Yacki's Track to Success, Pt. I

My mom gave birth to a calf. I weighed around 10 lbs. when I was born and it was difficult being a fat kid.

About 1 year old and able to hold an adult sized bowl of food.

Everyone gawks at the grossly chunky kid. None of my friends made fun of me (to my face), but I clearly recall this one time that everyone laughed hysterically when my ("friend") Alexander pulled down my gym sweatpants in the middle of the playground thereby exposing my grandma underwear and chubby legs. It was traumatizing.

This is me at age six with my only true friend, Ramona.

All the boys saw me as just a friend, but I wanted more. You might be wondering what an eight year old might have possibly known about dating. Here's some background: I was pretty much raised by my grandmother, who religiously tunes into Canal 41: Univision, a Hispanic channel that broadcasts some of the raunchiest soap operas. So, every birthday, I'd blow out my candles and wish for my papi chulo. My wishes didn't manifest themselves for a long, long time.

Why? Probably because I was a fatty. I wore size 11 jeans (at 5'2" then) and would soothe my insecurities by calling myself a curvaceous Latina (the only visible curves were the rolls on my torso). I began identifying myself as wholly Peruvian, and denied my Japanese descent for a few months. That transient phase ended after graduating middle school and entering high school where I found some White friends. My obsession with Lil' Wayne was replaced with one for the front man of Dashboard Confessional, Chris Carrabba.

Left: Lil' Wayne, Right: Chris Carrabba.

In my freshmen year of high school, I started taking better care of myself. I discovered make up and no longer looked like a little Asian boy in a dress.

This is me looking like a little Asian boy in a dress.

This was around the same time that my first boyfriend and I got together. Luckily, he wasn't a douche bag about my weight. I ended up giving rice (a key part of the Hispanic diet) and lost a few pounds, but still weighed around 155 lbs. I was fat and happy throughout high school until we broke up after three years of dating. I became a health fanatic and dropped to 130 lbs.

Unfortunately, the healthy mindset dissipated shortly after stepping into my current relationship. Luckily, my weight hasn't varied much from 130 lbs., but I'm FREAKING OUT now that summer's right around the corner. This happens every so often, especially when I want to procrastinate from things I should be focusing on (i.e. studying for my physical chemistry final that is in three days).

My goal for the next few weeks is to go down to 120 lbs.

My current statistics are as follows:
Height: 5'4"
Current Weight: 131 lbs.
Goal Weight: 120 lbs.
Frame: Medium

I have been keeping track of my calories for the past five days, and it was incredibly difficult for the first "three day hump" because I accidentally consumed a 700 calorie Mango Margarita from Blockheads that left me starving for actual nutrition. I intend on sharing some of my irrational fears, but mostly (I hope) interesting nutrition and biochemical facts with you guys.

Today's Lesson:
In my opinion, drinking light beer is futile. I discovered Heineken Light a few months ago through my best friend, and it was love at first taste, which was odd because I never really liked the taste of beer. However, Heinken Light had this almost soda like taste, which amused my soda-loving taste buds. Now, if you're out and about, dancing and drinking, you tend to want to get more and more inebriated as the night progresses. So, you purchase as many tasty beverages as necessary to get to this point. This amounts to several gratuitous dollars spent because turns out Heineken Light only has 3.5% alcohol content! This is false advertising, if you ask me. I can consume almost the same amount of ethanol from certain yogurts. So, go for shots, ladies. One shot (typically 1.5 oz) of most vodkas, gins, and whiskeys is about 95 calories and about 40% alcohol. You would have to purchase two Heineken Lights to consume this amount of alcohol, which is costing you about 200 calories, $14 (if each beer costs $6, +$1 tip/drink), a bloated tummy, and another fat roll. This applies to most light beers, which range from 3.5%-4% alcohol content.