Green Eggs and Ham! And Red Rice!

And homemade oatmeal cookies. And fish. And native chicken. And lots of fruits and vegetables.

That's what I have been eating these past days. (Of course, except the green eggs and ham. But I'll get to the green eggs part later.)

I know I promised to make a followup post for Finance Friday today. You see, last week, I talked about the secret key to wealth. It is not my mostly read post so far, but it garnered some of the widest and meaningful reactions in social media. It is also one of my most widely shared posts. And that's great! This is because it means that a lot of us are becoming more aware (or more concerned) of our actions and how it can affect us in the long-term.

Then, I promised that this week, I will talk about the tips that one can use to utilize the power of that "secret key." But I've been churning out one heavy post after the other this week, and I can't manage the weight anymore! I really need to write something light muna!

Monday - School Blues
Wednesday - Priest vs. Single Mom
Thursday - Bad Influence

So, again, let's talk about something light for a change? What about our diet change? Hee hee.

Since the beginning of this month, we have begun eradicating processed foods from our diet. It is a hard change since we all have been using processed foods since, well, birth. What fueled it is my parents' 11-day diet plan. They consulted this clinic, had a complete body analysis, and received a specific diet plan good for 11 days. Of course, damay-damay na. And I'm so happy because my Balik-Alindog program was "naudlot" and I can finally continue it without the temptations around!

I'll talk about our specific diet changes in a future post (I need to compile more photos first). For now, here are some of the "major" changes we've done:

Any household with a toddler would know how important cookies are. Please tell me you're agreeing with me!

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.