Of Tiny Needle and even Tinier Vein

Went for a health screening today.  Yes, it's high time since I can't remember the last time I had one.  Well, it's either due to a poor memory or simply too long ago for it to stick in this old head.  As always the nurse had a hard time trying to look for my vein to take the blood sample. While other people may have 'rivers' of a vein on their arms, mine are more akin to those streams or rather the little brooks ... too tiny even for the tiniest needle! So after some jabbing on the poor vein on my arm without much luck, I had to suffer some more jabs on the top of my hand where the vein is a lot bigger and thankfully after that, the precious drops just trickled easily into the test tube.  "This is how I usually get blood sample from babies", the nurse had to rub it in.  Ah well ... as long as it gets done, any way is fine with me.  Praying that the result will be fine too.

The first jab which was unsuccessful

Finally, some blood

Going Green for a Change

Thought for today I'd skip the gym and head for the jungle since it was such a nice evening.  For a 50 sen entrance fee, I could go round and round the jogging track at the Stutong Forest Reserve ... guess until I drop.  Anyway, it turned out to be quite a nice change of environment except for the still wet but thankfully not slippery jogging path.

It was also a great place to observe people's butts especially the ones I kept overtaking despite the fact I was only on the brisk walk mode.  I really need to lose some of those horrid looking cellulite on my thighs and hopefully, lots of walking will do the trick.  I remember reading somewhere that even slim people get cellulite (not that I'm slim but still my ample thighs would be much better without those orange peel look ... )

Earlier I was among the crowds in the school hall trying hard to squeeze out some reluctant sweat while at the same time careful not to trip over myself as I have two left feet ... even for aerobics!  Perhaps it was because I was too COOL!  No wait ... make that cool HOT lady!!!  Too COOL to sweat OR was it too HOT to sweat???  To cut the story short ... the workout was not enough to make me sweat ...yes, not a tiny bit  BUT I was very HOT alright ... literally!!  Blame it on the weather!!!

And so, I was off to the woods and enjoying every moment of it.  Oh and by the way, thank you Ms Elizabeth for the great company and the pic above.

A Diet Gone Wild

It all started with 2 innocent pieces of home made chocolates (courtesy of a well-meaning colleague), washed down with a big mug of 2 in 1 coffee.  That was soon followed by a piece of banana (courtesy of a close friend) and 4 pieces of crackers well-spread with a thick layer of peanut butter and blueberry.  I thought I was in sweet heaven!  Thank goodness I was on an 'Off Food' mode for the next few hours after that (all because I was too busy to sit down) but a call made to home had sealed a lunch date for me.  How could I say NO when someone actually took the day off for Valentine even though it wasn't really meant for me but more for his own sake.  How else can you explain the excuse "I don't feel like working today"???

Lunch was late at almost 2pm which saw me stuffing myself with 'nasi beriyani ayam goreng'.  I ate the whole deep fried drumstick even though I have sworn off chicken ... but then, I have always been swearing off chicken, so, it was no big deal.  I guess the day will finally come when I'm off chicken for good but NOT today!  The heavy lunch definitely didn't do justice to my eyelids, which grew ever so heavy all the way home.  So, it was off to dreamland before long.  Now, where did I read that Thou Shall Not Sleep On A Full Stomach???  It was like a good 2 hours later that I finally managed to rouse myself from the extraordinary nap.

It was sheer guilt that had me struggling into my sports wear and making my way to the gym.  I could swear the 45 minute rigorous workout that Zaidi put me through only had me shedding a miserable amount of the calories that I've put on earlier.  I promised myself there and then, THERE'D BE NO DINNER for me.

Fat chance!  So, okay BUT ONLY FOR TODAY, I'll screw the diet story.  Talking about running loose on the diet...  The evening ended up with me gorging on Cheese Baked fish with mashed potatoes (which I had added butter, milk and some more cheese!)  Oh I did make a big bowl of fresh salad too but I guess I spoiled it by adding that big tablespoon of mayonnaise ... should have been contented with just the lime and extra virgin oil!  And to top it off as if I had not done enough damage already, I had to have frozen yoghurt for dessert ... but oh,what bliss!

BUT ONLY FOR TODAY ... After all, it's Valentine and I DO love myself (and food) VERY MUCH.  So, what the heck ... Happy Valentine's Day To Me ... hmmmm ....

The two delicious culprits

When RM600 strutted to the gym

And so I told myself ... you need all the boost you can get if you intend to make this works.  That was when I decided a little make-over could do the trick.  However, just to get the guilt off my chest, I did make a quick arithmetic in my head even as I was making my way into the sports shop where I inevitably (aarrrgghh ... nothing comes cheap these days) ended up with an RM600 worth of sports attire.  My purse was definitely so much lighter after that but I chose not to dwell too long on the fact.  Can't be waiting until I'm too old to even lift a finger, to be spending on myself.  And that was how, the second trip to the gym, saw me strutting in, beaming silly for all I care, an unofficial ambassador for Nike gear!  Hehehehe ...

Unfortunately, I spent a longer period in the kitchen (preparing dinner of course) in my new gear than I was at the gym!  I finally got to meet Zaidi, the other instructor that my friend had told me about.  I was expecting someone big and all buffed, but in front of me, stood a rather small fellow albeit a very agile one.

All thanks to him and his good company, my one hour session was executed with as much effort and sweat as the slightly longer first session.  The side stepper (I still haven't got its actual name yet) which I'm beginning to like, has my lower body still sore until now.

I'm still working on my endurance; which may probably continue for the next 3 weeks or so ... Judging from how much I struggled to string a proper sentence in between each breath while on the stepper, the instructor had smugly 'proclaimed' I WAS ONLY 50%-60% FIT!!!  So I guess it will be a while before I can get myself reacquainted with those weights.  But, I'm in no hurry ... I just hope I could still crawl my way to that place a third time ... can't possibly be putting away those RM600 worth of attire just yet!

 

The new pair with the price tag still on!

The Quest Is On

Yes, it's OFFICIAL!  February 9, a date to remember. I'm BACK to the gym AGAIN!    Can't remember the last time I was in one but this time, it's going to be for GOOD!  SO HELP ME GOD!!!  And so I guess this is the reason why I've got to have this blog COS this time around I'm going to keep track of my progress and hopefully, this will spur me on - this MAD QUEST for the BEAUTIFULLY HEALTHY ME!!!  Oh Yeah!!!  This better be real!

My first session today was with the beautifully toned Ms Pepita.  Since it's my first day of exercise for the year (literally), I was put on a stepper for warming up that lasted about 15 minutes (which actually felt like forever!), a short stretch before I was put on the bike (15 minutes), treadmill (15 minutes) and finally (by now, my knees were all wobbly) on a different variation of a stepper  (I'll check out the name next session) for another 15 minutes .  After 90 reps of tummy crunches and a warming down session, my first day at the gym was OVER.  Nothing much to shout about but I was definitely proud of my LITTLE achievement considering the fact that I had signed up almost a month ago and I've been falling on all kinds of excuses from making the first move.  And now that I've actually made the move, as Mr. Terminator would have said it ... I'LL BE BACK!