apparently, this is my first post in 2018, and it took me 6 months++ into the year to get to my first post lmao. i know you won't buy any of my excuses anyway so i am just going to continue straight to the content.
if you ask me around, let's say, 2 years ago whether i would consider doing a weight loss journey, i am sure that i would say that i cannot do it. i love food, i love eating, and i won't give it up for anything lmao. i also happen to have GERD which basically means that i have to have my tummy filled at all times. i think i can safely say that i don't know how it feels to be skinny for my whole life. well, there was one time that i reached my ideal BMI during the first few months when i entered university because i was homesick, but that was it. my weight then gained slowly and steadily over the years as i became able to adapt with my new life far from home.
i gotta say that my life during university, both being undergraduate and master student, somehow still enabled me to live (a little bit) healthily since i did not have any means of transportation back then, so i had to walk and ride public transportations all the time. i did eat a lot, like A LOT, back then, with snacking here and there, but i think i did not have any major weight gain because of those little workouts in the form of walking and running. i also did not really have regular three-times-a-day kind of meals since i was so, so busy with my university works which kind of helped in preventing my weight gain, although my weight was still like far above my ideal BMI. however, once i started working, my life dynamic kind of changed. i started driving everywhere, and i would be just working in front of my laptop, sitting down in my cubicle when i don't have any class to teach. i did not really weigh myself back then, but everyone could see that i gained a tremendous amount of weight compared to when i just started working. and even with that obvious weight gain, i did not even think to really try starting a weight loss journey. i did some small workouts at home, for maybe around 10-15 minutes, and i cooked my own food for the sake of being a little healthier, but we all know that 15 minutes of workout a day is definitely not enough, and although i cooked my own food, i still packed a huge amount to be considered as 'portion control' so that effort definitely did not count.
however, i suddenly got the urge to really, really work on losing some weight somewhere in august 2017. i remembered at that time i was wearing my favorite baju kurung, which is a traditional Malay clothing, and also happens to be the one that will make me look slimmer due to its cutting. i took a picture with my colleagues while wearing that baju kurung, and i was so, so shocked that i could clearly see my tummy imprinted at the front part of my baju kurung. that was when i totally realized that, okay, this has gotten out of hands, i really have to lose weight for the sake of my health. so, that started my weight loss journey.
just like everyone's weight loss journey, it is NEVER easy. one major reason why i never made it to any weight loss journey was because i was not willing to give up any of my favorite foods, and i was so used to having big portions of meals. i was also easily tired due to my usual diet and my weight back then. i tried eliminating fat completely, i tried eliminating simple carbs as well, but it never worked. so, after trying so many types of diets and workouts, i am now able to conclude:
1. EVERY BODY TYPE HAS DIFFERENT REACTIONS TOWARDS ANY DIET. for me, i have to say that i cannot eliminate any macronutrient from my diet, so i have to have them in balanced amount, meaning that i have to have carbs (including fiber), fat, and protein in every meal that i have throughout the day, or i won't be able to function. therefore, i can say that keto diet, atkins diet etc where you have to have one or more macronutrients to be eliminated or superior than the others definitely won't work for me.
2. PORTION DOES NOT MATTER, WHAT MATTERS IS THE CALORIE COUNT. i used to think that i did not eat much when i ate 5 pieces of biscuits and i would think of them as my snacks. however, once i did the calorie count, i realized that the calories in those biscuits can be more than one full rice meal. this is why i rely on calorie counting app like MyFitnessPal. i might not get the accurate value of my calorie count throughout the day, but at least i can think twice before reaching that second piece of cookie. but please, please, don't turn into calorie counting monster. i used to do that for around one month and i became so stressed out, so now i still use the app but i am taking it more easily.
3. FIND THE RIGHT WORKOUT FOR YOU. what i mean as the right workout is the one that can last with you for a long time and you won't be bored of it easily. this is really important for me because i get bored really easily with the kind of workouts that people usually do in gyms like treadmill, weight lifting etc. this is the main reason why i chose kpop dance fitness/zumba. i happen to like kpop, and i can just simply change the songs every day, so boredom won't be the reason for me to skip my workout. for my weight loss journey, i do workout every day without fail, including weekends, for 30 minutes. this is because i read in an article that unless it is a HIIT workout, any workout has to be conducted for more than 30 minutes to work. if you enjoy the workout, you definitely won't feel that it something hard to do, which is why you have to find the right workout for you.
so how is the result of my weight loss journey then?
unfortunately, i did not take any before and after picture (because i did not even think that i would last this long and i even thought that i would give up halfway lmao), but i have lost a total of 16 kilograms so far and a lot of people can see that i have lost a lot of weight :) i also feel more energized, i don't get tired easily, my blood pressure is stabilized, i don't yawn all the time, my skin complexion is waaaaay better (less pimples woohoo!) without having to have complicated skincare regime (trust me, i only stick to hada labo face lotion and moisturizer with uv protection, that's it and that's all!), and my immune system has become better as well.
i know it was not a fast weight loss journey, but what i like from this journey is that I DO NOT HAVE TO STARVE, I DO NOT HAVE TO SUFFER, and I HAVE A SUSTAINABLE WEIGHT LOSS, meaning that i do not easily gain the weight back. trust me, i have those days when i can finish a tub of cheesecake ice cream or an entire box of brownies just because i feel stressed. i also went back to my hometown for three weeks in total during this journey, and when i go back to my hometown, i always say "screw my diet, i eat everything i want" XD but surprisingly, i did not gain weight at all, but i also did not lose any weight which is understandable.
so here i am going to share an example of what i eat during weekdays and weekends, as well as a list of kpop dance videos that i do for 30 mins in a day.
MY WEEKDAY DIET
i have to go to my office really, really early in the morning, so i have to do meal prepping in advance. i always have my breakfast and lunch at the office, and sometimes dinner if i have to go back late.
i am a kind of person who does "breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper" since i do most of my works and classes in the morning, so that is when i need my energy the most. for breakfast, i usually have a cup of hot green tea when i reach the office, then i continue with my vegetable stir fry.
for the veggies, i gotta be honest, i am not a huge fan of veggies and fruits, so i only have these three types of veggies in my meals: broccoli, carrot, or french bean. however, i usually play around with the carbs and the sauce that i use for the stir-fry. for the carbs, i would either use noodles, couscous, potatoes, or sweet potatoes, tho i never have rice so far. for the sauce, my favorite is oyster sauce, but i can easily change it with thai garlic chili sauce, plum sauce, teriyaki sauce, curry, whatever sauce is available.
meanwhile, for lunch, i usually eat overnight oats.
my overnight oats is pretty simple: oats, soymilk, chia seeds, and date concentrate. that's it. if i happen to buy banana on the weekend, then i would add it to my overnight oats, but it is not something often though.
lastly, my dinner is the simplest of all: tofu omelette with apples.
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| ps: yes i like my omellette a bit burnt on the edges XD i swear the burnt parts were intentional! |
that's it! surprisingly, i have been having this kind of meals for months during weekdays but i still don't get bored of them :) and you can also see that all of my meals during the weekdays are vegetarian, but you can definitely add chicken breast or some fish into the meals if you want.
MY WEEKEND DIET
meanwhile, on weekends, the meals that i eat would be different from what i usually eat during weekdays since i have more time to experiment on my cooking. if i only spend my time at home (meaning that i don't have to go everywhere), i usually would only eat twice a day. i would only have a very simple brunch like toast with natural, sugarless peanut butter and toast with low fat cheese and egg as pictured below
and since i would only eat this meal around 12pm - 1 pm, i won't feel hungry until around 6 pm -7 pm, so this is the time when i would have the big meal that i experiment on.
one example is fried rice with fishballs, tons of veggies (french bean, carrot, enoki mushroom) and egg. for the sauce, i kept this simple with soy sauce, oyster sauce (yes, agaaaaain XD) and pepper.
(pssssst, yes this may look like loads, but do you know that this is less than 600 kcal? simply because i removed any means of meat from this meal ^^)
another meal that i just experimented on today was red rice cooked in chicken stock, with stir-fry containing french bean, carrot, oyster mushroom, silken tofu, oriental bbq sauce, soy sauce and pepper. again, this may look a lot, but this is only around 500 kcal :)
then, since i already have a huge meal, i won't eat dinner, or i would only eat fruits (banana and apples are like my only favorites XD)
then i add some low fat chocolate milk because protein+fiber is known to be more fulfilling to the body.
sooooo basically those are what i eat for around a week! very simple meals, but i happen to love them a lot, and i don't get tired of them easily.
MY KPOP FITNESS WORKOUTS
like what i mentioned earlier, i usually do my workout by having kpop fitness workout/zumba for 30 minutes, which consists of 6-minute cardio warm up + approximately 6 songs. i always change my playlist everyday so that i don't get bored.
the 6-minute cardio warm up video that i use is always the same every day:
after the warm up, i would continue with 2 high-intensity, then 2 medium-intensity, and 2 low-intensity kpop fitness workouts.
high-intensity kpop fitness workout examples:
medium-intensity workout examples:
low intensity workout examples:
lastly, for those who want to start a weight loss journey, my concluding words are "don't make 'weight loss' as your target". yesss, i know you want to lose some weight, but if you put weight loss as your target, you may get demotivated once you realize that the number on your scale does not even shift at all. what i did was i made 'healthier life' as my target. i want to have stable blood pressure, and i don't want to get tired easily, so weight loss is actually just a bonus. it is all about mindset actually, just take it easy :)
that's all from me, and see you when i see you :D