The Art of Loving Yourself: How Loving Yourself Can Lead to Weight Loss?

I'm a few days late but Happy Valentine's Day for all those celebrating!

Valentine's Day is celebrated every year on the February 14th for people to express their love to their significant other. People celebrating it by buying greeting cards, flowers, chocolates, or jewelry. But Valentine's Day is not just for couples who can have all the fun. This day is a very good excuse to be lovely to yourself all day, don't you think so? Whether you are single or in a relationship this Valentine's Day, remember to love yourself.

In honor of the month of love, I am doing recap of my old post about loving the most important being in your life: YOU! Loving yourself in this context doesn't mean you're being narcissist. Self-love is not selfish or shallow, it's totally opposite of narcissism.

What Does It Actually Mean To Love Yourself? How Loving Yourself Lead to Losing Weight?

1 - Loving yourself mean you appreciate yourself
Stand in front of the mirror and name things you like about you. It could be your nice long curly hair, or your unique monolid eyes. It could be your sweet smile or your lean arms. It doesn't necessarily your physical appearance that you could love about yourself. It could be other qualities like your positive attitude and your sense of humor.

When you appreciate yourself, you will not resort to any dangerous diet that could harm your health. When you love yourself, you will not let negative thought control and intimidate you.

2 - Loving yourself mean you take fully responsible on your body
No one is responsible for your body and your health, only you are responsible for it. We all know that we need to make new, healthy lifestyle changes to lose weight but sometime we tend to blame our busy schedule to skip workout or use boredom or feelings of emptiness as an excuse to eat crap.

Loving yourself mean you take responsibility for your own choices. Take a moment to make a list of your choices each day. What, when and how much you eat, whether you exercise or not. When you take responsible on your body, you will watch closely what you put in your mouth. You will eat only healthy foods. You will make effort to find at least 10 minutes each day for a quick workout.

3 - Loving yourself mean you embrace your uniqueness
I remember watching this famous Korean talk show called Happy Together where Hwang Shinhye was one of the guest. Hwang Shihye is a popular actress and the host of "Let Me In", a famous plastic surgery show in Korea. One of the topic discussed was about plastic surgery. The host of the show asked Hwang Shinhye whether her model daughter ever mention about getting a plastic surgery. Shinhye did suggest her daughter once that she might need to fix her eyes or nose but Jin Yi, her model daughter refused the idea. She is very confident and wants to keep her unique look.  

 Gorgeous celebrity mother-daughter:
Actress Hwang Shin Hye with her daughter Lee Jin Yi for SURE, October 20th issue.

What I'm trying to say is this - many people these days are trying to fit themselves into the image of what other people's standard of beauty or ideal personality. Maybe you want to sound sensuous and gloriously breathy like Marilyn Monroe when you speak. Or you want to have Gwen Stefani's flat abs. But the thing is you can't copy and paste the perfect body together from parts into a whole. You can't live yourself being someone you're not. This 'unhealthy habit' could damage your confidence and self-esteem. There's nothing wrong with being yourself.

When you love yourself, you will try to find the beauty inside of you and learn to be kind to yourself. When you love yourself, you will want to focus on your uniqueness and positive qualities instead of your flaws and failures. Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, loving yourself gives you the opportunity to start fresh and discover your strength, what you're capable of which will further help you accomplish your goals.

Let's discuss about this: What have you done to foster self-love? Please share your experiences in the comments below.

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Fitspiration Friday: Kajol's Weight Loss Secrets Revealed!

Today I choose Kajol for Fitspiration Friday.

Kajol

I first watched her on Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and became an avid a fan ever since. I became super excited when I heard Kajol is making a comeback for Dilwale (2015) with Shah Rukh Khan. Aside from looking very fair and lovely compare to her dusky skin in prior years, her appearance hasn't changed much. I'm impressed! How does she stays in great shape, especially after having two kids?

Kajol's Diet Plan
- keeping her mouth zipped
- eating from home before going out
- having 4-5 meals a day to 3 heavy meals.
- consume enough amount of water and have a diet rich in protein. She eats fish, eggs and chicken in good quantity.
- not have any kind of junk food.
- keeps discussing her diet plan with the dietician as and when required and coordinates it with her schedule.

On Screen Romance:
Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai 1998 (Left) and Dilwale 2015 (Right)

Kajol's Fitness Plan
- she weight training. She lifts weights and can handle 150 pounds and more in what is known as the ‘dead lift’
- high intensity and calorie burning workout
- Kajol also does endurance training, yoga, lifts and squats as part of her fitness regimen.
- makes sure to workout for around 90 minutes daily.

And when you start working out, you realise you’re calmer, you’re nicer. People are reacting to you differently. Not because you’ve lost weight but because you’re calmer, your perspective has changed. All the angst we have, the stress we have can be controlled, if not completely eradicated, just by working out.

- Kajol

Kajol's motivation to stay in shape
Kajol shares to iDiva that every decision made in life matters, "Some people say — have that beer or have the French fries, nothing will happen with one French fry, eat that cheese popcorn, it doesn’t matter. But it does matter. Each decision you make in life matters, each meal matters. That’s the kind of thinking you should have where work is concerned, where a relationship is concerned. That applies to everything in your life." 

She adds: "Whether it’s your husband, your next meal or your work. If the small things don’t matter then you miss out on the big picture. Make that extra effort for every relationship. Whether it’s with your parents, your children, your husband or your friends. It makes a difference to them."

"I try to give my kids alot of solo time where I play with them, talk to them, listen to them. Similarly, you give time for your workout. You slot a time for it, no matter what."

Kajol's word of wisdom to people who want to lose weight
You have to take charge of your life. If you want to lose weight, you have to be obsessed with it. You can’t depend upon your dietician, your trainer or various health aids that you have. You have to be organised. And believe me it isn’t that difficult.

The first 10 days are terrible because you have to break the lifelong habits that you have made. Also, when you go out with friends you have to order from the menu.

Now I want to hear from you: What is your opinion on celebrity weight loss? Is their diet and weight loss tips make sense to you?

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Weight Loss Resolutions for the New Year: The Top Three Critical Reasons Why It Fail

It's been over a week since we celebrated New Year. So how's everyone is going with the New Year's resolution? Do you still keep up with it, or have you given up already?

It's a trend that every New Year people will make a New Year's resolution. The irony is perhaps the thought of 'starting out a fresh page, the past is officially the past,' give people a comfort of starting fresh all over again. But it's also not a surprise that a week into the new year, just 77 percent of resolution makers are still on track, and after six months, only about 40 percent.

When I had my second child almost 6 years ago, I resolve to lose all the baby weight but after 6 years repeating the same resolutions, I'm ashamed to say that I'm still stuck at the same old circle.**sad face**

The Fat Trap: 5 years battle and still not losing weight :(

Losing weight are the most popular New Year's resolutions. But how exactly some people stick with a goal for long enough and succeed, and why people like me can't seem to follow through and stay focused for very long? I have read some useful tips on how to stick to your weight loss resolutions. So, these are the top three critical reasons Why New Year's Resolutions Fail and how to keep it from happening this year.

Reason 1: Lack of purpose
Most people fail to achieve their goals year-round because they're just thinking about their goals. They're not committed to them. I'd like to share a quote from Steve Maraboli, a speaker and bestselling author, "If you have a goal, write it down. If you do not write it down, you do not have a goal - you have a wish." It is encouraged that we write down any potential goal that pops into your head.

Why? Because making a list will help you keep that initial excitement and push you forward to reach your goal.
What to write? Every possible benefit that you will experience upon completion of the goal. Make a list why you want to make this change and answer it honestly. Keep this list handy and read the list at least once a week to remind yourself why you've started at the first place.

Reason 2: Time Management
Too busy to eat healthy, too busy for fitness. That is the most common excuse we heard (and I heard it from myself). Do you feel like you're too busy to lose weight? We all have the same 24 hours every single day. But why some are busier than others, and then there are some people seem to make the most of it than others? It is actually depends on how you use those 24 hours more effectively.

First off, stop procrastinating and get things done. Make a priority list. Instead of trying to accomplish your goal all in one day, break it up into smaller task that seem more possible to get done. For example, using the stairs every day instead of the elevator at the office.

Reason 3: Giving up Too Soon
Don't despair when you happen to get "off track" with either your diet or fitness goal. Don't pity yourself. Diet relapses happen to the best of us. Start over again! Recommit yourself for 24 hours.

Use the power of positive reinforcement to keep your momentum going. For example, treat yourself a day trip to somewhere you wanted to visit, if you work hard this week. Or reward yourself with a spa day if you quit soda in 24 hours. Before you know it, you will be back on track.

The power of positive thinking is vital for success

Your turn:

• What are your 2016 goals? 
•  How do you plan to tackle obstacles and achieve your goals this year? 

Share them in the comments section below, and let's have a talk about it!

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Weight Loss Challenge: The Weekend No-Dinner Diet

Christmas is less than 20 days ahead! Losing weight for Christmas is not my goal anymore. 2 weeks is too short a time to achieve a significant weight loss. But I still need to lose weight for my health. That's my ultimate goal and that's the reason why I never stop trying to lose weight even though the weight loss deadline is almost or already over.

Last weekend I decided to challenge myself to do another tweak to my diet. At first, I want to do the weekend detox but I'm not mentally prepare for it because there's always family outings on the weekend and dieting while outing is CHALLENGING. So I tried the less extreme diet plan - the weekend no-dinner diet. I am actually not new to this. I've tried to go to bed without dinner many time in the past. Not because I want to lose weight, partly yes. But the main reason why I skip dinner was because I was lazy to cook. :‑Þ

The No-Dinner Diet
The no-dinner diet is not exactly a diet btw. It's more like a pattern of eating that reduces your eating window. I know some friends who skip dinner and lose weight. I think the logic is pretty simple. Skipping dinner may lead to weight loss because well, skipped meal means skipped calories. Choosing to omit one or two meal a day will make it easier to restrict your caloric intake over the course of the week thus will give your body a chance to lose weight as you're simply just eating less calories than you were consuming before.

Why the no-dinner diet? Because it's an easy hack to simplify your day. You don't have to worry about meal planning and food preparation every 2-3 hours. Since you simply skip a meal or two, you just need to focus about eating food in your eating window.

The Drawbacks with The No-Dinner Diet
Feeling hungry and miserable.

When you eat every 2-3 hours, your body will becomes used to expecting to it and then your body will start to get hungry at that hour. The transition to skip to one meal a day might shock the body into changing for a little while but from my past experience I've found once you get locked into your routine, your hunger hormones will adapt.

How to survive the No-Dinner Diet
1 - Distract yourself from thinking about food.
I made the no-dinner diet last weekend! I avoid dinner by treating myself to a massage, thanks to Mr. hubby for taking care of the kids while I'm enjoying my spa session. There are many ways we can distract ourselves from eating. Read a motivational book, paint your fingernails, exercise or calling a friend on the telephone.

2 - Sleep early.
Late sleepers equals more eating . Lack of sleep also increases hunger and slows down metabolism making it more difficult to maintain or lose weight. Studies show that the metabolism may actually increase during sleep. So get a good quality of sleep for a healthier metabolism.

3 - Choose your lunch carefully.
Aim for a mix of lean protein, whole-grain carbohydrates and healthy fat that will fuel your body until tomorrow's breakfast.

4 - Chug a couple glasses of water.
Water does not have some magical property but staying hydrated could help you reduce appetite and make you burn more calories. A small study says it may help you burn about 50 calories per liter or quart of water, or about 25 calories per water bottle-full of water. Always having a water bottle around will make it easier on you to drink more water.

A challenge will push you far outside your comfort zone. What challenges you have set for yourself lately? Share in the comments. 

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Does Pooping Actually Help You Lose Weight?

I believe that I'm not the only one who used to think that you'll lose weight if you poop as much as you eat. The irony because apparently most weight loss products and slimming tea in the market promoted their product with the same concept, or at least I think so.

My husband is very supportive of my weight loss effort. I try my best not to keep unhealthy food in the house and my husband is totally supportive by not brings junk food home. But yesterday I asked him to buy me curry maggie, my favorite junk food. I haven't had maggie in a pretty long time, a non-scale victory I'm so proud of. But yesterday I just have to give in. I have a strong cravings for this food, blame the monthly hormones. And I am feeling so guilty now to confess that I have tried fiber drink to...I know this is sounds ridiculous but I've resorted to fiber drink to stimulate the need to go to the bathroom. It just gives me a peace of mind to know that I can 'take care of the big business' after I eat a meal. I have this theory that when I'm emptying my colon after a meal I'm basically pooping the calories back out. HA-HA. #myth

I quit taking fiber drink last time because I realized that I have became dependent on it. I was at the point where I can't poop when I skip the drink. I have became so obsessed with it. But recently I start taking a fiber drink again to ease constipation. Only now I won't drink it regularly, only when needed though as to avoid dependency on that. Constipation happens to me sometime especially in the week or so before my menses and causes headache. And when I had a bad food choices or eat something that I am not suppose to eat, it's just so comforting to think that I can probably undo the bad eating with a sip of fiber drink. #anothermyth

How does fiber drinks work
I don't have the exact idea how it works for weight loss but from my general reading (got info from the leaflet and their website), fiber drink are one tool for adding fiber to your diet, usually contain soluble fiber extracted from vegetables and fruits and to be taken before meal. When you eat your food, this fiber drink will work like a blocker that block the binding process of enzyme alpha-amalase (produced in the saliva) with starches so the carbs will move quickly out of the body without being absorbed. Fiber also act as laxative where it works by increasing the water content and bulk of the stool, which helps to move it quickly through the colon.

NH Vege F'bre Plus Review
I am currently drinking NH Vege F'bre Plus by NH Detoxlim. (FYI, this is not a sponsored post) This drink does not contain preservatives and chemical additives, no synthetic coloring and flavoring. According to the label, NH Vege F'bre Plus is made from all-natural ingredients - Soluble fruit fibre (ananas comosus, scientific name for pineapple), soluble vegetables fibre (brocolli, spinach), fructose, wheatgrass, vitamin C, chlorophyll and semen plantago ovata.

Plantago ovata containing product is already taken by many people world-wide to control bowel function, may be a useful supplement in weight control diets as it affects fat intake, and may have some effect on the subjective feeling of fullness.

NH Vege Fibre Plus: It is formulated for Asians with hectic lifestyles, imbalanced diets and weight problems.

Natural: NH Vege Fibre Plus is made from 100% natural ingredients

The label also reads, taste nice and refreshing. But in my personal opinion, it taste a bit yucky. Actually it taste like green juice made from raw leafy green vegetable, well because it is green vegetable. I have tried green smoothies before but the taste is not really pleasant to my taste. This fiber drink has the similar taste, I had to hold my breath and finish the drink at one go!

Green drink: Empty one sachet (5 g) NH Vege Fibre Plus into a glass of
lukewarm water (about 250ml to 300ml). Mix well and enjoy!

NH Vege F'bre Plus can have some effect within 5-8 hours, so I always plan my schedule and make sure I am in a comfortable place 6 - 8 hours, or be close to a bathroom cause the effects will be immediate. There will be a light stomach cramp but it usually doesn't last forever. That's just the way it works. NH Vege F'bre Plus continues to work in the system, so I always keep in my mind to limit my eating or I'll increase the number of trips to the bathroom. Drinking plenty of water is a must. What I like most about this drink is how it makes me feel lighter. It is definitely cleaning your system and much better than salt water cleanse.

So does emptying your bowels after every meal help you lose weight?
Pooping is imperative to a good cleanse, de-bloat and helps flush all that extra water weight from your body.

1 - YES you might see the number on the scale swing up a bit after you have a bowel movement. 

2 - ...but it DOESN'T COUNT as actual weight loss.

According to dietician Alexandra Caspero, R.D., founder of Delicious Knowledge, our body's weight fluctuates throughout the day and it's typically normal. Constipation links to water retention and if you haven’t used the restroom before weighing yourself, it'll affect the number on the scale. Going low carb diet is a natural way lose excess water weight.

Water weight isn't as "real" as weight from muscles and fat, it tends to magically melt away as your kidneys restore your body's salt/water balance. But here's the thing - water weight is still weight, right? Losing 5 kg or 10 kg of (water) weight may look or feel different -- and there are health choices we can make to keep it at bay.

I will be updating my progress after I start seeing more weight come off. Have you tried any home remedies for weight loss to get your diet off to the right start? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

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