Tag: fitness

  • My Food Prep Routine

    Weekends are normally the time I prepare my food, some for the whole months and some for the coming weeks. Every new month, I will get my groceries for the whole month or just half of it (depending on how much cash do I have at the moment) straight after work.

    Things I will get first are my protein sources. I will buy:

    • 1 big can of tuna chunks (which could last a whole week if I only eat this one)
    • 6 chicken breasts (for a month supply)
    • 1 big tray of eggs (supply for 2 weeks)
    • 200-300g block cheese (2-3 weeks supply)
    • 2 1 litre cartons of fresh milk (1 for yoghurt making, 1 for coffee)
    • 1 bag of rolled oatmeal

    For vegetables, since I barely have time and energy to cook, I will get those that are edible as it is and add with fruits for my fibre and vitamins intake. These would include:

    • Tomatoes
    • Carrot
    • Cucumber or Japanese ones less water
    • Any kind of leafy greens like lettuce
    • Celery
    • If papaya or honeydew melon is on sale, I’ll get those as well and grab a big one, or oranges and apples. I’ll sometimes add banana

    For source of carbohydrates, I’ll just stock up wholemeal bread weekly and rice.

    Additionally, I’ll add stuffs for my sweet tooth like chocolate malt drink powders, ingredients for baking and making chocolate chip cookies.

    These could last me for a month, except that I might be replenishing my milk supplies about 1-2 cartons a week, block cheese or another bag of oatmeal. I also add 1 kg of soy powder for now to add in my protein intake which lasts for 2 weeks to add in with fruits and yoghurt.

    Once I got home, the stuffs that I prepare are:

    • Grilled chicken (the whole 6 chicken breasts)
    • Tuna mayo sandwich fillings
    • Yoghurt (1 big tub last for a week)
    • Pre-cut fruits (papaya or honeydew melons)
    • Choc chip cookies dough (1 batch could produce 15 ready to bake cookie dough balls)
    • Cook a big pot of rice, occasionally

    As I already know what I’d eat everyday (and these rarely deviate), it’s easy for me to get ready so that I’m good for the whole month.

    My daily menu usually looks like this:

    Breakfast:

    1 bowl of savoury oatmeal (on non-working or non-training mornings, I’ll add 3 boiled eggs or shredded grillled chicken)

    1 cup of coffee with milk

    Lunch/Post-class or Post-training meal:

    If I am outside and have got to eat out,

    Mixed rice with 1 protein source, 1 vegetable source or 2 protein sources (1 animal, 1 plant-based)

    If at home,

    2 shredded grilled chicken with cheese and tomato toast, or tuna mayo toast, or 3 sunny side eggs with toast

    At times, I’ll have rice with 3 sunny side eggs with fruits and salads as sides.

    If craving for sweets, I’ll bake 2-3 of my cookie dough balls for 10-minutes.

    Lunch 2 (normally late noon 2 hours before class or training):

    1 cup of coffee with milk

    1 toast (as in Lunch, refer above)

    Late dinner:

    1 bowl of yoghurt with fruits and soy powder

    1 bowl of mixed vege salad with shredded chicken or tuna mayo or 3 boiled eggs

    1 cup of chocolate malt drink

    If still hungry, I’ll make 1 toast

    Sometimes I cook fried rice but these are rare as I find it less fulfilling. During holidays or my off days, I’ll just eat whatever because I am often at my parents’ home. Once in a while I eat out or order takeouts. Once a fortnight or monthly, I’ll indulge myself with a couple of Big Apple donuts and Zus coffee. But on days that I need to be alert and perform my best, these are the menu that I stick to.

    So this is how I manage my nutrition. Roughly at least I get 100g minimum protein daily. I just make gradual change according to my body’s needs if I need to tweak them.

    If you are just starting out, here are the first few steps that could help you:

    1. Find out a menu that you can stomach for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, day in day out.
    2. Assess your source of protein, and how much you need daily.
    3. Practice and stick to your list and menu for a month.
    4. Have a routine to prepare and buy your food at specific time only.
    5. Only add 5-10% gradual change on your diet if you need to change.

    I find this very helpful for me, as it avoids decision fatigue on what to eat every single time, I don’t go too hungry for a long time as my meal preparation takes only 5-10 minutes each meal and I know how much to budget for my groceries.

    You can try it out if you want and, yes, it takes practice to be disciplined and systematic with your meals choice and preparation to ensure that you have adequate nutrition.

  • Change is Inevitable

    Having chitchatted with other women and observing post-partum trainers as well as athletes, I noticed this thought comes across so much – that ‘I’m training to get back my old body’ or ‘I’m training to be like how my body looked like 20 years ago’. I love looking out for post-partum examples as me myself am terrified of the bodily changes that could happen to me after childbirth if I got pregnant someday.

    I had similar thoughts before, but maybe not so much, as I had been at the heavier scale and blessed with big strong builds since forever. Having been criticised on how huge I was, while having no time to exercise (years back before I know the science of fitness), I often resorted to quick fixes – short period of intense exercises, got lighter, stopped working out and gained back what I’ve lost. It’s basically years of yo-yo weight loss for me. I was clinging to the expectation that I could reduce my weight to my range in my 20s.

    Our body is a dynamic system. Our circumstances years back are different than what we are now. We are consistently changing from what our body experiences – hormonal change, trauma from childbirth, muscular growths, life stressors, foods we eat and a lot more. The society’s obsession with small and lithe figure as the benchmark for a woman to be considered attractive too doesn’t help women to view themselves positively. Look at it like how our brain learns and process experiences. Our maturity and experiences cannot be the same like it was 20 years ago (unless you are stuck in fixed mindset and resist growing up ). So it’s the same with our body system.

    Once I embrace my body’s journey and keep training to be the healthiest version of myself physically and mentally, and on what I could be right now – not based on previous ideals, or comparing with others, I am able to build and maintain my physique for years. Though there were setbacks, life happens, but I’m able to bounce up and be better. What I’m trying to say here is to reframe what fitness and exercise means to you. Are you working out because of shame, is it because of fear, or is it because of the love and care you have for yourself. I invite you to deeply think about it to be more intentional about your approach in fitness.

  • Training for Hopper Warrior

    I thought I’ve got 3 weeks to practice. After 1 week of recovery from Borneo Pangazou, finally went to gym to start training yesterday. My upper body has gotten weaker and I was still traumatised by the rope climb fails during the Pangazou event. The more senior ladies there at the gym freaked out because I don’t train enough. Everyone tried to help me with the rope climb technique which I find so endearing. I told them, okay, if I don’t show up to train at the gym you all can make a fuss and hold me accountable. They’re lovely.

    Then I trained in the morning today and chit chatted with the guys there after a week of not training together, one proceeded to remind me that we’ve only got 2 weeks to prepare and suggested me what I could do. Love these guys, they’re like older brothers I never had. My coach also insists that I do all the planned workout for athletes.

    At first, I was doing it to challenge my limit and the experience and feeling inside the arena is just undescribable especially when there are people I’ve never met who were rooting out for me. I guess I just love the adrenaline of challenging myself and the excitement from the crowds. Now, I’ve got to really train and master my skills, fairer fights for me and be respectful of others whom have trained so hard.

    So the stuff I need to learn and practice for the competition:

    • Pull up skills and endurance
    • Toes to bars
    • Rope climbs
    • Double unders
    • 5km run

    Other than these moves, my strategy is to just skip or just attempt the moves that I could partially do. And then, I gotta lose more weights. I already lost about 2kgs from my usual 75-73kg range. Maybe I could do 70kg by next month. That or I gotta increase my upper body and core strength.

    I’m afraid my body would become dysregulated and so stressed out again. For the next 2 weeks, really need to intensely train 2 sessions a day, watch my nutrition and sleep. At the same time working on my thesis. Let’s see how it goes with this strategy. Just got to stay disciplined. May Allah ease.

  • How Did I Go After 1 Year Working in Fitness Industry as Fulltime Fitness Professional

    This week is the second week that I work and teach almost full schedule again after fasting month – and first week in with full CrossFit training on. My body is adjusting to it. The feeling is so messy and uncomfortable. I feel stressed all the time coupled with feeling fatigue, anxiety on ongoing data collection tasks as well as the hot weather condition. Next month, I am adding another class on top of my existing ones. All these classes need reviewing sooner or later. Sometimes, I feel that I could not sustain this kind of intensity day in day out for a long time. Then again, there are more instructors doing way more classes than me. I got to figure out how to take care of myself better.

    I am so grateful for being able to teach fitness classes. It is one of the times that I do feel like myself and I could share my full authenticity with those who attended mine. It has not been so rewarding financially yet, but experiencing things like witnessing a fitness transformation of someone that I play a part of is so satisfying. I have never been happier at my work than ever before. I have progressed from teaching 2-3 classes a week into potentially up to 11 classes a week if I don’t have to cover for anyone else. I also look different, way better, more defined and muscular (the weight has not changed much). It is safe to say, I really like the way I am physically and never have felt better before. However, the fatigue that comes with it is so real, it really affects my life and overall daily functioning. I need more time for self-care like doing nothing, be alone and away from people (I meet people everyday), sleep and do self-audit like right now. It is the first week that I have been able to do this. I am not frustrated, just feeling a tad bit out of alignment.

    My daily routine starts with getting up early at 5.00am if I am going to train or 6.45am to get ready for morning class. If there is no class, I would usually be at home by 9.00am, recover and get extra sleep for 2 hours. If there is class, I would be at home by 12pm earliest. I would do whatever to recover, whether eat or sleep before 2.30pm. Normally, my body would settle down and is OK to function at 3pm onwards. This is when I do other things that require thinking and calling people – those that are not fitness related. Then, by 4.30pm I would get ready to get to 5.30pm class, and usually stays out until 9.30pm earliest to reach home. I got a wee bit hours after that to relax and get in tune with myself before going to bed usually by 11.30pm or 12am-ish. My typical sleep would be 3-4 hours maximum. So, this is me with this non-optimal, consistently in pain and fatigue body. Something has to be done, otherwise, I would not progress and just stay in this cycle of agony.

    Today, I actually was researching about my nutrition for hours, almost half of the day – looking for the most cost-effective way to stay nourished and hit my micronutrients so that I could function better. It was really crazy, I have never worry about what I eat before. Now it’s like, how could I hit 165g of protein daily? What are my options? Real food? Whey? BCAAs? What are the costs involved? At first I thought to myself, why was I spending so much time trying to solve this. Now it occurred to me, if I don’t change the way I eat, it will affect my job and my ability to function according to my values. It is the core, if I am not healthy and fit to teach and role model, there goes my salary. And I might not be able to progress at my CrossFit training as my body is almost always in pain after training. Creating balance with planning my nutrition intake with real food and supplement with restrained budget can be really frustrating. Maybe it is that hard, I need detailed planning and survey my options. I, for sure, am not alone facing this kind of issue.

    Currently I am taking whey proteins as supplements. However, I feel that it affects my mood so much and I am consistently feeling inflamed and hot inside. That really bothers me, and my body, too, does not recover as quickly as I have expected it to. Probably I need more BCAAs (recommended intake 4-20g daily) and could use real food to fulfill my protein intake. So that is about 130-150g of protein spread out throughout the day – probably I could do something like 25g, 30g, 30g, 45g, 20g. What is left now, is to determine what menu to have depending on budget and my choice of food. Option 2, should I continue with whey protein (the hormonal effect I really diss, but let’s see for another month if it is going to become better); I could opt for 2 daily servings (50g), and then the 110g spread out in 4 meals so it could look like this – 20g, 30g, 30g, 30g. Looks achievable. My daily caloric intake could be around 2400-2600kcal, so there’s a lot of room for variety.

    Next strategy, is to research potential high protein sources from food that is available to me and within my budget. I am looking for chicken, black beans, eggs, cheese, yogurt and tuna as my source of protein. What meals that could come out of this, I am still figuring out. My monthly expense for food normally goes around RM200-350 (this was before whey protein, and I was still undernourished). Good whey protein costs about RM250 a month, BCAAs around RM60-RM90 depending on the amount gram per tablet. I am really skewing towards BCAA for the cost and also for functionality as it is the speedy and effective muscle recovery that I am looking for. Whey protein has BCAAs too and I could potentially consume up to 20g of them daily. I can’t know for sure how my body feels until I go through and feel it. Cost-wise, with BCAA, I have got to buy more quality food. With whey, less food and I have to be selective with what I am going to buy. I have just ordered another month supply of whey protein. In June, I would start with this BCAA strategy. The most important thing now, what should I buy for groceries to cater for 110g of protein daily while not neglecting other nutrition needs like vitamins and minerals.

    Getting in tune with my body and ensuring that I take care of it is definitely a process. My body is just so strained and stressed as I teach and train for about 4-5 hours daily. Theoretically, I know what had to be done. Practicing it is another struggle. I am determined to nail this and be good at it so that I will feel more confident when offering general meal suggestions towards my clients; and ultimately for my own well-being.

  • How to Get Started to Working Out Consistently

    The first step is the hardest for most people. But once you get the ball rolling, you will be in it for life with less effort.

    These are a few strategies that you could use to start exercising consistently. The key word here is CONSISTENT, everyone can start, but sticking to it is another story.

    1. Set the INTENTION, you need to exercise because you love yourself and you want to get healthy.
    2. Try any exercise type or setting that is accessible to you. Be it kickboxing, dance class, yoga, running or hiking clubs, powerlift, crossfit or any group class. PICK SOMETHING that you enjoy doing and have the means to do so.
    3. Adjust your daily schedule, you need to MAKE TIME for exercise 3-5 days a week – from as little as 20 minutes to 60 minutes, your call. Relying on free time to workout won’t do it.
    4. Set SMALL MANAGEABLE GOAL or intention every week or month to achieve with your workout. Example, this week, I want to run extra 1km or I want to do extra 10 burpees today. A trainer can help you with setting your weekly or monthly goals.
    5. BE ACCOUNTABLE with your weekly workout by tracking them and regular scheduling. Find someone credible, like personal trainer or coaches, to help you with this.
    6. COMMIT. Stick to your schedule as best as you can. It’s sometimes a trial and error thing as you figure out what’s best for you. Adjust accordingly as you go along. Sometimes unavoidable things come your way that could stop your track, just slowly get back to your plan. Don’t give it up altogether!

    It’s the simplest breakdown. Try it out!

  • Serotonin

    I was scrolling through my Instagram just lying on my couch having millions of thoughts on things that I should be doing right now.

    Then there’s one post by Derric Chan I guess, I’ll check back what’s the handle, sharing on feel good hormones. There are 4, and based on my lifestyle, I’m pretty much ok with most of the hormones except serotonin.

    No wonder meditation appeals to me a lot these days, and that I’m consistently trying to reduce my stress as I have been living under chronic stress these days and I avoid stressful people and situations. It seems to me that my body is protecting me by telling me that this is good for me cause I lack of it.

    Coping up with today’s lifestyle and my expectations and others, often I find that I am consistently stressed because I put myself as a high performing person at work. I gotta unravel this needs to be high performer. I am now ok being the last person among others. I don’t compete with people anymore. I only compete with myself. And maybe cause I still attach myself to the idea of success as according to my parents – that I gotta be a good child and not disappoint them; that made me feel less than who I actually am.

    I don’t want to blame my family anymore it’s unfair to them. Maybe I haven’t confronted myself enough. True, I gotta set my standard, but not to the extent of torturing myself. I guess everyone at some point has this. Like my PT client, she always wants to do more. It kind of triggered me. Maybe I am upset cause I used to, and sometimes, be like that. She sounded disappointed when I said that she should take it easy with her training. I just want to be kind and for her to not torture her body. Maybe I have crossed her belief. Whatever it is, I have found her obstacle to become better with training. This is also a huge reminder to always be kind to myself; body, mind and spirit.

  • What is BodyPump workout?

    BodyPump is one of the many Les Mills scientifically-backed group exercise program. It is a strength and muscular endurance conditioning workout where we work on different muscles isolation work (with some compounds) together with music. I would like to highlight 2 things here in this post: the exercise and the music.

    The 55-minutes workout is structured to start with warm-up and ends with core before cooling down. The muscles worked for conditioning in between are legs with specific tracks on squats and lunges; chests, back muscles, triceps, biceps and shoulders. Each muscle group will be train in isolation, creating fatigue with tension over time with high repetition – which really is the essence of BodyPump workout. The duration for each muscle work would roughly be in 5 minutes. Imagine, by the time we finish a class of BodyPump, we managed to complete 200 reps of squats (I kid you not!).

    The magic in this workout is really on the synchronicity of the moves and the music chosen for each exercise. You often will find yourself struggle to go on with fatigue already building, but the upbeat music will drive you to push yourself to finish. I find myself exerting my effort more when I enjoy the music and be overwhelmed with disbelief that I did that! The music is fresh and carefully picked to give the drive we need to complete an exercise.

    Because of the nature of the workout with using lighter weights than usual strength training – add that with high repetitions, you would find that your body gets more toned and defined arms and shoulders. Your core gets stronger too, which helps with body posture; as well as adds up for the strengths and endurance that we need to perform daily chores.

    Those who are new to BodyPump usually struggle to cope with the tempo and muscular pressure combination. That is normal. The good news is, your body would adapt to the training as you keep practicing the moves in every class, making it easier as your body also grows stronger. Don’t be surprised that over time, you would need to add more loads to feel similar muscular pressure as you did the first time around.

    If you haven’t tried the workout, you could find a class near you using this link provided from Les Mills website. Here also, I am sharing BodyPump teaser for you to get an idea what it is all about.