Did I ever mention that I signed up with a gym this month? I think I meant it for the launch post of my health blog but it hasn’t materialized until now. So there, I signed up and then cancelled in 7 days. I used it for a week and a half, and could use it until this weekend, but I’ve been too busy for anything else. But I didn’t cancel because I was busy. I cancelled because my membership was only good for the ABS club, and since I’d be moving to a new workplace soon, it will no longer be convenient for me.
Too bad, in the week and a half I went there, I felt good. And my tummy seemed to deflate a bit, haha. Now it’s almost back to how it was before. Lol. I feel a bit bad about the trainer helping me out too. He keeps texting me to follow up when I’m coming back. Too bad. I just can’t afford the monthly payments, and I know I need a trainer to keep going otherwise all I’ll be doing is cardio and probably not even the way I should be doing it.
But not too worry, since I still need to lose weight fast, the healthy way of course, I’m determined to scout for another club to join once I get settled in at my new job. No, I won’t wait until my proby period is over (that would be toooooo long to wait), just after the first week maybe. Haha. And the boyfriend promises to go gym hunting with me because he’s finally convinced he needs it too. Him going the gym would be a first, and definitely something to watch out for. Lol!
It would have been wonderful to keep up with the gym sessions this month and lose a bit more weight and inches in time for a friend’s wedding coming up before November ends, but that was not the case. I still have a few weeks to diet and exercise on my own, I guess.
I wish I could claim that this was among the rolls I baked last night, but it’s not. It’s a classic cinnamon roll from our Cinnabon carb fix from two weeks ago. When you’re near a Cinnabon branch, you will definitely know it. The aroma of freshly baked rolls will definitely get you hooked. Specially at the Trinoma branch where it’s right smack in the middle of some of our favorite shops. You can smell the yummy cinnamon from a floor down.
My favorite from Cinnabon is the chocolate minibon, although now I find it a tad too sweet:
This is so rich, what with the cinnamon, plus the chocolate, and then the glaze. MmmMMMMmmMMmmm! Haha.
We also tried something new on this visit, their new Twist (forgot the full name), and the dulce (if I remember correctly). I liked the latter very much.
The new product Twist is a little too flaky and tough for me. I like my breads soft. The dulce are little bite-sized pieces of heaven. 🙂 Eating this much white bread makes me want to go on a crash diet asap and deprive myself. NOT! I did stay away from food that evening though.
I really was supposed to make cinnamon rolls last night, but found out that the pack of yeast I have in the pantry is already expired. Aw.
A little off topic, but have you guys heard of apple cider vinegar as promoting weight loss? I remember back in highschool mom used to make me this juice with apple cider vinegar. It’s not your normal sweet juice, but I did like having a drink everyday. It’s supposed to be a colon cleanser and also promotes general good health. I just don’t remember how many parts water and apple cider go together for a good combo.
The Biggest Loser Asia Season 2 premiered last night at Diva Universal (formerly the Hallmark channel).
We like watching it, my mom, dad and I, because you get to pick up some weight loss tips. The show’s really quite inspiring for people like me who struggle to lose weight. They’re definitely bigger than me, but they manage to exercise! I just wish I had the trainer to keep pushing me, and the kitchen crew to make sure I ate nothing but healthy food too. 🙂
The show’s website also has resources to help those of us at home who would like to lose weight. There are tips, and an online club. From there you’d also find a way to sign up for a 7-day free trial for a Fitness First club near you. There’s one in our office building, in fact, I used to go there many many years ago. It’s just a tad too expensive and not very effective for me without a trainer.
The show’s premiere would have been a good time to launch my health blog. Oh well, too late for that now.
I just had one. A bad carb weekend. I’ve stuffed my body full of bad carbs. White rice, and pasta. Ugh.
Winging it with a pseudo-South Beach Diet isn’t working for me. I really need a meal plan, and I should go grocery shopping for the kind of food that should surround me. I’d been eating rice with my meals (just a few spoonfuls, but it’s still rice) and I’ve had a few bowls of elbow macaroni pasta. Hay. The family can’t be blamed really, it is not their responsibility that they make all these bad carbs available. No one forced me to eat those. Haha.
It seems that being in the office, or out at the mall, makes it easier to eat healthy. Odd, but true. I’ve always imagined that being outside would mean exposing myself to temptation, but I guess it’s been awesome that there are just a lot of alternative eating places now that offers healthier alternatives. There are the sandwiches as Starbucks on whole wheat bread, the salads at Gram’s too. And recently, a new store opened at The Loop: Refresher’s
This store is green! They have packed greens and you choose what dressing goes with it (included in the price, unless you choose a premium dressing). If you want more than just greens, they have a nice selection of ingredients like egg, cheese, ham, etc. I get a very filling pack of yummy salad here for 90 pesos. If I wanted to save a little, I’d limit myself to only two extra ingredients.
So let’s back up, you pick a pack of greens, choose your toppings, choose the dressing. Then the staff tosses them all together for you.
You can then enjoy your salad at The Loop, or bring it home. I wonder though if the greens would wilt if I take one around lunch time but eat it at night? Hmm. They also have set salads, meaning they’ve chosen the topping already. There’s nicoise, weight watchers (or something), among others. I tried the tuna nicoise once and it had olives and peas in it which I don’t normally add to my salads. It was good.
They also sell salad dressing in bottles, and some sandwich spreads too. No added preservatives. They have coffee grounds too, some veggie chips, and potted herbs.
Last week, I walked from the office to the Digiprint outlet in Morato (I had a roll of film processed, see my Lomo and Toy Camera Photography post for the results). It wasn’t really that far, but because I was wearing my high heels (the same one I put on at Mayeen’s wedding), I felt that I needed to take a break at this nice place, HalfMoon Cafe. I noticed a long time ago that they seemed to have merged with the breakfast place I Have Two Eggs, but we hadn’t been there in a long time, years really. Since I needed to lay off my feet for a while and my stomach was grumbling, I went in.
It turned out to be a very good decision, I had found another place to satisfy my salad cravings.
This salad is really good! It had strips of beef tapa, eggs, croutons, mangoes that weren’t sour, tomatoes and greens. The house dressing was good too. I had coffee, and I proudly shunned from the chocolate bibingcrepe in the menu. haha!
I think it’s wonderful that more and more places are offering Halo or Splenda without one having to ask for it. Is it more expensive for coffee shops to stock on this sugar substitute than refined sugar? I guess so. It’s sad though because outside HalfMoon it says that they have Roti bread. When I asked the waiter, he said that because they’re merging with the other restaurant, the asian café offerings were no longer available. What’s left is only the bibingcrepes. Oh, those are sinful!
Anyway, as soon as I stepped out of HalfMoon, I felt my feet start to hurt again. There were tricycles just across the road waiting to take me to where I was going but I was determined to walk my way to Morato circle. I didn’t stop to eat and then just give up, did I? So I made the trip and took a couple of snapshots using Pinky. I hope the shot of the boy scouts’ memorial comes out good.
Okay, here are the last food photos for today. This is from our last meal at Kenny Roger’s Roasters at SM North:
Healthy, no? But, I’ll have to confess that we couldn’t resist the new desserts that the waitress was offering. I just had to try their new pannacotta and crème brûlée!
It was my first time to try crème brûlée, it’s a lot like leche flan pala but less sweet, and with the torched sugar on top. Incidentally, P-Dub published her crème brûlée recipe on PW Cooks. You have to go checkout that recipe, you’d know why I so want to make crème brûlée! I don’t care about having to do SBD phase one all over again if it means I can make this and have it too before the strict phase. Haha 🙂 Go see the recipe!
