A Better and Improved Me

A decade ago I weighed 120 lbs and I was able to successfully maintain this weight not until year 2007. I slowly started to gain a few pounds every now and then...at first I thought that its just okay because I know I will eventually loose the pounds after a few weeks and boy I was wrong, I did not loose the pounds I thought I will be loosing instead I gained more and more. I've read it somewhere that as people grow older the slower their metabolism becomes and that causes people to gain more pounds.

If you are one of my long time readers, I am pretty sure you remember my mom buying me hoola hoop, jumping rope and so on since she is one who is more worried with me getting heavier each day lol! But I admit I am really lazy...I don't like doing exercises...I am the kind of person who gets excited at first then little by little the laziness is taking over me. My mom even bought me several home exercise DVDs such as Belly Dancing, Hip Hop Abs, and even Taebo. Nothing worked! Laziness has taken over me! It was okay not until last August 2011 where I weighed 146 lbs! I freaked out! I never imagined weighing this heavy.

This was taken last August 2011. I was at my heaviest – freakin 146 lbs :(

September 2011, Sweets challenged me that if I can loose weight before my birthday, he will grant my wish list. At first the Target weight was 120 lbs but I know that is impossible since we have to do it the healthy way and of course a big No No to crash diets. So to make it realistic we agreed to loose 10 lbs from the current weight so that would be 136 lbs. I was in for a challenge. –which of course deserves a separate post hihihi….anyway, I immediately said YES! And I made a promise to myself that I will win! Well, I have to WIN!  After accepting the challenge, the next question is what should I do to win? How am I going to loose weight?

My good friend Nancy of Paper Flair introduced me to Atkins diet. It was the perfect! This is the perfect diet plan that I’ve been looking for. I can loose weight safely without having to crash diet. It was not hard at all since I happen to love salads and vegetables; I just really have to stay away from carbs. The first two weeks was a little tough since I love to eat rice! And when I say I love to eat rice I actually meant I can eat 2-3 cups of rice per meal hahaha! Then from 3^rd week onwards was just easy peasy. I started to loose weight exactly on the 11^th day of the program, at first I lost 3 lbs…then 4 lbs on my 18^th day…and so on…there are times that I didn’t loose any pound when I checked the scale but when I checked my waist line, arms and thigh, I noticed that I lost a few inches. From time to time, I also do Zumba because I think the program will work better if you accompany it with exercise. I was able to survive for 3 months. 

This is the new and improved me at 130 lbs. I know I am still 5 lbs overweight but hey, if I was able to loose 16 lbs in just 7 weeks, I can loose the other 5 lbs in no time.  This photo was taken December 6, 2011 @ our QA Xmas party.

Bottom Line:  I realized that crash/ fad diets don’t work. The results are temporary you’ll just gain the pounds you’ve lost - times two! LOL.  You have to change your lifestyle and eating habit if you want permanent result. It truly feels good to be healthy and light.

By the way I took a quick break from Atkins program (2 months) because of the Holiday season – Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year. I still follow the program but I occasionally eat rice, pasta and cakes. I actually gained 4 lbs but I am not worried all people gains weight after the holidays right? And with all the stuff I ate, I was actually surprised that I only gained 4 lbs hihihi. I’m already preparing for the program this week; I want my body to be ready for another round of Atkins Program. Don’t worry, I will keep you all posted with my progress. For those who are interested with the program, you may visit their site and here’s the link for the list of food you can eat during the Phase 1 program: http://www.atkins.com/Program/Phase-1/What-You-Can-Eat-in-this-Phase.aspx

How about you guys, do you have any lifestyle changing experience that you would like to share to us? Feel free to comment and I would love to get back to you and visit your blog. 

Sweet Day to you All!
♥Pink Chinadoll♥