Mauie Flores

The 4th week of of C-Lium Lose More, Live More challenge has been both the most anticipated and most dreaded week. This week, we all meet again, together with Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition Season 1 finalists, Art Mendoza and Angela Lupangco, at CrossFit Manila in Taguig. Thinking about CrossFit weeks before that sent me the shivers because I knew that it would be thrice as intense as the MetaFIT routine I've been doing.


Similiar to MetaFIT, CrossFit is a fitness program that has a variety of exercises that are repeated over a span of time. Typically, CrossFit training does not go beyond 30 minutes. Our work-out session, on the other hand, consisted of 7 repetitions each of Wall Balls, Push-ups, Box Jumps, and Burpees all done over and over for 10 minutes.

Not surprisingly, I was only able to do the exercises for 5 minutes since I was used to doing 4-minute MetaFIT exercises. The right side of my tummy (just below the ribs)ached and I was panting like crazy. I was told that this happens when you're over-hydrated and I immediately blamed the Venti-sized Starbucks Cool Lime I drank while on the road to the CrossFit gym hahaha!


After the session, we had lunch at Kuya's at the Fort where we also met, Nadine Tengco, resident nutritionist and chef of Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition. She taught us that, contrary to popular belief, diet fads may make us fat. An efficient weight loss program should be one that aims to keep the blood sugar levels steady. If blood sugar dips below 40 mg/dL, metabolism is downshifted. Dieting slows down metabolism and shifts into survival mode. Starving yourself will only make you store fat more because the body prepares itself for survival.

Stress also directly affects our weight. Stress releases cortisol which makes the body store more fat especially in the abdominal area. Cortisol causes fat to be distributed more around the internal organs which are mostly found in the belly. Of course, by now we know that the larger your waistline is, the higher the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Further more, Ms. Nadine taught us these essential rules in weight loss:

1. Frequency - Eat every 3 to 4 hours to maintain blood sugar constant. .
2. Quality - The food that you eat should be:
• Nutrient dense - It should have more nutrients and less calories.
• Volume metric - It should have more amounts of water and fiber to help you avoid hunger pangs.
• Whole foods - It should be unprocessed. Fresh, raw, or home-cooked should be your priority so forget about fastfoods, processed meat, and canned goods.
• Foods that slow down digestion - Keeping the blood sugar constant means slowing down the digestion of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are digested an hour after a meal, protein in 2 hours, and fat in 5-6 hours. Fiber slows down digestion so it is essential to have fiber in every meal.
3. Quantity - You can have three 350 calorie meals and 100-200 calorie snacks a day.

We were also reminded to always eat carbohydrates with protein, especially for diabetics. Among all nutrients, protein is the most satiating thus you tend to get less hungry. Also, during digestion, protein is transformed into amino acids that make new body proteins. These body proteins build muscles, increase metabolism, and fight fat. In other words, eating protein is as important as having carbohydrates in every meal for optimum weight loss.  Dieting  should also always have the right mix of the Fat Fighting Four: Vitamin D, Calcium, Omega-3 and Fiber.



Lastly, Ms. Nadine taught us two healthy recipes of hers. One is a post-workout snack and the other, healthy Tex-Mex Nachos. Both recipes have C-Lium Fibre and its versatility was a big revelation for me.  I never knew that you could use C-Lium Fibre other than drinking it straight from the glass with water.  I even used it to thicken my boy's chicken gravy, hehe. I'll be updating this post with the links of the recipes so stay tuned!

Did you like my post? CLICK THIS to have my posts delivered straight to your email inbox.