Am I on a growth spurt or what?

Okay. I have a situation. My digestion is on a roll nowadays. I AM ALWAYS HUNGRY.

Any food that I eat -- rice, oatmeal, fruits, fruit juice, milk -- makes my stomach full for only 1 hour. After that grace period, I start looking for food. 

HIIT and BURN - Okay this is my first hypothesis. There are several articles and studies claiming that High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) can burn calories for up to 38 hours after a workout which means the metabolism also spikes up during that time frame. I didn't believe it at first, but I think I do now because I really get hungry the next day after my workout. And it's not even psychological because I really hear my stomach growl for food. 

EXPERIMENTS I am preparing for an upcoming conference in December which means my lab work is on its high nowadays. I don't want to call it cramming but I want to present the best set of results and a really good progress to the conference so I've been doing a lot of experiments on weekdays and even on weekends. My work really requires physical labor so I suspect that the hunger pangs mean that my body needs more fuel to function. 

COLD WEATHER This is not a valid hypothesis since I workout at home with a good heating system and it's not even winter yet. Haha. But I want hot coffee and baked sweet potato all the time. (Just saying) 

And just to clear it up: I never starve myself. I eat every time I feel hungry and that is the problem. I try my best to pack sweet potatoes and buy the friggin $2 banana from the convenience store but I cannot make sure that I'm eating healthy all the time. But if I don't monitor my snacks I'm gonna lose all the progress - NO! The best that I can do is learn to curb my hunger because I cannot remember the last time I felt full from a proper amount of meal and that banana is so expensive. 

Sweat Like a Pig to Look Like a Fox: How to Hold on to the Lifestyle

Target: Core and Glutes. I still have to work for it but you know I try very, very hard. Haha. 

For the past four months, I have been so obsessed with working out. A week cannot pass without shedding some sweat through running around the track, killing the treadmill or doing circuits at home. Working out has been my escape and therapy for the stress that I get from research.

I wasn't always like this. I used to be one of those people who stay away from physical activities to recover from stress and fatigue. But now it's the other way around: I exercise to cure it. After a good workout, my body is energized and all the stress on my neck and shoulders instantly disappears.

However, the main challenge is how to drag my tired body to exercise. I won't lie, those days are the worst. But you know what they say "Most people workout when they feel like it. Disciplined people workout even if they don't." I always remember this whenever I couldn't open my eyes for a cold morning run or when I just wanna rest my ass after a hard day's work. Haha. 

It requires a lot of discipline and commitment and one must have a motivation to start and stick to the lifestyle. I want to share some of my solid reasons that I hope to last me for a long, long time.  

1) Aesthetics. Coz duh, that's why I started all of this. 

2) Physical strength. My experiment requires a lot of manual labor and heavy lifting so I really need to train for strength. And if I don't want to get bedridden every weekend, I really need to improve my physical endurance. Bottom line is I am training my body to not get tired easily. 

3) Respiratory and cardiovascular health. I used to have asthma when I was a kid and my family has a history of stroke and high blood pressure. I have to be more responsible for my health especially now as I approach the age of motherhood (yeah I think about this grown-up stuff) 

4) It's a habit that I cannot stop. 

There were times when I stopped living healthily and gained few pounds but nevertheless I remained conscious and guilty about it. Some of my friends pick on me and say, "Girl you're so health-conscious! You're not fat!" and all that. Yeah I know I'm not but aesthetics is not the point. Staying fit and being healthy is a lifestyle. And I don't know why a lot of people talk about being health-conscious as if it's a laughable thing but that has to stop. We should encourage each other to do our part to live longer and spare ourselves from all the sickness that a sedentary lifestyle might bring.

P.S. I'm still thinking about how in the world will I shed some sweat when winter comes. Haha. 

My dream abs

Is so hard to get. And when I finally got some, it stays only for a short while. But nevertheless I'm not giving up on it. 

July 2014

Was a successful fitness month. Let's go for more!

Sweat Like a Pig to Look Like a Fox: Bitch I'm Back Edition!

I really had a hard time maintaining my active and healthy lifestyle when I got here in Korea last February. Weather was still very cold and at subzero at that time 😐😈 Also I had a hard time adjusting with the lifestyle and food. It's kinda difficult when you're surrounded with people who are not conscious as to what and when to eat. Plus when you wanna make friends, lunch / dinner is the first step to do. All these factors add up and then boom weight gain. I wasn't surprised at all. I knew I was going there. 

Once the weather became comfortable, I started running 5km again almost every other day but I still wasn't losing weight. On the contrary, I felt that I was gaining despite all the physical activities. I got angry and really frustrated. 

And then I started to improve my food. From all-fried lunch and dinners (coz thats all I could cook haha) I began trying veggie recipes. I also changed my cereals from coco-sugar-something Kellogs to Super K. And since Super K is more expensive than regular cereals, I stopped filling my snacks stash. No more biscuits and sweets for dessert and merienda.

In addition to cardio activities, I've been doing some muscle-building exercises to tone the body. Muscle is heavier than fat so I stopped checking the weighing scale coz its not gonna be reliable. But I think the photos show that I improved and I'm happy with my body right now.

But damn I admit this whole maintain-your-figure, healthy lifestyle is soooo difficult. But like they said, fall seven times, stand up eight. Lol. Maintain a strong and fit body for as long as you can, as hard as you can. I mean, who doesnt want a strong pair of knees and healthy lungs when you're seventy? 

Oplan Abs: Week 2 of 8

Not a before-after pic. Just two different angles. I still have to work on my shape. I think it's just me but methinks my hips are getting wider. Not that I'm complaining coz my hips and boobs could really use some fat haha. 

Oplan Abs: Week 1 of 8

I kind of lost my healthy lifestyle last month. I was pigging out all the unhealthy carbs in the world --biscuits, sweets, rice cakes and what not. I stopped working out. I dined out frequently. Stress at work took a toll on me and all I cared was to give myself the wrong rewards of junk foods. 

But, thank God for my healthy conscience, I learned the err of my ways. All these sweets will just give me 1hour of happiness and satisfaction only to be followed by a week of regret. It's my choice. 

I used to be anti-gym because of the gastos and unpracticality to drive to Alabang just to sweat out. But I lost the drive to work out at home or wake up early to jog coz I am practically lying in bed all day during weekends. I needed external motivation and all the help that I can get despite the spending so I decided to enroll myself in a two-month program at the gym and see where this will take me. Hope to see a better tummy in 8weeks! 

Sweat Like a Pig to Look Like a Fox III: Summer 2013

So after a year, I finally lost weight and reached my goal. You think the battle's over? Nah. Sticking to it is the most difficult part. 

It's super hard to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle since I started working. I don't have time to workout on weekdays, and most of the time I'm too tired to get up and work out on weekends. Also, our canteen at work is like carbs central. So hard to resist sweets especially if you have to walk and work all day like me. 

Summer 2013: 98lbs

It is an uphill battle. You have to have discipline. Whenever I am too stressed from work and get the urge to pigout during dinner, I always think about my college belly fats and the way it uncomfortably hugs my body. I look at my past pictures and think about how I never want to look like that again. 

Sweat Like a Pig to Look Like a Fox II

Part 1 here.

I know, I know. Your abs are better you don't have to say it. Heck there are 1000000 girls out there who've got a better body and I'm not competing with any of them.

In my past life, when I used to be a slave of food and anything edible, I embraced the fact that I will never have my flat belly back. That I'm on my way to having a muffin top, untoned thighs and triple bilbil, I accepted it. "Screw diet! I'm choosing junk food!" Yes, I worship food that much. But that was my past. I got reincarnated with a healthy lifestyle and has cut off my ties from the pig inside me. The new me believes that there's nothing wrong with eating (duh) but it has to be in moderation. Eat in proper quantity and quality. 

I don't mean to say that being thin is better. It will never be. But I always say this: go for whatever makes you feel fulfilled and confident. If you're not happy, then do something about it. This post may sound vain for some, but for me it serves as a memento of a fruitful hard work. It takes a long time to see significant results, but boy it was worth the wait hard work. 

I'm officially lean!

Wala ng pwedeng tumawag sakin ng mataba! Because based on this lean body mass calculator, I'm lean! Healthy mind and healthy body na to! 

Sweat Like a Pig to Look Like a Fox

Ladies and gents, this was my 52kg body last December 2012. May we all take a moment of silence and ponder on it.. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Yes, a fatty on the picture. Now can you please give me a round of applause for my confidence to wear a swimsuit with a body like that? Yes? Thanks.

Now this is my 45kg body half a year later. It's not much, but I'm just SO happy to see visible results! It's such a milestone for me that I have to blog it. Haha. 

I started working out 3weeks before my graduation. My graduation dress was a white, fitting tube so I had to be slim for it!  It was a bit of a crash diet for me because I tried to avoid food as much as I can and I was working out everyday, because duh I only got 3weeks to fit on that dress. I weighed 48.5kg at day 0 and by the day that I finally have to wear the dress, I was weighing 47kg.

BUT, cos there's always a but, a week after grad I started to binge! I figured that crash diet isn't gonna work for me so I changed my lifestyle. I am proud to say that I now live a healthy lifestyle. I eat small meals six times a day. I eat anything except junk foods, chocolate and fast foods. I also avoid soft drinks, powdered juice, bottled juice and all other processed drinks. I'm still doing cardio workouts at least two times a week for one hour, and 15-minute workout for my future abs. LOL. 

I know, sticking to the diet is HARD. Now that I'm reviewing for the board exam my schedule became pretty hectic and studying is sucking the marrow out of me. I think working out is just like studying after all. They both need discipline, commitment and stick-to-it attitude. And they are both very rewarding in the end.

I started seeing diet as a marathon, not a sprint. Because it's not how fast I lose weight (and gain it back again), but how long could I stick to it.

I still haven't stopped my marathon for a healthy body -- and I pray that I don't have to stop it at all. It feels good to look and feel healthy inside out. It's not about being skinny but being fit. I always say this to my friends: as we get old our metabolism slows down that's why most of our parents can't get away with their flabs. They can't exercise that much too because of aging. Therefore we have our whole adulthood to spend with our fat body, so how about we enjoy our 20's being fit? ;)