Camy Tang's Blog, page 128
May 24, 2012
Tips for saving time
Right after blogging about limiting my online time, I found this article on SparkPeople.com with tips on how to reduce time wasters during the day.
Some of it is common sense, but others are good reminders, like setting rules for checking email, and going grocery shopping only once a week. Right now we go twice a week because we often forget to think of what to make for lunch for college Bible study until a couple days before, but we could certainly think ahead and go shopping all at once.
Any other tips you have for saving time?
Some of it is common sense, but others are good reminders, like setting rules for checking email, and going grocery shopping only once a week. Right now we go twice a week because we often forget to think of what to make for lunch for college Bible study until a couple days before, but we could certainly think ahead and go shopping all at once.
Any other tips you have for saving time?
TMI warning: Two steps backwards
I should have known it would happen, that I’d had too many “good” days, but yesterday I completely binged on sugar and carbs. I mean, SERIOUSLY binged.
SparkPeople.com gave me a daily calorie range of 1200 to 1550 calories a day, and I had been doing pretty good for almost 4 weeks in keeping my calorie intake to around 1300 calories a day, mostly through eating more slowly and changing my food choices and portions through looking at my nutrition tracker on SparkPeople.com.
I only had one day where I went over the maximum (I ate 1800 calories that day) and only three days where I went up to my maximum of 1550 calories. The rest of the time for the past 27 days, I’ve been at 1300 calories a day, so I guess only four days of straying is a really good thing.
But then yesterday I was simply DYING for sugar and carbs. I’d never felt a craving like it in the entire 4 weeks I’ve been tracking my food. I had been really good at staying within the carb range that SparkPeople gave me, even keeping to the low side most days, and I hadn’t craved any sort of sugar or carbs at all for a month.
But yesterday, the carb monster came roaring out of me and I downed half a bag of tortilla chips and 8 cookies that I had thought were rather sweet only the week before. Yesterday, they didn’t taste too sweet at all. In fact, they tasted pretty darn good.
So in my efforts for full disclosure, I ate over my maximum calorie count by 900 calories. Yes, you read that right. That is the equivalent of 9 miles running. Very hard.
Ai-yai-yai. Why do I always do this? I must have a latent self-sabotage hormone that fluctuates with my period.
But no, I am not going to self-flagellate myself. It happened, I will get over it (and maybe go for a slightly longer run, although it will not burn off 900 extra calories).
What kind of scares me is how intense my carb cravings were yesterday. I had thought that keeping in a healthy carb range every day would make those cravings go away forever. Before, when I was training for the Honolulu Marathon and I had eaten too few carbs for the amount I needed for my running, I didn’t have a craving for sugar, I just felt muscle-tired. So I don’t necessarily think the craving yesterday was my body telling me I needed more carbs.
Oh well. Pardon me, I’m going for a run.
SparkPeople.com gave me a daily calorie range of 1200 to 1550 calories a day, and I had been doing pretty good for almost 4 weeks in keeping my calorie intake to around 1300 calories a day, mostly through eating more slowly and changing my food choices and portions through looking at my nutrition tracker on SparkPeople.com.
I only had one day where I went over the maximum (I ate 1800 calories that day) and only three days where I went up to my maximum of 1550 calories. The rest of the time for the past 27 days, I’ve been at 1300 calories a day, so I guess only four days of straying is a really good thing.
But then yesterday I was simply DYING for sugar and carbs. I’d never felt a craving like it in the entire 4 weeks I’ve been tracking my food. I had been really good at staying within the carb range that SparkPeople gave me, even keeping to the low side most days, and I hadn’t craved any sort of sugar or carbs at all for a month.
But yesterday, the carb monster came roaring out of me and I downed half a bag of tortilla chips and 8 cookies that I had thought were rather sweet only the week before. Yesterday, they didn’t taste too sweet at all. In fact, they tasted pretty darn good.
So in my efforts for full disclosure, I ate over my maximum calorie count by 900 calories. Yes, you read that right. That is the equivalent of 9 miles running. Very hard.
Ai-yai-yai. Why do I always do this? I must have a latent self-sabotage hormone that fluctuates with my period.
But no, I am not going to self-flagellate myself. It happened, I will get over it (and maybe go for a slightly longer run, although it will not burn off 900 extra calories).
What kind of scares me is how intense my carb cravings were yesterday. I had thought that keeping in a healthy carb range every day would make those cravings go away forever. Before, when I was training for the Honolulu Marathon and I had eaten too few carbs for the amount I needed for my running, I didn’t have a craving for sugar, I just felt muscle-tired. So I don’t necessarily think the craving yesterday was my body telling me I needed more carbs.
Oh well. Pardon me, I’m going for a run.
The (slightly odd) traits of a book collector
I was reading a book on my Nook the other day,
Blue Like Jazz
, which we’re going through in the college Bible study my husband and I are leading. After I finished the two chapters I needed to read before this coming week’s Bible study, I went to my Nook library.
I must have spent a good 10 minutes just browsing through my Nook library, looking at all my lovely books, most of which I haven’t read yet, feeling such joy just to have them ready to read anytime I want (assuming I actually have time to read them all--at this point, I might have more books than I can physically read in my lifetime).
I kept seeing a cover and thinking, Oh, I forgot I had that book! How wonderful I have it!
Then I took a step back and looked at what I was doing. I see nothing wrong with it, but Captain Caffeine would probably roll his eyes at me, mostly because he’s not a book collector. (Actually, he’s not really a collector of anything, unless it’s empty boxes that he can’t get himself to throw away. :)
Does anybody else relate to my love of having all these books????
I must have spent a good 10 minutes just browsing through my Nook library, looking at all my lovely books, most of which I haven’t read yet, feeling such joy just to have them ready to read anytime I want (assuming I actually have time to read them all--at this point, I might have more books than I can physically read in my lifetime).
I kept seeing a cover and thinking, Oh, I forgot I had that book! How wonderful I have it!
Then I took a step back and looked at what I was doing. I see nothing wrong with it, but Captain Caffeine would probably roll his eyes at me, mostly because he’s not a book collector. (Actually, he’s not really a collector of anything, unless it’s empty boxes that he can’t get himself to throw away. :)
Does anybody else relate to my love of having all these books????
May 23, 2012
Amusement park or coffee shop?
Captain Caffeine said, “There’s a new Transformers ride at Universal Studios down in Los Angeles.”
Me: “I think I’m getting too old for that stuff. I don’t get a good enough Return On Investment.”
Captain: “What do you mean?”
Me: “Before, I used to love roller coasters. I didn’t mind paying the park fee and waiting two hours in line for each ride. Now, it’s just not worth it to me anymore. Those are two hours of my life I’ll never get back.”
Captain: “What if you went with your friends and you guys could talk while you’re in line?”
Me: “But it’s hot. Why would I want to spend money to stand in a hot line with lots of people when I could instead spend money to be in a coffee shop with my friends, or go have High Tea somewhere and talk there? I’d be in air conditioning and get scones and Devonshire cream.”
Captain (thoughtfully): “You have a point.”
What do you think? Amusement park or coffee shop? What floats your boat at your stage in life?
Me: “I think I’m getting too old for that stuff. I don’t get a good enough Return On Investment.”
Captain: “What do you mean?”
Me: “Before, I used to love roller coasters. I didn’t mind paying the park fee and waiting two hours in line for each ride. Now, it’s just not worth it to me anymore. Those are two hours of my life I’ll never get back.”
Captain: “What if you went with your friends and you guys could talk while you’re in line?”
Me: “But it’s hot. Why would I want to spend money to stand in a hot line with lots of people when I could instead spend money to be in a coffee shop with my friends, or go have High Tea somewhere and talk there? I’d be in air conditioning and get scones and Devonshire cream.”
Captain (thoughtfully): “You have a point.”
What do you think? Amusement park or coffee shop? What floats your boat at your stage in life?
A Voucher to Almack’s
Many of you know I’m a huge fan of Regency romances, and I recently came across this photo of an actual voucher to that elite social club, Almack’s.
I think that’s totally cool! I think one day I’d like to write a Regency under a pseudonym.
I think that’s totally cool! I think one day I’d like to write a Regency under a pseudonym.
Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter!!!!!
I absolutely love this spread! I’m so glad Captain Caffeine gave in to impulse and bought it.
It’s a spread made with crushed biscuits (cookies) that has the consistency of Nutella but tastes kind of like gingerbread. I spread it on some of the ciabatta I’m working through and it’s AMAZING! It’s warm and comforting but not too sweet. I love it!
I had it with a special limited-edition tea called White Christmas by Lupicia teas: black tea with white chocolate and apricots. It’s totally delish.
That adorable cup and dessert plate was a gift from my Aunty Janet and the tiny stainless steel teaspoon was from an old set from my Grandma, so that’s quite a homey photo. :)
May 22, 2012
Solar Eclipse photos
I forgot to post these yesterday (because I know you’re all just waiting with baited breath to see these).
Here’s the photo of the eclipse through a pinprick in a piece of cardboard:
Captain Caffeine had read that you can also view the eclipse through a pair of binoculars, so he got his out and we looked at the eclipse projected onto the side of the house wall. Cute, huh?
Here’s the photo of the eclipse through a pinprick in a piece of cardboard:
Captain Caffeine had read that you can also view the eclipse through a pair of binoculars, so he got his out and we looked at the eclipse projected onto the side of the house wall. Cute, huh?
I’m such a sucker for buy-one-get-one-free sales.
Especially when it’s artisan bread!!!!!!! They had a sale at Nob Hill and so I came home with 4 breads, plus the loaf of Nob Hill Dutch Crunch bread I’d gone to get.
I got a ciabatta, a three-cheese loaf, a pugliese, and cheese ciabatta rolls. Yummo! I actually decided to freeze the last 3 and am now eating the ciabatta. I’ll thaw them when I’m done with the ciabatta. :)
Anyone else love bread almost as much as me????
And isn’t it ironic I’m blogging about bread right after blogging about tracking my food intake? But I’ve been really good about recording my bread intake, too. :)
I got a ciabatta, a three-cheese loaf, a pugliese, and cheese ciabatta rolls. Yummo! I actually decided to freeze the last 3 and am now eating the ciabatta. I’ll thaw them when I’m done with the ciabatta. :)
Anyone else love bread almost as much as me????
And isn’t it ironic I’m blogging about bread right after blogging about tracking my food intake? But I’ve been really good about recording my bread intake, too. :)
Tracking my food intake changes the way I eat
Tracking my food takes more time than I’d like, especially if the database doesn’t have the food I’m looking for (like black bean sauce shrimp) or if the food item lists portions as a “serving” (WHAT THE HECK IS A SERVING???).
But it’s been good because often I’ll see what I need to eat to hit my target ranges. For example, most of the time I’ll look and see that I need to eat more protein for the day, so sometimes I’ll choose cheese instead of a biscuit at tea time. Or if I’m high on my fat range, I’ll be careful to go low fat for dinner.
I’ve also noticed that when I know I need to track my food, I start to change how I eat food. I start thinking, “I need to eat only about 1/2 cup of rice” or I’ll weigh that slice of bread (yes I know that’s kind of freaky anal) or I’ll use a measuring cup when I scoop out soup to reheat. It just makes it easier for me to record my food later, because otherwise I’m really guessing at how much I ate.
But I recently read this article on SparkPeople about how a study showed that if you track your food, you might end up losing twice the weight than if you didn’t track your food. Makes sense to me, especially in light of how I’ve been changing my food choices during the day if I’m aware of where I’m falling in terms of my nutritional ranges.
Who else out there tracks your food? And if you’ve lost weight, do you still track your food to maintain your weight?
But it’s been good because often I’ll see what I need to eat to hit my target ranges. For example, most of the time I’ll look and see that I need to eat more protein for the day, so sometimes I’ll choose cheese instead of a biscuit at tea time. Or if I’m high on my fat range, I’ll be careful to go low fat for dinner.
I’ve also noticed that when I know I need to track my food, I start to change how I eat food. I start thinking, “I need to eat only about 1/2 cup of rice” or I’ll weigh that slice of bread (yes I know that’s kind of freaky anal) or I’ll use a measuring cup when I scoop out soup to reheat. It just makes it easier for me to record my food later, because otherwise I’m really guessing at how much I ate.
But I recently read this article on SparkPeople about how a study showed that if you track your food, you might end up losing twice the weight than if you didn’t track your food. Makes sense to me, especially in light of how I’ve been changing my food choices during the day if I’m aware of where I’m falling in terms of my nutritional ranges.
Who else out there tracks your food? And if you’ve lost weight, do you still track your food to maintain your weight?
May 21, 2012
Trying to limit Facebook and Twitter time
There have been lots of articles on Facebook since they went public, and there have been a few about people who deliberately refuse to get or re-up their Facebook profiles, for various reasons. Some of them don’t want to do it because it ended up sucking too much of their time.
I don’t think I could NOT be on Facebook or Twitter, but the articles have been making me more aware of how much time I’m on social media. I need to be a good steward of my time.
The other day, I spent half a hour just browsing around on Facebook. While that’s not necessarily bad, if I’m on Facebook when I should be working, that’s wasting the gift of writing full-time that God has given to me.
So I’m trying to be more conscious of my Facebook and Twitter time and trying to limit it to once or twice a day. Let’s see if I can do it!
I don’t think I could NOT be on Facebook or Twitter, but the articles have been making me more aware of how much time I’m on social media. I need to be a good steward of my time.
The other day, I spent half a hour just browsing around on Facebook. While that’s not necessarily bad, if I’m on Facebook when I should be working, that’s wasting the gift of writing full-time that God has given to me.
So I’m trying to be more conscious of my Facebook and Twitter time and trying to limit it to once or twice a day. Let’s see if I can do it!
