This Lifestyle Thing

I have been majorly compliant for the last 2 weeks.

At first it was a struggle. Then it became a habit. Keeping away from wheat, diary and corn helped with the food cravings, eating enough protein helped to dial them waaay down.

My weight now is 83.1 kg. Sticking to the Explorer food list seems ok now. I've even let myself relax around the "no soy" rule too. I'll avoid when I can but when it comes to my favourite things, I'll indulge once a while. Like my favourite Starbuck green tea soy latte. Or my sweet tau huay.

Work has been such a bust lately. I'm caught doubting myself, my abilities, my thinking. Not the best thing to be feeling in a place where job security feels shaky.

I haven't been giving myself enough me-time. On hindsight, I think I was attempting to escape certain truths about myself. It was too easy to escape into digital distractions and the busy-ness of work instead of facing up to myself.

Recently I was told that one of the initiatives I have been kinda taking the lead on, would be passed on to another team mate of mine. Which makes me wonder whether I was doing a good job in the first place.

Logically the other person has more credentials than me in leading a key project. After all, she has global experience leading key projects for the front office. She is also more assertive than me. On the other hand, I sit in the same site as the project manager and have a good working relationship with him.

I refuse to ask. After all, it is my insecurity that wants the answer to these questions. And from experience, whatever the answer is, will not satisfy me. The cause lies within me. My doubt on myself. If my internal is unshakeable, no one can jolt my inner world. I just need to face up to myself.

Thursday night was when I gave up running away from myself. I told my family that I'll have dinner alone outside and be by myself for a while.

It was good. I came back, feeling better and more centered. I even almost bought a ring to marry myself - a reminder to myself that I am the only one I've got. I've also suddenly remembered a couple of the NLP principals I have learnt.

The map is not the territory. What I think may not be what the situation on the ground is. I need to choose a better map that serves me and not throws doubt at my abilities.

What I focus on, expands. If I focus on the negative, I will only find negative evidence, proof to support my outlook. So again, choosing a better serving perspective serves me better.

The consciousness of choosing a new belief then finding evidence to support it. It is a matter of choice, to choose to believe that I am good in this job. Then finding the evidence to support it. Soon, the new belief becomes a part of me and I will no longer question it.

I've also been asking myself on how I can stay in the present. The deeper question is, how can I focus on the job at hand and be the most efficient me I know, without letting the fear of losing my job distracts me? It is also a matter of setting my intention right. Also the mind focus on the positive picture and not negative. Hence the thought of "what I can do so that I will NOT lose my job" doesn't work as well as "what is the best thing I can do, in order to serve my company better?".

I am also starting to incorporate tapping and a couple of mins to focus on the present in the morning to center myself. I would want to start meditating each night as well.

Last night I brought up the idea of a digital sabbatical with hubby. We are both intrigued by the idea - we'll try it out for a day when I am on leave 2 weeks later.

Food tracking 16 Nov

Had 2 eggs and an otah for breakfast. Lunch was a porridge buffet with J and we had a good catchup on our lives.

I did ate some boiled peanuts and some lap chiong. Delicious.

Dinner was pretty light for me - I went easy on the rice but ate more greens. There's also chicken and bell pepper stir fry and spinach with egg soup.

The papaya was delicious and I had 2 slice in the end with 2 bananas.

Felt satiated and full after today's meals. Is good.

14 Nov Meals

Just tracking today's meals.

Breakfast:

Ma taught me how to cook this sweet potato dessert with some boiling water, sugar and ginger. And of course sweet potato. Yum!




Lunch was the usual Grand Salad with all it's yummies. After some thinking, I did added feta cheese, soy, almonds and some tang hoon. I'll work on cutting out soy for salad. It's hard to cut out ingredients when there's nothing more to add!

I did try this cranberry drink too. Not bad but I prefer the dried cranberries.




Dinner was chicken curry with potatoes and tau pok. Coconut milk was used too. I have this with thick bee hoon but I've abstained from bread.

While today have some avoids, I choose to take it easy and make sure I've enjoyed the food with no guilty conscience.

I'll working on being mindful of my choices and having a healthy relationship with food.

All compliant yesterday

For some reason, I'm not able to pull out yesterday's saved posted on lunch.

Anyway it has been all compliant, with lunch at Carnivore then some bites of Yoshinoya's beef bowl then finally a late supper of rice noodles with soup.

I fell asleep a satiated woman. :)

81.8 kg and feeling good

Sorry that my recent posts were short. Was in a hurry and wanted to track my weight somewhere.

I'm glad that the scale is finally moving after some stonewalling. Feeling optimistic. I want to move into the 70s in June!

Still on a clothes buying spree though I better stop. Credit card is groaning as it is!

82.6 kg

I've learnt the importance of non scale victories. But for now, I'll celebrate the fact that the scale is finally moving!

More about the non scale victories later.

83.9 yay!

Omg didn't realise that I could lose weight so fast! So happy that I'm at the 83s now.

It's a good start to the week ahead. :D

84.6 kg, feeling puffed!

I watched what I ate on Saturday with regards to portion and food recommendations. Interim measurements shows that I'm at high 85s. The lowest was 85.6 kg.

Given that Ma don't cook on the weekends, I'm very determined to cut out grains. Also decided to cut down on my fruits since the sugars made me jittery and crave for sweet stuff as well.

I'm also going to watch my nut intake since I've a tendency to eat them non stop regardless whether I'm full or not.

This week has been such a trial for me since I've not been feeling full recently. Somehow felt that I need more of something but what? I'll look into eating more greens this week and perhaps more of the beneficial fish too.

Turkey is coming this Monday - yay! At last a better alternative to chicken. I also do need to stop thinking that I need to finish food as quickly as possible especially since I need to follow the SWAMI portions. Turkey is only for 3 to 4 servings weekly.

I shall keep up the good work for the upcoming week! I still have 4.6 kg to go for the May 14th wedding!

85.9 kg

Aargh at the rate I am going, this will be a weight loss blog instead of a O BTD lifestyle blog.

I'm a little frustrated at my slow weight loss now but I really have no one to blame but myself. I guess if I look at it another way, I should be glad that I have something to identify to account for my slow weight loss instead of being at my wits' end if I have been completely compliant and all.

Currently 2 things are my downfall right now. 1. Social engagements and 2. Sweet things like chocolate, pastries, cakes, aaaah.

Hubby and sis say that I should have been happy that I am dropping into the 85s, never mind that it's only 100 grams shy of 86. *noisy exhale*

Exercise wise, I'm still going strong and have been hitting the gym 6 times a well with some sessions going up to an hour. I have been doing a number of weight training and toning exercises too.

While I would like to think that the increase in muscles actually made me weigh heavier, there isn't really any way to gauge except for my clothes. My clothes do feel looser so maybe it's time for me to buy a couple of tops that are smaller?

Over the weekend stay at Capella, I have been fairly compliant except when we had our Sunday breakfast at The Knolls. There were so many beautiful, yummy food that it would have been a waste to pass them up. So I ate some cheeses, a pancake, some pastries and clotted cream. Yum.

Today I ate a chocolate lava cake and felt so stuffed afterwards. The Gatherer Diet is harder than I thought. I'm trying to cut down on my rice intake in the evening given that it has changed to an avoid but it has been tough mentally. I go without grains for breakfast and lunch - don't I get a break during dinner?!

Since I was so comfortable on the O BTD, I'm not sure whether I'm resisting to the newness of the Gatherer Diet. But I've lost 2 kg on the Gatherer Diet on the first week! Surely this is a sign that it's better for me?

I did learn a few valuable lessons and insights throughout these weeks though. Firstly, that even if I ate an avoid, it doesn't mean that I should let go and have a "free for all". I can learn to pick my avoids carefully. For example, it's more worth to eat a high quality small chocolate cake slice than to stuff myself indiscriminately with some poor avoids.

Secondly, as I am easing into the Gatherer Diet, I am also listening to my body on what works and what doesn't under Gatherer. For example, it has been difficult for me to do without rice. Also I have been eating rice during my O BTD and I still lose the weight. Same goes for soy products. I REFUSE to think that soy products are not good for me!

Thirdly, when a food is listed as a beneficial or even superfood to me, it doesn't mean that I do a "free for all" on it too. I think part of the reason why I did not lose much weight was because I ate too much walnuts, almonds and pumpkin seeds. A pointed out that the nuts can be high in fat and that could be the reason why it impedes my weight loss. So this week, I'm cutting down on these and see where I go.

I am still learning the art of balance between my social eating engagements and being compliant to the diet. Today I experienced an inner jitteriness that reminds me of when my blood sugar plummeted. That was unnerving for me. I thought that perhaps the 2 eggs weren't enough and I drank a mango smoothie. It still carried on, affected my work until I drank some hot green tea and made myself go for the workout.

I don't want to beat myself up every time I ate some avoids and enjoy them! After all, life is for enjoying and I don't want to be 100% compliant all the times while robbing myself of some great gastronomical experiences.

So I am learning to trust myself, trust the diet and listen to my body. I used to eat the nuts indiscriminately, whenever there was a slight gurgle in my tummy. Instead of pausing and trying to understand whether it's true hunger or not, I would have thrown some nuts down my pie hole.

I do think I am getting hungrier on the Gatherer Diet though. Given that it is still so new to me, for this week, I would like to:

1. Stop weighing myself everyday and just do it on Sunday morning.

2. Observe and really listen to my body especially when to eat and when to stop.

3. Focus on eating when I am hungry and not multitask with other stuff, e.g. work, reading.

4. Choose when and what avoids to eat! I'm still trying to work towards a single break out day, i.e. Sunday but so far it hasn't been working due to my weekday engagements.

I'll report back later on this week on how I am doing.

86.5 and still going strong

Today I woke up with a start at 7 am. I was dreaming of work. And how to do it. Before that, I had a weird dream that Sis got pregnant and she was shocked to find it out through the pregnancy tester.

The weird things that come up during a dream eh? Not that work was weird or anything.

Anyway today I did the usual, strip off while wondering whether specs count for something on the weighing scale and weigh myself.

86.5 kg. A fine sight indeed. I think if I continue eating the beef stew today and compliantly for the rest of the meals, I'll be in a good shape tomorrow.

I plan to work out today too so that I'll hit my 6 times a week for this week. Yay go me.... is that premature to acknowledge myself before it has been done? I don't think so.

I read on a weight loss blog that weight loss is mostly mental. There is the actual weight lost, yes but what drives it, what maintains it is mental. There is a reason why each of us wants to lose weight. And yet after losing the weight, it's common to find people who still think that they are fat. Their self image has not been updated at all.

I get it. My mental challenge is about eating in a social setting. Where there is food out there and I am with company, I tend to reach out to eat whatever is there. Cakes, pastries, curry puffs, sandwiches tempt the hell out of me. Yesterday Hubby and I was attending an essential oil massage session and the organizer requested that each of us bring the nibbles.

Although I first thought of buying potato chips (also because secretly I wanted to eat them), Hubby suggested that we buy fruits and healthy snacks like nuts instead. Wise plan indeed since I would be the one reaching out for them.

We bought pumpkin seeds (no one ate it so I brought it back!), honeyed pineapples (omg too sweet for me but Hubby loves it). walnuts (kept eating it because it is my Gatherer diamond food - think I'll buy some for myself!) and wasabi macadamia nuts (gosh I love them though they were avoids).

I want to learn on setting up choices so that I wouldn't set myself up for failure later. Hubby's suggestion taught me a lot indeed. I don't want to be a weird hermit who because of weight loss and food, rejects company, friendship and pleasurable memories. Even when we were eating out on Friday at Crystal Jade, he wanted to pick choices that were compliant.

"We can have our cake and eat it too."

Next weekend, I'm gonna be spending time with my best friend in a luxury hotel whoopee! And I really want to be compliant during that weekend.

I shall tread carefully and wisely.

Heart Rate Monitor

With my payday on Wednesday, I bought a couple of big ticket items. Firstly I decided to join True Fitness since it's near my office and I can go workout before coming in or during lunchtime. Yippee!

I'm like a kid let loose in the candy store when I see the nice new machines there. It does this and whoa, what does that do?! I have been exploring (alright, I admit that I have been hiding away at the ladies' corner) and have quickly settled down on a favourite - the Precor cross ramp machine.

It's an interesting hybrid - a mix of a cross trainer, strider and a stair master (except it's not so excruciating as one). I really enjoy it. :)

And since there are no stupid rules like only using the machine for a max of 20 mins and no reading materials allowed, I have been bringing in my iPad too. Catching up on my RSS feeds or watch a movie while working out? Game on!

*takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself*

And before I forgot, the second thing I bought is the Polar heart rate monitor, the FT60. It is uber cool. It takes down my measurements and calculate my fitness level. It then ask me for my target currently (lose weight) and calculate my weekly targets.

*gulps*

My fitness level is Low which is not surprisingly given my weight (but then again, it is surprising after working out for 4 months now, hmmpf). But the one that made me gasp was the weekly target.

6 hours 5 mins of exercise per week and burn 2540 calories in total.

OMG.

I currently workout at 40 mins for 5 times a week and am trying to bring up my frequency to 6 times a week. And now I am told that I have to increase my duration by a third?! Acks.

I would love to workout more and I think that one hour is durable... if not for the fact that I exercise during my workday and am in a constant rush to get back so that I can get more work done. -____-;;

Anyway given that I was in Suntec today, I did clocked in 1 hour today, go me! I burnt 416 calories in total which was interesting because the last time I clocked only 30 mins (didn't know how to operate the HRM properly at that time) and actually clocked 300+ calories. So how much effort I put into it matters too and not just the duration nor the intensity set at the machine.

I will do my best to hit the weekly targets but I am NOT going to hold myself accountable to that. One thing I have learnt from the past is that if I take such calculations too seriously and become rigid on what I must do to lose weight, the fun and joy of exercising is diminished for me. I WILL NOT let this happen.

So let's see where this HRM and my perspective takes me. Who knows, perhaps after a week or so, I come changin' my mind and the next thing you know, I am begging the HRM to GIVE IT TO ME.

More... more!

New Hobby

Thanks to the new weighing scale that Pa got for us, Hubby and I now has a new hobby. Or rather, I have it and he gets onto it enthusiastically.

The digital weighing scale measures up to 0.1 accuracy unlike our old one. This means no more squinting at the scale, trying to decipher whether it hits closer to 0.5 or 1. Just stand on the machine, wait a while, look down and tada, agony or ecstasy is all yours.

However because it's now so accurate, I have been weighing myself obsessively. Like every day. For someone who used to avoid the weighing machine like the plague in the past, this is a remarkable turnabout indeed.

It also leads to all kinds of tomfoolery or trying to pull a fast one on the weighing machine. Right now our favorite current trick to shed off all clothes before standing on the machine. I have learnt that my nightgown and underwear is already 300 grams. A full set of clothes which includes undergarments and pants, clocks in 500 grams easily.

How's that for instant weight loss?

Anyway sigh, I want to kick myself sometimes. Sigh I clocked in at a decent 86 kg and duh, I was not compliant on a couple of the weekdays. Pizza with my first boss on Tuesday, Royce chocolate (damn you Hubby) and too much rice on Friday. Bleah. *glums*

I was going up to 89 kg, close to 90... OMG how can I gain almost 4 kg in one shot?! Now I am about 87 kg. Doubt that I can fall to 86 tomorrow. Aaaah.

New Weighing Machine

My dad has been pretty encouraging about my health journey so far. So when I commented that the current mechanical weighing machine was difficult for me to read, the sweetheart immediately got me a digital weighing machine. With a large clear display so I can never kid myself about my weight again. ;)

He said that because it was the last piece left in the shop, there was no packaging for it. It was only when sis saw it and she said, "It looks kinda familiar... wasnt this from your office pantry?"

HAHAHA.

86 kg oh wow!

For some reason, I dropped to 86 kg today. Oh wow! :D

I feel inspired now. That Jack blogger said it right! Trust and the long haul.

Inspiration

An inspiration! A comment from the blogger Jack Sh*t Gettin' Fit when another blogger has been discouraged with her non-weight loss recently.

"Weigh-ins can be mysterious things. They can leave you with drops you don’t feel as though you’ve deserved and gains you definitely didn’t earn.

I think it comes down to a basic matter of trust. Trust that what you’re doing is right and that if you continue applying the same dedication to eating right and exercising, that it will all work out in the long haul. After all, the long haul is what we’re really concerned about after all, isn’t it?"

87.5 kg and still going strong!

Oops it has been ages since I have last written due to a combination of cooking for 3 (myself, sis and Hubby), workload and sheer laziness. Must update more often.

Anyway currently my weight is 87.5 kg, whoo hoo! That means I have lost 4 kg thus far. Although it's not as fast as I would like, it's ok. :)

Due to a combination of Chinese New Year, a weekend cruise and our Bintan holiday, I'm sort of behind by 4 kg assuming that I lose 1 kg a week. :X

But as one of my favourite weight loss bloggers say, weight loss is a mysterious thing. Sometimes we work so hard and yet the gain doesn't feel justified. Sometimes the loss feels undeserved. However just trust that you are doing things right... anyway you are in for the long haul right?

Too damn right!

I like the way how I look now in photos. Kept taking photos after I went past the 90 kg mark.

Given that brother-in-law's wedding is on May 14, I want to be at 80 kg (or lower!) by then! In order to shake things up and not feel bored/stifled by this diet, I have:

1. Switched to the SWAMI Gatherer diet. It's supposed to be better for me and with more food choices given back to me, I wouldn't be so bored or limited by what I have in the blood type diet. At the same time, this customized diet recommends exercise at least 6 times a week (whoa!) and go for sauna at least twice a week which leads me to....

2. Deciding to enroll in a town gym - True Fitness. The main draw for me is the sauna. But the other benefits include working out at lunchtime or even in the morning when I have arrived early. With more variety of machines, various classes available to me, I'll be entertained and challenged a lot longer. That said, I'm already varying my workouts quite a bit. Sometimes it's gym, sometimes DDR (I love Paranoia!) and sometimes swimming does it for me. I love them all and I keep rotating them around to keep myself interested.

The most interesting thing so far in this journey, besides the rapid weight loss, is realising that I do LOVE to workout. I love to sweat, the sensation of pushing myself further to complete the routines and loving the energy and liveliness I feel after a good workout. I've bought a number of G Shock watches to emphasize my interest to be sporty and maintain a healthy lifestyle. The next thing I am looking to buy is a heart rate monitor.

The fact that the gym package will come with a $50 voucher for heart rate monitor doesn't hurt either. ;)

Food and Scarcity

*** This was in my drafts folder since Feb... gosh time has flew! ***

Today has been a great day. Woke up early and cook my beef stew before running over to J & G's house to help them pack. And squeezed in a morning workout as well. I tried walking at 6 km/h and realized that if I want to do the JP Morgan run walk, I will be walking at this speed for 1 hour since I could cover 2 km within 20 minutes.

It was a fun and yet tiring day. I could feel myself nodding off in the afternoon since I woke up 5.30 am today!

I haven't been very compliant today either. And that's on top of attending yesterday's cooking class where we ate yummy stuff including scrambled eggs with lavender (there was heavy cream inside), chicken, mushroom and sun dried tomato tarts (so so yummy!) and semolina cake *drools*.

It's ok. This is for the long haul and while I may have put on a kg, I am sure it will come off later on eventually.

91.5 kg - hooray hooray!

The skies have cleared, the sun is shining and I am the king of the world! 91.5 kg whoo hoo!

Maybe it's because I went back to exercising after my shoulder healed up. Maybe it's because I avoided the avoids for the past few days like a good girl. Though I ate some yesterday during my colleague's farewell party. Hmm.

Hubby is so amused that I'm jumping for joy. But wow I have never track my weight and know that I have shed 8 kg! Hooray hooray!

Well I'm going off for my gym workout now. Then it's cooking fish and beef for lunch and an afternoon class of cooking! After that, hubby and I will be hunting for my red sneakers, hehe. Wonder whether I can sneak them in to work on Monday.

The day never started off better. :)

Gained a kg, ah god no!

So yesterday my hubby asking me to step on the weighing scales. And for once, I felt confident since I have been losing weight all the way. C'mon, I dropped from 98.5 to 92!!

So it was to my horror that I weighed a kg heavier - 93. Big bad stinking 93. Nononono!

At first I felt neutral about it. As in I feel ok. But the more I think about it, the worse I feel. So this goes to show that too much thinking leads to nowhere good.

Joking aside, I did keep brooding about it. Why why why did I ate those chips?! And the luncheon meat? And the... *the list goes on*

To be honest, I really didn't eat a lot of avoids. Well it's not a lot as compared to how I would eat before the O BTD. Still, I guess control is a new thing to me and like any other new gizmo, I have to learn to wield it with grace.

I wonder what actually happen? Given that my weight is pretty constant, something is up when I weighed a kg heavier. Or lighter.

It could have due to my strained shoulder and me not exercising for the past 5 days. It definitely was because of the avoids.

I texted my sis and hubby and whined to them. They were very nice and said that I made such good progress in such a short time, so don't be disheartened and carry on the good work. Sis urged me to be kind to myself. Hubby said that weight can fluctuate up and down (I didn't think so for mine... it's like sticky glue, needs a good shaking) and we just need to be consistent in our efforts.

I realized when I am disheartened about the weight gain, I turned self destructive. What a harsh word to use! I know but it's true. After learning of it yesterday evening, I went to eat more chips. Today I ate my breakfast of chicken and veggies AND then lunchtime (ok, it was kinda late, 2 pm actually), I went to the food court and ate chicken rice! With an egg and chicken liver.

To compound that, I went to Chick King and ate one fried chicken. I wanted to order more but quickly walked away from the place, grief sodden I was. Ok ok I know, I'm dramatic.

Thanks to a busy busy afternoon, I soon got distracted by work. By evening, I feel better and reading an article from Tiny Buddha comforts me. I feel more resolute now to lose that weight.

Because of the weekly (or even more) weigh-ins, I have been focused, perhaps too focused on the numbers. I hinged my happiness on it (hey alliteration!).

But I forgot that the exercising, the healthy eating is about a far grander thing than how heavy I weigh. It was about my health, my skin, my stress, my blood pressure and of course, my adrenal score. I forgot how good and tiny I feel in my clothes. How pleasant it is to waif into the office in slightly too baggy clothes.

How much energy I have. How tranquil I feel. How work seems manageable now and even if there are stressful stuff to deal with, it's not that bad viewed from the gym.

How my skin glow (like Rudolph's nose) after a good workout. How gooooood I felt. The satisfaction, the achievement. My pride in myself.

I've forgotten all of these awesome things. And to be honest, no matter how much I weigh (within reason of course), I never want to forget these ever again.

Healing

I'm so glad that my left shoulder is a lot better today to the point that it's 90% normal. Hopefully I'll be able to exercise tomorrow, whoopee!

Pitfalls

So after eating virtuously for 6 weeks, I can feel my resolve cracking... because Chinese New Year is round the corner!

Pineapple tarts! Kueh Bangkit! Love letters! Bak Kwa! Omg omg... and unfortunately they are all avoids on my list. *falls flat on face*

Even seafood who usually like me, deserted me this time because I cannot eat abalone. Nooooooo! Now you see why Chinese New Year is fraught with perils and pitfalls for me?

This week I haven't been as compliant. Today it was eating some luncheon meat. And some potato chips at night. Oops. Why did I buy 24 packs of chips if I shouldn't be eating any of them, chili or bbq?! Am I setting myself up for defeat here?

But I don't regret chomping down on the chips. Or the luncheon meat. Or the luscious buttery pineapple tarts that my colleague baked. Or hmm... I think there's a lot of things I don't regret.

One side of me secretly thinks that I should be ashamed, I should count calories (or beneficials in this case) or something. I SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN MORE CONTROL.

The other side thinks, ah you have been such a good girl for a while, just live it up a little. Life's no fun if you just stick to the (O Blood Type) diet book. Which explains why I felt satisfied, not guilty when I finally put away the chips.

I'm sipping green tea now. And recalling that I had blueberries and cherries for fruits. And I ate a salad for lunch today! And a couple of hard boiled eggs for breakfast.

Please kick me if I ever become one of those "counting calories consumed and burnt" kind of girl. Please.

Listening to my body

I have been suffering from a strained left shoulder all week after my hip hop class. While it has been inconvenient at times and downright painful at others, I did learnt something from this experience. Well... part from that wearing clothes has now become the new modern torture!

Firstly, it is to listen to my body. When I first feel the strain, I ignored it and went along my daily affairs. That is to say, I did stuff that strained it further. From exercising even though it was painfully jolting my shoulder to propping on my shoulders while reading on the bed, boy, my poor body had to take all kinds of abuse from me.

Secondly it is to let others help me when I really needed it and trusting them to do it well. Wearing clothes, asking for a massage... I used to be silent and try to do it myself. However now asking for helping is essential to help me plod along in my daily life.

My naturopath got all annoyed when I bugged him repeatedly about the kind of exercising I can do. Running? No. Gym? No. How about cycling? No, no no! I don't understand why do people want to exercise when they are injured?!

I even thought I'll just go walking but after walking around in the supermarket, I began to understand why he said NO EXERCISING. The strain of carrying my left arm was too much for my poor shoulder and I spent half the time cradling my left arm to my chest. Sigh.

One good thing came out of this. Today I fried some fish for my dinner today. However after tasting it and being revolted by the soft mushy taste, I decided to throw it away and cook some beef instead. My body was so happy when it tasted the beef! I felt so energised that in the end, I have to eat everything up even though I originally wanted to leave some for tomorrow's breakfast. That's almost 300 grams of beef down my pie hole with lots of greens and some rice. Yum!!

So you see, I am now learning my lesson and pay attention to how my body feel. Also I am happy to report that I now weigh 92 kg!! I have lost 6.5 kg so far! Yay!!! To add on to that, I felt that I needed to sleep more last night so I slept for 12 hours last night. While it hasn't been a smooth night sleep with a lot of tossing and turning, I'm happy to report that my shoulder clicked back into place and half the pain is gone! I can even do arms akimbo now, hahah.

This point is written in honour of my body. Did you do anything today (or not do!) to honour your body too?

Why I do this

Given that Os enjoy vigorous exercise which is essential for managing their emotional health as well, I am proud to say that I have been exercising regularly the past 3 weeks.

So if you read my first post, I weigh in at 98.5 kg. Well given that now I am relatively unknown, I don't mind telling you that. Just do me a favor if you know me in real life and don't snigger behind my back.

With the last weigh in, I happily clocked in at 92.8 kg. Yay! Very good for someone who has only done the Candida diet for 3 weeks and the O BTD for 2.5 weeks now and have only exercised 3 weeks out of that. Although I wondered whether the impromptu prune juice I've downed before the last weigh in affected my weighing somewhat. ;)

No matter. It is good progress! For health, my 2011 resolution is to slim down to 65 kg by end of the year. I think if I aim for 90 kg and below by the end of this month, I would be on track, yes?

Tonight I went running with the C25K iPhone program. It's for beginners who want to gradually work up to running 5 km in the future. According to the writeup, if I follow the program faithfully, 3 times a week, I should be able to run 5 km by 2 months' time.

Well all I can say is er I don't really like running and aiming for 5 km is not really my goal. However! My goal is to have as much fun and variety as possible during my workouts and that means doing an occasional run around the stadium if I feel myself getting bored with gym workouts. Not that I am. But I do want to prevent that from happening. Already my routine is taking on a set pattern in the gym.

I have also took on a dance class and every Tuesday, you can watch me groove to the latest hip hop songs in class. Fun! Come to think of it, I really should practice some steps now.

But I digress too much. Coming back to the original topic, why am I bothering to eat healthily and work up a sweat to lose all that weight? It's because of the health scare I had in November.

Realising that my high blood pressure was here to stay, seeing that my skin could not cope with the facial eczema anymore scared the bejesus out of me. I've learnt that if I suppress the body's natural reaction to purse toxins through my skin i.e. eczema, one day it might lead to cancerous tumors... because that's the last resort the body will do to keep the toxins out of the organs. Oh my god.

So yes you can say that I am doing it because I want to save my own life. I know it sounds dramatic, but it feels true to me.

And that's why I do it.

"As You Like" Curry

I came up with this curry and love it for it's flexibility. Basically it goes well with anything. Want an egg? Toss it in. Need some greens? Have some broccoli!

In this version, I've added a lot of beneficial food for the O Blood Type - pumpkin, beef, adzuki beans. Even curry is a beneficial.

And because I got some beancurd and tomatoes at hand, I've tossed them in as well. The end result? A yummy delish thick curry full of savory surprises. And it's not something I've slaved over the stove but just bunk them all in the crockpot.

I let it stew overnight and wake up to mouthwatering aromatic Er, stew!




The first version of this curry cost me blood. I accidentally skinned my thumb while trying to peel the pumpkin. Ouch for tough thick skin. I've learnt to pick an easier slice to peel next time.

This batch makes 2 nice lunches and one breakfast for me. For some reason I'm not tired of the taste. Yum.

Why I started this blog

Hello and welcome to my blog. I started this blog because of my facial eczema. Many years ago, I was using steroid creams to curb my eczema. It was by no means bad and as I got older, the eczema subsided till the point that it was only occurring occasionally.

I wasn't bothered by my eczema since the steroid cream was doing its job and I could live a normal life. At the same time, my career took off and though I love my job, there were more and more things to do and I was under loads of stress.

In early 2010, I went back to my previous company with a great pay hike and heavy responsibilities. I felt that since I was asked to come back, I NEED to prove that I am worthy, thereby beginning a cycle of poor diet, poor sleeping habits and no exercise at all.

Things came to a head when my facial eczema suddenly became worse and even though the steroid cream helped, the flareup of rashes happened more and more often, as though as a retaliation against the cream.

The dermatologist told me that I have developed an allergic reaction to my cream (horrors of horrors!) and have to switch to a non steroid one. This began a miserable time for me as the new cream didn't help at all and actually made it worse. The rashes spread and I became moody, upset and developed a fear of mirrors. The rash was unbearably itchy and there were times that I have to scratch or at least run a hanky across my face.

It all came to a head when I woke up one night, and scratched really hard. In the morning I was unrecognizable as my face has swelled up and there were red scaly patches everywhere.

I didn't dare to come in to office but chose to work from home for the next few days.

When I finally went in to work, everyone was so shocked at my appearance. My eyes were so swollen to the point that I couldn't even wear contact lenses. Someone even asked me (fearfully!) whether it was catching. The straw that broke this camel's back was when my buddy shouted at me in shock at my face. I broke down in tears in the toilet then went home.

Against the doctor's advice, I reapply the steroid cream and the rashes got better... and then it got worse. I woke up 2 nights later to a swelling face to the point that my lips were stretched tightly across my chin. I have to rush to A&E then.

The doctors gave me prednisolone to bring down the inflammation and oral steroids to suppress the eczema. When I thought it was the end of my nightmare when my face starts healing, another sudden episode of swelling took place 3 nights later and I have to go to A&E again.

In total, I was on sick leave for 5 days, a miserable and depressed girl. And this is where things took a turn for the better.

Because of the itch, I couldn't sleep very well at night. One night, I got up and posted on Facebook... a plea you could say. I posted briefly about my rashes and how upset I am.

And angels answered! These are 2 very good friends of mine, who saw my message and called me up the next day. J & G spoke to me lovingly and told me to see their naturopath. Fearful that another course of medicines only complicate things, I only reverse my decision not to go when I heard about J's amazing story of how she was cured of depression, which she had suffered for 4 months.

It was my first time to the naturopath and he was very encouraging. He said that even though he couldn't treat me as much as he wants, he will first focus on my nutrition. Eczema, he explained, is a sign that the body cannot purge the toxins and have to expel it through the largest organ in the body - the skin. In this case, my face.

I was skeptical but I agree to try. After all, what do I have to lose? It was either using the steroid cream with increasing aggressive side effects or try something that will really help my body to hear.

I've always thought that eczema was just a rash but never knew that it was a symptom of digestive problems. The naturopath then told me to go on my blood type diet - in this case, the O Blood Type Diet. And come back to him a week after I have come off the steroids.

It was initially challenging to follow it and I broke after 4 days. I began to resume my poor eating habits and since my face was clearing up (from the residue of the steroids), why should I let a stupid diet deter me from what I like to eat?

3 weeks later, my rashes came back and I was desperate. I went back to him and the proper cleansing began. I was tested for allergies and was put on the Candida diet for 3 weeks where I cannot have any diary, sugar, fruits, wheat or soy. I could eat natural food and season with salt when I cook. In just that 4 days into the diet, I've lost 2.5 kg. The diet will help cleanse me of the allergens that were in my body.

Since the rashes were here to stay, I had motivation to stick to the diet this time. Even though Christmas was coming up, I was faithful to the diet. In the beginning, I had cravings for my usual snacks - chips, chocolate but they faded away after a couple of days.

On 27 Dec 2010, I went back to him for a follow up and was declared allergy free. However my rashes were coming back and on that day, there were large patches of rashes on both cheeks. Sigh. I was losing hope at that point.

Some tests revealed that my adrenal score was very low and the naturopath said that for some reason, I still couldn't absorb my nutrients very well. He doubled my multi vitamins and gave me a new adrenal supplement. He also gave me extra virgin coconut oil to apply for my dry dry skin. I have to go back to the O Blood Type Diet and follow what the sheet says including "O Blood Types enjoy vigorous exercise".

He told me that my rashes will start clearing up at this point. "The healing will be a spiral - it will get better then get worse but will eventually clear up." I took heart at his words.

And true enough, my eczema started clearing up! I was so relieved. While there is still a little eczema left, I have faith that it will clear up soon.

I have also been losing weight thanks to the diet and the exercise. When I started seeing him, I was at my heaviest ever, at 98.5 kg. Now I am 92.8 kg - a 6 kg loss in 6 weeks! I am heartened.

My darling hubby, seeing how miserable I was before, supported me by following the same two diets as me. We both lose weight, work out together and felt a lot better for it. Instead of being sluggish and lethargic, we have boundless energy now. With each kg lost, we became more motivated to work out more often.

I learnt to cook with the beneficial food in new ways and fell in love with cooking as a result. Without the O BTD (Blood Type Diet), I would have never discovered the delights of adzuki beans and quinoa. I really love cooking now and look forward to planning and cooking for my breakfast and lunch.

If you have come here by sheer coincidence, I hope you will cheer for me as I work on losing the other 29 kg. I want to weigh at 65 kg or lesser by the end of 2011.

If you came here because you have heard of my blog, welcome! Please leave a comment so I wouldn't feel silly talking to myself. Or pretend that I have an imaginary audience out there. I hope you will be inspired, encouraged, heartened and sometimes amused by my journey of wellness.