Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
「走れ！走れ！明日のために！進め！進め！自分のために！」
These words are now staring at me from my office wall. They are verses from a TOKIO song, and I’ve never heard it even once. But I liked the sheer gusto of those words. To run for a better tomorrow, and to move forward for a better you. And this is what has been driving me these days, to focus on myself and live life not like a drone.
I read an article from Apartment Therapy and it wrote about how a man woke up every day with one question: what do I want to create today? If I were to ask myself that each and every single day, I don’t think I could come up with an answer. Well, unless you count what I was ‘creating’ for lunch and breakfast? Because that’s all I’m interested in now. It probably counts as a ‘creation’, cooking, after all, is an alchemy that turns raw ingredients into satisfying meals.
Okay, the whole point is, I’m trying to find purpose in the things I do, even the most minute task. I’ve not lost interest in fandom, but that’s definitely not a priority right now. In fact, I’ve not watched anime for weeks now. Basically, I want to translate my energy back to myself, where I can see results. And that means, a wholesome and active lifestyle, which equals to a happier, healthier and hopefully, a fitter me.
I do not deny that it was due to one bad criticism about my appearance. But I’ve taken that bad energy to push myself forward instead. Yin becomes Yang. And I’ve been living healthier for a month now (let’s do lists again):
Eating clean
Okay, I’ve stopped eating meat for about a year now, although there are some relapses occasionally. I’ve introduced it back into my diet but have kept them to a minimum. What I’ve done more now is cut back on refined sugars (goodbye my lovely desserts), ‘bad’ carbohydrates (hello wholemeal and rye), dairy (I still can’t give up cheese though) and high fat content.
Luckily, I’m not one who snacks or likes fried/junk food anyway. So ‘cleaning’ my diet was not that difficult. It was about introducing a lot more different types of vegetables, fruits, seeds and grains into my life. And it’s a great feeling to open your refrigerator to find so much fresh produce. It was difficult refusing late night suppers (like prata) and going against my sweet tooth though, but I’ve been perseverant so far. (Come, clap for me.)
What was confounding was the amount of information available on the internet. Like any clueless person going into a diet for the first time, everything seems almost bad to you. Gluten-free. Juice cleanse. Carbs make you gain weight. Fat is evil. Sugar is even more evil. Fruits might be evil, cause sugar. Avocados are awesome though. Don’t touch dairy. Soy is awesome too, wait, no maybe not. Go high on protein. 5:2 fasting. Seriously, I’ve read everything and processing all these information is probably the most tiring thing I had to do. (I actually googled “is cheese good on a diet” yesterday cause I really wanted to eat cheese. It didn’t help.)
I did try going gluten-free, but gluten-free breads make me bloat up like a balloon. And I can’t not eat soy sauce (they contain wheat), I’m bloody Chinese. So instead of going totally gluten-free, wheat-intake just have to kept super minimal. So it’s buckwheat noodles, wholemeal breads and quinoa that make up most of my meals. I’ve not touched rice and other types of noodles though. Which is fine, because I’m not big on rice anyway (despite being Chinese).
Basically, my meals look like this:
Breakfast - Homemade muesli with fresh fruits and soy yoghurt. I might add smoothies, pancakes, frittatas and muffins into my repertoire.
Lunch - Quinoa or wraps, with salads, grilled vegetables, nuts, eggs, cheeses, and sometimes fish or meat. Dressings and seasonings are kept to a minimum, usually consists of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice. There was homemade hummus and pesto too. I might add sandwiches, heavier salads and fish/meat main courses.
Dinner - A slice of pineapple or a kiwi. Or a bowl of miso soup. Or Mom’s stir-fried veg and some tofu.
Fluids - A glass of hot water and lemon in the morning. Four glasses of green tea by lunch. Water for the rest of the day.
Okay, do you see a problem? Dinner. Sometimes, I simply forgo the whole meal because I ate two pieces of dark chocolate or some pistachios at 5pm. Yes, I do know it’s not healthy to skip meals and it lowers the metabolism anyway. Give me credit though, if I’m out, I do eat proper dinner, like fish soup. I’m not cutting out whole food groups, but there are times that I feel super guilty if I’ve had dinner. Even worse, if I did not exercise after having it.
Werk it, baby.
Then, there’s the exercise. Never have I thought I would find myself scrolling down fitness websites such as Shape, Popsugar and Self to know ‘how to get those abs in seven days’. I try to run at least four times a week and the other three days are peppered with crunches, planks and pushups. Yoga is on Saturdays, and I will do dance on Tuesdays. I know of people who run more and for longer distances, so what I do is not intensive.
But my stamina and energy levels have been a low the past two days, and for once, I’m giving myself a proper rest day (that’s today, honey). It might be my diet or the fact that I slept pretty late the past few days. I just have to keep telling myself not to expect results that quickly and that I should enjoy the process of being active and healthy. Because I feel like shit if I’ve not worked out enough. Or if I miss a run, I get overly cranky. This toxic mentality has to go.
Oh, I did sign up to participate a 5km marathon in July. Wish me luck.
Overall wellness
Other than this week, I’ve been sleeping relatively early for a number of reasons: 1) I’m bored, 2) I have to wake up early the next day to prepare lunch, and 3) you just get exhausted after a run. Sleeping early and keeping myself hydrated, on top of exercise and eating clean, has boosted my skin health. I’m not as exhausted in the day, and generally, I feel a lot better.
Have I lost weight? Well, yes, but not as much as I would want it to. But it shouldn’t be more important than being generally healthy.
I came across something called Orthorexia Nervosa, which is an eating disorder whereby an individual is obsessed about healthy eating. Well, sometimes I feel as though I’m beginning to be like one or even think like one, but I do eat carbs, and fats, and protein, and yes, you can’t run away from sugar. Learning about it makes me more careful about the choices I make and how my thought process works.
Well, it’s only been a month. It started as Project Bikini, so let’s see how it goes after my trip to Krabi. There’s that marathon to work for too. And then, really, we never know what’s going to happen after. If I can continue this Goop-ish lifestyle, well, I’ll be amazed by myself.
These words are now staring at me from my office wall. They are verses from a TOKIO song, and I’ve never heard it even once. But I liked the sheer gusto of those words. To run for a better tomorrow, and to move forward for a better you. And this is what has been driving me these days, to focus on myself and live life not like a drone.
I read an article from Apartment Therapy and it wrote about how a man woke up every day with one question: what do I want to create today? If I were to ask myself that each and every single day, I don’t think I could come up with an answer. Well, unless you count what I was ‘creating’ for lunch and breakfast? Because that’s all I’m interested in now. It probably counts as a ‘creation’, cooking, after all, is an alchemy that turns raw ingredients into satisfying meals.
Okay, the whole point is, I’m trying to find purpose in the things I do, even the most minute task. I’ve not lost interest in fandom, but that’s definitely not a priority right now. In fact, I’ve not watched anime for weeks now. Basically, I want to translate my energy back to myself, where I can see results. And that means, a wholesome and active lifestyle, which equals to a happier, healthier and hopefully, a fitter me.
I do not deny that it was due to one bad criticism about my appearance. But I’ve taken that bad energy to push myself forward instead. Yin becomes Yang. And I’ve been living healthier for a month now (let’s do lists again):
Eating clean
Okay, I’ve stopped eating meat for about a year now, although there are some relapses occasionally. I’ve introduced it back into my diet but have kept them to a minimum. What I’ve done more now is cut back on refined sugars (goodbye my lovely desserts), ‘bad’ carbohydrates (hello wholemeal and rye), dairy (I still can’t give up cheese though) and high fat content.
Luckily, I’m not one who snacks or likes fried/junk food anyway. So ‘cleaning’ my diet was not that difficult. It was about introducing a lot more different types of vegetables, fruits, seeds and grains into my life. And it’s a great feeling to open your refrigerator to find so much fresh produce. It was difficult refusing late night suppers (like prata) and going against my sweet tooth though, but I’ve been perseverant so far. (Come, clap for me.)
What was confounding was the amount of information available on the internet. Like any clueless person going into a diet for the first time, everything seems almost bad to you. Gluten-free. Juice cleanse. Carbs make you gain weight. Fat is evil. Sugar is even more evil. Fruits might be evil, cause sugar. Avocados are awesome though. Don’t touch dairy. Soy is awesome too, wait, no maybe not. Go high on protein. 5:2 fasting. Seriously, I’ve read everything and processing all these information is probably the most tiring thing I had to do. (I actually googled “is cheese good on a diet” yesterday cause I really wanted to eat cheese. It didn’t help.)
I did try going gluten-free, but gluten-free breads make me bloat up like a balloon. And I can’t not eat soy sauce (they contain wheat), I’m bloody Chinese. So instead of going totally gluten-free, wheat-intake just have to kept super minimal. So it’s buckwheat noodles, wholemeal breads and quinoa that make up most of my meals. I’ve not touched rice and other types of noodles though. Which is fine, because I’m not big on rice anyway (despite being Chinese).
Basically, my meals look like this:
Breakfast - Homemade muesli with fresh fruits and soy yoghurt. I might add smoothies, pancakes, frittatas and muffins into my repertoire.
Lunch - Quinoa or wraps, with salads, grilled vegetables, nuts, eggs, cheeses, and sometimes fish or meat. Dressings and seasonings are kept to a minimum, usually consists of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice. There was homemade hummus and pesto too. I might add sandwiches, heavier salads and fish/meat main courses.
Dinner - A slice of pineapple or a kiwi. Or a bowl of miso soup. Or Mom’s stir-fried veg and some tofu.
Fluids - A glass of hot water and lemon in the morning. Four glasses of green tea by lunch. Water for the rest of the day.
Okay, do you see a problem? Dinner. Sometimes, I simply forgo the whole meal because I ate two pieces of dark chocolate or some pistachios at 5pm. Yes, I do know it’s not healthy to skip meals and it lowers the metabolism anyway. Give me credit though, if I’m out, I do eat proper dinner, like fish soup. I’m not cutting out whole food groups, but there are times that I feel super guilty if I’ve had dinner. Even worse, if I did not exercise after having it.
Werk it, baby.
Then, there’s the exercise. Never have I thought I would find myself scrolling down fitness websites such as Shape, Popsugar and Self to know ‘how to get those abs in seven days’. I try to run at least four times a week and the other three days are peppered with crunches, planks and pushups. Yoga is on Saturdays, and I will do dance on Tuesdays. I know of people who run more and for longer distances, so what I do is not intensive.
But my stamina and energy levels have been a low the past two days, and for once, I’m giving myself a proper rest day (that’s today, honey). It might be my diet or the fact that I slept pretty late the past few days. I just have to keep telling myself not to expect results that quickly and that I should enjoy the process of being active and healthy. Because I feel like shit if I’ve not worked out enough. Or if I miss a run, I get overly cranky. This toxic mentality has to go.
Oh, I did sign up to participate a 5km marathon in July. Wish me luck.
Overall wellness
Other than this week, I’ve been sleeping relatively early for a number of reasons: 1) I’m bored, 2) I have to wake up early the next day to prepare lunch, and 3) you just get exhausted after a run. Sleeping early and keeping myself hydrated, on top of exercise and eating clean, has boosted my skin health. I’m not as exhausted in the day, and generally, I feel a lot better.
Have I lost weight? Well, yes, but not as much as I would want it to. But it shouldn’t be more important than being generally healthy.
I came across something called Orthorexia Nervosa, which is an eating disorder whereby an individual is obsessed about healthy eating. Well, sometimes I feel as though I’m beginning to be like one or even think like one, but I do eat carbs, and fats, and protein, and yes, you can’t run away from sugar. Learning about it makes me more careful about the choices I make and how my thought process works.
Well, it’s only been a month. It started as Project Bikini, so let’s see how it goes after my trip to Krabi. There’s that marathon to work for too. And then, really, we never know what’s going to happen after. If I can continue this Goop-ish lifestyle, well, I’ll be amazed by myself.