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Why Every Woman Should Learn How To Use Makeup Properly

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Michelle Phan I am not. But I did recently learn how to bring out my features with makeup from my mentor, Madam Christina Loi, and it’s been a really eye-opening experience!

This is me (left), 1 hour before I got a makeover from her. She gave me a facial because my skin was dry and dull like a croc, a phenomenon that I’ve been told NEVER HAPPENS.

She’s a Crown Ambassador who sits at the top in the world’s first and most successful network marketing company.

Her husband has prohibited her from washing people’s faces like the way she did when she was a poor beautician 30 years ago. CAs are so revered that they usually only appear to speak in front of 10,000 people.

Even her close friends are not allowed to receive a single facial from her. So naturally I feel super-super honored and to be honest, unworthy, but life is funny that way. Blessings come to those who feel lucky! 😀

After the phenomenal facial (best facial I ever had… I fell asleep in 2 mins) she applied makeup on me, telling me step-by-step what she’s doing and why.

The makeover result? See above!!

Whaddya think? Some folks say I look like a film star! *cough* *cough* 😀

So from that awesome makeover, I’ve been so lucky to have been by her side over the past few weeks, learning how to make myself look fabuloso.

There’s been a lot of trial and errors over the course of my learning experience. I’ve been applying, wiping, correcting, reapplying like a child with crayons…. seeking approval from all the experts and professional makeup artists around me, who haven’t been satisfied with the results. Most importantly, Madam Christina’s approval.

But today, she passed me with a big smile on her face!

Can you see WHY?

I lined my eyes just right. The corners are not too high, line not too thick. The nose bridge shadow makes it look so high with a smaller knob. Clean perky natural-looking lashes, perfect skin tone, shadows and highlights.

Who would have thought that makeup could be:-
a) So technical
b) So hard to get right
c) Requires so much skills?

My advice to you is, learn how to apply makeup on yourself only from the best makeup artists. Don’t just settle with the same way you’ve put makeup on for years, merely changing colors and brands. Just like you’ve got to upgrade your wardrobe, hairstyle, and life, you’ve got to upgrade your makeup skills in order to look fresher than a juicy fruit.

Why do I think every woman should learn how to use makeup properly? Because those little details matter, and they can change your life. It is the difference between mediocrity and magic, from so-so to WOW!

There’s definitely skill involved in presenting your best self using makeup and I challenge you to learn what works best on you.

I also invite you to come to Madam Christina Loi’s Makeup Expo this coming Sunday if you’re in Manila. It’ll be super fun, and you’ll learn skills that stay with you for a lifetime!

MAKEUP EXPO

24th March 2013
2pm – 6pm – ACE BLDG, RADA STREET, MAKATI, MANILA

Look for me, (Jackie Miao) and just say you read about it on LIFEBOD.COM.

See you there!

March 21, 2013
Eye Makeup Lesson from a Beauty Legend

I must admit. Though I have some natural talent not to make myself look like a monkey with face paint, I have never really paid much attention to makeup. Mainly because, I’m a busy geek who champions over brain matters and craps on superficial matters that take up time!
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I wake up, brush my teeth, draw my eyes quickly, put on some rouge and smooth on a natural lip color very quickly just so I don’t scare people when I walk out the door.

I’ve been doing this for years, without having bothered to find out if there was actually a way to truly look better. I hid under the natural beauty excuse forever.

The Wake-Up Call

That is until I met this amazing woman, Choi Kit. Now to call her amazing is an understatement. She’s what they fearfully and wonderfully call a Crown Ambassador in Amway, the first in Malaysia and South East Asia. She got it so good she never has to work a day in her life, because she retired decades ago.

Hundreds of thousands of people dream of taking pictures with her, and yet I found myself fatefully by her side in recent weeks.

Choi Kit is a legend when it comes to beauty matters, and she has changed the lives of tens of thousands of women by helping them go from blah-to-wow. This morning, she finally couldn’t stand looking at the mess on my face anymore and decided to do something about it.

So she started teaching me a few rules about makeup and taught me full-on techniques on how to apply makeup that’s suitable for my style and face. Here’s sharing my newfound knowledge with you.

Rule #1 – Eyebrows

Your eyebrows frame your face. It has to have shape and a tail. It cannot arch and curve down over the corner of the eye, because the Chinese believe that people with droopy brow lines will never achieve great wealth. A sad, unfortunate, “poor me” face just can’t help roll in the moolah apparently.

How’s that for “Face Feng Shui”?

Better listen to the multi-millionaire. She also taught me how to work with the eyebrow pencil. Did you know there’s technique involved in that too?

Rule #2 – Eyeshadow

The universal rule of not looking like a freak is to never apply eyeshadow over the corner of your eye and outside the brow line. Keep within the boundaries! Since the shape of my eyes are round, Choi Kit tells me that I shouldn’t make it even rounder by applying dark shadow all over. Wahey!

Okay sifu.

Rule #3 – Eyeliner

If you want the natural look, she says to toss the black liner and use brown instead. She says toss the pencil too, and use a liquid liner for precision. The most important lesson I learned was that not everybody looks good when they trace the eyelid lines, which is what I’ve been doing forever. Looks good for some people, but in most cases you have to create a line that looks best on you. In my case (because I have really round eyes), I have to lift up my eyes by drawing up.

Who would have thought being beautiful was so technical?

Rule #4 – Eyelashes

Yvonne, one of Choi Kit’s veteran downlines said, don’t be fooled. Even all the natural-looking celebrities all use fake lashes. Even her daughter-in-law, who is a “natural beauty” never leaves home without them. If she could only put one makeup item on, it would be the fake lashes. You simply need it if you want to look beautiful, according to Yvonne.

Can you even tell they’re fake? They look so natural on me don’t they?

Choi Kit famously said, “There’s no such thing as an ugly woman. Just a lazy one.”

So if you want to look good, you gotta work at it.

That’s what I learned today. Tomorrow I’ll be a face model where I’ll learn how to use makeup to cover all my freckles, a la Korean natural girl style.

I’m really excited!

What do you think? Does the makeup skills make a difference? Let me know in the comment sections below!

March 1, 2013
Why I Fell Off the Bandwagon (But I’m Back)

If you have been following me on Facebook, I kind of mentioned that I fell off the bandwagon a bit.

It has been a pretty tough time for me, having to deal with seeing someone I love go from the amazing person they are to being sucked by the abyss caused by unexpected ill-health involving surgeries, ridiculous life circumstances, and what I now am suspecting is major depression.

It really was like I was living 15 of 20 episodes of a Korean drama, and we’re now at that point where everything looks so bleak the only logical solution is to let go and let God. Supporting said person had taken a lot out of me, but I imagine nothing compares to the hell that must be for said loved one.

Crazy Curveballs

I learned a lot. This isn’t the first time I’ve been pranced on by the ugliness of illnesses that strike the people I love. Watching someone’s joy get robbed because of a spiritual warfare against the failing of their own mind and body is one of the most painful of human experiences. I won’t even wish it on my worst enemy.

You want to help, but it seems nothing you do seems to work. There seems to be only grace, sufficient to handle the bad days and gratitude for the good days. You persist on (and I mean for years, sometimes decades), and it’s an emotional roller coaster ride of being deceived by signs of hope, only to see the person get consumed by an even bigger cloud of evil.

No matter what you do, there seems to be no real solution, until you finally exhaust yourself to a point where your spirit relinquishes efforts and you resign just to recharge your own batteries for self-care.

When you see bad things happen to good people, it’s inevitable that you would also lose faith in goodness and start to question if God’s nature is really all good, or if that He’s all powerful and almighty as we’d like to believe He is. After all, if God is all powerful, wouldn’t he save the people you love? If He is all good, wouldn’t he want to do that?

What I went through in the past 3 months reminded me so much of another time in my life, involving someone dearest to me. That other person I loved battled all her life with illnesses (plural) and died in an uncured state, but nonetheless, in faith. And now I am seeing a similar pattern rising in another person I care about and while I am trying hard to generate enough faith to stay hopeful for this person’s recovery and salvation, the truth is I can’t be sure if my prayers will ever be answered.

Because when people suffer from stuff from which there is no cure, and they wallow in negativity and refuse to be helped, the only thing you can do is pray for strength for the journey. You may also secretly hope for a miracle and the odds of that happening is akin to a camel going through a needle’s eye. We need divine intervention for that.

So while I went through the bulk of this stuff, to be honest I didn’t really have the strength to lift any weights or do squats.

The Only Exercise I Did

I was however very smart about getting up in the mornings to walk/jog in serene natural surroundings, while spending the entire time interceding in prayer for everyone I love.

Isn’t it beautiful? I took that a few mornings ago. Praying amongst dancing leaves, exploding colors of flowers, and fluttering birds set against the backdrop of a blue sky just brings a whole new dynamic to my prayer life.

On the brighter side of things, I have come to a point of acceptance that I must continue to move forward and live my purpose regardless of the storms that are happening around me. It has made me set my eyes fully on Jesus, and I am walking on the waters of faith knowing that our mortal existence is but a temporary situation.

That freedom comes when we have all been through the wringer, and that ultimately, problems are here to purify our spirits so that we triumph over pain with God’s love and grace.

I just want to acknowledge and thank God for having blessed me abundantly with good health, a sound mind, and a strong heart. I realize this privilege is not an accident, and that somehow I’m supposed to use these gifts and lessons to glorify and extend His Kingdom.

I also know that part of that requires that I commit myself to living a life of hope and joy amidst our human condition.

So now that I’ve come to terms with that, I think I’ll try to lift some 3 kilo weights tonight.

On the flip side, I gained 3 kilos from traveling and the fallout, lost it all back within two weeks and I’m at my original lightest weight at 68kg. To be honest I feel like tofu though. I didn’t plan for that, but I guess it means I can now pick up from where I left off and gain my strength back.

Happy Chinese New Year!

February 15, 2013
Getting Measured for Bust Size (Mabuhay from Manila!)

I’m in Manila. It’s not important why I’m in Manila, but it has been awesome for the past 13 hours. The city that I once passed by on my way to Honolulu has changed a lot since. 🙂

For one, we went midnight shopping at Resorts World last night, and I stumbled upon a La Senza, a Spanish lingerie shop.

Since losing all that weight, I haven’t actually changed my brassieres and panties. For one, there was no real need to because I had bought a whole bunch earlier last year and they’re all in amazing condition. For seconds, I just don’t do “Ah Lian” lingerie, which is the only type they sell in Kota Kinabalu unless you go super-luxury.

The bras at La Senza in the Philippines are on sale at 495 Pesos each (Approximately RM36), and I couldn’t resist myself. I was looking for my old size, then reeled back, realizing I’m now a different size. I told the sales girl that I’m not sure what I should wear anymore, because things have changed.

“Do you want me to measure you?,” she asked.

I agreed, and she pulls out a measuring tape. She looped the tape around my chest area below the bust-line and it read 33. She then, looped it over my bumps and it read 37 with my bra on.

“You need a 36B,” she said.

“Really? Okay, I’ll go try it on for size.”

Fits PERFECTLY.

So I am now a 36B and wear small sized undies. I guess that means I have lovely lady lumps and literally, a small ass.

Old Habits Die Hard

The weirdest part about the the window-shopping process is that I naturally always go look for L sizes. But after holding it up against by body in the mirror, they just look like clothes for pregnant women on me. It’s been weird to see that even some M sizes are too big on my new frame.

How does it feel?

FANTASTIC.

Because I used to stress out about not being able to find my size, because actually, (here’s some insight for you) there are just as many women who wear L and XL sizes as they are Ms.

More significantly, it feels great because now all of a sudden, I have more choices of clothes to wear. I can now look at something and say, “Oh that looks soooo cute. I wanna try that on.”

And when I do try them on, it actually looks good.

It is not all bent out of shape to follow a figure that desperately fights hard to no be out of shape. When I was 85kgs, I was round, but I had shape. But the clothes desperately tried to make me look as good as possible, and sometimes it would fail.

Now, the clothes brings out and shows my figure.

In the past, the clothes hid my imperfections. Now clothes celebrate my assets.

So are you going to work in a 30 minute workout today? Because that can make all the difference! 😉

January 17, 2013
Hi-Protein Strawberry-Banana-Orange Smoothie
Some people wonder how in spite of having gone back to eating foods for earthlings, I am able to maintain my weight. You should know that for every plate of food I eat, I am eating half or less of the portion. (I’ll share more tips in time to come). Most importantly, two of my 3 meals a day consists of extremely healthy choices like this smoothie.

Hi-Protein Strawberry-Banana-Orange Smoothie Recipe

2 SERVINGS
- 5 frozen strawberries
- 1 frozen medium banana
- 1 cup fresh orange juice
- 1 tbsp whey protein powder
- 2 ice cubes
- Some ice water (to control viscosity)
INSTRUCTIONS

Make orange juice separately in a juicer. Then add all ingredients in a blender (below), blend on medium to high speed.

P/S: Add water to control desired thickness and sweetness.

VOILA! Drink it with a straw immediately.
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This smoothie has potassium from bananas, vitamin C from the oranges and strawberries, and flavonoids that have anti-cancer properties.

This is perfect as a light meal replacement, but you can’t only drink this 3 times a day for a whole month and expect to be a superfit superhero. It doesn’t work like that.

Keeping a healthy diet is all about feeding a variety of different foods to your body, at the right time, in the right combination, over a period of time!
January 12, 2013
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][/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 lá 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.

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

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. 🙂

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

January 4, 2013
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.

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!

December 17, 2012
3 Tips on How To Avoid Eating Foods That Are Bad for You

One of the most common factors that people tell me about why they fail in their weight loss campaign is that they find themselves in situations where they’re busy, hungry, and need food immediately. So they end up reaching for what’s convenient.

The key to your success is to be prepared. Here are 3 tips on how you can avoid eating foods that don’t help you reach your goals.
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1. Identify Shops That Sell Healthier Food Options

The single most important factor to your weight loss success is knowing what to do when the hunger pang hits while you’re out. Choose shops that serve healthy foods in areas you frequently visit.

For example, (if you live in Kota Kinabalu) let’s say you’re at Citymall and your stomach starts to growl.

Instead of going for kuih and fried gluten sticks at the famous Malaysian chains, Natural Green House has some healthy lunch and dinner options.

Kudos is a great restaurant (albeit a little pricy to go daily), because they use all fresh and natural ingredients in their food, and there’s no nasty MSG in anything they serve.

There’s also a little convenience store on the ground floor that sells fresh cut fruits. Giant hypermarket also carries all kinds of fruits and handy nuts.

If you’re at Damai, instead of going for the bread shops and noodles, consider eating fruit or organic snacks that are healthier.

There’s a cut fruit store a few doors down from Tong Hing, salads at Coffee Bean, and two organic food stores. Know where your “healthy” options are, so you won’t cancel out all the effort you put into your Zumba class.

2. Make & Bring Your Own Snacks

Prepare your own snacks and meals if possible. Here are just some of the snacks I take with me.

Mixed nuts
Savory kinds are more tasty, and sweet types have dried fruit in them. Almonds are high in magnesium and phosphorus, and walnuts are high in omega 3s, with makes for a really nutritious and delicious snack.
I started making these for traveling. These are great to keep in a ziplock bag and in your handbag to take with you when you’re on the go.

Oat Energy Bars
I used to buy commercial energy bars, but never found a bar that suited my requirements and tastebuds. Commercial bars use trans-fat, preservatives, sugar, or sweeteners like maltose, and high fructose corn syrup which is a no-no to me.

Energy bars are also expensive in Asia as they are usually imported from the U.S. and Australia and marked up so the importer and vendor makes something.

So to cut the long story short, I bake my own low GI oat bars using all-natural ingredients like pure butter and raw honey.

The entire family eats them, my dad takes them on the road and travels with them.

It’s so popular I’ve even serendipitously started a little bakery that sells them to customers who are health conscious or diabetic. (P/S: If you live in KK and want to order, you can email me at jackiemiao.my[at]gmaildotcom. They start from RM55 per tray).

Fruits
Choose easy to bring fruits like apples, oranges, bananas and the like. Otherwise, you could always just cut up any fruits you like and put them in containers to take it with you.

3. Don’t Be Afraid to Make Special Requests

You have a life, and sometimes you have to eat lunch and dinner with your friends — they want normal food and that’s okay. If you find yourself in that situation, remember you can always make special requests for your food to be served the way you like it.

For example, when I’m at the wildly popular Bomber’s Burger, I tell the good chef to just serve me the beef patty with a side serving of salad. So my burger doesn’t come with the bun or fries.

Or when I’m at a coffee shop that serves noodle soup, I stay away from wheat-based products as much as possible and tell them to go easy with the meehoon or kuay teow portion.

I also tell them not to put MSG in my soup, and don’t make it too salty.

This may seem demanding, but it’s my body and I’ve decided I’m not going to bomb my organs with chemicals and salt and then act all surprised when cancer shows up.

I’d rather take the healthy route, and I hope that for your sake you think the same! 🙂

December 14, 2012
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.
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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.)

November 27, 2012
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! 🙂

November 24, 2012