Tag Archives: exercise

Getting Fit Journey 2020 (day 11 -25)

My journey started on the right track and I was happy the first 2 weeks when I realized that I lost 9 lbs. I continued to do what I did and hope that I would continue to lose more weight and build more muscles. However, I am a pessimist person and I understand that there is no miracle when it comes to diet and losing weight.

What are the results since the last update? I’ve actually gained about 3 lbs since then. While it seems a lot, but I think it is acceptable as long as I continue to keep my diet in check and I continue to go to gym. There are a few measurements that I use to make sure I’m on the right track. One of the best thing that everyone should invest in is smart bathroom weight scale, which connects to your phone. Most of them are priced around $50 and it is definitely a must. There are 3 important measurements that I look at very closely, weight, BMI and body fat. Another measurement that I track very closely is muscle mass. My current body fat is around 13 – 14%, and my goal is to bring it down to less than 8% by end of the year.

There is a BIG misconception that if one goes to gym and exercise, the pounds will start dropping. I’ve seen times and times again that many failed and they give up. For example, the gym that I go to is ran by my town and for the last month I’ve seen a big increase in attendance. And I can guarantee that the attendance will drop by half in the next two months. And by June, it will just trickle down to just a few. To successful lose weight, exercise is important but having proper diet is more important.

I’ve reduced the portion that I usually eat by a third and I was worried that I may go hungry most of the time. I thought that I would feel weak and would continue to look for food. Surprisingly I was able to adapt without any problems. Instead of stuffing myself to feel comfortable and full, now I feel satisfied. I don’t feel any craving and able to keep pace with my daily struggles. I don’t feel any less energy and I’m able to sleep without feeling hungry.

I’ve gained some weight the last two weeks is a fact. The question is why… In reviewing my diet and my habits, there are a few things that I may need to change. I noticed that I inadvertently increase my portion during breakfast and lunch. While I’ve removed processed food from my diet, particularly anything “white”, there are a few food items that I couldn’t resist such as Youtiao, Chinese fried crullers.

Removing everything from my diet may sometime has unexpected consequences. Luckily, I had not had any complications in my health. One option that I will employ is to track what I eat for the next several months. Gradually I will remove certain food items from my diet to see if there are any changes in my health and weight. I’m not a big proponent of calorie counting because everyone is different. The guidance that everyone should limit to a number of calorie is very misleading. One can take in less calorie but may continue to have health problems. For example, everyone knows that sugary drinks such as sodas are very bad. Substituting these drinks with no calorie sodas does not mean they are not any better. Most of these drinks substitute sugar with saccharin, which is known to cause health problems. There is a study that it may be an agent of cancer.

I still have a long way to go before I achieve my ideal weight and health. While at times I feel giving up because work and life may take over my day to day priorities. I continue to be driven and have never given up going to gym and eat healthier. I will document my journey to a better me and hope that you will follow along.

Getting Fit Journey 2020 (day 1-10)

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Every year our family goes to our doctor for our physical and blood work. Probably like everyone we all dread that moment: the moment the doctors tell us that something is wrong.

Every year I hate that moment. I feel great but just like a book and a cover, we can’t tell what is inside. Sadly, my blood work came back not as ideal as I would like. Instead of improving my overall health my internals have actually gotten worse. I thought that if I go to gym 4 days a week would help and apparently I was wrong.

So I took inventory of what I’ve done and found several shortcomings and that I intend to correct the wrongs. This blog would be considered my journal entries as I demonstrate what works and what doesn’t. Obviously this is only my view and the results are mine alone – it may not work for everyone. Before joining any exercise regime, it is best knowing your limit and consult with the doctors.

The questions that I have to answer myself is what I’ve done wrong, so wrong that instead of improving I went the other way. The real answer is age and there are several factors that contribute the problem. I noticed that my age (I’ll be 50) is stopping me from progressing. Like all machinery, my body starts to break down and can longer compete with younger generation. And that means that I will need to work 10 times harder than my son who is 30 days younger than I am.

The answer to all of this requires personal commitment. To achieve the goals it needs a lot of commitment and a lot of sacrifice and I’m setting my sights to do just that. After considering my personal lifestyle there are several things I need to change.

Maintaining My Diet

I was always carefree when it comes to eating. I felt that I was relatively healthy that I can eat what I want. However, I realized that I was wrong because my blood results show that I’m pre-diabetic and high fat content in my blood. The first thing that I changed was removing all animal fat and eat only high fiber food. Besides that I eat more nuts and fruit. Another thing that I changed drastically is removing dietary supplement (i.e. protein, BCAA and any pre-workout powder). For the last 2 weeks, my diet is consist of the following:

Breakfast – oatmeat with nut and dried fruit, coffee
Lunch – garden salad with grilled chicken or fish
Snack – tea and nuts
Dinner – baked salmon with vegetable or steamed chicken and broccoli

Exercise More

I always hated running and focused mostly on increasing muscle mass. Additionally, I took in dietary supplement. It resulted in increased weight gain. So I made a commitment to exercise more and spend more time running. For the past two weeks I spend half of my time using elliptical machine and running.

The Results

After over 10 days changing my lifestyle, I’m happy to announce that I see differences in my body. While I don’t feel relatively stronger or more energy, I have lost over 9 lbs. I can run more than 30 minutes non-stop.

Follow along with my journey to be a better me. I would like to hear from you too to know what works well and what doesn’t. It would also be great that you subscribe to my blog as this will help me tremendously that I know I am doing something right to help others.

Getting Fit – Let’s Get Started

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I was born skinny and all my life I hardly gained any weight. In fact, I did not get much weight until I’m in my 30’s after getting married. Looking at some of the photos after my kids were born, I didn’t see any changes on my body until late in the 30’s when I noticed that I have a belly and my waist starting to expand.

Because of this reason, I never had any reason to believe that I’m not healthy. I had always believed that health is a consequences of weight. And I was so wrong!

My family is quite religious when it comes to annual health checkup. We have been going to see our family doctors since my wife and I were married so we are well aware of our health conditions. After my second son was born my doctor started to advise me to exercise more because he saw irregularities in blood. Particularly concerning was increase in glucose level in my blood. This could be onset of diabetes. This was the wake up call I needed – since then (4 years ago) I’ve been going to gym regularly.

Getting the exercise and getting fit are two very different things. It is one thing to move around to get the exercise; it is a very different matter when you try to lose weight and build muscles. I learned a few things over they few years and I intend to share my findings in this blow.

Doing the right thing

As I noted above getting fit is very different. How do you know you are doing the right thing. Some people are more receptive of light exercise while some are more effective with High-intensive Interval Training (HITT). Then there are those who want to have muscles in one are and not the other – what is the right intensity?

It is more difficult with age

Getting fit for someone in his 20’s is easier than someone in his 40’s. I noticed that my son who is 30 years younger than me gained more muscle in a shorter amount of time than me.

How do you get motivated

Not everyone has the motivation to go to gym day in and day out. There are too many distractions that prevent us to continue with this routine. I found number of ways to do it and some of them are easy and some are quite demanding. Follow along as I will list them in my next blogs.

Be realistic on what can be achieved

It is so easy seeing someone ran a 10K marathon. However, I will never see myself doing it not because I can’t do it but because I know that I’m not at the form where I can compete. Similarly I don’t think I will ever be like the Rock even if I tried to go to gym 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

You are what you eat

Food and diet are extremely important to get fit. Don’t be fool to believe that by exercising alone will help loose weight. Food and exercise go hand in hand and they are very essential to be healthy.

My ultimate goal is to be healthy and at the same time gained some muscles. I was never fat nor sick that I need to rely on medicine. However, don’t judge a book by its cover – while I may look healthy on the front, my blood tells a different story. Follow along as I will share my knowledge and my journey to be a healthy me.

Please subscribe to my blog and any comments will be welcomed.