Well, don't worry... it's not gonna be.

This is gonna be an awesome, positive video

that's gonna get you, like, pumped up for the day. Gonna pump you up!

Simon, don't we have some emotional story we could tell everybody,

just before this video starts?

(Simon: Did you know about our grandma?)

Recently my grandma neighbour went to a temple,

and when she went to the temple she bought me a special charm,

and the special charm is to help people with feet and joint problems,

and it's these little tiny geta slipper sandals that are rainbow--

just like the rainbow ladder support squad--

It has a little bell and I put it on my cane, and when I walk it jingles! AHHH

So today I'm gonna talk about my weight loss,

and the reason I'm making this video is because

our sponsors from the rainbow ladder support team-- I actually asked them

in a video if they were interested in me talking about my weight loss,

and they said that they were, so thank you to you guys for encouraging me,

because here I am making this video,

and I AM wearing cat ears because I need them for support. *fart sound effect*

They make me feel cuter.

So last year in Japan, I was weighing, at my heaviest, 178 pounds,

and I was definitely way too heavy. Now, when I say that I'm too heavy,

I don't mean that I was looking at pictures of other girls and going, "Gosh, I wish I looked like them."

It wasn't anything to do with that.

The reason I say I was too heavy is because-- a lot of you might already know that I have EDS--

and with this condition, any kind of excess weight that I am carrying

and pushing down on my joints is not good for me.

The heavier I was, the more pain I was in.

And I actually was trying to go to the gym, but as my EDS has gotten worse

there's been a lot of things that have been taken away from me.

If any of you have chronic conditions or chronic diseases,

you will know what it feels like to kind of grieve over your old self.

So there's a lot of stuff I can't do anymore. Like, I'm not allowed to go snowboarding...

I went to the gym and I actually really injured myself and ended up making it worse.

And so the doctor was like, "There's no way you can go to the gym."

The most I can do is like, go to the swimming pool and walk.

And I remember last year I went to swimming pool for the first time

and I was walking with all the other old people

and I just, like, started crying my eyes out.

I said this wasn't gonna be sad, but... (Simon: *laugh*) ...it's a little bit sad.

But I just felt like I was looking over all these people that were like, swimming...

and like, I love to swim, but I am not allowed to do that.

So it was a really big kind of grieving time period for me to realize that,

"Okay Martina, your EDS is getting worse. There's nothing you can do about this,"

but I wasn't really dealing with it very well.

I love eating,

and so I found lots of comfort in eating.

You guys can tell we love eating, we have ten years of video footage of us eating.

We arrived in Korea and the first video that we ever did... (Simon: Eating!) ...was of us eating.

The problem though, is if you're finding comfort in eating food, like I do,

you can't really control that in a dieting way because it feels like punishment.

So like, whenever I tried to have a day where I was like,

"I need to diet, I need to be careful, I need to lose weight," if I was in a lot of pain,

if I was like, going to get an MRI done for like, my spine...

it was really hard for me to be like, "Oh! All these terrible things happened today, but I will also..."

"...eat this carrot stick!"

Like, it was just not a good mindset that I was in.

So I've been seeing my counselor a lot

and Simon and I have been having a lot of deep talks at nighttime and everything,

and I think I've gotten past that stage of grieving that I was in last year

for my EDS and for the things that I can't do.

I know I'll have another phase again.

You know, I know that I'm gonna go through it probably a year from now...

If I ever have to use more and more mobility aids, if I have to get a wheelchair--

it's gonna be amazing, it's gonna be pimped out in pink, it's gonna have sparkles--

but I will definitely still be grieving about the loss of my ability to do certain things.

However, while I'm in this more positive mindset I thought,

"Okay, now is the time for me to get back to dieting."

"Now is the time for me to set myself up for a win."

Having lived in Asia for around 10 years now,

when you go anywhere to a clothing store and like, you know that nothing will fit you,

and they have something called like, "free size," which means like, "It fits everyone!"

and I, like, can't even get it over one boob...

It could really kind of like, mentally chip away at you

and make you feel like you need to look, like, a different way.

But the reality is, I am a big, curvy girl. I'm 5'7 and a half,

there is nothing I can do about these girls-- Simon is very happy about that-- *laugh*

That's just the way that that is, and so

I am not losing weight to look like somebody else or to fit into other types of clothing.

I just want to be the best version of myself.

And the best version of myself is somebody who has less fat on their body

so that my joints feel better.

And I can tell you right now, today I'm 159 pounds--

which is a pretty big jump from last year-- and I have so much more energy.

And you know, you often hear people online being like,

"Oh, if you lose weight you'll feel so much better, you'll be more energetic,"

and I'm always like, "So great! You being able to go to the gym,

"and have all your awesome food planning,"

"and here I am eating Cococurry, you have so much more energy!" But you know what?

I do have more energy.

Dagnabbit, they were right! (Simon: Darn...) Darn tootin'!

It's not like losing weight is gonna cure my EDS, because if that was the case... *laugh*

I'd be like, "Carrot sticks every day!" It's always gonna be with me.

There's tons of people who are super slim that have EDS and are still suffering.

But for me, losing that extra weight that wasn't necessary is absolutely helping me feel better.

You know, we're YouTubers, which means we put our face online

and sometimes I look good and sometimes I look like this.

You know, like every day we have people making fun of the way that I look;

they call me fat, or...

There's a lot of critical people all around the world that are gonna leave these comments.

But you know what I have to say about that? "You don't f---ing know me."

They are not nice people.

Can you imagine if I met that person in real life, and they were like, "Wow, you look really fat."

I'd be like, "Wow, we're not gonna be friends... EVER."

So why are we taking these opinions from people and letting them affect us?

Is it like, "Oh, no! Now I can never marry this internet stranger because they find me unattractive"?

No! I'm not gonna lose weight or change the way I look

for these total strangers that are just spewing out garbage from their mouths.

I'm gonna lose weight for me because I want to be better,

because I want more energy and I want to be happier.

And if you can't love yourself, how the hell are you gonna love someone else?

Can I get an "amen" up in here? (Simon: Ameeen!)

Let the music play! *dance music plays* Dun-dun-dun, dun-dun

Alright, enough of that; let's get to how I'm actually losing weight.

So what I'm finding success in is calorie counting.

So let me show you guys some numbers here. Ooh~

I went to a doctor and what they did was attach all these little

like, electrodes and things to my body and I stood on this machine

and they told me what my... don't know what it's called.

And what they did was figure out my... Simon's gonna say it, 'cause I can't-- Go, Simon! (Simon: TDEE)

My Total Energy... Expenditure?

(Simon: Daily) Calorie...

Daily.

So mine is 1,496 calories.

So if I eat above those calorie counts-- like, if I do 1,800 calories in a day--

I'm gonna gain weight.

But if I eat below that, I'm gonna actually lose weight.

And it's that simple. Eat above it, gain weight. Eat below it, lose weight.

I personally find this a really easy and practical way for me to live my life

and make it like, a normal daily thing.

I have an app, it's free. It's called "Lose It."

This is not a sponsored video. I'm just happening to use this app.

And I had another one before, called "Spelt."

You're writing in what you ate and you can see the calorie count.

And I add it up, and I basically go,

"Oh, I'm gonna go over if I have this extra thing, and then I won't lose weight."

It's very simple.

So, for our job we eat out a lot.

And if I know that I'm eating out on, like, let's say a Thursday night,

I'm gonna prepare meals during the day that help me still have energy.

I'm still eating food so that my body has fuel,

but I'm eating stuff that's lower calorie, so that when I eat at nighttime

everything will balance out and I'll still be able to lose weight.

You guys have definitely seen me post pictures up of, like, me eating ramen or having gyozas.

It's not like I'm, like, not eating anything anymore.

What I did was I sat down one day and I thought about all the foods that I love eating.

So like, I love noodles, and I love pizza, and I love sushi... like, all these things that I love.

And for breakfast I love having salmon and rice and miso soup.

So I said, "Okay, how can I have these meals, but how can I make them less caloric?"

So I think the major way to have success in dieting is to prepare your own food.

It's hard work!

You got to go to the grocery store. You gotta pre-plan what you're gonna do.

But once you start preparing different recipes and meals,

stuff that's low (calorie) but tastes great, that are really helpful for your calorie intake,

it's so easy to lose weight.

Because you're setting yourself up for a win

by making food that you'd honestly enjoy eating.

So let me give you some examples of recipes that I use

and the comparison of what I'm subbing out to show you my calorie intake.

For breakfast I really enjoy having traditional Japanese breakfast,

which involves like, a big bowl of rice.

I usually have salmon, miso soup, and some pickles or vegetables on the side.

The problem is that rice is really caloric--

it can be 200 calories or more, and I will definitely eat all of it.

So