Why Six Pack?

Someone asked me, why do I want a six pack abs? Why? That's a very good question actually.

Well, I want to prove that whatever I want I will achieved it. Anyone can be so blessed and be born with a nice supermodel like body. But not everyone can have the dedication to build a fitter body for themselves. Many throw their towels along this path. Some may opt for shortcuts like liposuction or something like that. It's entirely up to each individual on how they want to achieve their ideal body. I do not rule out the possibilities of getting it done someday, not now. Now I want to fully utilise what I've learnt to achieve my dream body. I want to go where I've never ventured before. I want to see how far I could go. 

I know I'm being impatient sometimes but it's the process that matters the most. As I'm getting stronger each day and knowing that I have the power to change my own body, I feel good about it. There's many benefits that comes along with it too. Stimulation of growth hormone ( looking younger) , burning off more calories even when I'm not working out and most important at all , being able to keep my condition under control. And it's something that I can be proud of.

Gone are the days where I skipped meals or resorted to slimming pills and such to lose weight. It just doesn't work for me anymore and in fact it's one of the cause of my illness. Results were quick because of the water and muscle mass loss and it's even quicker in destroying the body function. Why would someone who studied nutrition and fitness walked that path? Impatient and stupidity. I learnt my lesson the hard way. 

Taking Small Steps at One Time

I was told by the doctor that I'm allowed to jog, at a slow and steady pace. "How about weights training?" I asked. He said NO. OMG, the most dreaded thing has happened. I can only go for mild cardio and I really loathed it, a lot. And this was around a year ago. 

 

Workload started to pick up last year and I was going back and forth from KUL-SIN-KUL and everywhere else. I had no time to slow down and listen to my body. There were lotsa symptoms coming up and I brushed them away like nothing happened. Didn't even realise that I lose a lot of weight, I weighted only 39kg when I was admitted to the hospital. Was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and that explains the heart attack like symptom and those fainting spells whenever I had coffee. At first I thought I was going to die of heart attack or something and I bid my Baby Elise farewell. I just hugged her and I cried ( silly me, watched too much drama I think). 

I was on high dosage of hormone surpressant after that and the numbers on my scale were going up real fast. It's a good indicator actually but I'm getting fatter. One day I just snapped coz of one so called friend started to criticized me. I don't know what's wrong with her. She's very clingy with me and yet she likes to give awful comment about my clothes, my hair and she said I'm FAT!! I just can't take it anymore!

My nutrition and fitness textbooks were collecting dust somewhere by then. Years has gone by since I gave up on them. I was busy at work and I flunk the final exams and I didn't make it to the graduation. Sigh.... But my illness marks the beginning of a new chapter of my life. Slowly I started to pick up those weights ( I know, the doctor said I wasn't supposed to do that) and I started to listen to my body. I spoke to a lot of experts online and read a lot regarding my illness. There are times that I almost fainted when I tried to push it harder because I'm getting impatient and progress was slow. I threw up and I cried because of the hard work involved. In the end I managed to pinpoint my limits and I'll try to work within them. 

My biggest weakness is food. I love all the nice but unhealthy food. I tried to eat as healthy that I can most of the time and at the same time I allowed myself some cheat days so that I won't lose control being deprived of my favourite food for too long. I'm that person that you'll see hanging around the supermarket aisle scrutinizing the food labels. I think I might put off certain guys who wanted to date me which this kind of behavior. Come on, who wants to date a girl who eats boring food like tofu, milk, greens, bananas and nuts most of the time? And I can't expect others to give up their lifestyle because of me right?

I have been prescribing meal plans and workout sheets for a few friends and clients starting from the beginning of this year. They are doing great now and even progressing even better than myself. Sometime I feel like kicking myself for not being able to do as good as them but then I reminded myself that I should be grateful for still being able to do it even with my current condition. I'm grateful for the amount of supports and encouragements that I've been getting from my own personal support group. 

Yeah.... I've been lying to those whose been concerned about my illness. It's not really as mild as what I told you all. I just want everybody to stop worrying so much. And that was a was. Now I've been making a lot of improvements. At least I don't faint in the middle of the food court anymore. At least I can start drinking coffee again. I know.....I know you'll think that I'm just being stubborn and rebellious but I'm not. Sometimes we  know ourselves and our limit better than anyone else. Don't worry I'm good now. 

Here's my little progress picture as the proof that I'm still alive and kicking.

*almost KO'ed by this innocent looking gym ball today 

Walking On Eggs

So many things back logged and there's plenty other new ones coming up. It's been months and I have yet to complete the America blog posts. So many things back logged. The growing numbers of books I greedily grabbed at bookstores faster than I could finish them, broken promises to people that I said I'll make time to catch up with them, my neglected fur babies..... Arrggghh!!! No wonder I feel stressed out. 

19042013: Turning Blue At Buffalo

At this point, my fever faithfully returned to me. I was feeling super chilly and I was shivering. The fever made me fell asleep on my way to LAX. Thank god for the reliable and safe journey from Super Shuttle. Convenient and inexpensive. 

The queue was long at LAX and it stretches to the outer compound of the airport. Damn it, it was 3 in the morning and I'm feeling feverish. Luckily it was a quick one or I might just fainted right there and then. My eyes were hot and heavy, my body was shivering, my legs were heavy and I was dragging along a heavy backpack. Not the the backpack, I had to drag myself too around LAX. I was just too weak to move.

I kept drinking some Vitamin C water along the way hoping that it can helps in my recovery. Sleeping the whole way through the flight. I lost track of how many hours it took to reach Arizona for transit and to actually reach Buffalo. Everything was blurred the entire journey.

But I remembered the adorable Southwest Airline stewardess with her funny landing speech. " We are glad that you enjoyed the flight with Southwest. Most of you were sleeping and some of you were drooling" that followed by some laughter from the passengers. Was she talking about me?"Just to let you know...we have reached Buffalo Airport now" then when it's time to alight from the plane " Now get off the plane " followed by further laughter from the passengers. 

And I managed to snap this as we landed

 Here I am finally at Buffalo. The bad news was my ears were stuffed. I only have one good ear left and I couldn't hear much now and my throat was killing me. I can't hear and I can't talk....

My host Michael picked me up at the airport and we headed to the famous Anchor's Wings after dropping my backpack to meet up with his wife Jill and Jennifer with her family. I got to know Michael through Couchsurfing and we chatted a bit online before I head to America. His wife Jill joined us soon after that and she saw my comment of the creme brulee on my Instagram. They are so warm and friendly.

 As for Jennifer, it's great to be finally meeting someone that you got to know through a virtual farm and still be able to maintain contact for so long. I was looking forward to meet her long before the trip was confirmed. I remembered when I was having some issues sometimes ago, she comforted me online. She seems to project certain kind of warmness and positivity even online. To meet her in person confirms it. Her daughter Ally, I saw her adorable pictures from years ago and she has bloomed into a beautiful young lady now .It was a pity that I wasn't able to talk to them more. My fever makes communication so hard for me. Whenever I tried to open my mouth, my ear and throat pained. Never felt so helpless before. I feel so bad...

I love Buffalo Wings but it's really killing me by eating this with my current condition.

    Michael, me and the ugly buffalo wings lady. I couldn't find a single picture of me with Jennifer and her family. I don't know why. Did I or I didn't had any pictures taken with them? I can't remember much. Everything was so blurred to me.

The cozy and nice bedroom at Michael's place. His house was like those that I used to draw when I was a kid. House with chimney and a garden. I like this place very much. As you see that the guest room is this pretty, what's more for the other part of house. I want my future home to be something like his with a fireplace( a fake one of course considering the crazy weather back home). I didn't take much pictures of his place but I still remembered the design deeply in my memories.

18042013: City Of Angels

You never been to Los Angeles if you never visited these famous landmarks. Here I am hiding my sick face behind my Kenneth Cole shades. It's getting worse but anyway here's the snapshots that I still managed to get:

   Griffith Observator had appeared in some of the mainstream movies like Transformer 2007, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and so on. Familiar eh? And it's situated right across the famous Hollywood Sign, a landmark and the American cultural icon. The initial purpose of this sign was far from what we know today. It was actually an advert for a housing developer back in 1923. It was the rise of the American movie industry that made it famous.

Do you know that it cost $30 k per year for the maintenance of this star at the Walk of Fame? The star itself is made of terrazzo  and brass.

   I found the hand prints of the vampires!! Twilight!

Mann's Chinese Theater, home to many world class movie premiers. 

    Rodeo Drive, another famous filming location and home to the region's favorite luxury boutique. Things are expensive here. All I can ever afford is to stand here for a picture.

My room at Sheraton Garden Grove. No, I won't be sleeping here tonight. I have a flight to catch at 5 am to continue my solo journey to the Northeast. Just to roll around on the bed...

17042013: A Boring Day

Fooling around as I feel better this morning. I thought my body can bounce back easily from illness. I was so so wrong. 

Today is our shopping day. Actually I'm the only one feeling unexcited about shopping here. Something's totally not right about me. My fever escalated in the afternoon and I had to pile on my clothing even though I'm at indoors. 

And I lose 3 dollars at the jackpot machine!

16042013: The Real McCoy

Considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, world apart from those that I made up about Creme Brûlée. Inhabited by the Native Americans for thousand of years and the first European known to have seen it was Garcia Lopez de Cárdenas from Spain. It's also the first canyon that this June from Malaysia will be able to visit today. I'm talking about the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Western Grand Canyon to be exact. Run by the Hualapai tribe ( meaning People of The Tall Pine).

Can't wait to get there. It looks pretty hot at the desert but looks can be deceiving. It's pretty chilly out there, I'm  in my shorts today due to some wrong information given by some professional tour guide, yes I'm being sarcastic here. It's my blog, I can say anything I want...

And here I found my Dreamcatcher. Funny though, I see people hanging them in their cars, they sleep in their cars or what? Supposed to hang them at the bedroom's window or near the bed filtering away the bad dreams leaving us with the good ones. It's hanging by my bedside now.

   When I was a kid, I always heard adults telling their children that if they are being naughty, the police will catch them and throw them into the prison and feed them curry rice. Maybe they really serve curry rice to the inmates in Malaysia or children hate curry? And in Hong Kong movies they serve inmates oranges with each meal. This seems like the ultimate inmate meal here.

   The Hulapai tribe performing during our meals

   I could get a better snapshot if I move forward just a little more but I can't as I'm afraid of height. This is the best that I can get from here.

   The aerial view from the helicopter. What can I say? Oh my god! Wow! This is great. A truly intimate encounter with this inspiring landscape.

   A cruise along the Colorado River getting even more intimately close to the immensely powerful Canyon itself. I feel like I want to cry now. What an incredible experience.

My day's itinerary ended at Wolfgang Puck Bar and Grill@ Venetian for dinner. Consider a pleasant one because I don't have to go for Chinese food in America like the first day I arrived. 

And then I just fell sick. Feverish with sore throat. Either I got it from the others who were already sick few days ago or from the other worldly encounter last night. I have no idea.

I popped this and I went to sleep early alone in the room, my roommate went for another show tonight. The same haunted room! As days to come, I'll be even sleeping in places that I never imagined I could. If I want to sleep, haunted or not haunted, I can sleep anywhere anytime. I might even sleep in the cemetery if I had to. I don't care, I just want to hit the sack.

Poor me, sleeping early in Vegas! And this is only the beginning. My worse form has yet to come