NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS 2014

2013 has been quite a monotonous year for me. It seems to me that it is the saddest year that I have went through so far. Although there are definitely good and fun things that happen, I can only remember the negative ones.  So, for 2014, I must make it happier and more eventful. I have never did a new year resolutions before but I will do one this year so as to make myself feel that I have done something good this year. 

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS 2014

1) Complete a half-marathon.

         ONGOING. Manage to run 15 km recently. Will definitely join a half-marathon next year. Probably Sundown marathon. 

2) 10 km timing to be under 60 min.

         ONGOING. Recently my pace is up to 6.20 min per hour. 

3) Reduce weight to less than 55 kg and lose the stomach and inner thighs. Also, fat percentage to be less than 20% because I want abs!! And be more flexible. 

          ONGOING. Refer to my previous posts.

4) Increase my social circle. 

         ONGOING. Went to a touch rugby meetup and will be going for another meetup this Saturday and next Friday. 

5) Backpacking/diving/hiking overseas.

6) Family holiday to HK or beach country (eg. Boracay, Phuket, Koh Samui, Bali, Langkawi)

7) Beautify skin especially on my face. 

           ONGOING. Since very long ago. 

8) Have job satisfaction.

Just saw a video by the Fung Brothers from Youtube with regards to New Year Resolutions where they said it sucked (how ironic). True that we nowadays have a lot of distractions around us that will bring us away from our goals so we have to be more mindful and keep our goals always in sight. Eg. we can print a copy out and read it every night or just tattoo it on yourself (just kidding k?). 

Anyways, the video is linked below for those who are interested. HAPPY 2014 TO ALL!

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Emotional/mindless Eating + Update

Hello! It has been about a week since I started my CNY weight loss plan. Since then I manage to do 3 out of 5 rules that I have set for myself. I am doing exercise everyday like running, yoga and touch rugby. I have always been bringing my own lunch to work so there is no problem for me to healthy-fy my lunch. I am able to massage every other day and drinking loads of water everyday. However, there are 2 rules that I need to improve and change. 

No starch for dinner is really difficult to fulfill if you are an Asian and your mom cooks at home. It is just not possible for me to eat the vegetables and meat without form of starch plus my mom will force me to eat at least a bit of rice. Therefore, I will just reduce the amount of rice by half or eat no rice whenever possible. 

Out of these 6 days that I have started on this plan, I actually snacked for 3 of the days and worse of all, I snacked at night after my dinner. I "blamed" this to emotional/mindless eating. I used to not have this habit of eating after dinner and I like the feeling of being hungry. However, once I started work and I have free time in the evening, this is when I started to snack regularly at night. Furthermore, the things I snack on are usually high-caloric and sweet food items which is obviously not good as these food will be stored as fats since they could not be used up by the body. 

Therefore, to counter this problem that I have, I will change the rules and prize for this CNY weight loss plan. The prize for this weight loss plan is a toy that I have always wanted from Stay Real, a brand that 五月天 阿信, had made which cost $40. If I snack for one day, I can only buy the toy 1 week later after 29 January 2013. Since now I have snack for 3 days, I can only buy the toy 3 weeks later. Hopefully, this is a huge enough incentive for me to work on. Gambatte!!!

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Stats of current situation:

Height: 168cm

Weight at start: 60.5kg

Weight 6 days later: 60kg

BMI: 21.4

Expected results: 56kg

Preferred results: 52kg

NOOOOO!!! Too heavy!

OMG! I saw a dreaded number on my weighing machine yesterday. I can't believe how much I have gained since 2012 after my graduation. I think that my jobs and my state of mind results in this absurd weight gain. Therefore, I decided to amp up my weight loss regime to get ready for Chinese New Year (CNY) which can act as my short term goal. 

My following plans goes like this:

1) EXERCISE EVERYDAY

           I will try to do about 30min to 1hr of exercise during the weekdays and possibly up to 2hrs during the weekends. Even if I have no time (which is not an excuse), I will definitely try to do some deep stretches or some pushups/situps before I go to sleep. 

2) NO RICE/NOODLES/STARCH FOR DINNER

         This is just to reduce my calorie intake as it is stated that to lose 1kg per week, about 3500 calories have to be loss via exercise or diet. That means we have to have a net deficit of 500 calories per day which cannot be attained by a 1hr exercise. Since a bowl of rice is about 100 calories, this can help to increase my net deficit of the day. Furthermore, refined carbs causes a spike in sugar level which will be stored as fats storage if it is not used up during the night where our activity is low. 

3) FRUITS & VEGETABLES FOR LUNCH AT WORK

         I have been bringing lunch to work since I started work. Usually I will bring a sandwich or a wrap or a pasta but since I need to bring up my calories deficit, I decided to just eat fruits & vegetables without any dressing. Vegetables have loads of fiber and vitamins which are essential to our body. However, the amount of calories it contains per cup is too little (excludes starchy vegetables) therefore I added fruits to the lunch. For fruits, although it contains loads of fiber and vitamins as well, some of the fruits contains too much sugar which may be stored as fats since my job is rather sedentary. My choice of fruits for lunch should not contain grapes, cherries, mangoes and bananas.

4) NO SNACKS/SWEETS/FRIED FOOD/CANNED DRINKS

         Need me to say more about this? I guess this is self-explanatory. 

5) MASSAGE EVERY OTHER DAY & DRINK 3L OF WATER PER DAY

         Self-massage every other day with firming cream, lotion or oil to get rid of water retention in the body. For ladies, it is easier for us to retain water in our body which may cause us to gain extra weight and also look more swollen. Water retention can be caused by having too much salt in the body. Salt will retain any water that is close to them which will take time to excrete out. One other way to counter water retention is to drink more water. By drinking more water, it will make our body think that we have enough water in the environment so our body do not need to store water for later use. Also, water allows us to flush out the toxins which are bad to our body. In conclusion, water is good.

These are the 5 things that I will concentrate on from today, Christmas Eve, to 29 January 2014 (as 30 January is CNY Eve, which screams steamboat!). The prize that I will give myself is $100 to buy yoga clothes as I have just started on doing yoga and I do not have yoga tights to wear to class. Every time I did not do one of these 5 things, I will deduct 1 dollar off my prize. 

At the end of this plan, I hope to achieve a better body in terms of the physical and aesthetics of it. So I will try update every week with the things that I have done and if I manage to complete all 5 tasks. Good luck to me!!

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Stats of current situation:

Height: 168cm

Weight: 60.5kg

BMI: 21.4

Expected results: 56kg

Preferred results: 52kg

Self-control

Lately, I realized that I am lacking in self-control over myself. I think I have already stop controlling myself since last year after graduation. I do not control things that I put into my body. I do not control things that I have in my mind. I do not control how I am living my life in general. I need to get my self-control back and I shall start now. Who says that New Year Resolution have to start on 1st January? It can happen anywhere anytime. 

First, controlling things that I put into my body. I have been binge eating on and off since mid last year like I will eat peanut butter out of the container at 9pm while watching dramas on my computer even though I know I am already full and too much sweet things causes me to have gas. So to bring back my self-control and also my weight (I did increase quite a substantial amount since last year), I am going to eat 3 meals a day with no snacks in between. I am going to start out slow since is the Christmas season now and the next month is Chinese New Year. There are bound to be some gatherings that I cannot skip. Also, I need to drink more water to flush out the toxins in my body and to boost my hydration level. I believe the first week may be tough as this habit to snack may take a toll on my mental mind but I will complete it!!

Second, exercise. I just recently bought over a yoga membership from a friend and I will aim to go for yoga three times a week, together with Puma run and a long distance once a week and hopefully zumba too. Therefore, in total, I will be working out 6 out of 7 days which should be manageable for me as I am already hitting about 3 days a week now. On days that I cannot manage to workout, be it because of weather, work or gatherings, I will do squats and planks at home. Hopefully, this training can help me increase my endurance and stamina for my goal to do a half-marathon next year. 

Third, I need to start planning for things that I want to complete. I want to go hiking for the longest time and I have not started on doing. I want to go for backpacking solo trip. I want to learn diving. I need to get notice in my job. I want to do things that are important in my job which currently I am feeling rather useless now. 

Ok, I have finished ranting now. I will definitely start on the first two right away and I shall see if there is any results in one week time. JIAYOU!

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Movie review [The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug]

Just watched this movie in JEM's Cathay movie theater. Surprisingly, the theater is only 1/4 filled judging by the fact that this movie tops the box office in Singapore in its first week just last week. 

The action scenes and pictures are still as good and impressive as the first movie. However, I still do not understand why this book requires to have 3 movies when Lord of the Ring has only 1 movie per book. Furthermore, the last movie for The Hobbit has very little content judging by how it ends in this second movie. There are obviously no surprises in there if you have read the book but since I have not read the book in a while, this movie serves as a memory refresher for me. There is a slight weird romance in this movie as well which I think can be omitted and I find that the first movie is better then this as it seems to be moving too slowly. Anyway, this is just my own thought about it. Probably you have a different opinion with regards to it. 

Ratings: 3/5 stars

Rewatch factor: Probably I will catch all 3 movies again when the last movie is release but I will not watch it on its own. 

One thing that I am happy today:

THE HOBBIT MOVIE WITH DAD AND SIS

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Should I or Should I Not, Fitness Trainer

I have been thinking if I should be a fitness trainer since I am enjoying sports and I love to read up on nutrition as well. Although my current physique is still up to standard, I can continue to work hard to increase my muscle mass, endurance, stamina and overall fitness. But I find that it is rather difficult to become a fitness instructor in Singapore. There are hardly any classes or courses to teach you how to become one. I recently found this Basic Sports Science Course and Fitness Instructor Certification under Singapore Sports Council  (SSC) but I am not sure what I will benefit from this. 

I have always been enjoying doing sports and studying them. I think I need something that I enjoy doing now instead of just doing some meaningless work and wasting my time. Is like how I went for a jog yesterday to loosen my sore muscles. I ended up following a guy wearing a neon green shirt so as to pace myself faster then my normal speed. I went from 7min/km to about 6.3min/km which is AWESOME! My muscle ache is still around but I think I feel better after that. I shall go workout after work today too. 

Just researched the courses offered by SSC. Apparently, you will have to have the knowledge of a sport before taking this course. Although I have knowledge of a couple of sports (Netball, Touch Rugby), I do not have very good skill with those and thus will not have any confidence in teaching them. I have a done a basic course in coaching of Netball so that is why I do know that I will not be a good Netball coach. 

Thus, now I am looking for Zumba classes to attend to first before I think I would want to join as an instructor. Wish me luck!

One thing that I am happy today:

GOING TO WORKOUT TODAY!

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Weekend buys & exercise

I am currently writing this entry with super sore calf, thighs, hamstring and glutes. Thanks to the gym session I had on Saturday with Gerald from Abvolution. I think I killed myself by going yoga in the morning then without having any lunch, I went to gym. I did not expect that I will feel so sore after these exercises on Saturday! I think my muscles will still not recover even after today. To counter the soreness, I went for Hot B (Bikram) yoga yesterday. The poses killed me as I was unable to completely relax into some of the poses but I feel better right after that but the tightness of the muscles still crept up to me after some time. I shall try to do some stretching after I go home today and hopefully it will not be so painful to walk tomorrow. 

I bought 2 items this weekend which I am so proud of. I am so in love with these 2 items!! <3

Studded shoes from The Editior's Market (Cathay Cineleisure) @$15

Black leather oversize bag from Mango (Marina Square) @$39

These 2 items are loves and for the price is double loves! The Editor's Market is having a sale with all their shoes at only $15 when their actual retail price is usually above $30. So I actually got the shoes at more than 50% off. Such an awesome buy. As for the bag, Mango is having a up to 50% sale on their past season items. This bag is so suitable for people to bring up to plane as a carry on bag or for me to go gym or yoga in as this bag is so spacious. I am so going to style these two items together in an all-black ensemble. 

One thing I am happy today:

GREAT BUYS THIS WEEKEND!

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Rejection

Rejection is something that we do not like to give and something that we do not like to receive. Whenever you hear of the word rejection, I think the first thing that come to your mind is with regards to boy-girl relationship. Who says that it can only be that? Rejection can come from work, for example your ideas can be rejected by your clients or bosses. Rejection can also come from family, daily life and basically anywhere. 

There are two sides to a rejection: the person who initiate the rejection and the person who receive it. I believe most of us will believe that the person who receives the rejection is the victim and the person who initiated it is the winner. However, this may not be true in some cases. In some cases, both sides "lose". The one that received the rejection will of course feel sad and probably dejected that their offer is rejected. But the other party will also not feel good giving out this rejection. Have you ever think for hours or even days on how to reject someone's offer? Be it be in a relationship or just simply to reject a work offer. There are even articles online to teach you how to reject people in many different ways. 

Rejection is part of everyday life. Sometimes is easy to deal with it, sometimes it takes time to settle it. The first thing to do when you receive a rejection is to let the message sink in. Accept the fact that you have been rejected. Do not deny it and keep bugging the person who rejected you. If you do not understand why you got rejected, let the message sink in and analyze the reasons that was given to you. Once you analyze, you will probably have enough reasons to reason and not just arguing nonsensically. Two, if you have already accepted the fact that you are rejected, think about why got rejected and try to improve yourself to become better such that the next time can be a success. If it is a relationship, probably the person is just not for you so just leave it. 勉强是没有幸福的。

If you are the one who is going to initiate the rejection, make sure that you have a script in your heart which you have say it over and over again. A script is to make sure that whatever that you said is said tactfully such that you are not harming the opposite party. After the rejection is said, let the opposite party have time to sink the message in and not suddenly jump into another topic as this is being not sensitive to the opposite party's feelings. If let say the opposite party started arguing with you with regards to the rejection, let him/her finish her rambling or scolding and do not try to join the argument which may worsen the situation. After his/her scolding is completed, calm him/her down and explain to him/her in a calm tone. Do not try to escape without trying to explain. Even if the opposite party escapes, it is still courtesy to explain the reason for rejection. You do not want to leave a hole in somebody's heart and you do not want someone to hate you as well. 

Stated above are just some of my feelings and observations of what I think should be done. But when talking about human emotions, we may do something that exceeds our own expectations and later on we may even regret our actions. My purpose of writing them down is to make sure that I keep these points in mind so that my heart's decision will not win over my mind's decision. 

One thing I am happy today:
FREE TRIAL OF POLE DANCING AT POLEFESSIONAL!

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猪杂面线 at Zion Riverside Food Centre

I had a session of yoga today at Affinity Yoga at the branch at River Valley. Awesome place to do yoga but as usual, I am struggling with a lot of the poses due to my inflexibility. But I believe that I am getting more and more flexible as time passes. Yoga really helps to improve my flexibility, strengthen and lengthen your muscles. For girls that love the look of long legs, go try yoga. 

After yoga, I went to Zion Riverside Food Centre for my lunch. I was very surprised that the food centre is not full as there are a lot of good food in this place. 

 

This particular store #13 that sells pig organs soup caught my eye because I have not found another stall that can compete with the one in Ghim Moh Food Centre so I tried their Pig Organ Mee Sua. 

The broth is good but I think is loaded with a tad bit too much of MSG. The pig liver is very nicely cook. Usually, I do not like the taste of pig liver but this pig liver is cooked so well such that is not too powdery or not too rubbery. The rest of the ingredients are very good as well but I find that the mee sua is cooked for a bit too long. 

All in all, I still think the pig organ soup in Ghim Moh Food Centre is better but I will definitely come to Zion Riverside Food Centre to try the other stalls like the chicken rice store and the char kuay teow. 

One thing I am happy today:

YOGA!

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Toastmaster

I was invited to the Clementi CC Toastmaster by my friends. Before this, I was actually very scared to go to this kind if events as I have a fear of public speaking. But since Toastmaster is suppose to be platform to improve on communication skills, I see no lost in attending it. Therefore, I went to their meeting tonight.

It was Clementi CC first meeting after a very long hibernation aw what the club president mentioned. We were first told to introduce ourselves and share what a new beginning to us is. Afterwards, there was a presentation of prepared speeches by 4 speakers, in which, one of them is my friend. I find the speeches very interesting and engaging. Each speaker has an evaluator which will evaluate on their performance and tell the speakers their good and bad of their speeches. Some if their conments are very insightful and I would not have notice if they did not mention them. This is where I actually learn that there are a lot of methods to engage and persuade your audience.

They are suppose to conduct Table Top but due to time constraint, they decided to give it a miss. To my understanding from my friends, Table Top enables one to do fast thinking. Topics will be chosen randomly and you are given a very short time to think and then you have to give a 2min speech. This sounds exciting but too bad I did not have the chance to see it.

I shall follow my friend to the next Toastmaster meeting. Sounds exciting!!

One thing I am happy today:
ENJOYABLE TOASTMASTER. DID SOMETHING NEW. CATCHING UP WITH FRIENDS!

Ok, that is more than one thing but whatever, the more the merrier!

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Happiness

Happiness. A word that is easy to say but difficult to define. Everybody has their own definition of what happiness is. Some people can be happy with a full stomach, some require a luxurious yacht. Some require a stable income, some require a branded bag. To me, happiness is not just about things that you feel with your five senses, is also about your physical and mental state of health. Happiness must come from within and objects are just tools for you to reach your ultimate happiness. 

Personally, I think mental happiness plays a very huge role in controlling how we feel inside. If we think positive thoughts and keep ourselves busy with the things that we enjoy doing, we will be easily satisfied. But how is it easy is it for  us to keep ourselves busy with the things that we enjoy doing? I dare say that most people in the world are usually working for the sake to keep ourselves alive. Only a handful of us are actually enjoying their work. Recently, I read a tweet from muttons from 987fm that said that they are grateful that they do not have to work because being a DJ is not work, is a passion. 

I am going to write down one thing per day that makes me happy as I think that I have to constantly remind myself that I am happy and do not make myself so depressed all the time. Being depressed will seriously screw up your health. 

So for today, one thing that I am happy about is:

I AM GOING TO RUN LATER WITH THE PUMA RUNNING CLUB :D 

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Haul from Westgate

Went to the new Westgate mall in Jurong East yesterday and I spent a bomb on the 8 pieces of clothes that you see below. 

There is this shop called TEMT that has 50% for the WHOLE shop. There are a lot of basics, tops, jackets, skirts and dresses that are suited for casual and office wear. I spent only $84.80 for these 8 pieces of clothes. Such a good buy! HAPPY :D

Westgate is a medium-sized shopping mall with 5 levels and the 5th level is the lobby to the condo. The Fitness First on the 5th level is said to have an outdoor pool with a view of Jurong. The environment seems to be very cool and maybe I should go there for trial.

Also, as usual of all of the recent new shopping malls, there are a lot of restaurants in Westgate. There are many high end boutiques situated in the 1st level which are not yet open and of course the Isetan is to die for (for the foodhall of course). The foodhall is rather huge in size with its own bakery as well. The bread looks so oiishi! I shall buy myself one the next time I go over :)

Because of the opening of these 3 malls in Jurong (Jcube, JEM and Westgate), now I do not need to go all the way to the city area for shopping. YEAH! :)

I am BACK!

ただいま！I am finally back on blogosphere after about 1 year of hiatus. As of my previous entry last November, I have been motivation-less and feeling that I have not been doing anything useful with my life. But now that I have just started on a new job, I hope that I will not find myself so useless anymore and will buck up and complete many things that I want to do! 

As for the fitness part, I am still on the journey of getting more fit and doing more runs. I have just completed the Nike We Run 2013 in about 1hr 5min. A new record for me!! So now I have made my up mind to complete at least a half-marathon next year. I am looking at doing the Sundown Marathon or the Adidas King of the Road. If anybody who wants to join me, please feel free to contact me! It is good to have a training buddy too!!

Also, I have recently been going to runs with Puma Running Club. Puma Running Club runs every Thursday at 7.15pm at Marina Square. I have went to 2 runs with them and will be going for the 3rd run this coming Thursday too. They usually run about 6 km. The pace usually depends on the group that is running together but usually the whole run will complete in about 30min (for the faster folks) to 45min. For this run, what is cool is that Puma will rent you their running shoes for 4 sessions to test out their shoes. After the 4th session, you will have to purchase their shoes to keep on running with them as this is after all a Puma Running Club. But you have 20% discount off their merchandise! Their runs are lead by a local running club called Team RunFanatics. Do check them out for more details. Definitely looking forward to the next run with them. 

Hopefully I will be blogging more often in the future so as to record down my daily activities. Things that I find it interesting or thoughts and opinions that I find that I need to share. So my future posts will not be purely on about fitness but also on beauty, food and any other interesting things. So stay on and read this space. 

Till the next time :D

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