Meal

Mind Your Body on Thursday had this article on eating many small meals a day and why it does not help to loose more weight than a typical 3 meals a day. The typical meal for most people is breakfast, lunch and dinner. However, the latest fad is the several small meals (usually 6) a days. The idea behind this is that the frequent meal will stimulates the metabolism and burn more calories as opposed to the 3 main meals.

I don't know about which is better but being typically kiasu, I combined the two together and ended up with this daily meal routine:

6.30am - A sandwich and a kopi-o kosong
9.00am - A cup of bean flower water er I mean soya bean and another sandwich or a piece of kueh from the hawker centre
11.30am - A piece of fruit
1.30 pm - Lunch (usually 2 bowls of porridge with 3 side dishes or thunder tea rice or sliced fish soup with rice) Very boring hor?
5.00 pm - 2 or 3 pieces of fruit including 1 banana
8.30 pm - Dinner (usually home cooked; rice with whatever Mum cooks)
9.30 pm - Fruits
10.30 pm - Lots of mixed nuts; cranberries; raisins or chocolate or ice cream (depending on whatever is available; usually have one or more)

And that is for weekdays. Weekend is free for all which means pizza, noodles, burgers and whatever nice.

So a lot or not? Sounds like a lot but believe it or not, even though I have been eating roughly along this line for the past few years I have not put on much weight even though I really wanted to. Maybe it is due to my daily exercise regime? Maybe I burned more calories than I take in? Cont'd here:

Diet Plans

There are all sort of diet plans. In fact, the list is mind boggling. Expensive even weird but most of them not workable. May be it is determination or the lack of it but most time it is because the plans are so troublesome and difficult to adhere to that most weight watchers simply give up halfway.

Like the Cambridge Diet which was personally endorsed by the then CEO of Income, Tan Kin Lian and sold at the Fairprice supermarket. Who in the world can endure such low calorie intake?

Then there are the more famous diet like the Atkins diet which is a low carb high fat diet plan; the Zone diet and the South Beach Diet. While all these seem effective enough with its make sense plan, it is complicated like hell to follow.

Of course, there are easier options like popping pills or taking those appetite suppressing supplements or meal replacement thingy but these come with risk, like the Andrea De Cruz's case.

So why am I rambling away about diet? Do I need one? Possibly if I continue with my current low rate of exercise and high intake of food. Or is it because I looked like a 'bak chiang' when I tried on a tri-top recently?

Nah.. although my weight has indeed been creeping up slowly (from 74 at the beginning of the year to 79 now), it is still no cause for alarm, yet.

But was reading this article in the Reader Digest and there was a feature about Mark Bittman and his Simple till Six plan. Note that I don't use the word diet because there is no diet. It is to put simply a rather sensible eating plan where nothing is forbidden. Now this is what can be a healthy and successful way to loose weight. Try it out if you are planning to lose weight!

NB: I am not paid or have been asked to endorse the Simple till Six plan or any other plan. I am just a kaypoh who busy body who likes to look out for things to share. Also because run out of things to post this week:)

No Meat Day

While on the way to work yesterday, out of the blue, have this insane thought that I have been having too much red meat in my daily diet and decided this was the day to do something about it. So resolved henceforth to reduce my intake of red meat starting from the same day by having a no red meat day at least once a week.

So the food I took for the day:

Breakfast = Cup of black coffee w/o sugar, egg mayo sandwich
Morning snack = 1 cup less sugar soya drink & 1 fragrant pear
Lunch = Thunder Tea rice (the greeny soupy thing taste horrible!)
Afternoon tea = Chinese tea and 1 banana
Pre dinner snack = 1 apple
Dinner = (was going to be tricky since it was communal and Mum cooks for everybody but fortunately it was) fish, vege, fried egg with the small ikan bilis and pork rib/carrot soup = so took everything except left the pork rib alone but dammed it look so tempting!
After Dinner = 1 banana & 1 pear
Supper = 4 cups green tea & 4 homemade (by Alicia) milo cookies

Talking of pork, while having lunch was sitting next to this lady who was eating a mean looking dish of pig trotter. Was wondering where she ordered it since wasn't aware there was a stall selling it. And then discovered that it was the fish soup stall! A fish soup stall that sell braised ter kar......... hmmmm must go try it out...