Above is the page I found in a 16-year-old notebook of mine. I distinctly remember tearing out the pages of this diary and throwing them out (Because I’m very private when it comes to my journals. Even after I’m dead, I don’t want anyone reading them.) so I was so surprised that one page actually survived. And what surprised me even more are the things I wrote in it:

  • Today I’m dieting for I want to make my waist small. >>> Already waistline-conscious at the age of ten? I almost can’t believe it.
  • I’ve listened to the radio but the songs are for God. >>> I wonder if I really had something against “songs for God” then. I doubt it.
  • This afternoon I’m going to buy the cloth that I’m going to use for the Foundation Day. >>> Good for you, ten-year-old self. I bet your adviser has been pressuring you to get that shirt you’ll be wearing on Foundation Day.
  • I don’t have something to tell anymore but I promise next time I’ll be serious. >>> If this journal entry isn’t “serious” , I don’t know what is!

I’m gonna forgive my ten-year-old self for her dullness and poor grammar, but for now let me go back to her first point: going on a diet.

I honestly don’t recall pressuring myself to lose weight at the very young age of ten, but looking back, I think whatever I did was effective. I was at my skinniest when I was eleven (one year after I wrote that journal entry) as evidenced by my grade school graduation pictures. Now I’m starting to think Joni@10 is much more disciplined than Joni@26. Good job, ten-year-old self!

Today – at the point wherein my metabolism has slowed down big time – it is so difficult to shed some pounds! Gym hasn’t been the answer for me (though I’ve tried it twice before) because I’m too lazy to get off my way. And for someone who’s juggling two jobs, losing almost 2 hours every night that’s supposed to be for freelance work just doesn’t seem right. (Excuses, excuses.)

So this year, I tried another approach to this weight loss thing. Contrary to what they say about “New Year’s Resolution” being just a pathetic excuse, the commitment I set myself to do beginning January 1st actually worked for me. From a whopping 120 pounds at the start of the year, my weight went down to 110 pounds after two months. I still have flabby arms and belly, but I noticed I’m fitting into my old jeans and blouses again. And people I haven’t seen for a while are noticing the change (I think this is the best indication that it’s working). Mind you, I had to work really, really hard to achieve this. This is no easy feat. Hee.

I realized that I had to do several things to lose weight and not just one thing in particular. Here are the rules I was very strict on myself for two months:

  1. No carbs. Yes, that means no rice, no bread (not even wheat bread) and no pasta. The only carbs I ate were sweet potatoes or kamote (but not a lot) and SkyFlakes Fit crackers (this is what I substitute for rice). I received a lot of comments on this “diet”, mostly negative ones, and a lot of teasing but I just ignored them all. Eventually, my workmates and my family just got used to the fact that I don’t eat rice that they didn’t find it weird anymore.
  2. No sodas and juices. Not even Coke Zero and those low calorie drinks. I also stayed away from iced tea, lemonade, etc. Pure pineapple juice was an exception for its fiber content.
  3. No sweets. I temporarily bade farewell to desserts: cakes, doughnuts, ice cream, etc. But I didn’t deprive myself of frozen yogurts.
  4. No junk food. Soda, cake, pizza, hamburger and French fries are obviously in this category, but I’m also talking about chips or chichiria (V-Cut, Potato Chips, Roller Coaster, and Tortillos are my favorites).
  5. Drink 2-3 liters of water a day. This seems easy enough. Though I tried not to go over 3 liters because they say excessive water in the body may wash away the vital salts in our system.
  6. *Herbalife. To boost our body’s metabolism early on, it’s important to eat in the morning. And since I’m not used to having full breakfast meals, Herbalife shake is the perfect food supplement and it kept me feeling full for a few hours before lunch. For faster results, sometimes I also replaced dinner with an Herbalife shake.
  7. Exercise. This one doesn’t need much explanation, but I just want to share the specific exercise I did. I tried Hip Hop Abs, TaeBo, jogging, and elliptical trainer last year but they just didn’t exhaust me enough to actually build muscles that will burn fats. So I switched to the workout my bestfriend recommended: the *ChaLEAN Extreme. This is the best exercise for me because it causes me to sweat so much that after the 30-minute workout I look like I’ve just stepped out of the rain and got my hair and clothes wet. The Chalean exercise uses weights so the process of fat-burning, in my opinion, is faster.

After two months of torture, I cut myself some slack since I’m already seeing results. I’m still sticking to the things I listed above but I’m not as strict on myself anymore (I personally can’t resist Yang Chow fried rice. And we all know tuyo+sardinas is best paired with sinangag!) I also stopped working out from March to May because I was staying at my brother’s place (technically, I was camping in his living room) with four other people in the house. So from the month of March to present, I’m stuck at 110 pounds – which is actually fine since I also didn’t gain anything. Effective June 1st though, I started working out again (except weekends) and I hope to take my diet seriously again. My goal is to lose another 5 pounds in the next 40 days but that seems impossible now since I’m no longer an 18-year old girl. Lol, good luck!

Care to share your weight loss tips?

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