After almost 100 days, I have lost between 12-15kg. The difference is usually seen when I go and weigh myself at the gym before and after workout sessions. I guess I'll take the 15kg number because it is bigger and also last week's figure.
STRATEGY
I started on this journey to win the Kilos for Cash programme at Media Prima Berhad - the company where I work. It all started with research as I believe in the GI Joe motto - 'knowing is half the battle'.
Lots of people gave advice - some legit, some stupid. Even cab drivers were giving me advice. I can tell you that I steered clear from fad diets and stayed true to a conventional high-fibre, low-carb diet which worked for me a few years ago. Different diets work differently for different people, and having found something that works for me, I'm not about to switch.
Some diets also have the potential of making you sick. The Dukan Diet, for example, is a high-protein diet that - if done improperly - can allegedly cause liver or kidney failure by the build-up of ketones in the body.
The popular Atkins diet, to me, is not sustainable. Missing out on carbs altogether can have averse effects on your body and mental health.
I believe that any diet system must be sustainable. Ask yourself - can I stay on this diet for the rest of my life? Can I eat oats forever?
The statistics are grim. Only 2% of fat people who lost weight will maintain their weight-loss, as the rest will go back to their stupid high-cholesterol eating habits, porking on bullshit until they get fat again.
This is why it is imperative to find a diet that works for you, and it has to work for you, forever. Once you start, you can NEVER, EVER, go back to stuffing your face with rice, bread, cakes, sweets and whatever else. Yo-yo-ing can kill you.
MEALS
I start with a high-fibre breakfast, usually rolled oats in soy milk. I discovered that rolled oats are better than normal oats, though the more expensive steel-milled oats are the best. Rolled oats require soaking overnight, to get it into a pre-digested state. Its taste depends on what you eat it with. I find soy milk, fruits and almonds to be quite good, as long as the fruit is not durian.
Lunch is a normal affair, with half-portions of rice and double vegetables, with a meat side dish. Sometimes, I take Subway sandwiches. The effective Subway sandwich is one with lots of lettuce and no dressing. I'd prefer the balsamic vinegar, but most or all of Subway chains do not have any vinegar, so I go without.
Dinner is very important and I have settled on oatmeal with the traditional 'sambal hitam' - one of my mother's specialty. Sambal hitam is a Pahang dish that can be stored for three months without spoiling. It is made from anchovies, pickled starfruit and a bunch of spices. I got my mother to do a low-oil, low-cholesterol version on the second day of Raya and the supply is now safely in my freezer back in KL. The wonderful salty, spicy and sour taste though, ensures that I will probably run out of the thing very soon.
The idea is to eat oatmeal with any dish I want, treating it as a replacement for rice. I do have brown rice and brown rice vermicelli, but only on weekends, for a treat, because they don't work as well as oats. I have eaten oats with powdered milk and sugar; oats with chili chicken, chili beef, curried beef, beef with salt and tumeric; oats with stir-fried vegetables; oats with rendang; oats with anchovies and many, many Malaysian delicacies.
I drink between 5-6 litres of water every day, and I sweat it out at the gym four times a week. That's FOUR times, a week, motherfucker!
EXERCISE
My exercise regiment is simple. 60 minutes cardio workout on a low-impact machine and then, currently, 70 crunches followed by 70 reps at any other machine I feel like doing. If I have done my legs on Monday, I will do my chest and shoulders on Tuesday, allowing my legs to recover.
Cardio is the most important part of weight-loss. Modern machines allow you to monitor heart rate, which is a great help. I'm 32 years old, which means my effective aerobic heart rate is between 150-165 beats per minute. The first 10-20 minutes is simply to get the heart to this level. Then I burn for 40 minutes and cool down.
At first, I only managed 23 minutes on the damn thing. Now, I do 60 minutes non-stop. The key is breathing. I am conscious of my breathing at all times, and I practice a modified diaphragmic or diaphragmatic breathing for physical action. That's when you use deep-breathing with your belly or abdomen.
I got this from Wikipedia:
This deep breathing is marked by expansion of the abdomen rather than the chest when breathing. It is considered by some to be a healthier and fuller way to ingest oxygen[1], and is sometimes used as a therapy for hyperventilation, anxiety disorders and stuttering.I discovered this old technique years ago, when I was depressed and had insomnia for three years. It also works for exercising as it impedes the build-up of lactic acid - the reason we are tired.
Having a breathing technique also forces a rhythm to your actions, and all exercise is, is just repetitive, sustained, rhythmic simple actions done over a period of time.
MENTAL MILITIA
The hardest part of any weight-loss regime is the mental aspect of it. If you're a spoiled whiner, or a cheater, then fuck you.
Using my Buddha powers, I have constructed a one-with-everything acceptance philosophy which I pepper with Anime-inspired determination, resulting in a 'flowing iron will'.
If you fight anything, it becomes stronger, so the best approach is to become space. Nobody and nothing can fight space. If you become space, there is nothing you cannot do, because you don't even exist and nothing really matters. You just don't give a fuck!
People are poison. Fuck them. Literally and figuratively. Idiots exist to waste your time and you are an even bigger idiot if you entertain them or validate their existence.
So, that's it for now. 15kg is roughly 37.5% of my targeted weight loss. I don't even give a shit about the Kilos for Cash anymore. This obsession goes beyond winning an iPad. I'm going all the way
The good news is, I aim to achieve a 40kg weight loss over a period of 2 years and it has only been 3 months. I have 21 months to go, in order to become an underwear model.
I am contemplating learning how to swim or improve my coordination through ballroom dancing. Most probably, I'll just stick to the gym, but you never know. Cause I don't give a fuck!
