Hello Food Journal ♡︎

When I was in college, my dad got a one year gym membership family package. The package was all inclusive, I could enter any class available every day, I could visit any branch of it, and I was eligible for a 3 day free trainer 1 on 1. I was so happy about this I literally went there every day that I could which was 4-5 days a week and a minimum of 4 hours each visit.

1. 30 minutes jog on the treadmill or the elliptical,
2. 30 minutes total in various machines,
3. 1 hour of either Hot Yoga or Yoga for Flexibility (depends on what day),
4. 1 hour of Floating Yoga,
5. 25 minutes sauna,
6. and the rest to shower and dry my hair and stuff.

That was basically my rhythm for the first month. There were other classes as well but it was either too early for my schedule, or too late. I hit the gym after class so usually around the afternoon and I then get to arrive home before 7PM.

Then, after that first month I was offered the 1 on 1 with a trainer for free—︎usually they're paid for personal training—︎which I still remember like it was yesterday. I requested a female trainer and they gave me Nina. She was mean looking, but super nice~ Throughout that 3 day session I had with her, she taught me literally from 0 to details, and she was thorough. I learned how long a warm up is needed to activate my body heat before doing actual workouts, she taught me how to use every machine, how to target specific muscles, and which muscles I would have to target to reach my goal. She also gave me a bunch of various routines for the gym and at home as well. And the very first thing she did remind me to do is to keep a food journal—︎she called it and Eating Diary though.

If I were to continue the course hire her as my personal trainer for the next 3 months, she said that she could actually help me plan out me meal weekly basing it on the target that I told her I wanted. But since that would take too long to cram in 3 sessions she just reminded me the basic necessities for our body's nutrition and to track my eating habit. She said that limiting what I eat in the sense of getting rid of some macro nutrient—︎when we started out I told her I was cutting out carbs—︎wasn't healthy and I should just observe what I eat in a day and balance it out. Also, counting calories is for sure confusing especially without proper knowledge, so she suggested to mind my portion and listen to my stomach when it says it's full.

I did everything she had me do and I managed to lose 14Kgs in one year and kept it off for the next 4 years. I was so healthy and I loved my body cause I can feel how energetic I was and my body really listened to me. But then for the last 2 years I've been falling of the wagon and lost momentum in how to keep a healthy diet as well as my workout routine. Work was so overwhelming, I stress ate, was to tired to work out when I got home, and so I gained back that 14Kgs I lost before and back to square one.

But ever since this quarantine, I'm trying to get back in track and actually did a bunch of trial and error in building a workout habit in the morning so that I can do it before I leave for work, then there will be no more excuses~ 4 weeks in light work out at least 4 days a week, I really haven't tried to weigh myself since my first check on day 1 cause I tend to over obsess so I just go with the flow. Then I remember that my family eats a lot and I too tend to over indulge so I am now trying to do a food journal again just to keep myself on track. Make sure I eat healthy, and even when I indulge, it's still within reason. And since I don't really count calories, finding a less confusing app was challenging, but good thing I found Ate it's a simple food journal that just asks me what I ate, how it made me feel, and so on. Perfect for my needs at the moment :)