The other day, I was standing in front of my mirror in my bikini and freaked out at the sight of my gut hanging out just above my bikini bottom. Alright, fine, it isn’t that bad, but there is definitely an area now where the sun won’t hit when I’m standing upright.
That led me to think back to the days when I was young. You know, when everything defied gravity so well and my metabolism rate worked on every meal I ate like a crazy bitch on crack. As a matter of fact, I had to actually work hard to combat my metabolism rate. I chose full cream milk instead of low fat, pizzas and pastas instead of salads (although I do love my salads), huge bowls of noodles and to top it off, medium or large servings for everything. Then I would try and finish up as much as I possibly could. It was actual hard work trying to gain enough fat in me to stop people from commenting I was skinny as a stick! Oh how I wish for those days now. Well, sorta anyway. Maybe not that skinny but halfway towards recovery…
Of course, now, after realising I don’t quite fit into half of my clothes anymore, I am trying to go down the healthy path once more. Again, I put the entire blame on my braces, by the way. I have also noticed that my body seems to be getting sluggish and I am more prone to headaches, allergies, sickness, etc. My skin and hair does not seem to have the glow and shine my friends used to be envious about. This – I blame them for jinxing me day and night.
So I have stopped myself from snacking unhealthily (not that I used to anyway) and have stocked up with loads of fruits, lean meat and vegetables. I am also trying to take more fibre as possible. I used to take quite a bit of supplements but have now decided they are a waste of money. One thing that I do swear by though, is fish oil and evening primrose oil. They do wonders for skin and hair from the inside out and also for crazy mood swings.
Unfortunately, because of my work commitments, I have quit my gym membership. On the upside, I am keeping my yoga classes (ok, I already prepaid them all so I have to go anyway which ends up being good incentive. The only thing I gotta do now is actually attend the classes). I have also picked up running around my neighborhood (read: round the tiny block around my flat..gotta start somewhere, no?). Now, I have always been a huge fan of running. The lame thing is, I suck at it. But I love running. So I have decided to train myself. Yes, my friends. That is my new year resolution – to be able to run 45 mins without stopping. Yes, it may sound familiar to some as it was my resolution a couple of years ago and probably was last year’s too but nobody can deny my persistence even if it may be wrongly placed!
Another point I would like to make is, eating in small quantities. I really do believe that your stomach shrinks after awhile. The difficulty however, is limiting food intake when you are used to eating in huge portions. In my case, when I get awfully busy, my mealtimes get thrown outta whack because I would push it til the brink of almost passing out before I realise I need food. Then, I stuff myself silly. I think it helps to have fruits lying around because then you can just snack on that while finding time to get proper meal. A tip I ought to really consider myself.
I also realise that as I will be travelling heaps this year, trying to stay healthy will be a challenge especially when great food is thrown at me day and night. It makes exercising almost impossible as the last thing I want to do is working out when I want to be out exploring. BUT I do have the hot sauna weather and walking tours to keep me slightly balanced there. Sweat it out, people….that’s all you gotta do.
Yea..maybe I ought to bring my gym and swimwear with me when I travel to at least guilt me to checking out the facilities when I travel…
Happy keeping healthy everyone!
