My ramblings on this health things. Read on if you like anything health and fitness-related. (I just GOTTA let this out!)
Fasting month is slowly entering the third week. Which means, its almost a month since I had my last cardio activity. Not that you can even count washing the car as ‘cardio’. I’m afraid of losing my stamina. A way for me to measure it is to do one of the ‘blast-off’ routine and see if I can last through the climax of it without sagging and seeing stars. Someone asked me to go jogging with them after the fasting month. Well, I’m going to take this seriously because the one who asked me is heavier than me:P. Besides, I’ve been looking to bump my routine too and there’s no new Denise Austin’s VCDs in the market. Her latest routines are all on DVD and only sold in the US and through her website. And since its DVD, its Region 1 DVD which means it wont work on local DVD players. Damn.
Although jogging can take its toll on your knees in the long run, its good exercise for the lower body. All the female trouble spots; thighs, butts, the whole leg muscles. Hey, if you want beautiful legs, you gotta work them. And heavier people burn more calories so my partner will burn more in the first few weeks than I do. Hey I’m not complaining - really! I’ve lost weight, I’m lighter now and its great! But its just that even though you’ve almost reach that ideal weight, there’s still a few bits you want to shrink. And its even harder to burn off those fat. You worked hard before, but now you have to work twice as hard. But that’s good - you gained stamina and with more exercise, more stamina. Good trade-off eh? hehehe
I started going on my exercise regime after SPM when I noticed I was seriously gaining weight. I had a poor diet but I didnt plan to do anything about it. One day my dad pointed out that I was gaining weight. And I know that once my dad said it, it was time to take action. But I waited until after SPM. I seriously wanted to feel good about myself. After SPM I installed a TV in my room specifically to play the PS2. So if I was going to game for long hours, I need to balance it out with a sensible amount of physical activities. Or else I’m going to get even bigger than before! Meeps!
But surprisingly, fasting month accelerated my weight loss. Well, mostly due to the lack of eating. And when breaking of fast, I try to drink a whole glass of water before eating. My sis avoids this. Of course, its common sense. If you drink a lot before or during eating, it would spoil your appetite. I used just this. I drink a lot so I wont eat too much. It took your body 20 minutes on average to notice that you’re full. In one of the succes stories I read, a guy who weights 220 pounds lose weight by drinking a pitcher of water before he eat. He exercises too of course. But that drinking before eating habit is a good way to control your food intake. But what worries me is that, you see, if you don’t eat, your body stores fat for emergency use. And these fat are the wobbly bits sticking out of your body. Same thing if you don’t drink enough, your body stores water, giving you extra water weight. These stored fat and water are what you need to get rid of. And I hope it won’t happen during the fasting month. I’ve been trying to move about as much as possible. Although lately the one doing most of the movement is my fingers. Typing on the keyboard. 0_0
One thing I want to point out here is fad diets. Hell - we all know they dont work! You can’t trust something that says ‘lose 10 lbs in 3 days!’ ads. Sure, you can lose 10 labs in 3 days if you deprives yourself of food. Then you’ll see, after 3 days, you’re going to gain more than 10 lbs. Not only fad diets dont work, they are dangerous for your health. Look, like it or not, you have to eat carbs. Low-carb diets are usually high with trans-fat - man-made fats thats even more destructive than fats in cooking oils. Studies show that people who eat a good proportion of carbs lose more fat in their bodies. How? Well, carbs is one of the complex fibers and it makes you feel full. Since digesting carbs take a while and the making of it is complex, they go down your intestines slower. And in the process, they bring along other stuff that might clog your intestions - like fat. As they go down to the ‘waste shute’ they bring along these fat and go down with them. And voila~! You have less fat in your body now.
So now you know why avoiding carbs is stupid.
I once know a girl who avoids rice like a plague. Her diet was pretty poor. In the day, she ate all kinds of junk food. You name it - chips, crackers, anything delicious. And she avoids drinking plain water. She spends most of her days sitting in front of the TV while eating crackers dipped in syrup. And the family keeps bottles of them, ready-made in the fridge. The parents are both professional people, PhD and a university professor. And you would have thought they know good eating habits! Goes to show just how smart PhDs are. And needless to say, this girl is overweight, perhaps almost obese. She avoids the scale and is very secretive of her weight. She once tried one of the ‘fad diets’. Lose 2 kg in 2 days, stopped at the 3rd day. *shrugs* Well, I dont need to mention the reasons for it. The word fad diets speak for itself.
And yet, she still avoids eating rice and replaced it with bread and lots of other junk foods a.k.a empty calories and trans fat. She thinks rice makes her fat because carbs translate into fat. Yeah right. Only unused carb translate into fat. And its easy to control because carbs make you full, preventing you the after meal snacks - the real enemies. And you know what? Despite being overweight, she points back at me who wont substitute rice for anything else! See whos overweight now huh? Do you see me getting overweight because I eat too much rice? Duh, no. When I asked her to exercise, she said she’s fine with how she is. She’s gaining more weight day by day and still avoids rice, even now. I was waiting to see if her theory is true, but so far I see no improvments.
Well, let me tell you what kind of complications people with this state of mind and their body will face. Remember how people like this say they are ‘fine the way they are’? Your heart pumps blood to more sections of the body and because of the clogged arteries, the heart beats faster. Its simple physics. Smaller passages create more pressure. Therefore these people have an unhealthy heart rate. Keep this up, and it may lead to heart diseases, diabetes, cancer and what else you care to mention. And by the way, you heart doesn’t enjoy it. One day its going to tell you and you won’t like what it’s saying.
Secondly, by depriving themselves off food and skipping neccessary meals, they are losing energy and most importantly, muscle mass. If your body doesnt get the fuel it needs, aka carbs, it will turn to something else for fuel; your muscles. Slowly it will eat away your muscles because junk food carbs does no good to it. And we all know muscles are important. Stronger, bigger muscles mean that you burn fat quicker. Muscle mass is important because it dictates your Basic Metabolism Rate (BMR) or in other words, how fast your body processes the food.
In conclusion, I must state that I am not against fat people. I was once almost labeled fat and I hated it. But I just want to destroy the myth out there that carb is bad for you. Ask any weight loss professional. All of them would tell you to eat your meals three times a day. Breakfast is especially essential. None of them would tell you to skip your meals and eat only simple carbs to maintain your weight. I was once dissed at by a teacher and someone who I thought was a friend for being conscious of my weight and what I eat. They said a teenager shouldnt worry about such things and just eat whatever. Yeah right. All problems like obesity and bad posture starts in the teenage years and I dont like ill-informed individuals to tell me how to do things the right way. Do your homework. I’m not the one scarfing down junk food just to make up for the lack of carbs. I eat my carbs and loving it. And yeah, I eat junk food too, but I’m under control. Unlike this friend of my who totally not in control.
I respect my body enough not to stuff it with nuclear waste in the form of junk food. I don’t expect the said girl feels the same about hers.
Geez, even if you are not into weight loss and is okay with your body weight, whatever it may be, don’t be dissing people who are. They are taking a positive step towards a healthier life, so let them be. And if you are already on that path, keep it up! Don’t let diet saboteurs stop you. In the end, you’re going to make them feel guilty.
And yeah, that’s the end of my rambling. My bladder is working extra fine tonight. Gotta go!
