A Coffeeholic's Secret..

Ok so yes I admit it. I have tried various ways of losing weight.. the easy way! I've tried various diets like Atkinson's Diet, the 7 Day Diet, and the before 6 PM diet. And well, nothing works! Or sticks rather. I mean, yeah I do lose several pounds but then it flatlines.

So basically, I had come to the point where I had to either shape up or gain more weight. With my brother's wedding looming ahead, I basically had to kick my butt into action and really do something to lose weight. It wasn't an easy choice, because honestly I HATE TO EXERCISE. With asthma and all, exercising is a pain. LITERALLY! Then my brother's fiancee suggested to us (me and my brother as well coz he's chunkier than me!) this new slimming coffee that she was using which helped her lose weight. I of course grabbed the opportunity!!!

COFFEE that helps you LOSE WEIGHT sounds too good to be true. But it worked wonders for me! I lost several inches off my waist and lost more than 20 pounds! All I had to do is drink the coffee 30 minutes before I have breakfast. I started drinking January 10 up til now. And the results were amazing!

The coffee helps suppresses my appetite, doesn't let the fat get absorbed by my body, and increases my metabolism. I had no diarrhea side effects. It did made me thirsty and sometimes I experienced headaches and nausea especially in the first few weeks but I didn't let that stop me from drinking the coffee. For motivation, all I had to do was stare at my reflection in the mirror! I still drank my regular cup of coffee afterwards, drank vitamins to supplement my less food intake, and ate lots of fruits and veggies to improve my diet.  My coworkers noticed the difference immediately when my tummy suddenly trimmed. And then my pants and clothes became looser and I felt lighter! People I know started to comment and compliment me on my drastic change of appearance.

Honestly, I had no idea that I was THAT overweight last January. I knew I was overweight but I lied and blinded myself to the fact that I was really REALLY over weight. I think I was at my heaviest at that time. Talking about my weight was a very sensitive subject for me. I get defensive, touchy, and sensitive whenever my weight or figure would come into the limelight. I used to just brush it all off with jokes and laughter but deep inside it was painful for me. So losing weight like this is really a victory for me. I never thought there will come a day where I will be willingly and publicly announce my weight. Yes, I was 154 pounds. For a 4'11" gal like me, thats a lot! And I tell you, watching my fat, my pounds, and my waistline melt away was so encouraging. After years of battling with the weighing scale... this really changed my life! I never thought that I'd be able to do this.. and in only 3 months time. And the best part of it all was, NO EXERCISE. Exercising has never been appealing to me because of my asthma. So there, now I'm 130 pounds. Proud and promises to self that I'll never go back to the old me! I know that I can't forever stay dependent on this coffee and I know that eventually I have to exercise (believe me I'm starting to opt for walking then commuting ever since I've lost weight!) more regularly and be more active. I know also that I have to arm myself with the proper knowledge of the right food to eat to keep healthy and slim. However, I am still grateful for this immediate reprieve that was given to me by this coffee. I think so far this has been the most personal post that I've made. And I'm glad that I finally shared this.

So there.. that's my lil secret.Wanna know exactly what it is? Let me know and I'll let you in the secret!

The Horrors of Asthma Attack

I hate getting sick. I hate getting stuck at home because I'm sick. Bedridden because I'm sick. Not able to go online because I'm sick. Yes, you heard me right! I hate getting sick especially when my asthma suddenly surfaces out of nowhere! 


So now that I'm stuck at home and disobeying the rule of "complete bedrest means no online activities!" I decided to research more about asthma. Honestly, I've had this since I was 10 years old but I haven't really paid much attention to it or armed myself with knowledge about it because the attacks are not that often anyway. According to the National Heart and Lung Institute, "Asthma (AZ-ma) is a chronic (long-term) lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways. Asthma causes recurring periods of wheezing (a whistling sound when you breathe), chest tightness, shortness of breath, and coughing. The coughing often occurs at night or early in the morning."

This describes exactly how I feel or experience whenever I have a major asthma attack. Its more like I feel I have a violin in my lungs which really is disturbing for me coz I can't sleep because I can hear myself wheezing. And wheezing is bad.. very bad!  It just means that I've got lots of phlegm or mucus in my lungs and this irritates my airway and is very bothersome. If you look at the picture, the airways get swell and inflame during an asthma attack which was probably triggered by inhaling irritants or due to the weather. Its not that difficult to describe the horror of inflamed lungs. It feels like someone tied up your chest/lungs giving you only a short space for breathing. You end up breathing through short gasping breaths. Plus you also feel as if you are drowning! So the tendency is I end up sleeping half seated and half lying down. Its really very uncomfortable. 


One of the most horrible asthma attacks that I experienced was when I was in my first year of college. I was over fatigued with the hassle of getting my clearance, grades, and lining up at super long lines in a hot and not well ventilated gym to sign up for a PE class. When I got home, I already wasn't feeling well and in the following morning, I could barely stand up nor breathe properly! I felt like my chest was going to explode in any minute.. the short breathing gasps that I was doing wasn't enough.. my oxygen intake was too low and my parents rushed me to the hospital! (Which is another thing that I hate, getting stuck in the hospital.. so boring!).  My asthma attack was so bad that I had to be injected with steroids to alleviate the pressure and inflammation of my lungs! I stayed there for a week until my breathing and my lungs were back to normal. And thank God that this has never happened again. I'm praying that I will never reach that stage again!


Now I have what we call 'maintenance" medication to "discourage"  asthma attacks before it even happens. My maintenance medication is called FLIXOTIDE and is an anti-asthma metered dose inhaler. I use it once every evening and it helps prevent asthma attack the following day. BUT when I do get a mild asthma attack, my first resort is the VENTOLIN inhaler which also is an anti-asthma inhaler but immediately arrests the attack. The only problem is when it can no longer suppress or stop the asthma attack. Thats when I have to use a Nebulizer, which is an air compressor machine which turns the asthma medication from liquid to a mist. This helps the medication to work faster. Which is now what I'm using at the moment and is also the main reason why I'm stuck at home. The nebulizer is too big and I can't very well lug it along with me to work right? Hopefully, I will be more ok by tonight so that I don't have to depend on the nebulizer for my medication any more and I can go to work tomorrow. 


So what I have learned from this attack? KNOW MY TRIGGERS. Since asthma can be avoided if you can avoid having it triggered, I should be armed with the proper knowledge and know-how on how to address or avoid my asthma triggers - which is basically, change of weather/temperature, over fatigue, allergens, and strong smells (like overpowering male perfume!). Here the old saying that "knowledge is power" comes in real handy. 


So there you have it! A little bit of asthma facts and triva and a little research has helped shoo away my boredom of being stuck at home as well. Now I'm off to bed for an afternoon nap to help regain strength and hopefully say bye bye to asthma in my dreams. :)

Social Networking Craze - a fad that stuck!

FACEBOOK has slowly taken over my net life. Seriously! My rare moments online are now being consumed by my fascination on my source of online relaxation, recreation, and socialization. The advent of social networking really has crossed over boundaries and society through leaps and bounds. Technology really grows and evolves so fast!

It was only 6-7 years ago when I opened my very first social network account while I was still in college. I was killing time during the hours in between classes. Ok so I don't kill time that often, I usually spend my "free time" either with my friends or at a library. But this was a rare semester where most of my friends had classes during my free time and well, I was fed up with the library (which was a rare occurrence being a bookworm and all!). So there I was surfing on the net huddled in my own little "space" in a dimly lit, poorly air conditioned, small room which was fitted with as many computers, tables, and chairs in what we call an internet shop/cafe. I had made my decision that I will succumb to the dictates of society.. yes, I will join the masses in their what I deemed as a "crazy fad" or the "in" thing to do which was to make a FRIENDSTER account. LOL. Yep, everyone that I knew (well most of my classmates anyway!) had or was in the process of making their own account. And being the dutiful social being that I was, I made one! And the rest is history!

It took time for the "fad" to become a normal part of our society. I knew that at that time, myspace was making waves around the world and was more widely known. But I decided that I would start with Friendster and probably branch out from there. During those times, just the fact that you have a place where you can show off your photos and message other people or friends were fine enough. Ha, I even remember the time when "comments" were called "testimonials." And like dutiful and obedient people, we really made honest to goodness testimonials about your friends--giving glowing and positive remarks about them. Then it evolved into a public inbox where people say stuff so that other people can see.

Then people wanted more "things" or "gadgets" to show off! Personalized layouts, widgets, music and video incorporated to their profiles. Myspace, Tagged, Multiply, Hi-5 (not the kid show! LOL), and eventually FACEBOOK surfaced to address the clamor, demand, and "needs" of users. And I'm just so much amazed with how things have changed and improved since that time.

The only problem now is how to STOP from visiting all these sites and maintaining all of them! I solved one of the problems by basically dropping all of the other accounts that I made and stuck to the one that served all my preferences. FACEBOOK. It has the works! It connects me to my friends, it has games that I enjoyed (I know that they started the trend which the others picked up!), and I can control my privacy and at the same time show my public photo albums. I'm pretty much sure most of you have found old old friends in one of the social network sites that you have an account with. Its one of the awesome benefits that I got because of Facebook and the like. Now I have also slowly adopted the strategy to reach out to my students using Facebook. I can get to them faster using this tool! The downside is, I find out a lot of things about them which sometimes I prefer NOT to. LOL.

Anyway, what I basically want to say is that I'm grateful for technology and the evolution of how people can communicate faster than before. And with this gratefulness also comes the awareness of the possible dangers people face while using networks such as this. So my advice is enjoy it but at the same time keep your eyes wide open and make sure that you know what you are doing before you post, say, or do something that you will later on regret or cause you trouble.

Now back to my Facebook games. :)