The time is now!

I've been told I'm "still young" and apparently healthy changes are much easier to make while one is still young. Realizing that 30 years is quickly approaching, I don't want to waste any more time!

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Lunch right now: quinoa-black bean burgers, spinach salad

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Lunch: two mini soft tacos using Ezekiel sprouted grain tortillas and a side of roasted broccoli and new potatoes

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Forget the 70% diet, 30% exercise crap. Give 100%, always.

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Err..think the 70% diet, 30% exercise was misinterpreted.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe it means that living healthy and fit is more dependent on what you eat rather than the exercise you do.  Both have its place, but diet is more important.  You could be an intensed, focused and dedicated to working out ALL THE TIME but with a poor diet, you’re still not going to be healthy.  You could also have 100% amazing diet but without the bit of exercise you’re not going to gain a strong, fit body.  

So the 70% diet, doesn’t mean 30% of the time you can eat rubbish. And that you only have to exercise 30% of the time while 70% off your time you sit on the sofa.  I believe it is a simple scale of showing that diet is slightly more important in attaining good health than exercise is.

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Took my baby to the beach yesterday for the first time. In celebration of him allowing me to sleep for a full 3.5 hours through the night, I made my workout an ocean swim, 4 laps to the buoys.

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Remember that football match I mentioned?

We lost - real bad. Playing against a team of women composed of mainly players on Hong Kong's national team, I suppose I expected this.  I played the full 90mins and their offense sure kept me on my toes (I normally play in the mid-field but being out of the game since pregnancy and being out of shape, I have played center back the last two games).  

That's it for the season - now to get in some serious off-season training!

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Tonight's dinner: chicken spinach korma curry on quinoa

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First run post-pregnancy: learning to be balanced

Today was my first time running since a while back during pregnancy.  I figured I had to get myself out there and run even if for only a bit, to prepare my body for this weekend's last football match of the season.  It (obviously) wasn't my best run, nor was it my worst.  Today was all about learning to find that happy-medium between being too hard and being too easy on myself.

By nature, I set high expectations.  The normal me would have expected to have run minimum 5K not allowing the last eight or nine months of inactivity due to pregnancy and giving birth to serve as an excuse.  The other side of me that often chooses to do nothing if I can't do it "perfectly" would normally have stayed at home or at the very most, stop running at the first signs of fatigue.

I only ran for a solid 15mins.  I could have pushed myself more but I didn't.  But instead of getting upset at myself for what I didn't achieve, I gave myself a bit of credit for having even gone out there to attempt it.  At the same time I reminded myself that the next run must improve.  

Sitting here now and reflecting on it all, I have to remember that this is a journey.  I am not as fit as before and getting back to my pre-pregnancy fitness and as well as reaching beyond that, is going to take time.  But every workout counts, even 15minute runs.

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Lunch: stir fried veggies (broccoli, peas, red pepper) with beef

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Dinner tonight: pumpkin-beet burgers and Waldorf-ish salad (tuna, celery, apples, raisins, walnuts, carrots)

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Picking myself up, dusting myself off and trying again. My past won't determine my future.

After over a year of being MIA, I'm back.  

No, I didn't let the challenge of getting fit overwhelm me giving reason to give up.  No, it wasn't a a fitblr bandwagon that I jumped on and off of.  It's a long story and without getting into too much detail here it is:

In mid-May 2011 I found out I was pregnant.  Due to the unfortunate circumstances of becoming pregnant and not being able to share the news with anyone. I was an emotional mess and finding the strength and motivation to remain eating healthy and working out was not high on my list of priorities.  I was eating out of emotion and when I'd come home from work all I wanted to do was sleep so I wouldn't have to think about it. 

It was never a question in my mind whether to keep the baby or not.  Regardless of how difficult it would be for me, I recognised that this life was given by God with a purpose so I needed to learn to deal with it.  I knew that it meant I would also be seeing major changes in life starting from pregnancy.  During my pregnancy I did stay active but definitely no more bodyrock workouts! I played my last competitive football (soccer match around 2.5 months pregnant) but I continued to train regularly until around 6.5 months.  I was doing pilates and pregnancy safe workouts but wasn't always consistent.

Being fatigued from the pregnancy I no longer concentrated my efforts into cooking wheat-free, paleo-ish, meals.  I started eating bread because of all the heartburn.  I didn't gain atrociously but did manage to put on about 30lbs.  

I gave birth in January of this year so it's been 5 months since and I haven't given much effort to getting back into shape but I'm ready to commit to it again.  As a single working mom, I can't go out on nights or weekends to get some running in since I need to be at home with the baby but I know plenty of workouts I can be doing from home.  Time to get started!

I considered setting my goals and leave tumblr behind all together but I see how positively influential the fitblr community is and how much I need a bit of accountability on my journey.  So here I am again and hoping to get re-acquainted with my followers and those I follow, joining in on supporting each other live a fit, healthy lifestyle.

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12/05 workout

Today’s Workout

5 minutes warm up

Week 1, Day 2 100 pushups program : 11, 15, 9, 9, 13 = 57 pushups (barely could do the last set. Should I switch to the middle-weight program ??)

Bodyrock.tv’s Fat Loss + Butt Workout, 6 rounds of:

Side jump lunge - 30 reps

Pistol Squats - 5 reps each leg (I did modified - half squat)

Jump rope - 25 jumps feet together, 25 jogging X2 (=100 jumps)

Time finished: 00:16:28 (-00:01:02) faster than last time

+3 minutes cool down, 15 minutes stretching

Happy to say that I’m not nearly as sore as the first time doing thus workout which means my muscles are already adjusting and building stronger. I love these bodyrock workouts because you can see that great things are possible without the gym or equipment!

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Adzuki Bean (red bean) and walnut pancakes with blueberries for breakfast.

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11/05 Workout

100 pushups, week one day 2 - 10, 12, 8, 8, 12; (the last set was killing me and i had to rest between a few of them before continuing)

15mins skipping rope

Bodyrock Bang Bang Workout 

I'm unbelievably sore from the last two bodyrock workouts.  I can barely sit down or stand up from seated position.  It makes me not want to drink any water just so that I won't go to the washroom :P Tomorrow was supposed to be my rest day but realising that I wouldn't get very far in any workout today, I thought I'd try and give today a rest and pick up the workout tomorrow.

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You are my new hero if you can do those! Those are tough!! But I'll get there, I'm sure!

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09/05 Workout

Despite having a horribly swollen eye, I still managed to start off the day with exercise.

AM: Pilates

PM: Bodyrock - Let's burn some more fat workout

High Knees -    54, 53, 52, 54, 53

Mt. Climbers - 36, 39, 36, 30, 24, 40

Side Plank jump - 8, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5

Plank rows w/ leg extension - 9, 7, 6, 7, 6, 7 (this was a substitute exercise for super woman pushups; I figured with doing the 100 pushups program that I didn't wanna push too much)

1 hour walk around the harbour

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Gaaaaaahhh!!! My eye!! I've just woken up to do pilates and I woke up with this. Now the question is, am I supposed to go to work or does this justify a doctors visit??

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Pistol squats were part of my first ever bodyrock workout today.  I had no idea they were so difficult.  Going down is easy, coming up is, at the moment, not possible for me.  I did modified ones, going half way down.  My quads are already sore - gonna be funny tomorrow morning when I'll be wishing I were only as sore as I am now.  Tomorrow's gonna be worse!