Self-control

Much has been said, in more ways than one! All good intentions will wither out if not followed by 'SELF-CONTROL'. Although my progress is slow, I tell myself to keep at it and to stay within the guidelines I have set for myself - No easy task, with the year ending & many loose-ends to tie-up, bridges to burn, re-vamping my life and still trying to have fun!

Nathan S. Collier, a successful entrepreneur and very regular blogger on personal leadership, has this to say about :

Self-control
Self control is simply the ability to control yourself. The ability to exercise restraint, to direct your thoughts, feelings, emotions, and actions in your “hot” states to achieve the results you have decided you want in your “cold,” logical states of mind, to do the things necessary to achieve your long-term goals (or refrain from antithetical behavior), to delay gratification in the search for obtaining greater satisfaction at a later date.

He draws on ideas & quotes from various books that he has read -

“The self controlled person maintains progress toward a goal even when he is not in the mood, doesn’t feel like making the effort, would momentarily enjoy something else or finds working toward his goal downright unpleasant.” — William Backus, “The Finding the Freedom of Self Control”

#3 Resolve (or at least ignore for 3 mths) personal issues/worries/stress

Emotional upset --- I am too easily affected by events & emotions. I need to work out a way to not let it get to me. To chill!

Gandhi said "Nobody can hurt me without my permission." and let that be my mantra. You can't change people & their mean/idiotic/self-centered ways, only our reaction to their actions. People can smell a victim a mile away. Even the mildest, well-mannered man is tempted to control/manipulate you if they think that they can get away with it. It's the law of the jungle and hard-wired into our psychic as a defense mechanism (from what I observed). The only way is to speak out (wherever possible) and defend ourself (and regain their respect) or stay away/shut out/ignore those who are impossible to deal with.

A good friend who listens but do not judge or impose their 'advice' on you is worth his weight in gold! If all fails, write it out, shout it out from the highest mountain, sing your heart out to relive stress build-up or blog it (exercise caution though as what you say could come back to haunt u in later years). Blogging can be therapeutic as it forces you to put your grievances on screen and in doing so you may realise what is it that is actually behind the grievance or you may suddenly see it as petty & so shrug it off!

#2 Make a plan & commit to it

No point crying over spilled milk, then. So I took stock of the reasons why I let myself slip & the answers surprised even me!

• emotional upset - I let events & people get to me. Should have been more careful


• lack of support from my nearest & dearest who preferred me big


• gave up - constant struggling to eat 'healthy' foods was strenuous, even more if you are an aspiring vegetarian like me! Most cooked (ie. stir fried & deep fried, even curried) vege dishes are sinfully fattening


• giving in to desires - at one point I was a 'serial' eater. I ate one dish after another especially supper time as I used food to unwind & relax. Others sip wine or drink beer after a long day, I binge on all kinds of hawker food.


• vicious cycle - you eat & then you feel guilty. So, next day you vow to eat less. That stresses u out. Then u eat some more to calm your nerves. And then you feel guilty again and the cycle repeats!

• boredom - wanted to experiment with the theories I learned about weight loss, hoping to get the attention again. I was successful in the inital weight loss & got much accolade from that. It boosted my self-esteem. After the euphoria died down, you are back to a nobody, just somebody who works out. There was no goal, no objective & without a proper life plan, I just slipped back to my old habits.

Analysis & Conclusion

Each of us handle our daily living & the challenges life throws us differently. I need to strengthen my resolve do whatever it takes to stay within my healthy weight. Easier said than done, but to do it, I must!

Behaviour modification leading to permanent lifestyle change, comes to mind.

Supper time habit --- I've tried NOT to have late night supper binges but to no avail. So, since I can't modify that behaviour, I need to find away to reduce my caloric intake during my 'supper' chill out time. Instead of roti canai, I'll have tosai or even better chappati (which is a smaller portion & it's made from wholemeal flour). Plain water, instead of teh tarik. I recently created a new drink - soya bean drink with plain cincau (grass jelly) and canned large red beans (from the ice kacang section) and ice. Lots of protein there for those days I do strength training!

The Plan is simple :

• Develop a habit of exercising with correct intensity & keep a record of my progress. So for this I decided on another round of personal training from a qualified trainer to achieve my goal faster. If I were to do it on my own, I'd constantly worry whether I'm doing enough or too much. And currently I'm using the Power Plate machine (using vibration therapy) which is monitored by my trainer. Seems to work by strengthening my weakened knees (due to osteoarthritis). Sometimes, you just got to pay for professional service.

• Maintain a sustainable diet of healthier local foods. Can't be surviving on salads alone - what would life be? Moderation & portion control is the key. I'm constantly finding ways to modify or fortify some of the local foods by adding more nutritious, less processed food stuff. If you are a meat-eater, have a roast chicken or grilled meat instead processed foods like sausage/bacon/nuggets/burgers. Ask for raw leafy salad (with no dressing/sauce) to accompany it. I had rava tosai this evening mixed with raw salad leaves like the purple radiocchio & lettuce and dhall curry heated in the microwave. I bought it earlier from an Indian vegetarian shop so that I can have it in the office where I can add the salad to add bulk & more nutrition. Some shops frown on you if you bring your own veg! Another time, I brought baby choy sam (sawi) and asked the noodle soup auntie to blanch it and add to my noodles. Again, you can do this if your are a regular & if the auntie is understanding.

• Get engrossed with activities that don't centre around food! But beware - learn to say NO if you have too much on your plate. Volunteers are hard to get, so one ends up doing much of the work yourself. Know your limit & set boundaries!! Do not burn-out.

• Enjoy, lighten up! Listen to more up-tempo music & smell the flowers -- roses/jasmine/bunga cenpaka/ serunding malam/ etc... LET YOURSELF BE HAPPY. Regard working out as a fun activity for you, where you can challenge yourself & be happy when you achieve a small goal like increasing the dumbbell weight that you previously can carry. Small successes build up into a strong self-esteem. "Rome was not built in a day" as the saying goes!

#1 Assess the damage

Let's admit it. We overeat. Then we check our body. No visible 'damage' done. People still say you look good. Then you eat again, maybe even more. During the day & evening, my tummy grows larger (whether I eat a lot or not) but in the morning, it seems to constrict (to my delight!). However, what I did not realise (or was in denial of) was that one day you'll 'wake up' & find that the waistline has expanded permanently (no matter if it's morning, day or night!) All those overeating have gradually creeped up - Yikes!

For me, weight gain is mainly centered around the waistline. That's why its not so visible when people look only at my face or see me when I'm standing. But take a seat and you will see the bulges like a 'Michelin' tyre man, I kid not!

I checked my weight on my trustee home scale recently & it has climbed to 55kg (120lbs) - 5 kg more than my average weight. At one time, I was even down to 48kg & loving it. So I know its possible for me to be that slim. Waistline was circa 29-30in. Now its 34in - ouch!! One machine had my body fat ratio as 30, another at 28... all bad news.

Three years before - before my foray into fitness & gym workouts, I was 63kg. Three months into the program, I lost 13kg to my utter surprise! I had not planned it, I had not expected it & did not even dared to dream it. I just got down & did the 'work' and enjoyed every (tiring/painful/exhilarating) bit of it.

I did not go on any specific diet, just ate less white rice, more wholemeal bread & stayed away from oily, sugary foods and ate lots of fruits & plain water. My rice portions gradually grew lesser until at one point I was eating nasi campur (mixed rice) with no nasi (rice). I could happily survive on a salad of lettuce, raisins, carrots and hard-boiled egg with salad dressing taken from the Chicken rice man ie. the "chilli/garlic/ginger/calamansi" sauce to add a kick & Malaysian flavour.

Regained half of the lost weight

With advancing age, reduced activity & increased appetite, the inevitable has happened!

Now's the time to put all those weight-loss theories to the test. Starting with the intention - To lose fat & build muscles, not lose weight!!

The strategy :

1. Assess the damage
2. Make a plan & commit to it
3. Resolve (or at least ignore for 3 mths) personal issues/worries/stress
4. Eat healthily, eat regularly
5. Re-condition the body first
6. Regular cardio workout
7. Strength train to build muscles
8. Sleep well & enough to recover & not fall sick
9. Blog about it - so you are forced to stick to it!

Diet Myths Debunked - Weight - FitFacts - American Council On Exercise(ACE)

Nutrition is one of those fields that is inundated with quacks who will try to sell you the latest secret to weight loss. A basic myth-spotting motto: If it sounds too good to be true—it is.

Don’t Be Tricked
In a society that is becoming increasingly health conscious, more and more information is constantly coming out on how to lose weight, how to get fit, how to eat, sleep, breathe—everything under the sun that will help you get healthy!

It’s a wonder that before this information was available people were able to survive—let alone live healthy lives! The fact is, people did survive, and were—and are—still healthy without all the weird, scientifically suspect practices that people get tricked into.

Here are some common diet myths that people dutifully follow in hopes of losing a few pounds.

1. NOT TRUE - Eating late at night will cause you to gain weight :
   Eating late at night, or at any particular time of day, will not cause you to put on more weight than what is normal for what you ate and the activity you did. Weight gain occurs when you consume more calories than you expend, whether that occurs in the middle of the day, the morning or at night. However, in reality, people who eat a lot of food late at night tend to consume more calorie-dense foods and thus eat more calories—which can cause weight gain.
   
2. NOT TRUE - You should eat each food group separately for optimal digestion :
   Your digestive system is made to handle more than one type of food at a time. It is true that carbohydrate, protein and fat are all digested by different mechanisms, but they can all work simultaneously. Keep in mind that few foods are purely carbs, purely protein or purely fat—so it doesn’t make sense that you can’t mix them.
   
3. NOT TRUE - Low-carb/high-protein/no-fat diets are optimal for weight reduction :
   A type of diet consistently shown to cause weight loss is a low-fat diet. The key is that you have to eat fewer calories to lose weight, and fat has the most calories per gram, so it’s easiest to cut calories by trimming the fat. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend 20 to 35% of dietary calories come from fat, 10 to 35% from protein, and 45 to 65% from carbohydrate. All of these macronutrients, as well as micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) are essential in the proper amounts for optimal health.
   
4. NOT TRUE - Carbohydrates are bad for your health and cause weight gain, and therefore should be avoided :
   As far as weight loss goes, the proportion of macronutrients—carbs, fat and protein—consumed is not as important as the total caloric intake versus caloric expenditure. However, foods rich in fiber and protein tend to be the most filling, which in theory would lead to a reduced intake of food and calories compared to high-fat foods and low-fiber carbohydrates. From a heart-health perspective, the healthiest overall meal plan appears to be a Mediterranean-type eating plan, which is rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and omega-3 fatty acids from fish, and low in saturated fat, trans fat, sodium and added sugars.
   
5. NOT TRUE - Skipping meals is a good way to lose weight :
   In theory, skipping one meal while keeping everything else in your diet the same will help you lose weight. But when you skip a meal, your eating pattern changes and you tend to overeat and overcompensate later—which will likely lead to weight gain.
   
6. NOT TRUE - The number of meals eaten each day :
   Three square meals or five or six small meals—has a huge impact on weight management—Because weight control is achieved by balancing the number of calories consumed with the number burned, it doesn’t really matter if the calories come in the form of three large meals or five or six smaller ones. However, some people find that they’re better able to control their intake one way or the other. In the end, it’s a matter of preference.
   
7. NOT TRUE - Grapefruit will speed up your metabolism :
   We’ve all heard of the grapefruit diet, the lemon juice diet and a number of other diets that focus on the “secret ingredient” or “magical compound” found in certain foods. Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet to weight loss. There is no food that will help you burn more calories. The only surefire way to speed up your metabolism is to exercise and build muscle.
   
8. NOT TRUE - Rapid weight loss can be maintained :
   There are many diets out there that promise rapid weight loss, even 10 to 20 pounds in a week. This amount of weight loss is possible on extremely restrictive diets, but it can’t be maintained. A large portion of the weight lost on these types of diets is water and lean tissue, so the minute you get off the diet and go back to eating normally, you’ll gain the weight back—and probably more.
   
9. NOT TRUE - You have to stop eating your favorite foods to lose weight :
   The most successful approach to weight loss and weight-loss maintenance is to make permanent lifestyle changes that include a healthful eating plan and ample physical activity. A “diet” is not the answer. A healthy lifestyle allows for all foods in moderation.

The Truth!
Losing weight and achieving health-related goals requires effort and commitment. Lifestyle behavior changes are typically required to maintain weight loss. Anything above a weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds per week is difficult to maintain.

For healthy weight loss, follow these science-based tips:

• Follow the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. These are summarized at www.MyPyramid.gov, which provides tools to help you plan and track your diet and physical activity.
  
• Get moving! Increase your physical activity with an exercise program, or do simple things like take the stairs, park farther from your destination or walk to do your errands.
  
• Surround yourself with support. Encouragement from friends and family is essential when you find yourself unmotivated. If you know someone with similar goals, make him or her your diet/workout buddy and keep each other accountable.

Additional Resources

ACE Fit Fact: “Successful Weight Control”American Dietetic Association—Weight Management Nutrition Fact Sheet: www.eatright.org ACE Lifestyle & Weight Management Consultant Manual, 2nd ed., Appendix C: Frequently Asked Questions

-- This article is from American Council on Exercise (the respected authority on heakth & fitness matters)

How to get rid of belly bulge / spare tyre / love handles / muffin tummy, etc. etc

When I first started at the Fitness First (my first gym experience), my trainer sat down with me and took some time getting to know my health issues and my ultimate fitness "GOAL". Being a newbie, I said - to be healthy, to lose weight and specifically : "I want go get rid of this bulging tummy!". He smiled. He must have heard this a hundred times.

Most women exercise because they want to lose that 'spare tyre' around their waist. They do sit-ups, abdominal crunches and the like to no avail. Hey they may even see a slight increase in the waistline due to stronger but enlarged abdominal muscles (abs).

Jillian Michaels, the master trainer for the reality show "Biggest Loser" explains it well in these series of articles, quoted from her daily newsletter (that I subscribed online)

1. What is the best way to get rid of the belly bulge?
   A:
   Contrary to what you might think, getting rid of the belly bulge is all about diet and cardio, rather than strength-training exercises that target the abdominals. This is because belly bulge results from excess body fat, not lack of muscle. The best way to reduce the bulge is therefore to reduce your body fat, and we all know what that requires — diet and exercise, baby!
   
   It is possible to carry extra water weight in your tummy. To get rid of this: try cutting your sodium intake to 1,500 mg a day and increasing your water intake. This will help you reduce water retention and reduce the spongy appearance of belly fat just a bit! (My say : How strange -- common 'logic' says that drinking water makes our tummy bloat up. But fitness fact says, to reduce water retension, we SHOULD drink more water... ha ha ha, a paradox!)
   
   But really, it comes down to healthy eating and consistent cardio workouts. Stick with it, kid — it’ll come off. Just keep at it and be patient with yourself.
   
   
2. What kind of exercises can I do to target my love handles and get rid of them once and for all?
   A:
   This answer is the same one I have for any spot-reducing question you guys could ask. Both belly bulge and love handles are about excess body fat, not lack of muscle. Crunches and ab exercises are therefore not the solution. The best way to reduce these problem areas is to reduce your overall body fat percentage, and we all know that that requires diet and exercise.
   
   That said, I'm actually experimenting with different stretches and light isolation exercises to try for specific areas of the body. These stretches will bring blood, and thus oxygen, to these problem areas — my theory is that the oxidization will help break down the fat. And hey, stretching is always beneficial!
   
   For love handles, try this side-bend stretch in conjunction with diet, exercise, sodium reduction, and 80 ounces of water a day:
   
   Side Bend (Do this stretch at least three times a day throughout the day.)
   
   Purpose: To stretch the triceps, upper back, abdominals, and obliques.
   
   Here's how you do it: Bend to one side, while holding your opposite arm overhead, then quickly stretch to the other side, raising the other arm. This drill should be done in a controlled, continuous fashion for 10 stretches on each side of your body. (My say : wish she had included photos)
   
   
3. Are there really foods that burn fat? If so, what are they?
   A:
   Not really, but there are foods that contain fewer calories than the body uses to digest them. Therefore, when you eat these foods (cruciferous veggies, leafy greens, and so forth), you’re helping create a calorie deficit. (ie, less calories consumed as compared to calories used = weight loss)
   
   That said, there are also certain foods that will crank up your metabolism by releasing the right hormones. Protein will release more human growth hormone. Foods with selenium and zinc will support a healthy thyroid. You can boost your metabolic rate by eating clean, whole, fresh foods and avoiding processed foods and chemicals. But there is no food that will magically burn off fat. You have to get off your butt and get moving!

Jillian on Everydayhealth.com
http://www.everydayhealth.com/fitness-specialist/help-for-love-handles.aspx?xid=nl_LosingItWithJillianMichaels_20090806