#KoreanGirlProblems

On the appalling discovery that we no longer fit into our appropriate-for-Korea sized pants, we have decided to embark on a Korean girl's tradiational rite of passage: the [semi-crash] diet.

[koreangirlproblems2013]

[JW] Day 4: Is this really a diet?

You know, I'm eating so well on this diet that I'm seriously wondering if I'm actually losing any weight. It completely slipped my mind to weigh myself before I started. Granted, I have been allowing myself about 200-300 calorie cheats everyday so my daily intake is at about 1200-1500.

I think I'll continue with the snacking and reassess at the end of the week. If it feels like I haven't lost any weight (or not enough weight), I'll cut out/down the snacking next week.

My meals for today: agave sweetened yogurt with chopped nuts, cheese and lettuce salad with yogurt dressing, and chili chicken with brown rice for dinner.

Snacking included: an orange, green juice, half a handful of nuts, and a granola bar.

I promised myself that I'd make it to the gym today. Obviously it didn't happen, or else I would have posted here. That leaves me with tomorrow and the weekend to fulfill my promise of going at least three times this week. Eek! I've found that I always have to force myself to go to the gym even though I always end up enjoying myself and always walk out in a better mood. Why is that?!

Well I know one thing: I'll be gym bunny-ing it up this weekend fo sho.

<3 JW

[koreangirlproblems2013]

[JW] Day 3: Unintentional Cheats

I have a bit of a funny story for today. 

My study group got a chance to visit a very special museum today. But before we went, we wanted to get some work done, so we met up at a coffee shop nearby and worked there. I was SO good and SO proud of myself. As JL put it, the cakes, and the cookies, and the chocolate, and the bread, and all the carbs in the display case were mocking me. But I resisted and opted for "just a black coffee please..."

Then, before we moved on to the museum, my study group wanted to get lunch. At McDonald's. What?! I could already feel the sweat dripping down my back. How was I expected to visit the land of the Golden Arches and NOT HAVE A SINGLE FRY?! We walked in and eau de McDonald hit me hard. You know, that particular greasy-meaty-cheesey-fried-food smell that every McDonald's, no where where it is in the world, seems to have? I forced myself to grind out, "I'll save the seats. No, no, I don't want anything. Go on and order!" And I sat there, watching my classmates eat every delicious bite. But I held strong. I allowed myself one sip of a classmate's diet coke and that was it. I walked out triumphant: If I can sit through someone else eating fries in front of me, than clearly I can do anything!

At the museum, we got a guided tour and walked through quite quickly. At the very end of the tour, someone came out to greet us. Turns out, one of our classmate's dad works at the museum. He insisted on getting us coffee and herded us towards the cafe. We grabbed a table, sat down, and on the table he dumped a bunch of cookies along with our coffee. Of course, I reached over, grabbed a cookie and a coffee and dug in. Halfway through the cookie, I realized... oh sh*t. My diet! Aaaand then I shrugged and finished the cookie.

LOL How was it that I was able to sit through about 3 hours of torture in another coffee shop and a McDonald's, only to completely lose it at a Paris Baguette (a local bakery chain)?! When I told JL and CL this story, I received the emphatic reply: "You would."

I would indeed.

Other than the unintentional cookie (and an orange), my meals today consisted of: blueberry yogurt, blueberry chicken sandwich, and brown rice with marinated beef and sprouts. Perhaps it was the cookie that spoiled it, but dinner wasn't as delicious as normal. Boo.

Off to get back to work! On the schedule for tomorrow: a work out! (finally)

Toodles~

<3 JW

[koreangirlproblems2013]

[JL] Day Two: Reality Hits...

End of Day Two:

Difficult. This is very difficult. The only thing keeping me going, really, is the promise of weight loss (and the fact that we are taking a family photo in a few weeks and I'd like to pride myself in having it as little photoshopped as possible...).

Lunch today was a grapefruit, 1/3 cup of plain oatmeal, 2 hard boiled eggs, and my tea instead of coffee. I felt pretty okay until around 5:30pm when hunger struck and all I could think about was every delicious thing I won't be able to eat for at least another 12 days (cheez-its, ice cream, oreos, junk food in general, real food, anything with flavor). 

Dinner was a "200g beef steak and a lettuce & cucumber salad" but without steak in the house, I just cooked up some beef we had already. The diet allows you to only steam or bake your meat and let me tell you... it was not enjoyable finding out what steamed red meat tastes like.

Dinner was also supposed to include a cup of black coffee, but I nixed it because my body can't handle that much caffeine, especially at night. They allow you to garnish your "salads" with vinegar or lemon juice, so I opted for balsamic vinegar in my salad and used the little bit left over in my salad bowl to flavor up the steamed meat. 

^ Apologies for some of the items being half-eaten. (I promise I gave myself more than pictured...) I was just so damn hungry that I started eating before remembering to take the photo. Granted, I don't think you're that curious as to what my meals look like, given what's on my menu.

I should have mentioned that my sister and I are doing this diet together at home. It's a good thing I have someone physically next to me going through it and to keep each other in check, because I absolutely would have given up by now. We cheated a little after dinner-- each had a 20 calorie unflavored barley rice cracker, just so we could feel a little fuller. It helped a ton and I realized after talking with JW that with this sort of diet, I'll allow myself little compromises to maintain my sanity. I may be a Korean girl on the outside, but this tummy is home-grown American and it likes to be fed. A lot.

The Denmark diet is definitely draining, energy-wise. My workout was a bit more sluggish today and I'm just going to have to lighten the workouts up since I'm not really taking in much in the first place. Running is proving difficult with all the impact, so I'm considering switching over to ellipticalling the next several days until my stomach shrinks and semi-acclimates to this new level of food.

2 days down, 11 more to go. Charging (slowly...) forward.

Xx JL

__________________________________

Mind and body have caught up with each other...

Falling asleep last night was particularly difficult-- I'm not sure if it was the hunger or the fact that I had two cups of coffee, when my body is used to only a tiny bit of caffeine.

I woke up this morning realizing that I may need to make a few tweaks here and there so that I don't go insane the next 12 days. Breakfast this morning was the directed eggs and grapefruit and coffee, but I did add an egg (2 total instead of 1) because I'm only eating the whites. 

I'll be out of the house for lunch so I'm packing the grapefruit, 2 allotted hard boiled eggs, and 1/3 [dry] cup of oatmeal. I've decided to swap in unflavored/"ungarnished" Quaker oatmeal for some of the banana/toast portions the next couple of weeks and black tea instead of one of the coffees. Coffees will be drank during the meal prior to my workouts, which is  breakfast for today. I don't want my body to even adjust to being able to sleep after 2 cups of coffee.

Sorry for the TMI-- but the oatmeal was swapped in for digestive/bathroom's sake.Given the stark number of calories this diet lets you take in and the kinds of foods on it, my body needs a little help with ... "movement." 1/3 cup of oatmeal should be about 100-120 calories, which is a fair trade for a banana or slice of toast, and in my experience, much more fibrous.

The uphill battle has started!!!

Xx JL 

[koreangirlproblems2013]

[JW] Day Two

Holy moly, did I have a busy day today! I was up at 9am after going to bed at 5am and on the go until now. I'm still swamped with work, but at this point, I've made the executive decision that it's not going to get done today and there's nothing I can do about it. My type-A self is not amused. My don't-give-a-damn self is pleased and is getting ready for bed :D

My meals today consisted of: lemon yogurt, tofu lettuce salad, and beef fried rice.

I also received my next installment of food for tomorrow and Thursday. In the box was an updated calorie list of all the food I'm eating and guess what?! It turns out not all the days hit all 1200 calories. In fact, yesterday the meals turned out to be 1068 calories. So that combined with the extra snacking I did, I'm actually GOLDEN.

Okay, guilty admission time. I had a weak moment last night. 4am rolled around when a Ferrero Rocher truffle popped up out of thin air! ..... No? Yeah, I don't believe me either. Fine! I went digging for it! I knew it was in my kitchen somewhere, and I went hunting. By the time I came to my senses, the chocolate was already melting in my mouth and in my hand was an empty, crumpled up sheet of gold foil. Oops. Oh well. It happens. And to be honest, I have no plans on depriving myself completely while on this diet. That's just setting myself up for failure. I just want to be more conscious of the food I put in my body. (As a side note, it was a melty, hazelnutty, party in my mouth. T'was wonderful. Chocolate, mama bear misses you.)

Being on the diet so far has made me realize how much mindless eating I do. More often than not, I find myself reaching for something to munch on while I'm working. It's been eye-opening to really get a sense of the amount of unnecessary calories I've been taking in. That said, the snacks that I eat aren't entirely unhealthy. We rarely keep chips, fried foods, or sweets in the house. It's mostly fruit, nuts, lots of 누룽지 (crisped rice), and toast. But at the end of the day, mindless eating is mindless eating and it's something to stay conscious of.

It's only day two and already, I've learned something about my eating habits. Let's see what else I learn over the course of the week!

Toodles~

<3 JW

[koreangirlproblems2013]

[JL] Day One: Closing

Overall, not a bad day. 

I didn't have time for a workout today, which probably lessened whatever hunger pangs I was due for. I wasn't particularly hungry most of the day-- the bananas and eggs somehow tricked my body into being okay. I think the hunger may strike later tonight when my body realizes it's only really taken in about 630 calories. Womp womp...

I unfortunately don't have pictures for lunch and dinner, but it's not too difficult to imagine a banana, some eggs, and lettuce and cucumber, right? :) Feeling mostly like a rabbit right now, which is an incredibly weird concept for yours truly. I am a true carnivore and I'm really looking forward to the 200 grams of beef I get at dinner tomorrow! I'll probably be heading to bed early so I don't have the urge to cheat and teeter off this path. 

A bientot!

Xx JL

[koreangirlproblems2013]

[JL] Day One: The Very Beginning

And so it begins...

Breakfast today was a cup of black coffee, 3 hard boiled eggs, a banana (which is interchangeable with toast), and a grapefruit.

To be honest, all of the foods listed in the Denmark Diet plan are foods I regularly seek out and enjoy-- the difficulty (I gather) comes from the very small quantity and the inability to eat anything else outside of these groups. 

Black coffee isn't really my thing-- I usually try to avoid coffee. I only started drinking coffee back in college during finals weeks to just keep my battery running and these days only have it on days that I am particularly exhausted or know that I have a looong day ahead. I'm a pretty strict earl grey tea kind of girl (with a splash of milk and 1 splenda, which I also normally would add to my coffee). I brewed my coffee a bit on the weaker side, so as to not throw my insides into splendaless-shell shock, and after a cup, I don't think black coffee should be too hard to stomach for the next 12 days.

Breakfast was pretty filling with the banana and grapefruit. The grapefruit carries a lot of water, which helps make me feel pretty full for a couple of hours, and bananas are good additional fillers as well. I'm debating ruling out the toast for bananas during the whole duration of this diet, since bananas are much more filling, but maybe for variety's sake I'll throw a slice in somewhere down the road.

One of my current concerns is egg-yolks. Nothing to do with the cholesterol or fat content or whatnot, but I've always hated the taste of egg-yolks since I was a child. Whether they're runny or half cooked or hard boiled, I despise egg-yolks (hm.. except for when it's cracked on a Bismark Pizza...). Looking through the spreadsheet I have of my meals, it appears that whole eggs are a large portion of my caloric intake and egg-yolks are probably supposed to keep me fuller. This morning I attempted eating about a pinky fingernail sized piece of yolk attached to my egg white and just had to spit it back out and know myself enough to realize I won't be able to eat them. For now, I'm sticking with just boiled egg whites to see how my hunger levels react, but if I get too hungry without those extra ~150 calories (I'm assuming each yolk is around 50 calories), I might sub-in an extra egg white or half a slice of toast.

Here we gooooo

Xx JL

[koreangirlproblems2013]

[JW] End of Day 1

Well I just got done eating my dinner and let me say, I am VERY impressed with the quality of the food.

The sandwich I had for lunch was great! I was slightly worried since the sandwich had been sitting in my fridge for two days. I was expecting, at the very least, soggy bread. But when I pulled out the sandwich, the bread wasn't soggy at all! Sure, it was a little squished from being in my bag, but that's nothing to complain about.The sandwich was filled with ultra crisp lettuce and shredded cabbage; had a thin layer of mayo sweetened with a touch of honey; and of course the egg and ham.

The ONLY thing that would have made the sandwich better? Cheese. Haha, but I suppose that would topple me over the 1200 calorie limit.

This was dinner:

Again, it was quite yummy. It's brown rice and chicken with tomato sauce. I spiced things up with a drizzle of tabasco over the entire thing.

The picture underneath is green juice. I have a bit of a mild obsession with my juicer and I like to use it everyday. Obviously the green juice isn't sanctioned by the diet, but hey, I figured a juice with spinach, celery, parsley, and half an Asian pear is healthy enough for a pass. (There's two cups because my dad always steals a gulp. So I've just started juicing enough for two these days :p)

I did have a few cheats today: - The plate of fruit in the morning--est. 50 calories - a granola bar to tide me over during my 7pm to 10pm class (I have to eat dinner at 11pm on most weeknights because of class. I think I'm going to have to think of a better snack to get me through)--160 calories - green juice-- est. 30 calories (mostly from the half a pear I stuck in)

TOTAL calories count for today: 1200+240=1440

Not too shabby at all! While I don't feel completely full from the food, neither am I starving to death. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what's on the menu for tomorrow.

Also, my goal for the week is to get my butt to the gym at least 3 times this week! I'll have the blog to hold me accountable!

Toodles~

<3 JW

[koreangirlproblems2013]

[JW] DAY 1: And We're Off!

Here we go! Day one of my 1200 program.

Breakfast today consisted of banana vinegar yogurt.

Say whaaaaat? I know, sounds so weird, but us Koreans are semi-obsessed with fruit vinegars and like to add it to everything. The rage this past summer was to add a spoonful of fruit vinegar to your water. Strange I know, but some people swear by it. Apparently, it's got a lot of health benefits. So my breakfast today was a spin on the vinegar trend. However, instead of adding it to water they added it to plain yogurt.

The verdict? Not too bad! The yogurt was not overly creamy (I'm a 0% fat kinda girl) and while it was a little runny for my tastes (I'm also a big fan of Greek yogurt), it was actually quite yummy. It helps that I like yogurt to begin with. It wasn't very sweet, just whatever sweetness the yogurt naturally had with what the fruit vinegar imparted. There definitely is a bit of a tangy kick at the end from the vinegar, but not overly so.

Of course, I deviated a little from the program and added a small plate of strawberries, Asian pear, and apples. What can I say? I like to chew. Heh :D

I'm headed out for the rest of the day, so I'm uploading a picture of my lunch right now. Nice that it's already packed so well for me! It's a ham and egg sandwich. I'll be sure to put up a review later today.

<3 JW

[koreangirlproblems2013]

[JL] Impending doom

Hello, world. As mentioned in the About Us section, I'm a runner at heart. I ran the Hot Chocolate 15k in DC [December 2011], the Lawyers Have Heart 10k in DC [June 2012], and a National Health 10k race [December 2012]. I work out nearly every single day-- my workouts include about 30-60 minutes of cardio depending on my energy level that day, 15 minutes of stretching/abs, and about 15 minutes of weight machines.

Before embarking on this rather extreme 2 week diet, let me tell you a little about myself re: why on earth I'm putting myself through this: 

I. Love. Food.

I love baking (and sharing and tasting the fruits of my labor) and I truly, scrumptiously, ecstatically enjoy a delicious meal or bite. Despite my natural foodie status, my workouts generally balanced out my intake (I would keep conscious here and there and have smaller meals to compensate for a big one). HOWEVER, enter: my first winter back in a city whose temperatures made me want to hibernate and wear nothing tighter than an oversized sweater for 3 months... The holidays hit me pretty hard, as well as a stressful situation at home the past couple of months. I found that I'd put on a good several pounds and needed to do something about it before the weather gets warm.

My diet is more for the every-[workoutbunny]-girl who has always yoyo-ed several pounds here and there (nothing too extreme) and almost reached her goal weight, but never had the motivation to push that extra inch or two. After some not-so-subtle commentary from my parents about my larger-than-desired butt and thighs, I decided I would do this to silence their "concerns" and see if I had the focus/capacity to push through a torturous 14 days of actual dieting.

And so that I wouldn't tear my room apart or say terrible things to people out of hunger, here I am starting a blog with 2 of my best friends [who graciously agreed to go on a diet with me] and venting to cyberspace instead.

I begin my journey on Tuesday, February 19, 2013. Wish me luck and I'll let you know how this goes! 

xx JL

[koreangirlproblems2013]

[JW] My food is here!

UPDATE: Instead of starting tomorrow on Sunday, I decided to start on Monday. The food is packed well enough that I feel comfortable waiting one more day. This way I won't have to stress about my cheat tomorrow :p

_______________

Here it is! My food for Sunday and Monday has arrived.

I'm on their 1200 program which, surprise surprise, restricts you to 1200 calories a day. I do plan on adding some fruit and snacks into the mix to make it about 1400 calories total, as well as working out more.

The food came packed in a styrofoam box with a huge ice pack. Each meal is vacuum sealed with a plastic fork/spoon inside so you can take it with you on the go. They also tucked in a list of all the food included and my meal plan for the next two days. They thought of everything!

The food looks well packaged and fresh--I can't vouch for the taste at the moment... I'll be sure to keep y'all updated!

Unfortunately, I'll be cheating on the very first day. T^T One of my friends is moving to L.A. at the end of the month so a bunch of us are getting together for beers tomorrow night. Oi... Maybe I'll squeeze in an extra workout to cancel it out?

<3 JW

[koreangirlproblems2013]

[JW] Here we go!

No more of this...

And more of this...

<3 JW