It was after my 36th birthday when I stepped on the scale and realized my weight was not what I thought it was. I was horrified; it was way more than I expected! I couldn't understand why I weighed so much since I ran on the treadmill for at least 3 miles about 4-5 times a week. I should have seen the signs; jeans were way too snug, shirts and tank tops rising above my tummy, etc.

Unfortunately, because I'm about 5 feet tall with a small frame, each extra pound on me shows. A few years ago, at one of my scheduled routine checkups, my female doctor made a statement that I remember so well. She said that every year, after reaching 30 years old, an extra pound stays on. Crazy right?!

My three children are my wonderful blessings. I was 22 years old when I gave birth to my only girl. She weighed in at 6 pounds 11 ounces which was normal for my size. I was in my early 30s when I gave birth to my two boys.  My first son weighed in at 9 pounds! I can admit that I did stuff my face with all food in sight! My other son, even when I was watching what I ate, weighed in at 8.75 pounds!   I don't know why, but I was was having large gestational age (LGA) babies!  

So being that I was in my late 30s and having kids are all factors of why I was chubby?? I thought so....

I was surfing through Facebook and saw that an old friend of mine just started a new diet regimen. She posted all these milkshakes she was drinking; strawberry cheesecake, pina colada, banana cream pie???? Hmm..that sounded so delish! So I inquired and asked her to please send me information on it. Soon after, I signed up for a 90 Day Challenge I couldn't resist to try.....

Basically, the 90 Day Challenge is to set a goal for yourself to achieve in 90 days. To lose weight, you must replace 2 meals with milkshakes that tastes like cake mix. They fill you up so you're good to go for awhile. You can still have 1 sensible meal and eat healthy snacks in between. EASY and you don't have to starve yourself! Being able to have that 1 meal a day is what got me! Unlike most health science companies, which only carry flavors such as vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate, you have the ability to change up the flavors and recipes. You can even make up your own recipes. Being Filipina, I need to have leche flan and ube flavor (aka taro or purple yam) shakes! =) I used to take forever on deciding which recipe to try cause there are soooo many choose from. 

How I keep myself disciplined?? I downloaded an app called "Calorie Count" on my iPhone to log all that food and drinks I consume each day. I am able to log my activities such as running/jogging, shopping, and even cleaning.  I can also log my weight daily that way I can see the trend-losing or gaining. What is my daily caloric consumption supposed to be? I googled "calorie calculator for dieting" and I found websites where you enter you age, height, current weight, and goal weight. BAM-the number of daily calories is given and I use that as a gauge. 

Is it working for me??? YES! So far, I'm a couple pounds away from my goal weight and a couples inches smaller off my waist, chest, and hips. I've tried other diet plans (Southbeach and Usana Reset) and diet pills (Alli and Carb Cutters) and didn't see much transformation.

Also, I'm usually a very sickly person-I catch every strain of the cold/flu virus out there and it lingers in me for a long period of time. Knock on wood, but I haven't really gotten sick much. My immune system is functioning much better and the vitamins in the milkshakes keep me energized and stronger.

I've also learned that exercise affects your body at only 20%, while 80% is nutrition. So that explains why I wasn't losing weight even if I was running quite frequently...I was eating poorly. Eating Filipino food, Hawaiian food, Chinese food, Mexican food...oh man-ALL HIGH IN CALORIES! Another factor to why I was overweight!