maraschinosherries

[maraschinosherries]

Day 33 - Monday

Morning: Celery juice, B12, zinc, and detox smoothie

Lunch: Stir fried cabbage, broccoli, and sweet potato, flavored with cumin, salt, and pepper. It was surprisingly hearty and satisfying! I finished it off with a pear and GF cheez puffs that they had at work.

COVID testing is like, the bane of my existence. I was initially planning on getting home after work and exercising, having dinner, and sitting down to a nice long meditation and reflection session. This is what happened instead: Work runs way later than expected, Boy offers to bring dinner and wait with me in line for COVID testing, testing center closes relatively early so after a quick meal (of dinner: oven roasted salmon, zucchini, and broccoli) we headed over there, only to miss the call for last patient of the night. After chatting with Boy and sending him on his way, the night is essentially over because it’s late.

And that, my friends, is my latest excuse for why I missed another workout.

xx

#blogilates #90 day journey

[maraschinosherries]

Day 32 - Sunday

I’m backlogging again. It’s because I haven’t been exercising and I’m ashamed and don’t want to post. I’m adding day of the week to my titles because it’s getting hard to remember which day is which.

I got horrible sleep the night after drinking a bunch. I woke up a few times during the night and was wide awake at around 5AM, then went back to sleep after about an hour for a few more hours.

Breakfast: Smoothie (blueberries, yogurt, pea protein, nut milk). 

I didn’t have enough time to finish the whole thing because I had to run and meet my friends to go to the Bronx Zoo. It was really quite the depressing experience and I’m sorry that I paid to support them. The enclosures (I don’t know how I’ve never realized this before) were entirely too small, the animals weren’t even being fed proper food consistent with their natural diet, and ugh. It just broke my heart. I certainly enjoyed the company of my friends, and it’s always exciting to see animals, but not like this :( I won’t be going again.

Lunch: We had a very late (and long) lunch of dim sum back in the city. IT WAS SO GREAT! I haven’t had dim sum in almost a year! Standouts: xiao long bao, sesame balls, and custard buns.

Dinner: I didn’t get hungry until really late, like 9:00PM, so I had a small and quick meal of kimchi soup with noodles.

xx

#blogilates #90 day journey

[maraschinosherries]

Day 31

Wow, I’m past the 1/3rd mark!!! This hasn’t been anything like I expected it to be, but I’m really really pleased with how things have been so far. I definitely have a more balanced and forgiving way of approaching eating and exercise.

Morning: celery juice, detox smoothie, zinc, B12

Exercise: Leg day. O M G it was like pulling teeth. I’m feeling VERY lethargic (haven’t been getting a great night’s rest) and it’s like 20x harder to getting going after starting since there’s no more momentum. Proud of myself for doing the workout!

Late lunch: Tofu/tomato/spinach/spaghetti squash/brussels sprouts/brown rice bowl and a vegan vegetable scramble/potatoes with this really nasty gluten free bread that my friend and I couldn’t stomach because it almost tasted rancid??? Digestive system was definitely feeling a little off before the meal and I found myself craving vegetables, which is something I’ve noticed happens more frequently now! I think I’m getting better at listening to my body and learning different cues.

This is was also the first time in almost a month since I decided to drink alcohol. It started because I was making plans to have this meal with my friend while having a really rough work day so I really wanted to relax and have a certain degree of uninhibited fun. Since I decided that I’m moving back to California as well, I wanted to be able to indulge in this experience with my friend whom I might not be able to see regularly in several months’ time. 

I have no issue with the occasional drink for myself here and there. The small problem with this, though, is that I have horrible impulse control--particularly when it comes to fun and particularly after I have just the tiniest amount of liquor in me. After this meal, we went to go meet up with the guy I’ve been seeing and I had more to drink. Enough that I was ever so slightly hungover the next day, which is not generally what I like to do. Do I have any regrets? No, not really, because I had a BLAST and made some really great memories. Was it what I had imagined for myself? Also no lol. 

Dinner: Chapaguri (it was my first time eating it!!! And it’s so good!!!!) and some roasted asparagus

xx

#blogilates #90 day journey

[maraschinosherries]

Day 30

Yeah, I really don’t do too well with packing my schedule right after work. I tend to spread myself a little thin and not plan enough time to take care of myself in the most ideal way. Despite not sticking to MY GOAL exactly though, I’m happy!

Morning: Chaga tea, detox smoothie, vitamin B12, and zinc.

Lunch: Salad from yesterday that I didn’t get to eat. I forgot to take pictures!! Today was another DAY. I had a belligerent patient and was still reeling from the encounter that ate halfway into my lunch break. I was feeling very hungry, stressed, and exhausted and didn’t even think twice about documenting my meal.

Snack: Honeycrisp apple

Dinner: Sushi, kara-age, and shishito peppers! BLOATED after dinner. I’m guessing it’s the fried chicken lol.

xx

[maraschinosherries]

Day 29

Morning: Celery juice, zinc, B12, and detox smoothie. My GI is definitely feeling off this morning. I’ve been extra gassy, I’m a wee bit bloated, and I actually felt a little more tired and dehydrated when I woke up (strong mental note that a day like yesterday isn’t clean enough for my body).

YOU KNOW WHAT? As I write this post while I’m at work, I just noticed that my nails are a LOT stronger than they used to be. My skin is also back to being healthy and glowy with significantly smaller pores. This is great!!!!

For lunch I ordered a salad in the morning for pickup later in the day, but it was a DAY at work and I didn’t have time to eat anything! This hasn’t happened since... maybe since optometry school lol. Luckily I think I consumed enough calories in donuts last night LOL so I wasn’t too hungry and my breakfast smoothie held me over until I was able to eat dinner.

Dinner: I ate out at this restaurant called Hortus. We had multiple dishes that included seafood, noodles, rice, and meat, as well as BLACK SESAME ICE CREAM for dessert :) It was heavenly!

Exercise: I skipped my workout again :( I didn’t have enough time to exercise between work running late and dinner, and by the time I was back home it was too late for my (and probably my neighbors’) taste.

Still feeling good about my food choices :) I was able to enjoy everything without feeling guilty.

xx

[maraschinosherries]

Day 28

After finishing my celery juice and packing my smoothie to drink at work like I usually do, I headed over to CityMD to get routine COVID testing done for work. I arrived 15 minutes before they opened and the line was already the length of the block!!! I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make it in time for work if I waited it out, so I headed downtown to try a location closer to work. Same situation, ugh. I figured I might as well enjoy my morning at a cafe instead of fruitlessly standing in line, so I sat down at a cute little place with some hibiscus tea and an almond croissant (not an ideal healthy food choice, but DAMN, it was worth it).

Lunch: More kimchi fried rice! And an apple.

Dinner: Someone cooked dinner for me and made Taiwanese fried pork chop with white rice, mustard greens, and tea eggs. SUPER DELICIOUS omg.

Snack: After I got home, I was feeling hungry again so I had some of those mini Hostess donuts I picked up the other day. I felt a small twinge of regret afterwards since it was shortly before I slept, but once again, I’m happy to report that I’m making progress in the food freedom realm.

Today was the first day I didn’t exercise!! I thought about it briefly when I got home, but since it was already close to bedtime and I had already showered, I decided to forgo the workout so I could maximize hours of sleep. I think if I were to find myself in the same situation again, I’d maybe do the workout. I’m kind of sad I broke my streak :( but I can still make it up by swapping yesterday for my rest day!! Must stay strong.

I still need to be better about logging EVERYthing that I eat. The visuals help me process trends better.

xx

[maraschinosherries]

Day 27

I’m waking up feeling pretty well rested before my alarm these days--very happy about this!

Morning: Celery juice has been giving me the runs the past few days but today was BAD :( This has only happened twice before--when I first had celery juice and when I took a break for a few weeks. I don’t know what’s going on this time but I wonder if it has to do with the quality of the celery. My last few batches have been really pale green and haven’t appeared very fresh, but this new batch from Whole Foods is very crisp, snappy, and green. The juice is actually green and oxidizes slower as opposed to pale yellow green/brown green. Just look at how beautiful it looks in the photo below!!

I also had my zinc, B12, and detox smoothie afterwards. Lots of tummy rumbling.

Lunch: Kimchi fried rice (forgot to snap a photo but it’s really mostly veggies), an apple, and caramel puffed rice snacks.

Dinner: I was really craving something hearty and kind of fatty so I picked a random place on the food saving app (I always forget what it’s called) that actually serves meals and found this Italian place in Chelsea Market. Keep in mind, it’s a surprise bag. I was very surprised when it was a slice of pizza (but not disappointed). I stuck it in the oven for a few minutes to heat and crisp it up and served it with a bunch of lettuce. Lettuce stalks on the side has been my MO.

After dinner, I was mad craving Reese’s peanut butter cups. I actually wound up heading to the store after attempting to get COVID tested (the line was too long for me--the place would have closed by the time I got to the front) and bought some mini donuts and Reese’s. BUT THEN when I got home... I DIDN’T EAT ANY! I knew I was going to have to wait longer to work out if I ate more, and since I’m feeling really tired I wanted to make sure that I’d get enough sleep tonight before trying to get COVID tested again tomorrow morning before work. Very proud. Little wins!

Exercise: BOOTY. Will these workouts ever be easy?? I made it maybe 90% of the way through this time which is GREAT in my book.

I’m really thirsty now. I do find that having refined carbs makes me really thirsty. The kind of thirsty where no matter how much water I drink, my thirst just can’t be quenched. Perhaps I should save refined carbs for earlier in the day if I choose to have them.

xx

#blogilates #90 day journey

[maraschinosherries]

Day 26

More backlogging lol

Morning: Celery juice, vitamin B12, zinc, and detox smoothie

Lunch: Oops, didn’t realize I took a blurry photo. Kimchi fried rice with onion, cabbage, broccoli, and lettuce, followed by a pear and a couple of donuts holes.

Dinner: Kimchi soup (onion, zucchini, mushrooms), brown rice, and lettuce (not pictured).

Exercise: Total body. More sweat dripping everywhere.

xx

#blogilates #90 day journey

[maraschinosherries]

Day 25

Thank heavens for grocery delivery! Since I decided to meet my friend at the holiday market last night, I didn’t have enough time to get to the grocery store (it took me almost an hour to make a 30 minute trip back home!). Luckily, I was able to get groceries delivered this morning at 6AM. This does mean, however, that I had to wake up at 6AM. I was shockingly alert and even woke up before the delivery person buzzed at my door. 

Since I was up so early this morning, I decided to take some time complete odd tasks that I’ve been putting off. I considered exercising but realized that I actually sleep better when I exercise after coming home from work. It burns out all of my energy so that I’m actually ready to rest when the time comes. It’s really nice to be able to have space for myself today :)

Morning: Lemon/honey/ginger water, chaga mushroom tea, zinc and B12 supplements, and detox smoothie. I skipped the celery juice today because I was really craving a hot beverage and wanted to test out how chaga makes me feel when I have it in the morning. I suppose I could have had everything but that’s too much liquid in the AM for me.

Weigh in: I’m feeling good about where I am with and without the numbers. I’m learning to be kinder to myself and more accepting of fluctuations and cravings. So long as I’m not acutely stressed, I’m generally actually really good about eating well. 

Weight: 116.4lb

BMI: 20

Body fat %: 20.9%

Body water %: 54.7%

Lunch: Warm salad from Sweetgreen (did not make enough time to pack my lunch this morning). It’s kale, sweet potato, apple, goat cheese, and almonds with balsamic vinaigrette. It was such a lovely and warm day--I’m glad I took my lunch outside. I’ll bring sunglasses tomorrow!

Exercise: Yup, exercising after work definitely helps me wind down. It’s only 9:40 and I’m already ready to ride the sleepy wave.

Snack: I was too hungry to wait for dinner after working out so I ate a honeycrisp apple while cooking.

Dinner: Kimchi stew (kimchi, zucchini, onion, and king mushroom) with lettuce and brown rice. Very tasty and hit the spot :) 

Evening: Cat’s claw and some caffeine free chai tea

xx

#blogilates #90 day journey

[maraschinosherries]

Day 24

I had enough time to do a a bit of light morning yoga! :)

Morning: Lemon/ginger/honey water, 8oz celery juice (I ran out of celery) and some leftover detox smoothie that I didn’t finish a couple of days ago. It feels like all I talk about is needing to buy more groceries ugh.

Snack: Since I ate less than usual, I got hungry before lunch and ate an Rx bar. It hit the spot.

Lunch: Salad with raw kale, lettuce, carrot, tomato, and brown rice with the remainder of my coconut milk peanut sauce. There were snacks at work so I treated myself to some caramel popped rice snacks 😋

Snack: Honeycrisp apple

Dinner: Ravenous. I went to the holiday market with my friend and got a HOT DOG on a pretzel bun!! And fries. Obviously.

Exercise: Legs. I’m tiiiiiired. That hot dog made me INCREDIBLY thirsty and tired. I was already bloated after dinner but it’s even worse now because I drank so much water 😭Help.

I wanted to finish the day with a hot cup of tea but there’s no room in my belly :( it’ll have to wait until tomorrow!

xx

#blogilates #90 day journey

[maraschinosherries]

Day 23

Morning: Celery juice (skipped the lemon water because my body has just been feeling really resistant to liquids these days for some reason) and detox smoothie

Lunch: Salad (arugula, spinach, lettuce, cilantro, tomato) with coconut milk peanut butter dressing and another pear

Dinner: Soondubu with kale (I ran out of veggies and haven’t gone back to the market!! Will need to brainstorm something for lunch tomorrow), brown rice, and fresh veg. I finished the entire thing and it was GLORIOUS.

I had a really nice phone conversation with my friend that I haven’t caught up with in a while. She noticed that I’ve been backlogging LOL (which means that there are still actually a few people out there reading these posts!) and also recommended that I read through all 90 of Cassey’s posts. She brought it up because I was mentioning how exercising daily is actually really easy--you either worked out or you didn’t. Eating “well” or in a “balanced” is actually really difficult to gauge--is it better for me to have that not-so-healthy meal that’ll feed my soul? Or is it better to stick with it and follow a strict set of rules? Pretty sure the former is the way to go because it’s all about longterm lifestyle changes, but I still struggle with a bit of binging behavior. It has definitely gotten much better since I started this whole thing, which makes me really proud (!!!) but it can sometimes feel disheartening to realize that this could possibly be a lifelong struggle. I did read a bit of advice that was really helpful though--something along the lines of, “You won’t just wake up one day and stop binging completely. Your binges will eventually become less severe and frequent over time,” and that is where I am now! Less severe. So it’s a win! 

Exercise: Stretch/rest day! Ready for bed now :) 

I took some vitamin B12 and cat’s claw today in the evening. I should probably just do one supplement at a time so that I’ll actually be able to figure out which one is helping me...

xx

#blogilates #90 day journey

[maraschinosherries]

Day 22

Morning: Lemon/ginger/honey water, celery juice, and detox smoothie. Man, it feels good to be going back to work again! I didn’t work the entire last week... kind of crazy what the lack of routine can do to you.

Lunch: Arugula/spinach/tomato salad with goji berries, cashews, and coconut milk peanut butter dressing and a DELICIOUS pear for dessert

Snack: Fuji apple

Exercise: Arms. Uuuuughhhhh it was such a tough workout. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until afterwards. Hunger tends to sneak up on me when I’m busy and when I’m eating more plant based, I’ve realized.

Dinner: The last bit of the jajangmyeon with fresh lettuce, carrots, and peppers. I initially wanted to make soondubu for dinner but I was so hungry by the time I was ready to cook that I decided to spring for the leftovers. Still delicious lol.

Post-dinner: I tried chaga mushroom tea for the first time ever!!! Despite everyone’s claims, it does not taste like coffee. It’s certainly earthy but really not a substitute for coffee. Not bad though! I had it with a splash of macadamia milk and actually really enjoyed it. I also used a liquid lemon balm supplement today instead of having lemon balm tea. Did not really feel any difference.

xx

#blogilates #90 day journey

[maraschinosherries]

Day 21

The backlogging continues heh heh.

Morning: Lemon/honey/ginger water and skipped the celery juice and smoothie again :( Breakfast was an apple and steamed sweet potato.

Exercise: Cardio!! LOOK AT THE SWEAT DRIPPING EVERYWHERE. That’s a bead of sweat on my upper lip LOL. Super satisfying workout. You can also see my new piercing on the left ear :) it’s the little moon.

Lunch and Dinner: I think I had leftover jajangmyeon for the rest of the day?? Not what I was initially planning but sometimes life gets in the way and you’re just too tired to cook, ya know?

xx

#blogilates #90 day journey

[maraschinosherries]

Day 20

Morning: Lemon/ginger/honey water, celery juice, and detox smoothie that lasted me into lunch.

Exercise: Bootay! Seriously LOVING how much stronger I feel. My body image is improving--what matters to me is being the best version of myself, regardless of what that looks like or what the numbers on the scale are.

Snack: Fuji apple. I don’t remember if I mentioned this previously, but it had been YEARS since I last ate a Fuji apple. I stopped liking them in high school because for some reason I’d get nauseous while eating them after a meal. Those were the only types of apples my parents ever bought, so I learned to associate the taste with nausea and have avoided them like the plague for a while now. I had one sort of by mistake a few weeks ago and loved the flavor so I went out and bought some more :) 

Also not pictured: I had a bit of matcha milk bread. Happy I didn’t give in and eat the whole package--it was actually really easy not to because I was looking forward to dinner! This is why balance is so important for me--that’s really what I’m trying to achieve by the end of the 90 days. I was unrealistic at the beginning and wanted to try 90 days where I eat GF, no eggs, no dairy, and try to eat as plant-based as possible. I’ve come to realize that self-restriction is the opposite of what I need.

Dinner: Jajangmyeon (with onion, potato, and zucchini) with blanched broccoli, korean peppers, pickled radish, and kimchi. TOTALLY hit the spot and I was so happy  I decided to make it myself instead of ordering it.

xx

#blogilates #90 day journey

[maraschinosherries]

Day 19

I’m backlogging days 19 and 20. Must remember to continue blogging nightly!

Morning: Lemon ginger honey water pre-exercise and celery juice post-exercise.

Exercise: Total body. Still noticing improvement in my strength :)

Brunch: buckwheat with raspberries, banana, and unsweetened coconut flakes topped with cinnamon and cacao nibs. I’m finding it hard to want to have the detox smoothie as the weather cools down.

Snack: Pan seared tofu with coconut milk peanut dipping sauce (leftover from the noodles the day before).

Dinner: I ate with my dear friend at Peacefood Cafe, a vegan restaurant. We got dumpings, a quiche with a salad topped with fruit, and waffle with tenders. DELICIOUS and great company! I had a really lovely time and actually remembered to take some photos--I decided that day that I’m moving back home to San Diego. I realized I don’t have very many photos of myself in New York (or in general, actually) so I’m going to try and be better about capturing special moments :’)

xx

#blogilates #90 day journey

[maraschinosherries]

Day 18

WHOA okay. Now that I’ve come out of it, I’ve realized that I was definitely not in a good place the last week or so. I just felt immensely stagnant--I was sick of all the music I was listening to, escaping into TV, not eating well, and socially isolating myself. Honestly not entirely sure where it came from (maybe it was hormonal? I’m on the third day of my period) but I just felt depressed and so unwilling to move and take care of myself (hence the wild food choices). I’ve strayed from my daily routine and have even been neglecting my plants :( I also wonder if the poor food choices actually sort of keep me stuck in the loop. 

It’s interesting to see how my feeling-out-of-it-tendencies and my awareness of them have shifted over time. Previously, I used to only take cues from my apartment being messy. Now, I’ve learned to look at:

Eating habits: Particularly when I’m craving fried foods

Social interactions: Literally having an empty calendar outside of work, not chatting with family, not wanting to go outside for even simple things

Escaping: Into TV, food, social media, recently it’s been mukbang lol

Lack of routine: Not caring for plants, not doing the lemon water/celery juice/detox smoothie trio, avoiding blog posts because it means I have to confront reality

Resistance and friction in general

Despite all of that, I can still say that I’m proud of myself for having worked out every day. I guess I’m also realizing how fluid health and fitness is--it’s a bit unrealistic to expect to be perfect all the time because things will change with life events. Let’s not forget that we’re still in a global pandemic.

Today I’m feeling much better and am excited to seize life and jump back into things. Weigh in today:

Weight: 118.3 lb (I was 114 last week o_O)

BMI: 20.3

Body fat percentage: 20.3%

Water percentage: 55.1%

Wondering if I should go back into daily measurements because I definitely dreaded stepping on the scale this morning--I didn’t want to find out how bad the numbers were. Trying as best as I can to be okay with those numbers and I’m actually happy to report that I’m handling it a lot better than I would have a few months ago. I’m shocked they changed so rapidly but I’m not mad at myself.

Morning: Lemon ginger honey water and celery juice and then ran out the door to vote.

Lunch: Brown rice noodles with broccoli, spinach, and scrambled tofu coated in a coconut milk peanut sauce topped with fresh cilantro. A bit too salty because I added a touch too much tamari but it was extremely satisfying to bite into 😋

Dessert: pumpkin bread

Exercise: Ab day with my friend over videochat :) Again, it’s really nice to see progress! It’s amazing how much easier the exercises get after just a week or two or consistent effort. My neck is significantly less tired now with ab workouts.

Dinner: LOL this looks horrible but it’s mashed potato with assorted veggies tossed in that maple glaze I love. I definitely need to serve my food in my bigger bowls—I get hungry so quickly afterwards if I use the small bowls. This never used to be the case but I suppose I’ve been working out more and eating more veggies, so the quantity of food should clearly increase as well. I had a banana afterwards and then some popcorn later on.

Lemon balm tea: check!

xx

#blogilates #90 day journey

[maraschinosherries]

Day 17

Morning: Definitely did not feel like celery juice again this morning--ran into the same issue with waking up hungry in the morning. I really need to make sure I eat more during the day (more high quality foods, that is. I still haven’t been taking pics of the bad foods that I’ve been eating :( and trust me there are a lot). I forget to log them too ugh I’m getting lazy with blogging throughout the day and recording accurately. Only lemon ginger water this morning.

Breakfast: Honeycrisp apple, banana, and a slice of pumpkin bread with peanut butter. Tasty!

Lunch: Tteokbokki leftovers from last night, then met a friend outside for a stroll and we split an everything bagel with lox cream cheese. Absolutely divine. And then we passed a DD so I stopped in to get that ghost pepper donut to see what all the hype is. Disappointed there but hey, a donut is a donut.

Snack: Assorted raw veggies (green beans, carrots, tomatoes) and a “queso sauce” from the Medical Medium. The consistency is pretty on but it tastes essentially like a tomato soup of sorts.

Exercise: Leg day! I got through the entire freaking workout again without stopping! I was really impressed with myself--it’s so rewarding to be able to see progress in my strength. Today was also the first day I’ve worn lipstick since the pre-COVID era. Not sure why I felt compelled to do it, but I rolled with it.

Dinner: Veggie soup and more steamed brussels sprouts. Then I had some chicken tenders and fries... and a shake from Shake Shack. Today will be better!!! My gut is so unhappy and bloated :( I can also feel that my joints are a bit swollen--my knuckles feel gross and fat and slightly achey. It’s pretty remarkable how quickly this happens for me. I really need to be more careful.

I promise to myself that I will stick to fruits and vegetables tomorrow, as well as the full 64oz of water that I’ve been neglecting.

xx

#blogilates #90 day journey