Well would you look at that.. 2 months later.

I will admit that in between my last post until about 4 days ago, I didn't really keep up with the diet. That's not to say I ate everything under the sun either. Needless to say, we're back where we started.

I'm now trying to eat something small every 1-2 hours, which includes:

• yogurt (chobani or danactive)
• a smoothie: greek yogurt, soymilk, fruit
• hard boiled egg
• 1/2 a sandwich with hummos and meat on it
• carots + hummos, or guacamole (made from scratch)
• celery + peanut butter

Today was the Thursday communal lunch. I had 8 pieces of sushi including eel, salmon, white tuna and mackerel. I still feel hungry though.. so I'm going to have a yogurt.

I'm going to keep up with this, this time. Until the next time kiddos..

It's 5:50 and I'm staring at Pictures of Food.

Can you say - need more daal soup?

Day 7.

Ended yesterday on a pretty good. Didn't make it to the gym for round II though, but went to bed at 11 PM.

Dinner on Day 6:

• 1 Tandoori Chicken slider: marinated chicken for 4 days in plain yogurt and tandoori spices. Cooked on the stove. Had a slider sized white bun with a piece of chicken inside.
• Homemade wheat pita chips: cut wheat pita into triangles and broiled for about 10 minutes. Rubbed fresh garlic on them and ate with baba ghannouj.
• Rest of the chicken breast w/baba ghannouj
• Peppermint bark: about the size of 1/2 a business card

Breakfast today:

• Coffee + milk + amaretto creamer
• Breakfast sandwich: egg white & cheese on a croissant

Lunch:

• 2 Rice cakes (35 cal each)
• Daal soup
• Chobani Yogurt
• Orange

Hitting the gym tonight and will update with deets later!

Day 6: Ta-da! Back in Action, Baby.

Woke up feeling refreshed as ever, despite my heating problem.

It's been almost 5 months now, and I still can't figure out how the hell radiators work in my 1700's apartment. D(SD*&@($JSODJSODJ.

I digress (thank you Sabina for fixing my misuse of verbage).

Last night for dinner I devoured a nice mound of goat curry, with a side of rice.. and by side, I mean about 1/2 a cup of cooked rice. It was delicious.

I woke up this morning at 8:15 and hit the gym for some cardio:

• 35 minutes on treadmill. Ran 2.5 miles, started off at a brisk walk at 4.0-4.5 MPH and did a slight sprint at 6.0 MPH. 
• Wind down stretch

I'm going to try and go for round II tonight at the gym, with M.. nice bonding time..

Breakfast:

• 1 cup Cinnamon Cheerios
• 1.25 cups 2% milk
• 1/2 banana before workout
• coffee + milk + dash of creamer

Lunch:

Spring salad with kidney beans, cucumbers, tomato, and tandoori chicken,  tossed in vinaigrette (about 40 cals) and sprinkle of feta.

Days 4 & 5

Saturday:

Woke up and went to a local diner, wanted to eat some meat. Lunch:

• burger without the bread
• sweet potato fries (about 6-7 pieces)
• chipotle sauce

Dinner:

• chappli kabob: I have a recipe for these round little delectable nibblets. You need:
• ground beef
• Shaan masala: Chappli kabob (get from your local indian grocery)
• salt, pepper to taste
• garam masala (again, indian store)
• tomato, onion, cilantro
• chili powder
• FRESH ginger
• use about 1/2 of the shaan masala, depending on how much spice you want and how much beef you're using. chop up the tomatos, cilantro, ginger, and onions into small pieces and mix with the beef as well. form into little meatballs on the palm of your hand (about the size of a golfball) and smash flat. cook on the stove until thoroughly cooked. serve with plain yogurt.
• roasted eggplant w/yogurt sauce
• use a small chopper/blender to mix greek yogurt with garlic and cilantro and spread on top of roasted eggplaint

Sunday:

• no breakfast or lunch
• dinner: goat curry with 1/2 naan

I didn't go to the gym this weekend either. 

Days 3, 4. The Pizza Trip-Up.

Like an alcoholic in rehabilitation, I couldn't give up that easily.

M is looking forward to this post, he's been harassing me for days now. (And he has proof this actually happened, but more about that later).

Friday night at Helmand's Afghani food was great. Good company, great healthy food.. and no carbs!

We wound down the night with good friends, laughter and celebration. It was around 2 AM that I decided I was back to being 19 years old, hitting up High Street in Columbus looking for gyros and fries at Buckeye Donuts.

So, I ended up eating 3 pieces of pizza.

At the 24 hour market down the street. This was only 1 of 2 places I wound up that night.

But I did have a touching story to tell you (not that I'm taking away the focus on my pig out session)..

We walked into a random pizza place in Cambridge. Looked like they were cleaning up shop, but there were a couple of slices of heaven left in the case. Great. 

Are these pepperoni?
"Yes."
Is the pepperoni made of pork?
"Yes. That's why they're left over"
"Ha ha ha."
[Walking out]
"Wait!"

The guy scrambles back to the kitchen and comes back with his own box of pizza, and hands us 2 slices of chicken and mushroom.

Shukran!
"Afwan. Masalaama"

The Muslim brotherhood hit me and M. M more than me. He commented on how that was really sweet, and I shot back with my thoughts about how Muslim Americans are awesome.

Welcome to America, baby.

Day 3: Bad start. Better rest of day.

Woke up this morning around 10 AM after sleeping for 9 hours! What is this nonsense!

I didn't eat anything at breakfast, so of course I binged at lunchtime. About halfway into my second hot dog, I remembered that I had to update this blog and tell the truth about my shenanigans..

How embarrassing.

Lunch:

• 2 pieces of homemade pizza leftovers -- again, about equivalent to 1 slice
• 2 beef hot dogs with white buns

I did have 6 cups of water since then. Plan of attack to counteract this -- hitting the gym around 6. Will get in 1 hour of cardio/squats.

I'm not going to dinner until 9 pm tonight (afghan) and plan on not eating carbs! I'm excited to eat eggplant.

From my blackberry...

I'll make this one short.

Dinner:
- 4 slices of homemade mini-pizza (equivalent to 2 regular ones) with light cheddar, jalepeno, mushrooms
- 35-cal swiss cheese (Laughing Cow) on a piece of baguette (don't ask)
- after dinner treat: 120 cals

I didn't do very well at dinner. I think the lunch at 12 and nothing until 7 killed me.

New plan: take rice cakes to work and a banana to eat around 4.

Going out for Afghani food tomorrow. I will stay strong and away from carbs!

Cisco Free Lunch (shit.)

This is the time of the week where everyone gets excited to eat some delivered goodies. It's deeply rooted in Starent Networks' (acquired by Cisco) workplace culture. A communal meal, plenty of rich satisfying foods and desserts catered -- probably the only time during the week that people don't take a working lunch.

Kind of like the idea of Lungar, or free kitchen, the essential part of any Gurdwara (the Sikh worship place). Food is cooked and is served without discrimination to all, as people sit in rows on the floor and are served individually, equally.

The tradition of Lungar expresses the ideals of equality, sharing, and the oneness of all humankind. It was inspired by Guru Nanak’s act of serving food to wandering holy men when given money by his father to strike a good bargain. 

Add some tables and chairs to the Cisco cafe, and what you have is a westernized version of Lungar.

It's on this day that I usually come into the office starving, waiting for that 11:52 AM e-mail from the receptionist, "Lunch is served!" Animalistic in behavior, everyone runs to the cafe and waits in line patiently -- the shrimp is usually first to go. Followed by cheesecake.

Today, I actually had some self-discipline. As I held up the line filling my plate with the bland iceberg lettuce salad, a manager behind me giggled and asked Kyya Syra thoom diet peh ho!

Translation: Why the heck are you stuck on the iceberg lettuce? Diet time?

Beef & shrimp skewers. And the worst salad ever.

I smiled, returned to my desk, and feasted.

Day 2: Gutenmorgen!

Day 2. Sigh.

Went to sleep around 1:30 AM last night. Started to get hyper around 11 and couldn't stop organizing things, what is wrong with me?!

I still forced myself to wake up at 7:30 AM this morning. I suppose it helped that I parked my car in a street sweeping zone. For all you non-city people (I am so pretentious) that means you have to move your car by 8 AM or just open your wallet up and fork over $50...

8:00 AM hit the gym:

• 30 minutes of treadmill. Ran 2 miles. I guess this included the 7 minutes of walking I did, on an incline at 6.0. Hit the max sprinting at 6.0 for around 3-4 minutes.
• 10 minutes of elliptical. Forgot the intensity.

Sweated it out quite a bit, came home and stretched on the living room floor. 

Breakfast:

• 2 hard-boiled egg whites
• 1-1.5 cups 2% milk + 1.5 cups of cinnamon cheerios (these are amazing)
• Coffee + creamer + milk (Sorry Liina, I can't give up the creamer!)

Feeling cranky this morning, but refreshed and healthy. Cranky probably because of the 6 hours of sleep last night = not quite enough.

As the Day Winds Down...

I just heard a commercial for a 300 calorie breakfast at McDonalds. Yeah Right.


My day ended pretty well, minus a few relapses to my carboholic ways.

There was no lunch, for the record. Dinner is as follows:

• Salmon fillet: greek yogurt, dill, and a light sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top made this delicious. Baked at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes,  the yogurt dehydrated to the perfect texture. Made you feel like you should be guilty, but you shouldn't. Because it's just delicious and nutritious.
• About 1/2 cup of diced potatoes prepared on the stove, with a touch of salt and fresh pepper. (so kill me)
• 1 cup of frozen vegetables, tossed on the stove with a dab of ginger & garlic and sriracha. These are the perfect filler when you just don't know what to do without another serving of carbs.

I contemplated admitting this, but I did do a major no-no today. As I ended my 45 minute trip to the dreaded  nightmare of a store-thats-always-packed-like-Macy's-on-black-friday - otherwise known as the grocery store Market Basket. I wound up standing adjacent to the deli meat counter, admiring the baskets of fresh baked heavenly clouds of dough. They were staring at me, the cellophane bags cloudy from the steam escaping their insides. You know you want me. They called out. I heard them. I needed them. They needed me. 

I smelled the buttery, flaky goodness and convinced myself to purchase one.. just because M loves to eat my sandwiches, you know.... that's the only reason why...

After cashing out, I was unloading the bags into my car, freezing cold and regretting not eating something for lunch. I put the heavenly cloud of baguette strategically next to my seat, stuck my mozzarella stick fingers into the bag...

...and greedily stuffed a piece of goodness into my mouth. A moment on my lips, a lifetime on my hips.

Day 1. Sigh.

This is my journey from Moti to Engaged.


What the heck does that mean?


Hi my name is Syra and I'm 24 and am about to be engaged. I'm not talking about the type of engagement between two people, in private, and spontaneous. I'm talking about the kind of engagement where your aunts and uncles fly in 2000 miles to see someone slip a ring on your finger. The type where 30+ people show up to your house, you're escorted into the party while your mother cries about how she's losing a daughter, but she's happy, but it's not like you're moving out of the house for the first time. Heck, you moved out 6 years ago, and nothing is really changing. So everyone is going to cry, and I am too probably, and people are going to shove mithai (an Indian/Pakistani sweet.. basically it's just a ball of sugar and grease) into my mouth and tell me how happy they are that I'm not 29 and reckless and running around single.. because God knows we all don't want a loose female cannon on the prowl..

I diverge.

Back to the original plan. This is my journey to lose 20-25 (realistically) pounds by March 17th. It's January 4th. I started this journey about 7 days ago, when my mom decided it was convenient to cut me off from having any type of substantial meal over the holidays at home. I spent a good 10 hours during the holidays just staring at the pantry for something to eat. Staring.

And what did I find to nibble on? To satisfy my hunger pains? To stop my stomach from eating my organs? Raisins and almonds. All.Week.Long.

(Ok I'm being dramatic now)

My meal this morning:

• Coffee + milk + creamer
• 2 hard boiled eggs (2 whites, 1 yolk)
• Chobani strawberry
• Handful of almonds and dried cranberries

I plan to post my workouts and food intake on a daily basis. And I plan to watch in sadness as my to-be-fiancee complains how he needs to eat dessert everyday, and then proceeds to inhale hot fudge sundaes. 

#Iguessthisiswhathappenswhenyourfingerslooklikemozzarellasticks