A gymbunny, I will be

That is what I shall be come April. Picked up a Trek Vapor WSD helmet in pink/white. Dante is a delicious shade of noir. Told Ms K that I should use my neon green Nike sports bra and other assorted BRIGHT colours for race day. At least I'll stand out.

Well hello there. Meet Dante. Aptly named after popular poet – Dante Alighieri who penned Dante's Inferno, part of the epic poem "Divine Comedy" We all know what kind of crotch action I will have after riding Dante.

She's meant for a non shorty but, alas I have laid eyes on her so she'll have to endure my tip toes until April. Fixed the front wheel in a jiffy after dismantling her for the ride home, and took her for the maiden ride around the 'hood. Spotted Annabelle's eyes glazed over in envy as I rode by her gate. Little annabelle is my 6 year old neighbour,  how green is my valley!

Cost wise, I had to make a choice. Fork out $10 for rental per hour, twice a week at ECP, fork out another $60 on race day, deal with the dramatics of having to collecting and returning the bike on race day. For $300, on a popular cycling forum, she was mine. Now I need to pick up a cyclometer to track distance, and a helmet to make sure my pretty little blonde head stays pretty.

Did a quick check on googlemaps, the distance from my place to Changi Village apparently is a convenient 4.6KM (don't stalk me now!) which means, to and from would make the approximate distance I need for my race. Should I attempt that tomorrow?

Choices, choices, choices.

The spam that has to be deleted every week is insane. I HAD to install captcha to make sure that the spammers have a harder time. I hope it works. What the hell. No one loves spam, unless it's pan fried to the crisp, paired with toast and drizzled with a generous serving of mayonaise.

Three years ago when I was at my wits end, I had signed up for a shiny new gym membership at popular downtown gym. As part of the rehauling package, I purchased the Nike+ as inspiration to begin running. Almost two years later, I have run less than five measly times before boredom took rein. The downtown gym membership is now used for its showering facilities and has about 5 out of the original 36 months left. I must say, it’s a pretty expensive shower option. (more…)

Tis the season, or that time of the month rather. Actually, it is the time before the time of the month. Still with me, here? Well, in months past I have not noticed a weight gain during the monthly woes, more often than not they registered as a non loss as opposed to a weight gain because, I was actively working out. A couple days ago, I realised that my tummy was sticking out further than I care for, and truthfully I wondered if I had started to re-gain the weight back.

NOT ACCEPTABLE!

After weighing myself today, I realised that I have put on 2.5kg. I had carbs over the weekend so a bulk of it has to be a carb weight gain and at the same time, it is almost time so, it registered as a bigger "gain" than usual. My heart broke into little pieces, literally. I cannot imagine gaining weight, I HAVE to find a way to cut the BS and just do it. I worked out on Monday last week and I forgot to stretch which TOTALLY messed with my recovery. My calves are still hurtin’ Imagine that. How do you spell "WUSS"?

Excuse me while I cry in the corner.

Absolutely the question of the afternoon during my virgin Via Ferrata experience. My dearest gym friend, K and I have been back and forth about all things adventure that we want to venture into and dragged the girls with us for a bout of climbing.

A spot of trivia – In 1914, the Italian troops built Via Ferrata routes throughout Northern Italty as supply lines to haul gear and artillery, and enable allied soldiers to ascend the steep mountain surface. Via Ferrata is known as Kletterstieg in German which translates to climbing stairs and, is a great explanation of what it involves. It is made up of a route of iron rungs, rails and cables.

We decided on BorderX located in Orchard Central, literally downtown right in the heart of shopping heaven. Having not been there before, K went for a site recee and gleefully informed me that it wasn’t in a spot where there would be many spectators. She totally lied to me. If you take the escalator from the side, it leads you STRAIGHT up to the wall. There are a couple of eating joints so, there will be people watching which is moot point when you are up there because, all you care about is where to put your damn foot/hand!

Placed in the safe hands of BorderX staffer, Yu Sueng, my climbing buddy, A and I were off to our starts. 5 rungs in, I felt like I wasn’t going to be able to complete it, a couple rungs later we got to the platform for our first break. It was not until the last 3 rungs had I TRULY considered giving up but, EJ would never forgive me if I gave up. With determination and torn skin, I reached for that last rung and, I was done. All the curses, all the sweat, all the uncertainty was worth it.

For most, completing a Via Ferrata course is perhaps a more active day. For a girl who has lost 30lbs in the last 8 months, this is a goal accomplished. A confirmation that she is stronger than she believes on most days. Gotta love that list!

Find me! Find me! No, really.

A victory sign never felt so apt.

Pictures courtesy of Ms K

Writing is cathartic for me. It cleanses me bringing with it a newfangled sense of focus.The last couple months have been a unfortunate diversion in my planned direction and, while I am grateful not to have gained a single lb of my hard earned weight loss back, fact remains that there is less than 30 days to the end of 2009 and I am not at second goal. Shamefully, this is months after hitting first goal and plateau-ing.

Shamefully so. To challenge the old adage "It isn’t about the destination, it is about the journey" Oh, baby it is SO about the damn destination! Of course, I am certain that once I am at goal and have successfully maintained, I will look back with glee to see my whiny self, um well whining!

Until then though, unfortunately, this has to be about what I do, and not what I say (or in this case, type)

One of my favourite classes at the old gym was Body Pump – free weight class paired with kick ass music and a instructor who was a hoot. On Saturday, I swapped out my regular gym routine for a BP class. I had a blast, it was a new routine with updated music – David Cook, Beyonce etc. Awesome. I might make it a regular swap because, it’s fun though it sucks to have to lug your gym shoes halfway across the island all day.

With a trip to San Francisco looming in the background, I decided that I needed cool slouchy boots so after gym, I went on a mini shopping spree. Came home with a pair of boots, navy blue stockings, three staple t-shirts in various shades and a Zee Avi CD. Way more shopping that I should have done.

Which brings me to my revelation – I fit into regular size clothes pretty easily. On Friday, I was at MNG and I fit into the L there easily. It sounds quite trippy for those who buy off the rack with ease but, for me it was surprising. My mind hasn’t caught up with the changes my body has made on most days. Most days, I believe that I am bigger that I am.

On a sad note, I had 3/4 of small popcorn bag at the movies and, I weighed in with a 1.4kg weight gain. I’ll know in a week if the gain is for real but, all signs are pointing at carb retention right now. Still sad. I have to cut out the midnight chocolate square binge, DAMN YOU RITTER SPORT!

Parading my new dress, new leggings, boots and not so new chunk of a belt. I don’t intend to wear those leggings and boots together with the dress. I was just being a vainpot.

it is a common belief that, we know ourselves best. What makes us tick, what infuriates us, what just works. Yet, I constantly befuddle myself with the stellar choices that I make daily. As someone who chooses to be off anti-depressants, I need all the natural help I can get in the form of exercise, specific types of foods (yes, it makes a significant difference) and not drinking alcohol. My lovely "woe is me" brain simply cannot produce "happy" vibes fast enough to replace the ones used up when I drink which results in me behaving all "poe" like. And I do mean Edgar Allen Poe.

In the name of being social, I sacrifice my own well being to drink knowing that I will be morose the next day. Why is that? When you find the answer, drop  me an email because I’d love to know. In the meantime, I’m off all things alcohol until the end of the year.

The toughest part about losing weight, is not the diet nor the working out. It is dealing with the snide comments that people make. From the get go, the weight that I carry/carried is not because I ate one too many Happy MealsTM or that I went for midnight bouts for fried noodles all too often. There was a choice between waking up praying that a dark cloud would lift and being medicated I would no longer have to battle with suicidal thoughts with a risk of weight gain. Let’s see, a better life or a skinny body? Of course, I chose being alive! The sanity came with a price that I absolutely do not regret though I would not expect a stranger to understand.

I constantly am hungry with being on a high protein meal plan but it is definitely not because I eat too little now. I eat between 4-5 meals a day, all high in protein (as it is evident in my food journals). Last week on MSN, I had my status signature as "peckish" because I have been having these irrational cravings. Moments later, I get a message telling me "Stop feeling peckish! Think Size 6!" Part of me wanted to laugh it off because, that’s what a polite person would do, since we have established that the word "polite" almost never refers to me or my personality. I threw that notion out of the window quickly.

Seriously, you (the person who messaged me) think I have lost all this weight because, I decide to starve myself. Seriously. It felt like a slap and it negates all the hard work I put in at the gym.

If you are reading this "I can deadlift you! + 10kg" So, don’t you dare tell me what to feel.