house! It's SO nice being with her here, yesterday I met up with Sam, Fred and Tapiwa and we just wandered around London aimlessly. I bumped into a friend of mine from Madrid, it was so strange but nice to see her! Last night we met up with the rest of the ppl, Debz, Akash, Ricky, Paul, Mike, Dave & Seabe - that was incredible/surreal being all together but not in Malawi. We went to the centre and went clubbing, it felt weird being in a club again (it's been quite a while) and I realised that it's not something I'd particularly missed. However it was nice being there with everyone, and dancing the night away... well... until 3.30 when the floors started closing (so early!!!) by that time it was better that Jess and I left anyways because Jess was slightly hammered and it's a lonnnggggg way back to her place. I was proud of myself though cuz I managed to walk us all the way to Oxford Circus and then get us on the correct night bus, which eventually, 40mins later got us to her place:) I've been eating much more here, snacking a lot more, but haven't eaten anything I shouldn't! I went to a sushi bar with Sam yesterday which was amazing, but so tough as all this incredible sushi & meat kept rotating past!!
Today Jess and I are going to chill and then this evening we're going to meet up with everyone and go over to Mim's to celebrate her birthday I think!!
Malawi day is part of a new concept started by my school where every 2weeks a different country is going to put on a small display of local cuisine, music and produce and students from SLU can come a learn a bit more about the country. Ramona and I are the only Malawians at SLU and we're always volunteered for anything related to diversity at our school. So I spent Wednesday night cooking mandasi, banana fritters and banana bread - and I did a damn good job at it, they turned out deeeeeeliciouss!!! I was so happy bouncing around the kitchen... my roommates thought I was hilarious!
As far as my digestion is concerned I ate some Indian food Monday night (wasn't very spicy and they were so accomodating) and had a bit of a sore stomach the next day. This tummy ache worsened throughout the week especially on Wednesday when I ate some bread (quite a lot) for lunch and it didn't settle correctly. I was in so much pain, and it made me question whether I can't handle gluten in large amounts!?! Anyways, I shall track that down in the future as I'm going to go to the doctor sometime this week and shall ask him what he thinks.
At the moment I'm in London staying at Jess' house! It's SO nice being with her here, yesterday I met up with Sam, Fred and Tapiwa and we just wandered around London aimlessly. I bumped into a friend of mine from Madrid, it was so strange but nice to see her! Last night we met up with the rest of the ppl, Debz, Akash, Ricky, Paul, Mike, Dave & Seabe - that was incredible/surreal being all together but not in Malawi. We went to the centre and went clubbing, it felt weird being in a club again (it's been quite a while) and I realised that it's not something I'd particularly missed. However it was nice being there with everyone, and dancing the night away... well... until 3.30 when the floors started closing (so early!!!) by that time it was better that Jess and I left anyways because Jess was slightly hammered and it's a lonnnggggg way back to her place. I was proud of myself though cuz I managed to walk us all the way to Oxford Circus and then get us on the correct night bus, which eventually, 40mins later got us to her place:) I've been eating much more here, snacking a lot more, but haven't eaten anything I shouldn't! I went to a sushi bar with Sam yesterday which was amazing, but so tough as all this incredible sushi & meat kept rotating past!!
Today Jess and I are going to chill and then this evening we're going to meet up with everyone and go over to Mim's to celebrate her birthday I think!!
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
The first weekend!!
I successfully made it through the first weekend... with a lot of willpower! Friday night my roommate invited a friend over for dinner, so she set about making a wonderful meal which consisted of salads, fillets & a milkshake for desert. Sounds ok, except for the fact that both salads included fish in the form of tuna and calamares! So as they were chowing down their food I was there with my spinach & tomato salad and a piece of bread.
Saturday was a very busy day as I went to the gym in the morning and then walked for a good 2hours with a friend that afternoon. That evening I went out to dinner with some friends, we ate at a typical Spanish tapas restaurant and there was a grand total of 2items I could eat on the menu. One being the house salad with egg, and the other being huevos rotos. I settled on the huevos to have a bit of a break from my usual salad & I´m glad I did! Except for the fact that the bottom was COVERED in oil consequently meaning that I didn´t eat at least a third of the portion. We then made our way on to the cinema to watch Julia Robert´s new film, eat, pray, love. I´ve read the book and I really enjoyed the film as I thought all the actors did a wonderful job!
My tummy hurt a little bit on Sunday, most likely due to the oily food I ate for dinner but it wasn´t anything severe. It was a very chill day where made a yummy tomato soup and got a lot of my homework done. All in all it was a pretty standard uneventul day in the life of Kim!! On another note, I have recently become addicted to a series called Cougar town... hilarious!!
I have successfully completed a week!!
Saturday was a very busy day as I went to the gym in the morning and then walked for a good 2hours with a friend that afternoon. That evening I went out to dinner with some friends, we ate at a typical Spanish tapas restaurant and there was a grand total of 2items I could eat on the menu. One being the house salad with egg, and the other being huevos rotos. I settled on the huevos to have a bit of a break from my usual salad & I´m glad I did! Except for the fact that the bottom was COVERED in oil consequently meaning that I didn´t eat at least a third of the portion. We then made our way on to the cinema to watch Julia Robert´s new film, eat, pray, love. I´ve read the book and I really enjoyed the film as I thought all the actors did a wonderful job!
My tummy hurt a little bit on Sunday, most likely due to the oily food I ate for dinner but it wasn´t anything severe. It was a very chill day where made a yummy tomato soup and got a lot of my homework done. All in all it was a pretty standard uneventul day in the life of Kim!! On another note, I have recently become addicted to a series called Cougar town... hilarious!!
I have successfully completed a week!!
Friday, 24 September 2010
Days 1-5
I started this on Monday the 20th of September after having stuffed myself full with the most amazing yoghurt-topped, digestive cookies the previous Sunday. I decided that I was sick of having tummy aches as well as being constantly tired, so I looked into different meal plans online. I had already been eating a very low-carb diet with the only meat really being chicken and fish (which I ADORE!), however I was consuming a lot of dairy products daily, especially yoghurt which I have come to love! I began to wonder if I could be lactose intolerant, which led me into questioning whether I would be able to live without meat for a significant amount of time. Thus - I came up with my new challenge, to eat a diet which is completely animal-origen free. However, I do think that eggs are good, slow energy releasing foods (ideal for a satisfying breakfast on toast) so I decided to include eggs into my otherwise vegan lifestyle. Hence the title of 'ovo-vegeterian'!
Day 1: I went to Supersol (our local supermarket across the street) and stocked up on loads of veggies to make a soup. I also bought some soymilk and tofu - something I've never cooked before, but I really like the taste of! I made a really yummy veggie soup and ate that for lunch and dinner along with fruits whenever I was feeling peckish. I didn't really feel any different, or have any cravings.
Day 2: I continued on the soup, added some more veggies alongside (like a yummy spinach and tomatoe salad). I have realised that taking lunch to school is going to be a little more difficult as soup didn't carry very well, haha. And I felt ridiculous sitting there eating my soup whilst everyone chowed down their burgers and chips. Anyways, everyone I have spoken to so far can't believe I'm doing it, but have been really supportive and encouraging. Also admiring me doing it here in Spain, where something vegeterian only has 'a little bit of meat... so don't worry!' according to the waiters :D
Day 3: Today there was a bake sale at school with the proceeds in aid Pakistan flood victims, I went down just to support the cause and had an orange juice! haha. One of the staff members began talking to me about veganism, whilst a bunch of other students joined in various stories about themselves or family members. It was really interesting hearing the different experiences, most included a rise in energy (let's hope so!!). However, it was agreed upon that doing it in Spain was much more difficult than in the States, and most of them have just turned to being vegeterian here. Oh dear, haha. Anyways they were the ones that suggested I start a blog because they were really interested in seeing how it went!! Today was the first day that I haven't gone to the gym as I had zero energy/time =/
Day 4: Today I had no energy, so I ate a lot of bananas, made some more soup and splashed out on a piece of dark chocolate. Now, I know that most chocolate has pulverised milk but I'm not eating anything with cream/filling/nuts/caramel etcetc. Not planning on making a habit out of it though, have actually gone off chocolate quite a bit! I went to the gym for 2hours, felt so good but exhausted afterwards. I'm trying to make sure I go to the gym everyday for at least an hour, as I feel that frequent exercise will really raise my energy levels too. Went to a friends house, was very good as I didn't snack on any of the little treats that were there!
Day 5: I went to the naval museum this morning as an extra-credit activity for my Oceanography class, I think I was the only one who actually found it interesting, haha. Anyways, went to Starbucks (for the 2nd time in my life... not a huge fan) to meet up with this girl whose job I was going to take over (more on that later). So went in and ordered a cappuchino with soymilk and then was starving so looked at their food options... there wasn't a single thing without cheese/meat. It was crazy!! Anyways, eventually settled on a mushroom panini sandwich which didn't appear to have cheese. Wrong. It turns out it did! However the man was nice enough to point that out to me once he'd heated it up & I said it was ok as it hadn't melted and I was able to just take it out. This might be more difficult than I thought, esp when eating out!!
Re: job. I was given a job teaching English to two children aged 8 & 10, 4times a week for 1hours. However I have been so exhausted just with my school schedule and after much debating I don't feel it would be a good choice to add any extra 2hours to my day, especially when it comes to exam time. They were very understanding and I feel that I have done the right choice, although that extra bit of income would've been great!
So 5days down, 37 to go!!!
Day 1: I went to Supersol (our local supermarket across the street) and stocked up on loads of veggies to make a soup. I also bought some soymilk and tofu - something I've never cooked before, but I really like the taste of! I made a really yummy veggie soup and ate that for lunch and dinner along with fruits whenever I was feeling peckish. I didn't really feel any different, or have any cravings.
Day 2: I continued on the soup, added some more veggies alongside (like a yummy spinach and tomatoe salad). I have realised that taking lunch to school is going to be a little more difficult as soup didn't carry very well, haha. And I felt ridiculous sitting there eating my soup whilst everyone chowed down their burgers and chips. Anyways, everyone I have spoken to so far can't believe I'm doing it, but have been really supportive and encouraging. Also admiring me doing it here in Spain, where something vegeterian only has 'a little bit of meat... so don't worry!' according to the waiters :D
Day 3: Today there was a bake sale at school with the proceeds in aid Pakistan flood victims, I went down just to support the cause and had an orange juice! haha. One of the staff members began talking to me about veganism, whilst a bunch of other students joined in various stories about themselves or family members. It was really interesting hearing the different experiences, most included a rise in energy (let's hope so!!). However, it was agreed upon that doing it in Spain was much more difficult than in the States, and most of them have just turned to being vegeterian here. Oh dear, haha. Anyways they were the ones that suggested I start a blog because they were really interested in seeing how it went!! Today was the first day that I haven't gone to the gym as I had zero energy/time =/
Day 4: Today I had no energy, so I ate a lot of bananas, made some more soup and splashed out on a piece of dark chocolate. Now, I know that most chocolate has pulverised milk but I'm not eating anything with cream/filling/nuts/caramel etcetc. Not planning on making a habit out of it though, have actually gone off chocolate quite a bit! I went to the gym for 2hours, felt so good but exhausted afterwards. I'm trying to make sure I go to the gym everyday for at least an hour, as I feel that frequent exercise will really raise my energy levels too. Went to a friends house, was very good as I didn't snack on any of the little treats that were there!
Day 5: I went to the naval museum this morning as an extra-credit activity for my Oceanography class, I think I was the only one who actually found it interesting, haha. Anyways, went to Starbucks (for the 2nd time in my life... not a huge fan) to meet up with this girl whose job I was going to take over (more on that later). So went in and ordered a cappuchino with soymilk and then was starving so looked at their food options... there wasn't a single thing without cheese/meat. It was crazy!! Anyways, eventually settled on a mushroom panini sandwich which didn't appear to have cheese. Wrong. It turns out it did! However the man was nice enough to point that out to me once he'd heated it up & I said it was ok as it hadn't melted and I was able to just take it out. This might be more difficult than I thought, esp when eating out!!
Re: job. I was given a job teaching English to two children aged 8 & 10, 4times a week for 1hours. However I have been so exhausted just with my school schedule and after much debating I don't feel it would be a good choice to add any extra 2hours to my day, especially when it comes to exam time. They were very understanding and I feel that I have done the right choice, although that extra bit of income would've been great!
So 5days down, 37 to go!!!
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