Just thought you might like this one

See what you can accomplish with just a little exercise. Talk about motivation!

2 Month Mark

I did it. I've gone one more month than I did last time. I must admit, for some reason I'm not losing as quickly as I would like but the loss is slow and steady. And as they say, slow and steady wins the race. I am happy though. This morning, I weighed myself and I was 60kg. Excellent. A little bit more and this is the lightest I've been since before I got into law school. I haven't weighed under 60kg in 6 years! Happy happy happy!!!!
I have also successfully completed the first challenge in the BBC big challenge. I will go back later today to reassess. \(^O^)/

Back from the Dead at 62kg

Ok. I haven't posted in 3 weeks. Sorry. I'm doing OK on my diet. Not losing as much as I had hoped but I'm certainly a lot more active, despite the lingering cold weather.
I went to Hokkaido for the Snow Festival where I quite possibly had the best ramen ever. I also indulged in heaps of seafood and chocolate. Hokkaido consumes the most chocolate per capita than any other prefecture in Japan. That's like Quebec and doughnuts (and you wonder why I'm trying to lose weight--I don't even like doughnuts). I also watched Geoffrey and Zander consume 7-8 pounds of grilled mutton. Yes. OK. I had some too but not nearly as much as the boys. After about a pound I started feeling guilty and ate the vegetables that the boys had decided to shove aside.
When I got back from Okinawa, I picked up where I left off. I go to the gym at least 3 times a week. I cycle or walk everywhere possible, I eat breakfast every morning and I haven't bought conbini food for lunch in weeks.
I'm doing alright but I'm already finding it hard to stay motivated. I have to keep reading motivational articles on the BBC Big Challenge page and other places. I found this one which I read over sporadically.
Speaking of motivation, a few of the teachers at the school where I work have said that I've lost weight and it shows. So at least there is a difference. I guess I know there is too... I went to the doctor's office to pick up a prescription and before they give it to me, I always have to check my blood pressure and my weight. And I've lost 5.5kg since the last time I picked up the prescription in 2 months ago. HOORAY!!!
I would have liked to be at 60kg by this point but if I can reach that by then end of March, I'll be happy. I will try and post more often. Promise.

No Pain, No Gain

Never has this expression been more true... OMG. Yesterday I said that I had fallen off the wagon over the weekend, right? Well I got back on and now I hurt. I did weightlifting for the first time at the gym. I've used the weight machines before but I don't really know what I'm doing so I don't think I've ever done it effectively. Yesterday, however was my first foray into effectiveness (since I went with someone who knows what he was doing) and let me tell you... OW.
We did upper body only (chest, back, shoulders, biceps and triceps... in that order)... good thing too because otherwise my whole body would hurt and not just my upper body.
I would post the exercises that I did to help out those who are as clueless as me but I forget the names of them. I just know that, for each group, you start with a low weight with 12 reps. Rest. Then next you increase the weight by 1 increment (whatever that might be) and decrease the reps by 2.
So for example, if you are doing bicep curls, you start with 12X 5kg. Rest. Then you do 10X 6kg, rest; then 8X 7kg, rest; then 6X 8kg, rest... after that you do 12X 6kg and immediately after (i.e. no rest) you do a new exercise for the same group 12X with whatever weight you think is suitable for you.
And pain is good in this case because it means you did well. So I guess I did very well ^^

My Diet and the Japanese Gift Giving Tradition

I've fallen off the wagon. OK, well not totally. Here's the problem. If you do something nice for someone (like a big favour or you give an expensive gift), you will generally get a gift in return (called okaeshi). Sometimes you get stuff (I've gotten towels and coasters and stuff) but generally you get food... and it isn't usually the healthy kind. So this last week I've gotten 2 of these gifts. The first was a giant bag of chocolate and candy (for helping my Japanese teacher with an essay) and the second was a little box of chocolate cookies from the school nurse Fujioka-sensei (because I contributed to a pool to buy her a congratulatory gift for winning some award)...
Now having chocolate, cookies and candy in my house is incredibly dangerous, especially after a night of nomihodai (all-you-can-drink)... Saturday was the start of my demise (that's when the chocolate entered my apartment and seeing as I have no will power to begin with and even less when I've had too much to drink... well... you can guess what happened) and then Sunday I had conbini food for dinner (GASP!). Monday, I didn't go to the gym. Instead I went out for dinner and ate too much. Tuesday I had a McDonalds breakfast set... And the list goes on. So in the last 5 days, I have been very very bad. I also haven't been posting because I've been sick (and lazy) so the transparency of my diet has been lost.
But I've posted and now you know. And you can post death threats or whatever for falling off the wagon, but I'm not giving up. I've put myself back on the wagon and I'm going to start all over again, if I have to. I am not giving up this time around... As the say in Japanese: Ganbarimasu!

Note to self: In the future, be less nice...

Oh the shame...

Like I had mentioned in previous posts, in order to try and reach my goal, I started going to the gym. The plan is to go 3 times a week (Mon, Wed, and Fri) and if I ever have free time... which I never do... so we'll stick to 3 times a week.
Anyway, yesterday, I decided to change it up and join an aerobics class. It's important not to get bored with your exercise routine or else you will stop going. And that goes double for me because I get bored really easily. So I joined a class called "Hashiranai Aero" (which means aerobics without running). I have always believed myself to be fairly coordinated. I need coordination to do judo after all. But boy was I wrong. I must have slept in the day they were passing out coordination... because it was embarrassing. I spent 45 minutes standing in the corner and spinning around in circles because I had no idea what I was doing. Granted this was my first time ever doing aerobics but it doesn't look that hard when I watch from the window... It's a good thing that I can laugh at myself because otherwise I'd never set foot in the gym again.
So after 45 minutes of shame, I refused to go home on that note. Instead, I decided to stay for the beginner aerobics class that was being held immediately after. I didn't feel like I had worked out anyway because all I had done was make mistakes... The beginner class went much better... I still feel like I have no coordination but it was still fun.

Lesson of the day: Hang in there... even when everything goes wrong

Is "blenderize" a word?

...because if it is, blenderizing is awesome. I bought a small blender last Saturday and I am in love with it already. I can make fruit smoothies now! I've been meaning to get one for a long time now but I either forgot or figured that I didn't need one. Well it seems that it was a very good purchase. Yesterday I made a banana/strawberry smoothie and it was delicious. 1 banana, 10 strawberries, 200ml soy milk, 1 non-fat yogurt snak-pak for a little kick. And if my calculations are correct, that's less than 100kcal per serving. It makes a good addition breakfast or snack and it's a featherweight (low Caloric Density).
And now that I have a blender, I can also make that asparagus soup I've been eyeing in my recipe book. I can't wait!
I'm adding "blender" to my previous list of things I learned...

WEEK 2 - 64.5kg

It's a day late. I'm sorry. I weighed myself properly this morning. So far so good. I lost the 0.5kg I was aiming for and that was without going to the gym last week. I started going to the gym this week though. Diet AND exercise is key. The staff at my gym were surprised to see me. "Long time no see"... I haven't been since the end of October... But I'm back and I intend to stay back. I may even have a gym partner soon. Hopefully we will keep each other motivated, but only time will tell.
I did my cardio workout yesterday. 40 minutes on the stationary bike and then I decided to try my hand at the treadmill. For those of you who don't know me very well... I hate running... with a burning passion... but I definitely feel the burn more after 20 minutes of running than after 40 minutes on the bike. I'm thinking about joining an aerobics class once or twice a week, just to change it up a bit though because the bike gets boring after awhile. I am open to any suggestions for weight training workouts though. I don't really know what I'm doing and I'd prefer not to kill myself, so if anyone has any advice, let me know.