How I Lost 4 Pounds in 3 Days

Let me share with you what I did in order to lose pounds quickly. It may seem like crash dieting (which, depending on the person, is possible), but in my case, it didn't feel like crash dieting because I still needed to watch what I eat afterward.

If you're interested in dropping a few pounds before an event or a trip, you can try doing what I did: Military Diet.

No, military exercises are not needed, although the diet encourages exercise of any form. In my case, since I am really really really busy nowadays, which is also one of the reasons why I gained weight, I didn't have time to do formal workouts but I still tried to move around.

It sounds like crash dieting in a way that your calorie intake will lessen. But unlike other diets, it does give you the nutrients that you need.

This week was my second round of Military Diet. During the first week, I followed it religiously. But I got hungry all the time, so for my second round this week, I decided to modify it according to my needs.

I repeat: This is a MODIFIED version of the original Military Diet, allowing for afternoon snacks.

First, here's the menu for the original Military Diet, which I followed to a tee last week:

Image from Vicki Tuell on Pinterest

I began my diet on a Monday, and I was 60 kilos then (ouch). On Thursday morning, after completing the diet, I was only 58 kilos. I lost 2 kilos or 4.4 pounds.

Another vital component of the diet is that on the days following it, you should not exceed 1500 calories a day.

This week, I slightly modified the diet and allowed some snacking in the afternoon. I also replaced some foods into more filling ones (e.g. saltine crackers to whole wheat bread). Here are photos of (almost) everything that I ate during the 3-day diet:

Balik Alindog 2015

Hi friends, how was your weekend? Mine was spent entirely at home for some reason. I have separation anxiety na with the mall. Chos.

But I have several stories to tell. Let's begin with my newest journey to lose weight.

I love you, goodbye.

See, I checked the scale and found out I am now more than 10 kilos heavier than I was the year I gave birth. While some women want to have their pre-pregnancy weight back, I want to go back to my post-pregnancy body. I posted this photo during last year's attempt to lose weight and I'm posting it again:

Sorry for the bagong-gising face, but look at those arms. Well, one arm. Oh those arms. I want them back! Haha. Kasi that's the slimmest I've been throughout my adult life. Thank you, breastfeeding! And I'm determined to lose weight again and keep it off - for real this time.

I attempted to lose weight last year. But even if I consistently worked out and ate healthy, I had to stop during the notorious rotational brownouts in the city. We had 7-hour daily brownouts and I just didn't have the energy to work out and diet anymore. That caused my downward spiral.

Hopefully, the situation this year will be different. For example, I'm taking it easy this year. I just started working out last week and I didn't do the 45-minute runs I used to do last year. I think rigorous exercise would only burn me out and I might quit easily.

So what I'm doing now is using this nifty app called Sworkit. I love it. It's nicely designed (important app criterion!) and easy to use. Best of all, it has a wide variety of exercises and I can choose my comfy level. Oo, beginner. Haha!

Hello, It's October

Image: http://www.wallpapersandimages.com/

(I am fully aware that October began yesterday; I do have a calendar hee hee.)

I like October for three reasons: the beginning of the cooler weather (which, I notice, begins near the end of September), the Trick-or-treating (if only because of the costumes and the chocolates), and the countdown to Christmas. Yay!

I didn't enjoy September much. I read some people say that some particular months were not "kind" to them as though months had some control on us, and I do not subscribe to such thought. In my case, September was a trying month mainly because I had a weak prayer life, which affected my faith. I'm glad I learned my lesson right away.

This month, I want to start (or regain) a better lifestyle and outlook by doing the following things:

1. Read the Bible and pray more sincerely.

Because I learned that my prayer life makes such a great impact on my life in general. I still read the Bible but lately, I've been scheming through the chapters because I only feel obliged to read them. It was a far cry from my Bible sessions earlier this year when I found myself reading more resources to learn more about what I just read.

As for my prayers, I'm not proud to say that I couldn't count the number of nights I slept without uttering a prayer. And when I did, most were not heartfelt. As a result, I found it easier to sin. *shudders*

2. Think before I speak.

Oplan Balik Alindog - Updates

Hi! Happy Monday! How was your weekend? Mine was uneventful, but I did spend my Sunday eating as much as I could eat.

You see, I just unofficially declared Sunday my cheat day. Yes, I'm serious about losing weight, but I still love eating! (There must be something done about this.)

Before you get the idea that I'm making an update because I've already lost weight, well, I don't think I already have. Ang hirap! When you plan to diet and exercise with a toddler around, it's so hard! Or at least in my case.

So that you gain a bit of an idea as to how my weight loss journey has progressed so far, let me tell you the story through photos.

On good days, I'm able to exercise while Yuri is still asleep...

At first, I tried my old style of exercising (a lot of running in place and jumping jacks, basically cardio). Brings back memories of my summer days during high school when I faithfully exercised!

It would be nice to have a thigh-gap...

I also tried the 7-minute exercise app on Android, and, man, was I out of breath. I'm seriously out of shape!

Post-exercise selfie

However, I recently found out that exercises like this strengthen the body but do not affect our metabolism. I also noticed that after doing it, I was only dizzy and I did not really feel the burn, you know? So it's back to boring old cardio routine for me!

On some other (equally good) days, though, when I begin exercising, this happens:

And this:

Leave me alone, Yuri:

Just kidding.

And, finally, on weekends,I wake up with the intent to exercise but cannot because here's what I see:

An intruder!

Make that intrudersss!

Now, for food intake, I still count calories (but still often overeat). I've switched from my mobile app to MyFitnessPal because it has a lot of features.

For example, a lot of Filipino foods are in their database, unlike my mobile app where I often had to choose what seems to resemble what I just ate. This led to incorrect readings.

I also liked how it also tracks my water intake. I seriously need to improve on this area, too!

(Hopefully, my accountability partners would create accounts din.)

As for my diet itself, like exercising, there are good days...

Oplan Balik Alindog / Paandar 2014

Most, if not all, New Year's resolutions include losing weight. Mine usually did except for two years: the year when I was about to give birth (2012) and the year before Yuri turned 1 (2013).

The first year was a no-brainer because I was about to pop. Losing weight was the farthest thing from my mind. In fact, if I remember it correctly, that was the month I was beginning to gain a lot of weight due to pregnancy. I was 7 months pregnant then, and before that, I think I only gained around 15 pounds. By my 7th month, tuloy-tuloy na ang pag-gain.

On the other hand, the second year was a Godsend for me. I honestly thought I won't lose all the pregnancy weight because I've been fat chubby all my life. To my surprise, I did not only lose weight but also went back to my highschool weight. All thanks to breastfeeding! What a God-designed wonder.

So I felt smug. I could eat like a construction worker and not gain a pound - at all! I even lost pounds just by lying or sitting down and feeding Yuri. Here's a photo; I think Yuri was 8 months here:

Pardon the kagigising-lang-face. Just look at those arms.

I weighed just a little over 50 kilos then, which was a lot less than my pre-pregnancy weight. It may be heavy for some people, but I certainly felt lightest! That time was heaven because I was losing even more weight each month for the first year of Yuri's life. I was even scared I'd go too thin so I ate a lot. Ong yobong yobong.

Until one day, I hit a plateau. I didn't lose weight anymore. I thought to myself, okay, let's just keep it steady at 50 kilos. I know the reason I wasn't losing weight anymore was that Yuri was eating table foods already. Still, I didn't make any conscious lifestyle changes. I still didn't lessen my food intake nor did I do decent exercise. I tried to depend on what was left of my breastfeeding to keep me from gaining too much, which I thought was fine.

Isang araw, nagising nalang ako sa katotohanan.

The past year, I knew I was fatter than I was the year before, but I wasn't bothered. Okay, I might have been in denial. As long as my clothes still fit me, I was still fine.

A few weeks ago, Yuri and I went to his pedia to have his last shot. The secretary had to get his weight. Since Yuri wasn't cooperating, what we did was we were both weighed first then I was weighed, and the results were subtracted. Alas, I already weighed 56 kilos!

Uh-oh.

What troubled me was that my pre-pregnancy weight was 62 kilos. I'm so near to achieving that weight again, which I don't like! Also, Job only weighs 58 kilos, so no no no no way! So just very recently, nagising ako sa katotohanan that breastfeeding just isn't cutting it for me anymore. Gone are the perfect days; now, it's time to work it.

The gameplan: Count calories and exercise daily.