Weight Issues: To Lose or Not To Lose

Just yesterday, our Communications Associate sent out a challenge to the entire company by coming up with a Biggest Loser sort of competition. Half of me wants to lose weight, but the other half keeps thinking about the first 20-something years of my life when I struggled with being stick thin and nearly shapeless (except for the definition of my muscles, which gave me a boyish shape).

At 118 pounds and having an ectomesomorph build, I am not overweight. I’m just not happy that love handles started appearing recently.  I now have chub rubs, and I call myself “muffin top” when wearing jeans. Har har. So I rummaged through my old and recent photos and did a comparison.

Me at 100 pounds in 2008, with the measurements 32B-23-32:

Without working out, I have natural cuts on my abdomen and my biceps and triceps form easily. But as you can see…shaped like a boy.

I packed on the pounds 5 years later and with them, well, I felt like a woman. Haha. Except…I hated how my natural cuts seemed to have disappeared into oblivion. Plus my biceps and triceps were suddenly replaced with flab. I can’t even pose for a photo without moving my arms away from my body because you might mistake my arms for someone else’s thighs. Ugh.

Me at 118 pounds in 2012, with the measurements 36B-27-36:

So I am thinking, should I lose weight, or should I just tone?  I’m still wondering what the best sort of exercise I could do without losing the womanly curves I’ve finally achieved. Leg raises and sit-ups bore me, and gyms make me think of hamsters.

Any fun suggestions for losing weight or toning?

In any case, I will try a new “diet” program that involves counting pesos instead of calories. (I do not want to use “weight-loss” because I normally gain weight whenever I tone up. Muscle mass is heavier than fat.) I will try it for a whole month and see where it takes me. Wish me luck!

6 Comments

  1. forsakinghalfloves

    July 26, 2012 at 4:26 am

    Haha I really need to start a yoga practice at my house because sometimes life and work just  get in the way that I can't attend yoga classes. Plus, when I got back the results of my annual physical exam I was diagnosed as type 1 obese (of course I have my doubts about the relationship of BMI and weight and overall health), so that really shocked me to start doing something about it.

  2. skysenshi

    July 26, 2012 at 8:56 am

    I actually miss yoga. I tried Barre3 because of the schedule but I find it too difficult haha. Kelangan lang talaga ng tamang schedule and maybe the right exercise siguro.

  3. forsakinghalfloves

    July 28, 2012 at 8:21 am

    I'm very curious about Barre3 kaya lang ang layo. I used to dance ballet; I guess I miss the movement of dance, so I was drawn to vinyasa flow yoga 🙂
    I've been finding some yoga videos in YouTube. I've been downloading some of them and I hope I get to try them out soon. Hopefully my also having bought a new yoga mat to finally replace my now flaky, now slippery three-year-old one from Toby's will motivate me to practice more by myself if there's no class.

    Hope you can attend another class with me soon! 🙂

  4. skysenshi

    July 28, 2012 at 3:48 pm

    Whoa! Super active ka pala talaga!

    As for yoga…Yeah! Problem ko kasi yung Saturdays talaga. Hirap mag schedule ng kahit ano. 🙁

  5. forsakinghalfloves

    July 29, 2012 at 12:31 am

    Haha sometimes I have to force myself. Otherwise I'll get sick or just stop altogether. Considering the nature of my job, I really have to stick to it.

  6. skysenshi

    July 29, 2012 at 2:57 am

    Yun nga eh. It's so hard when we have day jobs. I'm only waiting for my paper to be completely polished so that I could free up my weekends for yoga/exercise. Kaya malaki talagang pagkakamali for me mag-aral at mag-hold ng production position at the same time. Dapat ginawa ko na lang yung ginawa mo na mag-stop mag-work while doing your thesis.

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