Category: Inspiration

  • How Eilvane Got Active, Started Eating Right, and lost 33 kg

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    This month, I’d like to share the success story of Eilvane Chieng, an amazingly talented young woman from Sabah, Malaysia. When I bumped into her a few weeks ago, I had noticed that she lost weight from a year ago. Little did I know she was actually heavier from a time before I met her. I managed to get an interview with the beautiful Eilvane and am so grateful that she is sharing her story with us here. Do leave a few motivating notes on the comments section below and feel free to ask her questions!

    1. Tell us a little bit about what happened to you in the past year that has gotten people excited for you.
    In the past year, I’ve managed to lose 10 kgs, which brought my total weight loss to about 33 kgs


    2. What motivated you to lose weight initially?
    I’ve always been in the mentality that losing weight was impossible, probably because I never actually tried; but when I lost my first 5 kgs without noticing, reality stroke that it WAS possible, and so I decided I should finish what I (accidentally) started.

    3. What was your highest weight?
    101 kg


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    How much do you weigh now?
    68 kg

    5. What did you do to lose the weight?
    – I engaged in a lot of physical activity, as well as eat in controlled portions. I also became increasingly picky with what I ate, choosing only “clean” foods: not overly-processed, lower in salt, sugar and fat, and whole-grain carbs.


    6. What’s your goal weight?
    Ideally 62-65 kg, with a maximum of 20% body fat percentage.


    7. What is the most difficult thing to overcome personally?
    My love for food, really. Because eating junk food and loving it has been a habit for more than 20 years of my life, it was difficult not to suddenly have a craving for potato chips or sausage, or rich, creamy desserts. It doesn’t help that I love experimenting in the kitchen too! I eventually learned that it was okay to treat myself to a small portion of those every once in a while, remembering also that I’ll need to work it off later by being extra good with my daily choice of foods, as well as working out.

    8. What drives you to get healthy?
    It was the realisation that my parents were growing old that became one of the major pushing forces for me, because it made me understand that my health was not only a responsibility to myself, but also a responsibility to them, as well as other loved ones in my life; I need to keep myself healthy because they’d eventually need my care, or at least, even if they’ll stay healthy all the way till 90 and didn’t need me to care for them, at least I’d be one less thing they need to worry about if I stayed healthy.


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    9. Who do you look up to and why?
    I look up to anyone who takes their health and fitness seriously. It can be that chubby girl that’s on the treadmill in the gym 3 times a week, or it can be the other girl who’s seriously ripped, but still goes on lifting weights to get stronger. Effort, determination and a strong heart are things that are worth looking up to.

    10. Favorite quote and why.
    ” I may not be there yet, but I am closer than I was yesterday.” It’s something I have to tell myself everyday as an encouragement, because there will be times when I feel like I’m getting nowhere with my workouts (because it is normal to hit a weight loss plateau from time to time), but telling myself that will help me keep on doing what I do, and push through the plateau periods to reach further fitness goals.

    You can connect with her here:
    email: asonginherheart@gmail.com
    twitter: @eilvane
    instagram: @eilvane

  • Are you flowing in, or flowing out?

    [wide]Horseshoe_Bend_HDR[/wide] Photograph by J0ch3N89

    Sometimes I forget that while I’m a permahappy tropical island-bred Brady Buncher with high-brow tastes and low-brow needs, I’m also a Gotham-infused badass with a geekcore and a penchant for literary expressionism.

    I try to kill that complex character in favor of a simpler life experience — you know, for one that people look happy being and doing. So craft a more marketable and commercially-acceptable personal brand I do (as to not stick out), but when I am left with nothing else but my heart, mind and soul to fend for itself, I see glimpses of the person I try to snub out…

    That undefinable, un-categorizable, other-culture subject, dressed-in-conventional-clothing humanoid forcing herself to be normal, when what I really am, is anything but. When I’m reminded of this, everything that happened or is happening begins to make complete sense.

    Someone once said I’m too fluid to hold, but rivers flow just fine along its banks.

    Maybe I’ve been looking for containers to flow into, when what I ought to be doing is just flow… outward.

    Then maybe one day, I’ll see that I’m a river that has carved a bank to guide my stream.

    What about you? Are you flowing in or flowing out?

    P/S: This piece is inspired by this track.

  • Getting Measured for Bust Size (Mabuhay from Manila!)

    I’m in Manila. It’s not important why I’m in Manila, but it has been awesome for the past 13 hours. The city that I once passed by on my way to Honolulu has changed a lot since. 🙂

    For one, we went midnight shopping at Resorts World last night, and I stumbled upon a La Senza, a Spanish lingerie shop.
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    Since losing all that weight, I haven’t actually changed my brassieres and panties. For one, there was no real need to because I had bought a whole bunch earlier last year and they’re all in amazing condition. For seconds, I just don’t do “Ah Lian” lingerie, which is the only type they sell in Kota Kinabalu unless you go super-luxury.

    The bras at La Senza in the Philippines are on sale at 495 Pesos each (Approximately RM36), and I couldn’t resist myself. I was looking for my old size, then reeled back, realizing I’m now a different size. I told the sales girl that I’m not sure what I should wear anymore, because things have changed.

    “Do you want me to measure you?,” she asked.

    I agreed, and she pulls out a measuring tape. She looped the tape around my chest area below the bust-line and it read 33. She then, looped it over my bumps and it read 37 with my bra on.

    “You need a 36B,” she said.

    “Really? Okay, I’ll go try it on for size.”

    Fits PERFECTLY.

    So I am now a 36B and wear small sized undies. I guess that means I have lovely lady lumps and literally, a small ass.

    Old Habits Die Hard

    The weirdest part about the the window-shopping process is that I naturally always go look for L sizes. But after holding it up against by body in the mirror, they just look like clothes for pregnant women on me. It’s been weird to see that even some M sizes are too big on my new frame.

    How does it feel?

    FANTASTIC.

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    Because I used to stress out about not being able to find my size, because actually, (here’s some insight for you) there are just as many women who wear L and XL sizes as they are Ms.

    More significantly, it feels great because now all of a sudden, I have more choices of clothes to wear. I can now look at something and say, “Oh that looks soooo cute. I wanna try that on.”

    And when I do try them on, it actually looks good.
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    It is not all bent out of shape to follow a figure that desperately fights hard to no be out of shape. When I was 85kgs, I was round, but I had shape. But the clothes desperately tried to make me look as good as possible, and sometimes it would fail.

    Now, the clothes brings out and shows my figure.

    In the past, the clothes hid my imperfections. Now clothes celebrate my assets.

    So are you going to work in a 30 minute workout today? Because that can make all the difference! 😉

  • Happy New Year: How I Kicked 2012 In the Butt

    December was an intense month for me. I did however fit in walks and light jogging in the early mornings, and sometimes also some stray Crossfit sessions in the evenings.
    [wide]morningwalks[/wide] I experienced my first Crossfit-induced DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) that took a week to go away, doing my brother’s workout below:-

    Warm-up: 10 inch worms, 10 arm rotations, 10 v tucks, 10 push ups, 10 squats, 10 lunges, 10 x 2 leg swings, 10 jumping jacks. Workout: 30 secs of 3kg arm thruster squats x 2, 30 secs leg lifts, 30 secs planking, 30 secs sit ups – 5 glorious SETS.

    It hurt so much it felt like I climbed Mt. Kinabalu!

    Did I lose any weight? Nope. Actually I gained some. But lost all of it back within a week after Christmas and am back on track.

    Unexpected Scatological Experiences

    I had a really weird week leading up to Christmas where I compulsively ate everything (even stuff I never touched when I was a ball), because I was lamenting about life’s shitty cards that could essentially steer my entire life in a new direction.

    Later a friend noted that it was “emotional eating.”

    What a scary experience that was. On the last Sunday leading to Christmas, I ate so much I couldn’t breathe I had to leave a children’s christmas party. It was so bad I couldn’t even prop my body straight and walked like I had osteoporosis.

    In short, I was stressed out and grieving about the changes I didn’t want happen in my life. But life is life, and change it always will.

    How I Dealt With It

    In an effort to avoid from drowning, I buried myself in Joel Osteen sermons, bought 15 books, borrowed 5 and read/finished 10 of them. I read so much I began thinking maybe speed-reading was a talent I could develop with more research.

    December was about how I realized I was putting the oxygen mask on everybody I loved without first putting one on myself first. It was a battle cry to practice radical self-love amidst my desire to be a blessing to others.

    I was hanging on a thread, unsure about why giving had its limits. I felt emotionally exhausted. That one can give so much away that there’s nothing left for the self. I was burnt out from playing multiple roles to everybody I loved who had a lack of some sort; loneliness, aging, financial woes, depression, lack of love, and in the process, totally ignored my own needs.

    I thought I was strong enough to fill the void for other people and still help make the world a better place.

    Meanwhile, I had two visitors and made a short trip to Sandakan for the first time since I was 12 years old. I also caught a cold in the process, and was wedged in an unpleasant drama involving people whose issues do not involve me — while I was sick, run down, and on vacation while I was sick.

    And to top it all off, I missed my flight and blew some more money trying to get home yesterday. But at this point, life’s ridiculous hammering had tipped me way over the frustration or anger line. It just became funny. Like dying in a pool of feces because I accidentally fell into a sewer, a lá Mel Brooks style.

    The only thing that made sense was to laugh about it and trust that the reason for the interjecting string of bad luck (amidst some good) will later reveal itself.

    And that is the reason why you were made to wait to witness my next goal of wearing a bikini with abs that you can bounce coins off of. But through all of this, I managed to maintain my weight, plot my life wheel, and plan my new year to be an absolute blast, as long as God blesses those plans.

    I’m optimistic about 2013, and though I have no idea how I am going to finance my dreams yet, I will go at it like a free-spirited, cheerful and valiant horse toward 2014.

    Don’t wait for a miracle, be the miracle!

    This year, I will be mindful to leave the past behind, and embrace every moment like the miracle it is.

    bethemiracle
    P/S: Reading this now…

    Little tiny miracles just like the one that happened yesterday evening. I tapped miss grumpy stewardess on her arm, and told her how nice her makeup was — even though my initial impulse was to dismiss her as miss biatchy. She looked relieved, thanked me several times with an uncontainable crack of a smile, and that probably changed her evening.

    So it has been revealed. That might have been why I needed to miss my first flight. One, to help miss grumpy feel better, and two, for me to practice making the world a better place. I did everybody behind my row a huge favor… they didn’t have to see someone pull a “life sucks” face. Plus I had 5 more hours bonding with a good friend, who is a blessing to me.

    I also conquered my previously-crippling fear of flying in a small plane, the ATR 72-500 (my first).

    Fitting Into the Skinniest Dress I Own

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    On December 31st, 2012, I finally was able to comfortably wear the skinny designer dress I bought 2 years ago in Australia.

    This is my skinniest dress since 1996! I have nothing else that is tighter or smaller.

    I bought it because I loved it so much, it was still in season and on ridiculous sale, even though I couldn’t zip it up for 2 years.

    I told myself I’d lose weight to fit into it somehow, and that’s exactly what I did — lose 35 lbs to wear that dress.

    So even though I had curve balls thrown at me, I am REALLY happy about reaching this goal.

    My little tip to get your year started would be to always find the good in every stinking situation. It’s there. You just have to look for it. If it’s not there, you’re there – and you’re the good you’re looking for.

    I hope you will join me in my quest to practice radical self-care and to be a miracle whenever the right opportunity presents itself.

    And don’t forget how lucky you are to have eyes to read this post, which incidentally are also the organs you use to look at breathtaking sunsets and smiling babies. 🙂

    HAPPY NEW YEAR!

  • Video : Weight Loss Tips For You

    I thought I’d do something a little different today. A video update!

    [wide][/wide] Here are some weight loss tips as well as me showing off my Size 6 pants. Gonna have breakfast now. Hope you have a good weekend! 🙂

  • The Importance of Strength Training For Weight Loss

    I have to admit. I hate, hate, hate hated, hated, hated doing weights. I believe women were created to be graceful beings, and carrying heavy things just makes my face twists like godzilla in pain.

    Which is why I did little or no strength training to lose my famous 15kgs of lardy baggage. But when you go from an inflated 84kgs to 69kgs, your body shrinks in size but the envelope doesn’t shrink at the same rate. The result is soft, saggy and untoned excess skin.

    The bigger you are and more rapid your weight loss, the more saggy your skin.

    So after consulting my friend Sam who owns a gym and is an ACE certified personal trainer, he told me the only way I was going to achieve my goal of having a tight little sexy body is to do strength training. No exceptions.

    Ahh, really?! Do I really have to? Ughhh.. fine!

    Because I want that tight little sexy body, I began to do some strength training (hated every minute of the first week of it).

    So after about two weeks of working in some weights, pushups, ring rows, etcetera, I started to see the flappy tightening.

    And the truth is, I’m beginning to love that I’m getting physically stronger too (in a graceful way of course), so naturally am enjoying the training now.

    I wanted to show you what I look like today after 2 weeks of strength training (see above). Whaddya think? Tight little sexy body coming soon?

    Oh, and if you live in Kota Kinabalu and are interested in learning the proper techniques or start a personal training program (you see faster results), you should definitely give Core Fitness a try. They have a 7-day trial, which gives you a pretty good idea on what you’re getting yourself into.

    Here’s an article on how to lose weight without getting saggy skin. Don’t lose weight too fast (I was pushing it a little, which is why I’m slowing it down), or your skin will not be able to get back to its tight form.

    So that’s it for my second tip of the day!

    Have a GREAT WEEKEND folks!