Ah, sa wakas. Sa tinagal-tagal ko dito sa Girltalk makakapagpost na din ako about weight loss. Mind you, I've always been on the round side, and lalong grumabe after college. Believe me when I say I've tried everything out there save for liposuction. Hopefully makatulong ang post na 'to to those who feel that they are fighting a losing battle.
Some facts about me -
As of Feb. 2013 - overweight by 60 pounds
Weight lost from Feb 2013 to date: 35 pounds and still dropping
Age: 32 years old
In general, here's what I've been doing:
1. I don't skip breakfast.
2. I drink 8 glasses of water a day.
3. I limit myself to 1400 - 1600 calories a day. Sunday is a cheat day when I eat to my heart's content.
4. I drink coffee and green tea minus the additives like creamer and too much sugar.
5. I make sure that I've already eaten three hours before bedtime.
6. I snack in between breakfast, lunch and dinner - just small snacks to keep my metabolism going and to keep me from overeating during the main meals.
7. I eat anything I want, but majority of my meals include fish, chicken, fruits, vegetables, yogurt, and spices.
8. I take vitamins C and E.
If you'll notice, nowhere in my list did I include the NOs like no rice, no bread, no pasta, no sweets, blah blah blah. I am now kinder to myself and I don't treat this weight loss goal as a death sentence but something that I'm willing to do for one year. I noticed that the slower I lost the weight, the more I was able to keep it off even if there are times when I overeat. And that's one more thing, I eat what I want when I want. There are times I spend my calories wisely and there are times when I squander it eating more guilty-pleasure food. My target for losing the weight is to become healthy, and not to become a fashion model, so I'm taking my time. This is after I've realized that where before I can lose weight quickly, ang bilis naman bumalik.
You'll also notice that I did not give too much emphasis on exercise. That's because, hindi ba totoo na when you exercise so hard mas lalo kang nagugutom and hindi makapagtimpi kumain after? I love walking around where I work/live so I do a lot of light walking and sometimes I'll swim once a week, but that's about it. I'll do it when I want and for as long or as short as I want and whenever I want but that's it. Pagdating sa pagiging active, kanya kanyang diskarte yan and of course we need to be active but if your exercise is causing you to eat more and hindi pa kaya magtimpi, then wag muna ipilit ang extreme exercising. Work up to it gradually and listen to your body. After all, most often than not, when we are overweight, the root cause is the food intake, so isa isa lang. Ayusin ang food intake and the rest will follow. Let's also remember that the weight loss industry will try to convince us that the only way to lose weight is to exercise heavily and take these diet foods and supplements so let's take all the advertisements for those gym memberships and new diets and new diet pills with a grain of salt.
If you're serious about dieting, then you know that there seems to be two golden rules that will keep cropping up: 1. limit sugar, 2. limit salt. And I agree, but why cut them out so rapidly? You're only setting yourself up for a backlash. What I did was everyday, binawasan ko pakonti konti untiil my palate adjusted. I noticed na adjusted na ko when I found potato chips to be too salty na, and most cakes and donuts I find too sweet na. Now I don't crave them as much. Though every Sunday I have them nevertheless and it feels and tastes good.
The point is to be kind to yourself and look at the long term. Why keep on doing the crash diets if time and again you just fall off the wagon? Why not set aside a year or two to let the weight loss hold? Even just a 2-pound weight loss a month will equate to 24 pounds lost if done for a year.
Me, I still have a long way to go. My target is to reach my goal weight by end January 2014. What I really appreciated about my body is that I am 32 years old, an age when our metabolism is already slowing down, and yet my body is cooperating and giving me results. Every day that I weigh I see my weight budging by a point something something sa digital scale. Predictably, when I'm about to get my period, I seem to bloat and gain weight by 5 pounds. But after my period, poof! It's gone.
So ewan ko lang if nakatulong ang post ko kasi wala naman akong great secret na na-reveal. But apparently (for me, at least) the secret is that there is NO secret. Just do things gradually, eat in moderation, be kind to yourself and set realistic goals.
And sa mga younger sisses na mahilig mag-crash diet, ay please lang, sana wag na. You're not doing yourselves and your body any favors. Not to mention ang stretchmarks na dala ng rapid weight yo-yo na dios ko, hanggang ngayon walang lunas. Take it from someone who's been trying to lose weight for a decade.
Happy dieting and weight loss to all!!!
