The first 18kg in the first 6 months after I had given birth to Baby Boy was relatively easy for me. I was breastfeeding and doing pilates regularly.
And then my weight loss stalled and try as I might, I didn't make much progress after one year. In fact, I sometimes gained some of the weight I had lost (which is not surprising since muscles are heavier than fat).
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| Me at Phuket last year, struggling to continue the weight loss |
To encourage myself, I told myself that I should love my body because decades down the road when menopause hits, I'm going to want this body back.
So I did. I stopped fretting about absolute weight loss and focused on training my abs. God also encouraged me that if I had lost the weight too quickly, I would gain them back quickly too.
And slowly but surely, I had lost a grand total of.. 2kg (actually more like 4kg since I had gained some weight). After all that effort of limiting the amount of CNY goodies that I ate this Chinese New Year too! Well, at least I am now in the acceptable weight range and no longer overweight! *cheers*
20kg down, 8kg to go
Then my weight loss started to speed up to my surprise, I had lost 3kg more since Chinese New Year! It may not sound like a lot but it was enough to get me from XL/L to L/M! Time to buy new clothes! =)
Many of you have asked me what I did to reach this point in my weight loss journey so here's sharing the changes I made in the last 6 months:
1) EAT BROWN RICE
I was having a conversation with a health-conscious-gym-nut colleague (packs his own lunch every single day! *gasp*) who convinced me that white noodles (which I love so much!) is worse than white rice in terms of calories! That thought bothered me a lot, hence, I bought brown rice and started to eat it everyday.
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| The brown rice that I eat every evening for dinner. As brown rice is a lot more filling, you don't need to eat a lot of it to feel full (unlike white rice). |
The awesome Chef Grandma (the mum-in-law) also packed lunch for me to eat at work. This saved me a lot of money as I had recently started work in Orchard and the food here is crazy expensive.
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| My homecooked meal that I bring to work at least twice a week |
It's not easy to find brown rice in Singapore so I've had to eat white rice or noodles whenever I can't find brown rice. As much as possible though, I eat brown rice because not only is it more nutritious, it keeps you full for longer (which means less snacking!).
2) REDUCE PORTION SIZE
Share a bowl of noodles or rice with your child whenever possible so that you can reduce your food intake. Over time your stomach will shrink and won't be able to eat anything more even if you wanted to (this happened to me!). It helps to tell yourself, "that's enough, I can't eat any more" so that your brain gets the message. We really don't need all the calories that we eat anyway!
3) REDUCE INTAKE OF DIET COKE
For those of you who know me, you'd know that I love Coke Light!! I love it so much that I drank it everyday, even during confinement when I wasn't allowed to. Everyone keeps telling me that even though there are no calories in Coke, it will still lead to weight gain because of the high salt content. It causes A LOT if water retention, especially at the belly area! But did I listen? No.
Not until I switched to brown rice. I found that I craved for Coke Light less and less. To the point that I don't stock my fridge with them any more and whatever is in my fridge has expired!
Of course, there are moments of weakness when I caved but c'mon, I'm human. Let's get real *laughs*
4) DRINK WATER WHEN YOU'RE HUNGRY
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| My huge 1.5 litre pink water bottle |
If you've just had a heavy meal and minutes later you're hungry (should not be the case if you had brown rice), drink water! Sometimes your body misinterprets thirst for hunger. I brought my huge 1.5 litre bottle to work and drink whenever I feel hungry or stressed.
5) INTENSIFY YOUR WORKOUT
I now know, having discovered my love for Pilates, that the key to consistent exercise is finding one that you love and sticking with it. Nobody could believe that it has been almost 3 years since I had started Pilates, and I'm still going strong. I love it!
However, you'd stagnate over time if you keep doing the same movement over and over again. If you've been doing the same exercises for a while now, it is time to up the tempo.
However, you'd stagnate over time if you keep doing the same movement over and over again. If you've been doing the same exercises for a while now, it is time to up the tempo.
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| A fellow Pilates friend took this photo of me doing a plank on the reformer. This is actually the easiest plank; we do a lot harder ones during Weight Loss Plus, which includes lifting our legs and moving our arms up and down while in the plank position. |
For me, I signed myself up for Weight Loss Plus Pilates classes instead of the usual Weight Loss classes, which had gotten too easy for me. The exercises really pushed me and at the end of most classes, I was panting like crazy and wondering why I put myself through such torture.
Well, this. That's what!
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| I've got abs! Think the last time I had them was in Junior College! (Yes I know, I still have some fats on my tummy to lose but for now I'm going to celebrate! Step by step *grin*) |
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| I never dared to wear a midriff ever since I've given birth until now. After 2.5 years, I finally feel like I'm confident enough to wear a bikini again =) |
Of course, what worked for me may not necessarily work for you. And it did take me 2.5 years to lose all the weight from Baby #2 (you may need longer or shorter) *pfffft to all of you who lost weight simply by sneezing!!!!*
And, it's ok for your weight to stagnate. Muscles weigh more than fats and it will take a while for your muscles to build up. Just remember that once you have developed the muscles, you will lose weight just sitting because the muscles are still consuming calories. It will be worth it in the end!
25kg down, 5kg to go!
To tell you the truth, I'd be happy if I had just lost 3kg! Break the mould that you'd be stuck at a certain weight and all that. It's time to up my exercises at home! Will update you again, hopefully with a good report =)
