April 24, 2013

My Way of Losing Weight


So, I got plenty of questions from my friends, asking about what did I do to lose all those fats in my body.


Well, I used to be fat, yes. Especially after I came back from Germany where I gained more than 11 kilograms. Dammit, I blame to all those Nutella and French Cheese I ate every mornings. 

But anyway, after a lot of struggling points, I made a U-turn. 

Long long time ago, I was an athlete. A regional captain of basketball team back when I was in highschool. Oh those good memories, the sweat, the spirit, the popularity, and all those highschool crush. Snap!

Anyways, I stopped doing basketball because I personally choose to stop. I was bored, I think. And I already felt that I played too much basketball. So during my college, I rarely play it again. Sometimes I did play a bit but definitely not as much as when I was in highschool.

And then I went to Germany, and eating all those heavenly fatty foods and I gained weight and I couldn't stop gaining weight and I became fat.

This year, 2013 if you're reading it from the future, I met someone who finally slap me and made me realize that I am not what I used to be and I CAN be what I used to be. Healthy and toned. That particular someone was tickling my competitive side that apparently had never left my mind. The spirit is actually deep within me and now it gradually comes out and challenging me once again.

So I practically changed my lifestyle, and so ready to work out to gain a toned body that I used to have. Hit the jump, read more and I warned you: you are about to see the not-so-dramatically change in me in a before and during self portrait.








So yeah, these two person are actually the same person. Yet so different in any way: including the state of happiness.

I started workout in January 2013 and I lost for about nearly 6 kilograms since then. I gotta tell you, losing fats is possible. And the only person that stand between the current you and what you want to be is you, yourself. So get up and push the wall. 

I think I'm going to write specifically about my meal plan and workout routine in separate posts, but now I'm going to share a tips of what I have been doing since January 2013 generally. 

I am not a dietrician, nor a nutritionist. And this is just a post where I tell you how I lost those fats. Everyone has a different body type. Everybody is unique and what techniques work for me may not particularly work for you. 

This took me a lot of dedication and determination. And it's not gonna happen over a night so don't expect to. Weight loss journey is just like a marriage relationship. You can not cheat on it and still expect for it to happen smoothly. 



Okay here we go:

1. Take a picture of everything you eat. All your meals. 

I know it might sound ridiculous, but it's really important. Because just a conscious effort of taking picture of your meals, stopping and holding your appetite for 5 seconds, makes a big difference.

Every week you kinda see what are the food that going into your body, what your diet was like. I prefer to use the iPhone apps called The Eatery. I took over hundreds pictured of my meals and it helps me to be more moderate of whatever I'm eating. For example If I ate a pizza on Monday, I'll still gonna remember it even until the next Friday. 



Take the pictures of the good meals that you eat, and the very bad one either. If you don't have an iPhone just take a picture using your mobile phone and save it to your computer regularly and see by yourself what's the food you were eating. It goes the same with writing on your journal but I kinda think that taking pictures is much more convenience. And easy, yes.



2. Substitute the Bads with the Goods.

Your body needs carbs, your body needs fats, proteins, and calories. So I am not and I never will, starve my self. 

Eat.

What I'm doing instead of not eating, is replacing the bad meals with the good ones. For example, carbohydrates. There's a good kind of carbs that called complex carbohydrates and there's also a bad one called refined carbohydrates or simple carbohydrates; that's the really soft bread that taste freaking delicious. Yes.

Substitute the white carbs (white rice, white bread, white pasta) with a brown rice, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bread, oat meals, etc. There's plenty of choices on good carbs for your body. Remember, do not starve yourself. If you want to have a toned body, you'll be needing all those carbs and I mean it. 

Just eat in moderation and maintain the good portion. Divide your plate into 4 sections and make sure quarter of it, is filled with carbs. I go for my own formula: ¼ of my plate is for carbs, another ¼ is for proteins (good proteins, such as lean meat, skinless chicken breast, eggs), and the rest of the ½ is for vegetables.



How about  oils? Again, substitute with the healthy one. Am not trying to sound very skeptical but please don't let those oils get into your body. Get a pure olive oil or a virgin coconut oil and use it when you're cooking. 

And sugar too? Cut it out and replace it with fruits. Refined sugar has a sort of addiction effect that makes you always feel hungry and crave for more. Choose a fresh fruits and not a juice. Am not saying that juices aren't healthy but juices lost all those fibers that your body actually needs to burn the calories. Drinking juice is like drinking a liquified sugar, and no, it's not that good.

Stop ordering a french fries and go for the side salad with a tasty dressing on top of it. Your body's gonna thank you later.

And I promise you it will gradually help you.



3. Water is Your Best Friend.

I have a water bottle that always stick to me wherever I go. It's always next to me at work, when I go out with friends, next to my bed stand, you know when I feel thirsty in the middle of the night I can start chugging on it. 

Picture taken from my Instagram account: @clicheaulait


I sip water probably 3 or 4 liters a day. Maybe more, some of the days. Water boost your metabolism and it helps you lose all those water weight. Because if you're not drinking water that much, your body will be dehydrated and it will store water so much in your body so you're gonna have those flabby tummy. 

So yeah, water is probably my BFF now. If you're bored of water you can add a taste in it by drinking Detox Water. Stop ordering soda you mainstream fast-food junkie. Soda is like, the evilest refined liquified sugar all the way and it ruins your body.

Be proud every time you step into a restaurant and say "Thanks, I'll just have water."

You can always drink tea or coffee, caffeine is good to burn those calories, you see. But please, no sugar in it. At least, lessen the sugar. Always ask for low fat milk when you ordering your Latte at Starbucks or you can always have Espresso or maybe Ice Americano where you can add a very tiny bit of brown sugar by yourself. 

I repeat, cut all those sweets intakes. Seriously.

You are sweet enough so you don't have to eat or drink more sugar.



4. Exercise.

Of course you need it. You can't just rely on your diet and still wanting to have those bikini body, tight toned arms and abs. No, it's not gonna work that way. As a matter of fact: exercise is the most important part when you're losing weight.

It takes only 30 minutes a day of your 1440 minutes to stretch your body and get sweaty. Come on, move your ass. 

There's plenty of choices of workout that you can do almost everywhere. Don't deal with excuses like; it's raining and you can't run outside, or it's too burdensome to go to the gym, and the worst excuse is; you don't have time to workout.

Dude, you are not gonna have time to workout if you're not making time to workout.

Combine cardio, strength training, and flexibility in your weekly workout routine. For cardio, the easiest workout to do is running, skipping, jumping jacks, whatever makes your heart rate goes up and heat that body. Also strength training is as important as cardio because with only cardio you will gradually lose your muscles too, but with weight/strength training you will change those fats into a muscle tissue that helps burning your calories better. For flexibility, you can do yoga or pilates and yes you can do it by yourself at home.

I will personally write my own workout plan as I am currently doing a home workout program called Insanity by Beach Body. But let me get that to you later. 

I repeat, it is important for your body to move a little bit more. Deal with your own excuses and start now. 

Scared of all those soreness and pain? Well you can sore today or sorry later. You choose. Beside, it's not gonna pain you that much if you're working our regularly and doing it properly.



Stretching is good, before and after. Never skip stretching even when you're not working out today. Just keep doing a muscle stretching right when you woke up and at night before you sleep.

Start slowly and listen to your body. You can not expect your body to go straight workout for a consecutive week when you're not use to it. During my first week, I worked out 3-4 times a week, and I slowly added more routine and now I am working out 5-6 times a week. And yes, all those workouts are not taking me more than an hour a day. So yeah, no excuses.

I mean, if Obama still can run in treadmill once a day for 30 minutes there's no reason that you don't have time for it.



5. Be Positive.

Clean eating and workout are not suppose to be a torture. Be happy and think positive. Love your body the way you love Legolas when he shoot an arrow to those goblins and orcs. 

Instead of mentally torturing yourself in front of a plate of French Fries by thinking "Ow man, this diet doesn't allow me to eat that. It sucks...", you should think from a different perspective like, "I am allowed to eat that oily Fries but I choose not to."

Mind the difference.

Again, the battle is inside your mind. I'm not saying that it's easy, I'm saying it's possible and it can be fun. It needs dedication, determination, and willpower. And once you have those three magical things I mentioned, there's nothing can stop you. 

Another thing that makes me happy doing all this journey: reward. Reward yourself.  I normally allow my self to have a cheat day, a day that I can eat food that I like, as a reward for eating clean within the whole week. It's on Saturday for me. So during the week I wonder and thinking of what I'll eat on my cheat day and the thought of it makes me happy and motivates me to do a clean diet within the week.

Another reward I give for my self is a pair of running shoes waiting for me in the end of my journey. I have this glass jar of workout tips. Every time I did a workout routine, I tipped my self by putting money in it. The money will be collected to buy something as a reward for my self by the end of every workout program. Choose a stuff or a thing that you want the most and set it as a goal you're gonna give it to yourself. 





I know you need support and it's sometimes hard when you try to be healthy but all your friends around you are not supporting you. They sometimes even tease you with eating pizzas and nutella bread in front of your face. Believe me, at first they will mock you and ask why you're doing it. But at the end, they'll ask you how you did it.

It happens with me :)

What I'm saying is, if you ever need any help in starting and doing this healthy journey of your life, I am there for you. Just contact me and I'll be your biggest supporter.



You are in control of your body and you can do it. If you mess up one day, it's okay. It's normal and it happens to me too. Just don't give up and do it better on the next day. I know I said this a lot of times but yes, don't give yourself an excuse. 


So I think that was all the general tips that I can give to you as I am literally doing it to lose my weight. Again, I am not a doctor nor a nutritionist, so this is just what a normal girl doing to lose her weight. 

Hit me up for healthy journey support~



Narcism selfcam as a bonus just because this is my blog~ :D



Tschau,
B. 



19 comments:

  1. konoha whirlwind kick is being so sweet today, yaay :*

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  2. just realized it now? errrrr~

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  3. found my favorite tips here: WORKOUT TIPS :D :D :D

    thanks for sharing ^^

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  4. and thank you too dear Monic :*

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  5. Nice tips! Thank you so much I really need this!

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. I do love this post!How many kilos you lost everyweek in average?

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  8. Dear Dewi, I wasn't weight myself everyweek, I just did it occasionally but so far I lost 6 kilos since I first started the journey :)

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  9. you slap me, lol
    great tips, thanks for sharing :)

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  10. I feel insecure because of my body. I have been fat since I was a child, I think my family have a fat genetic. :|

    Great tips! Thank you for sharing ^^

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  11. Dear Nurina: hehe, sorry :D well it slapped me too back then, so i hope you'll start your own weight loss journey soon ^__^

    Dear Devi: You're welcome and thanks for reading as well :) You know what, hardwork can beat all those fats no matter how 'genetically big' we are ^__^

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  12. Omg pls be my bff, you are so cool ^_^ you're inspiring me anyway! So instead of doing those jumping and running, can i switch it to swimming since i have problem with my lower back and it hurts like hell T_T

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  13. Dear Ai: aaaw gladly <3 you are free to do any sports. swimming is really good for your lower back, and it's good if you're doing that regularly. to maintain good posture, i suggest you do yoga or pilates. some of the moves are really great to make sure that you have a straight backbones and spine. :)

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  14. Hi!

    I have a quick question about your blog, could you email me please? Thanks!!

    Melanie : )

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  15. You get the shape!
    I have to try your tips! Tehehe..

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