Gastric & Inconsistency

Looks like my journey has been hitting some speed bumps lately.  Between squeezing time for gym, getting proper rest and eating right, I've been struggling with keeping at my fitness, health and weight loss goals.  Losing weight and increasing fitness levels isn't an easy task to take on.  It takes a lot of effort and focus and more often than not, I tend to stray.  Regardless of all the hitches, I still intend to keep working at it until my target is finally achieved.  It's taking longer than I expected but I have to keep at it for as long as it takes.

For me, when I'm working I tend to ignore my hunger pangs and just go ahead and finish as much of my work as I can.  For someone with a sensitive stomach, that's not the best move to go by.  My office isn't near any eateries and with my kind of gastric problems, I need to eat every 2-3 hours.  When I work, even lunch hours gets pushed to 3 or 4pm (if at all).  Again, not the best thing to do.

Lately, the acidity of my stomach has been pretty high and it scares me.  Certain days, I can feel the fumes up my esophagus and not only is it uncomfortable, it makes me feel sick.  I'd feel like throwing up but can't.  This is especially difficult for me when I have my training sessions with my personal trainer.  Weight training truly engages a lot of muscle area in your body and workouts that require a lot of lower back and core muscle coordination induces dizziness and gastric for me.  I'll have to take breaks between reps (yes, reps and not just sets) to catch my balance and make sure I don't end up fainted on the gym floor.  Fortunately my personal trainer is understanding of my condition and finds ways that I can workout while keeping those issues at bay.  The squat-shoulder press (free weights) combo is one of those workouts that triggers my gastric.  Not sure why really.  With several sessions I'd had to rush to the ladies because I felt like throwing up.

Apart from that, my personal trainer keeps pushing me to "raise my heart rate" which to me is kinda ironic cos my heart rate is pretty much real high during our sessions.  I have to regain my composure to avoid passing out.  Haha.  But it's all good.  I find that it's what they do.  Push you to places you probably wouldn't dare to push yourself to.  Plus, he'll support you when you've reached your limit.

Since starting this journey, I honestly haven't been able to go to the gym consistently.  Sometimes I'm just too maxed out for the day and sometimes it's cos I'm travelling.  Yes, I do enjoy travelling and for me, travelling in itself is a workout cos I'll be moving around non-stop every single day.  Haha.  That aside, it also means I would have to miss my personal training (PT) sessions.  Plus side?  I still have more sessions for when I get back.  Haha.

Okies.  Til next time.  Keep gyming and stay healthy.

Time and Breaks

Now that all that excitement of starting to go to the gym has died down, I've had to work extra hard at motivating myself to be more gym active.  I know, it's a little too early for me to start getting my motivation all torn down.

Anyways, I was away with family over the weekend last week and missed my Saturday training session.  Then there were a series of back to back family dinners/mini gathering from Monday through Wednesday which I've learnt from past experiences isn't the best time to rush to the gym considering the food hadn't had enough time to settle (my trainer says 2 hours prior to workout is ideal eating time).  On top of that, the rest of the family came back from the holiday on Tuesday night (and would you know, their flight was delayed too) and so Tuesday workout was a no go.  Was pretty pumped to go for the Thursday session but alas, during my work trip to Ranau early that day, my gastric kicked in almost full blast and my brother suggested that we cancelled that night since I wasn't well.  Finally managed to hit the gym yesterday (i.e. Saturday) and although I was given a target of 1000kcal it was quite frustrating to me to only managed to hit 20% of that target.

Yeap.  Working out to lose weight is definitely a tough business.  Finding time to go to the gym and work on achieving that goal is definitely a bit of a struggle for me.  I do try to work up a sweat while at home if I can't make it to the gym as much as I can.  I'd walk on the treadmill for 30mins or work with weights or even do the steps exercise at the stairs.

All that said, I'm still determined to do this.  I am pretty bummed that I've been missing a lot of my PT sessions.  And I'll be missing a few more week after next cos I'll be away again on vacation for my birthday.  Plus, I feel bad that I've had to cancel with my trainer.

Having been on this journey so far, the idea of working out has also changed my perception towards food. Every morsel seems to get more scrutiny and almost always equated with the time needed to burn off the calories consumed.  For instance, a McChicken burger is approximately 300++kcal which means at the rate I'm going, I'll need to spend 30-45mins on the treadmill/elliptical to burn off the same amount.  Was chatting up a couple of my friends recently during a good friend's wedding and they were saying the same thing.  It's really frustrating to think that it takes so much effort to work off those calories.  We were discussing how incredibly frustrating it was to look at the progress level indicator on the machines (treadmill/elliptical) move so slowly despite how hard we were working ourselves.

My brother and I have also noticed that we tend to sweat a whole lot more while doing our work outs lately compared to before we were gym active.  I asked Kadazan Bonita if this was normal and she mentioned that she was noticing the same thing too.  So guys, it's perfectly normal.  I may be wrong but I think that since your body is now introduced to exercise, your metabolic rate also increases which generates more heat when you work out.  I think that makes sense.

Here's another thing that I've noticed.  Personally, I prefer watching a TV show or movie or something when on the treadmill or elliptical as opposed to just listening to music.  I find that time passes by a lot faster that way.  So I might just put in a movie or TV show or two on my phone to keep my mind occupied.  With music, I need to keep my eyes closed to really tune out my heavy limbs struggling with the workout.  Not really the best way to go especially on the treadmill cos the next thing you know you've been bumped off the machine.  Haha.  It helps that the gym's treadmill has an in-built TV.  :)  I'm usually tuned in to MTV unless the show that was on at the time was not interesting then I'd be on the news.  At home, the treadmill pretty much faces the TV so that's good too.

Getting Started Is Tough

I've got to admit that starting out with an exercise regime is tough.  The whole process of building strength, stamina and at the same time staying motivated to not give up takes effort.  Having experienced just a fraction of what the contestants of The Biggest Loser have to go through on a daily basis makes me wonder about the immense pressure that they're under.  For those contestants, not only do they have to work hard training to achieve the highest possible weight loss percentages, they are also fighting to complete challenges.

If, like me, you aren't particularly an active person, don't do sports or any other forms of rigorous exercise, it's not going to be an easy ride to fitness.  The past weekend I was in pain most of the time from the push ups (and accumulation of other arm exercises) from Friday (and Thursday's) workout sessions.  Bending and extending my arms hurt like crazy!!  Fortunately for me, I drive a compact car (i.e. lightweight) and it wasn't impossible to drive and make turns and what not.  But physically, my movements were slower and limited.  Reaching for the seatbelts took a little longer and at times I needed to bring my head or chest forward or bend sideways to help me reach power switches at home or pick things up.  I was spilling drinks pouring it out of the can (100 Plus mind you, not Coca Cola), and sometimes my spoon misses my mouth when eating.  It hurt but I also found the whole situation somewhat hilarious.  Even simple things like changing clothes had to be done slowly and my head and body had to bend to assist.

Determined to head back to the gym to burn some kcal on the treadmill/elliptical, last night I slowly flexed my muscles and did some arm stretches while watching TV in the living room hoping that tomorrow (today) I'd feel the pain lessen.  When I woke up this morning, I still can't fully extend my arms on their own as easily but the pain is quite bearable.  My movements are still slow but I'm confident it's going to get better.  My shoulder muscles are pretty much back to normal which is great and means I have a little more flexibility in that area.

Food-wise, I have been having appetite issues.  I just don't know what to eat and sometimes don't feel like eating anything.  Still, I know that taking my meals are essential and shouldn't be skipped.  I definitely need the energy to carry out my work outs and to keep my gastric problems at bay.  So here's to another week ahead and a wonderful weekend to come.