#GelleeshGetsFit: My Health & Fitness Journey

If you follow me on social media, you probably already know that I lost A LOT of weight. And I’ve been getting a lot of questions as to what I did, what I ate, or what kind of workout I do. And although I still believe that what works for me may not work for other people, I guess you can say that what I do is no big secret to be honest.

April 2018

I didn’t start healthy. And as much as I’m not proud of it, I need to be honest about it. I had an eating disorder which made me lose 20 pounds. I thought I was doing some kind of a diet and at that time, losing weight was such an accomplishment that I only woke up to the realization that I was so unhealthy when I blacked out one day and no one was there to take care of me. I felt weak and my breath smells like acid.

The Need to Change

July 2018

The change was slow and painful. I would cry and feel bloated even if I only take a spoonful of food. And during the first few weeks, I would eat my lunch from 12noon up to 4PM because I would throw up if I eat it fast. But my will to change and finally be healthier was stronger than my want to merely just lose weight. That’s when I realized that the best way to lose weight is to NOT WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT, but to just WANT TO BE HEALTHY.

Recovery and Better Choices

I moderated my food intake and choose what to eat. I don’t eat fast food, junk food, canned food, and processed food. I also don’t drink soda and other sugary drinks. For drinks, I would prefer having just water, black arabica coffee, and tea (no sugar, creamer, honey, etc.). For my food, I would order from an officemate and these are often the lutong-bahay kind. Munggo, galunggong, chopsuey, etc. Luckily, our boss is very big on consuming healthier food, so I don’t need to worry much about that. Until eventually, right now, I try cooking my own food so that I know what specifically goes in my body. But I don’t deprive myself, mind you. I still eat ramen or my other cravings as long as I do it in moderation. I don’t eat to feel full, I eat to satisfy my hunger. That’s it.

January 2019

Aside from eating healthier, I also started working out. For two months, I focused on doing only cardio. I feel like I need to develop my stamina first before doing other kinds of workout. My weight loss has gotten slow from this point, but I feel healthier and lighter. I didn’t step on the scale for months because I don’t want to be too conscious about it. I want to do this to be healthier and not to be thinner.

After doing only cardio, I started doing other kinds of workout from core, arms, legs, thighs, etc. As much as possible, I try to keep everything balanced. Here’s my usual schedule of exercising:

Tuesday: cardio, core, arms, legs and thighs

Wednesday: cardio, core, arms

Thursday: cardio, core, legs and thighs

Friday: less cardio, more intense core, arms, legs and thighs

At home here’s what I do:

Mondays to Fridays: (morning) stretches; (evening) crunches, planking, and squats

I might change this depending on what I feel like my body needs. The goal for my workout is to be stronger and be able to do more activities. I actually want to try hiking, pole dancing, and many other activities. I want to fully enjoy life and appreciate every bit of beauty the world has got to offer.

In terms of weight, I’ve lost a total of 60 pounds now. Again, I don’t step on the scale often. I do it once a month or once in two months depending on when I’d see a scale. The thing I’m preventing is to be too weight-obsessed again that I start living an unhealthy lifestyle just to get what I want.

#BodyLove and Its Importance to My Journey

September 2018

November 2018

February 01, 2019

February 03, 2019

One of the things I’ve learned through my journey is to learn how to love your body so you’ll take care of it. It will take time to build something, especially if it’s out of love. But rest assured that the result would always be way better. I’ve learned how to trust the process and not rush into things. You see, some people whose goal is to just lose weight would often dip their toes into unhealthy habits like crash dieting or trying out fad diets. The result would often come in fast, but either they won’t last long or they’d suffer a different health issue. When I was in my unhealthiest state, my sugar level was pre-diabetic. I tried to do a low carb, high protein/fat kind of thing and it did lower my sugar but hit my triglyceride. That’s when I realized that the best diet for me is to just try to eat healthier, in moderation, and no to deprivation.

A lot of people would say that keeping the weight off won’t be easy. But once you get the habit of eating better and learning how to appreciate working out not as a chore, but more of as an activity helping you to de-stress, you’ll realize that it really is just all about developing the habit and reprogramming yourself to wanting to be healthier instead of being obsessed with weight and all.

January 2018 x January 2019

A lot of people have asked me how I lost weight as if there’s some kind of magic that helped me do it. Some questions would feel like they’re trying to pry me open as if there is a way to do it overnight. THERE ISN’T. The right motivation, mindset, and discipline are the keys to being healthier. And yes, I’d rather call it being healthier than losing weight. Because losing weight doesn’t always necessarily lead to being healthy. And for me, health is way more important than looking good, having abs, and being thinner.