***This is an article written in collaboration with WeAreSoleSisters.

It is a vacation after all; so, temporarily forgetting your diet is totally forgivable, right?

I can always work out and diet when I get back. This is what I would usually tell myself before every trip, only to be met by a horror show stepping onto the scale the moment I get back.

(But holidays are for relaxing! And I LOVE food!?)

I have seen people grow crazy trying to count calories. At one point, I did the same. Being on a balanced diet does not mean you should starve yourself.

I have seen people grow crazy trying to count calories. At one point, I did the same. Being on a balanced diet does not mean you should starve yourself. In fact, I choose to eat high quality food every three hours, with 300-400 calories per meal. This ensures that my metabolism is continually working to burn, my blood sugar remains stable, and I am getting nutrients for my body to properly function.

Have you heard the saying that “a Calorie is a Calorie”? Will eating 1500 calories of processed food and sugar produce the same effect as eating 1500 calories of a balanced, high quality meal?

Have you heard the saying that “a Calorie is a Calorie”? It argues that eating below your caloric intake, no matter what you put in your mouth, is enough to support your weight goals. For many, 100 calories of candy and 100 calories of broccoli will produce the same effect on your weight. Will eating 1500 calories of processed food and sugar produce the same effect as eating 1500 calories of a balanced, high quality meal?

When one speaks of malnutrition, what comes to mind is usually those who do have less than 3 meals per  day, thereby lacking nutrients for proper bodily function. On the other hand, does this mean that a person whose diet has an abundance of food is not malnourished? Overnourishment, as it is coined, is actually a form of malnutrition. By supplying your body with too much nutrients, this can actually be counterproductive to your body’s normal growth, function and metabolism. In truth, malnutrition can actually be an undersupply (undernutrition) or oversupply (overnutrition) of nutrients.

In my fitness journey, I have tried pretty much every type of diet. Some fad diets initially produce dramatic results, yet what are its long term effects? Are the results from these fad diets sustainable?

Types of Fad Diets

1. Low Calorie Diet (i.e. Cohen Diet)

When you do not get enough calories in your body, your body will go into starvation mode.

Rationale: Eating a low calorie diet (less than 1200 calories, some even reach as low as 600) is below the amount of calories needed a day to function. Naturally, when you take fewer calories than what you burn in a day, you will lose weight. Cohen’s Express Meal Plan can go as low as 600 calories per day.

My Experience: I was always dizzy and hungry; because, I was eating less than what my body needed.

Long Term Effect: Being on a prolonged low calorie diet will burn muscle to compensate for calories needed for the body to function.  This can also slow down your metabolism, making your body store more fat, instead of burning it.

When I pair it with any protein and vegetable, I do not feel like I am depriving myself of a good meal. In fact, kamote can leave you feeling full even just by eating half a cup of it (only about 60 calories per half cup!).

One thing that I do dislike about kamote is the earthy and crumbly texture that can leave a certain aftertaste in your mouth. Some people choose to eat kamote as a snack. As my rice replacement, I decided to make kamote into mashed potatoes. This takes out the somewhat undesirable texture in the mouth. When I pair it with any protein and vegetable, I do not feel like I am depriving myself of a good meal. In fact, kamote can leave you feeling full even just by eating half a cup of it (only about 60 calories per half cup!). The process of making mashed sweet potatoes is very simple.

Mashed potato came to mind as a rice replacement, yet I wanted a cheap alternative and something easily found in the Philippines. Luckily, I found this “lowly” rice replacement.

When my blood sugar level became pre-diabetic, (Read: Body Mythconceptions: Revelations, Then & Now) I looked for ways to control spikes in my sugar level. For diabetics, rice was not a healthy option. I knew I had to give it up along with white bread. This was quite a challenge for me, as I loved rice in a country with rice as its staple. Every restaurant or canteen in the country serves rice.

I knew I had to stop eating rice, when I noticed my hands were sometimes numb and I was always dizzy and low on energy. Mashed potato came to mind as a rice replacement, yet I wanted a cheap alternative and something easily found in the country. Luckily, I found this “lowly” rice replacement: sweet potato or kamote. How could something so “poor” be so rich in nutrients?

Realizing the need for a healthy diet,  proper exercise— and a positive mindset has allowed me to make realistic fitness goals for myself.

My fitness journey was not always smooth. There were some bad habits and misconceptions about my body that kept me from progressing. Realizing the need for a healthy diet,  proper exercise– and a positive mindset has allowed me to make realistic fitness goals for myself. So, here are a few of my “mythconceptions.”

Mythconception 1: It’s all in the weight.

THEN: The weighing scale was the ideal measure of how “fat” I was.

There was a time in college, when I dropped down to 104 lbs. That was very much below my ideal weight, yet I seemed to think that I was happy. I was not exercising, and I was on my “see food” diet. Hey, I was still losing weight. Obviously, this would leave my friends in awe. My so-called skinniness did not last long. I noticed that I was experiencing muscle atrophy, which made me initially look slimmer, yet my body was starting to store fat as a response to my lack of regular meals. Soon enough, I was not only putting on the pounds, but also gaining inches.