As you might have noticed, I updated the design of the blog to include more categories as I’m a big believer of the mind-body-soul connection in the maintenance of health and wellness. My weight loss might have put into motion the starting of the site, but I’m not really only about losing weight, but living consciously and being healthy all the days of my life.
On to other things. I have one of those high tech weighing machines called Tanita. In addition to telling you how heavy you are, it measures things like bone weight, water weight, visceral fat, and body fat percentage.
When I started my health and fitness campaign, my body fat percentage was at a whopping 36%.
I was pretty disgusted with the readings, since I didn’t believe that I was made up of 36% lard (like chicken fats) and 64% everything else. But that’s what the machine read for almost 2 years, no matter how hard I exercised.
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Body Composition
So today I want to talk about why it’s more important for me to change my body composition instead of focusing on getting lighter only. When I lost 16kgs, I shed a mix of fats, muscles, and water weight which all contributed to the shrinkage.
But over the last 2 months, I only managed to maintain and lose a total of 1 kg. Why is that? For one, I believe it’s because I’ve added strength training to my routine, and though I am shrinking in size I’m not really losing that much weight because I am building muscle.
Body Fat Percentage
Today my B.F.P. is at 30%. The ideal B.F.P. for a normal woman is said to be about 25%, and of course if you’re a fitness freak, that number is more likely at the 20% mark.
Anyhow, I just want to bring it down to 25% for now, which I’ve been told is a pretty hard thing to do by fitness pros. It’s supposed to be harder than losing just the weight, because you have to build the muscle to replace the space that the fat took.
I’m going to try anyway!
I took a journal shot today (see above), just to see how I look in a gown. Been doing push-ups and sit ups as part of my X45/Crossfit workouts and I think I’m toning up slowly. I had very little sleep the night before and didn’t bother with makeup, hence I look a little tired so excuse the lack of grooming.
There are a few things I want to share with you.
Rewarded Myself With New Gear
Firstly, I bought these fabuloso new 1080 V2 NB runners and have been taking them out when the terrain isn’t wet like a swamp.
I’ve been wearing these ASICS for 2.5 years that I got from Melbourne and it’s time for an upgrade. I tend to use those on softer ground because the soles are not absorbent as they used to be. So if you want to save your knees, you gotta be smart about the life of your shoes too and I have a tip for you… get proper running shoes!
Don’t just go for Nike or Reeboks coz’ you think they look cool. Really go and get fitted for your foot arch, strike, width and pronation. It’s pretty important if you’re doing a lot of running that you get the right shoes so you’re not hurting yourself and causing permanent damage to your joints, because every one’s foot and pronation are different just like clothes are.
I wore and threw out about 5 pairs of Nikes before getting fitted to Saucony for four years, then switched to New Balance and Asics several years back because they were just a much better fit for me. Ain’t about the brand but the fit!
Inspiring People Doing Amazing Things
Secondly, Nadzifah, a lawyer from Kota Kinabalu shares her weight loss story and won herself a 1-year gym membership from Core Fitness. This lady sounds like she went through a lot of pain with her weight, and her triumph at losing over 40 kg is just so inspiring. I wish her the best in her future!
Read her story here!
A Bit of Looking Back
Thirdly, I looked at some of my pictures earlier this year and it still amazes me how much I’ve done in such a short period of time. Take a look at what I looked like in Jan and last Saturday night!
I really have to get used to accepting the new-looking me, because to be honest, I’m still trying to adjust and get a little shocked when I see myself because I’ve been in the big state for a very long time, and only a few short months looking the way I do now.
So freaky!
(In a good way of course.)
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