This is Day 4 of the 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge held in Jan 2015 where we work on improving our diet and fitness for 14 days. The challenge is now over but you can do the tasks in your own time. Visit the overview page for all the challenge tasks.
Hi everyone!! :D It’s now Day 4 of our 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge. Let’s get started!
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- Announcement and signup page: Join 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge!
- Day 0: Create Your 14-Day Healthy Living Plan | Comments
- Day 1: Drink 8 Glasses of Water | Comments
- Day 2: Eat 5 Servings of Fruits & Vegetables | Comments
- Day 3: Create Your Calorie List | Comments
My Day 3 in Pictures
Here’s a recap of my Day 3 in pictures ;)
Brunch: Veggie patty burger with lots of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and black olives. The ends of the bread looks burnt but it wasn’t; I think it’s the color correction that made it turn out that way! Thanks to reader Paolo for highlighting to me that burnt carbs can be potentially carcinogenic! Something to look out for next time!
Was busy working on the Passive Income Module 4 the whole day, so didn’t have time for dinner. Had ginger tea and some grapes (30 pcs) before the course itself. (Great session in the end as always, looking forward to Module 5 next week!)
After the course, Ken and I went to this quaint Chinese eatery for some nighttime supper (though it was really dinner for me). Sugar cane juice and century egg porridge, shared with Ken!
Supper, rice salad and strawberries (6 pcs). Yum! :) (In fact I’m having them now as I’m typing this post!)
My 14HLC goals are
- Exercise at least three times a week — I’ll be doing my second exercise for the week tomorrow!
- Cut out deep fried / oily food from my diet — No fried food today, so all clear!
- Eat salads more regularly, ideally once a day if I can — Rice salad, check!
Day 3’s task is to create my calorie list, and while I’ve been tracking calories for years (in turn leading me to my healthier diet today), I want to create a new calorie list to see how I’m doing with my current diet in my life. I haven’t had the chance to do it as I was busy with the Passive Income Course today and now with the writing of Day 4’s task (it’s actually 6 am Singapore time as I’m writing this — not healthy to be sleeping late, I know, but need to get this posted on time!). I’ll be doing Day 3’s task tomorrow and putting my findings in Day 5’s post!
Check out other participants’ amazing food logs and progress updates in Day 3’s comments section!
“Not a Health Guru”
By the way, for some reason this came up in the discussions thread for Day 3, so I thought to take the chance to address it here. A commenter was critiquing my food choices, and how “following [my] lead would unfortunately set her health backwards and not forward.” While I’ve already addressed her response with a lengthy reply (she unfortunately responded with a snide remark which I’ve since removed), I thought to set the record straight here once and for all.
When I started this 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge, it wasn’t because I think I’m a health guru, that I want to be a nutritionist, or that I’m trying to be some health practitioner. The reality is that even when it comes to nutritionists, health gurus, and medical practitioners, everyone has his/her own opinion on what’s the perfect diet, based on his/her beliefs and school of thought. It’s silly, not to mention impossible, to come up with a diet that everyone can agree on. That’s why I never try to do this, but instead encourage everyone to find his/her best dietary habits and way of life.
When I started this 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge, it’s because (1) I believe in healthy living, and (2) I want you to work towards your best health. Best health as defined by you yourself, achieved in your own way, in your own space, and in your own time. Here, PE is a platform for everyone to gather and work on their health/fitness goals together, while I share universal healthy living tasks such as eating more fruits and vegetables, being conscious of your calorie intake, and drinking sufficient water to create synergy in our healthy living efforts.
That’s why you don’t see any part of this challenge where I tell you to eat like me, that my diet is the be-all and end-all of diets. When I share pictures of my meals, it’s just to share what I’ve eaten, and to let you guys know that — hey, instead of buying a McDonald’s burger, french fries, or potato chips from 7-Eleven all of which have become so easy today due to the ubiquity of fast and convenience food, we can make a conscious choice in eating healthily. And it doesn’t have to be difficult.
Do I think that my diet is the healthiest diet on earth? Heck no. Do I think this diet is great for me? Yes I do. Do I think that it can be further improved? Yes of course. Everything can always be better, including the health and fitness area of our lives. Which is why we continue to have the Healthy Living Challenge for the third time in 2015, despite already having it in 2011 and 2012. That’s why I’m in this challenge myself, despite having taken it before and am always working on improving my diet since years ago.
The aim of the 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge isn’t to dictate anyone to eat a certain way and set a be-all and end-all standard for eating. The aim of this challenge is really for you to discover YOUR own health goals, to work on them, and to blaze your own trail in life because of your new healthy habits. Not to pin-point or criticize what others are doing (constructive sharing is okay which some have been doing with no issue). Not to shame others when they’re not eating in a way that matches your personal intent. Not to cast judgment, give negative criticism, or measure people by your own yardstick on what they should eat and shouldn’t eat. No “food police” is essentially what it is.
We’re halfway through the first week and I’m excited at how the next 1.5 weeks are going to pan out. It is my wish that at the end of the challenge, we’ll have newly minted healthy living habits that we can stick to for life. It’s only been three days for me and I can already see how I can sustain my current meal options (daily salad, soup/sandwich, regular fruits) even after this is over. :D Are you feeling the change yet? :)
With that said, let’s move to Day 4’s task, which is…
Day 4: Calculate Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure
Participant fufu asked this question yesterday after reading Day 3’s task:
I’m really curious to see if I’m over-eating or under-eating (probably under) and I have a question. What is the ideal calorie intake in a day? Is it 2,000? How do I know if I’m under or over my intake by the time I finish my (calorie) list?
This is an excellent question, and the answer is directly linked to today’s task! :D
All of us have a calorie intake that we need to meet every day in order to sustain (1) our body’s energy needs at rest (this is the Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR, and it’s the amount of energy your body burns in a day if you simply rest the entire day) AND (2) our daily exercise and activity needs (such as walking, running, talking, typing at the computer, and so on). This daily calorie intake is represented by our Total Daily Energy Expenditure (or TDEE), which is the total number of calories you burn in an average day, including all the activities you do.
In equation terms,
Total Daily Energy Expenditure / TDEE
= Basal Metabolic Rate / BMR (Calories burned when you do absolutely nothing) + Calories burned from activities (This is a calorie expenditure that occurs on top of your BMR)
Now, regardless whether you have weight loss goals, weight gain goals, or weight maintenance goals, it’s always useful to know your TDEE because it lets you know whether you’re overeating, undereating, or eating in line with your needs. Consume less calories than your TDEE, and you lose weight over time. Consume more calories than your TDEE, and you’ll gain weight soon enough. Consuming the same calories daily will lead to maintenance of your current weight.
To figure out how many calories you should consume a day to achieve your weight goals, you need to first know your TDEE. Hence, today’s task is to calculate your TDEE!
Step 1: Calculate Your TDEE
- Calculate your BMR. Use this BMR counter. This is the energy requirements just to sustain your body and do absolutely nothing the whole day but lie on your bed, breathe, and rest.
- Multiply #1 by 1.2. Most of us have some form of light activity, be it walking around the house, in our neighborhood, typing at our computer, or talking to someone on the phone. Multiplying your BMR by 1.2 gives you the calories you burn a day in a typical day with light activity.
- Add your calorie expenditure via exercise. If you’re exercising, then you’ll definitely burn more calories than the number you got in the previous step. So, use this activity counter to know how many calories you’re burning with your exercises. Sum up this number with the answer from #2 and you’ll get your TDEE for the day!
So let’s say your BMR is 1400 and you went jogging today and burned 300 calories. Your TDEE will be,
1400 (this is your BMR) x 1.2 (you multiply by 1.2 to know your calorie expenditure on a light activity day) + 300 (this is your calorie expenditure from jogging)
= 1680 + 300 = 1980 calories
This means your calorie expenditure for the day is 1980! :)
For me, my BMR is 1386, based 5′ 7″ height, 128 lbs weight, and age of 30. On a day with light activity, my TDEE is 1663 (my BMR x 1.2). My jogs usually expend anywhere from 150 to 250 calories (my Map My Run app gives me a gauge of calories burned, albeit a gross estimation), so my TDEE is around 1863 on a day when I exercise.
Step 2: Check back with your calorie intake figures from Day 3
What was your total calorie intake for Day 3? Did you consume in line, less than, or more than your TDEE?
- If you’ve been losing weight, chances are you’ve been eating less than your TDEE.
- If you’ve been gaining weight, chances are you’ve been eating more than your TDEE.
- If you’ve been maintaining your weight, you’re probably eating in line with your TDEE!
Step 3: Calculate your calorie deficit/gain per day to achieve your weight goal
If you want to maintain your weight, simply eat in line with your TDEE from Step #1. Easy breezy!
If your goal is to lose weight though, you need to consume less calories than your TDEE. On the same note, if your goal is to gain weight, you need to consume more calories than your TDEE.
It’s generally recommended not to set a daily calorie difference bigger than 500. So if your TDEE is 1700 and you want to lose weight, you should have a daily calorie intake between 1200 to <1700 calories. If you want to gain weight, you should have a daily calorie intake between 1700 and <2200.
By setting your ideal weight and the date you want to achieve this ideal weight, you can then work backwards and calculate your calories intake a day!
- Calculate the difference between your ideal weight and current weight. If your ideal weight is 60kg and your current weight is 63kg, the difference is 3kg or 6.6lbs. (1kg = 2.2lbs)
- Multiply answer #1 by 3,500. To lose 1 lb, you need a calorie deficit of 3500 calories. To gain 1 lb, you need a calorie over-intake of 3,500 calories. (While there’s debate on whether 3500 calories truly make up a pound, we’ll simply take the age-old assumption of 3,500 calories = 1 lb for simplicity’s sake.) So to know your total calorie deficit or gain, multiply the number from #1 with 3,500. Example: If you have a 6.6lbs difference, that will be 6.6 (pounds) x 3500 (calories per pound)= 23,100 calories.
- Divide answer from #2 by # of days to achieve ideal weight. When do you want to achieve your ideal weight? If you want to achieve your ideal weight by end of Feb (it’s Jan 4 now), that’s 55 days left. Then, divide answer #2 by the number of days left. Example: 23,100 / 56 = 413* calories per day.
What this means is you need to either (1) consume 462 less calories per day vs. your TDEE, (2) burn 462 more calories than usual every day via extra exercise, and/or (3) do a combination of (1) and (2) to achieve your ideal weight of 60kg by end Feb.
(* If this number is more than 500, meaning a calorie deficit or over-intake by 500 per day, then extend your deadline such that the number is 500 or below. Remember, it’s more important to have a sustained weight loss/gain than a dramatic loss/gain that rebounds later on!)
Next, Follow Your Plan for Day 4 (Take Pictures Too!)
What tasks have you set for Day 4 of your 14-Day Healthy Living Plan? Do them today!
Take pictures of your healthy meals — breakfast, lunch, dinner, and mid-day snacks if any — and share them in the comments section. :D After all, a picture tells a thousand words, and when you share photos of your healthy meals, it inspires others to eat healthily and gives them ideas on what healthy food they can have too!
Post your initial comment sharing your results for today’s challenge task, then add on throughout the day as you have your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and/or if you’re doing any workouts. Attach photos of your meals by clicking the image icon on the bottom left of every comment box. As you add on to your comment thread, be sure to click on the reply button directly below your original comment so that you reply to your own thread (as opposed to starting a new thread).
Share Your Results (and Photos!)
Share in the comments section!
- Your TDEE, and how it matches up with your Day 3 calorie intake
- Your weight goal (do you wish to lose, gain, or sustain your weight?), your ideal timeline to achieve this goal, and the calorie deficit/over-consumption per day to meet this goal
- Your progress with your healthy living plan today
- Pictures of your meals
- Pictures of your workout (if any)
Do check out the other participants’ comments too and share a word of encouragement or two. We’re all in this together, so let’s support each other as a group! :)
After you’re done, proceed to Day 5: Create Your Ideal Meal Plan!
(Image: Women running, Apple, notebook, and calculator)
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Hi Celes, thank you for this information about calorie counting and TDEE computing. I have not tried this before. And they do make sense: the amount of nourishment we take and the amount of energy our body needs to do work.
I am 5’6″ tall and weigh 52kg. I am happy with my weight and would like to maintain it. My TDEE without exercise is 1600 calories and my TDEE with 15-30 minutes exercise is 1750-1950 calories. My calorie intake on Day 3 was around 1400-1500 calories.
So, to have my goal of maintaining my weight, with 2 times a week exercise, I need to take around 1600-1800 calories of food. I’m really not good in this. But at least I know where I am now more or less.
Hi Kristine, it’s so great to have you from the challenge! I fondly remember you from last year’s Passive Income Course! :D
Since you’re happy with your weight and want to maintain it, I’d say that you probably don’t need to put in too much effort to ensure the right calorie intake because your eating behavior prior to this has kept you at this weight anyway. Probably something you’d be more interested to do is the nutritional level of each food and whether you’re consuming in line with your desired nutritional level (in terms of fat %, the vitamins/minerals you’re taking in daily via your food, etc.).
Got 1783 as my calorie requirements (with ~30 min walking per day). There wasn’t an option for yoga in the calculator so I picked ‘gymnastics’ and it added 250 more. Might have to eat a little more on yoga days then.
Yesterday’s fruit: only had one clementine and smoothie.
Water: 1L
My total TDEE is 1,492.8. My day 3 calorie intake was 1,291. So that makes it:
1,291/1,492.8 meaning that one of the reason I’m having so much difficulty raising my weight is because I’m usually eating A LOT less than my TDEE and this is what’s making my weight drop and raise in a never ending loop but never reach more than 90. V
As you already know I want to gain weight. If I add 500 calories daily for this goal that would mean that I have to consume 1,992.8 of calories per day and if I add the usual calorie burn then more or less I think I’m safe to try out 2,000 calories per day and that should be enough to reach my goal.
I tried to calculate the days it would take but the Math didn’t come out… I don’t know if maybe you could explain it to me. The difference of my ideal weight (100) and my current weight (88.8) is 11.2 kg which would be the same as 24.64 pounds. I multiplied it with 3500 and results said I needed 86,240 calories to reach my goal but I tried to divide it until I got less than 400 but nothing worked. I think you’ll be able to explain to me better or help me do the math ^_^’
*less than 500 I meant.
Hey fufu! 86,240 is the excess calories you need to take in in order to gain weight. So say if you decide to consume 500 extra calories vs. your TDEE (i.e. total intake of 2,000 calories vs. your TDEE of about 500), that means it’ll take about 173 days to reach your desired weight (approximately). So that’s about 173 / 30 = ~6 months! Which isn’t too far off actually! :D
1. My TDEE, and how it matches up with my Day 3 calorie intake:
On days when I do not exercise, my calorie intake should be 1615 calories. And on days when I exercise my TDEE is between 1815 and 2015 calories (depending of the intensity of workout).
My calorie intake in Day 3 was 2048 :) And that is great since I would like to gain weight (5kg)! But I do not consume 2000 calories everyday (Day 3 was saturday and I was not busy).
2. My weight goal (do you wish to lose, gain, or sustain your weight?), your ideal timeline to achieve this goal, and the calorie deficit/over-consumption per day to meet this goal:
I would like to gain 5 kg in 5 months. My calorie over-consumption would be 256 calories per day. That does not seem hard to achieve at all! :) This calculation in Day 4 gives me different perspective on weight gain/loss.
3. My progress with my healthy living plan today:
– drank 8 glasses of water,
– eaten 5 servings of F&V (2 bananas, 1 apple, 1 mandarin, big portion of hokaido pumpkin),
– did not do yoga (my goal for this 14 days is to do yoga at home twice a week. I thought this 2 days would be saturday and sunday, so hopefully I will do it tomorrow or on wednesday),
– went for a walk.
4. Pictures of my meals and 5. Pictures of my workout (if any):
Today I only took a few pictures while taking a 40 minute walk. It was beautiful sunny day.
I’m a bit behind due to the weekend, as it was so busy. However I’ve now calculated my TDEE at 1452 calories without exercise and I know I stick to roughly this amount as I use My Fitness Pal app to log my food intake. It’s really useful as it tracks sugar, fat etc as well as just calories and it’s a really useful tool to help prevent me from over-eating. I’m a runner and log my runs on Strava which calculates calories used, so I know how much extra I need to eat when I exercise. I don’t want to lose any weight but for those who do, I can highly recommend running!
Here are two of my meals from the weekend (I didn’t photograph them all). The first one is a superfoods pasta salad that I had when my son and I ate out on Saturday. Normally I’d have chosen burger and fries at this restaurant but this time I chose a healthier option. It contained giant fusilli spirals, pesto, rocket, cherry tomatoes, soya beans, butternut squash and other salad/veg items that I can’t recall now. It was delicious!
The second meal is an egg salad I made yesterday. That was lovely too, and so filling that I couldn’t finish it all. Tonight I’m making spaghetti bolognese, so I’ll try and remember to photograph that.
Mmmm, your food looks delicious Kathryn E. Thank you for sharing. :D
Okay…it’s a start…. Trying to attach photos….This first image is carrot, ginger, celery, cucumber juice that I had first thing in the morning (after 2 glasses of water.) Okay! Success for attaching photo # Two. Cool! Here are my well-seasoned eggs (fresh-ground pepper and cayenne), 7-grain toast w flaxseed oil, curly kale, carrot, a bit of black decaf, and of course water. I had this meal closer to noon, so this would be more like lunch rather than breakfast. The third image is the wonderful rambutan fruit that my friend Marcus got at a local market here in Puerto Rico. We saved the seeds and are going to plant them up on the farm. The rambutans were a great snack. The calabasa in the background is a veggie that grows very well on our farm and we use it in all kinds of dishes and smoothies. In fact, it was one of the veggies in our eggplant stew today…Hope to have a photo soon for that. Right now I’m excited to make this post. Getting all my water in today is a bit more challenging, so I am still in process of that. It’s been a quiet day, meditative and listening to some interesting talks that included Eckhart Tolle and Ram Dass. Inspiring…
Here are two more photos- One that shows part of the smoothie I had that consisted of unsweetened almond milk, plain yogurt, cacao powder, and frozen banana and strawberry. The second photo shows local papaya, avocado, tangerines, and rambutan which are all tasty and nutritious and locally grown. Focusing on what is healthy to eat is helping me to get back to basics of taking care of myself, Both the tangerine and the smoothie made good snacks.
Hi Celes, thanks for your informative post today!
My target calorie intake from the above calculations is 2396 (1997 * 1.2). AND my calorie intake yesterday is 3000…!
To reach my ideal weight it takes 250 days if I reduce my intake by 900 from current and 400 below my basic rate.
The numbers are terrifying. Whereas I used to consume 4500 calories daily when I was younger for gym and fitness training in order to gain muscle mass, now I am putting on weight simply by consuming 3000 calories.
That is quite a shock to me. Not sure how to cut 900 calories away. But the first step of anything is awareness, so * keeping my fingers crossed *
I started off well — two servings of fruit at breakfast, and I drank 12 oz of water. But when I went to the coffee hour after church, instead of the usual cookies, which are easy to pass up, there were sausage rolls and scones and apple cake made by a church member who is an excellent cook and it was impossible to not to sample them and then to sample a ltitle more and then….fortunately he doesn’t live at my house so I can return to my eating plan for the rest of the day – with a few adjustments because of these goodies.
I have not been able to find any information about how much calories I expend on some of my most frequent activities — pushing a 200-lb man in a wheelchair, on the level, up a ramp, up a *steep* ramp… I wonder if others have activities that are not any of the ones listed by sites that help you figure out your calorie expenditure. If anyone knows that information, it could be a niche for them on the internet.
Hi Vicki! I recommend to use estimation, since this is a very specific scenario. For example, you can use some reference points for activities you commonly do, like calories burned when you walk for X minute, and then another reference point for say, calories burned when doing a light jog. Based on the numbers, you can kind of estimate how many calories may be burned when pushing (I’m assuming your husband?) on the wheelchair, based on how tired / how much energy it expends on your end as you’re doing it.
One thing I’ve learned from all these years is that it’s significantly easier to consume calories than to burn them off (it sounds intuitive but it’s really true). For example, eating a granola bar can be 150 calories, but it takes running a 2.4 km / 1.5 miles at average pace to burn off that amount of calories! Not saying we shouldn’t eat of course, and at the end of the day every little exercise does add up, so that’s the most important!
Celestine, I like that use bodybuilding .com for the BMR calculation, do you use it for your workouts too?
1 & 2. My TDEE is 2100 kcal and my calorie intake on Day 3 was 2590 kcal so I’d be putting on weight in the long-term, which is a good reminder to watch my diet a bit more. I’m happy with my current weight and try to have regular exercise to get a nice muscle tone and good health.
Hi Avocado! No I don’t use the site, but thanks for letting us know about it! My app (as I was referring to in the post) calculates the calorie burnt during my jogs, so I just use that figure.
Though actually I’m at my ideal weight and I’ve been maintaining my weight fine for the past year or two (the calorie counting, diet planning etc. in the past has turned into intuitive knowledge / instinct for me now when it comes to eating/food), so I’ve stopped doing calorie tracking be it for workouts or food, but occasionally refer to calories more for personal interest/knowledge.
Thank you for your response, Celestine, I appreciate you taking the time :)
My day 4 of the challenge didn’t go so well because I had a family engagement that involved a lunch and a dinner and went into late hours – but I’m not too sad about it because this challenge is really helping me to be more aware of my efforts to become more healthy and I can already see the benefits, yay! :)
I did calculate my energy needs and did my 1 hour workout as well as some additional basketball playing!
I’ve just calculated my DEE and apparently I should be eating 1559 calories a day (with exercise included). I can definitely say that I eat more than that on a daily basis but that’s mostly because I eat when I’m not hungry (emotional eating). Overcoming EE is one of my goals for this year (as it has always been, but this year I won’t make excuses; I’ll surely screw up for a while, pardon my French here, but the most important thing to me right now is to keep going, to keep trying until I eventually succeed).
Two years ago, in January 2013, I went all crazy with it, barely eating 1000 calories and exercising intensively for 1 hour five times a week. Needless to say that only lead to more binge eating, feeling tired and dizzy. In 2014 I didn’t set any hard rules for myself health-wise. I tried to eat less sweets and less food overall (I was constantly overeating), but I never *tried too hard*. However, I stopped binge eating in 2014, which has helped me lots in terms of how I felt, both physically and mentally, and how I looked (now I maintain my weight much more easily).
The plan for today is to do 30 minutes of cardio in the morning. Then I’ll have a smoothie made out of 1/2 a mango, a banana, and 2-3 clementines. For lunch, we’ll have a bit of cheese, with polenta, and roasted pork (I know pork isn’t the healthiest, but as I’ve said before my parents are the ones to cook and we have to make compromises when it comes to food; for them, food is a very touchy subject, we’ve had some serious arguments in the past when I tried to go raw or to at least cook for myself; now I eat what I want in general, but I have to eat one meal a day of what they cook; as I said, compromises). And for dinner I’ll boil some veggies and 2 eggs.
Hi Lina, that’s interesting that your TDEE is 1559 only (with exercise)!! Are you petite by nature?
I think that’s awesome that you’re working on overcoming EE! Know that it’s a journey and a process, so it’s more important to slowly understand your drivers of EE and then to address them one by one. Do you know what you tend to eat when you EE? (If I understand right, it’s the sugary stuff that you allude to in your posts sometimes?) And what are the situations when you tend to emotional eat?
I guess I’m a rather small-sized person, I’m about 160 cms tall and I weigh about 56-57 kilos.
I’ve done lots of exercises for identifying my triggers and my “reward” foods over a long period of time, so I know that I mostly eat sugary and fatty foods when emotionally eating and that I tend to do it mostly when I feel angry, frustated, anxious, or — at the other pole of emotions — excited. There currently are certain circumstances in my life which I can’t change at all because they don’t depend on me or my work and efforts, so this makes me feel powerless, angry, and frustrated, therefore making it more difficult for me to overcome EE-ing. I try breathing exercises, journaling, and other such things; sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.
The bottom, deep, root cause of this all is the fact that I want to have my own place. I want so badly to own my very own apartment, that sometimes it makes me resent my parents and my grandmother. I know these are harsh words and I’m not proud of them, but after living my entire life so far in someone else’s apartment (in this case my grandmother’s) and having to deal with all sort of difficult (sometimes absurd) situations just because I’m like “a guest” in this house, I feel tired and frustrated. This is why I always say that I try to keep a positive, optimistic attitude despite everything else. Lately I’ve just pretended that the feelings of frustration and anger aren’t there, because constantly lingering on the situation only does me more harm than good, especially since I can’t change anything (I can’t simply leave, I have no place to go and I have no money; and that’s exactly what my grandmother uses against me and my parents, because she knows we can’t leave and that we have to put up with everything she does or says).
Well this quickly turned into a ramble. Sorry. It’s a rather sensitive issue for me.
Dearest Lina, I hear you. When you’re staying with others, it can be difficult especially if their personalities and values do not mesh well with yours. This is especially worse when they’re the owners of the house and you’re, as you shared, more of the “guest” or “tenant.” How much does it cost to have your own apartment? How about rental or sharing a room with a friend, have you considered that? Staying with a good friend if he/she has a spare room and paying him/her a stipend rent?
To buy a place of my own would cost approximately $35.000 (even the smaller, one-room apartments are around $30.000). Renting would be an option, but I would need a stable job in order to rent (which I don’t have at the moment).
There would be two options: either I keep living the way I do now and save money for the following 10 to 15 years in order to buy my own house (this sound nerve-wrecking and totally discouraging to be honest) or I get a job as soon as possible after finishing college (which will be in 2017 after I get my MA as well) and rent something. I’ve always felt that renting is a waste of money, because you keep paying but it’s never *your* place, but I’m also aware that you can’t have everything (in my case, independence, my own property, and money in the bank account).
As a side note, buying an apartment is one of the reasons why I wanted to start a website at a certain point (I’ve abandoned this plan later on because of various reasons, the financial aspect being only one of them); when I know that there are people who have medium-sized blogs and who earn $4000 a month out of their blog and eBooks, I’m amazed. For others those $4000 are nothing, but with that kind of money incoming every month, I would get my apartment in one year.
Brunch to kick off the day: Orange carrot soup, a piece of wholemeal bread, and dragonfruit for brunch!! Have a coaching session later on and will be doing video edit for yesterday’s live course, plus try to knock off a couple of other to-dos today. I need to get a new camera as my old digi cam is spoiled and it’s been quite cumbersome to use my video cam for phototaking (it’s good for taking videos but not easy for pictures)!
YOU KNOW your food has to be pretty yummy when even YOUR CAT jumped up the table and tried to nibble on it!!!!!!
Your cat is hillarious and so cute I must add. XD
Yes he’s the cutest little pumpkin I know!!! We literally have a communication thing going on. I need to show this by way of a video on Celes.TV next time, but essentially I talk to him and he replies back to every word/sentence I say. It’s really hilarious.
Awww, that’s adorable!!
Dinner — had QQRice! For those of you not in Asia, think of QQRice as what my friend calls, “sushi on steroids.” You pick a rice — they have various options, mixed grain, purple rice, red rice, brown rice, etc. — and then pick 5 different fillings. Then, they wrap up these fillings with the rice and a plastic wrapper, after which you can unwrap and eat on the go. It’s very vegetarian friendly, and hence one of my favorite eateries.
This is mine today: Red rice with pickled vegetables, broccoli / carrots, vegetable floss, braised peanuts, and vegetarian duck. And also a fresh orange juice (from a separate stall) to go along with it! :D
Nighttime jog of 2.42km at a pace of 7:43 min / km, burning 173 calories. I like that this app shows splits for each km, which lets me know how I’m doing. I’m personally interested to see how my pace changes as I continue my exercise every other day!
Then, salad after that. Homemade salad with a salad mix kit from the supermarket and other ingredients (tofu, chick peas, and grapes which I later added in). And a banana. Yum! :D
(Writing Day 5’s post now, will be up in a bit!)
Awesome, delicious photos for sure Celes! Just learned about dragonfruit a week or so ago, and we are planning on planting it on the farm. It looks beautiful! You must like it and be quite familiar with it, yes? Do you eat it solo mostly, or use it in other dishes too?
Hi Swann, what a great question! I do eat it solo and most people do too. But there will always be people who whip it up in dishes and try something funky with it, though to be honest I think that’s 0.001% of the time. The only time I’ve someone whip it up in a cooked dish was on a celebrity cooking program one time, and the judges rated the dish badly in the end. I think dragon fruit is really best eaten on its own because of its sweetness and great taste on its own!
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