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.
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| November 2018 - 5 weeks pregnant |
