I have already talked a little about my relationship with food and my body in my other blog Alessia's cues. You can read that post here http://alessiascues.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-experience-with-food.html.
I have always felt fat and short and since I was 10 years old I started dieting because I was advised by the orthopedic to lose weight. Since then I never stopped dieting! Normally, I would eat a little more during the school year because of the stress and all that teenage problems but I would diet all summer. And this went on and on for 13 years until I finished university. The highest weight I have reached throughout my life is 61 kg or 134 lb which was quiet a lot for my height (1.50 metres). The lowest weight I have reached is 43 kg which was fine at the time since I had not yet built any muscle. This happened last winter because I was suffering from allergic reactions to food and not eating enough. Since then I started eating healthy and doing more resistance training so I built muscle and now my weight shifts between 45 and 46 kg which I think is fine for my height and also for the fact that most of it is now becoming muscle. I must say that achieving these results has not been easy. It has taken me 2 years and it is a non-stop process. I can never say I am going to stop dieting or exercising and actually I DON'T WANT TO!!!
Here you can see pictures of me from the summer 2009 (after I finished university) till this summer. The aim is to show that I really lost all that weight.
August 2009
August 2009
August 2009
November 2009
June 2010
June 2010
June 2010
September 2010
December 2010
December 2010
December 2010
January 2011
January 2011
February 2011
March 2011
April 2011
April 2011
June 2011
September 2011
September 2011
If you are wondering how I lost all this weight and toned myself, I can say by eating healthy and exercising.
In terms of food I started cutting white bread and eating pasta once every 2 weeks or so. I of course cut all sweets, fast food and fatty food. I started eating lots of salads and vegetables; fruit; healthy dairy like skimmed milk, yogurts and cottage cheese; poultry and fish; brown bread, brown rusks and healthy cereals. The only drinks I had were water, milk, tea, and every now and then cappuccino and coke.
In the last year however, I had to cut gluten free food for few months. I also switched most dairy for soy products. I rarely have a cheese slice. I cannot have normal yogurts or cheese or milk unless it is already cooked and in small quantities. I cut the bread and pasta. I can go one month without eating pasta and I don't have bread every day. I like to have brown pita every now and then or tortilla chips but in small quantities. I eat salads, vegetables, beans and fruit daily. Once a week I like to have a homemade pizza and either once a week or once every 10 days I have a nice dessert. I have completely cut chocolate because it makes me feel anxious like my heart is going to come out of my chest. I take candies once every 3 months may be and it's normally either marshmallows or fruit pastels just if I really feel like having some and it's always in small quantities otherwise I would feel nauseated and sick. I no longer drink caffeinated beverages like coke, orange, tea or cappuccino. I do not smoke (never had and never will) and do not drink alcohol.
In terms of dressing my food I like to use extra virgin olive oil, extra light mayonnaise or salad cream, ketchup only rarely, a healthier alternative to honey, light jam. I also do not use sugar unless I am baking or making pancakes.
I do not eat out often but when I do I let myself have whatever I like as long as it is not something which will make me feel sick. After all I am not dieting I am just eating healthy and this is how I want to live my life. I know it may sound sad for those of you who are used to eat non healthy food but I assure you that you can enjoy and taste great also a salad or a lighter meal. Moreover, if you follow my food blog http://alessiascues.blogspot.com/ you will see that I like to cook and eat tasty food. Yes, healthy can also be tasty!!!
If you want to know more about my healthy eating I can post my food diary here where I will write what I have for breakfast, lunch and dinner and any snacks day by day. So let me know in the comments.
Eating healthy would not have been enough to lose this much weight but most important to tone myself. In fact, I started exercising almost daily. For the first year, that is from October 2009 to summer 2010, I started using my elliptical machine and doing 20 minutes daily on it which then went up to 30 minutes and for a short period also reached the 45 minutes. I also used 3 kg weights on each hand and did some plain exercises for my arms. In the last year, however, I started changing my exercise routine at least monthly because I started learning that your body will only change if your exercises vary. When your body adapts it will not burn that much calories and therefore it will remain the same. I started incorporating more cardio and resistance exercises and doing aerobics, thanks to you tube videos. If you want to know more about my exercise routine click on the link below.
My exercise routine post: http://alessiapearl.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-exercise-routine.html
My exercise routine post: http://alessiapearl.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-exercise-routine.html
AlessiaPearl.
0 comments:
Post a Comment