On Sat evening, began the 'Real Work' to first workout and next try to build a deficit to cancel off the excesses of this month. I was actually on track to having an overall negative, almost brought it down to 0% when the severe over-calories from just Friday and Saturday bumped it up to near 80%!!! Urgh its like back to the grind again.
Did my 2 workouts on Sat and Sun late evenings, cos keep delaying until cannot delay anymore. The good things about having a workout doable at home are
1) Can do anytime, delay until cows come home also can still workout. Can wait until after dinner and rested.
2) The reduced shortened workout saves a lot of time and helps to minimize the effort of doing the workout. Just a 10-15mins workout has me sweating and feeling accomplished. The powers of doing complex-exercise instead of isolation.
Man, that pink Kettlebell is heavy. 8kg is quite heavy. I can do the one-arm lift but it's taxing on the left arm, cos its my weak arm. But I do the same reps 15 on both sides to have a balanced physique. Think I shall stick to 15 reps max and move to doing 2 sets of 10s and then on 15s.
This week I am not sure about Krav Maga course, mainly because of work. It's the exam this Thur and Fri. Now I am frantically checking the books and returning during the school hours. Then on Wed, have to stay on a bit to help with the printing and folding and bundling. So if I cant leave on time, its tough to try to arrive there on time and the added stress and frustrations from being late and stuff is not going to be helpful. Plus this Thur or Fri, I would have to do a super-later-than-usual OT to clear the marking of the scripts in a sitting.
Now I am thinking about what to eat for that extreme OT day, how to settle the lunch and dinner? And also on Sat, what to do to reward myself for a tough week. Mainly thinking about what to eat.
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Last night, I squeezed out enough calories to try the Somersby cider. Frankly if you ask me, I think the Brothers ciders are more tasty. I think I would try Somersby over ice like what the sign recommends.
Today is okay so far. Just have to keep up with sleeping more, eating well, trying to do another workout. All before the next weekend comes.
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My sister was saying "Any diet is a good diet as long as one can keep it up". She mentioned Atkins, which is the predecessor to CaveMan diet. But that taken to extreme, eating steaks, fatty meats are all no-no except for stuff like Boiled chicken breast, Lean grilled meat etc.
Well my reply to her is that it's not the dieting that's hard, provided its not the Anorexic diet. FYI, I am NOT heading there cos there's NO way I can even eat less than 1200 calories daily. I am just trying to keep to below 1740 calories daily. That's the requirement for my current weight.
What's difficult is the underlying lifestyle changes that actually encompass the diet, eg eating 3 meals, choosing lean and lower calories and hence blander stuff sometimes, soupy food. Instead of being able to everything to the heart's content, it becomes more like once a week indulgence. Eating fruits instead of unhealthy chips for snacks. Those kinda stuff.
Really nothing much else happening. Trying not to do any console gaming. Just play my few card-based games on I-phone. Waiting for stock market to move out of the horizontal movement. In the meantime, I gotta work.
I kinda found out that both my sisters now earn higher than me. Cos the income tax came and my other sister had to pay more income tax than I have to... Well the trade-off for my lowered pay is the proximity to workplace, lesser stress and predictable working hours. Hmm... luckily I still had stock and side-line to bump it up last year but this year, I stopped the side-line, purely stocks. So far is 1 month salary gains. Could have been more BUT...
... missed a Golden opportunity cos I listened to my dad and sold too early. One more of the lessons I need to add to " My book of Investment Experience". Nevermind, no use crying over spilt milk. As long as I still haven't lost my capital, can wait for more opportunities. As long as that Euro-zone crisis can finally stabilize but I feel things are not over for now, so that would mean more sitting at the sidelines, waiting and watching.
In the meantime, life goes on...
Monday, June 25, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
L'entrecote & Mexican salad Totasda is very sinful...
Yesterday We met up to eat at the other steak frites place, L'entrecote. Arrived there before the crowds came. Nice place except the tables were really close n gettin in and out of the inner seats requires one to be Candle's size or with the help of the waiters, they move the table so u can get up.
Sadly the steak frites wasnt as god as Les Bouchons, the one we went to for my birthday. The special sauce was okay and the steak portion not entirely large. We ate up all the fries to fill the stomach. Luckily the redeeming factor was we had enough stomach to eat the desserts which were very good. If I ever go back, mainly would be to try the entrees and the dessert.
We ended up in Pigeon Hole and I got to taste the Brother's Festival Cider 7% alcohol. It's the final in their normal range. Collected them all, yeah!
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On Sat, Candle n I agreed to meet up to try out the new Mexican fast-food place - BajaFresh. In the morning, I had eaten a meat dumpling as it's 端五节, aka dragon boat festival. Saved the calories cos I know Mexican food is not low calories. Little did I know....
.... that my innocent order of the Totasda salad set ended up being a mountain of veg n salsa and cheese and gucamole and sourcream and beans and I added grilled chicken. It came contained in this Totasda which is a giant wanton-like skin shaped like a bowl which housed the entire salad... It was bigger than my face. Luckily I was hungry and ate it. A 'Woman vs Food' moment. Slowly chewed and ate my way til the last bite. Woman won, food lost, calories utterly destroyed...
Walked around after and caught the movie -the Dictator, just turn off the brain and laugh at the stupid jokes. After we walked towards Orchard area, endedup in Jones again. I thought I would have to eat dinner with Quetzal n Candle, which was not to be cos they going for respective dinners each. I didn't get the memo, so I decided by then I could eat my dinner. Got the tapas of baguette with sausage n potato and onions sautéed pan fried n ice tiramisu coffee...
So calories no hope, nevermind, start deficiting on Sunday onwards. Near 6.40pm, we paid n set off. Them to dinner, me home to do my KettleBell. This week have done any workout yet, at first planned Saturday but had gone out. Now can salvage back plus I found the shockingly high calories of the BajaFresh menu. Save for it's tacos, everything else is super high calories. My Tostada salad is 1140 calories!!! That's like 2/3 of my calories. So today's final damage is very high.
Will have to plan for daily 13% deficit to balance off. What a pain... Bo bian, calories really so easy to consume, so hard to limit Nd even harder to use up more. I reached home and rested. Did my workout near 10pm. Just 1 set of 20s fir the conditioning and increased to 15 reps for 1 set of KettleBell exercise. Did the swing twice. Feels good. I am actually getting fitter and stronger cos the last time was 10 reps. Nice. Slapped on muscle-cream as precaution. Tom going to do one more workout to hit the twice a week quota.
We ended up in Pigeon Hole and I got to taste the Brother's Festival Cider 7% alcohol. It's the final in their normal range. Collected them all, yeah!
_________________
On Sat, Candle n I agreed to meet up to try out the new Mexican fast-food place - BajaFresh. In the morning, I had eaten a meat dumpling as it's 端五节, aka dragon boat festival. Saved the calories cos I know Mexican food is not low calories. Little did I know....
.... that my innocent order of the Totasda salad set ended up being a mountain of veg n salsa and cheese and gucamole and sourcream and beans and I added grilled chicken. It came contained in this Totasda which is a giant wanton-like skin shaped like a bowl which housed the entire salad... It was bigger than my face. Luckily I was hungry and ate it. A 'Woman vs Food' moment. Slowly chewed and ate my way til the last bite. Woman won, food lost, calories utterly destroyed...
Walked around after and caught the movie -the Dictator, just turn off the brain and laugh at the stupid jokes. After we walked towards Orchard area, endedup in Jones again. I thought I would have to eat dinner with Quetzal n Candle, which was not to be cos they going for respective dinners each. I didn't get the memo, so I decided by then I could eat my dinner. Got the tapas of baguette with sausage n potato and onions sautéed pan fried n ice tiramisu coffee...
So calories no hope, nevermind, start deficiting on Sunday onwards. Near 6.40pm, we paid n set off. Them to dinner, me home to do my KettleBell. This week have done any workout yet, at first planned Saturday but had gone out. Now can salvage back plus I found the shockingly high calories of the BajaFresh menu. Save for it's tacos, everything else is super high calories. My Tostada salad is 1140 calories!!! That's like 2/3 of my calories. So today's final damage is very high.
Will have to plan for daily 13% deficit to balance off. What a pain... Bo bian, calories really so easy to consume, so hard to limit Nd even harder to use up more. I reached home and rested. Did my workout near 10pm. Just 1 set of 20s fir the conditioning and increased to 15 reps for 1 set of KettleBell exercise. Did the swing twice. Feels good. I am actually getting fitter and stronger cos the last time was 10 reps. Nice. Slapped on muscle-cream as precaution. Tom going to do one more workout to hit the twice a week quota.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Skipped Krav Maga, New Ciders
After having to sit in for an extra language in place of Headless on Monday. Instead of sit and stone, had to help keep discipline, keep the students motivated so I ended abt 5.45pm. Later than usual. Didn't help it's my heavy day. Bleah, I walked over to Clementi mall intent on redeeming the BK Groupon partly for dinner. Instead I ordered their new Steak burger meal. Even though I ate 1/5 of the fries with Coke lite, the burger alone used up all my spare calorie limit. No deficit. But the gooey melted cheese with mayonnaise is something I hadn't much chance to eat. Only see alot on TV when they show the food in America. Especially the series "Man vs Food". Those food were always so tempting. If I ever go to America, surely will become heavier. Reached home and lights-out earlier.
Tue, another heavy day plus cca plus an event until 6.30pm. Utterly zombified by the end, so much so I decided to eat the Most Sinful Food in my area for dinner. It was between Astons and Nasi Brani. Chose the Nasi Brani instead, there's 2 versions - fried chicken or curry chicken (the fried has mug higher calories - I know cos I had eaten that before a few weeks back) so I chose the curry one. It came with a hard boiled egg, achar, gravy and a mountain of rice n the chicken. It's very very good Brani in my area, nearer to my workplace than my home. Cannot compare one. I skipped the yolk and ate the rest. Then took a bus home. Lights out very early.
Wed was better. Finally a moderate day but I had a deadline to observe 2 lessons by others. So I used up 2 free periods to do the observation. Spent the rest of my free time to mark and check books, mark test, files due to the coming exams. Had lunch shortened cos have to supervise and monitor as students do their cleaning duties. Man dead tired. Was rather glad I decided to call up for the Krav Maga yesterday because I felt I wasn't up for it. No point rushing it if I can't mentally focus and later hurt myself from the physical exertion. Met up with Tab for dinner at Big O. Had busted my calorie limit on the ham egg sandwich, with fries and Millionaire salad together. Later tea at Jones the Grocer.
Took a bus and listened to the radio. It's been a while cos usually I listen while doing the workout in the gym but now cos I do at home and they are much shorter durations (10mins) hardly listen much. To and from the workplace is not long enough to hear more new songs on radio. Fell asleep listening to the radio.
Thur - a mOderate day but I felt fatigue catching up. The morning coffee couldnt wake me entirely. At part of the lesson, I couldnt focus and lost a train of thought for a short while. Also by lunch, I made a second cup to wake up and failed. Towards the e d of the last lesson of the day I forgot to do something I planned... Man it's like almost sleeping with the eyes still wide open. The mind is slipping into a a daze. on my way home, I craved for rice. The. I realized why. The past few days of lunch and dinners are all bee hoon, soup, Indian Brani once, burger and sandwich, so so my lunch was ZCP and even dinner I ate ZCP before heading home. Lights out shortly, woke up near 10pm, ate some leftover egg omelette n stewed tomatoes my mom made and kept the rest. Drank lots of water n unsugared tea. Wide awake now, aim to sleep by 2am.
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On Monday after the dinner at BK, I headed into NTUC Finest just opposite it to look for unsugared tea, none! Saw the Somersby Apple Cider instead. It was surprisingly much cheaper than the Brothers Cider. And on offer, too. So I bought 3 pax with the intention of bringing over to Tab's place one of these days. A few for myself and maybe one or two for my sis who likes ciders. She had tried one which she loved but didn't ask what was the brand. It's 4.7% higher than the 4% in Brothers bu in 330ml bottles instead of 500ml in Brothers cider. I havent drank any yet. Waiting to have spare calories before that. I just searched and found out it's under Carlsburg, and they have 4 types but only saw apple so far.
Tue, another heavy day plus cca plus an event until 6.30pm. Utterly zombified by the end, so much so I decided to eat the Most Sinful Food in my area for dinner. It was between Astons and Nasi Brani. Chose the Nasi Brani instead, there's 2 versions - fried chicken or curry chicken (the fried has mug higher calories - I know cos I had eaten that before a few weeks back) so I chose the curry one. It came with a hard boiled egg, achar, gravy and a mountain of rice n the chicken. It's very very good Brani in my area, nearer to my workplace than my home. Cannot compare one. I skipped the yolk and ate the rest. Then took a bus home. Lights out very early.
Wed was better. Finally a moderate day but I had a deadline to observe 2 lessons by others. So I used up 2 free periods to do the observation. Spent the rest of my free time to mark and check books, mark test, files due to the coming exams. Had lunch shortened cos have to supervise and monitor as students do their cleaning duties. Man dead tired. Was rather glad I decided to call up for the Krav Maga yesterday because I felt I wasn't up for it. No point rushing it if I can't mentally focus and later hurt myself from the physical exertion. Met up with Tab for dinner at Big O. Had busted my calorie limit on the ham egg sandwich, with fries and Millionaire salad together. Later tea at Jones the Grocer.
Took a bus and listened to the radio. It's been a while cos usually I listen while doing the workout in the gym but now cos I do at home and they are much shorter durations (10mins) hardly listen much. To and from the workplace is not long enough to hear more new songs on radio. Fell asleep listening to the radio.
Thur - a mOderate day but I felt fatigue catching up. The morning coffee couldnt wake me entirely. At part of the lesson, I couldnt focus and lost a train of thought for a short while. Also by lunch, I made a second cup to wake up and failed. Towards the e d of the last lesson of the day I forgot to do something I planned... Man it's like almost sleeping with the eyes still wide open. The mind is slipping into a a daze. on my way home, I craved for rice. The. I realized why. The past few days of lunch and dinners are all bee hoon, soup, Indian Brani once, burger and sandwich, so so my lunch was ZCP and even dinner I ate ZCP before heading home. Lights out shortly, woke up near 10pm, ate some leftover egg omelette n stewed tomatoes my mom made and kept the rest. Drank lots of water n unsugared tea. Wide awake now, aim to sleep by 2am.
__________________
On Monday after the dinner at BK, I headed into NTUC Finest just opposite it to look for unsugared tea, none! Saw the Somersby Apple Cider instead. It was surprisingly much cheaper than the Brothers Cider. And on offer, too. So I bought 3 pax with the intention of bringing over to Tab's place one of these days. A few for myself and maybe one or two for my sis who likes ciders. She had tried one which she loved but didn't ask what was the brand. It's 4.7% higher than the 4% in Brothers bu in 330ml bottles instead of 500ml in Brothers cider. I havent drank any yet. Waiting to have spare calories before that. I just searched and found out it's under Carlsburg, and they have 4 types but only saw apple so far.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Trying to kick-start going for Krav Maga / Senor Tacos
For the past 2 weekends, I have been staying at home. Mainly sleeping, in the morning, after lunch, at noon. Its like the body is trying to recover from the low energy and fatigue from the last two weeks. Looking back, yar, a 6-day workweek and an event the following week. No wonder tired. Finally I am somewhat back to normal. Trying to keep up my daily work routine and also try to maintain an exercise routine, which is only once a week and just last week, finally moved to twice a week.
So far today is long and tiring, tom is going to be longer due to another event that involves me. Will be working OT. Then Wed I am deciding to go ahead for the Krav Maga course, just once so that dont stop for too long and lose momentum. Otherwise think if drag on, then surely wont take up. I think I shall just suck it up and call tomorrow then just go. I even bought an extra new ankle guard, so now I have a wristguard, a knee guard and 2 ankle guards. Yes, the age thingy is there. But to be safe than sorry. Also I do feel the weakness in the knee from the amount of stairs I climb daily. Sometimes the left wrist feels weaker. So all the guards do help.
During the conditioning workout, which only just involves a set or two of push-ups, leg lifts and dips. Then the KettleBell swing and one arm lift, only one set. I feel the wrist and knee support helping alot. They are worth the money. I did use the KettleBell 3 times so far, the initial few weeks was spent doing more of conditioning and using the resistance band I bought. Now I dont use the resistance band, just throw in one set of KettleBell. I dont feel strong enough to do 2 sets, though I did increase the no of reps in that one set I do. That's a sign of fitness I guess, though quite slowly.
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Last Friday, the week that was ultra-slow due to the event on Tuesday. We decided to go to Mortons. As I had to work the normal office hours, cant reach there that early. Reached around 6.30pm, in time for a lychee martini and a steak sandwich. It was enough. I didnt feel like stuffing my face with alcohol. Wanted proper dinner. Felt like having a good dinner and just rest and relax.
I suggested to Tab earlier about Senor Tacos, in Chijimes. I had come across it while doing the weekly newspaper cuttings. One of the few I can remember cos it was at a place we frequent. So we got a ride from Marina to Oden and walked slowly over (at the speed of Tab due to her sprained ankle)
The food smelt good and it was full when we arrived but we got a table and ordered. I had the pork tacos which comes in 4 small soft tacos. It was surprisingly filling but I had ordered Refried beans with pork plus medium soft tacos. Their nachos is very tasty, fragrant, unlike the outside ones. Tasted pretty good and memorable. Like the array of sauce provided, from power of the spiciness to the hottest one - the Habanero, which is about 100,000-350,000 Scoville heat units (the units used to measure the degree of spiciness) Jalapeno and Tabasco sauce only has 3,500-8000 Scoville heat units. Imagine that. Quite authentic tasting Mexican food, cos the chef are Mexicans, we think. Pricing is from $13++ onwards. A whole two pages of Tequila menu. Man, they really know their tequila. Didnt try any, cos I rather have food. Quite memorable, dont mind eating again.
So far today is long and tiring, tom is going to be longer due to another event that involves me. Will be working OT. Then Wed I am deciding to go ahead for the Krav Maga course, just once so that dont stop for too long and lose momentum. Otherwise think if drag on, then surely wont take up. I think I shall just suck it up and call tomorrow then just go. I even bought an extra new ankle guard, so now I have a wristguard, a knee guard and 2 ankle guards. Yes, the age thingy is there. But to be safe than sorry. Also I do feel the weakness in the knee from the amount of stairs I climb daily. Sometimes the left wrist feels weaker. So all the guards do help.
During the conditioning workout, which only just involves a set or two of push-ups, leg lifts and dips. Then the KettleBell swing and one arm lift, only one set. I feel the wrist and knee support helping alot. They are worth the money. I did use the KettleBell 3 times so far, the initial few weeks was spent doing more of conditioning and using the resistance band I bought. Now I dont use the resistance band, just throw in one set of KettleBell. I dont feel strong enough to do 2 sets, though I did increase the no of reps in that one set I do. That's a sign of fitness I guess, though quite slowly.
_______________________________
Last Friday, the week that was ultra-slow due to the event on Tuesday. We decided to go to Mortons. As I had to work the normal office hours, cant reach there that early. Reached around 6.30pm, in time for a lychee martini and a steak sandwich. It was enough. I didnt feel like stuffing my face with alcohol. Wanted proper dinner. Felt like having a good dinner and just rest and relax.
I suggested to Tab earlier about Senor Tacos, in Chijimes. I had come across it while doing the weekly newspaper cuttings. One of the few I can remember cos it was at a place we frequent. So we got a ride from Marina to Oden and walked slowly over (at the speed of Tab due to her sprained ankle)
The food smelt good and it was full when we arrived but we got a table and ordered. I had the pork tacos which comes in 4 small soft tacos. It was surprisingly filling but I had ordered Refried beans with pork plus medium soft tacos. Their nachos is very tasty, fragrant, unlike the outside ones. Tasted pretty good and memorable. Like the array of sauce provided, from power of the spiciness to the hottest one - the Habanero, which is about 100,000-350,000 Scoville heat units (the units used to measure the degree of spiciness) Jalapeno and Tabasco sauce only has 3,500-8000 Scoville heat units. Imagine that. Quite authentic tasting Mexican food, cos the chef are Mexicans, we think. Pricing is from $13++ onwards. A whole two pages of Tequila menu. Man, they really know their tequila. Didnt try any, cos I rather have food. Quite memorable, dont mind eating again.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Feeling kinda dull and tired
I'm not sure if this is entirely because of the event this tuesday or the longer 6 days workweek last week, I have been feeling very tired and no matter how much coffee, tea I drink, or how much more hours I sleep extra. Cant entirely shake this tired feeling. Consequently feeling dull and tired and uninspired and uninterested in stuff.
At times it is making me think of dropping all stuff and just sleep through or just be a bum... Kinda of a dangerous thought, cos not trying to compromise the income or what. Not sure if I want to go for interviews and stuff so soon.
But almost daily, after dinner, I fell fast asleep cos of the mental fatique. Woke up hours later to find the day mostly ended, then go back to sleep. Wake up not feeling entirely refreshed, or before the end of the work day, I am back to being tired and sleepy again. This cycle is kinda of not productive, because I cant seem to muster the energy required to do something else after work. Or just doing one thing tires me out a lot. Hope to recover from this after the final workday tomorrow. Hope the weekend resting around will help restore the equilibrium.
Am feeling the age somewhat... dunno is it cos I am still tuned to the 10 weeks schedule. This is about the 10th week since the start. There's still another 6 weeks more to go with exams coming up soon. Man, just thinking about it is scary and tiring. Just have to take it a day at a time, slowly the weeks will pass. But I do feel the internal stamina meter falling and falling.
Nothing much else. I drank up both smoothies bought from Macs. Their calories are not healthy but still within my daily calorie intake. Doing nothing much else save daily planning my meals so that I can keep to the daily calorie intake, monitoring stock prices which are still moving somewhat horizontally, playing 2 games on Iphone which is aiding me check less on Groupon and Deals. Anyway not much good food deals nowadays. Still have a couple of food groupon, 2 main ones and 2 small items.
I find myself yearning for a drink. Thankfully my calories are a bit too tight to drink, save for tomorrow. Not starting on the craft beers yet. Rather drink water, tea and go back to sleep mostly. Supposedly going to Mortons for martinis. I've planned my food for tomorrow to accommodate up to 2 martinis and 3 steak sandwiches as dinner. Not sure if after that, will I still be hungry? I wanted to have a lighter lunch but remembered my office staff colleagues asked me to eat bento lunch set with them. Apparently they had only 3 pple buying 4 bentos that was on offer. That meant, I can't eat stuff like soup. Though I will still head out to buy some drinks to stock up my personal larder of foodstuff.
Kinda wish tomorrow is not a workday but at least its a much lighter day... Just go through the motions and try to finish planning next week's lessons. I am still working on it slowly today. Trying to translate and explain grammar stuff in as simple in English as I can. Still giving me a headache, this aspect of work.
At times it is making me think of dropping all stuff and just sleep through or just be a bum... Kinda of a dangerous thought, cos not trying to compromise the income or what. Not sure if I want to go for interviews and stuff so soon.
But almost daily, after dinner, I fell fast asleep cos of the mental fatique. Woke up hours later to find the day mostly ended, then go back to sleep. Wake up not feeling entirely refreshed, or before the end of the work day, I am back to being tired and sleepy again. This cycle is kinda of not productive, because I cant seem to muster the energy required to do something else after work. Or just doing one thing tires me out a lot. Hope to recover from this after the final workday tomorrow. Hope the weekend resting around will help restore the equilibrium.
Am feeling the age somewhat... dunno is it cos I am still tuned to the 10 weeks schedule. This is about the 10th week since the start. There's still another 6 weeks more to go with exams coming up soon. Man, just thinking about it is scary and tiring. Just have to take it a day at a time, slowly the weeks will pass. But I do feel the internal stamina meter falling and falling.
Nothing much else. I drank up both smoothies bought from Macs. Their calories are not healthy but still within my daily calorie intake. Doing nothing much else save daily planning my meals so that I can keep to the daily calorie intake, monitoring stock prices which are still moving somewhat horizontally, playing 2 games on Iphone which is aiding me check less on Groupon and Deals. Anyway not much good food deals nowadays. Still have a couple of food groupon, 2 main ones and 2 small items.
I find myself yearning for a drink. Thankfully my calories are a bit too tight to drink, save for tomorrow. Not starting on the craft beers yet. Rather drink water, tea and go back to sleep mostly. Supposedly going to Mortons for martinis. I've planned my food for tomorrow to accommodate up to 2 martinis and 3 steak sandwiches as dinner. Not sure if after that, will I still be hungry? I wanted to have a lighter lunch but remembered my office staff colleagues asked me to eat bento lunch set with them. Apparently they had only 3 pple buying 4 bentos that was on offer. That meant, I can't eat stuff like soup. Though I will still head out to buy some drinks to stock up my personal larder of foodstuff.
Kinda wish tomorrow is not a workday but at least its a much lighter day... Just go through the motions and try to finish planning next week's lessons. I am still working on it slowly today. Trying to translate and explain grammar stuff in as simple in English as I can. Still giving me a headache, this aspect of work.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Krav Maga trial class & KettleBell workout
Last Wed, Tab and I headed for our trial Krav Maga course, if it was okay, will take it up. We were quite keen to learn a self-defense art before our bones creaked too much from age. So it's a do-it-while-I-still-can thingy.
The thing was I had a rather bad day before. The meeting stretched into an almost 3hrs affair, after several hours under the hot sun rehearsal. One can understand why I wanted to head off, but it dragged on until by the time I got out, it was 6.30pm. The class was at 7pm and I hadn't eaten. In my rush, I forgot a bag of clothings at the bus or bus stop and my blue exercise top and blue fila pants plus Guitar Mickey Uniqulo shirt were gone forever... I swallowed down a pack of noodles that was meant for breakfast and hurriedly took the Circle line.
By the time I was there, rather sian already. Man that 87 stairs up the building to the dogo was a challenge too. We were already contemplating whether it was worth it. Then we got there a bit late, they had started some warm-up already. We joined in. Some of the warm-up reminds me of the conditioning I do except for the one that combined push-up with side planking. Then there was the warm-up activity of tapping ur opponent's feet while moving around and avoiding being tapped by others. Cos that meant a push-up. Later it became a touch ur opponent's head n tap their feet and avoid or have to do push-up and sit-up. At this juncture, Tab landed one one feet wrongly and sprained her ankle. So she sat it out. I continued and paired up with the odd no of guys to do the lesson.
The whole lesson was about how to defend yourself while u are on your back on the floor and someone's coming towards you. In a series of progression, did the turning to face the opponent with legs, the high kicks, side kicks and how to get up quickly. It was tiring indeed because I've realized that a lot of the core muscles, stomach, back, thighs are utilized. Not easy and that's an understatement. I felt cos I've been doing some conditioning exercise, so that's why I could keep up. But after some rounds, I was almost out flat. Lying on the mat and really like 'you can come right over and kill me, I can't move'.
Then it came to an end. We talked a bit with the instructor and he did praise me a bit for carrying out the exercise well. It's rare for me to be praised this manner. I remembered the last time I tried Akido during Uni-days, I couldn't get certain stuff (like how to fall correctly), the Wu-shu, also though I could do the basic routine, I only just scraped through the first evaluation (like how my eyes n stance wasn't foccused) so I was surprised myself that so many years after, through the conditioning done in the gym, I can do I this time. Hence after the lesson, I don't mind giving it a go, on a per-lesson basis. So after this, I am going to get a bigger bag, another ankle guard just for Krav Maga. I hope to keep at it, and reach a decent level. I treat it like a full-body conditioning work-out. Though despite slapping on the muscle-cream that night, I suffered very sore muscles on Thur and Fri, which only cleared up by Sunday. It's that power.
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The Sunday and Monday, were kinda lazy, I slept so much to recover from the fatique of the workday on Sat. I decided to do some conditioning and KettleBell, otherwise I won't be able to upkeep the fitness level needed for Krav Maga. Didn't want to just do that solely and end up aching cos I've slacked off other workout. So I did a quick one, just one set of each. Dips, push-ups, leg lifts. Then did the KettleBell swing and one-arm lift. Was sweating like mad just after a set. But didn't want to push myself too much since it was only the 2nd time with KettleBell so I just did stretching after and slapped on muscle-cream. At least it didn't hurt for now, felt better after the quick workout too. But Tab's ankle still not up to it, so most likely I will do another KettleBell workout us revise and revisit the move. Treat as conditioning work-out.
I have been watching my diet very closely on weekdays though the weekend indulgence is still there. Despite the over calories on Sat, I have managed to down the total calories exceeded this month to just + 28.2% which I aim to cancel off in 1-2 days more of lower calories. I still eat 3 meals plus snacking but is just the food choices are better. I was hungry around 4pm, tempted to eat Magee with egg (abt 450 cals) but I sub it for an apple (90cals) which did the job just fine. I wasnt as hungry up til dinnertime. That's what I've been doing, snacking on fruits and choosing healthier lunch. There are times when I eat chicken rice or Nasi Brayani for lunch and still just balanced the calories against my daily calorie intake. But I need to monitor the fat intake too, cholesterol is a concern too. Hmm...
By the time I was there, rather sian already. Man that 87 stairs up the building to the dogo was a challenge too. We were already contemplating whether it was worth it. Then we got there a bit late, they had started some warm-up already. We joined in. Some of the warm-up reminds me of the conditioning I do except for the one that combined push-up with side planking. Then there was the warm-up activity of tapping ur opponent's feet while moving around and avoiding being tapped by others. Cos that meant a push-up. Later it became a touch ur opponent's head n tap their feet and avoid or have to do push-up and sit-up. At this juncture, Tab landed one one feet wrongly and sprained her ankle. So she sat it out. I continued and paired up with the odd no of guys to do the lesson.
The whole lesson was about how to defend yourself while u are on your back on the floor and someone's coming towards you. In a series of progression, did the turning to face the opponent with legs, the high kicks, side kicks and how to get up quickly. It was tiring indeed because I've realized that a lot of the core muscles, stomach, back, thighs are utilized. Not easy and that's an understatement. I felt cos I've been doing some conditioning exercise, so that's why I could keep up. But after some rounds, I was almost out flat. Lying on the mat and really like 'you can come right over and kill me, I can't move'.
Then it came to an end. We talked a bit with the instructor and he did praise me a bit for carrying out the exercise well. It's rare for me to be praised this manner. I remembered the last time I tried Akido during Uni-days, I couldn't get certain stuff (like how to fall correctly), the Wu-shu, also though I could do the basic routine, I only just scraped through the first evaluation (like how my eyes n stance wasn't foccused) so I was surprised myself that so many years after, through the conditioning done in the gym, I can do I this time. Hence after the lesson, I don't mind giving it a go, on a per-lesson basis. So after this, I am going to get a bigger bag, another ankle guard just for Krav Maga. I hope to keep at it, and reach a decent level. I treat it like a full-body conditioning work-out. Though despite slapping on the muscle-cream that night, I suffered very sore muscles on Thur and Fri, which only cleared up by Sunday. It's that power.
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The Sunday and Monday, were kinda lazy, I slept so much to recover from the fatique of the workday on Sat. I decided to do some conditioning and KettleBell, otherwise I won't be able to upkeep the fitness level needed for Krav Maga. Didn't want to just do that solely and end up aching cos I've slacked off other workout. So I did a quick one, just one set of each. Dips, push-ups, leg lifts. Then did the KettleBell swing and one-arm lift. Was sweating like mad just after a set. But didn't want to push myself too much since it was only the 2nd time with KettleBell so I just did stretching after and slapped on muscle-cream. At least it didn't hurt for now, felt better after the quick workout too. But Tab's ankle still not up to it, so most likely I will do another KettleBell workout us revise and revisit the move. Treat as conditioning work-out.
I have been watching my diet very closely on weekdays though the weekend indulgence is still there. Despite the over calories on Sat, I have managed to down the total calories exceeded this month to just + 28.2% which I aim to cancel off in 1-2 days more of lower calories. I still eat 3 meals plus snacking but is just the food choices are better. I was hungry around 4pm, tempted to eat Magee with egg (abt 450 cals) but I sub it for an apple (90cals) which did the job just fine. I wasnt as hungry up til dinnertime. That's what I've been doing, snacking on fruits and choosing healthier lunch. There are times when I eat chicken rice or Nasi Brayani for lunch and still just balanced the calories against my daily calorie intake. But I need to monitor the fat intake too, cholesterol is a concern too. Hmm...
Monday, June 04, 2012
My first Salted Egg Yolk Crab!
Kinda of a happening weekend.
Friday, we met up to eat a good dinner at Handburger, utilizing the groupon voucher. Really filling and tasty. Think I am getting sick of food at workplace. Cos I have been rotating among the stalls and after a while, it gets to ya. Then we walked around before heading back.
Sat, I headed to Novena to TTS to redeem a groupon for sporty sunglasses with myopic lense inside. But I had a misadventure trying to locate the Macs to purchase my 3rd Kitty. Walked around and around, until finally 'rescued' by Tab's direction msg. Was so beat then. We ate delicious thick curry chicken with you-tiao. I got the assorted platter from Mr YouTiao and drowned them in the curry. Its been very very long since I had curry chicken (another deprived thing I do)
Then Quetzal came over and she continued eating while I made my way to redeem the groupon. Had to top up another $45 for the myopic lens, so that would cost $100 in total. But given I am going to be under intense sunlight for 2 days this week, I think it will pay for itself just through that. After I was done, we headed over to Tab's place to chill a bit. My load of 3 bottles of Toffee Apple Cider and 2 snacks were heavy. On top of my waterbottle of pu-er tea. Chilled the bottles in the fridge and we entertained ourselves with the TV. Not much to watch though and both Tab and Quetzal fell asleep, leaving me awake, looking at DF and his brother and switching and stoning infront of the TV. They did offer to let me play Diablo 3 a few times but I always decline. I better not get started.
After about 3hrs, both woke up and we headed out to dinner. Ordered satay at first. Then got Zi Char. We ordered Fish maw soup, sambal kang kong, hotplate tofu and my first Salted Egg Yolk Crab. I've never had much chance to eat crabs at all. So the occassional ones from decadent buffet with friends, involves chilli crab. Never SEYC. Its really decadent. But I've come to realize that crabs are really troublesome things to eat, delicious nonetheless.
We headed back, super full after dinner and started playing Monopoly on I-pad. I was kena ganged-up upon, breaking my chances of even winning. Bleah... Later near 11.30pm, I had to rush home. Took the circle line to Haw Par Villa station and still managed to catch a bus to my area. So didnt have to pay midnight surcharge.
Slept until late. Today I headed out to get my groupon Battery pack. Got a msg that my sunglasses are ready, but when I reached there, it's not even open... So maybe try again tomorrow. Deja-vu though. Yesterday and today and even tomorrow. Bleah... I did download a bunch of games on the I-phone and also bought the Old traditional Monopoly game for my i-phone. Happily sat in the bus journey and bankrupt the AI players. Did lose some though, sometimes really its the luck of the throw.
Went out quite late, came back it's already 8pm. Did some newspaper cutting and stuff and online a bit and its already 1.20am... This weekend flew past too quickly.
Friday, June 01, 2012
Brothers Cider - assorted flavors
In the last visit to Holland Village, I bought 4 bottles of Craft beer from the brewers of Hobgoblin, Wychcraft brewery and 8 bottles of Brothers Cider, 5 out of the 6 flavors available. And yes, I had 4 bottles of Toffee Apple cider and yes, I am a lazy person to go there regularly to pick up a bottle or two. I just bought the whole bunch so I don't have to go down again anytime soon, unless I've finished them.
They have been sitting in the room for almost a month, together with the bunch of snacks at my snack corner. Contrary to popular belief, my snack corner is largely untouched by me, due to counting and balancing my calories. I only eat a little bit, mostly on days I had calories to spare. It's also a reminder that I don't have to buy more cos it's already piling up with 14 packs of snacks n chocolate plus 12 bottles of beverage.
Only started opening up the ciders when work got a bit too tough, plus I made allowances in mg daily calories to allow a drink. The 4% alcohol is useful to help the tensed-up mind relax, especially as a night cap after I fell asleep after dinner only to wake up at midnight wide awake. So it helps to put me to sleep again. So far I've tried the Toffee Apple, Strawberry, Lemon and tonight the Tutti Fruiti. Think they ate all good except for the strawberry one.
Also I dug out this Ocha cup with Sakura design I bought from Daiso many years ago and used it to pour the cider into and drink. Very shiok because firstly the ciders are in 500ml bottles, so there's a lot more than the usual 330ml beers. Then the cup is small enough to be able to have several refills from the bottle to sip or chug, yet large enough a longer drink won't drain the entire cup at a go. A good size I must admit. Very satisfied after a bottle. Plus I drink quite fast so that it's still chilled and can feel the kick from the just 4% alcohol content. Enough to be relaxed and not drunk.
Work's been tough due to the preparation for the coming event. It entailed me being hectic with lessons on Mon, Tue - my heavy days. Then shortened lunch 25mins, the. Go under the hot afternoon sun for 2hrs, the. I immediately had a lesson after that. Then followed straight by form class dismissal and cca. Zombified and drained. That happened twice. And today is 3hrs under the sun then form class, then cca. When work ended, I was so zonked out. Reached home in a daze, waited for dinner, after dinner lights-out. Until I woke up at 12.30am in the morning to reach for a chilled Tutti Fruiti Brothers Cider. Almost finished with it. It's very easy to drink, surprisingly. Something to chill with as I await Friday to come after work hours.
Currently left with 3 bottles of Apple Toffee to being to Tab's place one of these days and 4 bottles of the craft beer. Guess the next few pics would be of beer instead of ciders. The Brothers Ciders are good enough that when I am done with this batch, I would gladly buy some more.
Only started opening up the ciders when work got a bit too tough, plus I made allowances in mg daily calories to allow a drink. The 4% alcohol is useful to help the tensed-up mind relax, especially as a night cap after I fell asleep after dinner only to wake up at midnight wide awake. So it helps to put me to sleep again. So far I've tried the Toffee Apple, Strawberry, Lemon and tonight the Tutti Fruiti. Think they ate all good except for the strawberry one.
Also I dug out this Ocha cup with Sakura design I bought from Daiso many years ago and used it to pour the cider into and drink. Very shiok because firstly the ciders are in 500ml bottles, so there's a lot more than the usual 330ml beers. Then the cup is small enough to be able to have several refills from the bottle to sip or chug, yet large enough a longer drink won't drain the entire cup at a go. A good size I must admit. Very satisfied after a bottle. Plus I drink quite fast so that it's still chilled and can feel the kick from the just 4% alcohol content. Enough to be relaxed and not drunk.
Work's been tough due to the preparation for the coming event. It entailed me being hectic with lessons on Mon, Tue - my heavy days. Then shortened lunch 25mins, the. Go under the hot afternoon sun for 2hrs, the. I immediately had a lesson after that. Then followed straight by form class dismissal and cca. Zombified and drained. That happened twice. And today is 3hrs under the sun then form class, then cca. When work ended, I was so zonked out. Reached home in a daze, waited for dinner, after dinner lights-out. Until I woke up at 12.30am in the morning to reach for a chilled Tutti Fruiti Brothers Cider. Almost finished with it. It's very easy to drink, surprisingly. Something to chill with as I await Friday to come after work hours.
Currently left with 3 bottles of Apple Toffee to being to Tab's place one of these days and 4 bottles of the craft beer. Guess the next few pics would be of beer instead of ciders. The Brothers Ciders are good enough that when I am done with this batch, I would gladly buy some more.
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