Tips Your Trainer Probably Never Told You

Ladies, when asked as to what your current body goal is, we probably have the same answer; which is to lose weight and remain trim and slim. Believe me, I feel you. I have struggled with weight all my life. It’s a very sticky situation you and I are in; we love to eat and yet, we want to look like a million bucks.

There are hundreds of different diets we easily find online; the raw food diet, the carb-free diet, 7-days soup diet and I came across a completely freaky one, the cotton ball diet! This one involves dipping balls of cotton in orange juice and consuming them. It exists, believe me. Stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of. Is cotton even food?

As most of you probably already know, I co-run a fitness center with my husband and there is obviously a lot of pressure in keeping fit. As it so happens, I first befriended a gym when I was 13 years old, which is a really long time ago, so I am pretty much familiar with fitness techniques and methods. However, there are many things your personal trainer probably isn’t telling you, which I compiled into a single list. Keep in mind, I am not a fitness guru, but the following are tried and true. I learned it the hard way, but you don’t have to. 

1. I have heard so many people say “I am slim by nature, so luckily I don’t need the gym”, which is very disturbing. Yes, you probably don’t need a gym, but sweetie, you need the exercise. There is absolutely NOBODY in the world who does not need to exercise. Age is not even a deal-breaker when it comes to keeping fit. Always remember that exercising is not only used to lose weight, but offers hundreds of other non-aesthetic reasons such as keeping your heart’s health, your fat percentage balanced and ensuring that your muscle tissues are intact. And don’t fear the word “muscle”. Men have them, women have them, babies have them! They are not always the super-huge ones we see on body-builders and yes, they need to be trained.

      2. A lot of people skip the idea of keeping fit via the traditional method as in sweating, and straightaway jump under the knife to get some fat-removal (liposuction) procedures done. The benefits of liposuction are something I can’t help enlighten you about, as I don’t know much about them. However, I know people who have gone through this; they cause long-term problems for some people. During this procedure, you lose fat the quick way, which means losing a large proportion of energy. This is why the procedure condemns you into a bed rest for a long period of time. As a result, the fat you lose WILL eventually come back to you, if you don’t balance out the procedure with muscle-training afterwards. And remember, you may not necessarily be able to exercise right away; the stitches may keep you on bed rest for quite a while.

      3. Quick body check! If you feel like you have been eating right, training hard but yet have that pinch-able lower tummy, that’s probably a result of sugar and alcohol. No amount of food you give up can make up for binging on alcohol. I never liked alcohol to begin with, but I enjoy sweet drinks like hell. Like, literally, I need a coke right now. I used to eat less food to enjoy a glass of coke. Eventually, I realized that was ridiculous.

Unfortunately, alcoholic beverages (which contains mad sugar) have massive effect on your body. To quote my husband who is more of the expert in this field, if your target is to lose weight, more than food, it’s the alcohol and sweet drinks that you need to give up.

      4. Be careful with your cardio. Running, walking, cycling, jumping are all cardios. While they may keep you happy on the weighing scale, they may not do you good if you don’t balance it out with some weight-training. I once had a trainer who kept me on the machines for a straight hour WITHOUT any strength training. When I pinch my arms and thighs now, I regret every minute on those machines. Cardio doesn’t contribute much in training your muscles, in fact if used wrongly, they may deteriorate your lean muscle tissues. They support your fitness goals, but they are not your primary fitness techniques. They must be incorporated in your daily routines, but they should not take up your entire workout patterns.

      5. As you enter a gym, your first step is probably checking the weighing scale and fixing a “thin-fat” judgment based on those numbers. I say, wrong. Get a proper weighing scale that can identify your complete body vitals such as your tummy fat level (visceral fat), fat percentage, how many calories we burn in a day (BMR), Body Mass Index and others. Consult a nutritionist or certified trainer to learn about these vitals and exercise according to your requirements. Also, don’t use your mirror as your judge. As human beings, it is most natural to stand in front of the mirror and identify our major body flaws. However, what you see is not always what you are. Which is why, you need to learn what’s inside your body as opposed to what it actually appears to be.

If you wish to learn more, our doors are always open. Remaining healthy can be tough and we often need a support group. I may not be able to help your every enquiry, as I am still a learner, but I am blessed to have a fantastic team of personal trainers and nutritionists who are always open to discussion about the human body.

Hope this helps! Wish you all the very best for the journey of attaining optimal health, as I continue to attain mine. 

10 Things We Need to Learn to Do Ourselves

As an Indian, we are taught to value our culture of living with our parents until we get married and eventually move in with our husband and his parents. Sons are taught to remain to live with his folks and add on to the happiness by bringing his wife to the house, and take care of his parents when they grow old. This is a value I treasure a lot and yes, I live with my in-laws happily and willingly.

This isn’t exactly why I wrote this blog article. What I want to discuss is the fact that we are very rarely alone as we are always accompanied by at least someone on a daily basis, seeing that we live with a lot of people at home, as opposed to a large proportion of the Western community who tend to move out when they reach a fruitful age of 18, on average. Therefore, when we reach a point of time when we are left alone, we tend to disregard the infinite possibilities of what to do with the time.

I have compiled a list of things we absolutely must learn to do ALONE in our lives, and also try to do them at least once if they sound rather uncomfortable. I must admit, I haven’t done everything yet, but have received recommendations from those who have.

1.     Dine
How often are our Saturday nights filled with friends, family and frenzy? It takes solid security to get decked up, walk in a fancy restaurant and have a meal all by yourself. People may stare and wonder if we have been stood up, but who cares? I find it a liberating experience to have no one to share good food with (tee-hee) and devour every bite and enjoy our own thoughts. I am yet to do this in a fancy restaurant, but I have had fast food in a crowded mall on a Saturday for lunch. I am guessing that counts?

2.     Hit the cinema
Now this may be a bit of a challenge. Can we really sit through a 2-hour movie and not have anybody known beside you? YES YES YES! You probably want to avoid Saturday nights if you’re a bit insecure but otherwise, go for it. Admittedly, my last “alone movie time” was 4 years ago when I had a solid 5-hours break between class at campus and a student committee meeting and have yet to do it again, My husband, Vicky does this all the time, seeing that he loves the movies and does not force me into watching genres I hate.

3.     Cook for yourself
Imagine a scenario where you come back after a long day at work and find nobody at home to have dinner with. An efficient way to feed yourself would probably call for fast food home delivery meal, as we often think “why go through so much kitchen trouble for just me?” where in fact, cooking for yourself can be rather satisfying. I am not talking about instant noodles and easy mac-n-cheese, but solid food with pretty plating you would normally serve other people. I usually go for grilled chicken or home-made pizza with multiple toppings and some garlic bread and coleslaw. I did this a couple of times and enjoy the food with a good movie. Best time ever!

4.     Drive to a whole new place
If you’re an adventurer and are blessed with a car and the ability to drive, hit the roads and visit a place you don’t normally go by yourself as you’re unsure of how to get there. I promise you, this is incredibly emancipating when you finally succeed. Points to note though: go during daytime when there are people to ask road help from, make sure you have your tank filled up, drive safe and choose a timing when traffic will not bother you much. My personal experience: my mom-in-law and I would take turns in going to the market to shop for groceries for home and Perigon Fitness and Cafe, run by Vick and I. I used to need the driver to take me there but once I gathered the courage to head there by myself, I have been unstoppable :p

5.     Use a public transport to get home
I’ll get straight to the point. I was in Pondok Indah Mall, a long way from my home in Sunter, totally alone after exchanging a bag I bought. I was already on the taxi stand when I realized I forgot to hit the ATM and chose to use the TransJakarta bus to get home. Multiple bus exchanges and a extra-short cab ride later, I was home. It took me a long time but I felt liberated by the fact that I managed in inconvenient situations. Point to note again: daytime is recommended and opt for a reliable public transport service.

6.     Workout
Gym buddies are buddies for life, aren’t they? Admit it, you have skipped so many gym sessions because your gym buddy is busy. I myself often rely on others to hit the gym. But when you gather the will power to step it on, gymming alone can be fun, provided you have good music on.

7.     Enjoy a glass of wine or champagne at home
Drinking is often socially acceptable in large groups or dinners with friends. But, nobody says we can’t enjoy a glass of our personal favorite at home when we’re alone. However, we must consider our personal alcohol consumption capability. If we can only handle a smidgen, gulping the entire bottle may leave a hot mess for your home-mates when they find you asleep on the floor. Not exactly a pretty picture.

8.     Enjoy an entire slice of cake
Before you start judging, I said slice, not the entire cake, although the idea is ravishing. In an era where people are increasingly health-conscious, how often do we finish an entire slice of cake? Although you begin by intending to wipe your plate clean, people around us will start spooning around “for a bite” and you’re left with half. Take the opportunity and be a little daredevil: finish the cake! When you feel a little hefty post the conquer, refer to no.6 ;)

9.     Go shopping
I don’t know how most guys do their shopping, but we girls ask most of our girlfriends before buying an outfit. Do yourself the honor this time and hit the mall alone. Rely on your personal choice and avoid awkward budget confrontations. After all, you’re wearing what you’re buying. Take control of what you like for yourself.

10. Attend a party/wedding invitation alone
Can’t write much about this, as I am yet to check this off my list. It may seem a little intimidating to enter a huge ballroom full of people and crossing your fingers to find someone you know, but this is one challenge I think I will take on sometime.

Do you have anything you like to do when you’re alone? I’d love to hear about it! Hope this post inspires. xx

Underage Drinking-Does if Effectively Introduce Alcohol?

Before proceeding to read the contents of this article, I kindly request everybody to keep an open mind as the article contains scientific and opinioned excerpts on alcoholism and underage drinking, which is not exactly black and white areas; they are differently seen upon by different people; some approve while others may not.

We live at a time and age where our parents lean towards friend figures as opposed to the pressure of ethical behavior. Our parents are more up-to-date in terms of fashion, music, movies and everything else in general. We are able to watch an intimate scene in a movie with our folks and not cringe as much as we did before. We can easily pull off wearing a skirt somewhat shorter than we were allowed to wear before, simply because our parents are quickly learning and adapting to the new age, and I must say, we don’t give them enough credit. Parents everywhere, you are awesome!

One thing that I’ve noticed children do with their parents now is alcohol consumption.  Up to a certain point, I applaud these parents who keep an open mind and share these vivid experiences with their kids. However, the age of alcohol introduction is somewhat disturbing. The legal drinking age in most states is 17 years old, and a lot of children below that age are already introduced to alcohol (they may be introduced by the community outside their homes, but this blog specifically discusses home-based alcohol consumption).

Yes, some scientific reasoning have found that introducing alcohol at an early age discloses several advantages such as being more connected to your children, encompassing confidence in your child (they sense the trust infiltrated by parents in them) and a way of harm-minimisation (a term used to describe letting children drink small amounts of alcohol under supervision before they let loose elsewhere).

However, many studies have been conducted over the past few years, which will be enclosed in the following paragraphs:

International data suggests introducing alcohol to teenagers isn’t a way to protect them. Indicating that the earlier a child is introduced to alcohol, the more likely they are to develop problems with alcohol later in life (National Center on Addition and Substance Abuse, 2002).

Scientists currently are examining just how alcohol affects the developing brain, but it’s a difficult task. Subtle changes in the brain may be difficult to detect but still have a significant impact on long-term thinking and memory skills. Add to this the fact that adolescent brains are still maturing, and the study of alcohol’s effects becomes even more complex.

Elevated liver enzymes, indicating some degree of liver damage, have been found in some adolescents who drink alcohol. Young drinkers who are overweight or obese showed elevated liver enzymes even with only moderate levels of drinking.

In both males and females, puberty is a period associated with marked hormonal changes, including increases in the sex hormones, estrogen and testosterone. These hormones, in turn, increase production of other hormones and growth factors, which are vital for normal organ development. Drinking alcohol during this period of rapid growth and development (prior to or during puberty) may upset the critical hormonal balance necessary for normal development of organs, muscles, and bones. Studies in animals also show that consuming alcohol during puberty adversely affects the maturation of the reproductive system.

Obviously, this is not a petition to stop alcohol. This is a mere reminder that anything taken in excess will be of harm to the adolescent body. Can we stop growing children from drinking alcohol? Absolutely not, but we can prevent them from binge-drinking.

There are much better ways to introduce alcohol to your children other than making them take sips regularly;

▪   choose a time when you are both relaxed rather than lecturing them when they aren’t in the right mood

▪   tailor the content and language to your own child and ask questions to make sure that they understand what you are saying

▪   explain the specific harms of alcohol use while their brain is still developing

▪   cover themes such as the positive and negative aspects of alcohol use

▪   encourage them to talk about their own perceptions and assumptions and correct any misconceptions

▪   communicate your expectations about their alcohol consumption

Trust me enough to know that when the time is right, your kid is probably going to know more about alcohol from their social surroundings ;)

Until them, hope this helps xx

Happy Birthday, Boi! This will make you smile! :)

My dearest not-so-little brother Boy
On your 22nd birthday, I know what you wanted more than anything is for me to come down and celebrate the 9th of May with you, but as luck has it, it’s not quite happening. So, to make it up to you, I’m listing down 22 memories we have growing up ☺ Read on!

1. Sharing a room always our entire lives! Those bunk beds we had, taking turns to decide who sleeps on the top bed, bugging dad to take it apart for a change sometimes. Few years later, we get our own rooms but barely used yours. The folks kept wondering what was the effort for anyway?
2. How you used to sit outside every morning (let’s not mention why) while I wait for the school bus to come get me. We even have a picture of me trying to use one of your pen-type toys.
3. Waiting for Bobo magazine every Thursday morning before school when were in primary school. We somehow end up fighting over who gets to read it first. I keep winning. Should have just let you, though. My bad.
4. The way you fell off the marble lobby stage in Tanjung Lesung a gazillion years ago. LOL
5. You were so happy when you received a gift from a total Caucasian stranger for New Year’s in Bali. It was an intricate ship-design showpiece, yes?
6. One of my favourites: Recall that Chandra dude who used to bully you in school? I remember wanting to bust his butt so many times but knew you could take care of yourself. Where is he now, anyway?
7. Buying bubur ayam and having it in the new school canteen in the morning, coz we were always the earliest! Mom and her teacher’s work hours :s
8. Morning assembly when I always asked you to either read the prayer, news or thought of the day as you were the easiest fellow Lincoln house members to grab. You would always agree as long as I was the one to look for the news. Whatevs.
9. Watching Lizzie McGuire, Even Stevens and That’s So Raven everyday after school while having lunch.
10. When we discovered a wonderful thing called FRIENDS. And watched it every day, and mouthing Chandler’s funny one-liners.
11. Another favorite: how we waited for everyone to sleep and we would sneak in to the kitchen to make Indomi goreng and steal 2 cans of Coke. While watching Friends, of course. McDonalds and HokBen midnight delivery never gets old either. Used to miss it big time when you were Bangalore. It didn’t seem right to order just one Happy Meal.
12. The fact that you have the best sense of humor amongst all of us back at home. You are literally hilarious! Whenever you weren’t around, we would always say things like “If Boy was here, he would say…..”
13. Teaching you Accounts and Business Studies. OMG torture. Do you remember the function of a BRS, Hitesh Vasnani? Coz I remember it al too well from the countless number of times I’ve explained you :p
14. Another wonderful discovery called Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone. And hello, its time you admit I was the one who told you to watch it. I bought the VCD (yes it was on VCD) from Pasar Baru with Mom and rushed home to watch it with you.
15. Another Harry Potter memory: we were watching HP and the Chamber of Secrets in Ekta’s house. It was during an intense scene when the phone rang and you fell off the bed! Hahahahahah
16. How we were good and bad at exact opposites. You were a whiz at IT and least in Commerce, and me, the exact opposites. When we got our proficiencies for our respective subjects, Mom and Dad weren’t exactly surprised, were they?
17. The night before you went to India. We struggled SO HARD to not be drama queens about it. Yeah, failed big time, didn’t we. I distinctly remember crying myself to sleep that night. Acted all chilled when you left for the airport, and then crying again afterwards. When I finally calmed myself down, I found a drawing you made for me. The Bluetooth joke. And then, I cried and laughed at the same time. It was not attractive.
18. Our “chill-chill” mandatory TehBotol sessions. No wonder we were so damn overweight. Meh.
19. Going to play with Soham, Avisha and Anaya everytime we had spare time.
20. Waiting for you to come back home every 6 months. The longest few days ever. You all used to tease how I love fetching you from the airport but absolutely refuse to drop you off for the airport-type goodbyes.
21. Having a vacation, literally, in my trousseau shopping in India. Teasing Neelu on how much time she took in the shower and eating at the Punjab food stall every other day in Karol Bagh, Delhi. We even kept their take-out menu bahahahhaha. OH, having you come back home for good, just in time for my wedding! That called for a double celebration!
22. Lastly, this memory right here; me sitting down, listing down this blog and having you in my mind, not exactly a “together” memory, but its one that kept me smiling for 45 minutes nonstop while writing this.

Happy Birthday, my lil brother, my confidante, my best friend <3 a="" all="" always.="" always="" and="" apart="" are="" as="" be="" been="" best="" but="" couple="" day.="" days="" deserve.="" every="" fail="" favorite="" for="" happiness="" have="" i="" in="" is="" kept="" last="" life="" love="" many="" memories="" mind="" minute="" most="" my="" nbsp="" never="" o:p="" of="" other="" person="" pop="" spent="" that="" the="" to="" treat.="" us="" vick="" waiting="" were="" what="" will="" wish="" with="" world="" year="" years="" you.="" you="">