When I reached my 30s, I found it more difficult to keep my tummy flat - without exerting a tremendous amount of energy in the gym. I hired personal trainers. I joined every single cardio class. I drank diet soft drinks. I ate brown rice. But with all of these - I continued to have a round tummy. My Chinese friends call it ITALY ( which phonetically sounds like the Chinese phrase - big round ball ).
I was getting frustrated with all of these - and wondered if I will always just be thin-fat. I was generally thin but I had a big tummy.
And recently - I reached the age of 40 --- and I thought to myself. Maybe exercise is not the only thing that can make me lose weight. Maybe I need to start watching what I eat. A big part of me was protesting against this because I love food. Controlling what I eat will mean that I may have to forego the joy of eating.
So I took some steps towards eating more healthful. Almost a year ago - I started eating just salad for lunch and dinner. I kept to eating rice and everything else for breakfast. For six months - I continued to lose weight. I started at 172 lbs and ended at 161 lbs. ( I used to wear XL sized clothes and 36 inches waist pants. ) I was happy with the results. Then I hit a plateau in my weight loss.
It took me months - as I continued with this routine - and I noticed that my weight see-sawed from 161 to 164. So I knew I had to do something different. I realized - I may have to give up on carbs and sugar altogether. It's just one meal right? So the transition may not be that hard.
A month ago. I received an e-mail from Sebastian Sherpa (one of those internet marketing e-mails). Most of the time - I'm skeptical about these e-mails but I said - I'd charge it to experience. I'll buy the program and see what's it all about. Sebastian talked about our hormones - and how it affects our ability to use fat for energy. His program basically promises - that in 22 days - my body will stop relying on the food that I eat for energy --- but will start burning the fat around my tummy for energy. When that happens - my big fat tummy (ITALY) will be gone.
So what the heck - I said - I will try this program.
The program is basically a low carb program. It also had other components - like walking, breathing exercise, detox, and sleep. I am also to stop snacking --- which I did religiously in the past because my body must have food every two hours.
I followed the program - and the weight started to melt away. My starting weight was 161 lbs. After 22 days - I was down to 155 lbs. Finally - my weight has breached that 160 lbs. mark.
After the 22 days - I continued with the program - low carb, no snacks. Carb and sugar only allowed during the carb feast days. After the 22 days - I even introduced my body to drinking fat tea ( that's tea with high MCT oil like Coconut Oil ). Drinking fat tea allows me to practice Intermittent Fasting - and my weight continued to drop. Today - I weigh 150 lbs.
I still have some inches to loose and I need to build muscle definition back up. But overall - I'm happy with the results. I can even wear my aspiration T-shirt. You see I bought a bunch of T-shirts 7 months ago - which were medium sized --- because I was optimistic - I will be able to fit into them. This sleeveless shirt - is one of them. It fits perfectly today. My pants size? Down to 30 inches. And the skinny jeans - really look like skinny jeans!
I read somewhere that when you reach middle age - you may have to give up on the dream of being able to wear your clothes when you were young. Wait - I don't have any intentions of wearing the 90s jeans and T-shirts I had --- but I did wish to wear the sizes that I used to wear. I guess - my wish has come true.
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