Sunday, August 10, 2014

An update for 10 days into the hols and thus far

Work caught up with me. The stress and hectic of things. Plus I was going for KM 2-3 times a week in preparation for grading that any spare time in between is spent sleeping or stoning. Besides going out with friends, wandering off by myself and drum lessons. So its been a while.

1) KM P2 Grading
I've missed the previous grading in mid Feb due to a combination of injured shoulder, hectic work due to exams, just came back from the work trip. Mentally I wasn't up to it cos I had just gotten my P1 in end July 2013 and still shuddered at the thought of a 5hr grading. Apparently it was much shorter cos conducted by a foreign visiting head trainer.

Then missing that, when my shoulder was finally mostly healed, I restarted KM in June. After a 4 months break and lack of exercise due to shoulder injury, and incessant eating. Put on 5kg and lost the fitness. Felt my energy levels falling. Was really glad to be able to exercise in June. So mentally I wanted to do the P2 grading and trained for it. I just finished 2 months of KM before grading. By now I have recovered most of my fitness but still haven't lost the additional weight.  (Today I am restarting calorie-counting & also doubling my exercise besides KM)

Grading was tough. Again I was the only female doing grading and tio the 5 plus hours one. Seriously after the thing was over, I often wonder if there were other females and it being not easy, how many can complete?

Mainly is the duration and really short 1min breaks that are few and far. I had learnt from experience previously and brought 2x1.5 litres of isotonic drink. Every time we had a sip of drink, I would gulp down quite a few mouthfuls of isotonic drink. By the end, I was still ok until the final "Aggression and pressure drill" which I was gassed out cos of the intensity and not breathing correctly. Well I did get a little bit off due to my gender cos I did 3 instead of 5 rounds of that. With trembling hands and the familar stitch at my side, got my patch, and more importantly the passport which allows one to go to any other ikmf gyms in other countries to train. I was an "illegal immigrant" cos they forgotten to issue that batch of us our passports due to changing from one oorganisation to another. NOW, I am legit. Enjoyed the refreshment that was a Japanese style Kong bar bao n green juice (pineapple, celery and cucumber, tasty)

I brought clothes to bath and change into. Went to eat a celebratory hot dog at Mustard Incident before they close and shift elsewhere. That night I applied a lot of analgesic cream all over and the next day, I was up and about with slight aches. This was opposed to my first time where I spent the whole of the next day lying in muscle ache agony in bed. Good improvement to my fitness but my right knee has been sore due to the weight gain. I need to address this weight in this holiday period. Ideal would be to lose 5kgs by the end of this month.

I chanced across the grading videos on the ikmf FB page. Wasn't aware until I was searching for some Ikmf information and stumbled upon it. Actually seeing myself during grading is kinda complex. I saw things from a first-person view vs a third-person view. A bit amused,  impressed, shy and so on. On one hand, I could see the improvement to the form and stance. On the other hand, I've also realised my own weak areas; combinations, slow fighting, multiple assailants etc. I need to work on those now that there is no more the stress of grading. P3 is a long way ahead.

2) Diet n Exercise
The aching right knee cap is a constant reminder to me to lose the extra 5kg. It's really not easy and for the past 2 months since I've resumed KM, haven't lost any. The bad cravings, over-eating and stress-induced eating didn't help. So finally after recovering from the KM grading, I've restarted exercising at home, with slight kettlebell. My left shoulder didn't have any pain so now I can do KB. In the months of the shoulder injury until then, I dare not use the KB and just opted for 1kg weights n bodyweight. Now I can finally KB a bit. I intend to intensify the home exercise a bit more especially on days without KM and weekends where overeating and slacking at home happens.

Today is my 1st day of counting calories. It has been a long break of more than 1.5 yrs since I've done so. Bo bian, have to for health reasons. Just that combating the urge to eat; a lot, rich food in holiday mode,  craving mode has been a big struggle. Friends know that I drink diet coke, non sugared tea and mugicha. Am trying to reduce the intake of artificial sweetener but I got hut by a double whammy of Coke-craving and sugar-craving WTF!? So had to grit and deny all these food cravings, munchies and drink cravings. Boy, it's been tough. I was glad to reach home safely from double drum lessons without eating any shit save for a 99 cal milk coffee. All the rest of the drinks bought were water, non sugared green tea and oolong tea. Phew, I could eat dinner at home with more tea. At least satisfied my hunger pangs. More days to come until the end of this holiday. Waiting for food to be digested before I exercise.

3) Errands
Some days I went about to go to the bank, settle investment stuff, update accounts.  Some days I went wandering about by myself, even to Liang Court (a place I avoided like mad due to work reason) to buy 2 bags of mugicha of a particular brand. Ended up with a box of Genmaicha (green tea + roasted rice) and Hojicha (roasted green tea) Learned something new about tea.

One day I spent with my sister accompanying her to the hospital and later eating in NUS canteens and going down a trip to memory lane. Maybe going with her to another.

Some afternoon just sleep.  Either too noisy and it was a means of escape or it was finally peaceful enough to be able to fall asleep in the slow lazy afternoon.

Still have 20 days that I hope to rest up, lose the layer of dust from the daily grind, enjoy eating yet still lose the 5kg and do/try something new.

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