The Fit Writ

Good: Just discovered we have full-grown papaya trees in the backyard. Organic fruit supply, ahoy! #littlefitblrthings

Bad: I only just discovered it. Like, I’ve lived here for years (well, on and off because of college) and I never wandered out in the backyard because that’s where my mom grows so many plants and the place is so quiet, it creeps me out sometimes. 

Good: I’m on a fruit detox—I do it every two weeks because I find that it helps my body feel great. So, after drinking a natural herbal laxative last night and starting fresh in the morning, I’ve had three bananas and a whole papaya less than halfway through the day. I feel awesome so far.

Bad: My mom just went grocery shopping and bought boxes of microwave popcorn and bags of chips. She knows I’m eating healthy, but my brother just arrived and is staying home for the next several months or so, and he’s the type who doesn’t get fat no matter how much he eats, nor does he care what he eats since he just noms on everything, healthful or not. Chips and microwave popcorn are his favorite snacks. When I began eating clean, there weren’t any of those at home so now I’m having a hard time looking at those boxes of popcorn in the eye (in the barcode?) and saying no. Anyway, today I’m supposed to eat nothing but fruit for my detox, but OMG the cheesy, buttery popcorn. So orange and yellow and salty and good. I can’t deal with it.

Ate too much yesterday and tried doing some damage control (green tea, nice long walk) that had the subtlest effects. So what I did was:

1. Guzzled as much water as I can before bed.
2. Woke up in the middle of the night to pee enough to fill the toilet bowl.
3. Guzzled water again!
4. Peed again!
5. Guzzled water!
6. Woke up bloat-free.

And now I can resume my duties as a fit, healthy, un-bloated, exercise-loving person. Lesson learned: don’t stress. Sleep over it.

It was going so well. Good breakfast, good TF workout, good lunch… then a handful of chocolate wafers with 150 calories apiece. No biggie, though. I’m drinking green tea, walking it off later, and going to sleep to wake up with a clear slate tomorrow.

(Those were some damn good wafers though. I will never fail to appreciate the existence of chocolate. Thanks, Ixcacao!)

What’s your UGW? When do you expect to reach it?

The info on my blog says 110, but I’m seriously rethinking that. Over the past few weeks I’ve been exercising and eating well enough for me to feel really, really good about myself at this point. I’ve stopped counting my calories because everything I’ve been eating is clean, and I feel no need to track if I go beyond or below the 1200 daily limit anymore. Right now I’m burning fat and building muscle at the same time, so my weight doesn’t really matter as long as I know I’m fit (yeah, following legit fitspo blogs—not thinspo/exercise-and-calorie-obsessed blogs—has that effect).

If I reach 110 lbs then that’s great, but I wouldn’t mind being a toned 115 to 120-lb, 5’4.5” entity in 2 months.

Actually, I think I prefer the latter over the former (as long as I have rockin’ abs, haha).

Are you losing weight in a healthy or unhealthy way?

I’m a fitblr so it’s pretty obvious! I do have days when I go under 1200 calories, but that’s only because I’m lazy to eat anything, and it’s really not intentional—only right before bedtime do I realize I haven’t eaten enough. Otherwise I’m good! I do TurboFire and pilates, and I eat clean. I’m also giving myself a longer time frame (around 2 months) to shed these last 10 lbs. Slowly but surely. Slow and steady wins the race (although this isn’t really a race). And all those other moral lessons from Aesop’s fables.

What do you normally eat?

No set menu, but the usual would be: carbs and protein in the morning; fruits, veggies, protein for lunch; anything goes for dinner. I’m a lacto-ovo pescetarian so my protein mainly comes from seafood, cheese, eggs, and peanut butter. Haven’t had red meat for about 3 years, and I don’t miss it at all. The problem is that I’m anemic and cutting red meat from my diet isn’t advisable, but I do try to make up for it with supplements and more fish (which should be friends, not food, according to Bruce the shark’s mantra, but… sorry, Bruce. My doctor will scold me. You’re welcome to threaten him with your teeth).

My food vices are popcorn, milk tea, fish crackers, and Pringles. There used to be a helluva lot of stuff on that list, but I was able to drop-kick the others to oblivion and allowed these 4 naggers to stay as long as they behave.

Nope, didn’t spell that one wrong at all, because you know what happened today?

I fainted in the market. Somewhere between a nice big pile of red, juicy tomatoes and the most beautiful, robust carrots I’ve ever seen. My mom was there and almost fainted when she saw me faint, haha. Good thing the vendors picked me up, put me on a chair and massaged me to consciousness.

This is what I get for:

1. forgetting to take ferrous sulfate supplements for my anemia,
2. getting little sleep, and
3. doing TurboFire and Insanity at the same time.

As for my food intake, I know it’s not a reason because I’m getting enough calories from clean, healthy eating. I just forgot that, having iron-deficiency anemia, I can’t pull off long bouts of intense exercise without supplements and enough sleep.

My plan now is to increase my caloric intake to 1400 (from 1200), set a daily alarm to remind me to take my ferrous sulfate tablets, be sure to get at least 8 hours of sleep, and, albeit against my will, drop either TurboFire or Insanity. I’m not trying to lose weight as fast as I can—slowly but surely is key.

So goodbye, Insanity. I hardly knew ye. :-( Maybe we’ll meet each other again when I’m done with TF. Just can’t handle both of you at the same time, you know?

Your favorite thinspo blog and why?

Fitspo blogs, not thinspo blogs.

Undressed Skeleton because she has so many colorful, healthful recipes that show how clean eating isn’t boring at all! She inspires me to make my own versions of otherwise caloric and unhealthful dishes.

Strawbirdies because, like her, I also battled with an ED when I was a teenager. She remains strong throughout her recovery and has inspired so many young girls to eat healthily and live life to the fullest despite disorders or any other dilemmas that hold them back from doing so. Plus, she makes the cutest food/fitness art!

Arthlete because her art is my go-to when I need motivation to exercise. She may have a number of haters complaining about her “attitude,” but I totally don’t see it. I just think she’s a cool girl who does what she loves, and isn’t that all that matters?

(Welp, gotta catch up with these questions.)

Do you binge? If so, explain why you think you do.

I’ve been bingeing almost my entire life—chocolates, chips, meals, you name it. Going to the movies, I used to bring like 5 bags of chips or 2-3 buckets of popcorn because I’m a munchy human being. Tried substituting gum for unnecessary snacking, but it didn’t work. So that’s what I was before: a junk food junkie. What’s worse is that I didn’t feel too bad about it since I’ve always been comfortable with my weight, but what I realize now is that no matter how okay I am with my body, if I’m feeding it crap, that doesn’t count as self-love. Lately I haven’t been bingeing much (the most recent one was a peanut butter + Gouda cheese binge but I mercifully didn’t go over 1200 calories; it was relatively manageable so I was able to stop myself before it went haywire), and I plan to keep it that way.

Do your parents know you’re trying to lose weight? Do they care? 

They do, and they’re awesome for asking me what fruits and veggies I’ll be needing for the next few days whenever they shop at the grocery or go to the market. My mom has been especially worried that I wasn’t getting enough nutrition, and I told her, “I eat five times a day. Just because I don’t eat like you doesn’t mean I’m not nourished,” which was kinda mean, but it worked the other way since now she eats oatmeal in the morning, uses less sugar in her drinks and cooking, and prefers whole wheat bread over white bread! So yeah, they absolutely support my quest for clean eating. It’s great that I’m influencing them to do the same, too.

Your workout routine.

I don’t have a fixed routine—I try to mix things up as much as possible. During my first two weeks, I did Hip Hop Abs and pilates, and now I’m doing Insanity and TurboFire. When I’m not working out, I do calf raises, knee highs, and squats every now and then (only when I’m at home, of course).

Did people ever make comments about your weight in a negative way?

Surprisingly, no. Being Asian, I should be getting flak for my 125-pound, 5’4.5” build. I may not have the skinniest body for my height, but I’ve always shown that my weight has nothing to do with my abilities. I pretty much do what I want to do and share my experiences with others through writing, music, photography, etc. And because I’m into my own interests and pay little to no attention to my weight (except the occasional whine when I feel bloated), that’s how people perceive me as well (according to my observations, at least). My parents used to tell me when I’d gain weight over school breaks, but when school resumes I usually lose the vacation weight and it’s back to square one.

What was the hardest thing you gave up during this weight loss?

I guess I miss the chips. I’ve soaked up so much information about health and nutrition in the fitblr community that I can’t bring myself to even buy a small pack of Doritos without knowing I’m betraying my own health. Okay, so on second thought, I don’t really miss the chips. Rather, I miss being carefree whenever I eat chips, but that’s okay—ignorance is the enemy when it comes to fitness, and I’d rather be knowledgeable than carefree and ignorant with these matters.

I’ve decided to do Insanity and TurboFire at the same time. TF makes me sweat, but I don’t have time to exercise in the middle of the day, only early in the morning or at night. And I really, really want that burn. In an effort to keep my metabolism up, I’ll do Insanity around 6 AM, power up with 3 meals and 2 snacks throughout the day, and do TF a few hours before bedtime. I don’t know if this is possible to maintain, but I pulled it off the first day (except I did TF before the Insanity Fit Test). Future self, hope you don’t disappoint!

P.S. I am starving right now and all I want to eat are fruits and nuts. Never thought the day would come when I’d crave for stuff that aren’t salty or MSG-deluged, but it’s seriously happening! Better stop talking about it before I jinx it, haha.

• TurboFire - Fire 30
• TurboFire - Stretch 10
• 200 crunches

June didn’t end well, nor did July begin well for me. For the past 3 days, all I’ve been eating were peanut butter, bananas, whole wheat bread and Gouda cheese. Didn’t even work out or anything. I stayed at home, slept, watched movies, and ate. It wasn’t absolutely unhealthy in the sense that I didn’t go beyond 1,200 calories, but I could feel I wasn’t nourished enough, and all that cheese made me feel so bloated.

So I originally planned to do Insanity, but I decided to do TurboFire for July instead. Today’s Monday so it’s the perfect day to start even though I didn’t quite feel up to it. Kept going dizzy and had to stop three quarters of the way (that’s what I get for not nourishing myself) but hey—finished the whole damn thing, made myself a nice, protein-packed sandwich afterwards, and currently looking forward to/dreading HIIT day tomorrow. Getting back on track now. (Thanks, Chalene Johnson!)

Sometimes you just have to tell yourself to do it. Even if you have to trudge and curse all the way. Just do it. You’ll be glad you did.

And the Gouda cheese. I’ve consumed half the jar of PB and about 100g of Gouda in like 2.5 days. Not good. I’m aware of portion control, and I of all people know that too much PB and cheese is detrimental to weight loss, but it’s so damn hard to apply that knowledge especially when I’m defenseless against these tasty wonders. Which happens whenever I see them. Which is every time I go to the kitchen.

Luckily, my daily calorie intake hasn’t gone beyond 1200, but I would’ve preferred calories from veggies over calories from excessive PB and Gouda. Even my tongue is starting to act up—it’s not used to constant contact with sugar and sodium anymore. Sigh. I need to remedy this soon.

I made a new Tumblr account solely for this fitblr (my main blog is more on the artistic, literary, creative side) because I want my dash to be filled with fitspo and health stuff and nothing else. Since I’m more active here lately, I find it so weird when I go to my other account and my dash has mostly art, illustrations, emotions, current issues, philosophy, taking pride in eating a ton of chips/an entire pizza/a gallon of ice cream and sleeping like a log and that being the perfect night for someone. I have these friends on Facebook whose idea of a great day would be laying in bed the whole day with just tea and movies or a book (at which point I realize that’s impossible for me because I drink so much water and pee a lot and would feel terrible for not doing crunches). On Twitter, everyone’s oversharing and whining about everything and feeling healthy about having Quaker Oatmeal Cookies for breakfast (at which point I cringe at the amount of sugar she doesn’t know she’s digesting and desperately want to tell her she could’ve just eaten oatmeal with fruit).

Meanwhile, in the fitblr community, everyone’s all SQUATS! PEANUT BUTTER, VEGETABLES, WHOLE GRAIN, YOGURT! I HATE YOU CASSEY/JILLIAN/SHAUN/CHALENE BUT I LOVE YOU! WATER WEIGHT! I NEED TO EAT AGAIN! YOU CAN FEEL SORE OR YOU CAN FEEL SORRY! NOTHING WORTH HAVING COMES EASY! I NEED TO PEE!

Everyone here’s just on a different level of motivation. They say Tumblr’s like Narnia. The fitblr/fitspo community would be like Narnia on steroids. Damn happy and proud to be a part of this. Keep on keepin’ on, guys!

The deal was 3 cups of oil-popped popcorn and a sprinkle of cheese powder for a 165-calorie snack. Just “a sprinkle” because you know how that stuff is. Cheese powder is a direct descendant of the Dead Sea. If you poured a pack into your tub, you’ll float.

So I don’t see why you had to go overboard with it, really. From “a sprinkle” to like 3 heaping tablespoons. My tongue has that icky, tingly, burning feeling it gets when it comes in contact with too much sodium. I’m pretty sure I’ll bloat for the next 24-48 hours, which is adsfja;sjf;k because you’re watching The Amazing Spider-Man in 3D and having a night out with friends tomorrow night, and you want to look good!

But no. You sent the bloat monster a VIP ticket to your belly that you’ve worked hard to flatten for the past 2 weeks.

Please do better next time, babe. Be wise and get your sense of health and nutrition on.

Love,
France

Not so much as yesterday, but it remains a bit sore. I can get up and sit down without cursing all that is holy, although twisting remains a problem, so no high intensity workouts today. Maybe I’ll do some stretching (TurboFire Stretch 10/40?) and weights (just the arms) to loosen up. Gotta remember to be patient with my body. I can’t force it to do things it currently can’t do, or I’ll end up hurting it even more. It’s okay, buddy (body? Haha, I need to stop it with the puns). I gotcha.

Why do you really want to lose this weight? Are you doing it for you?

Call me shallow, but I really want to lose weight because I want to have a killer beach body. I’m a curvy girl and I’d like to say I look good in the clothes I wear (mainly because I choose clothes that flatter my figure, not that I look good in everything, because I totally don’t), but I have never EVER felt comfortable wearing a bikini. When I go to the beach, I usually swim in shorts and a tank top. So I’m getting fit because I want to be confident in that aspect, and also because I want to regain that part of my childhood back—I was a fit kid, you see (like I said in my intro), and I miss having fun being active without huffing and puffing and dreaming of just sitting on the couch with a bag of chips and a movie.

That was it, originally. Then I joined the Fitblr community and realized there’s so much more to losing weight and getting fit to look good. Now I’m pursuing fitness because I want to permanently change my previously unhealthy lifestyle. I haven’t eaten this healthily for like a century, and it feels so good knowing that I’m giving my body the right fuel. It’s a cliche, but everything does seem so much brighter and shinier nowadays!

And yes, of course, I’m doing it for me. Pretty sure this endeavor wouldn’t work out otherwise.

Slept at a bad angle last night and woke up with serious back pains. It hurts like hell, like I can’t even stretch without wincing and taking the form of a hunched old woman shuffling around the house. So I guess rest day’s today instead of Sunday; I need to give my body time to repair. Fret not, back, you are forgiven. Although still a sissy—I’m not taking that back. We’ll come back stronger tomorrow. (Haha, get it? Come back stronger? Okay, I’ll shut up now.)

Your greatest fears about weight loss.

My weight has been yo-yoing forever and I’ve gotten kind of used to that. But in the context of this attempt (the most recent one out of the previous 23042871 times) to get fit, I fear I’d stray a little and never get back on track again. Like I’d start giving in to my cravings for chips, sweets, restaurant food and whatnot to reward myself every so often, then it becomes a regular thing, then I completely revert to my old eating habits.

If there’s one thing I learned in this attempt, it’s that working out isn’t going to make me fit by itself. What I eat is a HUGE factor in reaching my goal. Lately I’ve been eating clean and healthy, and what it’s done to my body is AMAZING. However, I’m a foodie and have always loved eating out (at least twice a day before) in different restaurants. I currently can’t see myself giving that up forever—maybe for the next month or two, but not forever. I’m just going to have to learn to make compromises in the future once I’ve reached my goal weight/body when it comes to eating out and the occasional unhealthful treat.

Oh yeah, I also fear that my boobs would shrink right into my pectorals. Universe, please don’t do that to me! That would be very mean.

It’s the 26th—my official weigh-in day. The last time I stepped on a scale was the 19th, and I weighed 127 lbs then before taking on the quest for fitness. I initially opted to have a weekly weigh-in instead of daily, but this morning I was rather scared of not having done enough (of all my exercising being fruitless and of my attempts to eat more healthfully being neutralized by the little “treats” I hardly restricted myself from) that I figured I’d just do it monthly.

Then I realized my fear wasn’t going to stop me from weighing what I weigh; it’s not going to make me lose weight to comfort me from the truth. So I hauled my ass to the scale.

And saw that I lost 3.5 lbs. 123.5, BABY!

I couldn’t think of anything except WHAT’S GOING ON I ATE SO MUCH POPCORN I HAD LAZY DAYS I DON’T THINK I PRODUCED ENOUGH SWEAT but my facial muscles combated all that by making me grin uncontrollably.

My lesson? Never underestimate the things you do every day to reach your goal. No matter how little, they add up. Immersing myself in the fitblr community, I began feeling inadequate—everyone’s running all these miles, lifting all these weights, doing exercises I’m vaguely familiar with, and eating healthful food I’ve yet to taste, while I only do all my exercises at home (I usually do Hip Hop Abs or POP Pilates for just about 30-50 minutes daily) and am still starting to get into clean eating. But yeah, even those little things help mold you into the person you want to be. Don’t be disheartened if you feel like you’ve ruined your streak once or twice or thrice—just keep on keeping on! As the adage goes: slowly but surely. None of your goals are going to happen overnight. You need to have the strength and resilience to be in it for the long haul.

• Hip Hop Abs - Fat Burning Cardio: 30 minutes
• Side-to-side leg swings: 80 (40 each side)
• Front-to-back leg swings: 40 (20 each side)
• Squats: 50
• Crunches: 100
• Side crunches: 100 (50 each side)

Was supposed to start Insanity today, but I didn’t get enough sleep last night and most probably couldn’t have fared well. I upped my toning exercises to compensate.