Let us talk about wellness. It is one topic that everyone can relate to, am I right? You see, as we age, there are certain things we need to watch out for.
When you are already being called “Tita” or “Tito” by someone other than a relative, it is one sure signal that your youth days are subtly saying goodbye. This is the reality so let us embrace it with open arms.
Fortunately, we have a choice. We ALWAYS have a choice.
In situations like these, we can either:
TAKE CARE OF THE BODY or NEGLECT THE BODY
Now big problems come in when we choose the latter option. One of the most common consequences or manifestations of body neglect is WEIGHT GAIN. Ahhhhh! We know, right???
What can we do? Filipinos LOOOVVE to eat. I personally love eating pastas, rice, breads, meats and desserts of all kinds such as these below.
I will not deny that I frequently (sometimes deliberately!) forget to monitor what I eat. When buffet restaurants started to become pretty popular, I was one of those who jumped on the bandwagon. I ate and ate and ate as much as I want for as long as I can. The worst part of it was that time, I also stopped working out even at home. I guess you know what happened.
Gone were the days when I felt so light and carefree. My clothes felt smaller and tighter until I reached that point when all my favorite clothes won’t fit anymore. That was a big deal because I was always a small-medium built person with curves. I have always been proud of my curves. That’s one of my best assets (according to my hubby Joen). Since I became a teenager, I proudly swayed my hips along with my curves.
Fast forward to 2018 and two pregnancies after, I am now this 145 pound, 5’2″ woman, who is struggling with all the excess weight. The only time I hit the scales past 130 pounds was when I was pregnant (normal and acceptable!). After giving birth, I would casually be back to my 125-130 pounds weight range. But never, ever, more than 140 pounds… until last year.
Thanks to my sedentary lifestyle, heavy traffic, work stress and yaya stress, etc. put all together, I am now in my heaviest so far. Realization set in when I browsed my recent and past pictures one day. I was shocked.
What happened to me? I suddenly felt so big. I also felt sad. That big girl wasn’t me. I had to do something!
First, I tried inserting 30-minute dance workouts every other day in my routine just in the comfort of my home. I felt so happy and refreshed as I see all the sweat dripping from my body after each workout. It was intense, or so I thought. I was elated as I saw my weight dropping gradually.
In addition, I minimized my rice intake from 1 cup to 1/2 cup only per meal. I had no other diet. I ate anything and everything. My routine lasted probably for a month and I lost 3 to 4 pounds. That’s it. I slowly went back to my old routine and now I feel that those lost pounds will be back very soon.
And then my bestfriend Isay added me to this Closed Group on Facebook . It is an interactive online community in the Philippines composed of people who practice and support Low Carbohydrate Intermittent Fasting (LCIF) way of eating. I was not that interested at first. I was not yet determined that time to lose the extra weight and get back to my old lighter self. I couldn’t say goodbye to rice, pasta and sweets. So one day, I just started browsing and reading the page and saw all the Before and After pics of the members. It was amazing!!! But I never did anything.
One afternoon, I saw an officemate and noticed how slim she was. I thought it was just the new hairstyle she was sporting that time. Later, she revealed to me that she was on a strict low carbohydrate (LC) diet. That was the same diet advocated by the FB page I was stalking. She further revealed to me that she had lost 10kg after a month of dieting. What?? 10kg? I was so proud of the 4lbs I lost but after I heard that she lost that much weight (without any exercise), I suddenly began thinking. I had so many questions and apprehensions with the diet program and so I lurked the FB page again and again. I just read and read and read until I got a sense of the whole idea.
Then another officemate approached me one day and proudly showed his new figure. He said he had lost 7kgs already in a span of 3 weeks of LC diet. Wow! My mouth dropped. He was looking so healthy and he was happy and proud of his new body. No more beer belly according to him. What an achievement!
So, after seeing the actual results from them, I have finally made a decision. I will give this LCIF diet a try. I will start with the LC way of eating first with no IF yet. No need to hurry. I will try to achieve results slowly but surely.
So, I started my diet last October 2. Since I am and always will be a coffee lover, I looked for an alternative so that I can still enjoy my most favorite beverage. I have always been a coffee lover. My coffee has always been one with creamer and muscovado/brown sugar. I never liked plain black coffee. After hours of reading from our page, I jumped for joy upon learning that coffee is allowed but only in plain black. What? I cannot. I need at least a sweetener for black coffee.
So I scoured the supermarket and looked for LC-approved sweeteners like Equal Gold or Stevia Naturals. Believe me they were not that easy to find! I went first to Robinson’s Supermarket but the specific variants were not there. So I tried to check Mercury Drug and luckily there was one box of Stevia Naturals left in the back of the Wellness counter. Woohoo! Mission accomplished.
So, to mark Day 1 of my journey to wellness, I am sharing with you a picture of my new favorite coffee drink.
I will post my updates soon. I am still learning and trying to follow the program. In fact, I have recently discovered that there are alternative options for high carb food like pasta, breads and desserts. I will try the options when my cravings for high carb food kick in.
Hopefully, this new way of eating will bring hope, positivity and opportunity not just for me but to all of you who are reading this. Until next time!
This is Attorney Mommy, at your service!
