Buffet Dining Strategy: Eat Dessert First...and Last!

Starting off with more songs for your music player!

Eye of the Tiger - Survivor (not sure if I already listed this one, but I listen to this song every morning; sounds nuts but its a motivator! It's also one of the songs on Gold's Gym Cardio Boxing for the Wii)

Return of the Tiger - Drunken Tiger (get the original Korean version of this rap because the English version might offend you with Korean dudes rapping and saying the "N" word...hmmm!)

Circus - Britney Spears (yes, I listen to SOME Britney Spears!)

Die Another Day - Madonna (yes, Madonna too! Actually I find myself putting this song on when I get off the bus a mile away from work. I'm usually taking a nap on the bus, so I'm a little groggy and need to wake the hell up if I'm going to walk a mile to work.

Desert Rose - Sting (helps me tune everyone out and concentrate on exercise)

Today we had a "Staying Motivated: Trials and Triggers" workshop to help everyone get tips on how to stay motivated and break through plateaus on wellness/weight loss. She handed out this form we filled out at the beginning of the challenge, where we stated what our goal was for the challenge (mine was to lose 10 lbs. by increasing activity and watching portions) and the steps we would take to do it (mine: 1. increase veggie intake, decrease white rice 2. increase activity 3. write down everything i eat). I've already passed my goal and am still practicing the methods, if anything I've increased them now that I can move around more (and faster) than I could 16 lbs. ago. At the end of the session, there was time for folks to share what has worked for them, and my big butt was sitting up front and she was looking at me so I decided to share and started bawling. I dunno, I get emotional when I think back just 6 weeks ago where I couldn't fit shit with clothes and struggled to walk from my damn desk to eat lunch in the lunchroom (sometimes I'd get lazy and would skip lunch and just work through the lunch hour). I know I haven't lost much compared to my competitors (damn, one of our guys has lost 25 lbs. and 27% body fat!), but to me it's good to not have that weight on me (hopefully for good!).
I actually had my bro take some pics of me when the challenge started; I'll take pics again at the end for comparison.

Today is my Dad's 59th Birthday, which means EAT FREE AT PAGODA RESTAURANT day! Hahahaha! We almost always come here on birthdays, especially if it is not on a dialysis night. Where else can you get buffet with prime rib, fresh snow crab (I think it's snow, I don't know I'm not a big fan of crab unless it is paired with the word "cakes" :), and more and best yet, ALL YOU CAN EAT for FREE???

I was thinking all day about what I would eat for dinner. The last time I ate here was for my birthday, about a week or so before the challenge started. I would pass up the salad bar (maybe have somen noodle salad cup), eat a little bit of each meat dish, go back for seconds on the stuff that was good, at least 5 shrimp tempura, a slice of prime rib, glasses of fruit punch, and of course, a little bit...no wait, A LOT of dessert! And then some! After dinner was over, I'd feel so full and sick to my stomach...but at least I enjoyed my meal.

I have to help Mom get her food because she can't see too well anymore (diabetic retinopathy - yet another reason YOU should get healthy to prevent stuff like this from happening to YOU), so that gave me the chance to scan what I wanted to eat beforehand. Luckily there wasn't any miso butterfish today (my favorite; and it's VERY pricey elsewhere) or else I would've definitely gone waaay overboard with my meal today.

After I helped her pick out what she wanted, I sat for a bit and thought and thought...I was going to have DESSERT first! I figure it this way, if you have dessert first, then you'll be happy because you can't say, "I was too stuffed and didn't get to eat dessert." Mwahahahaha! So I had a cup of chocolate pudding and whipped cream. I tell you, that was the most delicious cup of pudding I've had in my life. Probably because I've pretty much shunned sweets during the challenge ('cept for yesterday, where yes, I had a little bit of key lime pie and weenie piece of cake my co-workers made only because I knew I was going to workout later):

My family thought I was nuts to eat dessert first. I think my brother thinks I'm just in one of my stupid yo-yo diet phases again, he goes, "You're going overboard. It will only be time until you're eating Cheetos and spinach dip again." That kind of pisses me off, especially since it's so easy for him to lose weight while eating crap (he ate Hooters wings and still lost 10 lbs. in 2 days). I really don't want to go back to where I was before, it's not fun. That motivates me more, to prove him wrong!

I started off my actual meal with a spinach salad w/ mushrooms, 3 croutons (supposed to be 4 but one fell off my plate), house dressing (I hate salads, so if I'm going to eat one, I'm going to use GOOD dressing, but just dip my fork in it instead of pouring it all over), and a somen noodle salad (noodles are good luck on birthdays, supposedly) instead of the fried noodles:

I used to think to myself, why would you waste money eating salad @ a buffet? LOL

Giant salad for starters!

I waited a bit after I ate my salad before deciding on what to eat for my main meal. I ended up deciding on a zucchini/bean mix, ONE shrimp tempura, one pork rib, 2 pcs. kalbi (one of which I had to push aside because it was all fat!) and about 3 oz. of steamed opakapaka:

MMM...kalbi!

Steamed Opakapaka and Pork ribs! The opakapaka was pretty good!

zucchini, opakapaka, rib, kalbi, and shrimp tempura

I'm telling you, that was the most DEEEEELICIOUS bbq rib, kalbi and shrimp tempura EVERRR. And I've been to Pagoda dozens of times. For some reason tonight, those precious pieces of dinner just hit the spot. I REALLY wanted more shrimp tempura and ribs, but I just couldn't. My bro was like, WTF, just go eat some since you're paying for it anyway, you're too much! But I decided against it, opting instead to end my meal with dessert again, less than 1/2 cup of low-fat (might be non-fat, i'm not sure. it's a lot lighter than the soft serve at McDonalds) vanilla soft serve with 1.5"x1.5" square of apple crumble at the bottom. I also added a few sprinkles just for the hell of it:

Life is better with sprinkles.

Me and Mom

Mom and the Birthday Boy

Dad and Crab Cracker

I was going to do some Wii before bed, but I think I better just get some rest and get up early again for another brutal EA Active workout with my virtual trainer. My legs and shoulders are still sore from Monday! :)