Tag Archives: gym

The Challenge Threatened

4 Mar

I seem to be setting myself up for failure. I thought the week before with dinner engagements three days in a row was bad; this past weekend, it’s four days of (three) dinners and one lunch engagements, starting with Thursday right through to Sunday, there’s hardly a breather. Die…

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Thursday’s vegetarian Thai threesome dinner

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Friday’s foursome dinner after golf

But when the opportunity to catch up with girlfriends of yesteryear, golf buddies and celebrating a good friend’s birthday, how could I refuse? Being with these people are important to me and well, I would be silly not to eat because the occasions happened during meal times.

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Saturday night’s dinner (& desserts) for five included a bottle of hand crafted wine

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Sunday’s lunch for eight after golf with half a bottle of whiskey

The challenge to lose weight is now under threat. Tonight I have no choice but to continue with the ten pounder at the gym to work it all off. Die…

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No Pain, No Gain

1 Mar

For two days, my upper body was in pain after Monday’s gym session. Looking back, it did not seem like a Herculean effort to use a ten pound weight as I knew I could manage. Despite stopping gym for sometime, I took a chance and pushed myself to the limit. Maybe a little too much. The consequences thereafter showed that the body was unable to withstand the intense workout.

The pain level reminded me of the time after the Laparoscopy Surgery I underwent last year. I was so bloated upon discharge with all that gas still stuck in my abdomen, making the upper body so uncomfortable especially to breathe and this after-gym effect is almost on par.

By the third day, thankfully my aches and pain reduced. Well, there’d better be some gain for all this pain endured. I play a round of golf later today and hopefully, whatever remaining discomfort won’t affect my game. Come Monday, the cycle repeats itself.

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The Challenge Begins

26 Feb

Last Monday, we finally went back to gym after almost a month’s break. Thank goodness I did not feel sluggish after so long. The past month there were all these reasons to skip gym – valid reasons though – M2 leaving for Ireland, preparing for Chinese New Year, leaving town for the Reunion Dinner and all. But now, with all these out of the way, there’s no more reasons to miss gym anymore.

And last night we hit the gym again because last Friday, Saturday and Sunday was packed with dinner dates, making me guilty, so all the more not to skip.

The determination to want to lose that awful added weight made me rather pumped up. And like last week, I used one ten-pounder weight for some of my routines, a big jump from my usual two four-pounders.

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My serious ten-pounder

Although gym session is only once a week, I think I am off to a good start on the challenge especially with the solid program that my trainer has drawn up. Besides working out with her, there’s also golf to burn some calories too. I just need to stay more disciplined with the food intake, after all there’s a whole list of things I avoid due to Endometriosis, then I will do fine. I hope…

Today I am sore to the core and it will be worse by tomorrow. The challenge is on.

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Ciabatta No More, Part 2

22 Nov

A couple of weeks ago, the effort reworking the second Gnome Home sapped me and I left it unattended for days after the first coat of colors. Eventually, despite a gruelling gym session where—in my trainer’s words “She went mental and gave it to us”— we were depleted of strength, I somehow managed to muster some energy to apply the final coat of acrylic to the roof and chimney.

The Fire Engine Red is obviously darker than the Cadmium Red but I think there’s character as well. I think the Gnomes like it.

Now in between mulling another home but a towering one for variation, I carved four phone holder whales, seven Gnomes and a Monument. So much carving to do, so little time.

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The Gnomes standing proudly in front of the two new Gnome Homes.

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What Can I Eat? Part 3

5 Jul

I have never in my wildest dreams thought I would be in a coffee- and alcohol-free situation. I used to live on Coke and Oreos for the caffeine and sugar kick in college and later, thrived on coffee in my professional working life. Then there’s alcohol, a totally different story but not now.

It’s been three months since my laparoscopic surgery and five months since the colonoscopy. Life has resumed with normal activities and recently, I have even gone back to an occasional alcoholic drink or two but not as much as before. Moderation is the key.

Somehow for coffee, I just can’t get back to drinking it on a regular basis. I am not complaining though, I am happy with my decaf Earl Grey.

Health wise, I have maintained my weight which is good but I find I have lost some core strength. Lack of gym sessions to build this back? This is especially very obvious when I play golf because all my distances are off by 10 meters! To compensate this, I have to use a club stronger. Oh well, as long as I can still play golf, I should be thankful.

Initially, within a month from the laparoscopy, I felt fine and pain free. But now, three months later, my pain problems have returned.

One is never cured from Endometriosis unfortunately. I suspect it could be a new round of build up because I have been careful with what I eat. I guess I need to be even more careful all over again if I don’t want to suffer.

The immediate thing to do is to manage the diet by eliminating food that will imbalance the oestrogen. And when the chemical reactions are reduced with a controlled diet, it curtails the Endometriosis the chance to grow and reduces the many symptoms linked to it.

Also I checked again on the list of food to avoid and found out I got my info incorrect on soy products the last time. It’s unfermented soy based foods (like soy milk and soy cheese) that are not good for me, so actually tofu, miso and soy sauce are okay. Thank goodness.

Don’t be surprised if I lose another kilo or two the next few months because it looks like I  shouldn’t be on an in-moderation diet but a restrictive one all over again to manage the pain levels. Sigh…

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Life Resumes

15 May

I think enough of elections and politics after the five-day euphoria, life resumes.

Last night we were back at the gym again now that I have almost recovered from the laparoscopy. Why I say almost and not totally because I find my strength lacking. Yes I lost weight but I seem to have lost my strength too; so I need to build it back.

The gym session was not too gruelling and I even managed to use the ten-pound weights instead of my usual four-pounder. I need to be more disciplined if I hope to gain my strength as soon as possible.

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A Cough and a Cold Putter

24 Apr

After almost three weeks of R&R, I actually went off to play my first golf game last Friday. Taking time off from work because it’s slow anyway, I decided to go swing my clubs despite having a cough and nasal congestion. In honesty, when the nasal congestion struck, I didn’t want to cancel because I wanted to see my golf buddies more than to actually play golf.

This aside, I saw my O&G doctor twice already, two weeks ago to remove the bandages and last week, a follow-up to ensure the wounds are healing well which they are by the way. The doctor said if I don’t feel any pain in the abdomen while turning my body, I should be okay to play golf.

Having said that, she did advised to be careful to avoid gym routines that focuses on the abdomen area. So my trainer needs to tweak the exercise program when we resume our gym session.

So how did I fare on the fairways? Well with a cough and a cold putter, let’s just say I need to recover from the cough first and then, try to play more to get back into the groove.

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Slow Poke

5 Apr

I have become a slow poke. After leaving the hospital on Tuesday, I find myself walking ever so slowly. Obviously the surgery area hurts, so does the shoulder and breathing, common after a laparoscopic surgery because of the leftover carbon dioxide in the abdomen. 

Thankfully it’s only the right shoulder that hurts and it should subside within a few days while the wound area may take longer, depending on individual. Looks like I have to take things slowly literally. But I should walk more if possible to release all that trapped gas. And I find sleeping at an angle works better than laying flat on my back.

Plenty of rest, no exertion (this means no carving!) and no strenuous activities (no gym or golf until I am fully fit). Maybe now is a good time to catch up with all my reading. Being a slow poke does have some benefits.

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Carving is Good, Carving is Bad

14 Sep

I’ve come to conclusion that carving has been good and bad. Good because it’s an outlet for me these past few months to channel my energy all this time while resting to recover from my tennis elbow; bad because I sit so much, I feel that my ass has grown. Ugh. And this was confirmed by Mom sometime back when she commented that I had expanded sideways. Ouch.

Then again, it can’t be that bad because Gigglesville was created with all these cute and lovable citizens; and the physical problem can be resolved over time.

Thank goodness these days I am back to playing golf and being at the gym, and Gigglesville continues to bloom beautifully.

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Why Do We Exercise?

18 Apr

It was a big debate last night during gym on why do we exercise? This came about because my tennis elbow has not progressed in recovery and I should be resting instead.

I downgraded from the 4kg weight (the one I call my Birkin bag) to a two pounder and even then, I could not do a lot of the usual routines. Yes, it’s bad. Remember I couldn’t even lift a head of cabbage from the grocery store? And over the weekend, I was having a pint, it was so hard to lift up the mug. It’s almost funny when told to use a straw for my ice cold beer!

Hubby suggested that we should be like the cavemen of yonder years – just eat, sleep, hunt and not exercise (or exert) unnecessarily to preserve energy. He pointed out that these people possibly may have led lives with less sports injury, no tennis elbows or sprained wrists. Interesting theory but not scientifically substantiated. There could be injuries from hunting…

Nice try to escape exercising except that we don’t live in caves and physically hunt these days, hubby dear. We live in a nice big house and we have bills to pay. And we have to physically drive to work, use our brains and work – the modern version of ‘hunting’ to stay alive.

Modern people exercise to counterbalance the demanding lifestyles. Two issues come to mind: to destress from work pressure and to burn off the over-consumed food. Do cavemen have these worries? While they may not have bills, mortgages and credit cards to manage, there’s no golf, no alcohol… no friends… shudder.

Given such a scenario, I’d rather exercise to counterbalance my lifestyle, injuries inclusive.

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