It Is All In Your Mind
Friday, June 13, 2008
One of the most important driving force for personal development is actually your willpower, your mind. Conversely, your greatest pitfall is the same too - your mind.
If you keep thinking you're fat (even if you really aren't), you are going to do destructive things to your body, like missing meals, eating very little, or to induce purging after eating. This usually happens in women.
As mentioned before in this blog, as well as in other health and fitness blogs, missing meals is really a BAD thing to do. Even if you're losing weight, you should not skip any meals. Your body has built-in mechanisms to trigger you to do something. You become thirsty when your body needs water. You get hungry when the body needs food. Depriving yourself of these when your body tells you it needs those, just makes the body go into survival mode.
While in survival mode the body does burn fat, but once you get to the weight you want, and start eating again, the food you eat goes right back into your fat stores - you are back to square one.
You have to have the right frame of mind, not just for this, but for everything else. Fearing to see your weight doesn't help you lose weight. It just gives you a false sense of relief, for want of a better word, that you aren't "fat" yet. Without having a baseline, you have nothing to work towards. Without regular weigh-ins, you'll never know if you're on the right track on losing weight.
Having a driving force, your motivation, helps you succeed. You will surely have come across numerous stories when reading about people who have been successful at losing weight the right way - they had motivation. Their mindset was right. They had a goal. They worked towards the goal, and if they ever strayed from the goal, they took corrective actions.
By not wanting to look at the numbers on the weighing scales, you are just fooling yourself.
Having a defeatist attitude, like "What's the use? It'll never happen" is the most destructive thought you can ever have. It doesn't necessarily have to do with losing weight, but doing anything. Business, weight loss, it's all the same. Your mindset is very important.
The moment you tell yourself, "I can do it", you're already halfway there. The other half, is of course, the action you need to take to achieve the results. Start eating healthy (not "go on a diet"). Start working out - run, swim, do weights.
And ladies, working out with weights won't "bulk you up". Don't keep having the misconception of having "unsightly muscles" when you touch weights. In fact I'll tell you something interesting, something you probably never thought of.
When you carry your infant child, you're already "carrying weights". The baby will weigh something like 2kg or so at birth, and steadily grow heavier as the year goes on. In this couple of years that you've been carrying him/her (before he/she can walk), you've been carrying "weights". Do you see "muscles" on you?
Similarly, when you do train with weights, train with light ones. They are there to tone your body when you do lose the fats. By toning, I mean to give your underlying muscles (ie those that were covered by fats) definition. You work them so they are defined and not flabby-looking.
Also, by eating healthy, you don't even need to "eat less" to lose weight. More often than not, you can eat your normal portions of HEALTHY food and still lose weight (instead of junk food like potato chips, tortillas etc). "Going on a diet" for ladies usually means "eat less, skip meals", which I have explained before, is actually BAD for you.
If you keep thinking you're fat (even if you really aren't), you are going to do destructive things to your body, like missing meals, eating very little, or to induce purging after eating. This usually happens in women.
As mentioned before in this blog, as well as in other health and fitness blogs, missing meals is really a BAD thing to do. Even if you're losing weight, you should not skip any meals. Your body has built-in mechanisms to trigger you to do something. You become thirsty when your body needs water. You get hungry when the body needs food. Depriving yourself of these when your body tells you it needs those, just makes the body go into survival mode.
While in survival mode the body does burn fat, but once you get to the weight you want, and start eating again, the food you eat goes right back into your fat stores - you are back to square one.
You have to have the right frame of mind, not just for this, but for everything else. Fearing to see your weight doesn't help you lose weight. It just gives you a false sense of relief, for want of a better word, that you aren't "fat" yet. Without having a baseline, you have nothing to work towards. Without regular weigh-ins, you'll never know if you're on the right track on losing weight.
Having a driving force, your motivation, helps you succeed. You will surely have come across numerous stories when reading about people who have been successful at losing weight the right way - they had motivation. Their mindset was right. They had a goal. They worked towards the goal, and if they ever strayed from the goal, they took corrective actions.
By not wanting to look at the numbers on the weighing scales, you are just fooling yourself.
Having a defeatist attitude, like "What's the use? It'll never happen" is the most destructive thought you can ever have. It doesn't necessarily have to do with losing weight, but doing anything. Business, weight loss, it's all the same. Your mindset is very important.
The moment you tell yourself, "I can do it", you're already halfway there. The other half, is of course, the action you need to take to achieve the results. Start eating healthy (not "go on a diet"). Start working out - run, swim, do weights.
And ladies, working out with weights won't "bulk you up". Don't keep having the misconception of having "unsightly muscles" when you touch weights. In fact I'll tell you something interesting, something you probably never thought of.
When you carry your infant child, you're already "carrying weights". The baby will weigh something like 2kg or so at birth, and steadily grow heavier as the year goes on. In this couple of years that you've been carrying him/her (before he/she can walk), you've been carrying "weights". Do you see "muscles" on you?
Similarly, when you do train with weights, train with light ones. They are there to tone your body when you do lose the fats. By toning, I mean to give your underlying muscles (ie those that were covered by fats) definition. You work them so they are defined and not flabby-looking.
Also, by eating healthy, you don't even need to "eat less" to lose weight. More often than not, you can eat your normal portions of HEALTHY food and still lose weight (instead of junk food like potato chips, tortillas etc). "Going on a diet" for ladies usually means "eat less, skip meals", which I have explained before, is actually BAD for you.
Labels: dieting, mindset, weight loss
Truly Free Website For Health Tips
Monday, April 21, 2008
Among all the websites out there, many of them tell you they offer free tips, but to truly access their in-depth database of knowledge, you will have to become a member (and thus pay membership fees).
Well, fret no more! I stumbled across this website called Weight Training and Weight Lifting Tips, which is TRULY FREE!
It has 2 sections actually. One for those going for weight loss as a goal, the other for people who aim to pack on the muscles. It even has a section solely on diets and nutrition, and exactly what to eat to achieve which kinds of results.
I have actually gone through their tips, and they are for real. They don't tell you to buy xyz supplement or whatever. The owner of the site truly made the website to help people who need guidance on how to achieve their fitness goals.
The website gives you no-frills, no-bs kind of tips. If you want to achieve this, do this. No long stories nor anecdotes about his younger days. It even has diagrams on how to perform the required exercises so you are doing it with the correct form.
I think the best feature of the site is his list of "top 5 power exercises", meaning if you're hard pressed for time, do the 5 exercises which will effectively work the majority of your muscle groups in your body.
Make this site one of your favourites today, and visit it often! I know I do!
Labels: diet, exercise, gym, weight loss, workout
Drink Milk To Grow Big And Strong
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Mom knows best, and in this case, it seemed mom knew more than she let on.
Now, we all know that it's good for bones and teeth. Today, I came across this article that shows that it may actually be good for muscles and weight-loss too!
According to the article, the group who consumed skimmed milk after workout, registered greater loss of body fats and packed on more muscle mass. Looks pretty good to me. I must start thinking about having milk handy with me when I workout now.
The other point of interest, which is in the article, mentions that:
As reported in the first phase of the study, the milk drinking group came out on top in terms of muscle gain with an estimated 40 per cent or 2.5 pounds more muscle mass than the soy beverage drinkers. In addition, this group gained 63 per cent or 3.3 pounds, more muscle mass than the carbohydrate beverage drinkers.
This seem to confirm an earlier entry of this blog, which states that soy actually isn't good for you. So I guess this busts the myth that soy contains lots of proteins. I still know many people who tell me soy contains heaps of proteins. When I tell them about the article on soy, they say it's just marketing bull and they're sure soy is a good source of protein.
Ok then, guess I'm gonna go shopping for skimmed milk pretty soon!
Labels: lose weight, milk, soy, soya, weight loss, Weightloss, workout
The Noodle Aunty Says.....
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Ok this week is turning out to be some kind of omen, or sign, to me.
As you may recall, I met a friend I haven't seen in 8 months last week. Then a couple of days ago, I met a friend who hasn't seen me in ONE week. Both said the same, or similar things.
The kicker - this morning, I visited my usual noodle stall for breakfast. Well, "usual" before I started working out. I still do eat at the noodle stall now and then even now, but not as often as before I decided to work out. So anyway, the aunty made the noodles, and then said "Wow you've lost weight! Stressed? You need to eat more!"
Ok so she belongs to the generation that says "if you're fat, you're healthy". The thing is, she HAS seen me walking past her stall all these weeks I'm working out. Week by week my weight has gone down, at the time. Now, the weight hasn't budged from 77kgs in 4 weeks like I have mentioned in earlier posts. It seems so coincidental that I keep getting the same or similar comments only now, and not during all those weeks while I was working out.
Plus, the fact that I have almost virtually stopped "fat burning" workouts lately, and only doing muscle building and toning, make this seem very "omen-ish".
Perhaps the signs are trying to tell me that the traditional "fat burning mindless treadmill" type of workout is actually useless, and that my current type of "muscle building, high reps" type of workout actually works better?
Remember, the friend who hasn't seen me in ONE week saw a difference, and in that ONE week, I only did one "mindless cardio workout" while the remainder of the days in the week I only did muscle building workouts...
Are all the traditional fitness information wrong? Maybe just purely "burning fat" is not really effective for long-term weightloss? Hmmm food for thought....
As you may recall, I met a friend I haven't seen in 8 months last week. Then a couple of days ago, I met a friend who hasn't seen me in ONE week. Both said the same, or similar things.
The kicker - this morning, I visited my usual noodle stall for breakfast. Well, "usual" before I started working out. I still do eat at the noodle stall now and then even now, but not as often as before I decided to work out. So anyway, the aunty made the noodles, and then said "Wow you've lost weight! Stressed? You need to eat more!"
Ok so she belongs to the generation that says "if you're fat, you're healthy". The thing is, she HAS seen me walking past her stall all these weeks I'm working out. Week by week my weight has gone down, at the time. Now, the weight hasn't budged from 77kgs in 4 weeks like I have mentioned in earlier posts. It seems so coincidental that I keep getting the same or similar comments only now, and not during all those weeks while I was working out.
Plus, the fact that I have almost virtually stopped "fat burning" workouts lately, and only doing muscle building and toning, make this seem very "omen-ish".
Perhaps the signs are trying to tell me that the traditional "fat burning mindless treadmill" type of workout is actually useless, and that my current type of "muscle building, high reps" type of workout actually works better?
Remember, the friend who hasn't seen me in ONE week saw a difference, and in that ONE week, I only did one "mindless cardio workout" while the remainder of the days in the week I only did muscle building workouts...
Are all the traditional fitness information wrong? Maybe just purely "burning fat" is not really effective for long-term weightloss? Hmmm food for thought....
Labels: personal, results, weight loss, workout
1 Down, 9 More To Go!
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Well, this week wasn't as bad as last week. The good news is, I'm down 1 more kilogramme, leaving 9 more to go to hit my goal.
At least this week I managed to get in 3 days of workout, Monday to Wednesday. I thought since I've been pushing myself this week I should take Thursday off for the body to recover and rebuild (for the muscles).
Fridays are always out for workouts - it's my drinking night with the guys, so, very high chance of zero workout.
Well since the night's still young for today, a Saturday, I'm thinking of getting another workout in later, probably while watching TV or something,
Yeah I'll probably do that while watching the latest episode of Heroes (Season 2, episode 6).
At least this week I managed to get in 3 days of workout, Monday to Wednesday. I thought since I've been pushing myself this week I should take Thursday off for the body to recover and rebuild (for the muscles).
Fridays are always out for workouts - it's my drinking night with the guys, so, very high chance of zero workout.
Well since the night's still young for today, a Saturday, I'm thinking of getting another workout in later, probably while watching TV or something,
Yeah I'll probably do that while watching the latest episode of Heroes (Season 2, episode 6).
Technorati:
Labels: weight loss
Not Enough Work!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Ok I'm still behind schedule. The past week has been hectic and I only trained one day - Tuesday. I really need to get back on track, and yeah, the bathroom scale is screaming the same thing at me.
Yeah, no further weight loss occured. I'm still not putting in enough work, sigh!
Yeah, no further weight loss occured. I'm still not putting in enough work, sigh!
Technorati:
Labels: weight loss, Weightloss
A Gym At Home - The Steel Bow (Bullworker clone)
Thursday, October 11, 2007
In first post, I was saying I needed a home solution for workout. To recap - I'm a lazy person. I won't say "Singaporean", because humans are inherently lazy. You can be in any country, and chances are, they'll be as lazy as everyone else...
But, I digress..
Back in 1998, I did mostly cardio... you know, those mindless 30 min running, jumping, Power-Rider-ing stuff, and very little strength/muscle building. This time around I thought I'd really start to put on some muscles for a more "permanent" solution to losing weight and keeping them off. Besides, with a set of muscles I might be motivated to exercise regularly like twice a week to maintain them :)
In any case, I scoured the net for a few home workout solutions, or "home gym" as they like to call it. I then remembered that as a kid, I saw adverts in the newspapers for a "Bullworker" machine. At the time, I wanted to get it but my dad would always refuse, saying they're just "gimmicks".
Well, now I can get one on my own. So I started hunting around Singapore for it. Unfortunately, it seems like no one knows where to get one anymore. I then turned to the Internet, and lo and behold! I found a ton of websites with Bullworker-clones.
I almost bought the BullyXtreme, but the website was too "spammy" and it didn't really give me a good "feeling". Then I stumbled across BowProducts. It was here that I was sold on the Steel Bow (pic below).
But, I digress..
Back in 1998, I did mostly cardio... you know, those mindless 30 min running, jumping, Power-Rider-ing stuff, and very little strength/muscle building. This time around I thought I'd really start to put on some muscles for a more "permanent" solution to losing weight and keeping them off. Besides, with a set of muscles I might be motivated to exercise regularly like twice a week to maintain them :)
In any case, I scoured the net for a few home workout solutions, or "home gym" as they like to call it. I then remembered that as a kid, I saw adverts in the newspapers for a "Bullworker" machine. At the time, I wanted to get it but my dad would always refuse, saying they're just "gimmicks".
Well, now I can get one on my own. So I started hunting around Singapore for it. Unfortunately, it seems like no one knows where to get one anymore. I then turned to the Internet, and lo and behold! I found a ton of websites with Bullworker-clones.
I almost bought the BullyXtreme, but the website was too "spammy" and it didn't really give me a good "feeling". Then I stumbled across BowProducts. It was here that I was sold on the Steel Bow (pic below).
Steel Bow
Anyway, I ordered one, and amazingly it took only 4 working days to get from the USA to Singapore! Excitedly I tore the package open, and unfolded the wall-chart:
Yeah I stuck it on my wall... what else do you do with a wall-chart eh?The package comes with the Steel Bow, 2 additional springs (for intermediate and advanced users, meaning stronger springs) and a workout DVD.
Anyway, it's been a week, and I've been following the exercises on the wall-chart. What I *CAN* say is that my strength HAS increased. No visible increase in measurements yet though.
I hope my investment in this will be worth it...
Tags:
Labels: Bullworker, burn fat, exercise, gym, home gym, lose weight, Steel Bow, weight loss, workout
A New Journey
Sunday, October 7, 2007
I'm a typical Singaporean.
That means overweight, more fat than fit, and severely out of shape. Like most other Singaporean males, I cringed at the 4 letters - "IPPT". I drink, eat junk food, play games into the wee hours of the night (well I don't do much of that anymore) and do all sorts of unhealthy stuff. Even gory pictures on cigarette boxes don't put me off.
Well, no more. I have committed myself to a slightly different lifestyle. I did it once before, back in 1998. If I can do it then, I can do it again, now.
Yeah, I went on a training regime back in 1998. I lost 10kg. When I met up with my reservist buddies, they commented on how slim I was. Alas, I still failed IPPT that year.
This is the beginning of a new journey for me.
Technically I started back around 20 Sept 2007. That was day 1 of my new journey - the journey to lose this accumulated weight I have been carrying since 1998 (when I stopped my old journey). That night, I went hunting for my old journal - the one I had written down all the healthy foods, exercise tips and so forth - but to no avail. It's lost. Gone.
Well I have to start over. I have to research all those stuff all over again. However now I have a head-start - I still remember alot of the do's and don'ts I had written down back then. For example, I remember that eating more times a day, but smaller portions each time, is actually good for me instead of the popular misconception that it's bad.
Yes, eating MORE OFTEN will skew your body's rhythm. It'll make your body say "Hmmm food is becoming abundant now, we don't have to scrimp and save and push everything into FATS to store for a rainy day". I'm not kidding. I did that in 1998 and it lost me 10kg.
Next step - to start cardiovascular exercises. I know I have to do this for at least 2 weeks for the body to start recognising that exercise is now regular, and that it's easier to burn stored fat than just the calories I ate that day. I did that on 20 Sept. And, I got a sore body the next WEEK after that.
Yeah, that happens when you don't exercise for years then you suddenly kick-start everything. Your body is suddenly shocked into working.
I only did a 20 min cardio workout and some pushups, bicep curls and some crunches that night. I was then punished the whole of next week with body aches. The week following that, since my body was aching to heck and back, I could only continue on cardio workouts and did almost ZERO muscle building/strength training.
Muscle building is yet another thing I remember from my 1998 journal. Muscles burn fat, even when you're slouched in front of the TV or sleeping. Losing weight too fast without building muscles will make you look fugly. Besides, losing weight without adding muscles won't make the weight-loss permanent. The moment you go off your diet, you start to put on weight again.
Yeah I know, cos I stopped my regime back in 1998 and it happened to me.
This is now 2 weeks since 20 Sept when I started on my journey. I had started out weighing 82kg. Now, at this writing, I've already lost 2kg, almost entirely only doing 20 to 25 mins of cardio workouts every 2nd day. It's considered pretty slow actually.
Now that my body has been conditioned, my muscles don't ache anymore. However I still need a fast way of putting on muscles to help with the fat burning, and doing push-ups, pull-ups, crunches seem like hard work.
Because, like most other Singaporeans, I'm lazy :) I don't want to buy a gym membership and then have to groan and moan about going to the gym. It will end up with me dreading to go, finding all sorts of excuses not to go etc.
So, I needed a home solution....
That means overweight, more fat than fit, and severely out of shape. Like most other Singaporean males, I cringed at the 4 letters - "IPPT". I drink, eat junk food, play games into the wee hours of the night (well I don't do much of that anymore) and do all sorts of unhealthy stuff. Even gory pictures on cigarette boxes don't put me off.
Well, no more. I have committed myself to a slightly different lifestyle. I did it once before, back in 1998. If I can do it then, I can do it again, now.
Yeah, I went on a training regime back in 1998. I lost 10kg. When I met up with my reservist buddies, they commented on how slim I was. Alas, I still failed IPPT that year.
This is the beginning of a new journey for me.
Technically I started back around 20 Sept 2007. That was day 1 of my new journey - the journey to lose this accumulated weight I have been carrying since 1998 (when I stopped my old journey). That night, I went hunting for my old journal - the one I had written down all the healthy foods, exercise tips and so forth - but to no avail. It's lost. Gone.
Well I have to start over. I have to research all those stuff all over again. However now I have a head-start - I still remember alot of the do's and don'ts I had written down back then. For example, I remember that eating more times a day, but smaller portions each time, is actually good for me instead of the popular misconception that it's bad.
Yes, eating MORE OFTEN will skew your body's rhythm. It'll make your body say "Hmmm food is becoming abundant now, we don't have to scrimp and save and push everything into FATS to store for a rainy day". I'm not kidding. I did that in 1998 and it lost me 10kg.
Next step - to start cardiovascular exercises. I know I have to do this for at least 2 weeks for the body to start recognising that exercise is now regular, and that it's easier to burn stored fat than just the calories I ate that day. I did that on 20 Sept. And, I got a sore body the next WEEK after that.
Yeah, that happens when you don't exercise for years then you suddenly kick-start everything. Your body is suddenly shocked into working.
I only did a 20 min cardio workout and some pushups, bicep curls and some crunches that night. I was then punished the whole of next week with body aches. The week following that, since my body was aching to heck and back, I could only continue on cardio workouts and did almost ZERO muscle building/strength training.
Muscle building is yet another thing I remember from my 1998 journal. Muscles burn fat, even when you're slouched in front of the TV or sleeping. Losing weight too fast without building muscles will make you look fugly. Besides, losing weight without adding muscles won't make the weight-loss permanent. The moment you go off your diet, you start to put on weight again.
Yeah I know, cos I stopped my regime back in 1998 and it happened to me.
This is now 2 weeks since 20 Sept when I started on my journey. I had started out weighing 82kg. Now, at this writing, I've already lost 2kg, almost entirely only doing 20 to 25 mins of cardio workouts every 2nd day. It's considered pretty slow actually.
Now that my body has been conditioned, my muscles don't ache anymore. However I still need a fast way of putting on muscles to help with the fat burning, and doing push-ups, pull-ups, crunches seem like hard work.
Because, like most other Singaporeans, I'm lazy :) I don't want to buy a gym membership and then have to groan and moan about going to the gym. It will end up with me dreading to go, finding all sorts of excuses not to go etc.
So, I needed a home solution....
Technorati:
Labels: exercise, lose weight, weight loss, workout
