A gymbunny, I will be

Between June and August, I have

• drunk at least 60 cups of Starbucks short cappuccino with half a packet of raw sugar
• drunk at least 40 cans of Coca Cola or an equally sinful soft drink
• been admitted to the hospital once
• reverted to eating simple carbs. DAILY!
• have had severe food poisoning once and it was not related to the hospital incident
• been to tennis lessons with J & K three times
• and been to Muay Thai naught times.

Oh and I am about 99% sure I've lost significant muscle mass and, regained at least 2-3kg of pure fat due to the change in diet and lack of activity.

I could come up with a million excuses but I won't. It is all me. I chose the life I want and for three months, it was to revert to the lifestyle that got me all lethargic and obese to begin with.

So, here is the plan. Less excuses, more action. MT lessons begin again on Monday, this weekend I will be having tennis with J and, I want to start my C25K from scratch. And the omission of all soft drinks and simple carbs.

Wish me luck!

Saturday (12 June) (more…)

I FINISHED ! ! !

Not my bike but, two neighbours down. Made my morning WAY better.

(more…)

Well hello. The deal is sealed. For real. Once you pick up your race pack, you are competing. OSIM 2010 is a fine tuned machine, lots of years of experience, everything down to a T.

Step 1: You sign up, pay and receive an email confirmation as well as notice information on when to expect to pick up your race pack

Step 2: You receive an email which gives you two days from 11am till 9pm to pick up your race pack

Step 3: You arrive, you are immediately greeted at the door and directed to the right queue.

Step 4: You collect your race pack, everything packed neatly and you can change the size of the dri-fit even.

A lot of volunteers to pick up on so much as a doubtful glance. Very encouraging to not feel lost. I'll review the race and post-race after this weekend.

Oh. The purpose of this post:

My take on it is this. Imagine running at 9.30 in the blooming morning, insanely hungry and you run behind this girl with "cupcake" as her tag. You would totally be lusting after a cupcake, get distracted and perhaps even DNF (did not finish) just so you can satisfy that craving. Don't underestimate the power of suggestion. That, and I really love cupcakes and didn't have the chutzpah to put down "gymbunny"

Admittedly, life has taken over yet again. I am still grappling with my plateau which I deserve since I still am not working out consistently. *pout* Mentally, I have given myself one month to stick with my current gym with 100% committment. If it does not show ANY result, I have to find something that inspires me more. I wish I could find my grit, where is it? I am incredibly lucky to not have put on much or any weight save for water retention, of course there is no doubt that there's been muscle loss.

Ubin Run in less than two weeks, OSIM less than a month! Time to kick it into gear! Bring it!

Needing the desperate push back into my exercise routine after two months (or more, actually) of unhealthy seasonal eating and the lack of any mobility save for raising a wine glass (or two, or three, actually four on average) to my mouth, I did the unthink-able. Well, the unthinkable for me that is. I considered signing up for the OSIM Triathlon 2010 (Mini). Motivated by the desire to be alive, I decided to try the segments individually to see how I’d fare.

200m swim, 10k cycle and 2k run in its exact sequence is what I’d have to pull off.

The first few days of January saw the beginning of my Couch to 5K running programme, a week into it, I averaged 25mins for 3km which is not great but it’s not horrible either. The swimming segment of 200m took less than 10mins in the pool. I might end up swimming breast stroke to keep the feet out of my face, we’ll see. The cycling route I have yet to attempt, it’d be this weekend. Given the two decent timings in swimming and running, I decided to leap into signing up.

There is no business like show business right? At worst, I’ll have to fake it till I actually make it. My target is to complete under 50 mins which I am well aware is INSANE for a first timer like me. To break it down, I have 8mins for the swim route which is first, 24mins for the cycling and 18 mins for the run. You best believe that I’m going to make it!

Made the decision to swap out my regular training routine for something tougher because, my schedule is mad and I can’t afford to keep up with fixed sessions. I went for my last class this week and it was a new routine, insanely tough. I felt so defeated by the end, I ought to be stronger but I let it fall by the wayside because, work took over.

Will head for my first session this Wednesday, i think and then, figure out a way to work out before work so I can afford to stay back late and be productive. Not feeling bad that I have to rush off for my gym session will help oodles.

It is not the failure that counts but how you pick yourself up after a fall. Right?

Being pescetarian was not a hard choice to begin with, even if it is was for a lofty, slightly fruity reason – to reduce my carbon footprint. After watching Fast Food Nation written by Eric Schlosser, I could not eat beef for a month because, vivid images of Daisy the cow facing her inhumane death would fill my mind each time I even considered it.

The resident sunshine hippy – Maks and I wanted to catch Food Inc which features Eric Schlosser as well unfortunately, our schedules did not agree. Caught it last night because, I HAD to watch it and it was so inspiring yet amazingly sad. Film make, Robert Kenner did an amazing job with presenting boring statistics into information that possessed such great impact. How Mc Donald’s and other fast food companies essentially changed the meat production industry, that they are the No.1 purchaser of beef in the world, No.1 purchaser of chicken, No.2 purchaser of pork in the world. IN THE FREAKING WORLD.

Facts like

• In the 1970s, the top five beef packers controlled about 25% of the market. Today, the top four controls more than 80% of the market
• 50 years ago, it would take 3 months to grow a chicken to a full maturity and now, it takes 45 days.
• Corn is sold at below production value because, it is in EVERYTHING and, is heavily subsided.
• The biggest predictor of obesity is income level

The mantra is, bigger, faster, cheaper.

At one point, I was close to tears because, it was absolutely gut wrenching to watch. I had literally close my eyes when scenes of the slaughter houses came to view or when they showed chickens who were so pumped with anti-botics to develop oversized breasts, they could hardly even stand and some even die before even reaching the market place. Actually, I am close to tears now as I pen out this entry. My movie companion and I had a conversation after about a particular scene in the documentary about a mexican family of four who were riddled with health issues like obesity, type 2 diabetes because, dollar burgers are all they can afford to eat. Their bodies are so obviously starved of nutrition that it’s rebelling but, it is like fighting Goliath. How can one eat healthy when it costs alot more to buy a lb of carrots compared to a burger.

When I reach goal, I will go back to being pescetarian. That’s my prize after reaching my ultimate goal. Buy local and organic when you can, order what you can eat and not what makes the most sense economically, give up soft drinks, just start something to make a difference. I always considered organic as a new age concept but I realise now that it makes a significant difference when you purchase from places that treat their employees and their product with humanity. That I can definitely afford.

Talk is cheap. Isn’t it? I have been yammering about wanting to start a running programme and, doing zilcho about it. Decided to haul ass to my favourite running track with the cutest companion – Chutney, my 2 year old silky + jack russell terrier mix. I forgot to bring my Nike+ though so I couldn’t track how fast I was running or how much. Well,  I still had fun heading out though. Plus, it was my first time running with Chutney on an actual trail so, I spent most of the run trying to stop him from running into people. I never knew how many people are actually afraid of dogs. Irrationally afraid. Chutney is a squirt and yet, I found myself more than once holding myself back when they literally cower in fear. I mean, seriously. Do they see how small he is?

I wanted to do the entire stretch of the track but, I started late and I was afraid that it would get dark before I reached the end so I went half way and turned back. Now, I want to actually start my C25K programme.

Spent the weekend in Penang. Mother goose is HUGE on shopping so, invariably aside the food places..all I saw of Penang were the insides of malls. Specifically, two malls. The cheap asian in me only loves outlet shopping. All others, I could care less about. Three days, two malls and one sad panda (me). Had no choice but to take the opportunity to add a couple staples to my wardrobe. Found a gorgeous (i.e: cheap!) faux bustier top for work that was a size smaller than their biggest size. This is fitting into an ASIAN size, BIG deal for me! Walked into Forever 21 and fit into a regular L size t-shirt and a couple of L tops. It was a touch snug but, I could fit in it without someone yelling “GET A SIZE BIGGER, YO!” I walked away with nothing because, I did not like it.

Another revelation, not purchasing something with the sole reason that I disliked it even though I can a) fit into it and b) afford it. It will take me awhile to wrap my head around that one

Not me, image from Google Images