Booting October out the door.

My fitness and health regime has gone flying out the door with the rest of the year. What have I accomplished? Its November and my fitness/health regime is almost completely non-existent. Spent half of October in bed with chicken pox which wreaked havoc to my skin and my overall health has been shite. One minute I had the appetite of a small child and the next I could have eaten an entire cow. Since I was confined to my room, my meals were delivered right to my bedside-so there goes physical exercise. Surprisingly, despite my lack of physical exercise I didnt put on any extra pounds (thanks to my fickle minded appetite!) but I feel physically sluggish now! As for the gaps between July (my last post) and now its been quite a ride.

July/August
I was actually eating healthy and having loads of physical exercise. I came back feeling great! These are the perks of a very physical work life. As an outdoor instructor, I can go for days without rest (think: energizer bunny) HOWEVER I have a feeling it is one of the reasons why I was so sickly right after. Am not the young person I was before and unless I continue working my body to exhaustion I may end up screwing my health all together! 

September
A month of coughs, colds & fevers. Significantly reduced physical exercise as I was tied to my desk in the office. 

October
Started the month feeling lethargic which then led to chicken pox. WOohoo. 

November
Time to get off my arse and gear up to get my health & fitness back on track. Spots and all..

No time like the present? (again!)

Fat Shmat

So the last post was March! Where has time gone? It's a pity I cant say the same about my weight. 
I haven't been terrible but I know I haven't put in as much effort as I should. It has been a very manic couple of months at work and am having a bit of time for 'Me' in July which means a dedicated month where I  won't be able to make any excuses for not watching my diet and exercise. It will still be a busy month but it will be a month of work on the computer. SO I need to stop having so many fat days and have fit days instead. Gym, kickboxing, Zumba, running-- bring it on!  

Eat. Sleep. Cry.

So it has not been a great start to the year, with a death in the family (my beautiful grandmother), the last thing on my mind was whether that chicken drumstick will go straight to my thighs. Recent events have definitely affected my fitness and health. I didn't gain huge amounts of weight but I have significantly reduced exercise and physical activity for the past month. Thinking of adopting some of my late grandmothers lifestyle preferences into my own 'fitness regime'. She was a formidable woman; back in her day she didnt need exercise because when she was my age she was an active woman; tending to 6 children, a farm of animals, a field and orchard of plants, trees and vegetables and her frequent travelling with my grandfather. They didn't eat the 'processed' crap that we consume and is readily available in supermarkets these days; everything they ate was fresh and nothing went to waste. So 2 things of what she used to do and I plan to include in my goal to losing the flab;

1) Reducing processed food and try to consume more fresh food/ingredients instead. (realistically
    I don't think I could eliminate processed packaged goods; ie herbs are from bottles, we cant grow certain
    herbs here!)
2) Make exercise part of my daily routine. Ie taking the stairs, parking miles away and then walking.

Hey Nenek I miss you and yes I will live healthily and try to make the right choices. Even if I fail once in awhile; it wont be the end of the world. R.I.P my dear grandmother.

Whats with all the spots?

My body has been completely screwed by the past weekends event. No I did not spend the weekend binge drinking and eating bon bons on the sofa. I spent Thursday and Saturday looking after my grandmother in the hospital which meant no sleep throughout the night till the early morning and then hitting the sack mid-morning only to skip my meals and eat at odd hours. My body has gone haywire because of it, I feel like a hormonal teenager would with spots coming up all over! I stayed up for almost 48 hours Sat-Sun as I was trying to adjust my body clock for the week ahead, it worked but am feeling rather lethargic now! Am dashing off to run more errands, I think I can hear that 3rd cup of caffeine is screaming my name.  

good to know!

tip

whopper

Naughty me! Haven't been eating regularly & grabbing the quickest and easiest option. Today; Option 1 was Roti & Curry and Option 2 was a sinful whopper from Burger King; I went with Option 2. With my body clock out of whack (didn't sleep at all last night, having spent the night in the hospital looking after my grandmother!) I started today with a handful of grapes and 1/2 a dragonfruit. Went to bed at about 1130am and got up at 630pm. Drove to the hospital to pick my mum up and couldn't be bothered to cook so stopped off to grab a burger king take out. Despite eating within my calorie limits, its still not the healthiest way to go about my meals! I need to have a fully stocked fridge, I cannot be making these excuses! ... Saying that though: I really enjoyed that burger and the coke--for that moment in time I was in fast food heaven. *sigh*

Top 10

Found this article through pinterest. Makes perfect sense! :

My Top 10 Lessons I Learned About Fat Loss in 2011.

Lesson 1. Set a Deadline

There is power in setting a deadline. Have you ever said you are going to do something and never get around to it? You’re not alone. Have you been given a deadline to do something, say by your boss? Of course you hit the deadline because there is a time restraint. Set a date on the calendar for you to be your absolute best by.

Goals:

• need to be put in writing
• have to be specific and measurable
• have to have a specific timeline
• and need to be realistic

Lesson 2. What Gets Measured, Gets Managed

If you follow Vince Del Monte, you have heard this many times and it is extremely true. You cannot know what direction you are heading towards if you don’t measure and track your results. This is the only sure way you can tweak your program to work for you. Whenever a client asks me what could be going wrong, I simply ask them to take out their tracker so we can look. 99% of times, they haven’t been measuring and the other 1% I fix with a couple of simple and easy tweaks.

Lesson 3. Replace One Habit at a TIme

Habits cannot be broken, only replaced. If you start by replacing one habit per month, that will be 12 new habits you will have replaced by 2013. Think of one you want to replace for January.

Lesson 4. Tell Someone Your Weight Loss Goals

Having an accountability partner works in EVERY area of your life. You are more likely not to fail if you tell someone what you are going to achieve. You will not only be letting yourself down if you quit but also your friend.

Lesson 5. Eating Too Little Will Make You Fat

I start to waste away in my upper body and start packing on the weight in my tummy whenever I choose to skip meals and don’t eat enough.

When nutrient intake is low your metabolic rate will become low for three reasons:

• decreased thyroid function
• reduced thermic effect of eating
• reduction in muscle mass

Lesson 6. HIIT Is The Fastest Way To Lose Fat

High-intensity training burns calories for hours after the workout, improves endurance and improves aerobic capacity. I always add in some HIIT to my week and this is the one and usually the ONLY area (in the gym) that I tweak when I want to lose fat fast. All you need is a few 20 minutes sessions and your pants size will shrink in no-time.

Lesson 7.  Keep Your Heart Rate High

There is no sense in taking your time during your workout. There is no sense in training one muscle at one time unless you are thinking of becoming a light-weigh bodybuilder. This is the key that COMPLETELY shaped my body this year. Before this my body changed at a much slower rate and working out wasn’t as fun!

Lesson 8. Have A Plan of Attack

Plan out your workouts BEFORE you workout. Don’t be stuck there trying to think of what exercise combos to do and then draw a blank because you think everyone is looking at you and wondering what you are doing. I used to do this all the time. I thought everyone knew I didn’t know what I was doing and then I would draw a blank and just hit the treadmill…so much for fat loss!

Lesson 9. Eat Protein and Fats for Breakfast

Thank goodness for Ben Pakulski who taught me this simple fact. After telling him I seem to crash mid-afternoon, he told me to try ground beef and eggs for breakfast. I know that sounds gross but it works and it’s actually tasty. Charles Poliquin calls it “The Meat and Nut Breakfast”. This is all about controlling your hormones. Give your kids “the meat and nut breakfast” and see their marks increase.

click here to hear more from Ben 

Lesson 10. Eat Carbohydrates After Your Workout ONLY

Thanks to John Berardi’s nutrition certification I learned that carbohydrates should be used only to refuel and repair after a workout. This is the biggest contributor to staying lean all year-long. As my husband Vince would say, “What portion of your body is made up of carbohydrates? NONE – therefore we can only use a small amount of them before the body will store them”.

And that’s all folks.

Apply those 10 lessons and you are on your way to your best body in 2012! Those were my strategies to transforming my body and the same strategies to staying lean all year-long!

Original Article here !

14 hour days

Extremely long day: 14 hours driving people to doctors and medical professionals, sorting work out and attending meetings. I skipped breakfast and lunch! So I had only one meal today which is not ideal and is probably why I am seriously flagging now and in desperate need of my bed! Its going to be a crazy day tomorrow, will be driving out of town to recce a location and will be heading back to donate blood. Hoping for a not so crazy day tomorrow.   


Mood: Exhausted! Been running around since early this morning and only just got back!

Physical: Back is a bit sore! 

Weight: 83.1kg

Target Weight: 66kg

Exercise: Stair climbing, driving and walking.

Motivational Snippet for the day:

10 Commandments

weight of the world

So its been a little challenging focusing on me and my issues at the moment. I am making a conscious effort to NOT ignore me and hopefully all the small changes I am doing will pay off in the long run. I need to remind myself that I am not around to help sort everyone elses problems and that some times people need to find their own solutions. It sounds cruel but I need to be a little selfish!
I was a slightly relieved to see the scales today; lost 0.8 kg. Its minuscule but its a start. As for today, well I have dedicated the day to writing, typing and sorting other matters so my running plans are out the window.

Mood: Tad bit stressed from trying to get everything sorted. 

Physical: Fine. Could do with a massage!

Weight: 83.4kg

Target Weight: 66kg

Exercise: Running around and driving!

Motivational Snippet for the day:

purplelicious

Aubergines/Eggplants/Brinjal/Melongene/Guinea Squash/Terung/That purple thing: It's delicious, it fills you up, versatile use in cooking and apparently awesome when included in your meals especially if you're trying to lose weight. Read excerpt below.

Original article found here 

Aubergines may not have a lot of essential vitamins like most fruits and vegetables, but it does have one interesting advantage over the rest – it helps you lose weight.

All foods contain calories which makes us fat especially when taken excessively.  But aubergines or eggplants have very low calorie content.

Just how low, you might ask?  A cup of cooked eggplant only contains approximately 20 calories.  If you decide to eat 1¼ pounds ofpeeled eggplants, it only has about 110 calories; unpeeled ones will bring up the calories slightly – about 132 calories.

Aubergines also have low fat content, making it an ideal component in low-fat and weight-loss diets.

On top of this, the eggplant is a nutrient-dense food so it makes you feel full right away, thus preventing you from over-eating.

A negative calorie fat-burner, eggplants are a great combination of delicious taste, healthy benefits while naturally helping increase your metabolism.  With eggplants around, you do not have to starve yourself to be thin.

fluctuate

It has been a pretty intense week. I managed to squeeze in as much physical exercise as I could including walking up and down 3 flights of stairs instead of taking the lift, yoga, stretching, boxing and reducing my calories to the recommended figures. I had one cheeky pint of cider and Sunday I went approximately 300 calories above my limit so when I checked the scales this morning I foud that I had gained weight. This is quite frustrating! I managed to avoid the pastry goods yesterday at the family gathering but I was consuming quite a bit of carbs, rice, rice porridge etc.

Spoke to my cousin who is a doctor and he recommended cutting the carbs completely just for a certain duration of time. Tad bit worried about cutting out carbs however, he knows about my current condition and medical history and he said that removing carbs from my diet would probably be the only way for me to successfully reduce my weight. He said that even if I reintroduce carbs after a certain period of time I won't see a massive increase in weight *fingers crossed*. I am going to go with his recommendation and see whether that works but will take in more vegetables that have a higher content of carbs but cut out the white rice, bread, noodles etc. *sigh*

I also plan to exercise more and spend 2-3 hours a day working out.
Its time for lunch. Maybe I will chew on a bit of dirt instead today. :P

small changes

caught cheating

So today was a very productive day. However, with great responsibilities comes temptation. Spent 10 hours on my EFRI course today, so when I got home I couldn't be bothered to whip up something healthy and decided to pop to KFC . (I had visions of the extra greasy chicken-y delight and the fact that it is so easy and that I wouldn't have to bother with washing up dishes, pots & pans!)
I feel accomplished today for a different reason: I passed my written exam for the Child Care section for my Emergency First Responder Instructor course but am feeling super guilty for indulging in greasy goodness. The only exercise I had today was practicing Emergency scenarios and performing CPR on random Infant/Child/Adult mannequins.
That said; I calculated my calorie intake for the day and I consumed 1254 calories, my recommended calorie intake is 1268! Which is great as I have stayed within my calorie limit. I still feel guilty for having the chicken though--ah well treating myself, once in awhile is fine... dammit; I have a pub crawl to attend tomorrow....  :P

Mood: Happy, mentally exhausted, tad disappointed with my food choices today!

Physical: Feeling great, wrists a bit sore from CPR sessions.

Weight: 83.6kg

Target Weight: 66kg

Exercise: Performing repetitive CPR? Does that count?

Motivational Snippet for the day:

The Wii

Wii Fit : undoubtedly one of the best purchases in the house! Its entertaining, keeps track of my weight, BMI and duration of exercising. Spent 45 minutes on the Wii Fit and 30 minutes on housework (which is also considered a form of exercising!) Feeling great and sweaty after the workout and *fingers crossed* will sleep well tonight!

Mood: Tad bit stressed as my course starts tomorrow. 

Physical: Shoulder and right arm is a bit better and not sore as it was before.

Weight: 83.6kg

Target Weight: 66kg

Exercise: Wii Fit today! (Yoga, strength training and cardio)

Motivational Snippet for the day:

6 months

calorie schmalorie

Prior to my current drive to shed the pounds, I would mock (in my head and not out loud of course!) the people who counted every single calorie and would weigh every morsel of food they consume. I owe an apology to all these people as I am having to count the calories myself now. The Lose It website is great as it makes keeping a food journal easy! All you need to do is search for the food in their database and add it to the online journal; they do all the work. For someone looking to lose the amount I need to lose (1kg a week at least), taking BMI, current weight, height, age and exercise into consideration, I need to consume no more than 1268 calories a day. So, yes I am weighing my food and counting calories but the one thing I am NOT doing is depriving myself, which I think is always a mistake when you're trying to cut down on food!

Other links to calorie counters (region specific):

Malaysia (YAY!)

UK

America

Exercise Calorie Counter (This is brilliant to find out how many calories you burn; includes walking and house cleaning!)

Avocado Goodness

Suggestions for Use

1. Avocado on whole grain toast or bagels: This is a great alternative to cream cheese or jam. Just add a sprinkle of sea salt.
2. Avocado in smoothies: If you like a creamy smoothie, a small amount can make your berry or green smoothie taste decadent.
3. Avocado in omelets: Along with a little salsa and cilantro, this makes a great tasting omelet and is an alternative to using cheese.
4. Avocado on salads: Because of their creamy texture, using them on your salad along with dry seasoning, allows you to use little or no dressing.
5. Avocado in baking: Many recipes that call for butter or shortening can be replaced with avocado like this banana bread recipe or this chocolate cookie recipe.
6. Avocado in soups: Creamy soups can be made using avocado instead of all the dairy.
7. Avocado pizza: Along with some feta cheese and black olives, they make for a great tasting pizza.

I love avocado. It's such a misunderstood fruit/veg (depending on how you look at it!). Avocados are rich in fatty goodness; but the right kind of fat needed by our bodies. I've only ever used them in salads and smoothies. I stumbled upon this article suggesting avocado as an alternative to some of the unhealthy fat we consume ie cheese (which I love)!

Original Article HERE

Day 16

My curves now.

My curves in July 2012.

Why Day 16? It has been 16 days since I have seen the doctor and was told that I needed to shed the pounds for both health and baby making reasons. Since meeting with the doctor, I have changed my diet (without depriving myself!), included more exercise (although I could probably increase the number of times a week) and have lost 1kg. Not too disappointed as I was on meds for the first week and was surfing the crimson tide which made my weight fluctuate like crazy and as much as I tried to curb my craving for chocolate--I caved. I am also focusing on the need to get back into shape and be as fit as I was before when I could trek hours and not gasp for air every 5 minutes! I am not getting any younger and I need to start looking after myself and treat my body with respect. No doubt looking awesome and being able to buy clothes in this country without having to go to a maternity store is also a plus!

So today was the day I decided to sign up at loseit.com and start this blog which I really need to update on a regular basis. I know I will probably slack at updating this blog occasionally but that's expected especially when I'm out running trips. The family has been super supportive and has changed their diet as well and have encouraged me to exercise more by exercising with me; in fact the hubs has lost 6 Kgs in 6 weeks through a change in his diet alone with no exercise! The next couple of days will be tough as I am attending a two day course on Friday & Saturday and prior to that I need to study... I know it shouldnt be an excuse! One other thing I plan to do is to get the hubs to take a photo of me (front and side view) every month and post it here just as a personal reminder and motivation!

Mood: Motivated.

Physical: Shoulder and right arm aching from boxing on Monday!

Weight: 83.6kg

Target Weight: 66kg

Exercise: Wii Fit today!

Motivational Snippet for the day: