The Way We Were

This post isn't about food, but it's about something that should be as important as food: Fitness. It is a bit long, but I hope that it will encourage somebody to be more fit and healthy. What got me onto this? The final episode of the Australian Biggest Loser was on TV last night (I only watch half of the finale because an episode of Lost was on at the same time - two out of the only three TV shows I watch too!), and there are some really inspiring stories. I guess that got me reminiscing about how unfit and big I used to be. With all our bikeriding and weight training, my friends and family reckon we are fitness freaks. A year ago, we were anything but that. We only started bike riding and weight training at the beginning of 2005, and are pleasantly surprised at how far we've progressed in just one year. In April 2005 it took us a little over 2hours to ride on our bicycles from Highgate to Joondalup (30kms). We had another go (our third attempt) at riding to Joondalup from Highgate a couple of weeks ago (i.e. 1 year since our first attempt), and we took 1.5 hours to complete the journey.

Rob is really proud of how well I'm progressing with my weight training and he reckons I ought to be proud too. I guess I am not so good at recognising my achievements myself (I am quite the perfectionist and tend to aim quite high and think that I can always do better) and rely on others to let me know when I'm doing good. The other day at the gym, one of the instructors walked by while I was doing my squats with a 45kg weighted barbell across my shoulders, and she heartily commended the effort saying that it is very tough. Rob was really chuffed on my behalf, but strangely I didn't feel much. I guess it's coz 45kg is nothing in comparison to what Rob does (95kg!) or what the others in the gym do. See, that's my problem - so far I have not seen any girls use the squat rack to do squats. All of the girls (and most guys) stay away from that equipment and use the machine equivalent or much lighter barbell weights. Some just stick to cardio machines like treadmill and cycling. The only ones who use this free weight machine are guys serious about weight training. So guys are all I have to compare my performance against..

Since young, I'd never been very athletic and never controlled the junk I ate. My dad even said I was the cuddly one - everyone wanted to hold and cuddle me when I was a kid. My parents' greasy Asian cooking didn't help either. Came uni years and I became even less active. Or maybe I ate more. Whatever it is, I think in 2001 I weighed at least 13kg more than I do now. Truth be told, I never tried dieting - I wasn't thin but I wasn't obese hence I didn't think it was necessary to lose weight. Besides, I loved my food and I didn't want to sacrifice anything! (That includes polishing off a packet of Timtams in one sitting *shudder*)

Everyone has to start somewhere. Rob moved into Highgate at the beginning of 2002, and since it was within walking distance to the city and Northbridge, he wanted to walk everywhere. I wasn't so enthusiastic - he had to literally drag me along. Back then it took about 30-35minutes to walk to Northbridge, and I kid you not - I had to stop every 10 minutes to rest and catch my breath - I was that unfit. And we weren't even walking fast! Needless to say, walking to Northbridge and Perth didn't happen very often. I started spending less time at home and more time at Rob's, and had a bit more control over the stuff we ate, but mind you we still ate a whole lot more junk compared to what we eat now. And healthy doesn't mean yucky - I honestly honestly much prefer the food we eat now - more wholesome, natural, less articial stuff that comes in packaged stuff and less junk like preservatives and flavours etc. Mind you, we don't deny ourselves chocolate and sweets - we have them almost every night after dinner but the only difference is we don't scoff lots down - control is the key. In that year, I lost about 5kgs, and I wasn't even trying! I guess I was really encouraged by that - it wasn't as impossible as I thought!

Then I officially moved in with Rob at the beginning of 2003. I still relied on a lot of the bottled sauces like Kantong and Chicken Tonight to make our dinners (geez, I honestly cannot remember the last time I used one of them in my cooking! Maybe last year?). I love cooking but I never was taught how to cook while I was at home (always enthusiastic to learn but my mum always gave me menial things to do like chopping onions). So I pretty well learnt cooking on my own using what little skills I picked up from observing my mum while chopping onions, and I found that I really enjoyed cooking! I loved experimenting with the different ingredients to make my own dishes, and Rob loved eating what I cooked. Anyway, I had even more control of the food we ate so we started eating more fresh produce, less packaged stuff, ate less Hungry Jack's etc - but I didn't cut down the amount of food I ate - the food were just healthier and better. I started walking more to Northbridge and Perth and found it easier each time. The weight just came off and I wasn't even dieting or doing any strenous exercise other than the odd walk (maybe weekly?) to and from Perth/Northbridge. I was stoked because I was finally the same weight as Honey, who was *always* at least a couple of kgs lighter than me.

2004 was a big year for me - I completed my thesis, graduated, began working and got married all in that year. I guess I had less time to take care of myself and I lost a bit more weight. People who hadn't seen me for a long time was amazed at how much weight I'd lost. We bought bicycles at the beginning of 2005 and started doing weight training around the same time. At the time, I complained lots and Rob had to literally drag me out cycling to my workplace or weight training (hm, see a pattern here? Rob's a big motivator and I'm really grateful for that). Since I wasn't eating *more* to compensate for these training, I think lost a bit too much weight. I think I wanted to prove to myself that I indeed do have control over my weight after all those "chubby" years.

My goals are different now. I'm trying to bulk up and put on *muscle* weight and get nice arms like Jillian (the trainer on the Biggest Loser) or Evangeline Lilly (aka Kate on Lost) or even Felicity Huffman (on Desperate Housewives). Because of how small I am now compared to how I was five years ago, I have trouble convincing people that I am actually quite obsessed with food and that I eat a lot (just ask Rob!). I like this 'bulking up' phase coz it means I get to eat more, however, it's not as simple as it seems. I have to put aside my fears of being big and chubby. And convince myself that the weight I put on will hopefully mainly be muscle mass and not fat. I eat small-ish but often - very often. This maintains my energy levels - which is so important especially to Rob because I get grumpy + moody when I don't get food! ;P I eat when I get the first signs of being hungry (hehe, which is when I start thinking about food). I pack lots of food to work and I usually have eaten all of them by 3pm. I feel like a pig too coz it seems like I'm the only one in my office who eats this much and this often! With this volume of food, it's important to keep it varied because it's easy for me to get tired of eating one type of food. So I can't simply double the portions of whatever I eat which poses a problem because I often run out of things to eat!

We are making good gains with our weight training and last night Rob pointed out that I'm now doing weights that are equal or more than what Rob was doing at the beginning of our weight training last year (e.g. started out doing squats with 20kg - I'm now doing 45kg; started out doing deadlifts with 24kg - now doing 65kg). I don't pretend that it's easy - it's really tough work but you get good results. And I don't pretend to like weight training - even after 15mths of doing the stuff, it's not something I look forward to.

Anyway, the point of this post is to encourage you to be more healthy. Your body and mind will love you for it.