Count Your Blessings, Not Calories

"Count your blessings,  not calories."

I say it both.  I count my blessings and calories.

This post might be overly late  which should have been posted  a long time ago.  I've been on my emo state lately  which gives me a good excuse to  lose weight.  It only takes me sleepless nights to gain back my desired weight. Half kidding.  I just use this state to motivate me.   Physical fitness follows with only a little sweating and I'll be back in shape.  :)

School year has just finished and  two weeks have already  gone away from  our  three month long summer break.   My  older daughter  did well in the last semester  where she got  flat  1 and  1.5  grades in four  subjects.   Should  I call her genius now?   Could be,  only  if  Math is included.   For all you know,  she hates it.   Should it have been  1  too,  she would have the  sem average  that  I couldn't imagine.  Still, It's a blessing for passing the freshman year with flying colors.

My new blog design is from Squeesome Designs.  So clean,  just  the way I like it.  My old  layout has three columns. I tried to tweak my blog but it only caused my html template into trouble.  I  then commissioned   the expert,  Kaye of squeesome.com,   for new design which  has  two columns now  to give more  space for my photos.  I  simply love it!   Thank you so much, Kaye!

I woke up on the right side of bed today and will take advantage to it  by  writing  before everything  run away from my mind.

It's a lifestyle!

It's not really easy! I tell you.  I started trimming down my diet  to less salt, sweet and fatty food. My aim is not  really to have abs, of course,  and that would be ridiculous.  At my age, to have a BMI of  less than 24 would be good enough.  I added a 30-minute exercise to my daily routine, at least for the  start.  My body was kind of sore on the first day but it really worked out on me.

My first week was challenging. I started adding one cup of brown rice into my cooking pot.  The ratio is 1:1.  Though we still have white rice mixed or  until our 25 kilos of rice were consumed.  I don't know how long it will take for us to finish half sack when we could only consume 3 cups a day.  I  look forward to that day when I would serve plain brown rice in our table in every meal.  So to say, at least, we have few whole grain meal every day.

I couldn't believe the patience I exerted this week. I cooked spare ribs caldereta and put myself  into test. I only had small serving and stop. Clap! Clap!Clap!

I haven't tried  physical workouts in a gym yet. I will when I need too. For now, I am satisfied with my own program. I'm still looking for a gym buddy  to go with me and be my inspiration in case a buddy looses weight  effectively.    For now, I think there is no big difference  yet.  I haven't weighed myself   since I started  because I don't want to get disappointed once I found out that nothing really changed,   but at least for now,  sure am,  that I  lost  a  few pounds.  :)



photo credit:   internet:

The perils of an unhealthy lifestyle

Where do I begin? After more than a week of hiatus, I am back to blogging but I don't really know where to start. Now I understand how life it is living in the 40s. My experience made me realize that life could be very short if you live an unhealthy life. I always utter these words that I will die young, maybe 40 to 45. Realization came when I woke up one morning with shortness in breathing. I thought I was really seriously ill. I thought I will die earlier than my mother was. It put me into a severe panic attack.

Last Sunday morning, despite my condition, I managed to attend the baptismal of my friend Bed's baby and later in the afternoon for the premier screening of the movie of my friend Jing. I thought that shortness in my breathing was just a heartburn. But as the day went on, it became worst and I couldn't even move half of my body. The next morning, after that sleepless night, I couldn't bear the pain anymore and it even got harder for me because half part of my head was aching. I couldn't explain how painful it was. It was just so bad. I asked a friend to take me to the hospital for emergency treatment. We went straight to a cardiologist to seek an emergency treatment. I was given a pain reliever. Initially, I underwent an ECG test and the result was good. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. The doctor gave me some laboratory requests for complete blood chem, urinalysis and X-ray.

I was luckier because before even the storm like "Habagat" came, and that floody and rainy days over the week, I already had my complete medicine to manage my blood pressure. Goshling! HBP could've have killed me that day. For the whole week where Manila was drowned to a high flood, I was calmed because I had a maintenance for my blood pressure.

With all the results in my hand after a week, I went back to the doctor with all the laboratory results. The results were almost normal except for the bad cholesterol which I had much in my body while good cholesterol were only few. I was given a prescription for my HBP and bad cholesterol too. When my doctor checked my blood pressure, my left and right arms showed different results, extremely different with my left arm 120/80 and right with 160/100. Another request for a Doppler echo was given to locate the possible hardening of arteries and to check the condition of my blood vessel.

I realized that I risked my life of possibly having a stroke with the kind of lifestyle that I have. When I consulted a dietitian, I was given 4 months to reduce the 12 pounds excess from my body. I was advised to take 4 pounds every month with proper diet and physical activities. I need to take a lot of effort to detox my body and work hard to sweat it out for a healthier life. I am not yet obese, just a little overweight.

My diet now includes low fat, low salt and strictly no soda.

I read ESports Daily News

When offline, I read a newspaper to take a break from the online world. Coffee in the morning makes my morning complete along with ESports news paper at the side for the latest update.

Jing Javier is an ESportS Daily News columnist. She contributes articles for Miscellaneous page under Health and Beauty section and in Entertainment page.

Make it a morning habit to read ESports and get the latest updates from Sports, Showbiz and Politics.

Photos of me and Jing and friends during the events.

Lyn, Mark of sleekinthecity.com, Jing and Me

at Mang Inasal event

at Candy Fashion Mag event

Btw, thanks Jing Javier for the warm greetings in your column in today's issue. You are so sweet girl! Thanks for the ride last night. I hope to see you too again soon.