It's Ok Thursday: Living 5AM-10PM

Monday: No time for all this. It's okay to have a busy, packed day. Better than not.

Tuesday: I bought my plane ticket to the Blend Retreat! Waiting to hear about work before I buy my plane ticket to San Francisco for spring break... It's okay to plan trip after trip.

Wednesday: Alarm. Insanity. It's okay - the instructors/coaches there wake up this early and they work all day/evening! Wonder if they take naps though.

Second intro to CrossFit class. It's okay to be scared. I haven't been scared in a long time.

Scratch that 9:25 alarm - I'm at yoga. Might as well since I was awake. Sadly, I was so fatigued from BodyPump on Tuesday.  It's okay to modify chaturangas (on my knees) even at this stage of my yoga practice.

Tomorrow is my first real CrossFit class. I like the element of surprise but was too curious about my first WOD. Doable.

It's not yet 10 and I'm ready for bed. Another 5 AM wake up call and 10:30-7:30 work schedule Thursday and Friday. Yikes.

Have you tried CrossFit or a WOD?

WIAW: Eat more food

Deal! 99 cents each. The Mamma Mia is my favorite and tastes like pizza!

Finally splurged and got the Chobani Bite. Not bad but not worth all the hype. I can't wait to try the Flip though.

Also at Target, Kidz Zone Perfect in yellow cupcake. The bar is pretty small but dense and pretty good. Not good enough to be on my regular rotation.

Janetha and everyone else has suggested Trader Joe's coconut chips. How could they be so good? Well, they are. Only 2 servings per bag?! I ate this in 2 days.

Another new recipe: Tone It Up Girl's banana bread bars for National Banana Bread Day were so good!

Oldies but goodies: more pumpkin "cheesecake" mousse with Fiber One sprinkled on top.

Sushi salad with tuna

Can't get enough carrots - how about a 5 pound bag?!

Oatmeal protein pancakes forever and ever

My favorite Larabar

More fish

Waking up at 5 A.M. requires some midday chocolate. Fair trade of course.

After work frozen yogurt from Icicles, and spotted this crazy flavor. I sampled it.

In the end, I went with my favorite flavors, Only 8 peanut butter and cookies and cream. Yum.

Whew, I ate/eat a lot. Off to yoga since I'm up so early.

What is new on your menu this week?

MIMM: Balboa Island, Seal Beach, Long Beach Day Trips

Early morning boot camp - I honestly love waking up for class on Saturday. Today we had a sub, the same instructor I had for a dance class last night, and the class wasn't nearly as challenging.

I did notice that my leg still has scrapes and bruises from last weekend. 

My cousin wanted brunch and after being stuck in parking lots, we found a big enough local restaurant without a wait, Jon's Coffee Shoppe in Huntington Beach. We loved the old school signage and they had real turtles in their fountain.

2 cups of coffee for a person who never drinks coffee. Whew! I had some chicken sausage since I already ate my protein pancakes at home.

On the way home, I spotted a Jeep with Barney attached to the spare.

I often forget that this is my drive to work. I'm trying to make an effort to take advantage of my surrounds.

I checked out Sweet and Saucy Shop for their decadent macarons. They also had a beautiful display of full-size and mini cupcakes, small parfait-like desserts, and cookies. The shop is located across from Crystal Cove and very upscale.

Salted caramel macaron

Someone told me these were better than Sprinkles. Verdict: Not only are they better than Sprinkles, they're better than SusieCakes and of course, they're better than Casey's Cupcakes. *All located in Newport Beach.

One of my co-workers is leaving so they got her flowers. These are the most gorgeous flowers. I took a picture for (if ever) wedding inspiration, or in case anyone wants to get me flowers.

I got off work early and decided to check off one of my local to-dos, walk around Balboa Island. In addition to the strip of "downtown," there are gorgeous waterfront homes.

House gawking reminded me of walking through Charleston.

Signature Balboa Island frozen banana dipped in chocolate and cinnamon crunchies

Old school candy shop

On Sunday morning, I wanted to breakfast again. I woke up super early (6:15 A.M.) and dragged my cousin out of bed. I usually don't go out this much but wanted some fresh bread from Crema Cafe (500 reviews & 4.5 stars on Yelp!).

I chose to make an omelet with prosciutto and avocado and goat cheese. The meal came with fresh fruit or roasted potatoes and fresh bread. My cousin went with roasted potatoes and the hearty breakfast crepe (chorizo, eggs, and potatoes).

I got my coffee fix at Javatini's Espresso. A bunch of old timers were having coffee at this nice local coffee shop - always a good signal. I just got a regular coffee.

 

Afterwards, we walked on Main Street and all the way to the beach.

Seal Beach Pier

I climbed mounds of sand and dipped my feet in the ocean.

We took Highway 1 north to Long Beach.

Farmer's market at Alamitos Bay

We stopped by a cool strip of vintage shops on Cherry and 4th Streets.

 

Reminder that I missed yoga today as I was roaming around:

The rest of the day was spent relaxing: grocery shopping, painting my nails, practicing yoga to make up for missing class, and watching "The Oscars."

How do you take advantage of where you live? My former roommate asked me how often I go to the beach. Well, never, so I decided to take advantage of my surroundings. I made a list of specific day trips for whenever I have a few hours or more off.

How much I weigh(ed).

Coffee Cake and Cardio has become a must-read blog for me. I love and relate to her story - she has lost weight then gained it back and is finding her way again.  

*If you don't know my story, here's a quickie: 

I only knew how to gain and then only knew how to lose. My goal back when I was 185 pounds was to get down to a size 9 in juniors' pants. I got so excited about losing weight that I kept going because I could, and then I couldn't stop. I ended up at a 3-5 in juniors through intense exercising and food restriction. I had a combo of anorexia and exercise bulimia.

I've read Ashley's posts intently. Ashley just tried metabolic testing and found out she wasn't eating enough. I sympathize - I know I should eat more too, but professional tests and confirmation would put me at ease.

She also wrote a post called "Weight Loss Reminiscing" in which she posts her weight. Yes, the real numbers!  

I decided to do the same, which I've never ever done. I'm not shaming myself for my weight gain, but I'm realizing that I did something big: I lost weight, didn't gain it all back, and I've become a much different, more active person. Confidence came with it too!

First, what numbers don't show:

• How happy I am. I was happiest with my body at 122-123. Though, I was happy at 140-150. It's all relative. The number isn't everything.
• How in shape I am. I'm stronger than I've ever been. However, in terms of cardio, I do not have as much endurance. Part of this is due to overworking my heart - my heart rate has been under 50 for 2 years and while it's good to have a low heart rate, mine stems for a whole different situation.
• How healthy I am. I lost my period from July 2010-December 2011. That's a whole year and 6 months. I didn't think much of it either.
  

My journey in numbers, with notes:

• Spring 2008 - 185 
• At my heaviest on a 5'3 frame. I never cooked and just ate fast food. I didn't work out a day in my life.
• Winter 2008-2009 - 160  
• Worked a lot at the high school, went to classes, hung out with friends, and still ate.
• Summer 2009 - 150  
• Graduation summer when Yancey and I worked out 2-3 days/week. We drank a lot and went out till morning. Craziest summer ever.
• Fall 2009 - 140 
• Lost this weight from student teaching. I ate only lunch sometimes at school or after school from Subway or Taco Bell's Fresco menu.
• Spring 2010 - 125-130 
• I was at a good point in my life. I didn't work out often - maybe 3-4 days/week and hung out with friends. We partied and drank a lot.
  
• Summer 2010 - 111-118  
• I worked out 5-6 hours per day and sometimes more. No joke. And I wasn't eating more than 1000 calories. Ever. I fit into junior size 3-5.
• Fall 2011 - 135  
• Still working out 2 hours per day and not eating enough.
• Winter 2011-2012 - 140-145 
• Cut back working out to 1 hour/day. Not eating enough though probably.
• Summer 2012 - 145-150
• Yikes, what happened here?! I worked at the fair at night. During the day, I worked out a lot and hiked, which was about 2 hours/day of exercise + lots of standing/walking at work. Picked at junk at work sometimes.
• Spring 2013 - 140  
• Eating at least 1200 calories. Working out no more than 1 hour/day and stopped using calorie counting app. Hanging out with people a lot more frequently. 

All that said and done, I do have goals. With all the hard work I put in, I do want to look good too.

• Goal #1 - 135
• Goal #2 - 130 
• Goal #3 - 125

Putting this in prospective, I noticed that I just want to lose 15 pounds. Though it's quite a bit on a 5'3 frame, in the whole scheme of things (life), that's not very much to stress over. 

I should also mention that I've been teetering around 140 for awhile now. Except for a bizarre month or two in the summer of 2012, I've been at 140 for a year... and I fit into those size 9 juniors' pants I had always hoped to wiggle into.

WIAW: Sick day yoga, snacks, & TV

After the mud run, I took a couple of days for active rest. I practiced yoga Sunday and fell down in side crow pose then proceeded to laugh it off. On Monday, I did PiYo, attempted to work, and got sent home and Tuesday, I went to the gym in the evening for 10 minutes on the stair climber before a power yoga class.

Yoga is awesome. Sure, you don't have to do it or some of these other 51 things. I know quite a few people who are active and do everything but yoga.

A lot of people I know started practicing yoga due to an injury. I did. I wasn't really injured but knew I needed to stretch more. Not only did I realize that yoga was stretching, I built strength!

Fortunately for me, I already had a lot of training in place. Yes, all that cross training does help with running as well as yoga. Plus, I have short legs and longer arms... and I'm a short Asian girl. Don't even try to Google that, it comes up with disturbing results. What I mean by being "short" and "Asian" is that, for some reason, yogis who are short and Asian next to me end up being pretty flexible to begin.

Balance is my thang. Yep. I love those poses. I also enjoy anything bendy. I can't fly much and today was first day I did a headstand. Ever.

Onto the eats... mostly snacks.
Only 8 peanut butter froyo is a complete win for a scratchy throat. Right?

Breakfast: baked chocolate coconut banana protein mini pancakes

Oh Trader Joe's, you never cease to surprise me. This is the best hummus ever though it does leave a lingering taste in my mouth.

Pumpkin "cheesecake" mousse is back!

As for veggies, I've converted! I'm now a carrot lover. I used to only enjoy them super soft but now eat them raw.

 

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I watched lots and lots of "Basketball Wives." I started watching the show because the former basketball lover in me loves All-Star Weekend and Michael Jordan turned 50! What?!

(source)

Okay, and truth be told, I love bad reality shows like "Flavor of Love" and "I Love New York."

Knowing that it's rainy again, which is pretty much like snowing for us here in California, I will be watching more shows and attacking some of these to dos.

What type of yoga do you enjoy? I like it hot, and power yoga!
Have you ever changed your mind about a food? Coconut and mustard are now favorites of mine. I hated them as a child.
What was your first reality TV show? Mine must have been "Making the Band" with O-Town!
What types of reality shows do you like? I was into "America's Most Smartest Model," "Love in the Wild" season 2, and "The Ultimate Fighter." I do/did not watch "American Idol," "Lost," "Big Brother," "The Real World," "The Amazing Race," etc. I only watched "The O.C." years later.