One of my goals this year and previous years is to loose some pounds. I weighed about 190 pounds (about 87 kilos), thirty pounds greater than my target weight – 160 pounds (about 70 kilos).
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| My average weight |
During the first month, I have been struggling and trying different but healthy ways. I tried the modified military diet which limits the amount of daily calorie intake but it seems to fail because I started craving for more food. So I stopped my journey on hitting my goal. Instead of losing weight, I gain more pounds.
But I continue to pursue my goal. Now, I weigh 168-172 pounds (about 76-78 kilos). Konting effort na lang to hit my target numbers. By the way, I am not the only one who shed pounds but Mommy too.
I can already wear some of my shirts and even pants that have been kept in the closet for a long time.
Here are some ways that I think helped in putting me close to my target.
Less rice.
Limiting, not eliminating, rice intake made a great impact on achieving my goals. From the usual 2 cups of rice, or even more kapag gusto ko ang ulam, gradually decreases to 1 ½ to a maximum of 1 cup especially on dinner.
Now, I am consuming one cup of rice for breakfast, three-fourths for lunch, and a half for dinner.
I did not remove rice in my meal because according to some nutritionist, you need to sustain it or else it will make you gain more weight when you go back to the normal diet.
Balanced meal.
Balance meal for me does not mean that every meal should be complete with meat and vegetables. I just make sure that whenever I take meat on one meal, I have veggies on the next one, or vice-versa.
For example, if I have chicken afritada for lunch, I make sure that our dinner is veggies like pinakbet or chopsuey.
Fruits.
Sometimes, I used to replace my usual snack with fresh fruits. An apple or a banana is a good alternative for bread.
Less soda or fruit juices.
We know that soda and ready-made fruit juices are high in sugar. If not burned, it will turn into fats.
Again, i did not omit these items in my meals, I just lessen it. Whenever I crave for these, I drink a glass or lesser just to satiate my taste buds.
Green tea and lots of water.
Normally, I drink a cup of coffee with my breakfast. I replaced it with green tea since I am having a cup of coffee during our break time. I think this one made an impact in reducing my belly area.
Taking 8-10 glasses of water is not only essential in our system but water has zero calories so it is safe to drink more than the recommended amount especially on hotter days.
Exercise.
After a month of modifying my food intake, about 10 pounds were shed on my weight. This motivates me to continue what I am doing.
This time, I included daily routine exercise like abdominal crunches and weight lifting to tone my arms and tuck my tummy. But adding these activities might slow down weight loss because of gaining muscles.
Losing weight needs a lot of discipline but it does not mean to starve yourself. You can eat whatever you want but still in moderation.
What is the status of your weight-loss goal?