Moti Girl Diary- Week Five, will I survive?

Hi there my faithful readers, this is your Moti-girl checking in.  I don't know why I just don't feel very motivated to write this week.  I don't know what's wrong with me?  Is this the plateau everyone talks about? I'm not feeling as excited and most importantly I am seriously-aggravatingly-annoyed at making the better food choices.  I'm a carb girl.  I love me some rice, bread and potatoes. The more the better.  For someone who has a rich family history of diabetes, I need to avoid these yummies at all costs.  Even knowing that and being reminded of it daily, can I please be excused for being annoyed at this and rant about how I miss my good ol' carbs?  With my brother's Moti girl song constantly playing on repeat in my head, I feel like there is caldron of irritation brewing inside me ready to unload on any unsuspecting well wisher.  Well, now that you get a feel for the nasty mood I'm in today, please continue to read the nonsense that I spew.  :)

Bossy Boots

So while Leila was at swim practice, Bossy Boots (aka Zaina) and I were sitting off to the corner just horsing around.  Zaina was blissfully playing with her Barbie and picking the red flowers in the picture above to make a bed for her Barbie while I was staring distractedly into space trying to prioritize my workload for the rest of the week. Whenever Zaina's attention was diverted, I kept sweeping away some of the broken flowers back into the planter. Heaven forbid, I might come off as an irresponsible parent who allows her kid to rum amok, make a mess and forget to instill the value of living things by all the onlooking parents in the area by the huge heap of dead flowers at my footstep. Sometimes I have mad OCD.  In my lame attempt to be sly, I discovered the kids' forgotten snack bag and immediately indulged the growling rumbles of my tummy.  I fervently unzipped the bag to discover, FRITOS!  Yes, I had tunnel vision and the only thing on my agenda was to savor every ounce of salty crunchy goodness.  I mean come on now, who doesn't like Chili Cheese Fritos?  Well I sure as hell do and as I closed my eyes to inhale the chips, I was suddenly rudely interrupted by a squeaky voice telling me, "No, Mama, don't do it!"  Emphasis on the "doooo".  WTH?  Are you kidding me?  Now my 2 year-old is keeping me in check too?  I woke up from my wannabe drunken food stupor to find Zaina scolding me, not because I was about to devour her snack but because she discovered that I was sweeping her flowers back into the planter.  Go figure, yes she is quite the cheeky lil monkey.  I laughed, took her picture and chuckled as she continued to scold me for the remaining 14 minutes of Leila's practice. I accepted this as a sign from God and refrained from polishing off the Fritos.

Rib Eye Slider

So on my free day I pigged out. Surprise surprise.  On Saturday night, I was suppose to check out a friend's band Resurrection Men (find them on iTunes) in Cupertino with my brother-in-law Ausaff, but he declined to go and insisted that the Hubby and I enjoy a date night on him.  Wow! So we ventured out in shock and attended their fabulous show and when the set ended we had no idea what to do next. Thanks to twitter and my unhealthy obsessive following of all things food related, I discovered that after SJ Eats (which we sadly avoided due to the overcrowding) the Mogo BBQ food truck (follow them on twitter @MoGoBBQ to find out their location) was happily residing in downtown San Jose till 2:00 AM. Yup, so I dragged Hubby and we took off on our FoodVenture, thus this hideous picture of me took birth.  I will save my formal review of this food truck for a future blog post,  but suffice to say the Rib Eye Slider that I am am making out with above was beyond scrumptious!  I really wanted to try the Short Rib slider which my friend Amber raves about, but unfortunately they were all out.  I probably couldn't tell you the calories I consumed, but really who cares?  The delight I had experienced was well worth the 2000 I calories I ate in that 2.5 seconds. As Rachael Ray would say, YUM-O!

Anyhow, this week has been good overall.  I'm definitely keenly aware of what I am eating and the exercise thing doesn't seem like such a chore anymore.  Yeah, I know I'm quite the Shakespeare.  :)



Well here it is my friends...

Woo hoo I lost 2.0 pounds!

Who'd a thunk it?  I actually did the Moti-Girl happy dance which is a cross between my horse dance and the cabbage patch. Remind me to share a video, I promise you will literally fall over laughing your ass off.  Sorry for my crankiness at the beginning of this post, it just escapes sometimes.  I'm out homies, thanks for reading!  This is your Moti-Girl saying Adios!

Week 1:   3/7/11: 163.2
Week 2:  3/14/11: 161.8
Week 3: 3/21/11: 159.2

Week 4: 3/28/11: 158.8

Week 5: 4/4/11: 156.8

Moti Girl Diary- Week Four, oh what a bore!

Hello there fellow blog readers, Moti-Girl here to whet your appetite with my story about losing weight, eating better, exercising, stop being a moti-a-holic and start getting real. Oops, sorry the dork in me escapes from time to time, plus sadly I need to catch up on my episodes of Real World.  How are you all doing?  Me, not too good.  I have been plagued with a crippling migraine all day today and just not feeling my happy-happy-joy-joy self. So please bear with my lack of humor this evening.

• I went to the gym four times this week, on top of exercising at home for an hour in front of the TV courtesy of On Demand and Mr. Billy Banks Jr.  Wow talk about a vigorous cardio work out!
• I went to two birthday parties this weekend (Happy Birthday Fahad & Mimi!) and ate like a ravenous pig on free day.  Was there any doubt that I wouldn't?
• I nearly passed out on the elliptical because Desis for some unintelligible reason don't feel the need to use deodorant.  I mean why, for crying out loud?  Why must you torture all innocent gym goers to your ignorance?  I feel like I should stand outside the gym and hand out free samples of deodorant and insist with the desi vigorous head shake from side to side to please try this revolutionary product that will help ameliorate your body odor problem.  I know I sound like a rude d-bag, but why does my gym experience have to marred with bouts of dry-heaving?
• Why doesn't my hubby feel the need to read my blog?  This is a totally irrelevant rant, but a gripe I will post to see how much time will go by before he reads this post.   (The ball is in your court, Fish!)  Last week I asked him what he thought about my last two posts and after ineffectively avoiding eye contact and then mumbling some incoherent response, I realized, wow he didn't even read it.  He promised to read it this week, I'm not holding my breath. I guess I talk his head off enough everyday of his life that he doesn't see the need to read my drama-queen-antics as well.  I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little a butt hurt.  Who doesn't need a little validation from their own spouse?  Fish, the WARRIORS suck! Maybe that will get a rise out of him?  :)

For Free-Day I had the pleasure of attending Fahad Khan's 26th Birthday dinner courtesy of Chef Seema Aunty who made us a delicious Afghan meal.  The iphone camera does not do the food any justice, but  feel free to salivate over them.  Her food by far surpassed any Afghan food that I have ever ordered at any restaurant.  Yeah, even more than Kabul in Sunnyvale!  There are not enough words to describe the food heaven that I was in this Saturday.  Made me realize that I need to adjust my free day so it's not so close to weigh in day.  ;O)

Boranee Badenjan

Kormeh-Ruinaan

Kabuli Pallaw

No suspenseful build up today...

Lost 0.4 pounds hah!

So I'm a bit of a Debbie Downer today because it was only 0.4 pounds.  I know the fat isn't going to magically melt off of me (I wish), but wow I didn't think it was going to be this miniscule.  Nevertheless it is still progress and I can't be so easily derailed.  Bummed, yeah, but not discouraged.  Not to mention, working out does give you more energy which has been a really nice change.  Thank you all again for the comments and all the well-wishes!  I wish I could properly articulate what that does for my morale.  It's like a drug and I want more!  All jokes aside, I truly appreciate all the love, it has helped me immensely and I am humbled by your generosity!  Well iA next week will produce more satisfying results.  Well that's all for tonight, this is your Moti-girl signing off, you know you love to be Moti... xoxo

Week 1:   3/7/11: 163.2
Week 2:  3/14/11: 161.8
Week 3: 3/21/11: 159.2
Week 4: 3/28/11: 158.8

Moti Girl Diary- Week Three, time to party!

hmmmmmmm sooo goood

Hello Blog Readers, your one and only Moti Girl here to give you the 411 on my mission to extract the fat from my body .  I can't believe it's already been three weeks since I've been on this mission!  It's actually been a decent week, no real complaints. Well on second thought, maybe a few grievances, but all in good fun.  I finally feel like I'm getting into the swing of things, in terms of controlling my need to stuff my fat face.  :) I know I just gave you a lovely mental picture.  Enjoy!  I think a lot of my self-control this week has to do with the knowledge of how many calories there are in certain foods.  Again, moderation is key. One bite of something totally satiates the moats in me.  So why not?  I indulged in Yogurtland's Devil's Food Cupcake Batter and died went to Moti Hell.  Yes, calorie wise, it's not too bad, but after tasting it I wanted more than 1 measly ounce.  I felt like putting my mouth under the yogurt dispenser, holding the lever down and just guzzling as much as I could before I choked.  Yes, I might shed some pounds and make better food choices, but the Moti Girl soul will live on forever.


Things that annoyed me this week: (Moti Girl rants)

1. Skinny broads complaining about their non-existent fat around their waists.  Seriously, I am hard enough on myself, I don't need nor want someone else to imply what a water buffalo I am compared to you.  When you are pointing out your fat, can you please consider your audience? I'm all for everybody working on bettering themselves, but just be conscious of how your words can be perceived and how it can effect another.  Can you talk about you losing the fat around your waist when you are around another waif-thin friend like yourself?  Thanks!  I certainly would appreciate it and will refrain from punching you in the face, in my head.  That way I don't feel like a giant elephant next to you?  Just a thought.  For example: my whole life (ah) I have been blessed with pretty good skin.  I never really had any pimples nor zits and I will be completely honest I hate washing my face.  When I get a random pimple here and there and the drama queen in me seeps out, I always consider refraining from whining about it around people who have struggled with skin care. Just out of consideration. I hate the way the 'Fat' thing makes me feel... why the hell would I do it somebody else?  
2. Secondly, to the people who walk around naked in the Gym bathroom... why? O-M-G!!!!  Why must I have the vision of your naked body, fit-or-not branded into my memory?  As if the vision of my own out-of-shape body in front of mirror isn't enough to scare me for a lifetime, now mixed with yours I might as well just keep slapping myself till the memory falls out of me.  I get it, your comfortable with your body and you don't care what anybody thinks. That's fine and all, but there is nothing wrong with a little (a LOT) of modesty. 
3. Lastly, to all the a-holes who lie to my face and tell me that I don't need to lose any weight and that "a little meat doesn't hurt", get the hell away from me pronto!  That's the nicest possible way I can phrase that. Um, really? Do I even need to rant about why I found this comment so offensive?  I would like to be clear, if I haven't been so already, but I am doing this not only to lose weight but to have and maintain a healthier lifestyle.  I'm sure vanity has a little to do with it, but mostly it's because I don't want to suffer with heart disease nor diabetes.  Losing some weight might help me with my confidence and I want to be in shape.  That's it. What the hell is wrong with this?  Simply put, being a 161 pounds with a height 5'3 is not good.  So quite lying to me, it's not about being polite, consider using phrases like "good for you" or "good luck".  Maybe these people were trying to be polite because they didn't know what to say, but it really has an opposite effect.  Just my two cents.

My daily uniform

As I was getting ready to write my post today, my 100-questions-a-minute daughter decided to inquire about what exactly a blog was.  I tried to give her a short answer and be done with it, but a million additional questions followed.  So I showed her and told her what I was up to.  Her response was "That's cool Mom, you should take a 'before' picture so that when you lose the weight you can remember what you looked like."  Damn, she is a know-it-all smarty-pants just like her dad.  So I took the advice of the wise-one Jr. and had her take a picture of me.  I don't know if it's because she was sitting down and I was standing on the ottoman, but it's not a bad picture. I don't look as obese as I normally do. Phew.  :)  On a side note, this is my daily uniform/outfit-du-jour 24/7. I live in jeans, t-shirts, kicks and a sweatshirt. I will refrain from any further details because it reserved for my fashion faux pas posts-to-be.

Great things this week:

1. I discovered Fage. Um, can I just say it is by far the yummiest snack/breakfast ever.  So filling and delicious!  You can't go wrong. I found it at TJs and I fell in love. I have been eating this a few times a week with a banana and I am totally full. (I think my stomach really did shrink).  It's strained Greek Yogurt with Honey. (thank you Wadalawalla for this tip)
2. The gym doesn't seem as daunting of task as it used to be.  
3. Homegirls that come through with great healthy recipes (Doof) to add to my meal planning and ones that hook up yummy food and bring it to your house when least expected (MKL).  I'm gonna be redundant, but I am only able to do this because I have a great support system. So thank you!
4. So grateful for FREE DAY!  I got my grub on Saturday night and then felt so sick I wanted to throw up so badly, but settled for dry-heaving instead, which is even worse.  Yes, my eyes are definitely bigger than my stomach. Note to self: my stomach shrunk, so calm down on free day.   :0)

*Highlight of the week* I got down to "Dus Bahane" in my Zumba class.  I got such a kick out of jamming to a Desi song.  I hate admitting it, but it was very entertaining and unexpected, but I felt like such a dork singing along to the lyrics.  Dorky Desis Unite!

Now, for what we've all been waiting for:

success I am now 2.6 pounds lighter

I am (ah) 2.6 pounds lighter. Who would have thought?  Well I think I have rambled on enough today. I love the comments... keep em coming please.  :)  Thank you all for reading my nonsense, this is your Moti Girl throwing deuces. XOXO


Week 1:   3/7/11: 163.2
Week 2:  3/14/11: 161.8
Week 3: 3/21/11: 159.2

HBD Zuzu Bee

In honor of my lil demon's birthday, I wanted to share this "Up, Up Up!" video with you.  Zaina is a feisty little thing and keeps us all on her toes. She will not give up till she gets her way.

I am two! Hear me ROAR!

All day today, we persistently sang her happy birthday, to have her tell us incessantly that it was not her birthday but her Api-Jan's birthday. Zaina, if you ever read this, besides the fact that we all love you to pieces, you have brought so much light into our world and your spirited nature always brings a smile to our faces. Here's to many more birthdays (ia) and  we hope that your spunky attitude never diminishes.

Thank you Amina-Mami for dressing me up today!

Moti Girl Diary- Week two, what to do?

Salutations my friends, Moti Girl here checking in for duty after a VERY long Week One.  Holy crap, I did not think I would make it.  I would like to start off by saying, that this by far has been one of the hardest challenges I have ever undertaken.  Yes even more than school.  Basically I have set myself up for utter failure so the whole world can watch in awe my eventual demise. Alrighty then, now that I have the dramatics for this post out of the way, I will continue with the importance of this week.


Challenges:

1. Motivating myself. 
2. Making better food choices. 
3. Not feeling bad that I can't have certain things.  
4. Getting my fat butt to the gym. 

my 100 calorie dessert 

Things I learned:

1. I don't have to forgo dessert completely.  One night I had small bowl of blueberries, pieces of mango and pomegrante (antioxidant fruit salad) and a few of the other nights I treated myself to my new favorite Trader Joes 100 calorie dark chocolate bars. It's yummy, completely satiating and the one bar is more than enough.  Best part it's a $1.99 for a box of 5 Belgian Chocolate Bars.  Come on, that's a steal and if you aren't into dark chocolate, then they have milk chocolate too. I went with the dark to capitalize on the antioxidants.  
2. Did you know that there are 240 calories in 2 tablspoons of  Olive Oils?!!!  YES!  I know my jaw dropped too.  With that being said, it's great for us and has lots of healthy fats and is awesome for our skin and our hearts (Thanks Saimah)
3. Moderation is key.  I mean I can't have ice-cream and girls scout cookies along with a huge helping of lasagne, but I can have a little to just appease the Moti Girl inside me, so I don't feel completely deprived.
4. Everybody needs a free day to eat whatever the hell they please and NO counting calories.  Hopefully the week leading up to this day will automatically make me a little more cautious about my greed.  There is no need to stuff my fat belly to death but then again I also don't need to starve myself either. I will never be a skinny girl that's for sure and quite frankly, I don't want to be. I just want to lose a good amount of weight and eat better.  Khalas (That means, that's it/the end/ it's done in Arabic) A little bit of my Dad sneaks in here and there. Anyways the free day is either Saturday or Sunday. It's my choice, depending on what my social calendar for that week looks like. This week I went to a friend's birthday dinner at Sultana in Menlo Park on Saturday so I chose that day to kinda splurge.  Can I just add that I had THE most delicious meal ever. I had the Pomegrante Kebab and it was to die for.  It was grilled lamb and beef kebab rolled with spinach over garlic yogurt and topped with a pomegranate sauce served with rice.  I honestly inhaled it as if I was being held hostage and hadn't seen food in weeks, but I also was generous and shared one of the kebabs with Fish and my brother in law Ausaff and surprisingly I was full.  Maybe my stomach did shrink? One could only hope.
5. Family, friends and fellow bloggers encouraging comments have really kept the positive energy flowing and quite frankly, this is what got me through this week.  As cliche as it may sound, but when people really believe in you, your confidence soars.  SO THANK YOU!

Pomegranate Kebab at Sultana

I have been dreading the weigh in all weekend and mostly all day today. All I kept thinking was what if I didn't lose weight?  What if I gained weight?  OMG what jack ass I'm gonna look like after this.  What if this was all in vain? After I shut up the pessimistic Moti girl inside me, I realized that I am a little too hard on myself and that this was my first week and that whatever the scale reads, doesn't matter (really). For the first time, I'm doing something about it.  About damn time too!

My day today

My day today continued

Without further adieu, here it is...

Yes some success ah!  Well at least I didn't gain anything.  I lost 1.4 pounds.  Not too shabby, if I must say so myself.  I'll be honest, I thought the 3 gym trips and my soccer game, plus the deprivation of food, would amount to much more weight loss. But my nerdy husband aka the know-all-about-fitness made sure to remind me, that that's not realistic nor healthy to lose 5 pounds in one week. Yes Oh Wise One, I concede.  Woo hoo, I need to go buy a chocolate milkshake from Baskin Robbins now... just kidding. Ok well my work here is done.  Feel free to leave a comment or two or follow me thru my journey of exiting my Moti girl Land.  This your Moti Girl, peacing out.

Week 1:   3/7/11: 163.2
Week 2:  3/14/11: 161.8

Pray for Japan. Pray for Libya. How we can help!

Photo courtesy of www.hizb.org.uk

With a heavy heart, I just wanted to ask people to pray for Japan & Libya.  I was working on another post but just don't feel right about posting it today.  I can't get the images of the tsunami sweeping over the Japan like that out of my head.  I can't believe that Gadhafi and his army continue to bombard the city of Ras Lanuf with heavy artillery, air raids and rockets.  When does it end?

Here's what we can do now:

• You can Donate to the Red Cross where they have an options for both Japan &   North Africa and Middle East civil unrest.  http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&s_src=RSG000000000&s_subsrc=RCO_FrontPagePanel
• Txt REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation!
• The Huffington Post has a great article listing what organizations there are to help the refugees of Libya.   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/02/how-to-help-libya-refugees_n_830040.html#s247744
• You can donate through Global Giving.  They have already raised $48, 114 for the earthquake and tsunami victims.  http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/japan-earthquake-tsunami-relief/

Lastly, if anyone is interested I am going to try to mobilize some people to have some sort of fundraiser so we as community can do our part in helping people in need.  Please email me if you are available to help.

Please pray for all people who may be suffering. 

Moti Girl Diary- Week one

Hola! Moti Girl here... So the madness called my life continues, with my kids' alternating sicknesses, looming midterms, all the upcoming events that keep my head spinning and the mountain of laundry hanging out in my living room to remind me what a wonderfully capable housewife I am.  As if all these things weren't enough, I have finally decided that I want to bid adieu to the fat that has comfortably taken residence all over my body.

inside my pantry

A few months back, I placed a bunch of note cards all over my pantry and refrigerator to help motivate me to be more conscious of what I was putting in my mouth.  Suffice to say, I just don't even see the signs anymore. For your viewing pleasure I have littered this post with these reminders so you can also laugh at my futile attempt.  :)

The Facts: 24 hour fitness loves club members like me who have been members since 2004 and have probably utilized their facilities about 10 times, over the span of the last 7 years.  I have an unhealthy obsession with eating, I love food and the fattier the better.  (Maybe not completely true, but I mean come on now, the good stuff always has all the bad stuff in it).  I will never have the svelte, super-bionic metabolism that my hubby is so blessed to possess.  I wish I could eat 10 meals a day and not gain a single pound.  I find working out in the gym mundane and rigid.  I have tried Zumba and I love it. But really who has the time to go an hour before the class starts to get a pass so that you can actually partake in the class?  LAME. I like being active and playing sports, but that to me doesn't feel like working out, it's fun and a total win-win! But who the hell has time to organize a soccer/basketball/softball game with friends with our crazy schedules on top of our crazy kids' schedules? Good lord. So right now gym is my only real option.


For the last 8 years and much to my utter dismay, my Mom and Dad have now affectionately been calling me "Moti". "How are you, Moti?", "Where are the kids, Moti?" and "Wapas, agaye, Moti?" (You're back, fatgirl?).  There is no malice or ill intent with their use of the word, it's just that I have gained some weight since I was last 23 years old, so why not point out the obvious?  Ironically, my younger sister Amina's nickname growing up was "Moti" because of her ravenous love for milk when she was a baby.  Cue the 'Moti Girl" song, my clever little brother Mishal substituted the words 'Macho, Macho Man' out of the Macho Man song with the words 'Moti Girl' and anytime Amina would annoy him, he would bust out with the Moti Girl song complete with a waddle-wiggle dance and puffed up cheeks.  Think the Stay Puft Marshmallow man from Ghostbusters trying to get his groove on.  That's what it looked like.  Anyways, now that mongrel (love you Mishoo) has transferred singing this lovely song to me. Yes I am that lucky!  Ok fine I will leave the realm of denial and admit that I have gained a lot of weight since my the years of my prime.

inside of my fridge

The Plan: I'm going to take my life back now!  I am going to use my blog as a means to motivate my ass to do something about it instead of expressing my incessant displeasure.  So the plan is to post a picture of my weight from my scale every Monday.  Yes, Fish if you are reading this, get ready to shit your pants because you will finally see how Moti I have become.  For the last 9 years of our marriage I have successfully been able to avoid exposing my weight to him.  Yes, of course I'm embarrassed. What woman wouldn't be? But, not anymore. You know what, it is what it is.  Hiding the number doesn't mean it's not true.  This will force me to FINALLY do something about it,  or be the laughingstock of the Internet, well, maybe just in the eyes of my 14 faithful followers.  (thank you guys :) btw)

Lose It App

So I begin by ridding myself of spanx forever (a little white lie, maybe not forever but it sure sounded good), being honest with myself about how much I weigh, setting a realistic goal of shedding 30 pounds by the end of summer, eating better foods and incorporating exercise to my weekly regimen.  I plan to use my Lose It app to help stay under 1200 calories a day.  Work out 3-4 times a week with my homegirl Amina (you still on board mkl?) and I should be able to lose 2 pounds per week. Realistically, I know I will have days that I just can't stay under my calorie count or I might want to give up altogether but I will definitely try my hardest and I believe this epiphany/blog posting will bring me success I crave.  I resume playing soccer in BAWSL this week, so hopefully that will allow me to stay on track.   I will record my progress every Monday and conclude each posting with a picture of my weight loss/gain on my scale.  Now if this doesn't work, well holy crap I'm not sure what will.  It's about the journey right?  Are you guys with me?  It is either I am incredibly brave or ridiculously stupid, either way the only thing I lose besides my dignity is my weight.  (I'm hoping at least)





Daym, OK so I have some work cut out for me but I am up for the challenge. Please feel free to comment and let me know what works best for you. I could use all the help I can get.  This is your Moti Girl signing out... xoxo

Monday 3.6.11 163.2 pounds