Category: Motivation

  • Roxy Fitness Booty Shorts

    If you haven’t already figured this out, I love Roxy workout gear. This booty short seems awesome, but I don’t think all women can pull this look off. Check it out!

  • Why Do You Run?

    When you feel your heavy legs protesting, listen to what other people who put in the work say. Video courtesy of Lululemon Athletica.

  • Buns of Steel from Women of Fitness [VIDEO]

    There’s really not much to say, except that when you watch this, you’ll feel like such a sordid loser for not working out. These girls work out hard to get those buns they want, I mean you and I want.

  • Don’t Believe The Naysayers

    Some may say you can’t do it, that you’re dreaming and delusional to want the body of your dreams. Whatever you do, don’t believe them.

    Don’t believe the naysayers, but instead, listen to your heart.

    If it is telling you that you are going to have a healthy and sexy body this time next year, trust your higher self to take you there.

    [wide]trees[/wide]

    I’m going to let you in on a secret. Throughout my weight loss journey, I wasn’t really at war with my body, but with my mind. The extra weight I had before was just a reflection of my beliefs.

    I believed and to a certain extent still believe that:-

    I’m funny (to myself), blessed with young looks, and have fatty genes.

    So naturally, I’m a happy-camper, drink lots of raw juice, eat lots of salad, stay away from alcohol and cigarettes to maintain my youthful looks. I also subconsciously do things that make me remain kind of fatty, like look at pastries that are bad for me, and yield to some of it so that I can put the weight back on to match my beliefs.

    I know that’s kind of counter-intuitive, but there’s some truth to the self-sabotage.

    So back to the part where I’m at war with my mind, it’s clear I’ve got the happy sorted. I’ve also got the youthful bit figured out, but I absolutely have to change my thought patterns about how I will remain the fatty type.

    My mom was diabetic, and my dad’s a big guy, but here’s the truth. I don’t do sugary sodas, nor do I eat like my dad. That’s why I’m not necessarily going to be doomed to the have the same kind of health issues.

    I said it before, and I’ll say it again. The hardest part about losing weight or getting healthy has more to do with psychology than physiology. The physiological changes just reflects what goes on in between the ears.

    PSYCHING MYSELF

    I need to break those self-fulfilling prophecies, and destroy the karmic chain of believing I am going to always be big girl, and also stop living in fear of an impending genetic malfunction.

    What my ancestors had or have will not necessarily be what I’ll get, and I must understand that the medical industry speaks risk factor language to get me to buy their drugs to avoid the doom I fear.

    My body has its own intelligence. It can heal itself. If I take care of my body like I do a good car, I’m going to break down a lot less, and it will be less severe when it happens.

    Likewise, if you believe that you’re going to a forever-fatty, you have to stop that right now. Thoughts that don’t serve you need to go out the window, no exceptions.

    It’s an ongoing journey even for me, and I need to constantly be mindful about managing these doubts in very proactive ways.

    I have to tell myself that if I were to be dumped into a concentration camp with limited food supply, I’ll turn twiggy and bony in no time. My body will use my fats to help me survive in the absence of food. People say I have big bones, but they only weight about 3.5kg (I have a fancy body composition monitor).

    Also, many heavier people have lost a lot more weight than the weight I think I need to lose.

    In the same way…

    Get a hold of your mind, and speak words of possibility to it, not of defeat.

    Stop replaying the rubbish commentary in your head that were planted by other people, whether it be your family members, ex-boyfriends/girlfriends, or even your close friends.

    Your mind is your own garden to tend to. Nobody can plant creepers unless you allow them to.

    Sure, people are always going to tell you stuff. Someone who used to work in Hollywood told me in 2005 that no matter how hard I try to lose weight, I will never be lean because I’m just built this way.

    I bought that for a long time, and just ended up getting bigger because I believed that person.

    hihi

    Now I know that to be total crap, because I was able to, for the first time see remnants of a possible ideal me last year.

    I kept most of it up this year too. See?

    Detox your mind, body and soul often. Here’s how.

    Nourish yourself with good thoughts, healthful foods, and spirit food and you’ll realize that you’ll get closer and closer to your goal each day.

    Be the master of your own mind, and the rest of your body will follow.

  • Happy New Year: How I Kicked 2012 In the Butt

    December was an intense month for me. I did however fit in walks and light jogging in the early mornings, and sometimes also some stray Crossfit sessions in the evenings.
    [wide]morningwalks[/wide] I experienced my first Crossfit-induced DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) that took a week to go away, doing my brother’s workout below:-

    Warm-up: 10 inch worms, 10 arm rotations, 10 v tucks, 10 push ups, 10 squats, 10 lunges, 10 x 2 leg swings, 10 jumping jacks. Workout: 30 secs of 3kg arm thruster squats x 2, 30 secs leg lifts, 30 secs planking, 30 secs sit ups – 5 glorious SETS.

    It hurt so much it felt like I climbed Mt. Kinabalu!

    Did I lose any weight? Nope. Actually I gained some. But lost all of it back within a week after Christmas and am back on track.

    Unexpected Scatological Experiences

    I had a really weird week leading up to Christmas where I compulsively ate everything (even stuff I never touched when I was a ball), because I was lamenting about life’s shitty cards that could essentially steer my entire life in a new direction.

    Later a friend noted that it was “emotional eating.”

    What a scary experience that was. On the last Sunday leading to Christmas, I ate so much I couldn’t breathe I had to leave a children’s christmas party. It was so bad I couldn’t even prop my body straight and walked like I had osteoporosis.

    In short, I was stressed out and grieving about the changes I didn’t want happen in my life. But life is life, and change it always will.

    How I Dealt With It

    In an effort to avoid from drowning, I buried myself in Joel Osteen sermons, bought 15 books, borrowed 5 and read/finished 10 of them. I read so much I began thinking maybe speed-reading was a talent I could develop with more research.

    December was about how I realized I was putting the oxygen mask on everybody I loved without first putting one on myself first. It was a battle cry to practice radical self-love amidst my desire to be a blessing to others.

    I was hanging on a thread, unsure about why giving had its limits. I felt emotionally exhausted. That one can give so much away that there’s nothing left for the self. I was burnt out from playing multiple roles to everybody I loved who had a lack of some sort; loneliness, aging, financial woes, depression, lack of love, and in the process, totally ignored my own needs.

    I thought I was strong enough to fill the void for other people and still help make the world a better place.

    Meanwhile, I had two visitors and made a short trip to Sandakan for the first time since I was 12 years old. I also caught a cold in the process, and was wedged in an unpleasant drama involving people whose issues do not involve me — while I was sick, run down, and on vacation while I was sick.

    And to top it all off, I missed my flight and blew some more money trying to get home yesterday. But at this point, life’s ridiculous hammering had tipped me way over the frustration or anger line. It just became funny. Like dying in a pool of feces because I accidentally fell into a sewer, a lรก Mel Brooks style.

    The only thing that made sense was to laugh about it and trust that the reason for the interjecting string of bad luck (amidst some good) will later reveal itself.

    And that is the reason why you were made to wait to witness my next goal of wearing a bikini with abs that you can bounce coins off of. But through all of this, I managed to maintain my weight, plot my life wheel, and plan my new year to be an absolute blast, as long as God blesses those plans.

    I’m optimistic about 2013, and though I have no idea how I am going to finance my dreams yet, I will go at it like a free-spirited, cheerful and valiant horse toward 2014.

    Don’t wait for a miracle, be the miracle!

    This year, I will be mindful to leave the past behind, and embrace every moment like the miracle it is.

    bethemiracle
    P/S: Reading this now…

    Little tiny miracles just like the one that happened yesterday evening. I tapped miss grumpy stewardess on her arm, and told her how nice her makeup was — even though my initial impulse was to dismiss her as miss biatchy. She looked relieved, thanked me several times with an uncontainable crack of a smile, and that probably changed her evening.

    So it has been revealed. That might have been why I needed to miss my first flight. One, to help miss grumpy feel better, and two, for me to practice making the world a better place. I did everybody behind my row a huge favor… they didn’t have to see someone pull a “life sucks” face. Plus I had 5 more hours bonding with a good friend, who is a blessing to me.

    I also conquered my previously-crippling fear of flying in a small plane, the ATR 72-500 (my first).

    Fitting Into the Skinniest Dress I Own

    jackie2012

    On December 31st, 2012, I finally was able to comfortably wear the skinny designer dress I bought 2 years ago in Australia.

    This is my skinniest dress since 1996! I have nothing else that is tighter or smaller.

    I bought it because I loved it so much, it was still in season and on ridiculous sale, even though I couldn’t zip it up for 2 years.

    I told myself I’d lose weight to fit into it somehow, and that’s exactly what I did — lose 35 lbs to wear that dress.

    So even though I had curve balls thrown at me, I am REALLY happy about reaching this goal.

    My little tip to get your year started would be to always find the good in every stinking situation. It’s there. You just have to look for it. If it’s not there, you’re there – and you’re the good you’re looking for.

    I hope you will join me in my quest to practice radical self-care and to be a miracle whenever the right opportunity presents itself.

    And don’t forget how lucky you are to have eyes to read this post, which incidentally are also the organs you use to look at breathtaking sunsets and smiling babies. ๐Ÿ™‚

    HAPPY NEW YEAR!

  • How To Avoid Getting Gangrene

    Be warned. What I am about to tell you is by far one of the world’s most gross story. A few weeks ago, while having drinks with some friends I heard a story about a man in the interior of Sabah who decided to implant steel balls into his manhood so that he can be be a studly pleasure to the ladies.

    I’ve heard of genital beading being particularly popular in Korea and Japan, but usually these procedures are done in sterile conditions by doctors in clinics to avoid the very thing I am about to tell you.
    gangrenefoot
    Unfortunately, that particular man took matters into his own hands and did the procedure himself.

    A while later he suffered from unbearable pain, and decides to see the doctor where he was told the steel balls had rusted and had to be remove. More importantly, he had gotten gangrene on his manhood and groin area.

    I’ll spare you the gruesome details but let’s just say I started thinking about what gangrene is and how people actually get it.

    Quite simply, gangrene is a condition where a considerable mass of body tissue dies. The condition is serious and potentially life-threatening. According to Wikipedia, the primary cause of gangrene is reduced blood supply to the affected tissues, which results in cell death. Diabetes and long-term smoking increase the risk of suffering from gangrene.

    Did you read that?!?!?

    Diabetes and long-term smoking are factors to getting gangrene!

    There are different types of gangrene with different symptoms, and you can read all about it here. I for one was so grossed out by the photos, I can’t put any of that up on this website without scaring little children away, so I’ll just point you to some pictures.

    If you’re too wussy to see them, they are basically pictures of decomposing and dead parts of the body that are still attached to a living human being. Imagine a mummy hybrid… and you’ll get yourself a pretty close imagery of what a gangrene affected body part may look like.

    I’m telling you this so that you’ll go easy on the refined carbs, cake and sweet drinks. Avoiding diabetes is one way to ensure your chances of getting dying feet and hands would be significantly reduced. Also if you are a smoker and have been a heavy smoker for a while, this would be a good time to think about what your life would be like if you had gangrene.

    And that’s my Monday motivation for you all to live a healthy life! P/S: Guys, don’t go inserting all sorts of weird things into your body just to impress the ladies. You might end up losing your apparatus to gangrene!

  • It’s Not Only About the Weight But Body Fat Percentage

    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.

    [wide][/wide]

    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.)

  • Video : Weight Loss Tips For You

    I thought I’d do something a little different today. A video update!

    [wide][/wide] Here are some weight loss tips as well as me showing off my Size 6 pants. Gonna have breakfast now. Hope you have a good weekend! ๐Ÿ™‚

  • What To Expect When You Lose Weight Quickly

    I really wasn’t going to write a post today, but two things happened yesterday that made me think, well yea I totally should. I made someone who is usually nonchalant jump out of her chair, and bumped into a friend who almost couldn’t recognize me.

    So I better show people often what I look like now because this is how people remember me…


    (I looked like this until Feb of this year)

    And this is what I looked like yesterday morning…

    OKAY! So now you’ve seen the pics, I’m sure you can appreciate why people FREAK OUT when they see me.

    I imagine they freak out because I kinda look like somebody they know, but not really. But their intuition leads them to go in for the dive,

    “Jackie is that you?”

    Me: Hi, good to see you!

    Them: Hi!!! OMG, I almost couldn’t recognize you!!!

    Yes, some people will go BALLISTIC. Sometimes it gets so sensational that I even hear a symphony of loud cheering going on in my eardrums as they raise the pitch and volume of their voices in disbelief!

    It’s always a pleasure of course. After all, I’ve always been a bit cheeky and this is the best practical joke anyone can play ever. I live for this stuff!

    But really, I want to prepare you for what’s to come. When I decided to lose weight, I didn’t foresee this sensationalism happening. I really didn’t think about what other people were going to think, do or say about the personal choice I made.

    I could however do with the aunties backing off about telling me how I’d look better if I lost weight. Which was one of my motivations, because all my life I’ve been hearing my mom and aunties tell me to lose weight. That made me insane!

    They don’t realize the impact it has on a person’s psychological welfare. I just want to live a normal life. One that doesn’t involve the fat-thin convo. (How ironic now I have a blog about it)

    I used to get so annoyed I’d say, “There are only 3 possibilities for the rest of my life. I gain, I lose, or I stay the same. Then I’ll die. So can we move on now?” That’s how much I hated it.

    But if you think that losing weight is going to stop all the Asian aunties bugging you about your weight, you’re so wrong.

    THIS IS ASIA, BABY!

    Everyone is wired to think it’s okay to obsess about weight. It’s not going to stop, I found out.

    The only difference is now it doesn’t make you feel like crap anymore.

    When you lose weight, the aunties get even LOUDER!

    “WOW! How did you do it?!? I want to lose weight too!!!”

    To make matters worse, now even the uncles join in with the cheers, whereas otherwise they’ll avoid being rude by avoiding the subject altogether.

    You’ll be getting it constantly from uncles, aunties, friends, people at stores you frequent. It will be a nonstop onslaught of sensationalism, most of it will be good, but sometimes it’s overwhelming. By the time you hit the 100th person reacting like a giddy schoolgirl, you’ve already told the story 99 times.

    It’s startling just how much it means to them that you’ve broken your own boundaries, giving them hope about how they might overcome theirs.

    But then you’ll also get these really concerning comments like, “OMG you’re not doing it unhealthily are you?”

    Or so far, what has been the most interesting experience is looking at the elation turn into worried looks, when people tell me not to lose any more or too much weight.

    I get it. People don’t think anybody can do it so fast naturally and healthily, and they worry I might have some eating disorder, which I don’t.

    Did you hear that Jackie? They don’t think you’re fat anymore!

    All I can say is, be ready. Be ready to deal with all of that every time you step out of the house. Because it is never going to stop. THIS IS ASIA, BABY!