30 days Fit and Fab

Myth 1 : Strength Training Can Make You Bulky Truth : It's pretty hard for woman to get bulky unless she takes additional supplements like steroid or hormone pills. Female doesn't have as much as testosterone like a man Myth 2 : Losing Fat On Certain Body Parts Truth : Fat cells are distributed across entire body. We need to lose overall body fat. High Intensity Cardio and strength training can help us to achieve our goal losing body fat Myth 3 : Doing Cardio Can Lose Weight Truth : Endless hours and miles alone don't guarantee us to lose weight. We need to add strength training to help our lean muscles burn fats and calories while we are in rest.  Myth 4 : Sweating Means We Burn Lots of Calories Truth : It's not necessary. We sweat because our core temperature increases. Our muscles create heat when we exercise and tough exercise will increase internal temperature and create sweat but it also depends on the temperature where we are working out in. 

I know getting up to exercise during pregnancy is the last thing that we usually do. We will have lots of excuses not to do exercise during pregnancy. But if our doctor has given a green light, exercise could boost more benefits during pregnancy until delivery. Some of the benefits : 1. It helps reduce back pains which is common, constipation, bloating and swelling 2. It may prevent gestational diabetes 3. Increase our energy 4. Improve our mood and body postures 5. Strengthen our muscles and endurance 6. We can get back to shape faster after delivery So here's 30 minutes basic pregnancy exercise for beginner, focusing on upper and lower body Start with warm up exercise ( 3 - 5 reps) 1. March ( 8 counts ) 2. Side to side march ( 8 counts ) 3. Out out in in march ( 8 counts ) Upper body exercise ( 3 - 5 reps ) 1. Shoulder roll back and forward (8 counts each) 2. Arm roll back and forward ( 8 counts each ) 3. Siding ( 8 counts each ) Lower body ex

Inspired by Thai cooking, this refreshing salad is suitable for hot sunny day. Preparation : Less than 30 minutes Calories : Less than 500 cals Ingredients : - Rice Vermicelli - A handful of cherry tomato - 5 Fresh Prawns - 1 Squid sliced Dressings : - Lemon juice - Shallots minced - Olive oil - Parsley (minced) - A table spoon of honey - Chilly padi (optional) Instructions : - Mix all the dressings ingredients and taste it until it has sweet and sour taste. If you love chilly, you can add a diced chilly padi - Boil rice vermicelli until al dante - Put in the plate together with cherry tomato, poached prawns and squid - Pour the dressing and enjoy !

I love baked honey mustard chicken, it's sweet and sour taste and you can pair it with any vegetables that you have in the fridge Preparation : less than 30 minutes (except marinated chicken) Calories : less than 500 cals Ingredients : - Three chicken fillets - One knob of corn - A handful broccoli - A handful carrot sliced - A handful fresh button mushroom sliced - A handfull cherry tomato sliced - Olive Oil - Ready made honey mustard marinade Instructions : - Marinate the chicken fillet with ready made honey mustard marinade for at least 2 hours - Bake the marinated chicken for about 15 minutes until it's tender and brown - Steam corn, carrot, broccoli for about 5 minutes - Stir fry cherry tomato and sliced mushroom with olive oil for a few seconds - Serve them all together

If you are in the mood of something sweet and sour taste but don't want to put on weight, this is alternative choice of protein packed breakfast Preparation less than 30 minutes Calories less than 500 cals Ingredients : - Oat Granola - Plain Greek Yoghurt - Fresh fruits (Strawberries, blueberries etc) Instructions : - Put the yoghurt on the bowl - Add the oat granola and topped it up with fresh fruits - Simply delicious

I love Korean food especially bulgogi and this is very quick meals that suitable for lunch and / or dinner. It's very easy and preparation is less than 30 minutes, and it's less than 500 calories Ingredients : - Beef fillet - Bibigo Korean Bbq Sauce (ready marinade) - fresh kailan - A clove of garlic - olive oil - A spoon of oyster sauce - Kimchi (ready made) Instructions : - Marinade the beef fillet with bibigo korean bbq sauce for at least 2 hours in the fridge - Stir fried the marinaded beef fillet with olive oil - Saute the minced garlic and add fresh kailan           - Add oyster sauce and taste to suit your preference - Served warm with rice and kimchi

This quick, natural sweet taste smoothies is very good to start your Monday. Less than 30 minutes preparation, Less than 500 calories Ingredients : - Three strawberries - A handful blueberries - 2 big slices of red dragon fruits - A handful raw almond and cashew nuts - A cup of unsweetened soya milk Instructions : - Mix all the ingredients inside the blender - Blend until it turns smoothly - Enjoy your morning booster !

We start our day with Warming Up - 5 mins jogging in the treadmill or - 5 mins cross training or - 5 mins stationery bicycle or - 5 mins fast walk 6mph Circuit training - alternate sit up ( 20 reps ) target abs muscle - Half bridge ( 15 reps for each leg) target glute and lower abs muscle - High intensity cardio ( fast run 20 seconds ) - High intensity cardio ( jump squat 20 seconds ) - Superman ( 20 seconds ) target back muscle - Squat and leg lift ( 20 reps ) target butt and leg muscle - High intensity cardio ( high knee 20 seconds ) - High intensity cardio ( run 20 seconds ) - Plank and side plank ( hold 30 seconds each) Stretching - hold every move for 15 - 20 seconds

This breakfast vegies smoothies is good for body detoxing if you have heavy and unhealthy dinner the night before. It's easy to make, less than 30 minutes, you can use any vegies that you have in your fridge, definitely less than 500 calories Ingredients : - 6cm zucchini cuts - One tomato - One strawberry - Three slices of pineapple - 2 Lime slices, only the juice - Water Instructions 1. Blend all the vegies and fruits inside blender and add water 2. Ready to serve

This quick and filling breakfast is suitable if you have a hectic day, it's easy to make, less than 30 minutes and less than 500 calories Ingredients : - 2 slices of multigrain bread - 2 strawberries - A handful of blueberries Avocado Spread : - Half avocado - Half lime - Few drops of olive oil Instructions : 1. Mash the avocado and mix with lime juice and olive oil 2. Toast the bread for about 8 minutes 3. Spread the avocado mashed and served it with fresh strawberries and blueberries

We start our day Warm up - 5 minutes jogging in the treadmill - 5 minutes fast walk 6mph - 5 minutes stationery cycling - 5 minutes cross training Circuit training (2x sets) - russian twist ( 15 - 20 reps ) target side abs - V shaped (hold 15 - 20 secs ) target lower abs - Mountain climber ( 15 - 20 reps ) target leg, glute, lower abs - Modified side planks ( 15 - 20 reps each side) target core - High planks ( hold 30 secs) target core Stretching - Hold every stretching movement for 15 - 20 secs each

I did body composition every 3 months, this is to see my achievement and which one need to be improved. And here's the recent chart progress report that I did today. The good news is my weight and fat mass decrease and my metabolic age is 26 :) Something that I need to improve is muscle mass and BMR I compare it with my April Body Composition report Between April - July, I have one month holiday break on June and I am pretty happy that my weight doesn't increase. Tips when we are in holiday : 1. We can indulge in anything but have self controlled 2. Don't overeat like there is no tomorrow 3. Eat more fruits and vegetables to make our body immunity strong, it won't be enjoyable if we are sick during holiday 4. Do some exercise like 30 minutes running / jogging, min 2x a week. This to make your muscles doesn't shrink, still burn calories and keep momentum.

Don't get too excited or freaked out if our weight fluctuates. Weight fluctuation is normal if it's still within the range 0.5 - 1 kg in a day or two. What cause weight fluctuation ? It's due to our activity, food we eat, water, muscle gains etc. For eg after we eat our meal, our weight will increase about 0.5 kg or after we exercise our weight will increase too due to muscle gains. On the opposite, if we skip meals, our weight will decrease temporary too. What weight fluctuation that we should worry or excited about ? If our weight increased or decreased 1kg or more steadily for period of 5 days or more after we return to our healthy lifestyle habit then we can start worry or excited. When we should measure our weight ? There's no basic rules to when, but the advised timing is in the morning after waking up and after going to bathroom in a naked body. When we measure our weight progress, make sure that we use the same weight scale and in the same timing

As we know that the rule of thumbs for Losing Weight is CALORIES OUT > CALORIES IN There are many ways to make adjustment for this equation, either we eat less to reduce calories intake or we do more activities to increase calories output. One way is to increase our metabolism rate. After our age is reaching 30, our metabolism rate starts decreasing especially if we never or seldom exercise. If we are the person who are not into strict diet, we could leverage our body to burn more calories by increasing our metabolism rate. What is metabolism rate ? It's the number of calories that our body needs to perform basic body's function like breathing, cell production, circulation. On another term, it can be defined as the number of calories that our body burned at rest. How to calculate metabolism rate ? We can use our age, activity type, gender, weight and height with this BMR online calculator How metabolism rate affects weight loss ? By knowing our BMR, we can

This quick breakfast smoothies is full with essential nutrients that our body needs to start our day. The preparation is less than 30 minutes, it's filling and less than 500 calories Ingredients : 1. Half medium banana 2. Three slices of pineapple 3. One ripe prunes (sliced) 4. Few slices of Japanese Cucumber 5. Unsweetened soya milk Instructions : 1. Pour all ingredients into blender  2. Blend for one minute 3. Ready to drink or takeaway to work place

This refreshing and mouth watering tropical salad is suitable for hot sunny day. It's less than 500 calories and less than 30 minutes to prepare Ingredients : - Mixed salad base - One Avocado, diced - Half Mango, diced - Raw nuts (almonds) and dried raisins Dressing Ingredients : - One table spoon of honey - Half lemon juice - Parsley chopped - One shallots (minced) - One table spoon of olive oil Instructions : 1. Mixed salad base with diced avocado, diced mango and topped it over with raw nuts and dried raisins 2. As for dressing ingredients, mix all the ingredients and stir it well 3. Pour the dressings over the salad just before it's served

Start your day with Warm up - 5 minutes jogging/running at treadmill - 5 minutes stationery cycling - 5 minutes fast walk 6 mph - 5 minutes cross training Circuit training (Repetitions 2x) - in and out plank (15 - 20 secs ) target core and leg muscles - mountain climber ( 15 - 20 secs ) target leg muscles and lower abs - leg and butt lift ( 15 secs for each leg) target butt and leg - legs 90 deg lift ( 15 - 20 secs ) target lower abs Stretching - hold 15 - 20 seconds for each stretching exercise

This is suggested ideas of healthy meal plans that I have made it before. You can modify according to what you have in the fridge and your taste. For me, most of them don't have additional salt and sugar other than ready marinades that I use which are honey mustard marinade and bulgogi marinade. Day 1 Breakfast : Multigrain toast (2 slices) with avocado spread + Fruits ( strawberries and blueberries) Lunch/Dinner : Avocado Mango Salad with homemade honey lemon dressings Snack Time : 1 oranges, 5 strawberries Day 2 Breakfast : Berries smoothies (Strawberry, blueberry, dragon fruit + unsweetened soya milk) Lunch/Dinner : Beef bulgogi and kimchi with rice Snack Time : 2 jambu and 5 slices of pineapple Day 3 Breakfast : Fresh fruits with greek yoghurt (Blueberry, strawberry and oat granola) Lunch / Dinner : Baked honey mustard chicken with vegetables Snack Time : Edamame and 15 grapes Day 4 Breakfast : Banana Smoothies (banana, pineapple, prunes + unsweetened soya

Stretching may not be the favourite part during a set of exercise. Many people usually skip this stretching part after finishing strength and cardio exercises. Why do we need to do stretching ? It improves flexibility, reduce muscles tightness, reduce strains and risk of injury as well as improve our performances When we do a lot of strength and cardio exercise and never stretching, our muscles will end up imbalanced and this can lead to strains and discomfort. How do we do stretching ? 1. We can do seated stretching using mat exercise and hold each stretching for 15 - 20 seconds. - Leg rise up (left and right alternate) - Leg curl up ( left and right alternate) - chest to knee - Piriformis stretch (left and right alternate) - Butterfly stretch - Triceps stretch - Seated Neck release - Seated shoulder squeeze 2. We can do standing exercises and hold each stretching for 15 - 20 seconds - Spinx pose - Extended puppy pose - Lunging hip (left and r

Start your day with Warm up - 5 minutes jogging in treadmill or - 5 minutes cross training or - 5 minutes fast walk 6mph or - 5 minutes stationary cycling Circuit Training ( Repeat 2x ) - Side cycling (15 - 20 sets ) target abs - Alternate leg raise ( 15 - 20 sets ) target legs and lower abs - High intensity cardio ( high knee ) 20 seconds - High intensity cardio (Left and right punch ) 20 seconds - Push ups ( 10 - 15 sets ) target arms and core - Alternate leg curls ( 15 - 20 sets each leg ) target butt and leg - Raise up ( 20 seconds ) target calves - High intensity cardio ( side high knee ) 20 seconds - Side leg lift ( 30 seconds each ) target leg and thigh - Side by side ( 15 - 20 seconds ) target lower abs - plank (hold 30 - 60 seconds ) target core Stretching - Hold 10 seconds for each stretching exercise

Start with your day with Warm Up - 5 minutes running at treadmill or - 5 minutes cross training or - 5 minutes fast walking 6 mph or - 5 minutes stationary cycling Circuit Training ( Repeat 2x ) - Arms High partial sit up  (15 - 20 sets)  targeting abs muscles - Butt lift bridge ( 15 - 20 sets ) targeting glute - High intensity cardio - fast run ( 20 seconds ) - High intensity cardio - jump squat ( 20 seconds ) - Flying side ( 15 sets for each leg ) targeting core, abs and back - Cat and cow ( 15 - 20 sets ) targeting back - High intensity cardio - twister ( 20 seconds ) - High intensity cardio - jumping jack ( 20 seconds) - Plank ( hold 30 - 60 seconds ) targeting core muscles - Side planks ( hold 30 seconds for each side ) targeting side core muscles Cooling Down - stretching, hold 10 seconds for each stretching exercise

From all exercises that I have been doing, I love circuit training most. What is Circuit Training ? We'll doing different exercises ranging from 8 - 10 exercises with 15 - 20 repetitions each. Usually we work on full body to train different muscles. This type of work out gets our heart rate up, burn more calories and gain muscles strength at the same time. For myself, I usually do alternate strength exercise (20 sets each) and high intensity cardio (20 seconds), rest for 1 - 2 minutes and repeat 3x. For beginner, I recommend to start with strength exercise (15 sets each) and high intensity cardio (15 seconds ), rest for 1 - 2 minutes and repeat 2x. Once your body has adjusting and your muscle has gained some strength, you can increase the sets, time and repetitions. What area it targets ? 1. Core muscles : Planks 2. Abs muscles : Sit ups, crunch 3. Legs muscles : Lunge, Squats 4. Back muscles : pull ups, cat style 5. Arms muscles : push ups, triceps exercise Wh

This topic is more practical and since I have done it before, it's absolutely attainable if we have self discipline and commitment. Weight loss is the most common goal that everyone has, even skinny people will say that they still need to loss weight. So I will start the first fitness goal with weight loss and eventhough this goal is focusing to the groups who have BMI overweight and obese range, it still applicable to the rest of the group. STEP BY STEP to achieve our fitness goals - Weight Loss Case Study : The height is 155cm and the weight is 60kg. BMI is 25 You can check your BMI using this calculator  BMI Categories : underweight : =< 18.5 healthy range : 18.5 - 24.9 overweight : 25 - 29.9 obesity : greater than 30 So from this BMI categories, it's slightly overweight. 1. Start with SMART GOALS Our target is to get into healthy range which after calculated the ideal weight is 55kg. We need to lose 5kg within 3 months. We can break down to 1.5kg a m

Found this article about S-M-A-R-T Fitness Goals which I agree and love to share this in my personal blog too. To set a fitness goals we need to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely) 1. Specific We cannot say our goal is to get healthy, it's to broad and subjective. We need to have specific and objective goals for eg weight loss, fit to old wedding gown, fit to size XS 2. Measurable We need to quantify our progress, for eg losing 5kg weight, run 5km non-stop, waist line 70cm. Along the way our goal may change, but it's good to have measurable goal to keep us focused and motivated. 3. Attainable It's good to have a big picture goal for eg we want to lose 15 kg but it's better to breakdown our goals in more achievable. We want to start small and see early wins. We should consider the size of our goals. Losing 10kg in a month is not going to happen and it can be discouraging if we can't see the result as fast as we expect. We c

This is the basic question that some people say they agree it’s  important but never do it with a lot of excuses. So here I am to state it again EXERCISE IS REALLY IMPORTANT ! We can ask our dietician, doctor, professional healthcare even google it there's seldom article that states exercise is bad for us. I was an exercise hater during my school days. Physical Exercise (PE) was the most subject that I hated and even I ever failed this subject in my exam. Jogging / running was out of questions. I would prefer to hide in the changing room or canteen. When I was attending Freshman Orientation in the university, to my surprise it's packed with full physical exercises. We jogged day and night, played games full of running, jumping etc. I was so exhausted and I ate and binge even more food. It's calories in > calories out. With addition to study pressure, I was in the heaviest weight in my life. Until my turning point which I stated before in the other page

In order to set the goal and know whether we have achieved our goal, we need to have a chart progress report. This progress report is important to keep us in the right track. We can create our own progress report. It should consists Date Weight Height Arms size Waist size Hips size Thigh size Calves size We can ask someone at home to help measuring our body size. We should stand straight and long and breath normally without needing to hold breath. It will be more accurate if we measure our body without clothes. If we have advance instrument to measure our body composition, it will be great to put it inside too even though it's not accurate 100% Body Fat % Water % BMI Muscle Mass Bone Mass Visceral Fat Metabolic Age BMR Below is the sample of my progress report chart from year 2012 to current year (April 2018)

Myths 1 : Clean eating is always best for us Fact : Eat clean doesn't mean that the person is taking the best approach for his/her health Some people can develop an obsession with finding the cleanest food or what they put into their bodies to the point where they mentally or physically punish themselves if they eat something they do not believe is clean If the persons adopt an unhealthful attitude toward eating and feel guilty what they put into their food, they should see the doctor. Most treatments focus on cognitive - behavioral approaches where they learn to recognize their obsessive thoughts Myths 2 : Some foods are dirty Fact : Just because food has additives doesn't mean it's unhealthy Some people may refuse to eat foods that contain additives because they thought it's unhealthy, however there are some beneficial food additives. Eg. Vitamin D can be added to milk to enhance bones or omega-3 and calcium to soya milk. These foods may not b

What is clean eating ? Eating the whole and real food with un- or minimally processed, refined making them as close to their nature as possible. Balanced diet is the key, clean eating diet allows eating each food group and less not so healthy ones. It embraces the whole food from carbs, good fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals from different source what the earth provides. What are the benefits of clean eating ? Loading up with minimally processed, whole foods not only provides nutrients to support healthy cell functions but also helps fight chronic disease. 1. Feel energetic and productive 2. Help regulate blood sugar  3. Lower risk of cardiovascular disease, protects again stroke and high blood pressure 4. Loading antioxidant fruits and vegetables can help to prevent cancer growth 5. Support our mental health especially omega - 3 fatty acids  6. Weight loss due to less sugar, salt, saturated fats and other preservatives 7. Strengthen immune sys

A crash diet is a method to lose weight really fast in a short period of time by reducing the daily calorie intake as low as 700 calories a day. It can shed some weight within days or few weeks. IS CRASH DIET EFFECTIVE ? If it is for a certain target date, for eg there is upcoming event or wedding party, it is the most effective method.  However by depriving our body of so much calories and valuable nutrients puts a lot of stress in our body which may bring disadvantage and less effective method of losing weight. Another name for crash diet is YO-YO effect. Since we restrict too much calories, our body will go into survival mode and reduce the calories it burns during normal daily activity. When we start eating normal again, it's very easy to add the kg back on since our body is burning less calories. There are MANY TYPES OF CRASH DIETS, I pick few ones (Source from Fast Slim Body website ) 1 . Juice Fast Crash Diet Consume nothing but fruits and

What does endurance means ? It is the ability of our body system to exert and remain active for a long period of time as well as its ability to resists, withstand, have immunity to fatigue. In other words, with exercise we can increase our stamina and more energetic. This is currently my personal goal to improve endurance. What I do is interval training using cross training machine. 5 minutes warm up 30 seconds high intensity 60 seconds medium intensity 30 seconds high intensity 60 seconds medium intensity 30 seconds high intensity 90 seconds medium intensity The benefits of interval training are improving cardiovascular capacity and burning more calories.

Toning is usually the next fitness goal for those who have achieved healthy BMI range. What is "being toned" means ? Being toned refers to a firm body with muscular definition and shape. The firming up or toning is due to an increase in muscle tissues as well as a low enough body fat percentage to see the body shape. When we do resistance and strength training, our muscle grows in size and mass therefore it's firmed up. In order to achieve a toned body, we need to engage in strength / resistance training more as well as maintaining our low percentage of body fat. Generally, resistance training works well if it produces fatigue between 10 - 15 repetitions. As for my exercise, I did 3 sets of strength training with cardio exercise in between. I will start with 15 repetition for 1st set, 12 repetitions for 2nd set and increase the weight, 10 repetitions for 3rd set and increase more weight than the 2nd set. The benefits for body toning is the more muscle tissue

This is the common goal that many people set especially those who have BMI in overweight and obese range. Losing weight can be achieved within short or long term. Short term means we can loss quite amount of weight within days or weeks. It's usually preferred by those who have upcoming party, wedding or important events. The fastest way to do that is CRASH DIET . There are many types of crash diet but the basic understanding is the same. We limit the number of calories intake or restrict the food that we take. Some are totally avoid carbs, some only eat fruits and vegetables. Does it work ? Yes, it's been proven that we can lose weight by using this method But Is it sustainable ? No, our body system will react differently and once we stop this method and back to normal diet, our body will gain more weight than before. It's also called yo-yo method. I will explain more about crash diet method, pros and cons here . Long term solution means we can loss weight