This time I'm serious.

If you've been following this blog since I was living in France, then you probably know a little about my weight and health struggles.

My big flaw -- and this has been quite cyclical over the past three years -- is a.) I lose a good amount of weight and get back to my happy high school/freshman year of college size, then b.) I live abroad and go nuts and weigh much more than I ever have before. But the food in France was so wonderful....

Neither here nor there.

Diabetes is something that runs in my family, and it's something I don't ever want to have. I've always known that I've had high triglycerides (blood sugar levels) and cholesterol. But does that stop me from making poor eating decisions? No. Knowing this, I've tried (half-heartedly) to eat better and lose weight, but that generally lasts about a week before I get bored and go back to my sugar-eating ways.

After my mom listed off to me some precursors to diabetes, all of which I had, she mentioned some concern about it. And I don't know if I'll ever get it, but I am quite at risk for the disease. This prompted me to see a doctor and get all of this checked out. Yes, in fact I am getting closer than they would like with my "out of whack" cholesterol and triglyceride levels (like you see in all those commercials). I saw a nutritionist.

What this means is that I need to very closely monitor what I am eating for a transitional period of time. Basically, I have to cut out everything bad for a few weeks and wean my body off synthetic foods and starches. When I can physically stand that and don't have thousands of nagging cravings, then I can get back into moderate levels of sugars and starches in very, very small doses.

That's where Lance Armstrong comes in. I've been tracking all of my eating habits on The Daily Plate which is part of the LIVESTRONG.com Health Network. It's really neat what you can find there.

On The Daily Plate, I can track ANY food I eat, as specific as the guiltless salmon dinner from Chilis, to a grande skim, no whip frappuccino from, you guessed it, Starbucks. There are also networks of other users in encouragement groups, recipes, health/beauty tips, you name it!

And I think it's starting to work. The difference this time is that I keep thinking, if I fall back into my old habits, there's a chance I could be priming my body for a disease later in life that could possibly be something irreversible. But I'm taking control and trying to stop that from happening.

Granted it's only been three days at this point, but I'm noticing some changes. Other than the sugar-withdrawl headaches I'm suffering through, I'm losing some weight, my clothes are a little more loose than before and overall, I just feel more energized without sugars.

Here's to keeping it up!

I went to France and all I got was 10 lbs. heavier...

I think the headline pretty much sums it up.

Most of my clothes still fit me (but hello, who doesn't love an extra excuse to buy more things?). That's not necessarily my problem. It's more of a mental thing -- I want to be back to my pre-France weight. I don't care that I lost a whole bunch in August because I had to end a long relationship, I want to be 120ish again!

So I've been trying to stick with the South Beach Diet. Phase 1 is pretty intense, but last time I was able to do it, I lost around 15 lbs. Though I did that back in 2006 because my doctor recommended I totally cut out starches/sugars in order to lower both my triglycerides/blood sugar levels and cholesterol.

Needless to say, if I've gained weight, those numbers are probably out of whack again.

Anyways, I'm noticing a little change on the scale already. I feel better about cravings. Before I used to have multiple "sweet treats" every day, and now I'm limiting myself to one-to-none of a no sugar-added treat. It's a little hard to say no, but I remind myself about a.) my weight gain and b.) my messed up numbers.

Also, it's important to exercise. I used to walk 30+ minutes a day in France, so I'm trying to walk instead of drive everywhere. Not only that but I had regular daily gym attendance. Since I'm jobless for the moment, I will not join a gym, so I need to start using what I have. When the weather gets warmer -- which it should this weekend! -- I fully intend on taking my bike out for hours on the Iron Horse Trail behind our house that runs through at least six cities. Today I rode for about 40 minutes down to San Ramon and back, a good starting point. Also, I broke out the jump rope again. And it's very likely that I will be joining a co-ed softball team -- finally! Good times.

Goal: To be in really good shape (and also weigh less) by the end of the summer!

Hallelujah!

I figured the title goes well with this month and all...

Anywho, after exactly one week (and already eight times) of gym visits plus two days of toning down my diet, I think it's starting to work! My clothes are still kind of tight, but maybe in another week that won't be as obvious. I think this is seriously a plan I can stick to for months to come -- which is good for my heart issues!

This morning after eating breakfast, I weighed myself on my roommate's scale. I've already lost 2 kilos from my heaviest point here. That's like 4.4 lbs!!!

I'm not totally sticking to the SB Diet, because I'm allowing myself to have fruits, oatmeal and high fiber/bran cereals. I'm just pretty much cutting out all the other breads, fake sugars, high-fat cheeses and what not that I was eating before.

Christmas is a really hard time to say no, but I'm holding my ground against unnecessary sweets. Oh yeah, I haven't had any alcohol in about a week and when I do, it's only red/white wine. And a shot of Bailey's mint chocolate in my coffee here and there ;) That's my treat for when I'm really good. So far I've only used it twice in the month I've had the bottle.

But we'll see if I can still be strong this weekend. I'm going out with my dad -- restaurants galore -- and then eating probably another 5-course meal at Jean-Claude's on Sunday. Then my mom, sister and I are spending next weekend in Lyon, which means even MORE restaurants!

As long as I can make HEALTHY choices and eat sugars in moderation, as well as keep going to the gym frequently, I think I'll be moving in a good direction towards being even healthier than when I first came into this country! If nothing else, I feel like I can run/workout even more than I could before, which is always a good feeling.

25 More Days Until France BANS Indoor Smoking! :)

- and -

18 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE!!

Not again

I'm having serious issues.

I can't stop eating delicious French food. Looking at myself in pictures, I resemble a woman in the early stages of her pregnancy. And I despise it. The girl I see is not me!!!!

However, it's not that I'm not doing anything. In fact I am. I've been going to the gym daily doing 40 minutes to an hour of cardio in addition to weights and crunches. The only difference I can see is that I'm still the same general size, just parts of my body feel harder. And it's kind of a gross feeling.

I promise. I have to. Tomorrow, I start my diet (start, this will be like the 6th attempt). And I continue going to the gym. I even went twice today -- once in the morning and once this evening.

I just can't help but think that if my body looks like this on the outside, what must I be doing to my heart and all my billions of internal health problems??

On the other hand, even though I want to lose weight for a vain reason, there's another quite practical want behind it too. One by one, my clothes are starting to become too small for my over-zealous frame. I cannot afford to purchase an entire wardrobe. I WILL get back to 125-120 lbs. some day and I WILL fit into all my clothes comfortably! Let's hope that day comes sooner rather than later.

...Like I said, I'm having serious issues. No more over-eating. :( My New Year's resolution is coming a little early this (next) year. It begins December 6th.

Diet continues...

This is that sweet website I was talking about last time, MapMyRun.com's "My Training" section. Since I've been back (I'm not even going to GUESS how much I walked/hiked on vacation) I've run 3.89 miles over the past two days. HOPEFULLY I'M GOING TO GET BACK IN SHAPE!

I'm also getting back on Phase I of the South Beach Diet, however with a little bit of a French flare, because if I'm gaining weight, I know my (already, normally high) blood sugar and cholesterol levels are screaming for help. And since I don't have medical insurance over here yet, I can't actually go to a doctor and verify whether or not that is the case.

I have been cheating a bit though, by eating bran flakes for breakfast either in non-fat milk or non-fat, no sugar added yogurt. I still have about six containers left and need to finish them before the expiration date. In theory, if you stick to the diet completely you should lose about 8-12 pounds in the first week alone. I just want 6-7!!

But I've been making lots of meat and salads, omelets, and tonight I'm excited about whipping up a tofu and lentil soup. Don't judge me, this is just for a few weeks until I get my health back on track to where it should be. Then I'll slowly re-introduce breads, sugars, and fruits into my diet. I'm making a promise though, NOT to go overboard ever again. I think the initial shock of being around so much good food ALL THE TIME really got to me. Kind of like, I need to eat it all before it disappears! Such will NEVER be the case. And all my daily runs/walks are helping a bit too.

In other news, my dad did in fact get the job in France near the Swiss border! That means he'll be six hours away from me until May AND his company will pay to fly my mom out here once a month. Yay visitors! I'll be able to take more trips -- hopefully on his company's dime -- AND be with my family. Those are both really exciting prospects. Now I need to quickly improve my speaking so I can impress him when he gets here.... haha.

Remember, remember the 5th of November

It's sad that I only know of this holiday because of the movie V for Vendetta -- which was so amazingly great by the way, watch it if you haven't!

November 5 around the British world is Guy Fawkes' Day. Read about it here. Anyways, in my students' English books, there's a huge section for teaching holidays, especially Guy Fawkes' Day. I think I'll pass on that one.

Instead, I taught about Halloween in the United States. However, the way I celebrated it in France was pretty interesting.

Kathy, Natalie and I watched bootleg copies on my computer of The Nightmare Before Christmas and of all films, Hostel. We started off with a cute, kiddie movie after baking a spiderweb cake and caramel apples, which in France were not as up to par as they could have been in the States.

After nearly cracking three teeth and devouring an entire cake, we decided to run off to the cemetery near my house. Pretty spooky, let me tell you. At one point, a crackling noise down one of the dark alleyways scared us so monumentally that we ran as fast as our legs could carry us, screaming at the top of our high-pitched lungs, thus making the guards near the entrance laugh their French behinds off -- or so I imagine.

Walking back home near the marblers, we posed near some fake headstones, still incredibly freaked out and then took a little detour down the side-street by my building called, "Path of the Souls of Purgatory," such an appropriate gesture on an eerie Halloween night. Then came back home and watched a really gory movie. Fabulous night.

Oh and the Loire Valley was amazing! Check my PicasaWeb site for new photo albums, including some updates in the Halloween folder. I'll write about it all once I come to terms with how fat I'm getting on this trip. My heart hates me, I can tell because it's beating differently, so I think I'm going to try my NO SUGAR WHATSOEVER diet in the next two weeks.

DO NOT LET ME PURCHASE ANYTHING WITH SUGAR (or that turns into very high sugar levels in the body -- i.e. starchy breads and veggies).

That is all, thanks.