TT # 5

Having successfully lost about 20lbs in the past year, I have gathered a few things I do to lose the unwanted weight. I still have another 6 to 10lbs to lose to reach my ideal weight but I am certain I could do it! Thirteen things I do to keep on my diet:

1) Walks - I go for a 30 minute brisk walk in the mornings to be followed by 5 to 10 minutes of floor exercise.

2) Meal replacement shakes- I could not do if I had to stick to a diet plan by only cooking healthy meals as I hardly have time to cook and since I work outside the home, it is not possible to have home cooked meals all the time. So, I rely on meal replacement shakes by Shapeworks (Herbalife) for breakfast and dinner. For lunch, I prepare simple sandwiches.

3) Water - I load up on plenty of liquids, mainly plain water, to keep hydrated and the hunger away.

4) healthy, protein rich or high fibre snacks - To satisfy my munching habits, I stick to healthy choices of carrots, celery, soya bean nuts (from Shapeworks), a handful of almonds or peanuts.

5) Fruits and vegetables - On days when I am home and sick of taking a shake for dinner, I will load up on fruits and vegetables for dinner instead.

6) Chocolates - unbelievable as it may seem, I do indulge in some chocolates once every few days but in moderation. It is so that I do not build up a strong craving for the sinful heavenly dessert and go on a binge.

7) Family support - no diet will be successful if your family members do not offer the appropriate support. It is thanks to my husband's support that I managed to lose all the weight.

8) Weight loss coach - family support aside, having an expert in weight loss on hand to give advise and the appropriate prodding on exercise and food intake does wonders to keep me on the beaten path.

9) Research - I did not follow any of the popular fad diets so I did a lot of research on all the diets, healthy foods, exercises and such so that I could formulate a diet and exercise regime that suits my lifestyle.

10) Blogging - instead of turning to food whenever I am down or stressed, I blog and pour out my feelings and frustrations.

11) My toddler - Little Ray is now almost two and caring for him after work could be counted as part of my exercise regime! I never knew little toddlers could run so fast!

12) Entertainment - I keep myself occupied, when Little Ray has gone to sleep, by reading and watching movies on the TV so that I do not think about food. The hardest is of course, keeping away from the snacks when watching movies.

13) Work - My workday could sometimes be very hectic. At times, I hardly have time to breath much less stop for a lunch break so my work has somehow helped me stay off munching on junkfood all day! But I do not skip meals as it would slow down my metabolic rate so I would often munch on a wholemeal healthy sandwich for lunch.

There it is! It is not exactly a sure-fire way to lose all those unwanted weight fast but at least it worked for me!


Links to other Thursday Thirteens!




Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

The colour of envy

Is definitely...

1) Red - for leaving me angry with myself for letting this insidious monster break out and slink into my subconcious

2) Black - for putting me down in the dumps over my still unachieved goals and dreams

3) Green - for the insidious envy monster rearing its ugly head to breathe its tepid foul breath down my neck

4)Orange - for the interchangeable emotions between anger and envy and guilt and elation for the person who succeeded

5)Grey - for the resulting immense guilt

6)Blue - for the tiny hint of hope that comes...perhaps I too will someday be the object of other's monsters

7)White -for the peace that comes once the monster has been defeated

p/s: Please note that the writing of this post did not in any way harmed any humans, animals or babies in the process.

Thursday Thirteen

This week, I list 13 things that I wish do not exist, in no particular order :

1) Wars - frankly, more innocent women and children are killed in wars just because some politician wants more power/money/ fame.

2) Crooked power hungry politicians - Leaders are meant to look out for the welfare of the people under them, not to bully, cheat, kill and bluff their way into positions of power.

3) obsessive, controlling, annoying in-laws - okay, okay, we all know nobody really ever get along with their in-laws but why aren't there more wonderful, understanding, irritating-free in-laws in this world?

4) Famine - sometimes I feel darn guilty gulping down the last delicious morsel of a wonderful meal when somewhere, someone is dying of starvation.

5) Natural disasters - this includes earthquakes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, floods, tsunamis, etc.

6) Taxes - don't we all wish that we do not have to pay any form of taxes ever again because the government has finally came out with a formula to make its own money to sustain the whole country and its residents.

7) Fatal diseases - cancer, heart disease, AIDS, bird flu...and many more, it is sad that many more people are dying from all these diseases as compared to people who die in, say, a plane crash.

8) Bosses from hell - these entirely different group of humans are convinced they owned the souls of their employees to the point that their employees must be at their beck and call no matter what. (This is based on research, it has nothing whatsoever to do with my bosses. Really. Honest.)

9) Violence against women and children - rapes, incest, abuse and all manners of assault is happening on a daily basis on mothers, babies, little girls, teenagers, sisters and even grandmothers. The perpetrators should be tied to a post, stripped, douched in honey, covered in big giant fire ants before they are castrated (for rapists) and locked up forever in some god-forsaken place.

10) Men who thinks they are God's gift to humankind - like, hello???? They should be locked in with the perps above! Well, just saying.

11) Rude, incompetent drivers - whose f*&^ing idea is it to allow absolute nincompoops behind the wheels who do not know how to use the signal lights, do not know which lane to keep to and insist on driving at 10mph in the middle of the bloody road? I think my grandma walks faster than these drivers.

12) Viruses and bugs - no, not the ones that attack humans. The ones that incapacitated our beloved electronic companions which range from PDAs to notebooks to apples to personal computers.

13) Calories - how many times have dieters like me fall off the diet wagon thanks to the calories of our food intake? If only chocolates, cakes and ice creams do not have calories.....sigh


Links to other Thursday Thirteens!





Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Oh, my aching bones!

It is not often that I have to travel far in my line of work but due to a huge, horrid incident a few days ago, I had to travel to another state due to orders from higher up.
Driving long distance was never a favourite pastime of mine as I always get sleepy after a few hours on the expressway and we all know it is not very conducive to drive while sleeping.
I am glad that I managed to travel to and fro in the past two days safe and sound and in one piece. Other than looking wiser from its travels, my car is also in one piece, happily beaming at other cars in the carpark over his latest 'adventure' out-of-state, no doubt bragging about how he skilfully manoeuvred the hairpin turns despite having a woman driver. (Despite what everyone says that cars should be referred to as females, my car is definitely a 'he'!)
Yesterday, little Ray is also a tad clingy...as in, he clung to me for hours on end and do not want to let go. Perhaps he misses me and it was so sweet that I actually didn't mind carrying him around the house. But...my poor aching back from the hours of tender loving moments do not seem to like it one bit.
So, thanks to the marathon driving and carrying a toddler, my whole body is aching. Must be age catching up, I used to be able to do all sorts of physical activities without the slightest complain from any parts of my body. Hmm....fountain of youth, where are you?

Salute to fellow diligent bloggers

After only a mere few months of maintaining this blog (and two others elsewhere), I am already feeling the strain of ensuring I continue posting entries at least once a week. As is obvious, I have been slacking! So much so, there were hardly any entertaining or twisted ramblings to be found in the past two months or so.
Much as I want to blame Harry Potter for that, I feel that it would not be fair since it only took me a few days to finish delving into that thick fantasy world after its worldwide release last month.
Then there is the infection from that bug...seriously. I was truly, really, ill. Well, for the whole of two days. ;-)
So, it is with the utmost respect and much admiration that I extend my salute to all diligent bloggers who kept at it daily, weekly, frequently, all the time. I just do not know how you all do it! Some of you probably has less time than me but still managed to continue blogging at a regular pace, it is absolutely admirable!
What can I say? I am a total absolute slacker!
But that is because I have this annoying, irritating, insistent little voice in my head that hound me on end to work on my novel-in-progress and stop wasting time in cyberworld. Then there is that motherly voice insisting that I must spend more time with my son since I only get to spend evenings with him as I work full-time. Let's not forget the other wifely voice who stridently reminded me that I had neglected my darling husband so much so that he may soon forget what I looked like. Of course, let's not forget the teeny, wee, little voice of conscience tsk-tsking at my stealing working time to blog, lurk at other blogs and surreptitiously work on my novel-in-progress.
Then there is the very real voice of my human bosses demanding for more news articles and pronto! That's the problem with news reporting. The deadlines are horrific as it starts anew everyday and with the paper printing earlier these days, the deadlines are even earlier. So much so, I find myself munching sandwiches over my workstation for lunch instead of going out for a one-hour break from all the madness of frantic news deadlines.
So, honestly, how do other mothers who worked full-time outside the home ever do it all; keep an updated blog, keep the house sparkling clean, visit other blogs and comment appropriately and yet still have energy and time left to spend time with family and indulge in her own hobbies or interests (from gardening to writing to studying for the third Masters degree).
I am already scrambling for more time to squeeze in my novel-writing when every night after tucking my son into bed, all I want to do is collapse onto the bed and sleep.
Sigh. Can anyone find me the time-travel watch Hermione (in Harry Potter) was using to attend all the classes she took at Hogwarts?

I've been bitten!

After being holed up for days with the thick HP7 tome and getting to the happily ever after, I emerged into the world blurry eyed and found that I have been bitten by the lethargic bug!
It is highly dangerous as it rendered me practically boneless, aimless, lazy and totally unproductive! Thus, the lack of attention to posts in this blog...err...more like lack of posts in this blog in recent times.
This lethargic bug is in fact almost invisible to the human eye and almost often struck when you least expect it.
Its after-effects are disastrous. You will suddenly curl up in a ball with no desire to do anything but sleep and just lay there doing nothing. When hunger strikes, you only crave for the ultra sinful of chocolates and ice cream. You will wince at the thought of having to chew at all especially vegetables!
As for any other form of activities, it has all been reduced to nothing, nada, zilch. Going to work is highly impossible as you will be so boneless you could hardly get around.
And if you do manage to get to work, you will find your brain is no better than mulch and your productivity level is below that of a one-day-old newborn baby.
You will not be able to think rationally and all efforts to get you to work will result in you snapping at the offending specimen who dared to encroach into your personal space to make you work.
The only cure is to vegetate in front of the tv for hours on end until the infection clears up. So far, no modern medicine can negate the effects of this bug bite. There are no antibiotics, no anti-serum, no vaccine.
So, beware! It is unknown how the bug choses its victims but please, do not blame Harry Potter. After all he had to contend with Nargles and the likes of Voldemort.