Little Changes = Big Differences.. and a Progress Photo as of Sun 8/4/13

2 weeks and some days later, i have to say the change in my diet has made a big difference in my energy and sleeping habits...!!!

Here's an updated shot, taken earlier this morning. :)

This is without me flexing -- as you can see, i've lost a significant amount of water weight, which i like to call "fluff" haha .. it's basically all the weight that seems to retain when i eat like shit .. You know, high sodium, high sugar type foods that don't process fast enough so they hang out and add extra weight (or cause you to gain weight faster).

I weigh in at about 172 now, give or take. That's at least 5 lbs in significant weight loss -- which can be a struggle for some people! 5 lbs in 2 weeks ain't bad at all if you ask me. Especially since i haven't worked out all that often, haha. WOMP WOMP. 

That being said, these are the changes i've made so far .. the baby steps i've taken to get back into the groove. :)

• Portion Control --> i limit my portions more than i used to. for the past 1-2 years, i haven't scarfed my face; i learned my lesson on that. I did eat less and limited myself because almost 2 years ago, that was my biggest problem: gluttony. within the past year, it's more like WHAT i ate that made me gain weight. i stopped eating healthier and had too high of a sugar intake with my daily coffee as well as just eating out a lot. I cook at home a lot but most of it was for my mom and when i'm not at home (which was pretty often for a few months) i ate like shit since i was always on the go. I never made time to meal prep or take food with me to work and it caused me to just kind of eat either whatever was around or order lunch at the nearby restaurants/fast food places. Speaking of ...
• Cooking at home more --> i went back to this! I remembered that cooking at home allowed me to control myself and what i eat. Since i have my mom on a pretty strict diet, i decided to make it even stricter and avoid cheat days, limiting both of us to 1 cheat day a week, which usually falls on a weekend day. My dad eats like shit most of the time and wasn't completely on board with the whole healthy-eating kick. Things were much easier when he was on a 90-day detox because he was all for eating healthy. Then he went back to fried foods and heavy filipino food, which doesn't help me OR my mom. FYI: my Mom's diet is a diabetic/CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease) diet, so she has to stay away from A LOT of things that technically i can eat too. This makes her diet super hard to deal with, but it makes my life easier when i cook. I limit both of us to easier meals now, nothing extravagant. I've been able to make healthier versions of her favorite things that she can't have anymore, so that helps all 3 of us out in the house. My dad doesn't have a choice but to eat what i cook now, or he'll have to fend for himself, haha. Sorry, Dad! ;)
• "Good" snacking --> in conjunction with cooking at home and controlling what i eat, it also helped me make sure that the snacks in my house were GOOD snacks. i.e.: PB & Fruit, Almonds, Hummus & Veggie Tortilla Chips, etc. I no longer keep things like French Onion dip in the house, haha. Or my favorite Cheddar chips from Ruffles or Lay's -- wah. I have a deep, undying love for CHIPS in general, so i stick to healthier versions now: Pita, Veggie or Tortilla only allowed. Anything else, i stay away from. No one in my house eats chips that much except me and if they do, they'll eat what's there or none at all. hah. easy peasy.
• 1200 calorie intake daily --> if any of you know about that MyFitnessPal app, it's amazeballs. I used to use it last year and somehow just stopped. i dunno, i got tired of recording my meals, haha. and a lot of what i ate wasn't on there anyway. I now see that as a bad thing. haha. So now i record everything i eat -- the past 2 weeks i've seen that a lot of my sugar intake came from the White Mocha in my coffee -- son of a beez. They make SugarFree MOCHA but not White Mocha. WAH!! I'll get to that later ... A lot of my fatty intake came from snacking, hence the choice to keep good snacks in the house. And a lot of my higher calorie intake came from eating bigger Lunches or Dinners because i failed to eat breakfast and got super hungry or just didn't eat properly throughout the day and ate more later in the day. So that being said ..
• 3 solid, portioned and small meals a day - healthy snacking in between. --> I eat breakfast now, even if it's something small. My hours at work change all the time so if i work later in the day, i make it a point to have a protein-filled breakfast that will give me energy. If i work early and have zero time in the morning, i have made it a point to have something quick to eat in the morning on my way to work (i.e.: Mini Egg Frittatas or Natural PB on Wheat Bread) so that i don't starve to death at work before lunchtime. I have also made it a point to have good snacks in between meals to help with my hypoglycemia. My sugar intake in my coffee generally has kept me going in the morning and i failed to notice that even tho it kept my blood sugar up, it also added extra unwanted sugar into my diet, leading to that little stomach pudge in addition to a sodium-filled diet when i ate out so much. bad bad combination, lol. I'll get more into depth on this stuff later ...
• NO MORE SODA. -- My man looooove soda. like, he drinks at least 2 cans a meal every day and a few in between if he's thirsty enough. It's practically all he drinks, especially if he can't find some kind of juice. So when i'm with him and we're at my house, i make it a point for him to drink more water because not only do i need to drink more water also, but i've avoided keeping soda in the house other than Pepsi for my Dad on days when he craves it. I either drink coffee, water or some kind of iced tea or low-sugared juice. Other than that, i've limited myself on any carbonated drinks unless it's Ginger Ale. Let me tell you what a HUGE difference it made for me!!! I don't feel bloated anymore and i actually feel lighter. And i pee more because of all the water and tea intake, so i feel more ... cleansed..? :) lol.
• Stairs and Walking -- i run around a lot at work so personally, i feel like i get a good amount of exercise at work that equals at least 60 minutes of walking at a leisurely pace. I also take the stairs again at work now -- i got lazy at some point and started taking the elevator from the 5th floor employee parking lot. Now i force myself to take the stairs both going down and going up at the end of the day. So be it. My legs will thank me for it later. ;) Plus it kind of wakes me up a bit and gives me a quick jolt of energy after a long and tiring day. :)
• Zumba! -- i have Zumba on my Wii and i forgot how much i love it. I've made it a point to do Zumba at least 2x a week when my puppies are having their morning playtime and given that i don't have work too early in the morning. 20-30 mins of Zumba has actually increased my feel-good factor! with a lifestyle like mine, i need a quick way to workout on work days when i can't go for a good run in the park with my puppies. Zumba is my key to staying active so i don't get lazy again ...

These little changes have made a huge difference for me. Now that my puppy has officially gotten all of his shots, i can take him and Keilani (my 5 year old Rotti) out for a run and not have to worry about him getting sick from anything. I've been waiting on that!! ;)

Stay Thick!
xoxo, Thick Chick