How I lost 11kg in 6 months

The picture on the right was taken when I got a compliment of beautiful mom and daughter
for the first time in THREE years. XDDDDD

A lot of friends wonder how I dropped 11kg in 6 months. Believe me. It is as hard as you can imagine, but achievable though.

Before pregnant I was 57kg and weighed about 69kg at the end of my pregnancy. I lost about 5kg after my girl was born, but after that I was non-stop eating and went back to 68.5kg nearly in a year. Did I regret? No. Not at all. The first year with my baby girl was very challenging that eating was the only way to help me function without being depressed.

I carried my maternal fat happily until one day I feel like I need to do something for myself...

Hubby and I want a second child so badly, but my body is infertile inclined. I probably produce only one egg a year or more than a year, so the chance for me to get pregnant naturally is very low. Then, one day I came across a model's facebook and saw a picture of her going biking. I started to follow her facebook and knew that she endeavors to stay fit for the sake of a modeling job. A little voice started to haunt me: How hard have I tried to have a second child?

And then the memory of my first pregnancy suddenly hit me so clearly.  

Before I was pregnant with Lindsay, I exercised hard in the hope that I would have a healthy pregnancy. So I actually did work outs as much as possible and dropped to 57kg from 62kg. Well, this is probably going to sound extremely silly and unrealistic to you but I felt like I hadn't put a lot of effort this time. Therefore, I made a goal to myself and wished for a second baby if I could go back to the same weight when I was pregnant with Lindsay. 57kg, again. 

I found my motivation and purpose and then jumped right into it. And what I have done worked so well that I've dropped 11kg, so I thought I would share with you girls who want some change.
(Sigh..I am still not pregnant if you are curious.)

It's an excitement to see the before and after pictures.
I wasn't able to see the difference in person until the pictures were placed together.

OK. Here are the things I do to shred my fat.

Exercise three days a week

I don't know why but it has to be at lease three days workout for me to drop 0.5kg a week. Maybe that's because of my age. I am over 30 and getting close to .....never mind. My metabolism is much slower now. If I don't work out three days a week, I may even gain weight just eating a tiny amount of food.

I follow these two workout DVDs to keep my exercise at home. I am a stay home mom as you probably have known. For most of time I am with my toddler, so I can't go to the gym or go swimming. But it's okay. The DVDs work out so well except for the part that I can't show off in cool or fashionable Victoria Secret's yoga outfits(, which I don't even own, haha...). The DVDs I follow are by Julian Michaels. To burn the calories, I would recommend these two:

Banish Fat Boost Metabolism
30 Days Shred

You may have seen her on TV and know that her workouts really kick your ass, especially for people who don't exercise regularly. But it pays off. I started with Banish Fat Boost Metabolism and began to drop 0.5-1kg every week as long as I sticked to three days work out in my weekly routine. I did this DVD for about 4 months, by which I have lost about 8-10kg. Then I felt like looking for something different, so I found the 30 Days Shred DVD.

I love the 30 Days Shred better now since I've already met my goal. The 30 Days Shred combines strength, cardio, abs in one DVD. Cardio is good for burning calories, but meanwhile strength and abs help shape my body, straightening up my back and broadening the shoulders. But please keep in mind that I still think the Banish Fat Boost Metabolism help me burn the most calories and would absolutely recommend that you start with this one. Simply said, I do Banish Fat Boost Metabolism to lose weight and 30 Days Shred to keep a better body shape.

Count the calories I get from food

When I first decided to lose weight, I didn't count my calories. I only added exercise to my routine. I got really frustrated when I saw no change on the scale, so I began to count the calories. I used an iphone app called myfitnesspal. This program allows me to look up the type of food I eat and it enters the calories by itself. The coolest part is that it also shows the nutrients that I get from each specific food. Therefore, I can keep track on nutrients and plan my next meal. Easy and simple. When I enter my goal in the app, such as dropping 0.5kg per week, it pops out how much calories I should intake a day. The program can calculate the calories I burn from my workouts as well.

The program showed that I could only eat as much food as 1200 calories a day to achieve my goal. I tried to follow it strictly for most of time. but if I was really hungry, I would go ahead and munch one or two apples. I never hungered myself. I agree that apples are really good for people on a diet because they don't seem to add up much weight in my own experience. I kept dropping weight even on the days I had to feed my tummy 2-3 apples in addition to my 1200 cal diet. There are always two boxes of apples in my house. LOL

I lived on 1200 calories for only about 3 weeks and then I didn't count my calories anymore because I seemed to be able to control my appetite by myself afterward. After eating only 1200 calories a day for 3 weeks, my stomach shrunk to a size that just a tiny bit food can fill it up. So now I just watch how full my tummy is when I eat and stop eating right when I feel full. It seemed to work very well since I continued to drop weight even when I stopped counting calories.

Avoid processed foods as possible

I don't know whether eating burgers, chips, fries but still having your calories under control will do the same as you only eat unprocessed foods (that are in their original looks, e.g. oranges instead of orange juice). But we all know the fact that when eating processed food we are at risk of getting more refined sugar and trans fat, which are harder to be utilized and metabolized by our body. For the sake of shredding fat faster, I tried to eat only fresh whole foods, such as vegetables, fruits, eggs, brown rice, oatmeals and so. I avoided cheese, chocolate, cookies (even crackers), ice cream, and fried food. But I did eat whole wheat or plain toasts for breakfast. I know breads are processed food. But I didn't want to make a hassle for breakfast when I was still waking up.

Drink water first when I feel hungry

When my tummy is rumbling, the first thing I grab is water. I don't know if it is just me. I can't tell whether I am hungry or thirsty when my body shows a need. I always mistake the signal and feed my body juice or milk with some snacks. Now I will drink a full glass of water first and see if the rumbling feeling will go away. If my tummy is still growling, I will go ahead to cut some apples. But most of time, I am just thirsty.


That's it. These are all the things I did to drop the 11kg.

I have to admit that watching weight is really tough at the beginning. But when it becomes a habit, it can be pretty natural. I remember how shocked I was when I first saw the model posting the photo of herself biking. And then another and another one again. An already skinny model needs continuous exercise. But how about myself? Everyone loves gourmet foods. So does the model. But she always shares them with her friends and only has a tiny bit of it. Do you see that? It's a lifestyle! A lifetime change! We have workouts in our routines and we indulge ourselves with some ice cream sometimes, but never over eat it. Never. Otherwise, we will keep repeating losing weight and gaining weight again.

Thank you for reading such a long post. I hope my experience will inspire you to lose weight in a healthy way.

Good Luck and never hunger yourself!!!