Effects of Working Out

I was at my heaviest in Poly, weighing 74 kg on a 1.55m height. My BMI was 30.8, though we now know BMI may not be the best measure of obesity since it doesn't take into account the higher density of muscle tissues compared to adipose tissues. My ex had a friend who, according to BMI is overweight even though he's obviously lean. As student nurses, we sometimes use the monitoring machines on ourselves while on attachment. My pulse was in the 90s though I can't call it resting heart rate due to the fact that I was walking around on the job. It wasn't super strenuous so a pulse in the 90s showed how unfit I was. My resting heart rate back then was in the mid 70s, considered to be normal. My BP was in the normal to very slightly elevated range which probably wasn't a good thing for someone under 20. It was usually 120/80 with the occasional diastolic mid 80s.

This was taken last Friday morning while I was at work as demonstrated by the date & time stamp on the monitor. My pulse was 63, a significant drop from the 90s when I was 18 while at work. I must say that this was an unusually low diastolic BP for me. A systolic of 97 borders on normal (anything below 100 is considered low). The diastolic of a 46 though, is quite low (anything below 60 is low). I'm asymptomatic though so I'm not too worried about the numbers. But it does speak volumes about the improvement in my cardiovascular health. Not too bad for 2.5 months of work.

Goals To Work Towards In 2017

I dreamt again. Zombie apocalypse. I know, I watched too many such shows on Netflix. Although I was trying to escape in my dream, I was helping others do the same, trying to keep them safe. It is a far cry compared to my dreams from when I was younger. I was always afraid, always running. While there's still the element of fear in my dreams now, I'm either fighting to protect others or trying the best of my ability to help others. I'll like to think that it signifies a shift in my subconsciousness or perhaps a strengthening of my character. The dream ended with me successfully helping the group escape to the aid of an army group deployed to kill the zombies.

Hubs went back to work today. I don't start work till Friday which hardly counts as work. We're just supposed to do some cleaning & for my part, check & order lenses for the cases on Monday. It'll probably take about half a day. Home alone, I attended the 9.15 am session of Body Balance at the gym. We have to sign in & collect a tag for the respective class. This lady was trying to see the class roster underneath the sign in clipboard & she said, "Sorry, dog." I could have taken it as an insult but it would speak more of me if I chose to take offense. We always talk about kosen rufu in our Buddhist studies. Kosen rufu means world peace. For world peace to prevail, it has to start from me. I brushed it off as her strong character which was later very evident in the class. I do the same with my manager as well. Besides, dogs are very endearing. :)

I thought Body Balance would be easy for me since I've been doing yoga for over a year. Granted, we did stop yoga session for over a month now which we will pick up again this weekend. But I didn't expect it to be so hard. I had to stop & rest several times during the class. I kept up better with Konga which was much more fast paced. It did bring up my weak spots, namely, balancing (all the 1 legged poses) & quads strength (all the warriors & holding of lunges). At the end of the class, I verbalised that to the instructor & she told me to keep at it & I'll get better at it. Through conversation with her, I also found out that she teaches Body Combat as well, which is what I'm planning to get to this evening. Sometimes gym work (jogging on the treadmill & weights) can get repetitive. Going to such classes mixes things up & work on different sets of muscles. I truly find them very enjoyable even if I can't keep up.

Rather than resolutions which I consider "must get there no matter what", I'll go with goals to work towards. It's a bit more lenient & allows a bit more leeway should I fall short.

Physical Health/Fitness

1. I shall aim not to give up going to the gym that easily. It's ok not to see results. Just focus on how good I feel after each session. 
2. I will like to master at least 1 inversion by the end of the year, starting with head stand.
3. I shall eat well & stop deprivation diet becoz it just doesn't work.
4. Instead of a weight goal, I shall aim to build more muscles & lose more fats. 

Mental Health

1. I shall sing more to my dogs. Singing is 1 of my favourite past times. I sing during the journey to work & back home everday. Hopefully they'll enjoy it.
2. Cut the self doubt. Whether I can or not, as long as I've tried my best.
3. Cut the self degrading talk. I'm as good as the next person. 

Spiritual Health

1. Human revolution is a life long work in progress. I shall continue to polish myself so that I will shine even brighter.
2. I shall contribute a little bit more to kosen rufu than I did last year even if it's something very small.
3. I shall aim to further apply the Buddhist principles I've learnt in my life. 
4. Finally, never stop doing the 3 pillars of faith, practice & study.

Out Of The Obese Range

2 weeks break, back injury, eating as I wish saw me put on 1 kg post holiday period. I was actually surprised that I didn't put on more considering the amount I ate. What really surprised me more is that I've already lost the 1 kg I put on plus 1, at the end of the 1st week back to work. That puts my BMI at exactly 25.0. But as we all know, from an Asian descend, anything 23.0 & above is considered overweight. I need to lose another 5 kg before I hit a BMI of 22.9. But like I mentioned before, the weight is not as important to me as the body fat percentage.

I took both charts off the S Health app from my phone. I'm not sure if Asians have a different range. But I'm working towards fitness level in terms of fat percentage, which means between 21.0 to 24.9%. As of today, I finally dropped to 31.6% which means I'm out of the obese range. At my heaviest many years ago, I had a body fat percentage of 39.9%. It is shocking that almost 40% of my body is made up of fats. Now that I'm older, I must really begin to take care of my health. 

I've been to the gym twice this week. But I haven't been able to do much as I fear injuring my back further. Instead of jogging, I used the eliptical machine. My stamina definitely have gone down tremendously. So I got to work my way up again. My plan is to continue to work on my arms & put more time into yoga. Progress at 3 months, muscle gain of 2.4%, fat loss of 5.3% & weight loss of 6.9 kg.

Difference Between Weight Losses

I've lost 6 kg to date. Like I've mentioned, the entire loss came from fats alone. This is a vast difference from my multiple attempts at weight loss in the past. I used to achieve weight loss by dieting alone aka calories restriction. The weight loss that followed was a combination of fats & muscles loss. I didn't realise how much difference it made until Sharon pointed out that I looked like I lost a lot of weight. My response was, "It's only 6 kg." So I went & dug out this old photo of me from over 6 years ago. I can't remember how much I weigh then, probably about 59 kg. I know I dropped to 57 kg when I met hubs just few weeks later.

Left: 59 kg, 6 years ago.
Right: 61 kg now.

Goodness me! Putting the 2 pictures side by side, the differences are obvious. I definitely look slimmer now, especially on my face. I haven't worn that orange dress in 6 years. Seeing this photo prompted me to go try it out. I can wear it again! But best if I wait till I lose a bit more coz when I sit down, the gaps between the buttons are pretty pronounced. Other than weight loss, exercise also gave me lots of other benefits. This is definitely the way to go.

I haven't pushed to do a full 5 km jog on my Ironman training this week becoz I wanted to go home earlier. But I'll definitely give it a shot next week. During my routine training yesterday, I had completed my resistance training & had just started jogging when I felt, in Singlish terms, "How come like no kick?" The beauty of jogging on a treadmill is having an even gradient & constant speed. When I 1st started, I was jogging at a pace of 7 km/hr. At 4 weeks, I've increased that to 7.5 km/hr. So I thought, "Alright, I'll put it up to 8 km/hr to see how it'll go." I completed my usual 3 km at that pace. It's actually quite enjoyable. Doable yet enough "kick". 

I do feel lazy most days where I feel like just heading home to rest. But once I get started, I just want to keep going. Knowing that, I still go to the gym even when I don't feel like it. But once I hit my 3 times a week, I allow myself to rest the other 2 days coz I do have yoga on Sat to make up for it. But yeah, it's great. I hated exercising. Seriously. But if I can come to enjoy it, I think everyone can. Give it a try. 

Onward To The Next 5 Kg

As of this week, I've completed 8 weeks in the gym. I've always felt I'm terrible with exercise & that no matter how hard I try, it just doesn't work for me. It's amazing how a change in mindset can have such tremendous effects. I started wanting to lose weight without it being the sole focus. I told myself that fitness is what I should be aiming for & not to be disheartened if my weight remains the same. I've just lost my 1st 5 kg from gym-ing, with a 1.8% muscle gain & 3.9% fat loss. Based on the stats, I guess it's safe to say that the entire 5 kg loss came from fats alone. When I 1st started, jogging 2 km was a struggle. Now, 3 km is my norm & something I aim for every gym session.

Since this is a milestone for me, I decided to go celebrating by trying out for my 1st 5 km jog in 1.5 years. It was before I got my job. Right smack in winter, it was 8 am & 4°c outside. It was very hard & my muscles were already aching even before I completed the 5 km. Of course, that was also the 1 & only time I went jogging until the recent weeks. So all along, I knew I can do a 5 km jog becoz if I could do it back then without training, I can do it again now. I just didn't want to do it too soon but rather slowly learn to enjoy jogging. I made it in 40 mins, shaved 9 mins off from the timing 1.5 years ago. It wasn't super hard but it did require a fair bit of mental pap talk. I started counting down right from the beginning. One fifth down, four fifths to go (at 1 km mark), two fifths down (2 km mark), 50% there (2.5 km mark), you've just completed your usual distance (3 km mark), just 1 more km to go (4 km mark) & then it was counting down by the 100 meters. 我既然没有要死的感觉。So that's really good.

I don't know if I'm going to ache tomorrow since I've pushed myself beyond my routine. I did some resistance training for my arms before I left the gym. I wonder if I can do 5 km jog for my Ironman training next week. That will be awesome. That will also mean I'm left with additional 10 km of cycling to pick up. I'll see how I feel when I get there. My knee is still purple from the fall last Wed. It doesn't hurt as much anymore but I'm not too sure if I can get on my knees for yoga this Sat though. 

My manager shared with me her experiences with marathons. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when she told me she could finish a 42 km run in 4 hours. From FB, all my friends are clocking 3+ hours for the 21 km run which could only mean that my manager is really really fast. She also did ultra marathons where she had to run 56 km & she could do it in 5+ hours. She also took part in the 1000 km challenge which she had to complete within a year. During the year, she had to run 3 marathons a month so she could complete it. I had to pick my jaw from the ground. She told me that 5 mins per km is a good pace. But she wasn't fast compared to the others. The Africans (she came from South Africa) can do 3 mins per km. That's literally sprinting from start to end, isn't it? That's more than half of my 8 mins per km.

My motto these days is "Some day I'll get there". So yeah, some day I'll get there. Maybe not 42 km. That's way too far out. My aim is currently for 10 km. But 1st, let me get to the stage where 5 km is a comfortable distance. 

Producing Hives

After my extra long gym session on Tuesday, I went back to the original routine on Wednesday. Nothing much different, except that I felt 2 km on the treadmill was tough. But that was to be expected. I usually fare a bit better if I had a rest day. It was the usual 1 hour drive home. When I got home, I took off my clothes & realised that I was red from the neck to naval, all over to the side of my body. My back was completely clear. I didn't think much of it. My face always got flushed after jogging so I thought that was the case for my body even though it had never happened before. I took my usual as-hot-as-I-can-tolerate shower. Immediately after, I started itching. It was when I finally started to develop red, raised welts on my arms (near my armpits), groin & upper thighs that I realised that these were hives, which meant the neck to navel patch was nothing but 1 gigantic welt.

In the event of an allergic reaction, antihistamine is your best friend. I did everything the same, wore the same clothes washed with the same detergent, ate the same thing everyday (it's easier when you're trying to lose weight), came in contact with the same things. I really couldn't figure out what I was reacting to. I went to bed & had another flare up between 12 mn to 1 am. I tried very hard to ignore the itching but I couldn't sleep. Sometime later, I don't know how long, I finally drifted off to sleep. Needless to say, I went to work sleep depraved & the histamine circulating in my body made me really drowsy. I already knew I was going to take a day's rest from gym so I went to work in my normal clothes.

When I got home from work, I had a cooler than usual shower so as to not aggravate the situation, had dinner & took another dose of antihistamine. Everything was fine so far, no new welts, no itching but I just wanted to take 1 more dose to be sure. Went to sleep & was woken up by incessant itching at almost 1 am. This time on my lower arms & wrists. It was crazy. I had antihistamine in my system & yet I got another flare up. I had a good look in the morning & found welts on my entire lower arms, wrists & back of my right hand. I also had new welts from the back of my thighs just under the butt all the way to the back of my knees. I was like, "What's going on man?" The last time I had hives was 17 years ago.

I had already skipped gym on Thursday so I refused to skip it on Friday too. I was asymptomatic other than feeling somewhat drowsy. By the time I got to work, the welts had flattened & the redness more subdued. Perhaps it was becoz of this attack, I felt I wasn't in tip top condition. 2 km, like on Wednesday, felt difficult. But I've told myself before that 2 km is my absolute minimum so I pushed on & completed it.

Coming back home, I was kinda apprehensive. Twice, I've flared up in the middle of the night at the same time no less. It's gone from my torso out to my limbs. I just had this feeling that whatever it was, it was leaving my body (becoz it was moving away from my core). Taking a risk, I didn't take antihistamine after dinner. Here I am, Saturday morning, no more flare ups at 1 am, no more new welts, all previous welts have faded away. I wonder if it was an allergic reaction to something external at all. For some reason, I have this feeling that my body released a load of toxins & it was that which I reacted to. There's no way to prove it since it's a psychic feeling & I don't think I'll ever have confirmation.