Back On The Blog: Reflecting on Time Away and New Beginnings

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted here. Lemme make a quick check...well, my last post was somewhere in 2017. Seven freaking years ago! Apparently, my last post was about why I'm holding back on the plan for our third baby because I had never felt heavier than I was at that time. So, I decided to lose all the extra weight before jumping on a pregnancy bandwagon again, because I didn't want to be too heavy to be pregnant. From my previous experience, I knew that you will certainly gain extra weight when you get pregnant. To be heavy to start a pregnancy could cause a lot of complications. I didn't want to face all that unnecessary health problems. Being pregnant alone is tiring enough. And besides that, it's ugly to be fat. Sorry, I didn't mean to offend or trigger my reader by saying that. Fat does not equal ugly But, I always envy the ladies who could hide their baby bump in the first and two trimesters, and get everyone surprised with the pregnancy announcement seven months later. I don't know why, but I feel that being pregnant but not showing it is cool. Maybe because of all my adult and married life, people keep assuming that I was pregnant when I was actually not. I am just very fat.

Ironically, a few months after my last post, I got pregnant. Yes, it was not an accident. Our second child was already 6 at that time, so my husband and I were thinking, about how many more months we should get the plan postponed. My time was ticking. I was 36 at that time. My close friends suggested that it is better to just plan for a baby now, and diet all I want later. Because time is not gonna wait. So, that was what basically happened after my last post. We welcomed our third child in July 2018. 

Adorable! Look at that cute little hand.

I took time off from blogging after the baby. She's a big bright little kid now and already in school. I have free time for myself now after all the kids are off to school. But, I find that jumping back into the writing routine spontaneously is not easy. I have no idea what I should write, and where should I start. 

Maybe, let's talk about my last pregnancy. The thing that I worried so much during my last pregnancy was to gain even more weight than my already heavy body. So, I was being very careful with what I ate. I had GDM and was required to perform self-monitoring blood glucose (SMGB) four times a day. The common routine was to prick your finger with a lancet device to obtain a small blood sample. And then you applied a drop of blood onto the reagent strip. Then, insert the strip into a glucose meter for an automated reading. The normal reading for SMGB is 4 to 6 mmol/L. I usually got myself checked before I took breakfast at 7am, and then before lunch at 11am, the next was at 4pm, and the last was at 7pm before dinner time. I usually didn't have a heavy breakfast, and I avoided sweetened beverages in the morning because the window time between 7am and 11 am was too close and I had a feeling that it might affect my glucose reading. I would have a heavy meal after 11am and avoid tea time because I had to check myself again at 4pm. I remember at one time, I had a light dinner at 6pm. I was craving for lamb chops. I thought it would be okay since I didn't have any heavy meals that particular day. My glucose reading spiked to 7 points something when I did my regular monitoring at 7pm. Of course, the doctor queried me the next time I visited the clinic. That was the first time when my glucose reading got red alert. 🚩  I have been very careful since that because I didn't want to spoil my SMGB record.  

Firstborn and the youngest in 2018

The good thing was I didn't gain a lot of weight during my pregnancy. In my first trimester, I had only a 3kg weight gain compared to my other two earlier pregnancies, where I gained a lot of kilos in the first three months. I was thinking that it was not actually that tricky to maintain your original weight. The most common misconception people have about being pregnant is you eat for two. NO! It is an old-age myth. The baby's nutrients definitely depend on the mother but that doesn't mean pregnant ladies should double their food intake. I was happy that I didn't have a major weight gain this time around as a pregnant lady. The GDM was really a blessing in disguise. I was forced to watch my food intake and be more careful about choosing a portion of healthier food.

Fast forward to 6 years later. I am really in my comfort zone. I am a full-time housewife, and I don't have pressure or good motivation to lose weight. I always planned to lose all the baby weight once I gave birth to this new baby, but instead of losing, I am gaining 10 more extra kilos throughout the 6 years!  😭😭😭

2024 New chapter

So, here I am again! I want to use this blog to tell a story about me trying to lose weight after 40, and I hope that blogging will help me hold myself accountable to my weight loss goals. It has been on my New Year's resolution way toooooo long. It's time to stop wishing and start doing. 

Bounceback plan: I snapped this picture years ago from a magazine
at my local library

If you read up to this end, 

I'd like to say thank you for being kind and reading till finish. I appreciate it if you could drop one or two words in the comments because I like reading supportive comments. 

• What is your favourite quote? Why do you like it so much?
• What is your advice to kick start a new weight loss after living a sedentary lifestyle for years?

1500 calorie diet: Day 1 and Day 2

1500 calorie diet: Day 3 to 6

1500 calorie diet: Day 7 to Day 10

1500 calorie diet: Day 11 to Day 14

So that's it for the warm-up post. I hope to catch up with you again in my next post. 

Toodles.

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5 Things I'm Postponing in Life Until I Lose Weight

11 years and counting. I remember I posted this same post in celebration of our wedding anniversary 4 years ago. It has always been my intention to reward myself with wedding anniversary photo shoot once I met my weight loss goals. The wedding anniversary is my specified weight loss deadline, to boost my motivation to keep going. But look like I had the same old picture here. Dieting for 4 years and lost... 4 years! What a shame. Well, weight loss motivations is a tricky thing! I have a difficult time to stick to a diet plan more than a few weeks.

I don't actually need to wait until I met my weight loss goals to do this photo shoot thing. Like my friend said, why wait? With a bit editing skills, Photoshop here and there, play around with good angle, props and different combination of lights, you're good to go. But that's the whole point of the rewarding system. You'll gift yourself with something in return for an accomplished mission. A reward WHEN you reach your weight loss goals, in my case.

Anniversary: Celebrating our good 11 years!

Being fat is sucks. I realize that I'm holding myself from a lot of the things I wanted to do because of my weight.

5 Things I'm Holding Back From Doing Because of My Weight

1 - Expanding family
I don't want to get pregnant when I'm not at my ideal weight yet. Many friends of mine slightly disagree with me. Weight gain is normal during pregnancy. So losing weight to gain it back because of pregnancy is a total waste of effort, said them. Just focus on having babies and when you decide to stop, you can concentrate on losing weight, get in better shape, get the body you've always wanted, and start working on maintaining the weight loss for good.

But I have a different view in this. I am already obese. I believe my body can't afford to carry any extra weight now, if let's say I'm going to gain 20 kg extra during my pregnancy. No. that would take its toll on my body that is already in an unhealthy state. To get in a better shape for my next pregnancy is an absolute must. I want to have a healthy pregnancy. Moreover, I learn from my previous pregnancy that if you have a steady weight and stick to a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy, you'll be likely to get the baby weight off easily after baby. I'm not getting any younger. That is why losing weight and get in a healthy shape is very important to me now so that we can start thinking about a new addition to the family.

2 - New Hobbies
This year I want to try a new hobby. I am feeling somehow stuck in my life. Life has become monotonous. Maybe exploring new hobbies, learning a new skill and meeting new people can spice up life a little bit. I wanted to try scuba diving because I always wondered how it feels like to breath underwater. But what stopping me? I don't want to be the fat diver on earth. Really. The diving suits might make me look like a stupid whale. The. Lamest. Excuse. Ever. Haha~ But seriously, I can't help but feeling insecure about how I might look in that suit thing. Narcissistic Syndrome much?

I'd also love to try rock climbing, but I'm too fat! The instructor at the sports center where I'm going told me that the rope can support up to a certain weight, which means OK for my weight but I don't have confidence. I fear I might struggle a lot to start because of my weight and end up looking like a fool.

3 - Nice Pictures
I am always the person behind the camera because I'm never happy with how I look in pictures. I know taking pictures is all about creating memories. What a pity, I keep missing in family pictures. When I had to be in it, I'll make sure to stand at the back, sometimes using my children as props to hide my body. I'm however not 100% against being photographed and look too fat. Pictures could be the only evidence and memory I'd have when I reach my weight loss goals one day and say, I used to be fat. Talking about positive thinking.

4 - Shop New Clothes
I haven't gone for clothes shopping for nearly 10 years. Not exactly. I mean it feels like I haven't clothes shopping for a very long time. Last time was December last year because I literally didn't have anything 'fancy' to wear on Christmas. I've been wearing my husband's T-shirt all this time because that are the only clothes I am comfortable wearing. I have few tops in plus sizes and I've been mix and match the old clothes over and over again. Boring! You know, I don't really like putting up my selfies on Facebook because of reason no#3, and secondly, I'm like wearing the same clothes in almost every picture so I think I'm feeling a bit guilty to be seen in the very same clothes in various occasion.

I'd love to buy new clothes and update my wardrobe. But I had to push this into my weight loss bucketlist. Clothes shopping is tiring. I'm always struggling shopping for my size, especially pants. I never wear jeans since 7 years ago. Some more, wrong dress would make you look like you're pregnant. Fat fashions are not flattering, I don't know why but they make you look frumpy rather than stylish. So I simply stop buying clothes. But the perk of it I get to save money on clothes.

5 - Exercise
I have a love-hate relationship with exercise. I think I keep holding myself back because I am physically challenge during a workout. Exercise is hard because it doesn't simply happen. You really need to commit to it. You don't see the result right away so motivation to keep going is hard.

Let's chat a bit:

• Are you postponing your life you lose the weight? Name ONE THING that is may be holding you back from making progress in life.
• Is it because you fear of something? What is your biggest fear?
• Or is it your destructive habits that is holding you back?

Please leave your thought in the comments, I'd love to read your feedback.

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Hot or Cold Foods - Which Type of Foods are Weight Loss Friendly?

I am sparking on weight loss fire. No, I am actually burning, literally!

Don't judge a book by its cover: Green unripe chillies don't mean they are less hot.

Have you ever tried eating spicy food to lose weight? Remember that spicy foods, the one that are so spicy and makes your lips go numb. Kylie Jenner's lip effect, kind of feeling. Happening to me now. But worst! And I feel terrible.

I love spicy food. So. Much. Not because I'm told that spicy food can help you lose weight and speed metabolism. It's simply my favorite food. I thought that I have a high tolerant of spicy food than anyone else. Haha well, that's overrated. I remember last Monday I had this egg drop instant noodle soup for lunch. "Egg drop" meaning I dropped an egg into my noodle soup. Haha-

My food always taste less complete without something spicy, so I added bird's eye chillie. It's called bird's eye chillies because of its size, two to four centimetres in length. Chilli is a must-have ingredient for South-East Asian dishes like sambal and Thai salads. I love chillies, especially the unripe green chillies because it taste not so spicy - bitter spicy taste and crunchy. I had like 10 nos of green chillies chopped and scattered over my noodle soup. My soup didn't taste spicy at first, at least for my level. Soup is so comforting and I can bite the chillies. *crunchy-spicy-crunchy* Then here's the real situation.

The next day, my stomach started to feel like burning. You know the feeling when your lips tingle when you eat chillies? Or when your fingers throbbing after cutting and prepping chillies? It's that feeling but from the inside. The burning sensation sometimes rise up into my chest and throat, I thought I may have a heart attack omg! Worst thing, it has been 3 days in a row now. The burning sensation won't go away. I tried everything like drink hot chocolate (I don't have milk at home), I had charcoal pills. But nothing work. Uh-oh, maybe I should try drink alcohol. 

Rare purple chillies

Hot Diet or Cold Diet?

Chilli is obviously "hot" food. In our culture, foods are categorized into hot or cold category. The concept of hot and cold here is refering to its nature - not the temperature. Postnatal mothers are always advised to avoid "cold" foods, like coconut water, cucumber, cabbage, watermelon, tofu, eggplant, bean sprouts, kiwi, banana, mandarin, strawberry, pineapple, pear, lemon. We believed that cold diet after giving birth can complicate your recovery and prolonged discharge. Cold diet can also trigger trapped gas or trapped wind. I tell you, trapped wind could be extremely painful.

To avoid cold and flu, eat warm/hot food, like ginger, garlic, carrot, pumpkin, potato, papaya, grape, orange, apple, lychee, mango, cherry, rockmelon and grapefruit. Hot/warm food also helps to warm up the stomach, strengthen the body, prevent bloating after eating, sore joints, oedema and fluid retention.

Cold Food or Hot Food to Lose Weight?

Nothing in particular, to be honest. But in my personal opinion, it is best to avoid cold food as cold food like cabbage can cause flatulence, annoying excessive gas, and poor digestion. We know the fact: poor digestion is preventing you from losing weight.

I'm feeling a bit tipsy now. I drink a little. Hope my stomach gets better when I wake up tomorrow.

Let's chat a bit, drop your comments below: 
- What foods that control your appetite?
- What foods you think are healthy, but making you gain weight?

Good night for now.

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5 Powerful Resiliency Mental Tools to Kickstart Weight Loss

Today is 4th May 2017. Already?

123 days totally wasted! I feel like laughing when I read my old post at the same month from 4 years ago.🙈🙈🙈😅A lot has happened over the past few months - from our relocation to my son fell sick. I mentioned about our moving in and out in my previous post. 2 months after moving back into our old place, I am still not fully done with unpacking and organising the whole house. Yes, it's clutter! I'm a little messed up here. I cannot keep up with an exercise routine and I can't stay motivated to lose weight. *sigh

But I can't afford to waste another 123 days. Thank God I didn't have any serious health condition but I knew that my lifestyle is killing me. I can't climb a flight of stairs without panting for breath. Walking and standing feeling uncomfortable, my foot hurts! I am 4-foot-10 and 82kg.

Bouncing back from diet's disaster that stops you from losing weight can be a bit tricky. Maybe because circumstances beyond our control can bring with it debilitating stress and the idea of starting over can feel overwhelming at times.

I think if I get myself in the right place mentally—I can kick start weight loss. But how?

1. Let it Go

When you feel stuck, kickstart a proactive attitude by removing some things that no longer work for you like old clothes and old shoes. Optimize your nest by cleaning up your clutter. Check your house what to keep, toss, or donate. If your living space is cluttered, your mind is cluttered. O yes, The exact thing I want to do next. I believe when you get rid of things that 'drag you down', you'll feel free from the emotional burden. Life will be more creative. An organized environment can help you to make your healthiest choices. You’ll also likewise be making room for new better people and experiences to enter your life.

2. Weight Loss Perspective

Change your perspective about weight loss. Your ultimate goal to lose weight not just because you want to look good, but more important is that you want to lose weight to set a good and healthy example for your children. You need to lose weight for the sake of your health. We have learned that being obese can increase your risk of developing many potentially serious health conditions, like type 2 diabetes. Think about your future. What does it feel like to be able to wear a flattering body hugging dress, again after so many years? And do remember that the number on the scale does not define you or your weight loss success.
Read: Letter To Myself When I'm Feeling Guilty About Food

3. Set realistic deadlines 

When it comes to starting over, it’s helpful to set deadlines for yourself. Setting deadline can create a sense of urgency, thus will help you to motivate you to reach your weight loss goals. But give yourself ample time to accomplish them. For example, lose 5kg in 30 days sound more realistic than to lose 22kg in 22 days.
Read: Weight Loss Deadline -Yes or No?

4. Take consistent baby steps 

You will make more and easier progress if you focus on accomplishing small weight loss tasks rather than large ones now and then. For example, if your errands are less than 1 mile away, park where you can run several errands within a mile instead of moving your car each time. Walk every day and you'll be 13 to 17 pounds lighter next year.

5. Create a support team 

Working on weight loss can be lonely or bored. Team up with a close friend or family member and see who can lose the most weight in six weeks. Don’t be afraid to ask friends or family members for help, or attend support groups. And know when to seek help from professionals.

Blend with nature: I look like a beached whale soaking up the sun. Haha

Ok now, time to tidying up. Someone, gets me the broom!

Let's chat for a bit: 

• Have you ever go through a very difficult time or major change in life? Like natural disaster. Divorce. Marriage. Birth. A death of a loved one. Job loss. Career change. 
• How do you keep going when the going gets tough? 
• Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Top 5 Emotional Hurdles That Seem to Disturb Your Weight Loss Goal

Happy New Year 2017! Haha, totally too late to wish you readers, but may you have a joyful, bright, healthy, double prosperity and happiness throughout the year.

I have been on a long hiatus, life is really like a roller coaster! Last two years, Mr husband's workplace had a major restructuring that he chooses to left the company and started a job hunt. We ended up moving to three different cities in less than two years. Moving to a new place, new city, new home stress me out. Honestly, it took a real hard time for me to cope with packing, handling the children's new school, adjusting to new environment and stuff like that. When I just about to settle my feeling, get comfortable at the new place, Mr husband 'announce' that we need to get ready to pack our things and move and I was like, AGAIN??? How I wish we can stay a bit longer in one place, maybe at least for 3 years but you know sh*t happened sometimes and life must go on.

Speaking of my weight loss journey, I can't focus at all. This may sound like a lame excuse, but really...this moving in and out process makes it difficult to maintain healthy eating habit or in another word my eat right, eat clean goals. I am mentally exhausted. I have no idea how much I weigh now but I know I've gained a lot of weight. As long as I remember, I weighed 82kg last Christmas, 35kg heavier than my goal weight. Some more, when you get too occupied with life, or feel messed up, grabbing something fast like instant noodle really give you comfort. I do still prepare healthy foods for my family, but I don't enjoy my own meals. I always lose my appetite in a hot kitchen. Anybody can relate?

Life is like that. Sometimes up and sometimes you're down, sometimes you just go round and round. But that's what life is. Like an EKG machine, if there are no ups and downs in your life it means you are dead. But the very roller coaster of life can somehow affect your weight loss goal. Let's take a look at these 5 emotional hurdles that may keep you from losing weight.

1. Stress

Stress can cause loss of appetite and trouble sleeping. But stress can also cause weight gain, depending on the person. The body uses energy at a faster rate when stressed. During a stress day, your body releases heavy amounts of cortisol. Cortisol according to MedicineNet, is a critical hormone in our body, which stimulates fat and carbohydrate metabolism for fast energy, and stimulates insulin release and maintenance of blood sugar level. When you get a surge of cortisol, your body told to replenish the energy used, even though you haven't used very many calories. It may result in increased appetite...you'll be very hungry.

What you can do to address stress? Try to look for the positives in life. Appreciate what you have instead of focusing so much on what we don't have. Chill out and try these 4 simple ways to relieve stress at home.

2. Anger

How can get angry prevent weight loss? You could be angry at your boss or at your frustratingly dumb slow colleague, or it might be the traffic jam or cancelled events. At some point, we also feel parental anger towards our children's constant fighting. Anger is a normal human emotion. This emotion can be a good thing, designed to protect you and help you read and respond to upsetting social situation. But when anger turns destructive and out of control, it can make you look crazy. Anger and stress seem related. The anger itself may be a cause of stress on its own. When we get angry, the body pumps a large quantity of cortisol, commonly known as fight or flight hormone. Anger and stress obesity can't simply be treated by diet alone because there's a combination of several hormones resisting weight loss.

How do you control anger? The goal is not to not angry at all. The goal is to calm yourself down. Count to 10 isn't just for kids. Take deep breaths, and count to 10, or to 100...whatever it takes! Identify what made you mad and work on possible solutions. If your anger issues seem out of control, consider seeking help from a counsellor or psychotherapist.

3. Lonely

Loneliness is a bad mood feeling and any bad mood can lead to emotional eating. Why loneliness causes us to eat the most? Because we feel that eating soothe negative emotion. But that's not all. A study shows that loneliness messes up your hunger hormones. Loneliness and lack of connections enhance ghrelin, the hunger hormone which increases food intake. This could be the body's way of telling them to seek out company as humans have evolved to look at eating as a social activity.

If you're feeling lonely, keep yourself busy. Join a group with similar interest. Don't sit around and be isolated. Turn to friends and family to talk about your situation. If you really don't have someone to talk to, you can shoot me an email anytime. I'd like you to know that someone is listening. :)

4. Boredom

When asked about their wrong food choices and their emotions before they eat, "I'm bored" is one of the top excuses people made. There's two type of boredom. First, lazy boredom, when you lose the sharpness of mind and it makes you restless or lazy and you just want to sleep. Secondly, active boredom is when you wants to be connected with something or engaged elsewhere but you feel bored because the environment you're in is kind of unmotivating. Scientist concludes that people eat when bored simply to break the monotony, not because they are hungry.

How not to be so boring? Set goals and continuously keep refreshing your motivation. More often than not, boredom is the result of lacking the right inspiration.

5. Happy

The first 4 emotional hurdle above are negative kind of emotions. You can't lose weight because negative emotional can triggers poor eating habits. But wait, even happy moments can influence weight gain? Yes, falling in love makes you gain weight. Most brides-to-be lost weight prior to getting married so that they look stunning in their wedding gown but they often tend to put on weight post marriage. Love weight doesn't just happen in a new relationship; married women are likely to fall prey to such a phenomenon. When two people are in a happy relationship, their lifestyle patterns, eating and exercise habits change, and not always for the better. After years in a relationship, many couples do settle into a comfort zone and that impressing their partner isn't always the first priority anymore.

How to prevent relationship weight gain? Don't get comfortable. Rather than snuggling on the couch which basically lead to mindless snacking, fill the rest of the time with hobbies instead. Communicate with your partner about your weight loss goals, your healthy goals. It's so much easier to achieve goals when you feel supported.

Your turn now:

• Have you ever caught in a cycle of emotional eating?
• What do you think about emotional eating? Is it because of lack of self-control? Or is it because of your hectic lifestyle that causes you to go through your days on "autopilot"?

Tell me what you think, leave your comment below.

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You Need to Lose Weight! 5 Classy Ways to Handle Fat Shaming

Last week's story.

My daughter returned home from school and looked a bit upset when I asked her about her art class. They had an art exam that day. Days before, they were given list of things they can choose to draw on the exam day. She choose a pineapple. But her friends, according to her, commented that her drawing is ugly and that's what made her sad. She cried. Trying to comfort her, I told her that everyone has their own opinion. It's okay. Two people can look at her drawing and see something totally different. We respect our friends' point of view. However their opinion is not necessarily true. Upon hearing that, she falls into peace again.

When I say that to my daughter, I have a feeling that it's like I'm telling this to my own self. People sometimes can be so mean or maybe too honest about your appearance. 'You've gained a lot lot lot of weight since I last saw you,'  'you shouldn't eat that burger', 'you need to lose weight', 'you look like a rugby player with fat legs'. Fat shaming doesn't motivate people to lose weight. From my own experience, criticizing someone's weight actually only makes them feel terrible about themselves and causes them to eat more and gain more weight. My dad and mom maybe thinks that they are just being real honest that every time I came home they will repeat the same fat-shaming advice in front of my husband. My dad even used to joke and laugh a lot about my weight. We can't shut people's mouth. People can say whatever they want about you but their approval doesn't matter. Not everyone will understand your weight loss journey or your struggle with gluttony. I never tried to correct people in my family because I don't think they will understand. Author of EatQ, psychologist Susan Albers, PsyD, said that to prevent judgy comments from weighing you down is by telling them about how their words make you feel since they may not be aware. But it takes a lot of courage to tell someone else how you feel without feeling silly or risk embarrassment.

What is the other best way to react fat shaming from your family, or colleague in the workplace?

1. Look on the bright side
The people who care about you may say harsh comments with no intention to hurt you. They feel like as a family and friends it's their job to tell you the truth about your weight and health. They might say some super-insensitive comments, but try to remind yourself that this could be an attempt to show how much they care for you.

2. Silence is the best answer
Try your best not to respond. "Behaviours we reinforce continue, and those we ignore should stop," says Albers. Divert the conversation in another direction. Don't add anything to a conversation to belittling yourself.

3. Take care of yourself
When someone knocks you down, don't buy into it. Criticism at the wrong time can kill momentum for successful weight loss. Use this chance instead to build your confidence. Remind yourself each day to not just talk about your weight loss goals and aspirations but go out and do something about it. No matter how many times people try to criticize you, the best revenge is to prove them wrong.

4. Mentally prepare for the situation
You are going to attend a family event where you might bump into Critical Cathy so plan a few emotional strategies in advance. Breath deeply and evenly to help you feel much more relax. Visualize a relaxing experience to control immediate emotional responses. Close your eyes and imagine your safe place. Create as many details as possible. What sounds do you hear? What do you see? What does it smell like? What textures do you touch? 

Learning to communicate assertively can also be very helpful in controlling your emotions. For example:
"Why are we focusing on what's bad about how we look? Let's focus on what we love about ourselves."
"The way you are talking about yourself (or someone else) is making me feel really bad about myself. 
"I'm/you're beautiful and lovable the way I am/you are."

5. Reaching out to your support system
I hit up my most empathetic friends when I have to deal with this kind of situation. I can say that they are my great kind of therapy. Sometimes, it is necessary to vent to a friend about rude comments to keep your sanity.

Talk It Over

• What strategy do you use to keep your cool when someone fat-shaming you? Share in the comments. 

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10 Day Weight Loss Mental Challenge

Are you familiar with this quote 'Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve'?

It’s Napoleon Hill's most famous inspirational quotes on the power of positive thinking. It means when you truly believe on something, your mind find ways to accomplish it. Same goes to negative thinking. The moment you have a negative thought, it’s already hindering you from achieving something that you want, less energy instead of more energy, less peace of mind instead of more peace of mind, less success instead of more success.

I remember reading a story about a traveller who went to visit a beautiful waterfall. Scenic view was mesmerizing and the water was crystal clear, the surrounding area smells so earthy fresh. He took a sip from the waterfall, the water couldn't get any purer. Just as he had finished, he saw a signboard nearby that read "poison". He suddenly felt sick, his vision suddenly became blurry, he had trouble breathing, his heart race like crazy. He shouted for help and his tour guide sent him immediately to the hospital. The doctor asked, what happened? He told his story, but the doctor burst out laughing instead. The doctor in his teary laugh explained that the signboard that he just saw was actually written "poisson", double "S"- a French word that means fish. The man thought he was going to die because of the 'poisonous' water, and he became what he think. He started to feel the symptom of poisoning. Moral of the story is our mental attitude can either improve our health and increase our chances of success, or vice versa.

These final 10 days of September, I'm going to do a different weight loss challenge from the challenge I did before. It is called the 10 Day Weight Loss Mental Challenge inspired by Anthony Tony Robbins, the author of Awaken The Giant Within.

THE TEN-DAY WEIGHT LOSS MENTAL CHALLENGE
RULES OF THE GAME

Rule 1. In the next ten consecutive days, refuse to dwell on any unresourceful thoughts or feelings. Refuse to indulge in any disempowering questions or devitalizing vocabulary or metaphors.

Rule 2. When you catch yourself beginning to focus on the negative - and you certainly will - you are immediately use the problem solving question as your first line of attack, for example:

1. What is great about this problem?
2. What is not perfect yet?
3. What am I willing to do to make it the way I want it?
4. What am I willing to no longer do in order to make it the way I want it?
5. How can I enjoy the process while I do what is necessary to make it the way I want it?

Remember by asking question like, "what's not perfect yet?" you're presupposing that things will be perfect. This question can direct your focus toward a better emotional state, help you break a pattern of negative thinking, and actually come up with a solution to your problems. It doesn't ignore the problem, but it keeps you in the right state while you identify what needs to be changed.

In addition, set yourself up for success each morning for the next ten days by asking yourself the Morning Power Questions before you get out of the bed or while you're in the shower and use the Evening Power Questions, or any questions you believe will put you in a great state before you drop off to sleep.

Morning Power Questions

1. What am I happy about in my life now?
2. What am I excited about in my life now?
3. What am I proud about in my life now?
4. What am I grateful about in my life now?
5. What am I enjoying most in my life now?
6. What am I committed to in my life now?
7. Who do I love? Who loves me?

(substitute “could” for “am” if you get stuck.)

Evening Power Questions

1. What have I given today?
2. What did I learn today?
3. How has today added to the quality of my life or how can I use today as an investment in my future?

Rule 3. For the next ten consecutive days, make certain that your whole focus in life is on solutions and not on problems. The minute you see a possible challenge, immediately focus on what the solution could be.

Rule 4. If you backslide - that is, if you catch yourself indulging in or dwelling on an resourceful thought or feeling-don't beat yourself up. There's no problem with this as long as you change immediately. However, if you continue to dwell on unresouceful thoughts or feelings for any measureable length of time, you must wait until the following morning and start the ten days over. The goal of this program is ten consecutive days without holding or dwelling on a negative thought. The goal is to knock things out before you ever get in a negative emotional state in the first place. This starting-over process must happen no matter how many days in a row you've already accomplished the task.

Admit it, we all have our mental indulgences. We are habitually feel sorry for ourselves for many reasons. We bad mouthing ourselves when we are not able to workout, we sometimes feel like we're a bottomless pit because we want to lose weight so bad but can't stop eating unhealthy foods. Or it is our looks that makes us feel insecure. This weight loss mental challenge is really an opportunity for you and I to become "addicted" to a positive focus for the rest of our lives.

Today is my Day 1 of weight loss mental challenge. What about you, have you decided yet whether you're going to do this? Let me know in the comment.

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Going to the Gym Won't Actually Help You Lose Weight – But Why I Still Go to the Gym Every Week?

August is ending soon! It's been a while since I last posted. I wrote my first blog post after haven't posted for the last 3 months last night but the internet line was so slow that I had to save as draft. When I checked the post today before I get it published, the post was not there. Blogger not saving my blog post draft, I am so irritated right now! Huh.

The hubs got a new job recently and we just got busy moving to a new town that I have no time to write a blog post. And while I'm busy adapting to a new environment, my diet falling off the diet wagon. Well, things happened. But tell ya I'm sooooo ready to get back on track because life goes on no matter how hard it gets, no matter how you feel. My motto for now is stop hanging on and just move on. Life won't wait for you while you're wasting time waiting for the right time to bounce back from weight loss failure, right?

I signed up for a gym membership earlier this month. Look, I'm not fond of gym. I prefer to workout at home where I can own my own space, I can wear whatever I want, or even listen to my favorite music as loud as I wish. But then why I still choose to pay tons of money to join a gym when I can workout at home instead?

1. Atmosphere 
You are in the fitness atmosphere, and this motivates you to workout. Being surrounded by other people who are in the same boat can boost your motivation to make exercise part of your regular routine. My goal this month is to push myself to go to the gym at least three times a week and find my rhythm. And when I already got my momentum I may going on a more regular basis, which will help make my weight loss goals more attainable.

2. Distraction 
I am prone to procrastinate when at home. Taking 5 minutes nap after sending off the children to school often becomes 30, 1 more episode of Kdrama usually end up marathoning all the episodes. And who hasn’t told themselves, I’ll get in my workout, right after checking my Facebook or after I reply this WhatsApp message. At this point, I might tell myself I’ll work out later, or tomorrow—and the vicious cycle of procrastination wins. Gym is a good distraction. You’re away from the dirty dishes in the sink, the piled up laundry which can easily distract your focus.

3. Equipment
You're not going to want to spend $10,000 or more on expensive gym equipment. Treadmill, elliptical machine, set of dumbbells, hip abductor machine, abs coaster - the gyms is going to have it all for you. With that wide selection of workout equipment, it'll greatly expands the list of exercise options you have when developing a workout routine for yourself.

4. Price
It is much cheaper to get a gym membership for a year than it is to buy enough equipment to have your own home gym.

Well, we often hear people said "you lose weight in the kitchen" to which I agree. When it comes to shedding extra kilos, eating less is much more important. Exercise has many benefits, but we can't rely fully on it to control weight. Sticking with a healthy eating plan is a real challenge for me this month. I am still trying to fix my bad eating habits but on the bright side I'm slowly begin my exercise routine, slowly building up momentum and the willpower to exercise. Non scale victory, YAY!

Now let me hear from you: What feels right for you, workout at home or join the gym? Share in the comment.

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How to Make Pleasurable Changes for a Joyful Weight Loss

This alligator jokes is quiet old and I'm sure you've heard this somewhere. For today's post I want to retell you this story, it will be entertaining to those who do not know the story, refreshing to those who do.

Alligator Jokes
A rich millionaire decides to throw a massive party for his 50th birthday, so during this party he grabs the microphone and he announces to his guests that down in the garden of his mansion he has a swimming pool with two alligators in it.  
'I will give anything they desire of mine, to the man who swims across that pool.' 

So the party continues with no events in the pool, until suddenly, there is a great splash and all the guests of the party run to the pool to see what has happened. In the pool is a man and he is swimming as hard as he can, and the tails come out of the water and the jaws are snapping and this guy just keeps on going and the alligators are gaining on him and this guy reaches the end and he gets out of the pool, tired and soaked.

The millionaire grabs the microphone and says, 'I am a man of my word, anything of mine I will give, my Ferraris, my house, absolutely anything, for you are the bravest man I have ever seen. So sir what will it be?' the millionaire asks.

The guy grabs the microphone and says, 'Why don't we start with the name of the bastard that pushed me in!' 

The reward offered by the rich man is fancy enough. He promise to gives just ANYTHING to his guest, 1 million cash, Lamborghini, or a luxury trip to Maldives, you name it but under one condition. Swim across a swimming pool with two alligators in it. Obviously the man who accept the challenge is not really after the prize at all even though it sounds attractive much. He made it because someone push him in it and he was scared to death that he swim as fast as he could to reach the end. I bet he'll win the Olympic gold! The pool surrounding area is the guest's comfort zone. The lucrative reward the rich man offered are their goals. But before claiming the prize, they need to face off the challenge, the swimming pool and it is not just a normal pool. There are two alligators in it!

Similarly, we have our own goals. If you and I want to lose weight, we know we need to change in order to achieve our goals. Instead of sitting on the potato couch all day watching our favorite telenovela, we need to get moving. And not just that, we must watch what we put in our mouth. You eat crap, and you'll feel like crap and never lose weight.  But change is terrifying. Like the story above, the guest are not brave enough even to dip their foot into the water. They may think, what if the alligator catch me?

What if I lose all the weight, but I'll gain it all back anyway? What if I lose all the weight, but I will get loose skin? What if I lose weight, but that makes my face look older?  This mixed emotions sometimes cause us to be uncertain as to what to do and keep holding us back from achieving our goals. Anthony Robins in his book 'Awaken the Giant Within' wrote that the only way we're going to make a change NOW is if we create a SENSE OF URGENCY that's so INTENSE that we're compelled to follow through. To turn around our mixed emotions, Anthony Robins talk about reaching a pain threshold. That means you experience pain at such an intense level that you know YOU MUST CHANGE NOW. Maybe you're not able to squeeze into your skinny jeans anymore, that kind of experience will finally push you over the edge. But Anthony said, if you've tried many times to make a change and you've failed to do so, this simply means that the level of pain for failing to change is not intense enough.

Why would someone not change when they feel and know that they should? Because changing will move them out of their comfort zone. Because making a change is painful than to not changing. Anthony list down two ways to reverse this so that the idea of changing is pleasurable instead of painful.

1 - Ask yourself pain-inducing questions
"What will this cost me if I don't lose weight?" "What will I miss out in life if I stay obese?" Make the pain of not changing feel so real and intense that you can't delay your action any longer. Focus on how it will affects your children, and the people you care about.

2 - Use pleasure-associating question
"If I lose weight and reach my ideal weight, how will that make me feel about myself?" "What other things in life I could accomplish if start losing weight for good?" Get lots of strong reasons why must take action immediately.

Now your turn: You can intentionally train your brain and create positive emotions to start making a change and lose the weight for good. Apart from the hack above, what other ways to trick your brain into doing what you want? Leave your comments below.

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Quitting Caffeine or Coffee: 4 Best Ways to Cope with Coffee Withdrawal Symptom

So it's not happening. Tried to keep everyone update on my April Slim Down Challenge, mmmh... actually posting about it is more about to keep myself accountable with the weight loss challenge, but my bad I just can't keep consistent with blogging schedule. I'm still trying though to become more productive next time.

I only lose 2 kg as a result of April Slim Down Challenge. 2 kg lost is not something to be proud about, because you know...2 kg? You'll no doubt gain it back as soon as you resume to your normal eating habit. Even so, I can't say that I have failed it altogether. During this weight loss challenge I've learnt to change my relationship with food. I no longer want to turn to food for emotional fulfillment, but eating because I'm physically hungry. Only one thing that seem to disturb me was the withdrawal symptom I experienced when I tried to quit 3-in-1 coffee. Coffee withdrawal symptom is no joke. The first few days I had dizziness and headache. I felt sluggish and tired, and lack of motivation...and oh maybe that would explain about this blog slow updates.  :P

4 best ways to coping with coffee withdrawal symptom

1. Staying well hydrated
Drink plenty of water during the withdrawal process will help replenish and rehydrate your body, and ward off feelings of dizziness,

2. Get plenty of rest
When you quit caffeine, it's common to feel tired but not a normal tiredness. You may sit up straight but still can't keep your eyes open. Get extra sleep to combat fatigue and grogginess.

3. . Eat healthy
Eat plenty of fresh veges and fruits to provide your body with the nutrition it needs. Healthy diet deliver natural energy and promote a more positive frame of mind.

4. Get moving
Honestly I won’t feel like exercising, but I've found exercise help minimize caffeine withdrawal symptoms and actually make me feel better.

I heard some people take pain relievers like aspirin and ibuprofen to help ease headache associated with withdrawal but I prefer to go natural.

Have you ever try to quit coffee or caffeine? How do you endure the whole symptoms of caffeine withdrawal? Share them in the comments below.

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Day 13: 3 Simple Ways to Eliminate Processed Foods for Weight Loss

Day 13 Slim Down Challenge. 13 days has passed so quickly!  I'm so happy today that I finally push myself out from my comfort zone. I start working out again after a long break. Actually the first real workout I did this year. Remember I mentioned last time that we moved to a new place because of my husband's job. We have been living here for 5 months but I just discovered a walking park yesterday. I'm actually looking for some fun outdoor activities for the kids and this is how we found out about this park. Who knows, exercising together as a family is a great bonding experience.

Today's slim down challenge is about nixing the processed food. Processed foods are basically food that has been altered from its natural state like canned and frozen fruits and vegetables. Breakfast cereals and instant noodles are another prime example of processed foods fall under junk food category. To be honest, these two tops my meal option list. We all know it. Processed foods are usually high in sugar and contain all sort of artificial ingredient. Excess consume of sugar is seriously harmful to our health and can block our weight loss goals. But when you have nothing in the fridge, it's very easy to reach one.

30 Day Slim Down Challenge

30 DAY SLIM DOWN CHALLENGE

Day 1 - Put the blame
Day 2 - Set S.M.A.R.T. goals
Day 3 - Ditched added sugar
Day 4 - Avoid refined carbs
Day 5 - Put down the drink
Day 6 - Plan 1 splurge
Day 7 - Allow spontaneous indulgence
Day 8 - Keep grains in check
Day 9 - Eat only when hungry
Day 10 - Go for a walk
Day 11 - Never skip breakfast
Day 12 - Say NO to junkfood
Day 13 - Nix processed foods
Day 14 - Shop for whole foods
Day 15 - Meal prep
Day 16 - Reorganize your fridge
Day 17 - Keep a food journal Day
18 - Ramp up protein intake
Day 19 - Veggies / fruit on every plate
Day 20 - Know your healthy fats
Day 21 - Keep portions in check
Day 22 - Track total calories
Day 23 - Eat at the table
Day 24 - Eliminate distraction
Day 25 - Slow down
Day 26 - Downsize dinnerware
Day 27 - Bust out the scale
Day 28 - Reduce sodium
Day 29 - Sleep 7+ hours
Day 30 - Cut 100 calories 

What exactly you can do to eliminate processed foods for weight loss? 

Ok, I pick these three tips I found on wikihow, am excited to see what happen in the next 2 weeks if I cut out processed foods from my diet.

1 - Write up a meal plan
I think this is a very important part. Proper meal planning will help us ensure the meals meet our nutritional need. We might be tempted to grab fast foods if we don't plan our on-the-go meals ahead of time.

2 - Clean up our kitchen
Go through our kitchen and throw out any processed foods we can find,  Read the ingredient label on the packaged foods to get information about what's in the food, any additives, preservatives or flavorings.

3 - Purchase and eat whole fruits and vegetables
Restock our kitchen with healthy foods. Focus on fresh fruits and vegetables like apples, bananas, or tomatoes. Fruits and vegetables are nutritious foods that contain essential vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants. Avoid highly processed fruits and vegetables like canned fruit in syrup.

Your turn: What's the one processed food you can't live without?

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Day 4: Failing at Weight Loss, Do You Start Over or Just Move On?

Day 4 Slim Down Challenge today. I didn't post Day 3 yesterday, well it was Sunday and I usually don't blog on Sunday. #familytime

I am feeling less motivated today.

My progress was maybe only 3 out of 10? Husband is working outstation for a week from today. I just feel like lazing around since today is also school off day, celebrating 'qingming'. No need to send and pick up children from school. No need to welcome husband home from work and a little mess is also okay. So it's definitely my lazy day today. I didn't workout and diet is off-track a bit.

Actually the hubs going outstation is the best time for me to focus on my diet because I don't have to cook fancy fussy meals. I never forced to cook for my husband, well maybe I'm lucky my husband is not picky when comes to food but ya know I still feel guilty when I don't prepared him proper dinner. You probably know the saying, 'the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.' So I mean when he's out of town for business, it's like cooking 'off-duty' for me. I just basically made a simple and easy meals for the children. There's no way to impress the kids with complicated meals, you know children taste is sometimes different than adult. Good food, feeling full and it's fine already. I'm afraid that if they cannot finish their food it will be always me who became their trashcan - to avoid waste! (Read, diet ruin) So that's it. Simple and zero-waste food for the kids. When I don't have to cook fancy meals that also means food temptation is in control.

30 Day Slim Down Challenge

30 DAY SLIM DOWN CHALLENGE

Day 1 - Put the blame
Day 2 - Set S.M.A.R.T. goals
Day 3 - Ditched added sugar
Day 4 - Avoid refined carbs
Day 5 - Put down the drink
Day 6 - Plan 1 splurge
Day 7 - Allow spontaneous indulgence
Day 8 - Keep grains in check
Day 9 - Eat only when hungry
Day 10 - Go for a walk
Day 11 - Never skip breakfast
Day 12 - Say NO to junkfood
Day 13 - Nix processed foods
Day 14 - Shop for whole foods
Day 15 - Meal prep
Day 16 - Reorganize your fridge
Day 17 - Keep a food journal Day
18 - Ramp up protein intake
Day 19 - Veggies / fruit on every plate
Day 20 - Know your healthy fats
Day 21 - Keep portions in check
Day 22 - Track total calories
Day 23 - Eat at the table
Day 24 - Eliminate distraction
Day 25 - Slow down
Day 26 - Downsize dinnerware
Day 27 - Bust out the scale
Day 28 - Reduce sodium
Day 29 - Sleep 7+ hours
Day 30 - Cut 100 calories 

Back to the topic. Today suppose to be good but it happen to be a less than productive day for me. Question is, when you fail your weight loss plan are you starting over from Day 1 the next day or you just move on with the plan?

Perfectionist Dieter
I used to go back to Day 1 whenever I fall off my diet. For example, I plan to do a sugar detox for 10 days but fail halfway. Say, on the 5th day. So I call it cancel and go back to Day 1. I want to follow the rules exactly. I think it's normal for anyone because we believe we'll be successful in melting off unwanted pounds if we do so. Perfectionist dieter detected! It actually feel exhausted to start over everytime you failed. 'I start over tomorrow,' or 'I start over next Monday.' This makes me feel like today or this week is my "last meal", I can eat whatever I want because it's the last time I'm going to eat those food. Tomorrow I'll be strict again. Or next Monday, I'll be strict again. Then when I slightly derailed, I am likely to want to give up for the day and "start again tomorrow" or "start over on Monday" and I end up repeating the same situation over and over.

Perfectionism ruining my weight loss effort. I am done! Sometimes our diet plan or weight loss plan is not as perfect as we want it but it's totally okay. The key is progress not perfection. Now whenever I messed up my diet, I'll try as best as I can to begin eating right at the next meal, not waiting until a certain day to begin. The next meal is a time to refresh, to begin eating wholesome foods again. I promise when I made weight loss mistakes, I'll reflect on how this happened, why this happened, and what I can do in the future to prevent it.

Your turn: Are you a perfectionist dieter? What do you do when you mess up your diet? Are you starting over at a certain day, or are you simply dust yourself off and move on? Discuss in the comments.

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Day 2 Slim Down Challenge: Five SMART Goals for Weight Loss

Day 2 Slim Down Challenge today. To be honest, I am a bit worried if I can't finish this. But just what people always said, there's no try, JUST DO IT.

I am doing a NO CARB, NO SUGAR DIET for 30 days. Okay first for anyone who concerned, cutting out carbs from your diet is completely safe, according to Dr. Mike Roussell, a nutritional consultant and the author of Dr. Mike's 7 Step Weight Loss Plan and the 6 Pillars of Nutrition. Your body function very well without carbs by either making the sugars it needs or finding alternate energy sources. For example, when you drastically reduce or eliminate carbs from your diet, your body is able to make sugar to store as glycogen. If you wanted to completely cut out carbs, power your body with fats, improve your health, and exercise at a high level.

Second thing I'd like to share here, I have not failed. Yes, I had crackers and instant coffee for breakfast this morning which I suppose not to take during this Slim Down Challenge but but well, just a minor slip up – next thing is refocus and move on.

I always believe setting goals for weight loss is important because it gives you direction, boost your motivation and self-confidence. This is embarrassing I had to share my weight loss goals this month from 2 years ago. I mean like this weight loss thing I'm talking about is taking me forever, like two years and I still here? Yup, I know. Action, action, action.

30 DAY #HEWLD SLIM DOWN CHALLENGE

✓Day 1 - Put the blame
Day 2 - Set S.M.A.R.T. goals
Day 3 - Ditched added sugar
Day 4 - Avoid refined carbs
Day 5 - Put down the drink
Day 6 - Plan 1 splurge
 Day 7 - Allow spontaneous indulgence
Day 8 - Keep grains in check
Day 9 - Eat only when hungry
Day 10 - Go for a walk
Day 11 - Never skip breakfast
Day 12 - Say NO to junkfood
Day 13 - Nix processed foods
Day 14 - Shop for whole foods
Day 15 - Meal prep
Day 16 - Reorganize your fridge
Day 17 - Keep a food journal
Day 18 - Ramp up protein intake
Day 19 - Veggies / fruit on every plate
Day 20 - Know your healthy fats
Day 21 - Keep portions in check
Day 22 - Track total calories
Day 23 - Eat at the table
Day 24 - Eliminate distraction
Day 25 - Slow down
Day 26 - Downsize dinnerware
Day 27 - Bust out the scale
Day 28 - Reduce sodium
Day 29 - Sleep 7+ hours
Day 30 - Cut 100 calories 

What is actually a good weight loss goal strategy?
SMART goals, as I understand is a useful way to help reevaluate our weight loss action plan. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.

Specific - declare what you will do, how long you will do it, and when you will do it.
Fitness: Wake up early morning and spend roughly 30 minutes exercising every morning. Exercise will wake you up. If you quickly cleared off exercise from your to-do-list, you can keep the productivity going for the rest of the day.

Diet: No carbs, no sugar. Focus on eating good quality, minimally processed real food.

Measurable - measure a goal.
Fitness: Exercising for at least 30 minutes each day.
Diet: Anything except carbs and sugar, no more than 1,200 calories in a day.

Attainable - goal that you have enough time and resources to achieve.
Fitness: Exercise every morning is attainable. If I can't make it upon wake up I still can exercise after sending the children to school. Lots of free time before the children come back from school just need to learn better time management.

Diet: No carbs, no sugar is actually something I can actually accomplish. Stop eating junk food, just focus on real food. Stop buying junk food, remove it from my house and give away any junk food to friends.

Realistic: Relevant goal, something that is reasonable.
Instead of weighing myself, I look for other ways to measure my progress. What about this, an old shirt? This top I'm wearing should look a bit looser in the middle area by the end of Slim Down Challenge. This is realistic expectation, do not want to expect too much of myself.

Trackable - Goals are best achieved if you keep a record of your progress.
I'm going to create a daily checklist of all the habits that are scientifically proven to result in fat loss, and then use that as your measurement device.

Slim Down Challenge Healthy Living Checklist

Do you have a plan? Are you setting SMART goals? Share in the comments.

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Day 1 Slim Down Challenge: 30 Relatively Small Diet and Lifestyle Changes for Big Weight Loss Benefit

If I tell people I'm 6 month pregnant, anyone would surely buy it. No, I'm not pregnant. This is just fat.

I got asked by friends countless time about my "pregnancy", they refused to believe when I denied. Getting asked this too frequent, even I sometimes would get confused myself, 'could I be pregnant without me realizing about it?' That's enough to give you a slight idea how terribly out of shape I am. Haha~ Well it's not like I never tried to lose weight. If you read my older post, you'll understand my struggle with weight loss. I usually made it well the first 3 days but the motivation to lose weight just faded after few days and I'll finally abandoned it. My bad!

The Diet

Today is 1st April, a brand new day and I decided to restart my weight loss journey today. I have been putting off way too long now. 3 months passed by already and seriously I could have accomplished something but sadly I didn't.

The 30 Day Weight Loss Plan
I plan to do a no carb, no sugar diet for 30 days. And to give myself an extra push, I'm following this #SHAPESlimDown mini daily challenge and I promise to keep up with it for 30 days.

30 Day Slim Down Challenge

Day 1 - Put the blame
Day 2 - Set S.M.A.R.T. goals
Day 3 - Ditched added sugar
Day 4 - Avoid refined carbs
Day 5 - Put down the drink
Day 6 - Plan 1 splurge
Day 7 - Allow spontaneous indulgence
Day 8 - Keep grains in check
Day 9 - Eat only when hungry
Day 10 - Go for a walk
Day 11 - Never skip breakfast
Day 12 - Say NO to junkfood
Day 13 - Nix processed foods
Day 14 - Shop for whole foods
Day 15 - Meal prep
Day 16 - Reorganize your fridge
Day 17 - Keep a food journal
Day 18 - Ramp up protein intake
Day 19 - Veggies / fruit on every plate
Day 20 - Know your healthy fats
Day 21 - Keep portions in check
Day 22 - Track total calories
Day 23 - Eat at the table
Day 24 - Eliminate distraction
Day 25 - Slow down
Day 26 - Downsize dinnerware
Day 27 - Bust out the scale
Day 28 - Reduce sodium
Day 29 - Sleep 7+ hours
Day 30 - Cut 100 calories

Tell ya, this is not easy. Never. I've being in a very comfortable zone for quiet some time. Making a change of routine is going to be a challenge but I'll keep posting about my progress to keep me accountable with the weight loss plan. How's that?

I got this. 

Now I'd like to hear from you. Do you know any other small changes I can follow to lose weight? Share your ideas in the comments.

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