How I Lost Weight + Tips

I'm constantly asked: How are you so thin? WHY are you so thin? Do you even eat!?

First of all, I never miss a meal. And well...I wasn’t born like this. In fact, I was a very BIG child. I had rolls over rolls. Literally. My mom's friends would even call me "Tendo Yoshimi", because I looked so much like her. I was often mistaken as the older sister, just because I was bigger than my brother. As I gotten older, I wasn’t as big as I was, but I was quite chubby. I never had a problem with being chubby at first, but I was made fun of and at the same time, I really had to think about my eating habits. I often drank soda and pigged out on all sorts of snacks while watching TV or sitting around doing nothing. That consistently happened all the way up to junior high school. I was very insecured about myself. I didn't even like getting my pictures taken (if I had a picture of that time, I'd post it, but I don't have any. I'll ask my mom to send some and I'll update this post if I receive any).

That's when it hit me. Once I started high school, I decided to make it an opportunity to be active. Freshman year, I played soccer, had PE, hip hop dance class and a detective/security class -- which was SO hard with all the intense training which was literally like boot camp, so I did it only for a year. Sophomore year, I had PE, and instead of hip hop dance, my friend suggested me to take folklorico with them (a Mexican dance). OMG I was the only lost white girl, but surprisingly, it was a lot of fun! Everyone worked so well together, but I didn’t want to continue it. So in junior year, I had PE, went back to hip hop dance and started musical theater (which does involve a lot of moving around). Finally, in senior year I only did PE and dance. For four straight years, I had kept with a very active schedule, improved on my eating habits and managed to lose weight. Not to mention my body was so toned! I don’t now, but I did have an amazing 6-pack! Not gonna lie LOL.

After graduating, I wasn’t crazy active as I was in high school, but I didn’t want to stop just because I no longer did those activities. So during my college years I did dancing and workouts at my own home, and kept away from fast food.

Moving to Japan for the first year I wasn’t that active since I just got here there were so much to do. But once or twice a week I would go to a big park nearby and ran for an hour on the track. I moved locations again, so I had to change lifestyle yet again. Japan is full of healthy, fresh food, which makes it easier for me to live a healthier lifestyle. And almost EVERYONE is active (including the older people). It has given me more motivation watching Japanese people. They really push themselves and almost everyone I meet are in amazing shape.

Right now I still eat as healthy as I can, but considering I have a busy schedule than what I had compared to when I was living in the states, I don’t go to the gym often. I go once a week now (or on holidays), I’ve been wanting to go twice or three times but it’s hard to fit in my schedule right now. Same goes with dancing. So to make up for that, I go running every night in the neighborhood! Problem is that I haven’t gone running for months because it was super cold here. But! I just recently got back into it since it's gotten a little warmer. Which leads to another question: Why are you still in good shape even after going to the gym/dance once a week and not running for months? Well, I walk. I do a lot of walking to get to certain destinations. That's the great thing about Japan, there's always people walking. I think shopping really helps with the workout too, because when it comes to shopping, there’s a lot of walking involved! In general, I just try to find excuses to move my body. I do drink alcohol. It’s nice to drink it after a long day of work with other people. Nothing harmful, I do limit myself. I honestly think you don’t HAVE to stop eating or drinking everything that’s bad for you. You just need to know your limit; the portion you’re taking in and to not make it constantly all day everyday. There may be times where you throw something away completely in the process. I was in LOVE with Coca Cola once. But I stopped drinking it in junior high school thanks to my aunt. During that time I had REALLY bad acne and she said that maybe the cause of that could partially be soda. So I quit soda ever since. Just the other day, I drank Coca Cola for the first time in years, and I HATED it. I just can’t stand the taste anymore. Daily, I take down a lot of water. Water is also good for your skin. Not only for weight purposes, but I’ve also been trying to keep healthy for my skin. I still have acne, I’ve always had acne problems, but it isn’t as bad as it once was. I try to take proper care of it.

I don’t have the perfect body. I don’t believe I do, and I don’t want you guys to believe it either. I just want to live a well-balanced life, and take better care of my body. Plus, it makes me feel good! So, I don’t want to be that kind of person giving advice, because some routines don’t work out with everyone. The routine I’m doing may not even work for you, but even if it doesn’t, try to find your routine if you want a healthier lifestyle. There’s always going to be something that will work for you. You just gotta work hard and find it. It doesn’t come that easy.