In my bid to eat healthier food, my wife and I bought our first blender. Using this new tool, fruit shakes and soups should become a staple of our meals. Blending fruits and vegetables ensures that the food we eat is not loaded with preservatives and other chemicals.
I’m already thinking of several shake recipes. Hopefully they come out tasting good. I’ll keep you posted.
Last week I was rushed to the medical clinic for chest pains, stomach pains and nausea. After a handful of blood tests and ultra sound, I was diagnosed with a fatty liver but my stomach problems were still under observation. If it doesn’t get better in two weeks the doctor would do an endoscopy.
With that experience, I am jolted back to the hard reality that I should lose weight and start living a healthier lifestyle.
Today, Feb 14, I’m going to show some love for myself and start eating healthy.
I started the day with a bowl of rolled oat cereals, scrambled eggs with tomatoes and hotdog. I washed it down with a mug of decaf coffee.
For lunch I tossed a salad of lettuce, tomatoes, white onions, cheese bits, black pepper, and vinegar. For dessert I ate a banana and a cup of fruit yogurt.
I guess that’s a healthy restart. How about you, how are staying healthy?
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Ok, time for a full confession: I binged during the holiday season of 2010. Yes I gave in to the lure of food. I dove in, ate my fair share, and stored the consumed energy in my body.
I’ll let the photos tell the story.
This is me on the 1st of November, 2010.
Photo taken on 1 November 2010
This is me on the 3rd of January, 2011.
Photo taken on 3 January 2010
I obviously gained weight. I think. You be the judge.
I guess by now you have an idea of my top goal for 2011. Yes, it is to lose weight, AGAIN. This year, I’m taking it to a more realistic level: lose 60lbs in 9 months or 20lbs every 3 months. The end goal is to have a well-trimmed body by my 33rd birthday (le fin Septembre). For the record, that will be from 233 lbs to 173 lbs in 9 months. I know it’s possible because I’ve seen some determined people do it.
How am I going to do this again? The plan is still the same: Exercise and Diet. The reason I failed the last time was I didn’t follow the plan.
As an incentive, we’ll be going to the beach this April, 2011. By that month, I should have lost 20lbs or equivalent to my set of love handles.
Oh, by the way, for those reading this, I have an incentive for you to follow my status. I’m giving away a brand new Nokia C3 phone on my birthday to the first person who can guess what my final weight will be on the 30th of September 2011 Manila time. I’ll post more details about that contest and also on the details of my weigh loss and workout plan within the week.
Cheers!
Instead of posting my weight every day (or every week), I’ll just let the photos do the talking. Scout’s honor, I didn’t modify nor use the liquify tool of Photoshop on these photos.
Before Swimming daily (before 5 Oct 2010):
This photo best represent what I look like prior to my daily swimming activities.
After swimming almost daily in October, 2010:
Photo taken on 1st November 2010
Isn’t that easier for tracking my weight loss?
Cheers!
Yes, i’m back to square one. I’ve lost track of many things, including this weight loss journey. Don’t get me wrong, i’m still in the journey, but I just got side tracked. I started this journey with 104Kg body weight, and suprise, suprise, I’m still in that weight range (I peaked at 106Kg).
Due to some personal matters I had to attend, I skipped on the workouts and dealt with stress like I always do – Eat! Well, things are now mellowing down and I’ve got access to a swimming pool. For almost a month, I went swimming daily and lost 2Kg because of that.
With everything in my life normalizing, I guess it’s just about time to go back on my journey.
Come and join me again as I work my way to a healthy BMI.
If you’re curious what obesity means, and how BMI is related to it, you can check out this link:
What is Obesity? What is BMI (Body Mass Index)?.
It’s a good resource for understanding this condition. Here’s an excerpt from that resource page regarding obesity:
An obese person has accumulated so much body fat that it might have a negative effect on their health. If a person’s bodyweight is at least 20% higher than it should be, he or she is considered obese. If your Body Mass Index (BMI) is between 25 and 29.9 you are considered overweight. If your BMI is 30 or over you are considered obese.
Now for the BMI, here’s another excerpt:
The BMI is a statistical measurement derived from your height and weight. Although it is considered to be a useful way to estimate healthy body weight, it does not measure the percentage of body fat. The BMI measurement can sometimes be misleading – a muscleman may have a high BMI but have much less fat than an unfit person whose BMI is lower. However, in general, the BMI measurement can be a useful indicator for the ‘average person’.
So if you naturally have big muscles like I do, our BMI will be higher. Now this is a dilemma for me. Where should I base my weight loss targets now? Should it be on BMI or should it be on overall physical appearance? With regards to my insurance premiums, I’m obese. So should I just target the normal BMI? But what if it is impossible given my body type?Hmmmm.
Anyways, I’m still overweight, so I still need to lose weight. Once I achieve a slimmer and firmer body, I’ll reevaluate my targets again.
For now, it’s back to my workouts and healthy eating habits.
Original article source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/obesity/what-is-obesity.php
I came across a very alarming article in CNN Health, about how researchers found “Nearly half of the 90 beverages from soda fountain machines in one area in Virginia tested positive for coliform bacteria — which could indicate possible fecal contamination.” Yup you read that right, “fecal” contamination. Bacteria in poop, sh*t, feces, whatever you want to call it, was found in their sodas. The researchers still don’t know how that got there but what they’re sure of is “Many of the soda beverages from the dispensers fell below U.S. drinking-water standards, according to the findings.”
Directly quoting the article:
“The large number of beverages and soda fountain machines containing E. coli is still of considerable concern… and suggests that more pathogenic strains of bacteria could persist and thrive in soda fountain machines if introduced,” the authors wrote.
Godard and her colleagues acquired 90 beverages of three types, (sugar soda, diet soda, water) from 30 fast food restaurants in a 22-mile area near Roanoke, in southern Virginia. They surveyed beverages from both self-service and employee-dispensed machines and the samples were tested.
There were no reported outbreaks of food-borne illness related in the Roanoke area at the time of the study.
They found that 48 percent of beverages obtained from soda fountains contained coliform bacteria, 11 percent contained E. coli (which are mostly harmless, but some can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections, respiratory illness and pneumonia), and 17 percent had Chryseobacterium meningosepticum (which could sicken newborns or adults with weakened immune systems). Continue reading »
I read in the news today that researchers have found that by using a device to tell obese children to eat slowly, these kids lost weight and decreased their eating speed by 11%.
In a trial with 106 obese children the gadget showed promising results, the British Medical Journal reports online.
After 12 months of use the children weighed less and ate smaller portions. Their speed of eating was reduced by 11% compared with a gain of 4% in a comparison group.
Experts believe eating too fast can interfere with an inbuilt signalling system that tells the brain to stop eating when the stomach becomes full.But early in life, with instructions like “make sure you eat it all up”, children are taught to override these signals.
I guess the old reminders to eat slowly really works.
So how do you eat slowly?
Here are some ideas:
I’m giving this a try. Let’s see if I can manage to slow down.