I Am Not On A Diet Anymore

Almost always when I join friends and family for an eat-out they tell me to skip my diet and eat to my heart's content. This was the same thing I heard when I was with my clan during our most recent get-together.

I realized "hey I am not anymore on a diet'.

Truth is I cannot consume a cup of rice in one sitting anymore. I cannot eat more than two slices of bread, even if it's wheat. My stomach, and my mind, have adjusted to my regulated food intake which I started last year.

This is already my lifestyle.

Sure I still have cravings. As a matter of fact I let myself eat chips and cakes the past months. The more I deprive myself, the stronger my craving. So I started taking small dips of chips and cake until the cravings naturally faded away. I don't think of chips anymore. Cakes, not as much.

We need additional 3,500 calories to add a pound so I am safe even if I often consumed a lot of cakes the past weeks. But for health reasons, aside from keeping fit, I am into fruits again. I burn what I eat.

What is the lifestyle I am talking about now when it comes to food? Let me share what I eat 90% of the week - vegetables, fruits, oats, baked cookies, wheat bread, pasta (wheat noodles except when it's eat out), egg, and the like.

Self-portrait

This week's photohunt is all about self-portrait. Thinking about my entry, I am tempted to change the theme to Please Indulge Me for a Moment.

As this blog chronicles my weight and fitness program for myself, I am unabashedly posting my pictures when I was still size 16-18 and now that I am size 6. As recorded in this blog, I started going to the gym on 2008 but it was only at the start of 2010 that I seriously took steps in managing my weight. I did it naturally - through regular exercise and a very disciplined diet.

As I have related in my Fitness Story, I have been slim all my life until the late 90s when motherhood and work took over my whole being. I did not think of anything else for more than a decade but work and family. But I was really motivated to live a healthier lifestyle. I want to see results with the time and money I spend on my gym sessions. There is no point in enrolling in a gym if there will be no significant change in me physically as well as emotionally, psychologically, whatever -ally.

All the people who know me from work, from our neighborhood, from church and from everywhere else are surprised with my transformation that they always ask why I decided to lose weight and how did I do it.

I managed my weight for health reasons as I am not getting any younger. I want to take care of myself. I want to be a good example to my family in healthy living. And yes, vanity. I will not apologize for that as I have mentioned several posts back. I want to look good. I want to wear the clothes I want to wear. I take pride with how I was able to discipline myself for 10 months, from January 2010 to September-October 2010, from 165 to 115-117 pounds.

Now the challenge really is maintaining what I have already achieved. I still continue with my regular exercise. I have leveled up to the weights and number of reps I do. I also read about exercises I can apply the latest of which I posted a few days back, No Pain, No Gain.

Do I still want to be a size 5 or 4? Yes, but that will be a bonus. I am also realistic that at my age and of course, genetics, I am not sure if I can still be at size 4. Size 5 maybe. What I am working on now is to look really lean and ripped.

I am enjoying the results of my weight management for almost a year. This is already a lifestyle for me. I am happy that I have discovered the joys of exercises and eating the right kind of food in moderation.

Please indulge me for a moment.