Do Your Kegel!

I have been absent for a long, long time. My co-author feels it is such a waste that we have the blog here and I’m not updating it. True, I must say. But in my defense, more of an excuse actually, my current condition makes me “lazy” to update this blog. Just because I no longer visit the gym.

You see, I am now into my 32nd week of pregnancy. And I have not been to the gym eversince my trainer kicked me out when I went to see him, with gym bag on my shoulder, and told him I have a bun in the oven. :-p

Anyway, for this post, I’d like to share with you one exercise that any women can do, even when she’s pregnant. Yup, you know it! The Kegel Exercise.

Kegel is something that you can do anytime, anywhere. No one will know it but you. What you do is actually do a muscle contraction as if you’re stopping your urine flow. If you have not done this exercise before, it’s best to practice while you’re doing your business… Seriously. MayoClinic explains in detail including how to recognise which muscle to activate. But easier method is to practice while you’re in the loo.

Anyway these are amongst the benefit of doing Kegel:

• Strengthen your pelvic floor muscle which supports the uterus, bladder and bowel
• Said to enhance experience in the sack (he he he)

So, you can see why this exercise is beneficial for pregnant women too! This matter was stressed by the nurse in the antenatal class that I attended.

Food Journal... Shournal!

One of the things that I kind of (sort of?) resolved to do in FB was to come up with a food journal.

Yes.  A food journal detailing every single thing I ate for every single day, for every single meal.

That was two weeks ago. So far, I have only managed to come up with two journals on FB.

I continued on writing on my FB note, not of my food journal, but on things that don't matter.

IE --- Talking cock.

Yesterday, I was seen at Ikea racing through my meatballs dish because I was feeling lightheaded.

Light headed because I realized that I didn't eat for the whole entire time I was at work from 9.30 pm - 7 am and from the time I woke up from 3.30 pm - 7 pm.

Except for some butter crackers and a big mug of milk tea, I didn't have anything in between.

Suffice to say that I SUCK at planning my meals.

Most of the time I missed my meals because I was busy with work, tired with work and / or just plain clueless on what to eat.

If I ever decided to go out for my meals, I would stand there in the middle of nowhere, trying to decide on what to eat.

"Let's see now... Char Koay Teow? No, don't feel like having seafood... Ooh... what about steak? Too heavy... RICE... errr.. no, conflict of goals, coffee... bagel... wait is that food...=_=..."

Yes, I do need help. All the more now that I am supposed to start my Muay Thai again next year.

Food journal... what to journal about when I don't have FOOD...

Oi Vey!

Eat, Pray, Love, YOGA

Good morning everyone.

To all Yoga practitioners, have a slammin' Surya Namaskara everyone!

Puasa workout

Ramadhan work out

It is a great big misconception that people has to stop working out during Ramadhan (Fasting month).

Although, we do have to stick to a less vigorous workout routine.

For me, Yoga is my first choice.

My visit to the gym will be pretty much minimal this month. It doesn't mean that I am going to stop completely.

Are you kidding? I would lose my sanity if I stop. Working out is a way for me to destress, like how I am using my 10 mins break right now to update this blog.

So to all the Muslims, don't let the Ramadhan be in the way of keeping yourselves healthy. Afterall, you must be healthy if you want to 'beribadah' right?

Have a blessed Ramadhan everyone!

SHAPE Night Run update and Emotional Health

Update on the Shape Night Run.

Unfortunately, due to some unplanned events on the familia side, I won't be able to join Mas and Jade despite having suggested it in the first place.

I was mad because well, I did pay and I have been training my ass off to get ready for my first 5K run.

Plus I felt guilty that I was not able to follow through with something that I have planned in the first place.

On the plus side (although it didn't really help me with my guilt), Jade managed to redeem my goodie bag for me. Still, I wanted to run, I was so looking forward for the event.

On another note, lately I have been focusing so much on physical health, that I sort of forget about my emotional health.

Being single for about 4 years now, I found myself to be a reluctant recipient for any relationships.

I guess anyone who is single would agree with me that sometimes, not having anyone to fall back to is just plain, depressing.

Years ago, I have never had an issue about getting anyone. Dates were something of a normality and although the dates would usually have a disastrous end, I was open and totally, well... accepting that some men are just bad at dates and I have yet to find men who can be comfortable with me.

Now, I don't even get to meet men. Most of the men who came on to me turned me off and those who actually had the guts to ask me out on a date failed miserably in a sense that all they were interested in was to get into my pants, faster than you can say G-Spot.

Also, my relationship with my family had been stagnant.

I didn't grow up in the typical loving family kind of sense.

Sure my parents loved me, but we don't express our love that openly. I always wondered why is it that during solemnization ceremonies, why was it that the mother /bride/father would cry their eyeballs out. They should be happy, right?

I can't relate to tears of happiness, only tears of sadness and frustration makes sense. I don't even cry at funerals.

So does that make me abnormal in terms of my emotions? I have an unhealthy emotional upkeep and a fit physical exterior.

I am hiding behind a wall that I built as a defense mechanism because my last relationship experiences had been nothing short of a pathetic attempt at not being myself?

I don't know. I can be wrong at this of course.

I know what I need to do as far as physical health is concerned. Looks like I won't be having quite a normal emotional health for many years to come, unless, I guess, if God is going to be kind to me.

Of the 'desire' to lose weight...

Once in a while, my friends would complain to me about their ballooning weight.

They told me about their fear of turning to Roseanne Barr or John Goodman.

They will also tell me about their diets. The meal skipping, the 'eat nothing but a god damn apple' for the whole day and wallop a big plate of pasta for dinner (Before 8 pm nevertheless), the boxes of diet supplements they take to make sure that their ass do not form their own country.

And everytime they told me of these 'attempts', I would smile and say :

"It will not work. You might lose the weight, but you will never be able to sustain the loss... unless you exercise."

I am a big believer of exercise. I did lose 12 KGs after busting my ass in the gym for the last year afterall.

I was 68 kg when I first started. Now I am a healthy 56 KG. I have been at this weight for the last 4 months. I intend to lose 2 more KGs. My ideal weight is at 52 KG.

Of course, it took a lot of effort. I don't eat rice everyday, substituting it with Durum wheat pastas, oats and vegies. I don't eat fast food often (Actually, I try to stop eating it altogether.) and only cook my meals with Olive oils.

I work out in the gym 5 days a week and now I am trying to get back to the normal 6 days a week routine. Instead of focusing on weight loss, I am now concentrating more on muscle sculpting and toning and also core strength training.

I buy all kinds of fitness magazines, mainly for all the exercise moves they have in it and the healthy living tips articles.

I know this is cliched but it does feel good to be healthy. Of course, I have my problems.

I still have difficulties getting 8 hours of sleep everynight (or day, considering my schedule), of eating enough food to fulfill the 2800 cal/day to fuel my workout (I am known as anorexic mainly because sometimes, I really seriously do not know what to eat and therefore would just NOT eat... which is bad.) and I still have difficulties running the extra mile without getting muscle pains and sores.

That said, I seriously do not believe that any other methods could actually work. Exercise and a balanced diet (Not starving yourself, mind you.) is the best option.

I would also tell my friends that if they have the 'desire' to lose weight, they should have the 'determination' to do it 'properly' too.

To stop complaining and be deluded with fad diets and false claims of supplement boxes would do them well too.