Weight Loss Journey

Hello everyone!

This is the actual reason why I've decided it's high time I should start blogging again. A lot of my friends and family members have noticed that I've lost some weight. I haven't actually lost much, 3-4kg in 4 months to be exact (bet everyone thought it was like 6kg or something) and I want to lose 5kg more, but I've been asked how I lost weight. Apart from those, I've been asked for advice on weightloss on my Thinspo (which seems to be more of 'fitspo' now) Tumblr as well so I decided to share it in a blogpost so that everyone can (hopefully) get inspired.

It was one of my 2014 new years resolutions to be healthier, fitter and to drop a few dress sizes. I've made it a point to watch what I eat and to work out a little every day to make sure I'm kept active. I live a relatively sedentary lifestyle, or at least I feel like I do, so fitting tiny workouts into my daily life almost seemed like a burden. I must admit, the progress is painfully slow but the results show and are much easier to maintain.



So for those of you out there who want something very general on how to lose weight, or if you're thinking of losing a few pounds and don't know where to start, here's where I started from.

• Eat slowly - Your brain takes approximately 10-15 minutes to register that you're full. By eating slower, you won't risk eating more than you actually need to feel full. 

• Drink plenty of water - Water washes away the toxins in the body and promotes healthy skin. If possible, squeeze some lemon juice into your water. Lemon helps to hydrate, cleanse and freshen up the system.

• Cut down on the junk food - Need I say more? You don't have to cut them out completely, but eat them in moderation. 

• Keep active - tiny workouts or evening walks can go a long way, especially if you're a bum like me.

• Know what you are eating - Does that box of nuggets have the sufficient fibre, vitamins and minerals? Are salads really THAT healthy if you put all that dressing on them? Do you really need all that processed meat in a double cheeseburger? Think about it. 

• If you aren't hungry, don't eat - Sometimes we eat because we are bored, not because we are hungry. Sometimes we eat without actually knowing (like if we're watching tv). Be aware of the difference between boredom and real hunger. That may change the way you eat. 

Not forgetting those of you who want to know what I do in detail, here are my own diet rules (in addition to what I've stated earlier).

• No food or water after 8pm - This not the 'skip dinner wake up thinner' logic. bad idea, because you'll end up binging for breakfast. I tend to sleep near midnight, if not, earlier. I've read somewhere that it's adviced that you do not eat anything (drinking water is fine I guess but I don't do that either) 3 hours before you sleep. So 8pm is a relatively reasonable time for me to stop. Plus it helps me to discipline myself, so why not..

• Queen. Commoner. Beggar - I think this one's a pretty common thing, where you eat like a queen for breakfast, eat like a commoner for lunch and eat like a beggar for dinner. I don't know who popularised this (I suspect Korean dramas or Tumblr) but I try to follow this rule in general. A good breakfast will be the base of your energy for the rest of the day and it's when your stomach is empty from the night before. It will also be the best time for your stomach to absorb nutrients from your food.

• Water when you wake - I drink 500ml of water every morning. I make it a point to hydrate myself before consuming anything else, more so because I do not consume anything after 8pm and my body would have 'starved' for a while till I wake the next morning. Hydrating yourself throughout the day is important as well. I do the lemon water thing too, partially because I love lemons and partially because it would do everything awesome a lemon would do for you. 

• Fast food is a NO NO - Now a lot of people have criticised me for this, but I think this one's personal preference. I naturally do not really fancy fast food, so this somehow isn't really a rule for me but a matter of what I like to eat. On the other hand, for those of you who love a quick McDonalds fix every now and then, you can start losing weight by not upsizing your meals or by cutting down the number of visits you make to a fast food joint in a week. 

• Regulate the junk food - I may not really enjoy fast food but I absolutely love my junk foods especially my sweets and pastries. "Pastries aren't junk food, dumbass", well they aren't very healthy for you either, but I have a (arguably ferocious) sweet tooth. My biggest weakness would be ice cream. I LOVE ICE CREAM. I usually give myself a treat every week or so but I've been horrible and succumbed to my cravings almost every day the past two weeks and my body is suffering from the over-indulgence. *smacks wrist/mouth*

• Handle the cravings - When I have bad cravings for nothing in particular (girls you know you get this problem every month too), I do everything I can to curb my cravings. I know I'm not hungry but I'm feeling painfully peckish. For different people, there will be different ways of handling their cravings. For me, I either eat a tea spoon (not table spoon) of peanut butter or (if it's after 8pm) brush my teeth with a little more toothpaste than usual. 

That's all the detailed diet rules that I follow. I used to be crazier, I used to count every single calorie that I consumed and strictly stuck to a 2000cal/day diet. It did work very fast, but it was obsessive and that didn't last long as I stuck to the calorie intake just so that I wouldn't need to exercise to burn off the excess calories. Now I'm just well equipped with knowledge on calories so it wasn't too much of a bad phase I suppose. 

Moving on to the last bit (bear with me here), my exercise routines. I've done a few random tumblr challenges like the abs challenge and the split challenge but the honestly don't do much for your overall fitness. So I started trying to get more active on a daily basis by doing a few things everyday. 

Mini Daily Workout (for the past 3 months)

• Push Ups x 20
• Superman/Back raises x 20
• Crunches x 20
• Lateral (is that the term?) Leg Lifts x 20 per leg
• Donkey Kicks x 20 per leg
• Superman/Back Raises x 20
• Side crunches x 20

That's all, I don't do anything too retarded and somehow that has made my body look better. My problem areas are my thighs and they're slowly (but surely) improving and of course the rest of my body is too. I think I ought to go for regular jogs but honestly, I haven't broken out of the lazy girl that I am so this daily mini work out satisfies me. 

Of course, I've been succumbing every now and then to my cravings for sweet treats the past two weeks so I've been looking through YouTube for various workouts I could add on to my current daily work out. I've tried quite a few and they aren't too knee friendly (I injured my right knee in December so it's pretty much weaker than a bean sprout) but I came across a YouTube channel called XHIT Daily and they had pretty knee friendly workouts which I really liked so I made a plan to stick to three of their videos in particular and alternate them through the week. Just to share them with you.. 

Pilates for Beginners 

Total Ab Workout

Inner Thigh Workout 

Of course, since my problem areas are my thighs, I suppose I'd want to do the thigh workout more often than the other two. You can check these videos out if you like. I followed all three of these videos tonight on top of my daily workout and I am honestly really exhausted. 

I know I won't be able to do all three everyday so I ended up deciding to alternate these three within the week and maybe start doing two of them a day or something (being ambitious again) but that'll take a long time because I'm quite a weakling and a lazy bum so hopefully I'll keep being disciplined? Alright, enough trivial chatter, it's time to have a goodnight rest! I hope this post was informative and that it inspires those of you who want to lose weight!

Remember, results don't show overnight so don't ever give up! (:

xx