Archive for July 2012

Wrote by Nicole

To make the happenings in my life short...

I recently just got into top 10 of some model search that would take me away from my home for a month and one week. Locked up away with 9 other beautiful girls in a secretive place for many weeks to train and undergo various activities, and to travel overseas for training as well.

In this time, I have to lose up to 8kg. *gasp*

Lord help me.

Well I wasn't specifically asked to. But when they mentioned a minimum of 5kg, I know I have to go more. Ideally, after comparing with the other girls, it would be great if I could lose a further 10kg. You might think it's a lot, but at my height, a couple of kilos isn't going to make much of a difference visually. Le sigh~

To all those critics out there,

Yes yes I know my bum is big. I'm a born pear-shaped, I have been like that my whole life. My stats are 32B - 25 - 37 (32B is equivalent to 34). It's a crazy proportion, I know. But I'm not one to give in to mother nature, or to genetics, I believe with the proper workout and enough diet and with enough weight lost, I can slim my whole figure down, maybe not to a proportionate size, because that is impossible, but at least slim enough to not notice an extreme difference. Ideally I would like to see my hip go down to 35.

Which would mean my final possible stats would be 33 - 23 - 35; since I have an extremely small waist for someone my size; it wouldn't be surprising if I were to lose 2 inches off my hip, my waist would follow. I need to lose 2 inches off my thighs too, optimally.

Everyone is telling me it's not impossible, it's just really unhealthy and gonna be extremely difficult to lose that much in such a short period of time. Well, I'll just see it as a period of being ill then. Anne Hathaway lost a hell lot of weight during her training to be catwoman, and further lost an unhealthy amount of weight for her role as a dying prostitute with cancer following the Dark Knight movie. She didn't have to take up the role, she would have a lot more offers in other movies that does't require one to look sickly and actually be underweight; but it was a challenge for her.

Same as this being a challenge for me. And being in this contest is just a huge motivation for me to take the next step to see what I'm capable of.

Wrote by Nicole

If you're going for a weight loss regime, then it's a good idea to take note of what you put in your mouth.

I'm not saying my idea of a diet is the best, but to certain extend, it is still healthier and more efficient than a lot of the diet plan out there. No drugs. No short cuts. Do take note however, that losing weight that fast is never healthy. But if you are in a hurry then this would be your best (healthier) option.

The fastest way to weight loss is to lose all carbs. Completely.

Though if you're not used to it, doing that can deprive you real quick. So my plan do consist of lots of complex carbs (i.e. salads & fruits) and rid of all simple carbs (i.e. bread, pasta, rice).

This diet helped me in losing 1 kg in 3 days with exercise (@ Fitology).
Though in all honesty I didn't do that much effort in the first day and wasn't really watching what I ate, so technically I lost 2 lbs in the last 2 days.

1. Drink lots of Water!

Minimum says 8 glasses a day. That's the minimum.
If you really want to lose weight, double that amount. Yes, that's right, that means 16 full 240ml glasses a day.

Honestly I didn't even manage to drink that much during the days I lost this weight, but you'll be surprised by 'upping' the amount of water you drink a day, your body will be flushed out all the toxins and fats before you even begin exercising.

2. Count your Calories.

I know it's tedious, but you won't have any idea the junk you put in your mouth till you start taking note of every single item you scoff down.

If you're using a smart phone, this app is very useful to help you keep track: MyFitnessPal

just a snapshot I've taken from a web

Although I might contradict myself when I say this, and only because if you're in a rush to lose weight in a short period of time, whatever the reason, limit yourself to only 800 calories a day (that's a bare minimum).

Here are some of the food I ate in the 3 days period (calorie intake decreases in the last 2 days).

Scramble eggs with salmon bits (little butter)

Fresh salad with little wafu dressings
Sauteed mushrooms (1/2 tsp olive oil)

Calorie count: 473

Banana strawberry smoothie (no yogurt no milk)
Calorie count: 154

(this can be reduced to 94 calories if you remove the banana, which is carb, and just blend two cups of strawberries)

Sashimi is better than meat, since it doesn't require oil to cook so it's the better choice on a diet to obtain protein.

Calorie count : 205 (based on 5 pieces of salmon sashimi)

(Tai a.k.a. red snapper sashimi is half the calories; Tilapia less than half)

Poached egg with plateful of salad (little dressings)

Calorie count: 185

Healthy snack/lunch choice

Fresh blueberries with yogurt

Calorie count: 150

(replace yogurt with plain yogurt for lesser calories)

Another option is 2 tbsp of plain yogurt + 1tbsp of mix fruit yogurt + blueberries/pineapples/strawberries/cherries for best flavour.

3. Interval Training

Yes, you might think it's too short of a time to have it take effect, believe me, it makes a difference.

Fitology (my fitness centre) had me with a personal trainer that put me through a 30-45 minutes of non-stop interval training that could burn up to 450 calories within 40 minutes. You can do it on your own if you don't have a personal trainer, youtube for effective 30 mins interval training. Then go into sauna for 30 minutes right after to continue the boost of calorie burn. On one session you can burn up to 650 calories. Exercise also helps tone your body and keeps your body in active mode throughout the day (a.k.a. helps burn calories better).

Imagine if you only consume 800 calories a day, you burn off 650 calories of that by working out, and you need a general 1800 calories to keep you active throughout your day, with enough water to flush out toxins, you're effectively burning more than 1650 calories a day (water helps with the extra).

That's half a pound worth of calories per day right there (considering 1lb = 3500 calories).

It worked for me. Try and let me know how it turns out for you.

Good luck.

Wrote by Nicole

in the terms of the americano... how to lose 2 lbs in 2 days.
Yes, I actually did lose 2 pounds in 2 days because the first day I didn't really try that hard, read on...

It was a goal I told myself I would achieve no matter what, personal reason aside.

It all happened when I started my visit to Fitology after someone introduced to me on facebook, and then I noticed other people whom I knew who went for it and was really achieving results.

It was all good timing and the very next day I walked in to Fitology at Jalan Riong in Bangsar with my gym wear to get my very first work out regime. *impulse* I have NEVER ever been that proactive when it comes to gym, but it's hard to ignore when friends you know are losing pounds and inches off their facebook statuses in such short period of time!

First they set me up with a personal trainer (hi Jason!) and put me through a series of cardiovascular work-out for 30 mins moving from one machine to the next without stopping. It was rather easy and by the time I started to catch my breath, 30 mins was up.

Reminded me of the time when I was a prefect in high school and I had to stand in front of everybody in assembly to raise the flag. lol. Only this must be a 50 meter-high flag cause it was so heavy!

Jacobs Ladder, it's like the ladder in your nightmare when you climb and climb and can never reach the top and if you slow down you will sink further down into hell. The faster you climb the faster the ladder will sink. o.O This was a bit challenging for me but still manageable.

Then like reading my mind, Jason (my PT) gave me the ultimate of my nightmare - planking.

If there's one thing I really hate doing (well, two things, or three, I hate push-up too), it was planking.

I can't plank to save my ass.

This was me after 30 seconds of planking.

pile of slob *limp*

I thought the worse was over till Jason discovered and added another thing to my list of "things Nicole cannot do". This was to train my side abs, muscles I seldom use. Well if they're muscles I don't have, how was I going to lift the machine to train fml

After the first intense 30 minutes of workout, it's all chill and relaxation after that (though 'chill' might not be appropriate word used here).

You stripped naked and stepped inside this FIR (far infra-red) sauna room and read your magazine, drink water and relax.

Unlike normal sauna, this dry sauna uses the good rays of sun that help you lose weight, minus off all the bad UV rays, etc. I vouched for this because I have a friend who once sun-bathed for one whole week under the sun by the beach in her Europe trip and lost 5kg in that week, just like that!

I lost a further 200 calories just sitting for 30 minutes reading magazines and drinking water, and wiping the sweat away with readily prepared towels. Cool eh?

When it's done, it's to Step 3 - Enjoy your smoothie.

The friendly people at Fitology prepared a low fat low calorie super delicious smoothie for me to enjoy. It's my favorite time in the whole session, for obvious reason.

Strawberry and banana, super yummy! Though after finding out I was on a no-carb diet, they prepared my smoothie without the banana the next two days with other fruits. Super considerate!

Step 4 - lie down, rest and get a massage.

You heard me right.
They call it sports massage.
I've been to enough beauty centers to know that it's a slimming massage; and received enough massages to know that the female massuist really knew what she was doing and she's GOOD. She targeted all my lymphatic points to help me lose my most concerned problem - water retention. I have a heavy bottom and according to her, it was all due to long term sitting that caused a severe water retention problem in my lower body. :( I wish I knew this earlier.

After my time ended in Fitology, I consulted my heart rate calorie counter machine and this was how much I've burnt in my first day.

449 calories! From the 30 mins workout and the 30 mins sauna. Not bad for an hour's effort. It was like an introductory session so I wasn't even really trying.

After that, I asked them to push me harder, so I went back for the second and third day (back to back). A lot more intense but it was worth it.

Calories burnt the second day.

I controlled my diet, limiting to really low calorie and minimal carb (only raw vege), no fried, no sweets, and a consistent 3 meals a day.

On the third day, I weighed myself after my massage and I already lost 1kg!
Since my body will only show the real weight lost after a day or two, I actually lost more than 1kg from those three days of work out.

The result the following day. My legs got significantly toner, slimmer and my tummy was almost gone. I didn't weigh myself because I don't own a weighing machine but I sure felt great!
Dress from Mootta, Korea.

Thanks Fitology for the best gift I receive this year. I will be going back for more till I achieve my ideal weight.
Like their facebook and follow their twitter here.

Wrote by Nicole

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