My Weight Loss Progress

I've mentioned some posts ago that I'm really determined to lose the weight before 2011. Remember, I even have it listed on my bucket list. My goal is to reach 150 pounds before 2011 ends. And, from the looks of it, I think I'm off to a REALLY good start.

Food Discipline. First step I took was to discipline myself when it comes to my food intake. I have now vowed to stop eating junk food or anything too sweet everytime I'm hungry. In fact, I gave away almost all the snacks I got from a recent blogging gig even when I like all of them. I still have a few left, but I'm planning on giving them away to our customers here at our internet cafe by the 31st (Halloween) for a mini-Trick or Treat.

The only thing sweet that will remain in my diet is dark chocolate. No one can talk me out of that. *LOL* In the past week also, I've managed to avoid eating anything that has no real nutritional value. And, I've observed I don't crave for snacks that much anymore. I guess being busy is really helping me. *LOL*

Rice Intake - Less to None. Some of you might be alarmed that I vowed to not eat rice anymore from now on. How bad could that be for me? In other countries, they don't eat rice at all. It just needs a li'l getting used to.

Well, in the past month, I've reduced my rice intake. I was able to cut down from one cup to half cup per meal. I usually eat more during lunch time, but I also managed to reduce that. I guess it's really mind over matter. I'm trying my best not to let my cravings for rice rule me so I'd be successful in my diet.

I just started having lunch and dinner with NO RICE yesterday. I believe that I can actually do this. I decided to change my plan – no rice on weekdays. Why? Well, my mother stays at home over the weekend and she usually prepares really awesome dishes. It'll be pretty hard to resist not eating rice along with her home-cooked meals. BUT, I will make sure I only eat half cup of rice everytime. Fair deal, right?

Indulge myself once in a while. My brother is now my main food trip buddy. And we're both on a diet now, so we agreed that we'll stick to our diets so that when we go out on our food trip, at least once or three times in a month, we can afford to indulge ourselves and enjoy our meals without feeling guilty.

I believe that the main reason why most people's weight loss plans fail because they go on a very strict diet. Our body needs a little indulgence every now and then. I believe in that so much so I know I can really make this weight loss plan work.

Start exercising! I am planning on buying an elliptical exercise machine by early 2011. We've already asked around and the one I want is priced at only Php 5,500. I bet the price will be lower by next year, so I'm pretty excited.

Okay, the one pictured on the right isn't exactly what I'm planning on purchasing. That one costs around Php 20,000. I wish I could afford it. For now, I'll stick with what I can. I can't find a photo of it online so... Hehehe.

Adjust my routine. Here's my daily routine:

• Wake up at around 11:30am to 12 noon. I start the AC unit at our internet cafe. I also open the server PC.
• I go back inside the house. I brush my teeth, wash my face and prepare my stuff (I bring my laptop to our icafe).
• Open our computer shop, but keep the glass door locked. I, then, go back inside the house to prepare my lunch and finish it at our icafe. I don't have anyone manning the shop with me, except for my brother who's still sleeping until 3pm. LOL.
• I open our computer shop at around 12:30pm until there are customers coming in. Usually, I close at around 9pm.
• I stay up until around 4 to 6am doing any of these: watching movies or TV series, writing content for all my blogs, communicating with friends through social networking sites (Plurk, Facebook and Twitter), work on blog themes for my blogs, my brother's and a friend's, chit-chat with my Nanay and bro, playing with our kittens, and, currently, setting up our new computers. Imagine that! *LOL*
• I take a bath at around 11pm to 12 midnight so I won't have to wake up really early the next day. Hahaha.

As you can see, I'm not a morning person. *LOL* I don't think I'll ever be. BUT, I'm determined to change my routine so that by the time I've bought my exercise machine, I'll have a fixed schedule of daily workouts before I bathe and do everything else listed above. I haven't started yet because I've got a pretty crazy schedule and a ton of things on my to-do list. So, I'd probably start with my new routine by December or January.

Diet Pills. Okay, I'm not yet completely sure about this since I want to stick to self-discipline in losing weight. My brother Kien already started taking healthy diet pills and in a week, he lost 10 pounds, with only a day of exercise. He stopped eating rice, too, and I can already see the changes. I pushed him to take the diet pills, and I even helped him with the purchase. And, I really want to add that to my weight loss plan because it'll help me get used to not eating rice more easily.

In the past month I started with my diet plans, I've observed that I lost weight already. Not sure how many pounds since our weighing scale at home is really old and unreliable. *LOL* So, I'll buy a new weighing scale just so I'd see my progress. No before and after photos just yet. *grin*