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i think the best way to break a dry blog curse is diving in head first and getting dirty. when i mean dirty ,i mean being down pat to the most urgent and current situation that i'm in at the moment.
well, as most of u my dear blog readers (all thousands of you *hehehe*) know that i am in the throes of a weightloss mania. so far,im still riding the mania high. until how long, i do not know,but if it were just up to my good fortune, i will continue this till kingdom come. but then again, history says, i am not that good with maintaining what i started, this blog included (touche').
so far, im on my 9th month of this 'active/exercise lifestyle'. i started at 92.8 kgs and as of tonight's weigh in, i am 76 kgs. great? great! but there lies the divide. if u asked me years ago , 9 months to lose all these weight was too long. i was always a fan of quick schemes. the three-day diet/the three month super cut body. the overnight 2 pound weightloss. the 6-6 diet. the lose 10 pounds in 10 days, etc. (oh the yo-yo! i guess that can contribute surely to early diabetes, as fluctuations in sugar that quick is not good).
but all through these years, successful those diets/schemes may have been on me, they have not lasted, and they were painful. i had to sacrifice a lot. not eating at certain times, not eating rice, not eating sweets, not doing this,etc,etc.
alas! fast forward to being mature and much more resigned to 'health' than 'fashion/waif' reasons for dieting/exercise, i have found the not-so-quick scheme but a more doable and more enduring way to losing the excess poundage.
i am not there yet (hell,no!) and may not reach my size 10 UK dreams (thats size 6 US for you Forever 21 fans, bwehe!), but then, if at the end of this all, i have exercised all my cellulites out of my derrier, then maybe, maybe, i have succeeded still in my own quirky way.
so how did i manage so far?
here are some unsolicited tips for you who are planning to join me in this journey. (please do, exercise and losing weight the healthy way is boring on your own). PS> these are why it worked for me. So if you are like me, this may work with you,too.
-Tip 1) Ditch the "QUICK" word- Rome wasnt built in a day. So is the Goddess in you that's waiting to come out. Any self-respecting adiposa (fat, my dear lovelies) will always fight twice faster the time u lost it. The human body is not meant to lose weight for 2 pounds a week, but ok, i am with you when you think thats too slow, so maybe, let's make that 4 lbs a week. So that means, your means of losing the fats should maintain your water/fluid balance (you are not allowed to be dehydrated), you are not allowed to be ultra hungry (a little bit hungry is ok) ,thus, the other end of the spectrum of being overly-full is not allowed either.
Think of this as a lifestyle plan for lifetime. Once you get into this thing, you are into this hook,line and sinker. No turning back. Ok, period of rests are allowed but no more than a week, or else you are back to square one.
- Tip 2) Ditch the 'diet". what diet are you on? Anything that has the word "diet" attached to it, is never trustworthy. It normally is associated with tip number 1: the quick scheme. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and maybe a pre-exercise snack is needed, go ahead. Do not starve yourself. The body will think that is your 'normal' so it stores your fats for safekeeping, but as soon as you attend the next meal invite by your girlfriends, or the next birthday party you need to drop in on, the body sucks in all of what you ate and will hang on to it for dear life. Be sensible. So you're hungry? Eat. Your stomach is growling? Make sure its not just gas, or else,the toilet is yours. When was the last time you had a meal? 4 hours ago? Go ahead. Have a banana if its not yet meal time. Ok, two bananas if you're really hungry. Add in a packet of skyflakes if it helps, but remember, you still have that dinner meet-up with officemates tonight, hala ka!
(getting into this mindset takes time. it is basically about habit-formation and retraining your brain. most big eaters normally just think they are hungry, so when we learn to train our thoughts that if its not meal times yet,we are not yet hungry, then it will get easier. if you know the answer how to do it, buzz me. this is also where i struggle).
- Tip 3) Move that bootey. Exercise, exercise, exercise, my loves. No two ways about it. I have been living in England approximately 9 years now, believe it or not, i eat lesser number of meals when i moved here and ate more veggies. And there was even a time, i had so little appetite, that i would only eat once a day, yet i was gaining more and more each time. Calorie-wise, maybe i was only eating 2-3T calories (maybe), but then again, i was sedentary. I was on my computer when i was at home, and munched on snacks. It all sits in the belly.
My brother's tip: (he's a gym instructor) is, a if you want to lose the weight: Exercise 4x a week at least,and do cardio exercises that gets your heart rate really fast. (more definite details on how to compute your HR at a level where you are most productive at fat burning on another time). The exercise should also be at least 45 minutes. To maintain, exercise 3-2x a week.
I *go to the gym (*aim) 4x a week. I would prefer to go 5x a week but my job is a very physically demanding job (i do rehab treatment on people who are paralysed so it somehow involves some muscular movement/exercise, so the 5th day is forgiven via the job).
I allocate 2 hours in the gym everytime. 40 minutes for the crosstrainer, 40 minutes on the treadmill (so thats 80 minutes cardio). and i do 20 minutes on shoulders/arm weights. and 20 minutes for changing/loo times/and vanity photography shots in the locker room (hahaha!).
i started out only with 15 minutes on the treadmill, and 10 minutes on the crosstrainer in the 8th of November, 2011. I only started weight-training on my arms a month ago. Your body starts to crave more. Your muscles gets used to the burn and it will crave for more, so you will build up accordingly.
Annnd! it doesnt have to be the gym really. It can be swimming, dancing or anything. I heard once, a Filipina actress who once was heavy-set lost all her weight when she decided enough is enough and got up every morning at the crack of dawn to do dancing. Yes, she just danced. Danced until she could not dance anymore. But then again, it has to be at least 45 minutes of exercise 4-5x a week to show results. How about swimming? Aqua aerobics, running, jogging, brisk walking (remember Charlotte from Sex and the City? she did brisk walking a few times a week in Central Park, why not go to your nearest park or your local subdivision, and do brisk walking? Doable? go ahead!). Cycling? Badminton? Cleaning your house? Exercise DVDs! years ago, i also lost a lot of weight before just doing Taebo exercises via a pirated DVD that was given to me as a present. But a few months after that, i got promoted in the radio station i worked in, and i got too busy to exercise, the moment i decided to stop exercising, i also completely lost all inhibitions in the dining table, thus why i am back to square one,lol).
- Tip 4) Realistic expectations..From yourself. If you are going to do an exercise plan and a food-restructure (i said the word 'diet' is not allowed,hah) then, do the things you think is more realistic to your kid of life/work/role. If you're a mom,with a job and kids, i cannot imagine you not eating together with your family as solution, so it lessens temptations because, being a mom, value-formation for your kiddos will always be priority. If you work as a nurse with shift work, having a meal-time plan should be stricter,so your stomach can adjust to what is doable for you.
When i started this journey, i knew i could not do "no rice" (besides no carbs is bad for you, it can produce ketones which could lead to kidney stones/ kidney failure). I could not do: slimfast/liquid diets (hell no!), and most of all i could not be vegetarian. so those are very unrealistic for me to do. I knew however, that i could make up by being 'active'. I knew that if i exercise (aerobics via DVD was the initial plan) a bit more, "lessen" the rice habit,and restructure the time i eat, and substituting, maybe, maybe, my mind, would cooperate. i jumped and tried doing it, and it worked. (so far).
today, i eat lesser rice than i used to. i eat according to my exercise. if i ate a lot, then i know i have to work my butt off, then i do. i still eat chocolates, rice (up to a third helping, yes!), ice cream, meat, and cakes, but hell, i know i have to whip myself more if i had a bar of chocolate that day. so its a compromise.
Ok, ok. so far, we know, exercise and a good diet works. But what am i teling you that you do not know already?
ahhh, the magic word : motivation. how do u/i keep it going?
it is a struggle. but somehow, i talk myself around it. but since i've already written a whole novel here, that will be chapter two topic next time.
see you in the gym, loves!
Another PS: see why you should take 'fat' photos of yourself? you need it for your "before" and "after" documentation (*lol).
i must have been thinking : burger or sausage bun? burger? or sausage bun?
we were probably laughing at our cuteness,lol.
i was even 'slim' in my mind in that photo.
i thought i hid my bulges well. and that was hiding it.
no amount of expensive designer kaftans can cover my jellies up.
we're sexy and we know it (lol)
i must have been pregnant here. oh wait, i was never pregnant!lol.
MORE RECENT ones:
taken last month. i woke up and thought, "goodness, i am a goddess"
i felt great within myself taking this pic.
shattered from work,but what the hell,im slimmer, it needs a photo op!
this afternoon. just before i traipsed around town. all size 14 of me.
**
i think the best way to break a dry blog curse is diving in head first and getting dirty. when i mean dirty ,i mean being down pat to the most urgent and current situation that i'm in at the moment.
well, as most of u my dear blog readers (all thousands of you *hehehe*) know that i am in the throes of a weightloss mania. so far,im still riding the mania high. until how long, i do not know,but if it were just up to my good fortune, i will continue this till kingdom come. but then again, history says, i am not that good with maintaining what i started, this blog included (touche').
so far, im on my 9th month of this 'active/exercise lifestyle'. i started at 92.8 kgs and as of tonight's weigh in, i am 76 kgs. great? great! but there lies the divide. if u asked me years ago , 9 months to lose all these weight was too long. i was always a fan of quick schemes. the three-day diet/the three month super cut body. the overnight 2 pound weightloss. the 6-6 diet. the lose 10 pounds in 10 days, etc. (oh the yo-yo! i guess that can contribute surely to early diabetes, as fluctuations in sugar that quick is not good).
but all through these years, successful those diets/schemes may have been on me, they have not lasted, and they were painful. i had to sacrifice a lot. not eating at certain times, not eating rice, not eating sweets, not doing this,etc,etc.
alas! fast forward to being mature and much more resigned to 'health' than 'fashion/waif' reasons for dieting/exercise, i have found the not-so-quick scheme but a more doable and more enduring way to losing the excess poundage.
i am not there yet (hell,no!) and may not reach my size 10 UK dreams (thats size 6 US for you Forever 21 fans, bwehe!), but then, if at the end of this all, i have exercised all my cellulites out of my derrier, then maybe, maybe, i have succeeded still in my own quirky way.
so how did i manage so far?
here are some unsolicited tips for you who are planning to join me in this journey. (please do, exercise and losing weight the healthy way is boring on your own). PS> these are why it worked for me. So if you are like me, this may work with you,too.
-Tip 1) Ditch the "QUICK" word- Rome wasnt built in a day. So is the Goddess in you that's waiting to come out. Any self-respecting adiposa (fat, my dear lovelies) will always fight twice faster the time u lost it. The human body is not meant to lose weight for 2 pounds a week, but ok, i am with you when you think thats too slow, so maybe, let's make that 4 lbs a week. So that means, your means of losing the fats should maintain your water/fluid balance (you are not allowed to be dehydrated), you are not allowed to be ultra hungry (a little bit hungry is ok) ,thus, the other end of the spectrum of being overly-full is not allowed either.
Think of this as a lifestyle plan for lifetime. Once you get into this thing, you are into this hook,line and sinker. No turning back. Ok, period of rests are allowed but no more than a week, or else you are back to square one.
- Tip 2) Ditch the 'diet". what diet are you on? Anything that has the word "diet" attached to it, is never trustworthy. It normally is associated with tip number 1: the quick scheme. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and maybe a pre-exercise snack is needed, go ahead. Do not starve yourself. The body will think that is your 'normal' so it stores your fats for safekeeping, but as soon as you attend the next meal invite by your girlfriends, or the next birthday party you need to drop in on, the body sucks in all of what you ate and will hang on to it for dear life. Be sensible. So you're hungry? Eat. Your stomach is growling? Make sure its not just gas, or else,the toilet is yours. When was the last time you had a meal? 4 hours ago? Go ahead. Have a banana if its not yet meal time. Ok, two bananas if you're really hungry. Add in a packet of skyflakes if it helps, but remember, you still have that dinner meet-up with officemates tonight, hala ka!
(getting into this mindset takes time. it is basically about habit-formation and retraining your brain. most big eaters normally just think they are hungry, so when we learn to train our thoughts that if its not meal times yet,we are not yet hungry, then it will get easier. if you know the answer how to do it, buzz me. this is also where i struggle).
- Tip 3) Move that bootey. Exercise, exercise, exercise, my loves. No two ways about it. I have been living in England approximately 9 years now, believe it or not, i eat lesser number of meals when i moved here and ate more veggies. And there was even a time, i had so little appetite, that i would only eat once a day, yet i was gaining more and more each time. Calorie-wise, maybe i was only eating 2-3T calories (maybe), but then again, i was sedentary. I was on my computer when i was at home, and munched on snacks. It all sits in the belly.
My brother's tip: (he's a gym instructor) is, a if you want to lose the weight: Exercise 4x a week at least,and do cardio exercises that gets your heart rate really fast. (more definite details on how to compute your HR at a level where you are most productive at fat burning on another time). The exercise should also be at least 45 minutes. To maintain, exercise 3-2x a week.
I *go to the gym (*aim) 4x a week. I would prefer to go 5x a week but my job is a very physically demanding job (i do rehab treatment on people who are paralysed so it somehow involves some muscular movement/exercise, so the 5th day is forgiven via the job).
I allocate 2 hours in the gym everytime. 40 minutes for the crosstrainer, 40 minutes on the treadmill (so thats 80 minutes cardio). and i do 20 minutes on shoulders/arm weights. and 20 minutes for changing/loo times/and vanity photography shots in the locker room (hahaha!).
i started out only with 15 minutes on the treadmill, and 10 minutes on the crosstrainer in the 8th of November, 2011. I only started weight-training on my arms a month ago. Your body starts to crave more. Your muscles gets used to the burn and it will crave for more, so you will build up accordingly.
Annnd! it doesnt have to be the gym really. It can be swimming, dancing or anything. I heard once, a Filipina actress who once was heavy-set lost all her weight when she decided enough is enough and got up every morning at the crack of dawn to do dancing. Yes, she just danced. Danced until she could not dance anymore. But then again, it has to be at least 45 minutes of exercise 4-5x a week to show results. How about swimming? Aqua aerobics, running, jogging, brisk walking (remember Charlotte from Sex and the City? she did brisk walking a few times a week in Central Park, why not go to your nearest park or your local subdivision, and do brisk walking? Doable? go ahead!). Cycling? Badminton? Cleaning your house? Exercise DVDs! years ago, i also lost a lot of weight before just doing Taebo exercises via a pirated DVD that was given to me as a present. But a few months after that, i got promoted in the radio station i worked in, and i got too busy to exercise, the moment i decided to stop exercising, i also completely lost all inhibitions in the dining table, thus why i am back to square one,lol).
- Tip 4) Realistic expectations..From yourself. If you are going to do an exercise plan and a food-restructure (i said the word 'diet' is not allowed,hah) then, do the things you think is more realistic to your kid of life/work/role. If you're a mom,with a job and kids, i cannot imagine you not eating together with your family as solution, so it lessens temptations because, being a mom, value-formation for your kiddos will always be priority. If you work as a nurse with shift work, having a meal-time plan should be stricter,so your stomach can adjust to what is doable for you.
When i started this journey, i knew i could not do "no rice" (besides no carbs is bad for you, it can produce ketones which could lead to kidney stones/ kidney failure). I could not do: slimfast/liquid diets (hell no!), and most of all i could not be vegetarian. so those are very unrealistic for me to do. I knew however, that i could make up by being 'active'. I knew that if i exercise (aerobics via DVD was the initial plan) a bit more, "lessen" the rice habit,and restructure the time i eat, and substituting, maybe, maybe, my mind, would cooperate. i jumped and tried doing it, and it worked. (so far).
today, i eat lesser rice than i used to. i eat according to my exercise. if i ate a lot, then i know i have to work my butt off, then i do. i still eat chocolates, rice (up to a third helping, yes!), ice cream, meat, and cakes, but hell, i know i have to whip myself more if i had a bar of chocolate that day. so its a compromise.
Ok, ok. so far, we know, exercise and a good diet works. But what am i teling you that you do not know already?
ahhh, the magic word : motivation. how do u/i keep it going?
it is a struggle. but somehow, i talk myself around it. but since i've already written a whole novel here, that will be chapter two topic next time.
see you in the gym, loves!
Another PS: see why you should take 'fat' photos of yourself? you need it for your "before" and "after" documentation (*lol).
7 comments:
WOW! I mean, WOW!!! What a difference you've made, Chel! What amazing progress!
I am with you 100%. In the past, I was pretty successful at losing weight, but my biggest challenge was staying there, maintaining it. Last year, I decided "losing weight" is not going to be my goal. "Staying healthy" is. And so far, I am happy with the results and what I have maintained. Diet never works for me either. I love food too much, I will never deprive myself of anything--especially meat and rice. In fact, while I ate 3 times a day in the past, I eat 6 times a day now. I've made snacking part of my routine, that way I won't end up getting too hungry at meal time and eating a ton. The key for me is moderation. And exercise, like you said! I'm going to have to follow your exercise routine. Hehe!
Thank you so, so much for sharing all your best practices! I know for sure that they work--well, look at you! This is a very inspiring blog! What a way to come back, Chelo! BRAVO, my friend!!!
@Liza:
Im glad you agree with me,Liz..but wait, what are you talking about? i just saw your pictures from ur recent Phil. trip, what are you talking about, you got washboard abs!
im glad you enjoyed my very LOOOONG essay,haha;-) thank you,too, Liz;-)
as soon as i read your email Chel, ga Micah Bo workout dayon ko. =)
you are an inspiration. i hope i can at least do it consistently though. i can't have excuses everytime someone asks me why i'm fat - only thing is - laziness. health should be my number 1 motivation. ga padulong na ra ba ko sa senior age. pastilan.
yay!way to go.
my mom's health issue was a blessing in disguise as it forced me to be mindful with the food part. :)
can't wait to see u in size 0.5 :) but i dont think it sounds healthy any more :)
@chichi: hahaha, thats really nice to now, it inspired u to work out..;-) please keep going chi..not nalang sa atong sexiness, but for our health, our endurance to do any given tasks, and of course, general wellbeing,di ba? keep us posted ;-)
@rose; hi roseee! nice to see you here.
what happened to your mom? DM me.
hala grabe napud nang 0.5,haha..di nako nice tan-awon ana..happy nako ma size 10 UK..but even if diri ra ko kutob,ok ra sab coz i feel much better than how i would normally;-) but yeah, i would look at my best at size 10UK..coz at least dili ra dako kaayo akong mata, and mugawas akong teeth,haha;-)
ikaw, you are so inspiring,too...;-) keep it up!
You are an inspiration. I will never get tired of saying that. Nine months is a feat. I cannot even go on nine days straight to the gym. Haha. Thank you for all the tips. I would want to be as small as you... one day. :)
Keep it up, Chel! You are looking fabulous!
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