On left was me sometime 2004-2005, meaning, I would be 8-9 years younger than how I look now (on right). I know a lot will agree that I looked way older when I was younger.
So this is my weight story...
I never liked rice growing up, you can rarely feed me rice. But at one point in my life, I was influenced by a friend to eat my favorite Pinoy delicacy isaw with rice swimming in vinegar, gross I know, but i'm sure a lot of you can relate. This was one of the few ways i'll eat rice but this became a habit, and before I knew it... I have already gained A LOT of extra weight. Worse, I wasn't eating healthy so my skin was also affected that it looked horrible with a lot of pimples. I was fat and it was very uncomfortable, I can't wear anything in trend because my tummy was big and so were my breasts (i'm sure you know that breasts are mostly fats, right?).
I tried so many diets but would never stick to any, I did a lot of activities I was interested in but my interests had limits so I would go a weight cycle which is also known as "yoyo diet", I will get thin then I will get fat, then thin, then chubby, then fat. I got tired.
It was only when I reached 19 that I felt really uncomfortable to care to lose weight. I went on a crash diet and didn't eat for a month. YES, did not eat anything and only had clear soup... for one whole month. I was lazy to exercise so I knew that I can only lose weight through starvation. Well yeah I lost a lot of weight but I had to start eating, I started eating only vegetables then tried being lacto ovo. I even reached 110lbs but I think I looked too skinny and unhealthy (see below) so I had to introduce chicken and fish back to my diet since I was already feeling kinda weak.
When I started working, I had to start eating red meat so I have enough energy to work but I had to do this slowly because my tummy gets upset when I do and I can get constipated for days. I was able to keep my weight playing around 120-125lbs even if I eat meat and pretty much anything I wanted to, I just make sure that if I eat anything sinful today, I would behave the next few days or so. And then the same problem happens... I was gaining weight again, I think it was because I was getting older and my metabolism slowed down, well after all my crazy crash dieting i'm sure my system has been affected. Thank God I never tried to take anything oral though, it was just really my crazy diets. When I reached 24yo, I weighed 130lbs and I was able to maintain that until I was 26 (2010-2012). This is a lot better than my original 170lbs, RIGHT?... so I was still okay with that weight also considering I stand 5'6.
October 2012 when I got married, obviously there's honeymoon in every wedding so me and my husband went on a month vacation in the States and travelled West to East coast. I know, "US = GREAT FOOD in big servings" (at least compared to Manila). I didn't wanna spoil my vacation so I would eat in all the restaurants our families and friends told us to try. There was Halal Guys in New York on 53rd and 6th street where we kept going back to, you see me below with my bowl of Chicken & Gyro rice (I SWEAR, that is really yummy, just for $6).
There was Shake Shack near our apartment in NY too!
Pink's in Los Angeles...
And a lot more restaurants. I mean, I don't blame them for selling really good food because at the end of the day, it was my fault I didn't have enough self control. I thought i'd just enjoy my vacation and lose all the weight when I go back to Manila. True enough, when I came back in January 2013, I was 152lbs, I got upset and conscious because I could see that my face was already so round and my clothes won't fit anymore, especially my jeans! Ugh, I was so scared to reach 170lbs again... I ran for an hour that same day I arrived. I never liked working out as I mentioned, nor running... But that day, I had something to focus on, I was so motivated to run and get rid of all those unwanted fats. I stopped eating carbs and started eating just veggies and fish. It wasn't such an easy thing to do but thank God, I now weigh 128lbs.
Now my challenge is to hopefully lose some more and maintain it because I don't want my body going on yoyo effect again, it's not healthy. I've learned to love running and I do it almost every night since I got back from our vacation, I also try to do other activities like Zumba and Bikram Yoga just so there's variations in my exercise and I won't easily lose interest. I think maintaining weight is a lot harder than losing them, I envy those who were born skinny, it's always so much effort for people born with big bones to lose weight and be fit. Motivation, focus and dedication, that's all we need.
I decided to write about this because I want to inspire other people, especially women, and I think this would also serve as my motivation to my weight loss project.
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