My Accidental Weight Loss and Update on Hip-Hop Abs

Hi everyone,

If you have been following me on Twitter, you already knew the drama surrounding the removal of my wisdom teeth. Last month, I tweeted quite excessively about it and luckily, some of my followers already did the procedure. They ensured me it was a piece of cake and they were right. I removed two wisdom teeth from my lower jaw and the procedure was painless. I did not feel a thing as the dentist pumped me with anesthesia. However, the pain before and after that was quite something. I was unable to chew solid food for a month. As a result, I lost 6 lbs!

However, that was not just it. During the time, I had to rely on soup and it was not plenty. The first week was painful. I could not even chew properly and my stomach was growling for more food while my mouth could not function. Then, the second and the third week, my stomach got used to having less food and as a result, it did not make so much noise.

Now that I can eat properly, my stomach still does not want me to take in a lot of food. I probably eat 1/2 of what I used to do half a year ago. My clothes fit me better and some are even loose. I guess I can't hate my wisdom teeth so much for that. Which leads to the biggest revelation of the year so far:

Believe it or not, I have never been a believer of limiting calorie intake and dieting. Every single time I tried to diet, I failed. I was miserable. I was grumpy. Diet is a four-letter word to me. It is ugly and it is vile. However, I do believe in exercising but the results I had were not that good.

Then, I bumped into this and lost 6 lbs without even trying! Now, I believe in restricting calorie intake in order to lose weight. However, the trick is to do it slowly so your body does not notice the change and starts fighting against it.

You see, the body is clever. As soon as it feels starved, hibernation mode kicks in. Instead of using the energy from food for your everyday activities, the body converts it to fat as it is the energy storage unit in our bodies. I have made this mistake so many times before. I exercised but did not eat enough only to find myself feeling fatigued while having a pouchy stomach. It was the weirdest thing ever!

Which also leads to another point: the way you eat does matter. Before, I was loaded with carbs. Now, I eat less carb, more vegetables and protein. My stomach feels fine and I have enough energy to exercise and do everything else.

This finding was inspired by my friend Trisha who has lost a lot of weight on NutriSystem. I have read her weight loss journey and realized that she does eat regular food and even has desserts and pizza! Her food intake is a combination of delivered NutriSystem meals and lots of steamed vegetables. So far, Trisha is doing fine and I was inspired by her veggies to eat my own :)

Also, I would like to say something about Hip-Hop Abs before we leave for the day. A few readers have been asking me about its effectiveness. So far, I am in week 2 and it does take me by surprise today. Before I started this month-long schedule, I did a trial of it and was not interested. Compared to Zumba, Hip Hop Abs is a lot easier. The workouts are shorter and I did not seem to sweat as much. I thought it was a joke but since its creator Shaun T is so adorable, I decided to give it a try anyways.

Today, I had a "holy mother of cow!" moment while standing side way in front of a mirror. My stomach looked considerably flatter than it used to be. Forget about the six-pack abs, mine was two: one roll of fat on top of another.  Now, while standing up, the rolls are no longer visible. Instead, there's this beautiful flat stomach that I haven't seen in years! (However, do not mistake that I look like Gisele Bunchen or anything. There's still fat but the fat no longer spreads out in rolls!)

With Hip-Hop Abs, I don't need to do any crunches. Yet, the whole workout is full of vertical crunches if done correctly. So far, I don't feel sore but it does take a toll on my knees after exercising. However, that's not severe since I stretch myself out after each and every single time I work out.

If you have any questions about Hip-Hop Abs, please let me know. It is a good workout and only two weeks, I've notice results already, which is rare to me.

I guess I should end my rambling for now. If you make it this far, thank you for reading!

With love,
Dao xoxo

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