weight loss

What I Ate To Lose Weight During My Health Journey

July 25, 2017 / Filed Under: fitness, food, health, weight loss, wellness

I’m sorry it took a little longer but just as promised, I’m gonna share with you what I’ve been eating the past three months that I’ve been on a health journey to lose weight, get my blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglycerides back to normal.

It’s been quite a journey but I did it. I lost 40 Lbs in 3 Months (from March -June).

You all know how much I love food and eating so the adjustment was hard. I went cold turkey — and ate a NO RICE, NO BREAD (sometimes just skyflakes..LOL), NO BEEF, NO PORK, NO SUGAR diet.

Breakfast was/ is three hard boiled eggs. Yolks are removed. When I’m feeling a bit fancy, I turn them into a fritata — like this Spinach and Mushroom Egg White Fritata but most of the time, it’s just hard boiled. Simple, fast, easy and cheap.

Mid morning snack which comes at 9-10am is boiled saba or 1/2 cup of oatmeal.

Lunch or Dinner depends on my mood. There are days when I am craving something so I make a low-carb version of it like this Eggplant Lasagna with Chicken Meat Sauce (right) which I made when I was craving for Pasta and the Chicken Fajita Salad Bowl (left) when I was craving mexican.

But most of the time, I turn to one pan meals like this Chicken and Pesto Beans. For dessert or afternoon snack, I eat fruits. When my friend, Rizza gave me lots of blueberries, I turned it into this Fresh Fruit Salad with Honey Lemon Dressing.

I still cook for my family and I cook them meals that they love, only I don’t eat it. I eat a different meal. Like this one time, I made steaks, mashed potato and green beans for them while I eat Ginisang Ampalaya. Yes, it takes a lot of discipline and willpower.

Here are some more of the meals I ate…

Left: Sautéed Spinach and Grilled Chicken

Right: Smoked Bangus Belly and a Salad made of lettuce, tomato, and olives.

Left: Steamed Fish

Right: The steamed fish was paired with garlic french beans

Left: Ginataang Sitaw at Kalabasa & Tortang Dulong

Right: A Salad made of leftover roasted chicken, lettuce, tomato and cucumber

Left: Steamed Tilapia with Tomatoes and Garlic French Beans

Right: Ginataang Sitaw at Kalabasa and Fried Tulingan

Left: Tomato Soup and Steamed Camote Tops and Okra

Right: A Little Bit of Grilled Chicken (I think that’s leftover lang from lunch.. LOL!) and Steamed Camote Tops and Okra

Left: Turkey Burger and Spinach (Check out also this Turkey Burger Bowl)

Right: Fried Tilapia and Sautéed Baguio Beans and Bean Sprouts

After three months, I slowly added back a little more carbs. I eat sweets but in moderation and I allow cheat days. I notice that my eating habits have changed over the course of three months. I choose vegetables now over meat — I think I might have become a semi-vegetarian, if there’s such a thing.

I’m not saying you should do this and that this is the right diet for you. You should still consult a physician before starting on any diet. This worked for me and I couldn’t see no reason why. I didn’t starve myself, I just removed sugar, carbs, and red meat from my diet because I think that’s what’s keeping my cholesterol and my blood sugar high.

It really takes a lot of discipline and willpower to change your eating habits. I’m still in pursuit of health and fitness and the journey still continues…

Will be keeping you updated from to time and I will be posting a lot of low-carb recipes and meals at www.thepeachkitchen.com

How I Lost 40 lbs in 3 Months

July 5, 2017 / Filed Under: fitness, health, weight loss, wellness

You’ve probably seen my Facebook posts that I am on a 3-month health journey.

You’ve probably seen that I’ve been working out.

OR You’ve probably seen me in person and thought I lost a lot of weight.

Yep. I did. I lost 40 lbs in 3 months …

Why and how? Let’s start from the very beginning.

This was me last December 2016…

This was me in January…. at Mila’s Tokwa’t Baboy and Sisig in Angeles, Pampanga where I feasted on Chicharong Bulaklak, Pork Sisig, and Tokwa’t Baboy.

This was me in February at Jaytee’s Filipino Cuisine, Tagaytay.

And this was me last March, at the Downy Parfum Event with my Kumares #KumareBloggers.

This was all before I experienced High Blood Pressure for the first time and for three consecutive nights…

I had my blood chem test done right before our trip to Camp Netanya in Anilao Batangas last March. I told my brother to text me the result of the tests. The trip was difficult for me because I had to do the adjustments to my diet right there and then.

Why? Because I was scared. I had been yoyo dieting for a year now and nothing happened because I wasn’t serious enough.

But FEAR is a great motivation.

After my doctor’s check-up, I found out that I had high triglycerides, high cholesterol, and I am pre-diabetic. Diabetes is very strong in my genes and most of my family has it. That scared me A LOT.

You all know how much I love food. (Hello?!, The Peach Kitchen is my main blog). I love sweets, steak, porky pork pork, and carbs on carbs on carbs. But this time HEALTH became a priority. So I went cold turkey and ate a NO RICE, NO BREAD (sometimes just skyflakes..LOL), NO BEEF, NO PORK, NO SUGAR diet.

I ate a lot of vegetables, fish, chicken, fruits, — and mostly steamed food because I am avoiding the use of oil.

I STARTED WORKING OUT

I tried going to the gym before and it didn’t work for me. Probably because I tend to get too lazy to go. So I just worked out at home. I love working out to Shaun T’s Hip Hop Abs. This is what I did to lose weight when I gave birth to Ykaie 9 years ago. So this is what I did again.

Since I lead such a sedentary lifestyle since then, it was hard for me to keep up to it. On my first day, I did 15 minutes and I was already catching my breath.

It gradually increase to 30 minutes, then 45 minutes….then 1 hour. I worked out for 3-5 times a week.

Oh, hello there collarbone! Long time, no see

Now, I work out for 1 hour and 30 minutes, 5-6 times a week.

On my second month into this diet and work-out, I said goodbye to my plus size clothes. I was happy because I no longer have to shop to the plus size section in the department store and I could finally fit into normal size clothes again, after 3 years.

I realized that there really is no magic pill into losing weight. It all boils down into diet and exercise plus your consistency in doing that exercise and diet.

I know you’re also curious about what I’ve been eating these past few months. Stay tuned and I’ll tell you all about it on my next post.

First Day at The Gym + Kilo Off

July 18, 2016 / Filed Under: fitness, health, weight loss

Yay me! Finally.. at last, I was able to bring myself to the gym. Last Friday was Day 1.

Earlier this year, I was one of those people whose New Year’s Resolution is, as cliche as it sounds, to lose weight. Years before, I lost weight working out at home. I would do Hip Hop Abs coupled with some other exercises. But this year, slow metabolism, keeping up a household, a new baby, and a food blogging career has kept me busier.

Hindi kinaya ng powers ko to work out at home! When I see undone household chores and my laptop, I can’t help but think that I should finish all those things first before working out. And so the household chores and the workload doesn’t end … and the work out doesn’t happen.

So I decided to enroll myself at the gym nearby… just so I make sure the work out happens. At the gym, work and household chores won’t be calling me because I won’t see them plus I’d get inspired by the environment and other people working out.

And so my health journey begins again the second half of the year.