Confidence Booster #2: Exercise

Yes, people. Exercise does not only burn calories, it ignites self confidence, too. :)

When I was a freshmen in college, I lost a lot of weight because of my braces. I didn't do any dieting or exercise. It was a surprise weight loss even for me. I was happy. I fitted in my old clothes without having to worry about a belly bulge. I ate a lot and didn't gain much of a weight

until the inevitable happened

I guess our body has a natural (and very treacherous) way of dealing with eating habits. During my sophomore year, I started to gain a lot of weight. It started when we went to Cebu and ate loads of food. When I noticed I don't fit in my old uniform anymore, I shrugged it off thinking "Oh, maybe the body will decide to burn the calories itself. I'm not going to worry." But the body didn't and my sophomore year stress made me eat more junk foods. I didn't really mind people calling me "chubby" because I know it was the truth. The word never really hurt my confidence. What made me feel bad about myself is that I know I'm eating a lot of junk and I'm not stupid not to know that these junk would definitely add calories to my body. I felt "heavy" inside. I would spend a lot of time in the mirror looking at my very obvious belly bulge and then tell myself "I have to lose this. I have to. I will start exercise tomorrow." But like any other girl who promised herself an exercise, it was always postponed.

until the motivation came

There came a point when I said to myself, "Well, I need to be serious with losing weight!" I set a goal for myself. During that time, we were preparing for a Young Adult Dance. My Tita had this really beautiful dress with a slim waist and a medium armhole. I wanted to wear this to the dance, I told myself. When I tried it, ahhhh, the belly bulge grabbed the spotlight and my arms were screaming "Dang, I can't breathe!" So, I decided to finally get into serious business with trimming down.

All I did was to perform some dance exercises. For 15 minutes a day, I did some high intensity dance work-outs. I loved them. I then discovered one thing from it. When I do exercises, when I sweat, when I push myself, I feel a lot lighter (and not just physically). I felt like I was the master of myself and it comforted me that I was able to shed off some bad calories. Plus, working out gives me a natural glow. I can't even explain why. But, to cut the story short, I got my confidence again. I know I'm on my way to being lean and healthy. As a result, I got to fit into the dress. Ha!

Currently, I am active in doing various exercise depending on the time available. If I feel like it, I do Zumba, or follow some exercise videos in Youtube, but my favorite of all is Les Mill's Body Combat. It's like kickboxing. :)

There was a time when I shared the exercise to one of my classmates, Bryan. When one of our friends saw that he plans to exercise, she said "Maniwang ka man na Bry?" (trans: Will you lose weight from that?) and to that he answered "Weng, exercise is not just to lose weight. It's about feeling good about yourself!" and I agree with him!

The saying that goes "You're beautiful no matter what" is true. Nothing is wrong with being chubby or being overweight. But don't let that saying justify you for not improving yourself. Exercise and feel good. So what if you don't immediately lose weight from it? What's important is you'll feel good about yourself and that shows you're committed to become a better you. :)