Week 5 – Update

February 7, 2010 – 10:37 pm

I’m starting Week 6 of my 35 week journey to BMI 25 on a sad note. I haven’t lost any weight in the past 3 weeks. There’s definitely something wrong with what I’m doing because I’m hitting the weight plateau too early.
I have evaluated my current fat burning program and came to the conclusion that I am doing it wrong. I’m cutting corners by not doing everything in the program and not giving it my all during my workouts.
For those that haven’t figured it out , I’m following the fat burning program, “Fat Burning Furnace” by Rob Poulos. You can read about it at http://bestfatburningprogram.info. What the program promotes is doing workouts to muscle failure, counting calorie consumption, having proper nutrition, and getting proper rest periods. So far I’ve only succeeded in the workout portion.
So now, I’m forcing myself to do everything in the program. It will go like these:

Workouts: Time to make my muscles scream! No more half baked efforts: nothing but muscle failure.

Diet: I’ve succeeded in counting calories for 5 days (i won’t count calories on weekends). That’s a good test run. Tomorrow I’ll start with the actual daily recording.

Rest: So far, I’ve managed to force myself to rest at least 6 hours a day. The recommended duration is 8-9 hours. Six hours is already an accomplishment for me since I normally sleep for just 4 hours.

Here are the sad details for week 5:

Down:

  • No weight lost—again
  • Back to drinking 3-in-1 coffee mix
  • Averaging only 10 glasses a day
  • Can’t get enough of that indian food

Up:

  • Averaging 6 hours of sleep a day — finally!
  • Successfully track my calorie consumption during the week

More information on my calorie counting efforts on my next post.

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Week 5 – Photo

February 1, 2010 – 10:52 pm

Weight: 103.5 Kg

BMI: 33.21

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Week 4 – Update

February 1, 2010 – 9:17 pm

Week 5 starts today, but I’m having doubts about losing weight with what I’m doing now. I guess cutting corners doesn’t helpful. So starting this week, I’ll do the complete fat loss program I’m following instead of just doing the workout part. As always, here are the details:

Down

  • Didn’t lose weight again :(

Up

  • Averaging 3-4 litres of water a day
  • Endurance-wise, I can do more reps with my workout

Things to do this week:

  • Begin calorie counting
  • Do HIIT ever other day
  • Fiber, fiber, fiber!
  • Eat those greens.

Let’s see how this goes.

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Week 3 – Update

January 26, 2010 – 1:18 pm

Yesterday was the start of Week 4. Week 3 was a disappointing work in terms of workout and diet.
Here are the ups and downs of last week, downs first:

Down

  • Didn’t lose weight again!
  • I was hitting 3000 calories per day! It should only be 2500!

Ups:
Same as last week:

  • I feel much more energetic .
  • My muscles are firmer.
  • Still drinking 3 litres of water everyday.
  • Didn’t drink or had the urge to drink soda or sweetened drinks except coffee.

Things to do this week:

  • Complete the 3 times a week 30-minute workouts
  • Include 2 days of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
  • Stay away from coffee
  • Have more fiber in my diet
  • Eat more vegetables

I’m getting bulkier but losing fat. This can be a good thing, but my BMI is not going down. I’m still technically obese but I don’t think and I am (compared to the Biggest Loser Asia contestants, that is).

After 12 weeks, I’ll evaluate my approache and see how this goes.

Stay tuned!

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The Sexiest Workout Yet – Flirty Girl Fitness

January 23, 2010 – 9:59 pm

I was looking around in youtube for some workout or fitness videos and I came across this interesting video. It’s a workout program for women but I think men would also enjoy watching this. :)
So for the women readers, here’s something you might like to try out, and for the men, well, just watch.

Enjoy!

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Air France offers free second seat to obese people

January 22, 2010 – 1:57 pm

IF you’re obese, and you’re flying Air France, you can now book a second seat beside you so that you overflow your excess weight over to that. Funny right? but really this is how widespread obesity is.

BBC News – Air France offers free second seat to obese people.

In some airlines, if you can’t be secured in your seat with a seatbelt even if they use belt extenders, they won’t allow you to take the flight.

Sounds fair to me, since if you’re not securely seated you’d be thrown and shaken if the plane meets a lot of turbulence.

Is this discrimination against fat people? I don’t think so. It’s only logical since your safety is their primary concern (after their profits, of course). Having a huge seatmate  who spills over your space can also be discomforting. Imagine a big chunk of flesh crushing you to the side of your seat. That’s how it’s like.

So if you’re obese, and you know in your heart that one seat won’t be enough for you, do the right and gracious thing: buy the seat next to you. Do not burden your seatmate with your excessive humanity. If you can’t afford to buy two seats, call the airlines and tell them of the situation. They’ll probably figure something out for you: you’re a potential customer to them anyway.

By the way, one of the main reason airlines impose bigger fees on the obese people is that they assume you would be an obstacle in case of emergencies, especially when you’re blocking the exits or your seated on aisle seats, or when you’re stuck in your seat and couldn’t stand up.

I just hope they don’t start weighing passengers now.

Source: BBC News and Crikey.com.au

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Week 2 – Update

January 19, 2010 – 12:57 pm

I’ve started on week 3 of my journey to BMI 25. Last week was the start of my 37 week workout program that focuses on fat burning, muscle building and proper eating.

The program  is divided like this:

  • 12 weeks beginner stage
  • 12 weeks intermediate stage
  • 12 weeks advanced stage

Here are the ups and downs of last week, downs first:

Down

  • Didn’t lose weight! but based on my photos i did lose some fat.
  • Wasn’t able to follow a balanced diet again: I’ve eaten more calories than I can burn up.

Ups:

  • I feel much more energetic.
  • My muscles are firmer.
  • My belly doesn’t sag that much compared to last year.
  • I’m drinking 3 litres of water everyday.

Part of the program is proper diet, focusing on balancing the food that you eat and making sure you eat from all the major food groups.  I haven’t succeeded on the diet part. There’s a skill that I need to learn and master so that I don’t eat too much. That skill is:

Learn to eat to satisfy your hunger. Don’t eat until you’re full.

If you think about it, you don’t really need to be full, you just need to satisfy the hunger. Most of the time, you’ll be wondering why after having a full stomach, you’ll be hungry again. We must make feeling not hungry equal to feeling full, well that’s my goal anyway.

Things to do this week:

  • Follow the new workout and diet plan.
  • Eat less rice.
  • Minimize sugar consumption.
  • Do the required intense exercises.
  • Get more sleep.

So on with week 3!

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Week 3- Photo (photo taken every other week)

January 19, 2010 – 12:39 am

Just minuscule reductions. My belly sags less than last week.

Weight: 103.5 Kg

BMI: 33.21

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What is Obesity? What is BMI (Body Mass Index)?

January 18, 2010 – 3:30 pm

If you’re curious what obesity means, and how BMI is related to it, you can check out this link:

What is Obesity? What is BMI (Body Mass Index)?.

It’s a good resource for understanding this condition. Here’s an excerpt from that resource page regarding obesity:

An obese person has accumulated so much body fat that it might have a negative effect on their health. If a person’s bodyweight is at least 20% higher than it should be, he or she is considered obese. If your Body Mass Index (BMI) is between 25 and 29.9 you are considered overweight. If your BMI is 30 or over you are considered obese.

Now for the BMI, here’s another excerpt:

The BMI is a statistical measurement derived from your height and weight. Although it is considered to be a useful way to estimate healthy body weight, it does not measure the percentage of body fat. The BMI measurement can sometimes be misleading – a muscleman may have a high BMI but have much less fat than an unfit person whose BMI is lower. However, in general, the BMI measurement can be a useful indicator for the ‘average person’.

So if you naturally have big muscles like I do, our BMI will be higher. Now this is a dilemma for me. Where should I base my weight loss targets now? Should it be on BMI or should it be on overall physical appearance? With regards to my insurance premiums, I’m obese. So should I just target the normal BMI? But what if it is impossible given my body type?Hmmmm.

Anyways, I’m still overweight, so I still need to lose weight. Once I achieve a slimmer and firmer body, I’ll reevaluate my targets again.

For now, it’s back to my workouts and healthy eating habits.

Original article source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/obesity/what-is-obesity.php

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“Want some poop in your drink, sir?” – Think again

January 15, 2010 – 2:08 pm

I came across a very alarming article in CNN Health, about how researchers found “Nearly half of the 90 beverages from soda fountain machines in one area in Virginia tested positive for coliform bacteria — which could indicate possible fecal contamination.” Yup you read that right, “fecal” contamination. Bacteria in poop, sh*t, feces, whatever you want to call it, was found in their sodas. The researchers still don’t know how that got there but what they’re sure of is “Many of the soda beverages from the dispensers fell below U.S. drinking-water standards, according to the findings.”

Directly quoting the article:

“The large number of beverages and soda fountain machines containing E. coli is still of considerable concern… and suggests that more pathogenic strains of bacteria could persist and thrive in soda fountain machines if introduced,” the authors wrote.

Godard and her colleagues acquired 90 beverages of three types, (sugar soda, diet soda, water) from 30 fast food restaurants in a 22-mile area near Roanoke, in southern Virginia. They surveyed beverages from both self-service and employee-dispensed machines and the samples were tested.

There were no reported outbreaks of food-borne illness related in the Roanoke area at the time of the study.

They found that 48 percent of beverages obtained from soda fountains contained coliform bacteria, 11 percent contained E. coli (which are mostly harmless, but some can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections, respiratory illness and pneumonia), and 17 percent had Chryseobacterium meningosepticum (which could sicken newborns or adults with weakened immune systems). Read More »

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