Body for Life Challenge
I was at the gym on Monday and was reading this article of a housewife who has put on the pounds since her delivery of her 3rd child. She didn't like how her body turned out; fat and flabby. She looked haggard. Last yr, GNC and Urban supplement had a contest on who can lose the weight and stay trim in 4 weeks. This housewife won and she is a Planet Fitness gym member. How she achieved it? One word and that's Motivation. Of course she had professional help to guide her, but it was her motivation or will power to want to lose the weight and stay trim and fit. Now, she's looking great, all toned and fit, and definately happier and younger looking. Basically, she looks great!! She worked hard, visiting the gym everyday, watching her diet, pushing herself to conquer the stairmaster.
I read with awe. I really want to be like her. I'm younger and therefore it should be easier for me. But I just dont quite have that sort of motivation. I look around me, among my peers, my colleagues, strangers on the roads and everyone looks just right, no flabby arms, no wiggling bottoms, no big round faces and no tummies to show. It's been almost a yr since i joined the gym and still i see no results. I have no lost weight, I look bigger coz of the muscles, I still feel lethargic... etc. Why have i not achieve positive results? I guess one good reason would be I'm not motivated at all! I still snack on chocolates, chips, fries, ice-cream. I only gym about twice a week on an average. It doesn't help that I sit on my big bum every weekday from 9am to 6pm. Of coz it also doesn't help that no one in Junction 8 sells healthy food such as sandwiches or soup!
Okay, I'm ranting on too much. I feel something must be done. I have to get rid of the weight i put on when I was in Melbourne. I need to stop feeling hungry and greedy all the time. I shld stop all these! I need to up my gym routine, attend more body pump and combat classes. I need to be and stay motivated. One thing the housewife taught me was how she pushed herself to the limit and to give that extra push to ya body. She said no matter how painful and torturous the stairmaster was, she told herself, just one more step to go. I need to adopt this "I can do it" attitude. If given a chance and the monetary ability, I would hire a personal trainer to guide me.
To help me stay motivated and achieve my goals, I have managed to find guiding tools. This website, www.itrain.com , is a downloadable mp3 trainer that performs the role as a personal trainer, assisting you on how to tackle the treadmill, cycling machine, stairmaster, weights and dance. It is rather affordable if you take up the 1 yr plan or the monthly plans. I might give this a shot, especially for treadmill and stairmaster. Besides increasing my gym visits, I need to change my eating habits. I'm not eating enough fruits and taking in too much carbohydrates. I need to stop feeling hungry so frequently too. I must stop being tempted. I read in the recent 8days mag on this 5 meals a day diet. This is how it works:
9am - breakfast
noon - Lunch
3pm - a snack
6pm - dinner
9pm - snack
midnight - sleep
Each meal should not be above a certain calorie intake and the portion has to remain small. By doing this, you prevent your body from feeling hungry, more so this help to increase the metabolism rate. If you leave your body to hunger, it will slow the metabolism rate as it goes into starvation mode. If I were to follow this routine, my meals should look like this:
9am - a bowl of cereal/ wholemeal bread with tuna/ham
noon- soup noodle or rice with veg/meat
3pm - a bowl of grapes/fruits
6pm - less rice, more veg/fish/ lean meat
9pm - yogurt/fruits/ a bar of chocolate
The idea of this is to maintain a certain amount of calorie intake, so that you will not take in more calories than expected for the day. The above plan looks wholesome and healthy, but the unfortunate thing is that in Singapore, this is really quite impossible. How do you resist dishes like Char Kway Teow, Chicken/duck/roasted pork rice, lor mee, wanton mee, satay, mee goreng, roti prata? Of coz, there will be the occassional late night suppers of bak ku teh, nasi lemak, etc.
See the dilemma now?
Nevertheless, I'll try to strive to achieve something. I should start a Body for Life challenge on myself. Yup... I shall do that!
My goal: to lose 5 kg in 4months = 1 dress size, 2 inches off my waist line, a toner body, a healthier body.
I shall start from tomorrow, 20 April 2006. Leaves me with today with all that useless, senseless snacking.
Okay, you will be my witness. By 20 August 2006, I should and will achieve my goal.
My strategy
- To gym 3-4 times a week. No more excuses of it being far or classes are boring.
I will participate in classes, run on the threadmill for 30 mins at least, climb the stairmaster for 20 mins at least, and weights training.
- To eat a balanced diet. I will introduce fruits to my every meal. Drink more water and try to maintain a 5 meal diet.
- To sleep early (no more 2am nights on weekdays)
- Stay out of late night supper as much as I can.
- Reduce alcohol intake and no weekly drinking sessions.
I think the beginning weeks will be tough, but this will train my will power.
I look forward to my challenge.
