Keep Calm and Carry On: The Diary of Foodie and Gourmet

So, here we are almost 3 months after my first "no pain, no gain" post, and I thought I'd provide a bit of an update. I am delighted to say that I have made lots of progress! I am down roughly 14 lb so far and I dropped a dress size! Huzzah! For five months of dieting and exercising, that may not seem like a lot, however, I have also built up muscle and I have lost a significant amount of weight around my stomach. I'm particularly pleased about the latter development. I went from looking pregnant to almost flat belly! (no kidding!) In fact, yesterday, one of my girlfriends said to me, "hey! You look skinny." In my 24 years of living, I don't think ANYONE has ever called me skinny. Now, when I say that I have built muscle, I don't look like Madonna or any of the Spartans from 300.  Rather, I just feel stronger and my stamina has gone through the rough. I've noticed a significant increase in my energy levels during the day, and whereas I used t

School may be out for the summer for most, but not me. As I mentioned earlier, for 3 months, I will be studying organic chemistry. Sure, it's not as nice as exploring London or eating my way around Tokyo, but it's actually not too bad. Sure, I'm insanely busy and   sometimes don't even have time to eat, but I'm going to let you in on a little secret...I'm not completely miserable. I absolutely hate lab and I hate preparing for lab and I hate writing the lab reports (mostly because its time consuming to a point that it is a waste of time), but organic chemistry itself, I really really enjoy. What a shocker. It's very logical and visually oriented, with no math. Perfect for me! Unlike calculus or general chemistry, this stuff makes sense and I'm actually good at it! Anyway, enough of that. So, you've probably heard people say, "breakfast is the most important meal of the day." How true. With Monday & Wednesday being 9

So, some of you may or may not have noticed that my blog has fallen silent. I wanted to fill you all in and let you know what has been going on. This summer, I am taking organic chemistry at NYU. It is intensive, since it is a whole year of orgo condensed into 12 weeks....so life is totally insane. I don't think I have ever been this busy or worked as hard! My week, which goes from Monday-Thursday is long. I have lecture (2 hrs) three times a week, followed by recitation (1 hr) two times a week, and lab (4hr 15min) twice a week. Did I mention that Monday and Wednesday is long since I have lecture/recitation/lab all back to back. Literally a 9-5 day. When I am not in class, I still manage to see my trainer twice a week for an hour and try to fit in cardio on the other days when I can. I still also work at the NYU Cancer Center once a week for a couple hours AND I got myself an orgo tutor who I see for two hours twice a week. Phew! Busy busy busy! Also, when I am not doing any of