20 Pounds..... and Counting!

A repost. As originally published on EV Mail News for the week of February 13-19, 2012.

http://www.evmailnews.com/eastern-visayas-mail-issue-of-february-13-19-2012

The holidays are now long gone. The feasts and dinner parties have been over since the New Year came in. All is back to normal. It's quiet. People are now focusing on how to regain the pace of "ordinary" living, trying to get back to the old daily routine. As for me and my family, another focus would be on how to "revive" our depleted checkbook. The holidays can be very expensive these days!

This is also the time to take back the right balance which has been lost through the holiday "marathon" eating. It's time to regain the equilibrium after all the busy-ness, the excitement, and all the flurry of activities during the holiday season. It's now time to breathe again.

I think, um wait… no, I’m sure that I've gained a lot of weight during the holidays. I know it's already "bad" enough that I indulge in all the festivities, parties and treats, beginning on Thanksgiving (here in America) all the way through the New Year's Eve celebration, but then add to it the freezing weather.

Winter is the worst time of the year to be feasting on anything. It's cold and just the thought of walking around the block in my neighborhood already makes my bones chill. All that people want to do on winter time is to "hibernate." Bears do it all the time, why can't we? We need the extra layer of fat in our bodies to help us stay warm until the next spring. Yeah, and let's keep on telling that to ourselves, for we might actually believe it!

So after the holidays, I have to contend with an extra 5 to 10 pounds of unwanted fat (and that's on top of the extra weight I should have lost last summer!). I tell you, it's no fun at all, especially for me who hates (absolutely detests) working out. But I do love to walk --walking is my "thing."

I've started to (seriously) walk in the spring of 2011 because you know, right after the holidays of 2010 I'm confronted with the same old dilemma of extra padded weight so I've decided to do something about it. At first, I've only managed to walk for about 10 to 15 minutes a day on my breaks at work and then I cranked it up a little bit more to about 20 to 30 minutes per day. By summer time, I was already walking 3 times a day --15 to 20 minutes on my morning break, 45 to 60 minutes (that's a full hour!) during my lunch break, and another 10 to 15 minutes in the afternoon. These walks don't yet include my everyday "foot trip" from my house to the train station, and vice versa, which takes about 10 minutes one-way.

After all the "hard work" (which I don't think is too hard since I really enjoy walking), I've seen some considerable results! I've lost 10 pounds in the first 2 months of walking. That's 5 pounds per month! I've never lost that much before even from strict dieting. Then by fall of 2011, I've already lost 15 pounds. Another 5 pounds were lost before winter even began. We're talking of a total of 20 pounds lost just by walking. I'm just too excited about this!

Then I started to dread the upcoming holidays and the winter of 2011 because I always gain weight by the time New Year comes. And it's the kind of weight that sticks like butter. I can't seem to shake those extra pounds off. But I kept at it, I kept on walking.

I'm so proud of myself that even though I've re-gained some of the weight I've lost before, it was easy to shed them off again after the holidays since I already have a physical regimen in place that works for me. So I just kept on walking. My friends at work thought I was crazy because even if it was freezing outside, I’d still put on my coat, bundle up, and go out for my walks. Rain, cold or shine, I’m out there!

And oh, I would be lying if I say that it's all due to walking that I've lost all those pounds because it's not entirely true. Exercising is a huge part in losing weight and staying healthy but I do believe that it should also be a lifestyle change. I had to change the way I think about my health, about the food I eat, and about being physically active.

I know this may sound like an old cliché but I've found out the hard way that looking for something that works best in making a healthier you is the only way that would work long-term. All the health fads and diet trends out there that have been invented by man will never work for you if it's only for the purpose of losing weight quickly and fast with no evident investment in any type of physical activity and by sticking to a healthy, balanced diet.

For example, I do love my vegetables. I've never really put much thought on it since I've always been a veggie eater, but now it's different. I really take some time and effort in getting the best vegetables for our meals. I've found out that the more colorful, the more vibrant, and the deeper the colors are in fruits and vegetables, so much the better.

I was used to eating wilted and overcooked vegetables since I was a child but now I tend to eat a lot of raw, fresh and half-cooked, crisp veggies. And I can't get enough of it. One of my new favorites is broccoli. I know, I know, I'm crazy because my family says so themselves. They're not too fond of broccoli either but I love it! It's been nicknamed the "green gem" for its known properties of preventing and fighting different diseases including cancer. And that's just an added bonus for me because I'm not kidding when I say I love broccoli.

Oh, and cilantro too! I'm addicted to it. I put it on everything. It's a type of Chinese parsley which is dominant in Mexican cooking --lots of antioxidants in that herb. My husband has had enough of it in my cooking already that he "banned" it from our kitchen for some time. That's how extreme my love for cilantro is!

So here goes: exercise/walking... check! Fruits and veggies... check! Stay away from sodas and "junk" food... check! More water… check! Not too much salt or too much sugar on food… check! These are only some of the things that have made a better me (physically and health-wise) for 2012. This is what works for me so I'm sticking to it. I want to glorify God in my body for I'm precious to Him, and being healthy in order to enjoy a long, full life is just one way to do it. And now, to get my family into this with me... uh, that's a whole different story. I'll tell you more about it next time! Ta-ta!

"What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." -1 Corinthians 6:19-20