October 2017

One day in October 2017, on my way to work in the morning, I walked from the elevator lobby to my car, approaximately 10 metres, I found myself being a little short of breath. I didn't even take the stairs down, had breakfast and a nice morning shower. I should feel good, not feel like crap! It was a wake up call for me. Thinking to myself that I am only 29 years old, what will happen when I turn 30, what will happen when I have kids? Can I keep up with my children's energy when I have kids in my 30s? The very same day, I went to the gym. From that day on I made it a point to be active everyday, if possible. 

My initial plan was to lift weights and build muscles, because I heard that "higher muscle mass, higher metabolism", which meant I would loose weight or loose fats as I gained muscles. I went online and look for workouts to build muscles. Upper body, push and pull, lower body, rest and repeat. That was what I did for a month. I didn't check the scale but I started getting compliments, people telling me I look like I lost weight. My clothes felt better fitted, no longer tight in problem areas and I felt light on my feet. However, when I played sports I became less flexible, clumsy and slow. Despite my physical appearance, I actually gained weight on the scale and became less functional.

Change of plans, while continue "being active", I maintained weight lifting, but I incorporated a lot more cardio, yoga and other sports. Hiking on weekends, swimming when I don't feel like hitting the gym. Yoga when I don't have the time to leave my house, or badminton when I have my friends over. Besides exercising, I made some small adjustment to my food intake (I don't believe in diet trends). Switch all 3-in-1 coffee to black, and cut back on Mc Donalds (my guilty pleasure). This went on for a year and I lost 6kg in total. It's not alot of weight because I was never overweight to begin with. My body mass index (BMI) has always been in the range of 21 - 22, for as long as I can remember. However, my body fat percentage (BF%) was 28% or possibly higher. I was actually borderline to becoming obese. 

What's impressive is my BF% went from 28% to approximately 20% - 25%. Why I said approximate, is because I don't have access to a BF% weighing machine and so I tried the display set at a Xiaomi outlet. The result shown there was 16.7%, which I highly doubt because my body didn't look like the chart below but rather looked more like somewhere in between 20% - 25%.

I was never able to do a pull up, nor could I do proper push ups and planks. However, towards the end of one year, in October 2018 I was at my fittest. Ten push ups were a breeze to me, planking for 1 minute was no sweat either. And I was at least able to pull myself up on the bar once, in my whole lifetime. I am really proud of what I have achieved in 1 year.

November 2018, the thought that manifested all these health conscious decisions. I found out I was pregnant, yes all that strength and stamina was preparing me for this. I guess it was the universe telling me to get ready to have a baby. Throughout my pregnancy I exercised regularly and never had any aches or sickness whatsoever. I continued to eat healthily till the end of it. Will write another post covering my pregnancy journey and post-delivery.

I hope for those of you trying to start a family, this post will inspire you to embark on a healthier journey so that you can benefit from it together with your family.

Till next time, take care and be merry.

November 2018 - 5 weeks pregnant 

Investing your time

Investment is when you put in something like money and hope to gain something in return, like more money. Basically it is putting in effort, in hopes for returns in the future. When we invest in our health, we put in effort to improve our health in hopes that our body don't breakdown on us.

To me what we need to invest will differ at different stages of our lives. And time is a currency that is common throughout space and universe (maybe just on earth).

For instance when we are young, we should invest not only in education but also friendship. Building up our social network is so important when we are young. When you have problems or need to ask for help, who is more willing to help you? Someone you just met or someone that goes way back? 

Some parents forbid their children to mix with other children who supposedly are from not well to do background. Sad as it sounds, there are parents like that. But who's to say you start from nothing, you cannot succeed? Many successful people in the world came from nothing (Oprah Winfrey, J.K. Rowling, Richard Branson to name a few). Yes surely they had to work harder compared to those who already had a head start. But time is equal for everyone, everyone has 24 hours in a day and the same number of days in a week, in a month, in a year.

Later on in life we invest our time into our careers, to earn more and save more. As young adults, majority of us will have little to no commitment. Hence, that is the best time to focus on building up our savings. Once we settle in life, find that special someone and plan to have a family, we move into the next stage.

Currently I am at this stage of life, and honestly a little scared and overwhelmed. Now, I am very curious on how I can grow my income and have a passive income (not really having to work for the money). Besides money concerns, I am also concern about health and whether or not I will be fit enough to keep up with a toddler. 

Which brings me to another investment, investing in our children's future. Giving them what is necessary or more. As of now, since Eden is still a baby, there isn't much to do. But plans for her future education and co-curriculum are already playing out in our minds. What sports should we introduce her to? How can we cultivate and instill good habits in her? So many things we wished we had growing up.

And as for the next step, what to invest in? I am not there yet and I hope that someone along the way will pop in to shed some light and wisdom.

Feel free to leave me a comment if you agree or if you have other views on life in general.

I'm Back! 2020 New and Improved

Hello old blog!

I am back~~ OMG! I almost forgot I had this blog.

Man, a lot has changed since 2014.

My outlook on life has changed 180 degrees and I have a new title now in life, I am a MOM! (never imagine that day will come).

Since 2014, I have changed jobs twice, made new friends, lost some friends, gained some weight then lost some weight, and gain them back through pregnancy and lost all my pregnancy weight.

I have been so into health and fitness, time and investment, and now, my baby girl.

Eden is her name. Everything about Eden is just so perfect. She teachers me alot about life and I have so much to learn and improve as a mother, as a daugther, as a wife and as a human.

I will try to put out as much content here whenever I am free. I have so many, many thoughts running in my head everyday. Life has been great to me despite some small challenges here and there, but I am quite positive that good things will come in the year 2020.

Till next time, take care and be merry.

Eden surprise visit to the gym on Valentine’s Day