Lunges ( a sneak peek )

Position A : Stand up straight, widened your legs as wide as your shoulder, hands on hips

Position B : Without changing your position or move your body, push your other leg to the back

Position C : Slowly bend your knee to 90 degrees

Tips: To keep your balance, locking your core is a must and do not push your leg too far because your targeted muscles are your harmstring and glute

Finally!

After all this time waiting for this weekend to happen, I finally made it! Yes. I managed to aspire to my dreams and my optimism is restored. At least two of my dreams. It's still in editing process, hope to be published soon.

Deep November and Good Weekend

This month is the month where I put my deep thoughts and efforts pursuing my dreams or maybe to make my optimism come true. After one publisher cancel to publish my book, I soon made another option which I will be working on next week. More exercises will come to this blog.







"waiting my moment to come"

New Year is Coming

I was making my lesson plan when I realised that we are so close to the end of year 2008. This made me think and looked back what I have done and happened during this year. The way I would describe my 2008 is a roller coaster ride in the storm. The year commenced with tears and I thought I could never live again. In spite of this, I made a choice that I have to stand up and picking up the pieces. It kicked off in the good way. Well..I did it at least in a term of losing weight which brought lot of impacts. One of them are my self esteem escalate steadily and discovered many things in life,fitness, exercise, diet and living well. And then again, another storm came to hit me again and I was very close falling to the ground. Thanks to fitness and exercise..I could cope with it.

So am I busy making resolutions?hmmm..I havent figured out yet. At this point, I will be just continuing what I have been doing...attaining my goals, my passions, my dreams, and my wishes.
As matter of fact..I dont need to wait for new year to come to start making my one of dreams come true.

PS : Thanks to Elen who has been so patient dealing with my whinings and my sister who introduced to the world of blog.

GymWalking : Celebrity Fitness FX part 3

Alia + Everton

Went to FX today after absent for almost a week, spent more time at Pondok Indah Mall. The result a happy big smile after Latin Dance class...oh yeah..I found new love on this instructor, Everton Torres. Not of physical appearance but more to the way he teaches...He's the most most cheerful and energetic instructor I've ever seen! Look at his face! He always smiles, happy, "bouncy" and he plays really happy music. When I joined his Global Dance, I was almost died but looking at him and smiling my spirit raised again! And today, I was sulky, a bit sad ( you know..love life ) and he played that music and started smiling...wheww...Salsa all the way! He's quite bulky and I was hesitated if he could dance..but wow...he CAN DANCE! I mean he can shake his booty but still very manly.
Boy, I had fun today...no one could tell if I just brokenhearted. So..if you want to put a big smile on your face..pack up your bag and head to the gym or sign up to your nearest gym.

Hmm...this is my sweet and favorite spot in the Celebrity fitness FX, sort of my sanctuary. No interruption from bulky men ( they can be found in free weight area ) who often grunting and dropping weights.Thanks to my personal trainer who taught me how to use this machine.

Craving for Comfort

Experts believe that there is a strong association between food and emotion for many women, and this poses a serious challenge to healthy eating.
This research reinforces the idea that it's not the hunger for the particular food itself, but the feeling it provides that brings on a craving.
There are 5 things that trigger women to crave which are :
- Anger
- Hopelessness
- Lack of control
- Feeling unappreciated
- Boredom

If you fit into any one of these five profiles, try sitting down with a piece of paper and brainstorming to find alternative behaviors to eating.
Remember that healthy eating doesn't mean you can't indulge yourself. Cutting out certain foods entirely is a negative approach that will only set you up for failure.
Try to maintain a balanced diet that includes lots of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and lean sources of protein. Prepare healthy snack options instead of heading to the vending machine. And don't forget that healthy eating goes hand-in-hand with exercise.

Endorphin and BrokenHeart

It might be a silly love life that many women experienced and which I just have been through.. but let me relate it to health. What do you do when you brokenhearted? Crave for sweets? lock yourself in the room? go out and get drunk?

Here's one alternative ( which I always do ) where health takes part in your emotional issue. Go to the gym! Yes..instead of going to clubs, I prefer to go to the gym. Have Body Combat class, run on the treadmill or just join dance class or have outdoor sports, when you finish see yourself and be honest what you feel afterward?

Whats the relation between exercise and brokenhearted? By exercise your body releases a hormone called endorphin. This is a happy hormone..increases your self esteem, helps you to reduce the stress and enhances your immune system. Again..don't over exercise you will end up in injury.
Cheers

Obesity

According to Wikipedia obesity described where the body has excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that health may be negatively affected It is commonly defined as a body mass index (BMI = weight divided by height squared) of 30 kg/m2 or higher. This distinguishes it from being overweight as defined by a BMI of between 25–29.9 kg/m2.

The research shown that the major cause of obesity are combination of excessive calorie consumption and sedentary lifestyle. There is little evidence to support the commonly expressed view that some obese people eat little yet gain weight due to a slow metabolism. What has been found, however, is that some obese people underreport how much food they consume compared to those of normal weight.

Historically, overweight or obese is a sign of wealth and only rich people who is suffering with obese. Now, even the poor people can be obese or overweight. The reason is because they are malnourished. The food they eat are often cheap, industrialized, mass produced. These kinds of food usually contain high carbohydrates, high sodium, high sugar and high preservatives.

The health impact by being overweight or obese are lead you to develop heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and astheorithritis ( I hope I get this right ). So how to fight the obesity? Again changing your diet by cutting down carb, sugar, bad fat, sodium and exercise. How about for the poor people? They may want to start exercise by walking which is no cost and easily done. For the food? Please avoid mass produced food and simply prepare your own meal.

Sunday Morning Wishes ( EDITED 16/11/08 )

There are so many wishes and dreams...or can I mix and dreams and wishes? Well either way here they are ( please be reminded they are not in order ) :
I wish and dream to live and work near my gym in FX Sudirman
Light weight laptop like Sony Vaio or Mac Air
Free Nike apparels and shoes every year
Have own professional website
Famous writer
Work from home or self employed
Free personal trainer
and....................( this is really personal ) :)
Hundreds of free voucher of face, body, hair and nail treatment from my salon in oakwood
Jakarta is like Singapore
Capability to put on make up
Visiting or pay my best friend to Jakarta ( since she's far away in US ) and hang out in Starbucks

Hmmm...come to think of there aren't many..hehehehehehe

Reading Nutrition Facts

Reading nutrition facts can help you make wise food choices and not relying on phrases like "low fat" or "fat free" or "healthy"

Start with the serving size. Serving sizes differ on each food label and may not the same as your serving size, which usually leads to misleading.If a package of cookies contains six cookies and a serving size is equal to two cookies, that means the entire package contains three servings, not one.

In the calories and calories from fat sections tell you the total number of calories in each serving of the food and the number of those calories which are derived from fat. Calories provide a measure of how much energy you get from eating one serving of the food. If you are trying to manage (lose, gain or maintain) your weight, the number of calories you consume counts. For example, one serving of macaroni and cheese may provide 250 calories, with 110 calories from fat. If you ate 2 servings, you would consume 500 calories and 220 of those calories would be from fat.

Now, look out for sodium content. High sodium diet will lead you to high blood pressure. This sodium is usually hidden in processed food.

Identify the total carbohydrates, this number will tell you how many carbohydrates you consume in a package.
Be vigilant about the amount of "Sugar". This is the amount of sugar you consume if you consume one serving of the food. Some carbohydrates become sugar when digested in your body, so you may be consuming more sugar than what is on the label.

See the "Percent Daily Value". The asterisk (*) after this heading refers to the information at the bottom of the label, which states “% daily values (DVs) are based on a 2,000-calorie diet”.

Finally, don't forget to look at the "Information at the Bottom of the Label".This chart is based on a 2,000-calorie diet. This information must be on all food labels, although the chart that follows is not required on small packages if the label is too small. However, the information is dietary advice from public health experts for all Americans and is the same for all products. This is applicable also in many other countries, following dietary advice provided by individual an country's food advisory experts. It shows the upper and lower limits for each nutrient based on a 2,000-calorie diet. Let's use the macaroni and cheese example. One serving would provide 18% of the Daily Value of the possible 100% Daily Value for your total fat intake. That leaves 82% that you could consume from other sources for that day. If you ate two servings, you would consume 36% of your DV for fat, leaving 64% to be consumed from other sources.

Happy reading nutrition facts :)

Health Benefits

Health Benefits of exercise and physical activity :
- Reduce the risk of premature death
- Reduce the risk of developing of heart disease
- Reduce the risk of developing diabetes
- Improve psychological well being
- Reduce and/or maintain body weight and body fat
-Build and maintain healthy muscles,bones, and joints

High Carb Craving

After being hospitalized for 4 days because of gastric, I regain my appetite. This time I'm craving for high carb..yes people...as low carb dieter I'm craving for high carb and spicy foods. When I got home from work I had french fries with melted cheese on top..HOW DELICIOUS! To justify it...well I'm on recovery ( heheheeh ). Going to the gym tomorrow though, let's get back to the old routine..but tonight let me crave for the carbs.

What is your choice?

I didn't have plan to write a blog tonight but there's something tickle me. If you were obese or overweight what would you choose? Do you choose to stay being potato couch or tell yourself that you need to lose weight in order to be healthy ?

I respect whatever the people's choice but if you could think for a while what you want to become when you are old? You might not feel anything and you feel fine with potato couch lifestyle but.... do you want to have heart disease? do you want to get stroke and won't be able to do anything? do you want to have high cholesterol? or do you want to be healthy? live longer, see your grandchildren ?

My mum died at the age 53 because of stroke, some of my relatives and my grandmother died of the same cause...stroke. From that, I have chosen to live healthy and exercise. Yes we are all eventually will die but don't you think when you alive you look after your body and health so you can contribute something or make your life more meaningful?

Life is about choice, have you made your choice?

Gym Ethics : Are you familiar with them?

Celebrity Fitness FX free weight area

You have decided that going to the gym is part of your life and we have seen more and more people sign up to become a member. But are you familiar with rules? They might not written on the wall but these are you should follow when you workout.

Wipe Down
Some gyms provide towels as part of the service some don’t. If your gym does not provide towel, please ALWAYS bring your own towel. It is nothing worse than lying on a bench, sweaty from the previous user. Use your towel to wipe your sweat away and don’t forget to wipe out the bench or any fitness equipment after you use it.

No Grunting Please
Grunting is something unnecessary and does not sound cool. I have seen many men doing it, and frankly speaking, it is annoying to hear. When you lift heavy weights, stay on breathing properly, you might be exhaling when you muscles contracted and you do it loudly, that is acceptable. But no grunting, screaming or moaning!

Dropping Weights
This is still related with grunting as you drop the weights, the weights can make loud noise when you drop them. If you are not careful you might drop them on somebody’s else foot! There is better way to do it, place them on the ground quitely even if you can’t bend down.

Put the Weights Back
Finish with your sets and reps? Do always remember to them back. I have noticed that some people just leave the weights lying on the floor. Light weights are quite easy to put back, ( and I don’t really mind to put them back into the racks )but how about those big and heavy plates? Have responsibility after you use them.