Tuesday

Hey,

I guess Tuesday wasn't a bad day. At least not completely.

I had a banana for breakfast and was pretty happy I actually ate something in the morning. I finally went back to the gym after a long time. I think my body was not used to the whole exercising thing anymore and I couln't do the elliptical for an hour like I'm used to. But 30 minutes was fine, I got so exhausted and sweaty. I also did the bike for around 30 minutes. I guess I left some calories at the gym.

Unfortunately I did something stupid at lunch. I went to a Mexican restaurant. Well, I gotta confess, the only reason why I went there is cause I really needed some real food. I spent so much time in the bathroom this morning and I gotta tell you.. I'm sure it was the Tomato Soup and the Peppers that didn't work well together, at least not if you have them 3 days in a roll.

Well, I tried to behave at the Mexican place and I only had a Quesadilla and it was pretty okay. Felt so bad after it, not because I had it and I was not supposed to, but because my body was not used to that kind of food I think.

For snack in the afternoon I had an apple and for dinner I had sushi. It was great and only 120 calories, which I think it's pretty good.

So that's what I'm trying to do. Compensate if I get to eat too much. The truth is: we live in a world full of food and it's just too hard to stop eating everything that is good completely. We need to learn how to balance.

I'm still not done with the book and that is why I'm doing the best I can without a real plan. I know... just an excuse, but I needed one now.

See y'all tomorrow.

XXX

Roberto

Monday

Hey y'all,

So after having a really bad night, I was able to sleep in a little longer than a regular Monday due to this President Day thing.

Got up and didn't have breakfast. I can't really eat in the morning, so I ended up having a small apple and I was fine till lunch time.

Had the tomato soup and the pepper for lunch and dinner... hahah seriously... when u cook a lot of the same thing, it's just hard to stop....

I promise I'll have something different and I'll go back to the scale on Saturday morning, like usual.

Nothing interesting but my wish of being in Brazil now. I was never a big carnaval fan, but anywhere but America works fine for me.

See u tomorrow.

XXX

Roberto

Valentines Day

Well, I must confess it is pretty hard to stay focus on eating right when there's a lot going on in your life.

Today was on of THOSE days for me. Made some stupid mistakes and had a really hard time. I must say I'm not a very nice person to myself when I do something wrong. I punish me harder than I should, but that's me.

Anyway... Valentines Day, hard to keep up this stupid diet. I only had one French Onion Soup for lunch at Panera Bread. But for dinner I had 2 slices of pizza. I know I suck, but it's Vday and it was a "love" pizza, couldn't say no. At least I didn't have any of the chocolate I got!

I have a lot of the soup I made yesterday and 2 peppers, so I think I'm okay for the next 2 days.

It's past midnight now, but as I didn't go to bed yet, it's technically still Sunday, 14th.

Hope y'all had a good Vday. I bet it was better than mine.

Love,

Roberto

Another day...

So, here I am... Third day reading the book and I still haven't had time to finish it. I'm almost done. I think I already have a lot of the information I need to start this new moment of my life.

I know it might be a mind thing, but I weighed myself the day I bought the book (that was one of the reason why I bought the book so desperately). I was weighing 190 pounds. I know, I was shocked too. Scared and feeling like crying. Today I went back to the scale and it's weird but I was 186.3 pounds. I don't know if I lost just water in these 2 days, but I certainly lost something. I made sure to use the same scale so I could have a precise number.

Yesterday, after writing the first post I was really hungry but I didn't want to eat pasta or sandwiches. I found in the freezer this small package with different kinds of vegetables like spinach, broccoli, peas, carrots, green beans and other stuff. I cooked with a low fat tuna fish. It was great and only 85 calories! I ate everything all by myself. Felt so full I could hardly walk. I hate that feeling, but this time it felt like it wasn't so bad, I can't really explain.

Well, today I decided to make something different for dinner. I still didn't give up meat, milk or eggs, but it is a process and I hope to do that eventually. I make a delicious pepper stuffed with ground beef. I baked them in the over and they were really good. I Thought only that was not good enough, so I wanted to make a tomato soup. I don't really like those can soups and decided to make it from scratch. Yes, from scratch! Went to Food Lion and spend a lot of money in vegetables and things I needed for my soup.

It's incredible how here in the US natural, unprocessed food is so expensive. I kind of gave up buying some oranges and apples due to the price. I'll go to Walmart tomorrow and get them there.

The soup was really delicious. Strong taste from each of the things. Spent hours chopping, slicing and cutting stuff. But it was worth it. I love cooking.

I'm going to put the recipe here in case anyone feels like doing it too. I recommend it. It's enough for 6 people, so I guess I'll be having tomato soup for a couple of days. So here it is.

TOMATO SOUP

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup chopped carrot
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 2 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
• 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 drops hot pepper sauce

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Saute onion and garlic until onion is tender.
2. Add carrot and celery; cook 7 to 9 minutes until tender, stirring frequently. Stir in tomatoes, broth, Worcestershire sauce, salt, thyme, pepper and hot pepper sauce. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

Hope you enjoy it. I did.

Beijos,
XXX

Roberto

My Eat to Live Journey in 6 weeks

Hey y'all,

My name is Roberto and I'm 25 years old. I'm a Brazilian living in the United States. I've been living in the USA for the last year and a half.

Since I was a teenager I have been struggling with my weight. Things got a little too complicated once I got here in the USA. When I first got here in September 2008 I was around 175-180 pounds. Far from being in shape or healthy.
The first thing that comes to one's mind when you land here is: I'm not getting fat, the food sucks. It does, indeed, suck; until you get used to it.

I think I spent more than a month with the feeling I wasn't really eating after I had a meal. I would have sandwiches for lunch and pasta with tomato sauce for dinner. Back home I was used to have a hot meal for lunch and something like a sandwich for dinner.

Not only the taste of everything was different, but how I felt after eating was the main reason why I was so concerned in the first place. Of course, like everything in life we get used to it. Shortly after I was already happy and enjoying every single meal, every single fast-food restaurant, all the cheap Mexican and Chinese food. I ended up gaining around 20 pounds in my first 6 months here. Needless to say, I was not exercising or doing anything. I was taking classes 3 times a week and long naps during the day. I never felt that tired in life. I was having trouble even to tide my shoes, and I'm not kidding.

When I had the chance to go home for vacation I decided I was going to lose all that weight (I had decided that so many times before, deep inside I knew I was not going to succeed again). I started going to the gym every single day. My body reacted violently to that and started dropping pound faster than I thought. I was not dieting, just working out. Basically cardio, running in the treadmill and elliptical. I dropped some good 10 to 15 pounds. Went back home feeling good, but still bigger than when I left. That was the first thing people told me every single time they met me over there: How fat I was compared to how I left 10 months before that.

I felt a little discouraged but I was home, I was happy... I had only 10 days to eat all I could of real food. And I did it. I lived to eat. I probably gained all my 10-15 pounds in 10 days in Brazil.

Since then I have been completely demotivated. I have been on and off the gym since December but nothing really makes me keep going. There is always an excuse, whether is a snow day or chest pain.

Watching TV last month I came across this interview with Alanis Morissette where she talked about how she lost all this weight in a easy, life-changing way. She talked about this book called "Eat to Live" and how it changed her life completely. I was so curious about it, but I was not ready to give up food. Meat, cheese and all the things that have helped me to get this big as I am now.

Talking to a good friend of mine back home, I've come to realize that maybe that was what I needed it, to change drastically. She became a Vegetarian for the past year and has dropped over 40 pounds, just by eating right, the right things at the right time. That conversation made me think of Alanis's book and I went to Google and found out about it. I got my car immediately, drove to Barnes and Noble and got myself a copy.

So yesterday, February 11 2010 I bought a copy of Joel Fuhrman's book "Eat to Live". I started reading last night and I'm already half-way through. I'm excited about that. That book makes so much sense to me that I can't wait to finish it and change my life. Never thought I could give up meat, cheese, milk or eggs. It might be a little harder to quit them all, but the book offers 2 paths. Eliminating meat, eggs and milk or keeping them in a less aggressive way.

I don't want this to be another thing I try to do. I want this to be part of my everyday life. I have around 7 months here in the USA before going back to my real life in Brazil. I challenged myself to go home weighing around 150 pound. Bare in mind I'm a short man. I'm around 5'5" (1.65 m).

So I will keep blogging about this journey everyday. I know how hard it must be, but I am really convinced that once you read that book you gotta be really stupid not to follow or going back to your old life style.

So from now on my main goal is: To finish that book in the next 2 days and start this new life style as soon as I'm ready.

I am not writing this to anyone in particular, not sure if someone will even read it in the first place. But it means a lot to me to be able to share. And the main reason why I'm blogging this is because I wanna be able to come back here in 6 months from now and see the process/progress I made to succeed.

Hope you enjoy that too and it motivates you to change your life. The first thing you gotta do is buy yourself a copy of the book. It's only 15 bucks, cheaper than a large pizza that will make you fatter and help you to die younger. LOL

I will post pictures of my progress as soon as I start for real.

Beijos!
XXX

Roberto