Staring off into the distance

Fitness: Food - Starvation Mode

2007-04-22T20:56:00.000+08:00

   Let's talk about food. Everyone loves to eat, we are all guilty of that indulgence and resisting temptation requires a whole lot of willpower. As Spider mentioned, "You are what you eat". I can literally go on and on about this topic thus I shall break it into manageable parts. Do take note that there will be heavy reiteration to get the message across. Moving on...

   Ever noticed all the dieting fads, slimming pills and products have one thing in common? A fine print which states, "Results may vary. Best results when combined with proper nutrition and exercise". I'm guilty of trying out fads in the past, wasted so much money on them and it didn't showed me results that I wanted.

   Think about it...fundamentally speaking, if you can attain proper nutrition and exercise moderately, do you actually need all those pills and diets? And for people who tell you to just eat less, don't listen to them! Sure you will lose weight at the beginning but this method will backfire for sure and you'll end up bigger than before. This is the wrong way to diet. I admit, I tried this before and failed miserably. I lost alot of weight yes, but when I started eating as per normal, I gained back all of it. I was horrified when I learnt about the real truth behind this method and I quickly changed my habits. Here's why:

   Starvation Mode
   Believe it or not, our body is the most sophisticated machine ever created (scientifically proven too). And as a well oiled machine, our body has countermeasures for everything. Antibodies for germs, tissue and skin repair to heal wounds and this little thing called, "Starvation Mode".

   I'm sure you know that our bodies can go on for months without food but we will die in a few days without water. Look at the reality show Survivor. All of the contestants shrink throughout the course of the show and when they finally eat real food (scrumptious ones too I might add), they are akin to ravenous vultures upon fresh meat.

   You see, when we consume lesser amounts of food, our bodies will begin executing a series of "commands". After a few hours from the initial meal, the body will crave for food. It will send signals to the brain which tells you that you are hungry. Of course, if you are dieting, you will not think about it until your next meal. It is during this time that your body responds with its countermeasures. In the Starvation Mode, this is what the body will do (in any order).

   Slow metabolic rate
   In order not to use up too much energy, the body will slow down the metabolism rate to compensate for the lack of food. If you have tried this before like I did, you will notice that in due time you won't feel as hungry as when you first started right? I thought it was because the body adjusted to the routine. The body did, but not for the right reasons. My metabolic rate was sacrificed and that's bad news!

   Goodbye muscles
   Muscles are the reason why our metabolic rate is high. This is because muscles require more energy to keep it going. It is for that reason the body will break the muscles down to conserve the limited amount of energy. Less muscles means slower metabolic rate.

   Fat storage facility
   In order to conserve energy, any fats that you consume will be stored and the rest will be burnt off to keep you functioning. When your food has all been digested and the body gets hungry again, it will slowly burn the fats off after the muscles have been dealt with.

   Increased hunger and cravings
   When in Starvation Mode, the body will keep on sending signals to the brain to demand more food. When I first started this diet, I could resist the temptation to eat more food. But as the months go by, it was becoming more and more difficult. Although I could deal with the hunger, the cravings was one I could not control.

   At the sight of Pizzas, cakes or anything yummy (and usually fattening), I would splurge thinking that that day would be my "fat" day and I could resume the diet the next day. But what I didn't know at that time was when I splurge, since my body was in Starvation Mode, all the fats I ate were stored. I gained back all the weight I've lost before I even realised it. Need proof?

The new me after I went on the "eat less" diet end of 2006

When I joined HSBC in Jan 2007

   See the difference? I wasn't aware until my significant other's lil sister mentioned that I was fat. That was the starting point of a new me. Back to the main discussion...During the Starvation Mode, the moment we eat these sort of food thinking it's "fat" day, our body will keep on sending signals to consume as much as possible. It is also in this phase that even when we are not hungry, we will still eat due to all these signals from the body (which we usually do not realise).

   Low energy
   When in Starvation Mode, the body has little amounts of Glycogen. Glycogen is stored energy in the body, mainly from processing the carbohydrates from food. Ever heard from others that when you do any exercise, the first twenty minutes of energy will come from the food you ate previously? Scientifically the body will tap into the Glycogen reserves first, once depleted it will tap into the fat reserves. Thus why it is always recommended to do aerobic activities for more than 30minutes to burn the fats off.

   However during Starvation Mode, the body is forced to tap into the Glycogen first as it has few revenues of energy to tap on. Once that is done, it will signal to the brain for more food. If none are introduced, it gobbles up the muscles. Finally on a prolonged "fast", the body turns to the reserves.

   You will naturally feel weaker due to low levels of Glycogen. I felt it too but I couldn't understand why until recently. I hope after reading this, you will understand why too! (Take note hor Betty =P)

   "But won't that be good? Since the body will be burning the fats?"

   That was the question I posed Mister Rahmad when he was explaining to me about food. He explained that with low levels of Glycogen, you will feel sluggish, easily fatigued, lazy and it will affect your mood as well. And besides, the body will only turn to burning the fats as a last resort. So whenever you eat, with the low metabolic rate, your body will only process what it can and store the rest as fats.

   Wrap up
   In conclusion, eating less is a sure way of losing alot of weight at first, but the odds of a backlash stacks up over time. What's worse is that even with a strong willpower, once you hit a certain weight, you will find that you cannot lose more even if you tried exercising more (commonly referred to as "The Plateau"). The frustration alone has left many casualties in the battlefield of losing weight.

   Which leads to the all important question of, "What can I do now?"

   The answer is quite simple however to embark upon it takes alot of effort, time and adaptation on your part. In the next segment, I shall elaborate. Thank you for your time, as usual kindly direct questions to the tagbox.

When you're bored...

2007-04-18T22:44:00.000+08:00

   Just came back from a good upper body workout at the gym and I'm feeling great! But being the competitive me, after seeing Betty's (my colleague) blog, I decided to try out the words-per-minute test she posted.

   She wanted to beat her friend's record of 83wpm. So I did better and got 93 heh! But knowing people, talk is cheap...so let's make mine much more expensive...

   Jia you Betty! ;) For the rest of you who wants to try...Click here, select "Free Typing Tests" and proceed with #26 classic. Perhaps when my arms recovers from the workout I can try hitting 100! Haha

Fitness: Importance of Mentality

2007-04-14T21:19:00.000+08:00

   I know I promised the timeline but that will have to take a backseat for now. As Eric and Cassandra pointed out (And I thank you two for the support thus far), I used to be gloomy, moody and downright negative years ago. Of course when I tell this to everyone who knows me recently, they don't believe me. But I digress.

   It actually took me half a year to adopt a new mentality, and even now, it is still evolving. By careful selection of what I believe would make me better, I mould a new self-image. So what does this have to do with Fitness? Everything! Just bear with me and the answers will be crystal clear.

   I used to be very shy, in secondary school I hardly talk to any females unless it's about homework or projects. I kept to myself and stuck with 3 male friends of mine. I was fat and kept on getting bullied in secondary 1 and 2. In a nutshell I had very low self esteem, confidence and a huge lack of backbone. It continued through poly, and my self esteem and confidence went an all time low after my first relationship dissolved horribly. So what's the point of all this boring talk? Like what Yan says, "If Yan can cook, so can you!" If I can change my mentality to be more positive, so can you. But of course it will take a lot effort on your part.

   Self Concept (Self Image)
   Let's begin. Anyone can tell you to be positive, anyone can tell you to take it easy but what they forget to mention is that when you do that (self affirming, etc), you are only conversing with your concious level. It is actually the subconcious layer that determines how we react and what we do.

   I was introduced to this whole idea by friends I grew up with but no one went indepth until I met Michael. Just try this little exercise which he made me do before he explained. Take out a piece of paper and write down sentences on how you feel about yourself beginning with "I am".

   More often than not, you'll see most of those sentences are negative, just like how it was for me. Michael just chuckled and told me, "Expected". He began explaining to me the power of the subconcious thought. Think of it as a computer. You key in an input and it produces an output instantaneously.

   It is true that how we were brought up largely affects our subconcious which in turn outlines our behaviours and attitudes. Growing up as a child, our minds are very impressionable and everything is recorded into our subconcious, even if it is bad. This is because the mind then could not differentiate what is right and what is wrong, so it gets recorded as "acceptable behaviour". When we go into our teenage years, the subconcious shuts off any more inputs and that's where the behaviours and attitudes solidify. You'll just accept what you are more inclined to and push away everything else. Human nature.

   Does that mean you can't change? You actually can. Michael showed me that by conditioning my whole mentality, I am able to reprogram my subconcious. Again using the computer comparison, everyone who has access to your computer gets what is stored within it. They cannot install or do any modifications to you unless you as the administrator, installs the new modifications.

   Michael then showed me an article written by a successful plastic surgeon. He mentioned that he stumbled upon this discovery of self image with his patients. Even though he had corrected defects and deformaties with surgery, his patients retained their old self image and continued to say they look ugly, scarred or deformed even though they appeared to be by society's standard of gorgeous. As a result, they still continued to live life the way they have always been living.

   To sum up the article, the surgeon mentioned, "I can make my patients look like Cindy Crawford or Brad Pitt, yet still they would always point out something that does not seem right by their standards. I believe we can change our outer layer with surgery but if the inner layer does not change, we will be what we think we are."

   Think about it, how often do we see a hot chick or hunky guy with (by our standards) ugly half and they look so happy together? How often do we see fat people who are still successful and have wonderful lives? How often do we see the rich getting so many surgeries and still not be happy (Michael Jackson anyone?)?. How often do we hear supermodels thinking they are fat, supermodels! It's all tied in to our perception of self image. Our subconcious.

   For the christians reading this, isn't it true that Jesus thought it is folly and silly to put new wine into old bottles or a new patch of material on an old garment? If you were to look at why, doesn't it sound like what Maxwell was trying to imply in his closing statement?

   This links to every single aspect in our lives, fitness as well. You can train as hard as you want, lose as much weight as you can and still not be happy. After Michael laid this out to me, I began to understand the power of self image. The more I learnt from him, the more I change. So how do we change our subconcious? Read on!

   Create Your New Self Image
   There is a difference between creating a new self image and forcing a new self image. The latter will backfire in your face because of? You guessed it...the subconcious! So how do we create a lasting self image? You visualize the new you then reinforce it with the other points. You can't wipe away the old self image, but you can layer it with actions until it covers up. Think of the new you as dynamic and as vivid as you can! Make it wild and outrageous! The mind retains and remembers pictures better than facts, the more colorful and dynamic, the more it retains.

   Some people only visualize what they think they can get, not what they truly want. It actually scares them to step out of their comfort zone to embrace a new change so this is where most fail. Myself? I visualize having the body of WWE Wrestlers like Goldberg and John Cena. Again this is your subconcious. If you think you cannot achieve it, you won't. But as Michael put it across to me, if you aim really high and you fall short, you have actually went further compared to aiming a realistic target.

   Write it down
   Once you have the picture in your mind, write it out. The act of writing actually transforms from the ethereal, untouchable state of thought (imagination and dreams) to a concrete and tangible form. Again this is to stimulate your subconcious and your mind to remember.

   When you do write out a description, remember to address it as "I" as this will trigger the subconcious to zero in like a computer waiting an input. Keep it positive, but don't confuse terms like "I don't want to be fat" as positive, in turn use the statement "I am lean". But why would writing help?

   When you write, you're already committing your mind to focus, and as you write it, it remembers more effectively than if you were to just read. Experiment, from your list, divie it into 2 sections. One section you just read it, the other you keep rewriting it every morning. You'll be amazed at what you can retain!

   Be The Goal and Brainwashing Yourself
   You can visualize what you want and you have written it down, but all this will be wasted if you don't act it out. This will feel awkward and your old self-image will attempt to fight back. I'm sure we have all felt this in some way or another. Something new will scare you and you reel back from it.

   Lie to yourself, say how good you feel or how great you're looking. You need to be consistent, tell yourself every hour of every day. Remember what I mentioned about layering the new image over the old one? You need to be consistent. Consistency and repetition builds a routine, once the routine is solidly engraved in your mind, it will be taken in by your subconcious as a new input. Which subversively produces the output in attitude and behaviour.

   Some of my friends have asked me, "Arn't you just lying to yourself? How would that make you feel good when you don't look it?" Let us look upon this proverb spoken by Mr. Miyagi in Karate Kid 2, "Lies become truth when everyone believes it." Even if you don't look like it, by constantly telling yourself you look and feel great, your mind begins to believe it and soon it will erase the old self image and replace it with the new one.

   However, take note that you say this only to yourself, saying it to others will make you appear to be obnoxious heh.

   Most importantly, do not listen to those who think your new diet or you going to gym is ridiculous. Pay not heed to negative people because if you do, it will affect you more. Get in with a group who are positive. But as I have reiterated many times, your own subconcious is controllable only by you. What's important is you always need to give yourself positive reinforcement. And when someone else gives you positive reinforcement, you smile and say thank you. Never ever reply in modesty because your subconcious will take it as you don't need others. Although to jump start your mentality changes you need to get the ball rolling on your own, you will require positive reinforcements from others whenever you feel your old self image haunting you.

   There you have it, but before I leave you, I shall disseminate some quotes I have gathered, stored, burnt into my subconcious and the essence of my drive. And yes, some of these were directed to me.

   "If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." - Unknown Popular Saying

   "Control your subconcious and not the other way round. If you let it control you, you'll only have misery." - Michael

   "Life is simple, people make it complicated." - Michael

   "If you fail, bear in mind your mistakes and try again. The only true failure is not adjusting and not wanting to try." - Michael

   "It doesn't matter what others think of you, as long as you think highly of yourself and be happy, fuck the rest." - Spider

   "If you think you're fat. You WILL be fat! The subconcious is a powerful tool, you are what you think." - Spider

   "You're not fat because it's genetics, you're fat because you're too damn lazy to do anything about it! And quit giving me excuses on why you can't do it." - Spider

   "Think of losing weight like launching a rocket into space. Initially it will take an enourmous amount of time planning, building the rocket and preparing the personnel for take off. Once the rocket launches, there will always be obstacles along the way. If you veer off course, the rocket comes back down to earth and explodes. But if you stick with the plan, there is only one way to go and that is accomplishing the mission." - Spider

   "Losing weight is easy, losing body fat is hard. If I wanted to lose 5kg, I just drink water sparingly, run like crazy with a jacket and don't eat for a day." - Spider

   "There is no failure, only results. If you didn't put on weight or lose it, that is still a result. It means you're maintaining it. That's good isn't it? The only failure is you giving up on a no result." - Mister Rahmad

   "The key to losing weight is not losing weight, and don't even bother about the scales. It's losing body fat, if you cut your eating habits by half, you can lose weight in accordance to the scale. But in actual fact, you're only losing water and protein because your body is eating away your muscle, not fat." - Mister Rahmad

   "Success is determined by you. I can give you all the tips and tricks in the world but if you don't carry it out, you won't accomplish anything." - Mister Rahmad

Good friday eve

2007-04-05T23:52:00.000+08:00

   I was so looking forward to this day! Eve of Good Friday means a long weekend awaits me. So I decided to meet up with an old colleague, Lin, from my previous job to catch up on what's been happening.

   After work, I proceeded to Tanjong Pagar which is where her office is located at. Alighted at Raffles Place and waited for the west bound train where I bumped into a bunch of familiar faces.

   They were astonished to see me to say the least, some of them were trainers from my previous jobs and others were colleagues of my mother. Almost in unison, they erupted into a frenzy of, "Oh my god! You so thin now! What did you do huh? Mummy never feed you is it? Got girlfriend is it? Forgot to eat ah?"

   Nice thing was, I saw one of them 3 weeks back with my mother and she asked me what did I do to lose so much weight in 3 weeks! That only pushed and motivate me even further to stick with my routine. Yes, I was beaming!

   Shortly at Tanjong Pagar I bid farewell to the ladies and alighted...where I got lost. Reason being Lin wanted to chill at Starbucks and there were a couple of outlets in the vacinity. So I wondered around the control station trying to think of the building she mentioned.

   That was when I felt a hard tap on my shoulder from behind. Now, you don't do that to me because given what I was used to in the past...it could lead to this:

   I spun around and to my surprise, it was the Lecherous Monk! One of my brothers-in-arms since we were 16! I was so delighted because the last time we met was during my Hari Raya open house in 2006. But before that...a word of caution...only in certain situations would you turn around. These are the sort of situations I would recommend not turning around when you feel a tap from behind or hear your name being called:

   . It's almost midnight
(self explanatory)
   . You're in a club/pub/etc
(it could be an accidental bump, if you turn around looking annoyed, chances are you might hear, "le diao simi?!" And that, my friends...can be bad)
   . You're eyeing a hottie and caught hold of the boyfriend's gaze
(serves you right for not being observant!)

   But I digress. I told the Lecherous Monk not to do that, he slyly laughed back at me saying how dazed I looked walking around and he wondered whether I saw him or was I acting dao to him. I got a verbal compliment saying how much tougher I looked, he even said I looked smaller than the Comparison Pictures I posted on Friendster! Alright!

   We had a fast rebonding session then went ahead with our agendas. Then I met up with Lin who graciously brought me some sandwiches and we proceeded to catch up with work (the mishaps and the special people who had us laughing), life stories and even more life stories. I suppose you know what's coming next...she said I looked so much better now. That's 3 (grouping the ladies as 1) verbal compliments today! *hums and attempts to dance to the tune of "I feel good" in my head*

   I know I promised to list out my life's timeline and the music that had accompanied me but it's almost 1AM now and I'm beat. Tomorrow perhaps, as tomorrow I'm looking forward to the East Coast Park outing with my mom and her friend to work out. All in all...a motivational day! And as such, I shall leave you all with a word from our sponsors (captions by yours truly)

"A perk-me-up that guarantees excitement for the ladies"

Some thoughts

2007-04-03T23:17:00.000+08:00

   Earlier on my special other listened to some old songs I had and as I listened, I reminisced and began to unload songs I have not heard of in years.

   Good stuff. Reminded me of how I was years ago and the memories began to flood me, both good and bad. The what if's, how would's and should I have's peppered my already buzzing mind. On my next entry I shall talk about these memories and the music that accompanied me through them.

   Lastly, thank you Eric and Cassandra for your comments, I do love my new layout. Has the high tech feel and at the same time a moody atmosphere. Just the way I like it. And pictures? Why not!

Don't hate me cos I'm gorgeous!

The one and only

Fitness: The ball is rolling!

2007-03-23T23:10:00.000+08:00

   With work settling down and I'm getting used to the chores it provides, I've been focusing my mind on something else. Something which has been slowly getting momentum.

   My health and fitness of course. I've been on a steady decline since my previous weight of 126kg bout 2years ago but as I get closer and closer to my ideal body weight, yo yo seeps in.

   Finally I decided to stop procrastinating and get it on. Started with food and proper eating habits, which in 2 weeks have shown alot of progress within me (I still can't stop drinking Pokka Green Tea though...it's just oh so gooood!). Then I started working out, hitting the gym and intensified by regime and boy, by the end of my 4th day, my muscles were aching everywhere but it sure felt good!

   As I go along, I shall update accordingly and I'm hoping that by my birthday, I'd have a toner and nicer body. Something which I have not had before so wish me luck!

Movies: 300

2007-03-18T14:49:00.000+08:00

   I watched 300 last night and boy was I thrilled! I have always been a fan of the comic novel and the historical events that surrounds the Spartans. While men of today dwell in cars, bikes and what not, I dived head-on to the world of medievalism and the old age. Not surprising that if anyone were to ask me, "Would you prefer to live in those brutal times?" My reply will be a simple, "Yes."

   The movie was perfection in many ways. The intricate plots, the cinematography and not to mention the hand painted backgrounds really enhanced the mood of the story. The only aspect that wasn't in the movie were the creatures of the Persian army. That's sad.

   The plot revolves around the sacrifice of 300 Spartans against the might of the Persian Army. However for the uninitiated, Sparta was not the first target of Xerxes. It was actually Athens. The Atheniens waged war against the Persian Army and managed to fend off the attackers. Which was why Xerxes looked upon Sparta. With the reputation of the Spartan warriors, Xerxes thought he could mould them into his Immortal Army (now whether or not these Immortals do look as ugly as depicted in the movie is debatable). This is where the movie kicks off.

   I won't go into details of the movie just because everyone would know. So I'll go into my insights of the movie. It's funny how legends can be a good teaching point of life. In this event, 300 soldiers went up against legions of the Persian Army. In the face of insurmountable odds, they found a way to defy the numbers and narrow it down to make the battle more manageable.

   In some ways, such is life. We can always choose the easy way, which is to bow down before what we fear or choosing what is right. That is often the harder route, but at least we can accomplish something even if we die trying. That was the way of the Spartans and that mentality is good to emulate. I know I'm trying.

   I'm inspired by the movie as it reminded me of my goals. Of what I want in life. Time to put up, shut up and get things done smiling.

A new beginning...

2007-03-17T23:00:00.000+08:00

   A new blog, a re-newed mentality and vigor! Such is the motion in my life. Alot of reasons for the motivation really, made up my mind on certain issues and decided to take life by the horns.

   I've been watching what I ate the past few weeks and the difference was astounding thus far! I could pull my belt further it's running out of holes heh, clothes felt looser, comfy jeans scrunches when I belt up...I look better and feel great!

   So here's to a new beginning, to a new year, to a new job, to a renewed mentality, to my new blog and to a new beginning with the special someone on the next step in the progression of life. Here's to my goal of size 32 pants with large shirts. Cheers!