Weight Loss Success Stories: Top 12 Most Inspiring Weight Loss Photos on Instagram

30th day on Slim-Possible-April challenge. April is basically over. But I haven't accomplished everything I wanted to. I am stuck! Sometimes I become so motivated to exercise, I am in control of what I eat. But sometimes I feel like giving up, I'm screwing up my diet and everything just get messed up. We all need a little motivation from time to time. Zig Ziglar once said, "People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily."

I am spending too much unnecessary time on Facebook so I decided to deactivate my account temporarily few months back. I joined Instagram and am pretty much in love with it since then because I found out that this is an inspiring place when you follow the right people. Watching a video fit Instagram igers slaying away at the gym, or to see before and after weight loss picture will motivate one to hit the gym. If you need a shot of inspiration, just check out these igers.

1. @autumn_heather_

The caption says, "O'magosh!! I think my shirt is a bit stretched, dontcha think?! And no, I wasn't preggers in that first pic! Haha! That pic was taken Approx 8 months ago! I remember being mad that I had let myself get to that point in my weight and lifestyle as I looked in the mirror. I'm so thankful that I started this journey and didn't quit all those times I felt like quitting. I'm glad I kept telling myself (out loud) that I can do this! It's all about determination, y'all!!"

2. @maselans_fit_world

It really took her only LESS than a year to look this awesome. She's living proof that you CAN do anything you put your mind to do. She wrote a caption in one of her picture about her weight loss story: "My problems with gain weight began really, as I finished the University. After graduating from the University in the year 2005, my life changed in a big way! The picture from the posting is from the year 2005. I gone in and out of so many fulltime- jobs, and my last job (which lasted 5 years) was completely sedentary and I development me to a work- alcoholic. I started going out more and eating a lot more unhealthy food. I was a emotional and stress eater. I mean that I would eat in response to my emotions. I would eat whenever I feel stressed, angry or bored. My eating had nothing always to do with hunger, but based on my emotions and stress.

2012 and 2013 was hard years for me. In the year 2012 I shortly canceled my upcoming wedding and was in June 2013 heavy bitterly disappointed from persons in my environment. ️It has made a great impact ️in my mind. I decided at this very second to change my life and wanted healty and fit. It make "klick" and I started the next day. The good was by me, that the years has made me stronger about the motto: "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger".

Many people ask me, what is my secret: "To change your weight, first change your mind and focus on the progress". I truly believe that it is they key to success. "Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions. Believe in yourself. Be your own friend, and supporter. Give the world the best you've got, and good things will come back to you in return. Stay focused, Stay Strong!" Best advice ever.

3. @cassadasbabe

About this picture, she wrote, "Ohhh lawdy yes this is me and yes I'm wearing the exact same outfit haha ok how many of you had that one outfit or style you wore because it was tight but stretchy? That was this for me... Except #THEN it was a shirt and I squeezed into thinking it made me look thinner lol all bad I know... #NOW it's a dress and looks so much better on me. At the peek of my illness and on medication I was back up and close to my pregnancy weight. 

It's crazy to see this before picture and know behind that smile I was broken, not knowing where my health would end up was the biggest fear for me because of my family. Now I give no attention to what the doctors have told me and push through the pain everyday without medication."

4. @getfitbec

Real weight loss story. She lost over 200lbs working out at home and with healthy diet. She shared, "the most common question I get asked is...."How did you lose all that weight?!" I did it with diet and exercise I applied two simple rules calories in - calories out= weightloss. I also used guided programs (like you can use with a trainer) except mine came on DVD. Yep I workout at home and very rarely will you see me go to a gym just to workout. I'm 5'3 and used to weigh 381lbs. I have lost over 220lbs and I feel amazing. 

I will have been on this journey three years in June and I have no plans on turning back. I know my weight will fluctuate throughout my life but I will never be as unhealthy as I was. This goal isn't unreachable for anybody , you all can do this. Keep pushing for your goals!!"

5. @jazmyn_amethyst

The picture tells it all!

6. @adry_bella

Losing weight is one of the top New Years Resolutions made but resolutions fade and disappear in a few weeks. This is something we need to hear from Adry's point of view: "Forget the fact that it's a new year and that your "New Years resolution" is to drop a few pounds. So many times we make ourselves promises that we whole heartedly aim to commit to but ultimately fail at, well, committing. So forget the new-year stuff, see this day as what it really is...A NEW DAY! Another chance to try and give it all you've got. A whole new opportunity to fight for something you really want. And no matter how many times you fail, don't hate yourself because you had the strength to try! That effort there separates you from all the rest. 

In my own experience, every single time I failed, it only made me try even more the next day. That was to prove to myself that I could, that I would, and that I would not-could not allow myself to give up on me. So grab on, head strong, hopes high...it's going to be a looooooong ride. But in the end, you'll win...because the only one your fighting IS Y.O.U.

7. @healthymomx3

Many people believe that only celebrity can snap back into pre-baby shape. But Jenn is proof that this is not true! She's mom of 3 and have lost 130 lbs. She says in one of her Instagram post, "Don't ever be ashamed of your story for it may inspire others for those of you new to my story I'll share some facts about me, the not so glamorous ones."

"Stretch Marks and loose skin are very much present on my body. I've lost 130 lbs. No secrets. No pills. No surgery. It took me 7 years of watching my food and working out. I'm a binge eater.... I've probably gone a month or so without binging. I try and celebrate the small victories and not dwell on it too much when I do binge .... I actually was inspired to do this post tonight because I binged today. I lift weights 5 days a week and I teach Zumba twice a week. I'm human. I mess up. I learn from my mistakes. I'm emotional. I'm sensitive. I'm generally highly caffeinated. I love, I love deeply. I'm always a work in progress."

8. @weightlossforthewin

Her story: "I started my journey January 7, 2013 and my starting weight was 200 lbs. I was unhappy unhealthy and really negative. Once I saw the 200 on the scale I made a promise to myself to change and for real this time(I have failed many times in the past) and in my first two weeks I lost 10 pounds! It was then I really believed I could change my life. So I continued eating healthy (less carbs, less sugar) no junk, whole grains on occasion, lean meats and fish, fruits and LOTS of vegetables. 

I found myself learning more and more as I went on and the longer I kept up healthy eating and working out the easier it became. By may I had lost 50 pounds. It was the most amazing accomplishment for me to lose 50 pounds in 5 months. I continued and the weight continued to fall off. By September 2013 I had reached 136 pounds- I was in shock I never remembered weighing myself and being in it."

9. @be_healthytoday

I interviewed Carla about her incredible weight loss and ever since, I’ve been following her journey on Instagram. She said in one of her Instagram post, "When I gave birth to my princess 4 years ago, I never thought I could possibly get down to my pre-baby weight. I accepted that my body has changed and that it was ok, I just have to live with it. 

Then realize was I became very insecure-avoided going out with friends and family, never went near the pools/beach, avoided taking pictures, shopping was dreadful-I never could find anything that I felt confident in, was tired and stress all the time! so anyway I decided to make a change! Took a lot to get here but 4 years later, I have done it! And you can do it too! I failed a million times but I never gave up!"

10. @malzisfit

I also interviewed Mallory about her 97-pounds weight loss story - she’s incredible! In one of her #TransformationTuesday picture she captioning, "The left picture was a girl who had no self respect and ate her feelings. She hit 217lbs at the age of 16 because she had given up on herself. At 17 she tried different diets like Weight Watchers but nothing really stuck, the determination wasn't there, until she turned 20 and it finally clicked. "If I keep giving up then trying again, why don't I stop giving up?" She started educating herself on nutrition, frequenting the gym, setting long and short term goals, and being kind to herself. It was bumpy in the beginning but the passion was so strong nothing could stop her. She started killing all of her goals, made fitness a constant in her life, and practiced positive thinking about herself and her body. It became a lifestyle; she became Malzisfit... My point is that people change.

You overcome so many obstacles in this journey that make you a stronger and more confident person. If you can push through those obstacles, like a dreaded workout or that extra piece of cake staring you down, and if you can accept that sometimes you won't overcome them, if you can commit yourself to this journey with all of its bumps and turns and drop-offs, then you will get there. You will reach your goal, if you never ever give up." 

11. @deespunk

"It is unbelievable to me at times how much I've lost. Even my feet shrunk! I used to be able to wear 9.5/10 and now I wear 6.5/7! Even my hands look different to me. My ring size now is a 5.5. From a 9.5. Before my clothes size was 5X or a tight 28 (I didn't want to buy a bigger size). Now my clothes ranges from a size 4 to a size 8 (& everything in between). When I shop, I don't even bother trying on clothes. I just buy it! I never would've done that before. I needs to make sure it fit right. Honestly, it has been totally liberating. I'd do it again today if I had to!"

12. @peacce2784

I love this girl. Christine is an awesome source of inspiration! About her weight loss story she wrote, "I had my son early April of 2012 and when I stepped on the scale at the hospital when I was in labor, I weighed 216 pounds. I'm 5'2, that's a lot of weight on my frame. When we came home with CarterMan it wasn't the easiest first year. Carter was colic for the first 7-8 months and that's really discouraging to try and focus on anything other than the needs of him. It wasn't until a few months before his first birthday I started eating clean and doing some at home workouts. I dropped 30 pounds in 3 months, the photo of me on the left is at that point. I then decided to start training and got a gym membership. Here we are 9 months later (photo on the right) and I'm still eating clean and training on a regular basis. This has become my #healthylifestyle I lost another 57 pounds over the course of the last 9 months. And while my weight hasn't moved on the scale in the past 3 months, I have dropped 2 pant sizes. Sz. 16 was my first pair on non maternity jeans.Today I'm in a size 3/4. 

Don't trust the scale, trust the process. Take progress photos, measure yourself with tape, don't rely on the scale.It can be so discouraging. I want to share my story in hopes that it may help someone on their journey. I did this for me, and in turn it has benefited every person that crosses my path--there is no other way to put it, I am just HAPPIER."

Are you on instagram? Who do you follow? Share your favorites!

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Fasting for Weight Loss: 4 Options for Intermittent Fasting

27th day on Slim-Possible-April Challenge. This is what I had for breakfast today. Dim sum. This is my all-time favorite after pasta. No, not really. My favorite food is food.

I'm a stay-at-home (SAHM) and sticking to diet plan is hard when your entire kitchen is at your disposal 24 hours a day. As a SAHM, I have a completely sedentary lifestyle, I can't get dedicated to my workout so I tried to focus more on my diet. I tried to create a calorie deficit for weight loss. First, I tried water fasting. But after one success and millions failure, I tried juice fasting. But I can't get rid of thought on foods, so I resort to low carb diet. No potatoes, no white rice, no white sugar, or white flour. To avoid drinking sugary beverage maybe easy but it's hard to cut rice out of my diet completely because I'm Asian and rice is a staple food. So to be a bit flexible, I allow myself to eat anything I want, including white rice and white flour (products made with it such as bread, cake, cookies, crackers, pretzels, doughnuts, bagels, and muffins) but no more eating after 2 pm. I've decided to do a daily intermittent fasting throughout this Slim-Possible-April Challenge, which is no solid food after 2 pm. But again, this diet plan deliver no success so far. I can't stop eating and I'm not even hungry. Feeding the kiddos little snacks and tasty treats is hard. I often end up eating what they eat! And other time it started with food cravings which when I allow myself a small bite will eventually evolve into overeating or maybe worst - episodes of binge eating. 

I know it's so annoying to hear me rant about failure after failure. Even to the hubs, he's already tired to hear about my diet plan, this diet strategy and that, but to see no success. He thinks my major failure is lack of discipline. He advised against fasting. Fasting leads to overeating, according to him. But fasting has always had a special place in my weight loss plan. Fasting cleanse out your body and most important I believe fasting can help break your unhealthy relationship with food.

There are several option of intermittent fasting suggested by Rob excerpt from his blog Fitness Through Fasting. You can practice this right away to build experience, strength and confidence. 

 Intermittent Fasting options are as follows:

1. Daily Intermittent Fasting

As in Catholic Lent Fasting and Muslim Ramadan, here you would fast from sunup to sundown – approximately 12 hours daily. The fast is broken each night with a light meal, preferably of lean fish or poultry, small portion of carbs (4oz baked or sweet potato, brown rice, multigrain pasta) and steamed veggies. The eating window remains open until dawn, but for most of that time you will be sleeping.

Twelve hours to eat, twelve hours to fast… and so the cycle continues each day. I strongly recommend that you do NOT eat anything after 10PM. Just because you have twelve hours daily to eat doesn’t provide license to overeat. You can get up in the AM, have a light breakfast (oatmeal with skim milk, three egg whites and four ounces of ground turkey is my personal favorite), and then fast for the next 12 hours.

Remember this motto: Progress, not perfection. In other words, certain days you may feel great and want to fast for another few hours. That is fine. But try not to exceed 16 hours of fasting each day, so as to not interrupt the Daily (IF) cycle. 

Estimated Weekly weight loss: three to five pounds. The key to successful weight loss with Daily IF is to eat clean meals; keep the consumption of fat and sugar low.

2. Every Other Day Intermittent Fasting

Another form of intermittent fasting is to go for an entire 24-hour cycle every other day. Example: You fast from 8AM Monday morning to 8AM Tuesday morning. Eat lightly on Tuesday. Wake up on Wednesday at 7:30AM and have breakfast. Start the fast at 8AM until the same time on Thursday… and so on.

Estimated Weekly intermittent fasting weight loss: two to four

3. Half Week Intermittent Fasting Information

Fast for 3.5 days weekly. Example: Fast from 8AM Monday to 8PM Thursday. You can return to regular eating for the rest of the week.

Fasting would resume the following Monday at 8AM – repeating the same cycle.  This system requires caution, however. Since one does not eat for 84-hour periods, it will be necessary to follow the breaking a fast instructions, listed towards the end of this book.  

Estimated intermittent fasting weekly weight loss: three to five pounds.

4. Seven Day Intermittent Fasting

Fast for an entire seven days, return to your regular diet for seven days, and then fast for another seven days. Similar to the Half Week method, you will need follow the breaking a fast instructions.  

Estimated weekly weight loss: Five to 20 pounds during initial 7-day fast and five to seven on subsequent ones.

These are some interesting books on fasting. Do check it out!

1.Toxic Relief: Restore health and energy through fasting and detoxification by Donald Colbert, MD
2. Juicing, Fasting, and Detoxing for Life by Cherie Calbom MS
3. The Fast Diet by Michael Mosley
4. The Fast Diet Cookbook byy Mimi Spencer
5. FastExercise: The Simple Secret of High-Intensity Training by Michael Mosley
6. The Green Smoothie Bible: 300 Delicious Recipes by Kristine Miles
7. How to Lose 40 Pounds (Or More) in 30 Days with Water Fasting by Robert Dave Johnston
8. Water Fasting: A Comprehensive Guide & 40-Day Water Fast Personal Journal by Jennifer Thompson
9. 7 Lbs in 7 Days: The Juice Master Diet by Jason Vale
10. Master Cleanse 10-day Organic Kit with Book; The Complete Master Cleanse

When my willpower fail, it's very easy to say that dieting is not worth it. It's very easy to give up completely, very easy to call it quit. But it's OK to fail. Just like Zig Ziglar once said, "You clearly understand that failure is an event, not a person, that yesterday ended last night, and today is your brand new day." 

If you are in the same boat with me, let me tell you this. Your weight loss momentum might gone, your weight loss plan maybe failed, you screwed up your eating plan, your exercise plan gets all messed up but we have only two choices: First, keep walking backwards. This will surely take us even further away from our goals; Second, to accept our lack of perfection as normal. Learn to forgive ourselves, and take two positive steps down the path that brings us closer to the future we want. So I choose to keep working on it! I believe it will get easier over time. 

Tomorrow will be a brand new day. Good night for now.

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Top 5 Non-Weight Loss Benefit of Regular Exercise

Day 16. Less than a month to go to complete Slim-Possible-April Challenge.

I always loved weekend. Because I can blame all the overeating and splurge, and exercise slip-ups on the weekend. Well, yes it's true. I never survive weekend or holidays. Weekend or holidays is always a diet disaster for me. And last week was no exception. It always takes me some time to get back on track. Could be a day. Could be a week. 

It was a good day today. My diet today was not so clean, not so perfect but I manage to complete the 100-Squats-a-Day Challenge. Success! Why? Before this I used to skip exercise whenever I screw up my diet.  I am a firm believer that you cannot out train a bad diet. So when my diet go wrong I skip exercise thinking that exercise after a bad diet is a waste of time.

Even if it doesn't cause weight loss, exercise actually can have a big benefit for your health. Here are five proven health benefits you can gain by moving more.

1. Reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer 

Daily physical activity can help prevent major illness by up to 50% and lower your risk of early death by up to 30% by strengthening your heart muscle, lowering your blood pressure, raising your high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels (good cholesterol) and lowering low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels (bad cholesterol), improving blood flow, and increasing your heart's working capacity.

2. Promoting physiological well-being 

Regular physical activity can improve your mood, boost self-esteem, sleep quality and energy. Researchers also have found that exercise is likely to reduce your risk of stress, depression, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

3. Prevent back pain

Regular exercise can helps prevent or improve back pain. Simple exercises like walking increasing muscle strength and endurance and improving flexibility and posture. It is often the best medicine to help alleviate back pain. But remember to move in moderation if you suffers from back pain.

4. Help prevent osteoporosis

High-impact weight-bearing exercises help build bones, keep them strong and may prevent many forms of bone loss associated with aging.

5. Decrease appetite

According to Fitsugar, other studies have found that exercise, both cardio and cardio combined with weight training, increases hormones that decrease appetite.

Now back to you, write in the comments: 

Why do you workout? 

How does exercise make you feel? (makes you feel sexy, healthy, confident, etc)

I want to share with you some photos I took last weekend. Have a blessed and meaningful Holy Week everyone!

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Fitspiration Friday: 100 Squats a Day for 20 Days

Day 11. Yesterday marked the end of the first 10 days of 30 days Slim-Possible-April Challenge. Cheating my way to blogging everyday is a real challenge but I will try to update as frequent as possible.

I have committed to not weighing in the entire month so there will be no weigh-in update. I try to eat as clean as possible but I'm still far from perfect. I admit I did cheat on hot dogs and cakes few times but my victory was I'm NOT dwell on binge eating for hours like I used to do before. When I slipped up, I simply clean up the mess and just move on. It wasn't easy. Like many of my binge episodes, I tend to tell myself to start the diet all over again tomorrow and decided to totally blew it. But I feel powerful this few days that I am finally able to get over it. Non-Scale Victory, yay!

Fitness wise, I didn't workout regularly as planned. I don't want to explain. I know I could make it if I find time for it. This is one area I need to improve. So one more challenge this next 20 days is 100-Squat-a-Day Challenge. Not challenging enough for some people but hey this is a very good excuse to lift your butt off the couch and get moving. 

100 Squats a Day Challenge 

1. Take a ‘before’ photo so you can post an ‘after’ photo on Day 30. 

2. Start with 100 Squats a Day and do them every single day. 

( Beginner: Start with 10 Squats a Day, everyday. Up your squats by 10 each week. So on Day 7 for example, do 20 squats non-stop.

Intermediate: Start with 50 Squats a Day.)
3. Set your timers.
4. Try to complete this squat in the fastest time as possible. * Focus on holding perfect form for the entire 100 squats. Back straight, knees wide, hip crease beneath the knee, or it doesn't count. 

5. Do them as fast as you can at least once a week. 

6. When you're done, come back and tell me your times!

7. Aim to eventually get under 2 minutes with good form. (Post a video to get your form approved!)

Will you join me?

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The Scale Factor: 4 Reasons Your Body Weight Changes on the Scale Throughout the Day

Yesterday. 6th day on Slim-Possible-April Challenge. I know that the number on the scale doesn't define my health and self-worth. I've heard of that like zillion times. I have decided not to weighs myself until the end of this April, which is the end of this Slim-Possible-April self-challenge but I don't know why yesterday my heart was so itching that I want to step on the scale and peek what's my number so far. Ha ha~

The last time I weighed myself I was 74.3 kg, that was early April. I feel that I had been improve a bit. I have learnt to not dwell on binge eating whenever I slipped my diet, I stopped eating heavy meals at night, I am not exercising religiously but I'm doing pretty good than before. I banned bad foods in my house because I believe you'll tend to eat healthy foods if you're around healthy foods. Having done almost all the right things, I expect to see something positive --- on the scale. But this is one of the most regretful decision I've made so far. Ha ha sound so pathetic. I read the scale yesterday: 75.9 kg! I step off and on the scale to see if the number change. Because I thought it could be something wrong with the scale. May be broken? But when I weighed myself again it still read the same number. If I could explain my mood in graph, my mood changes at that time have dropped drastically to the lowest point. I felt extremely sad all of a sudden. C'mon, this is ridiculous, Honeybee. I just restarting my weight loss journey a few days ago and changes doesn't happen overnight, right?

I know I'm not alone. We've all been there. We don't want to be a slave to the scales, but sadly we are sometimes.

UNDERSTANDING THE SCALE FACTOR

Here are four things we all need to know about our changing weight:

1. Period

My period just ended yesterday when I weighed myself. Women will retain water during their cycle. Much to my relief, this probably could explain the weight gain.  Just being too dramatic. *rolling eyes*

While some women do not gain any weight, others can gain between 3-5 pounds of water weight during her menstrual cycle. Bowel problems and a natural drop in progesterone are the most common reasons. Also, magnesium levels in the body typically go down in the days before your menstrual period starts. As the magnesium level drops, insulin levels rise resulting in the need for more sugar. When these cravings hit, you may eat 200 or more calories than you would normally.

2. Water retention

If you suddenly consume more sodium than you are used to, you will likely retain water. Conversely, low consumption of salt can result in temporary weight loss. I remember my sister once shared me her first "slimming center" experience.  She was measured and weighed before treatments. Treatments includes slimming massage and hot blanket therapy. The blanket therapy session made her sweat profusely and after the treatment she lost 2 pounds. That weight loss is primarily water weight. Not fat. Water can alter your weight by as much as 10 pounds (or more). This is one of the main reasons diuretics are so popular— weight loss tea, salt water cleanse, fiber supplement, etc. They flush the water out of your system, resulting in weight loss but the loss is temporary.

3. Glycogen stores

Your liver stores carbohydrate in your body in the form of a substance called glycogen. For every gram of carbohydrate that your body stores via glycogen, it also stores three grams of water. When you cut back on carbs (or dramatically cut calories) the body burns of this glycogen. Conversely, this weight comes back as soon as you eat carbs (or increase calories dramatically.) So if you gain 5 lbs 2 days after a big carb up, this is probably the explanation.

4. Workout

"A person's scale mass is a combination of muscle, fat, bone, the brain and neural tract, connective tissue, blood, lymph, intestinal gas, urine, and the air that we carry in our lungs. Immediately after a workout routine, the percentage of mass in each of these categories can shift as much as 15 percent," says Jeffrey A. Dolgan, a clinical exercise physiologist at Canyon Ranch in Miami Beach, Fla. "Intense workouts cause variability on the scale due to factors like hydration status, inflammation from muscle damage repair (we call this delayed onset muscle soreness), even the amount of intestinal by-product or urine and blood volume."

I don't want to be a slave to the scales anymore, but I can keep this one, maybe?

To end this post, I want to include a quote from Steve Maraboli's Life, the Truth, and Being Free: "Get off the scale! It’s true, the scale can only give you a numerical reflection of your relationship with gravity. That’s it. It cannot measure beauty, talent, purpose, life force, possibility, strength, or love. Don’t give the scale more power than it has earned. Take note of the number, then get off the scale and live your life. You are beautiful!" Indeed. 

What method do you use to measure weight loss progress? Do you think the scale is still useful? 

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Weight Loss Challenge 2014: Slim-Possible-April

Sorry I have been silent all week. It was school holiday and we spent the entire week at my parents'. I can't find time for blogging over the holidays, same for dieting and exercising. Totally abandoned!

So this April I'm giving myself a fresh start, starting over with eating real food, kicking bad habits. If you read my older post, you'll know that this is not the first time I had mention about 'starting over'. You maybe fed up to read about my no-ending weight loss plan and story and my struggle to keep up with it but hey, who cares? I have failed many times but giving up is not an option.

I received a notification from fatsecret.com yesterday, and I was taken aback with my weight loss effort so far. The last time I updated my fatsecret account was a year ago today. I was 74 kg, lost and gain back 6 kg during the period. After a year I am back to square one. It's frustrating but like what they used to say, "don't be upset by the results you didn't get with the work you didn't do." I did a simple SWOT analysis to review my weight loss plan and come to a conclusion why I'm not getting anywhere yet: It's because I'm not pushing hard enough, I'm not exercising consistently, I eat more calories than I burn and following all the wrong diet.

To push myself, I set another weight loss self-challenge this month. I call this Weight Loss Challenge: Slim-Possible-April. As a matter of fact, I'm kind of afraid to blog about this here, because I scared if I'm not losing weight, if I'm not reaching my own goal in specific time, I would end up embarrassing myself. I worried that I would make a fool of myself. If you're wondering why there's no more 'report' of my weight loss plan for some time now, it's not because I'm quitting. I'm still working things out behind this blog, but am afraid to share to the world what I'm up to because I worried about not making any result. I don't want to boring my readers to tears with such a "long lame story". I did that and this. But result zero. So I choose to blog about my weight loss only after I reach my 1st goal. That was what I planned last year when I noticed the scale stuck at 74 kg. Nah! Maybe this is another reason why I never reach my goals. Fear and self doubt. This can be a weight loss barrier that holding anyone back from taking risks. 

I need to remind myself again, that the first objective I set up this blog is to document my journey, and by doing that I will hold myself accountable. [Dear myself] My weight loss journey is not suppose to fascinate other people or to please some one else. My weight loss journey could be boring, but this is my story and I'm so blessed to have my readers' back, someone who listen to my struggle, offer me encouraging words I needed and I can't be thankful enough for that kind of support.

Okay, here I'm shouting out loud my Slim-Possible-April Weight Loss Challenge as a way (I think) to getting past self doubt and trusting in my ability to achieve. 

The plan:
Diet plan
1. Daily Intermittent Fasting.
2. Stay under 1300 calories.
3. No junk food, no deep fried food, no fast food.
4. No soda.
5. Get 6-8 glasses of  water per day.
6. Drink a cup of green tea.
7. Eating as clean as possible

Workout plan
1. Exercise everyday except Sunday and Wednesday (Rest day)

Goals
1. Action! Work the plan.
2. Lose at least 5 kg by May 1, 2014.
 

I have no problem with not drinking soda but saying goodbye to junk food and fast food for the next 30 days? It could be a real challenge. It's hard to walk into a convenience store without junk food blasting you in the face. Staying within my calorie budget each day is also difficult because snacking is my old, bad habit that hard to brush off. It's all too easy to slip into mindless eating habits. But that's the reason it is called a 'challenge', isn't it? If this is easy you wouldn't call this a challenge, do you agree?

Sorry for rambling. I will keep you updated. Now your turn, share in the comments:

What is your biggest insecurity in 2014? How are you going to overcome it and move confidently past it?

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