BEFORE
You may not notice how fat I've become because I don't normally post full-body pictures of myself. In the few times that I do, I'd be covered up or be behind somebody. It also came to a point wherein I'd crop my pictures so that my body will not be included. In short, I was so insecure and uncomfortable with my body.
That reason, along with some others, pushed me to change my habits. And alas, a miracle, I've stuck to my weight loss plan and it works. I diet but I don't do any intense exercise. I've lost 16 pounds already. Although I'm just halfway through my goal, I'm proud of myself and I want to share with you what I've been doing.
As of now, I don't have many "After Pictures" because I'm not yet finished but I hope you can see the difference. Pictures are way way way down the article :)
CAUTION:
I am not recommending that you follow my exact diet-exercise
because I am not an expert. I am simply sharing with you my weight history, the
4 general factors that helped me lose weight and my diet-exercise routine. If
you want to lose weight the right way, please consult a doctor or a fitness
expert. I am not liable for anything that may happen to you if you follow my
diet-exercise.
It is always important to keep in mind how much
calories our bodies need. A healthy and balanced diet is always recommended.
·
If you want to try my diet-exercise, keep in
mind that you revise it based on your health concerns & lifestyle—how much
food your body needs, your activities, etc. (And again, ask a professional.)
· Take note of any
health concerns you may have when dieting.
BACKGROUND
A few things about my weight issues, lifestyle and eating habits so that you may understand my body and why my diet-exercise worked for me
·
When I was younger, I was really thin. That
didn't really last long because in my teenage years I gained weight. I was
always self-conscious. Well, I still am today but not as much as before. I do
not wear shorts, sleeveless anything, skirts, tight-fitting clothes because I
am not comfortable with my body and the way it looks to me.
·
I was never the sporty-type. I barely passed all
our PE classes in grade school and high school. I did not ever learn how to
ride the bike. I never liked moving too much. I never liked the idea of
exercising (because it’s very exhausting). If I had to choose an exercise, it
would be running on the treadmill. I tried that but I only last a few minutes
before I’d quit.
·
Eating was my hobby. I only eat a few types of
food. I would list the things I don’t eat (e.g. vegetables, pizza, lasagna,
salad, noodles) but I think it will be a shorter list if I mentioned the food I
allow to actually enter my mouth. I eat any kind of meat that is not swimming
in sauce/broth/soup. I like my meat dry (except for some sauces: teriyaki,
sweet n sour, bbq, etc). I also like bacon, hotdog, spam, tocino. In short, I
am a meat-eater. I like processed or deep-fried food. And when the food is
really tasty, I like pairing it with rice. I also enjoy desserts very much. I
have a sweet tooth especially for chocolates. I also like junk food. Sometimes
when I would get hungry, I would ask someone to buy me a bunch of snacks amounting
to 200php and I would eat 2 or 3 in a day (all by myself).
·
I think there was only one time when I lost a
lot of weight. Maybe a month and a half before my debut, we arrived from a
summer trip. I gained a lot of weight because of all the amazing and tempting
food. I wanted to lose a lot of weight because I was heartbroken and I wanted
to look good for myself (and for revenge). Aside from the dieting and the tiring
dance rehearsals for my debut, I tried taking Xenical, a pill that helps you
lose weight. The combination was proven to be successful as I slimmed down; but
as soon as I met Duane I let myself go again. He already liked me so I saw no
point in dieting already. We enjoyed eating and eventually we became fat (or in my case, fat-ter). I was alright with
that because even if I got fat, he would still like me BECAUSE THERE ARE NO
TAKE BACKS HAHAHA.
4 FACTORS
IN WEIGHT LOSS
1. Motivation
I have tried a few diet techniques
already but I always end up losing hope and quitting altogether. I think one of
the most important factors in pushing through with your diet is your
motivation. Why do you need to diet and exercise? Why do you need to lose
weight? Your reasons may vary because we have different goals but they are all
valid.
I started dieting because my
friend will be getting married in a few months; and that meant I needed to wear
a sleeveless dress. I can’t go there with my usual get-up: jeans, sleeveless
top paired with a jacket to cover my arms and fatness. I have no choice but to
show my huge arms and my large silhouette with bulging love handles. I will
need to stare at pictures of myself, uncomfortable and very insecure.
(People of different shapes and
sizes— may it be thin, sexy or fat can be confident in what they see in the
mirror. More power to them for being happy with their body. I have nothing
against people who are overweight. I am just speaking for myself when I say
that I do not think I look good overweight because I am not comfortable in my
image. I do not like what I see.)
Another motivation that helped me
was the bunch of clothes in my closet that used to fit me. Many of the pants I
had did not fit me anymore. It was really frustrating to try it on and find
that they cannot go any higher than my thighs.
And one more, you can go watch YouTube
videos of people who have already lost a lot of weight. I’ll admit that one
video got to me.
2. Goal
Once you have your motivations,
set a goal that is more or less set in stone. I always had a goal of fitting
into a certain item of clothing but I did not find that to be motivating
enough. Clothes will always be there to fit you when you lose weight. They
don’t require you to get moving as much as an event does.
An event, in my case, is much more
motivating because it has a date. You can’t easily move it. As an example, my
friend’s wedding is in October. I can’t just stop my diet because my goal is to
look good (and reach a certain amount of weight) by the time of her wedding. I
can’t slack off because that event is immovable.
In your case, you can set an event
a few months after you start dieting. That certain event should have a dress
code which will force you to have a leaner body. I think the perfect event that
will truly motivate you is a swimming outing/party just because you will need
to wear a swimsuit (just a suggestion)
Perseverance
You really have to want it. The
reason most of my attempts failed is because I didn't have any clear motivation
and goal.
I really wanted to lose weight and
look better. It’s as simple as that.
Self-control
This might be the hardest factor
in dieting. My mom always brings home so many food and sweets. And at times my
family eats out I have the tendency to eat everything that I want. Self-control
really boils down to the other three factors I’ve mentioned. If you have a
strong motivation, a clear goal and if you really are set on losing weight, you
can control your urges to overeat.
The key to self-control is portion
control. Control, puro na lang control. You can cheat or treat yourself a
little but learn when to stop. Just yesterday, an unscheduled cheat day once
again, I ate this delicious ice cream from Baskin Robbins. I thought of my diet
and how I did not want to gain all the pounds I already lost. I did not finish
the whole serving. Instead, I stopped myself when I was quite satisfied and I
shared it with someone else.
THE
DIET-EXERCISE
Aka Lazy Starving
Diet =))
- NO-NO’s
- Soft drinks, artificial drinks (iced tea, mixes, bottled drinks), milk
- Rice, bread, pasta (or anything similar to that: I’m sorry I don’t know because I don’t eat that)
- Fried food
- Junk food
- Candies
- AVOID
- Eating out (just because you’ll be tempted to finish the whole meal)
- Meat (you can eat this once in a while but in very small portions only)
- Sweets (my weakness)
- Processed food
- DRINK 1 TO 2 GLASSES OF WATER 5-10 MINUTES BEFORE YOUR MEAL
This is very important. I do this
so that before I eat my meal, I would feel less hungry and therefore eat less.
- EAT VERY LITTLE
Because I drink a lot of water
beforehand, it’s easy for me to not eat so much. And when I do eat, I do it slowly.
I have heard of the saying that it takes about 20 minutes after you start
eating before your brain to tell you that you are already full. I have not
researched the validity of this statement but I can speak from my own
experience. I’m sure you have also experienced eating so much in so little time
that you feel really bloated only a few minutes after. So eat slowly and enjoy
your food because you won’t be eating much anyway.
- GREEN TEA AFTER EVERY MEAL
I usually drink green tea right after I eat or at maximum one and a half hours after. I was quite unsure of its
effectiveness in my diet but when we had a party and I drank green tea after
eating a lot, I pooped right away. I did not notice its effect on me even
though I was peeing a lot because I thought the water I’ve been chugging was
the culprit. Maybe since I didn’t eat a lot, it did not have to release it
through my bowels? I’m really not sure.
- WALK 6,000 STEPS UP (or increase your movement if you already have a relatively active lifestyle)
If you read the background on my
lifestyle, you know that I do not like exercising. Walking was the perfect
solution for me. It did not feel like exercise. I just walk ‘round and ‘round
our hose. Tip #1 download a pedometer. I use the Breeze app on my iphone 5s.
I’m not sure if this app is available to androids or if this app just works on
the 5s. I’d recommend this over setting a time for your daily walks because
minutes are just too damn long. It’s more fun to look at the number of steps
skyrocketing to a few thousands than to glance at your watch and see that
you’ve only been walking for 3 minutes. Tip#2 play music to motivate yourself.
I use Spotify and I enjoy streaming playlists with party music.
- DON’T BE TO OBSESSIVE
Don’t count your calories. Don’t
weigh yourself one day after you start your diet. Give it time. If you’ve
already been dieting for quite some time, weight every other day. Do not weigh
yourself after your cheat days. Only weigh yourself after your “recovery” days.
A CLEARER LOOK AT MY
DIET-EXERCISE
WEIGHT LOSS SCHEDULE:
Wednesday pm-Friday lose approx 0.5 kilo a day or 1 kilo
for the two days
Saturday-Sunday cheatday
Monday-Wed am lose cheatday weight
*loop =))
SAMPLE
DIET-EXERCISE LOG
*in
every after meal, drink green tea
Thursday
Breakfast 3 turkey bacon, 1 sunny side-up egg
Lunch 1 bowl Koko Krunch
Dinner 2 small apples blended
Steps 7947
Kg
Loss 0.3
Friday
Breakfast 1 bowl Koko Krunch
Lunch 1 Banana
Dinner 1 Saging na Saba with Honey, 1
one-inch cube of beef (I really wasn’t going to eat meat but my mom
asked me to taste it. I don’t eat meat in that size LOL)
Steps 5241
Kg Loss 0.6
CHEATDAY
I did not list the food I ate, but on cheat days I make it a
point that if I eat rice, I only eat one cup of rice for that day. I also
don’t eat too much. Always eat in moderation even if it’s cheat day.
Monday
Breakfast 1 pack Greek Yogurt with Raspberry
Pomegranate
Lunch 1 Banana, 1 pack Skyflakes
Dinner 1 Chocolate Croissant
Steps 8433
Tuesday
Breakfast 2 thin slices of Spam
Lunch 1 toast bread, assorted meat
Snack 1/3 cookie, 3 mini cookie
cups
Dinner 1 bowl Banana & Mango, 1
cookie shotglass with milk
Steps 9406
Wednesday
Breakfast 1 pack Greek Yogurt with Blueberry
Lunch 1 bowl Banana & Mango
Dinner 1/3 bowl Fish, matchbox size
Chicken, 1 mini cookie cup
Steps 11036
Kg
Loss 0.2 (weight loss from
last weigh-in on Friday)
*I only weigh the day after, e.g.
Thursday’s weight loss is determined by weighing on Friday morning. I do not
weigh myself on cheat days to recovery days. My weight on Wednesdays should be
equal or less than that of my Friday weight. So I really only lose weight on
mid-Wednesdays to Fridays.
If you think my diet for every day
is too extreme, here is yesterday’s meal log which is a bit more than what I
usually eat.
Thursday
Breakfast 1 pack Greek Yogurt with Honey
Lunch ¾ large French Fries, 3/5 of
1 scoop Baskin Robbins Chocolate ice cream
Dinner ½ bowl Mango, Assorted Meat (2
chicken drumsticks, 1 thin slice of beef, etc)
Steps 7341
Kg
Loss 0.2
AFTER
I actually started cutting down rice a few months before I started this diet-exercise routine. I only pushed myself to really get moving on June 20, 2014. My weight tally started May 15, 2014.
During the period of May 15 to July 31 or two and a half months, I’ve already lost 7.3kg or 16 pounds.
I can now fit into my old pants and the jacket we bought last March that was too tight for me is already loose. I still do not have a body I can call “sexy” but I am not overweight anymore (according to my BMI). I am committed to losing more pounds and eventually having a more healthy diet (and maybe start doing intense exercises in the near future). I can only starve myself for so long. What I really aim for is to be able to eat the things I want (but in moderation) and not gain back the pounds I’ve lost. So there you go. 16 pounds gone, 7 to go (but ideally, plus 8 more).
Forgive me for I still don't have any decent pictures because although I am quite happy with the results, I haven't achieved my desired weight and shape yet. I hope you can see the effect though. I didn't measure my waist but I am able to wear some pants that only went up to my thigh. There's less friction in my thighs LOL. My arms fit previously tight-fitting sleeves and my side bulges are less evident. So there's that. I shall have more pictures when I'm 7 pounds lighter so you may see the difference more clearly.
HERE'S TO LOOKING GOOD AND FEELING BETTER!
*AGAIN, please consult a
professional if you want to lose weight the right way. The effects this diet
had on me were headaches and dizziness due to low blood sugar levels. I am now
trying to resolve that issue. Do not copy my diet-exercise because we have
different bodies and your body may react differently to what I did. I am not
responsible for anything that may happen to you if you follow my diet. I am not
a professional. I am simply sharing the diet that worked for me.
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