kale love

i have an enduring love for kale, as evidenced by these photos chris snapped last night. I ate this entire bunch in one sitting, y'all!

**UPDATE: kale chips recipe. it is seriously delicious.

new york, lite?

i am the queen of excuses, especially when it comes to exercise: I'm too tired; it's not light enough out; now it's too bright out; oops it's too dark out; my feet hurt; i'm having an existential crisis; i need to go to target like, right now!; etc. etc. etc. they go on and on and chris has probably heard all of them.

so now with this new diet venture, I've suddenly landed on my first possible excuse for foregoing this whole healthy eating plan: i'm going to new york this weekend! what am I going to do?!

As an ardent reader of new york-based publications, (nytimes, new york magazine, the new yorker, various ny lifestyle blogs), i have a large bank of restaurants that i want to visit every time we are in the city. Chris happens to be a big lover of cheap eats and also has a lengthy queue of places (old and new) that he wants to hit up. so basically, every trip to new york descends into a big fatfest. (see here, and here, and here.)

this time around, I'm longing to visit parm and our old japanese ramen and curry standby -- and I always have to get a little bit of gelato.

in short, i'm screwed.

but I wonder ... maybe I can just splurge for one meal a day, and eat salads for the other meals. Is that the best way to distribute caloric intake? Or, would it be wise to eat well in each restaurant, but just moderate the portion size, as Amber suggested in my last post?

in any case, I don't want to build in any excuses, or do the classic, "I'm on vacation so I'll eat what I want" thing.

this is for real, people.

lose it!

So, after a rather lengthy hiatus, I have decided to return to my blog because I've embarked on a new endeavor: weight loss.

I realize this will not be a popular post -- I can hear the disdainful comments now: You're crazy!

Listen guys, I know I'm  not a big girl. But last week I went to see my new doctor for the first time and during my physical I learned that I had gained 5 lbs in the past half year, which on my frame is a pretty significant amount of weight! I told my doctor my surprise and asked if maybe I have a thyroid problem. She laughed at me.

In all seriousness, I'm not that worried, but it's not like I'm growing any TALLER, so why should I be growing any WIDER? At 29, I think it's high time I start eating more sensibly. And that's the thing: I have a voracious appetite.

Many of you readers who have shared a meal with me can testify to this. I have been known to slam a burger, fries, and coke in 15 mins flat, and there's an infamous college story about me in which I went to a sandwich shop with friends and ate a HUGE sandwich, but then went up and got an additional chili dog to, oh I don't know, wash it down with???

I've honestly been dreading the day when my blessed metablism would slow down. And I'll probably long for my college days for the rest of my life, but there is also a joy that comes with moderation and discipline. Call me crazy, but for now I'm sort of enjoying packing my food and keeping under my caloric limit; being more intentional about exercising; and weighing myself to see if the discipline is paying off.

Before I get emails from worried friends, I promise you that I have a strong local support system (Chris, cousins) and they would never let me go off the deep end with this. This is just a healthy endeavor to build in some disciplines that were necessary in the first place.

Here are some tools I'm using for my project:

1. The Lose It! app: great little calorie counting tool that also let's you add in exercise, charts your weight, scan food by the barcode, etc.

Screen shot of my meals so far today.

2. Squash: my favorite sport and allows me to burn 327 calories in 30 mins!

3. YOU! Seriously guys, I need your help because this is sort of tough for me. Got any tips on what are good low-calorie but filling foods? Any healthy meal ideas? Any good resources out there I'm not aware of? I'm not interested in fad diets or anything like that. I'm more interested in creating healthy habits that will turn into a lifestyle.

THANKS!

Jen Turns 30!

My cousin is, in many respects, my oldest friend -- my friend even before my sister came along, since Jen and I are just 9.5 months apart. Well, my oldest friend Jen turned 30 years old a few weekends ago and she threw the best kind of party: She basically gathered all of her favorite people (minus one sick nephew) and ate all her favorite foods, including guacamole, bonchon chicken, homemade bread, pad see ew, italian deli sandwiches, lots of delicious desserts, berries, and yuengling and sangria to drink.

What a fabulous idea, right?

guac, bread, fruits

beautiful berries galore

birthday girl Jennifer and her older sister Tina

me and jen!

everyone waiting to eat the delicious chicken

celebrate 30!

i love you my cousin!

Thanks Jennifer for being my friend for all these years and for letting me cease calling you "older sister" when we were kids -- being friends is a lot more fun anyway. I love you!

We.Are.Sparta!

Some of my cousins visited DC from Arizona and we got together for pizza, milkshakes and a ton of fun. The highlights? When we all posed for the group picture (second-to-last photo), my cousins' kid, Nathan, had us all say, "We.Are.SPARTA!" instead of the usual, "Cheese!"

I love family :)

Tina, her son Grant, Heather

Jennifer (auntie), and Grant looking sooooo cute.

Grant looking a little confused, Tina, Christian, and Heather look on.

We.Are.SPARTA!

Cousins playing. So cute :)