Despite several invitations to do free trials or work out for free in different gyms in the past, I'd always end up forgetting where I placed the gift certificates or throw the cards away outright. I couldn't imagine myself slaving away on all those huge exercise equipment that I knew most gyms have. In my mind, I've always thought that staying active through regular walks and doing house chores would be enough. I tried running a few times and was even "dragged" by hubby to join one race (story here) a few months ago but it only convinced me further that activities like those are not for me.
When I attended a Del Monte event sometime last month, a couple of blogger friends encouraged me to sign up for the Fit 'N Right challenge. This entails working out at Gold's Gym for one whole month while drinking a bottle of Del Monte Fit 'N Right once a day. I was really hesitant to fill out the form because, again, it was hard to imagine myself hopping from one gym machine to another. But, since the initial measurements taken indicated that I have excess body fat, I caved in.
Still, doubts kept creeping up on me the rest of the day. If I do start going to the gym, albeit for just one month, would I be able to fit those visits in my already seemingly full schedule? By the next morning, I almost forgot about joining the challenge until a delivery guy showed up in front of our house that afternoon and left me with two cases (48 bottles) of Del Monte Fit 'N Right drinks. There was no way I could back out now!
Thankfully, Jeman Villanueva of Orange Magazine TV, another challenger, also lives in Alabang and we both decided to be gym buddies as often as possible so we could cheer each other on. I knew I'd need a lot of encouragement to see this through because, just thinking of sweating it out in the gym and feeling the body aches after, made me want to just curl up in bed and sleep.
Jeman and I, along with Rod Magaru, our friend and fellow blogger who also signed up for the challenge, first visited Gold's Gym Glorietta on November 20 for an orientation with Chris, one of the trainers there. The next day, we got measured by Mark, another trainer, and were made to do some exercises to gauge how fit we are. I think I was out of breath even before we were even halfway through the list of stuff to do. Results? I was found to be underweight but mildly obese, which simply meant I have fats in the wrong places :p That kinda challenged me to shave them off by the time the four weeks is up.
And so our journey towards being fitter and healthier started. Jeman and I tried to schedule workouts before or after the events we cover. If we happen to be in the Ortigas area, we go to Gold's Gym in Robinson's Galleria. There were times we'd visit the Alabang branch during weekends. But, most of the time, we'd be in Makati either in Glorietta or Hotel Intercon which is quite small and have a lot less equipment than the other branches.
I didn't get to complete the exact 30 days because there would be instances when I really don't have time to go to the gym or I would not be up to it because my body would still be screaming in pain from a previous workout. My rough estimate would be, in the space of one month, I averaged around three to five visits to the gym per week.
Surprisingly, aside from enjoying a daily refreshing bottle of ice cold Del Monte Fit 'N Right (I made sure there's always at least one bottle in the ref every day), I found out that exercising could be addicting! I guess it must be the motivation of seeing other people determinedly pushing the limits of what their bodies can do and seeing results after a certain amount of time has passed. There were days I did look forward to working out and melting off those unwanted fats.
Two weeks into the program, I noticed my jeans have started to become looser, I could wear some old shirts again without feeling like a suman and I felt I have more energy when climbing stairs or lifting stuff. After a month, we had ourselves measured again. Although I was supposed to gain pounds, my weight remained the same but my arm and leg muscles have become firmer and, guess what, my body fat percentages decreased from 34.2 to 33.2 to 30.9! Yey!
According to Del Monte Fit 'N Right's The Science of Sexy, the discovery of more body-friendly food ingredients that make people avoid diseases while keeping one's weight down enabled health and well-being a simple yet oftentimes difficult choice to make.
Here's a basic formula we should all keep in mind: FAT equals Calories Consumed minus Calories Burned
In short, how much fat our bodies accumulate is determined by the caloric content of the food we eat versus the calories we burn through regular physical activities and exercise. Ergo, to lose weight and reduce fat mass, we have to increase physical activity to burn more fat and/or eat fewer calories.
One of the best lessons I learned from all these is that we need to be conscious about weight loss and maintaining the right weight by trying to work in little steps into our everyday lives. This means having at least 30 minutes of daily aerobic activity (jogging, climbing stairs, etc.) into our daily routines and lessening daily carbs intake.
Still, weight is not the only measure of fitness because muscle weighs heavier than fat. That holds true for me. My bet is that I developed more muscle during the one month workouts thus my weight didn't change and yet, I lost around 4% body fat.
Del Monte Fit 'N Right contains L-Carnitine, a fat burner that metabolizes calories the body takes in by converting fatty acids into energy. This beverage also contains Green Coffee Extract (GCE), a natural ingredient taken from unroasted (meaning not present in coffee we drink everyday as the beans have already been roasted) green coffee beans which blocks the body's absorption of sugar and results to less excess calories that can turn into fat. According to a clinical study, daily consumption of GCE has resulted to significant reduction in fat vs. L-Carnitine alone and vs. diet and exercise alone.
The New and Improved Del Monte Fit 'N Right harnesses the science of sexy and captured it in a bottle to amplify weight loss efforts. Its patented formulation results to greater overall fat loss than ever before, with just one bottle a day. Achieve a healthier and fitter body by trying Fit 'N Right for 30 days. Don't forget to combine this with some changes to your diet plus a little exercise and you'll see good results after one month. I did :)
No comments:
Post a Comment