I don’t know what else to say

This is my BMI now=20.22. And from that, you can see that it is still within normal range. I know what is normal and what is abnormal and I am NOT trying to go into the underweight BMI range.

If you have read my previous posts, you will know that I only want to reach a certain weight and I have already reached that weight and I do NOT want to go any lower. I am happy to stay at this weight for a very long time or maybe gain a kilo from muscle mass.

(If you haven’t, please read first before giving your opinion.)

I am not trying to tell people to lose weight or judge people if they are overweight or underweight. I am only concern about our bodies and I am only writing our journey to lose weight and how we do it. If you happened to feel motivated by the way we lose weight and want to emulate, I feel very honoured.

But if you feel threatened by our weight loss, there’s nothing I can do about it. You just have to deal with that feeling yourself. I do not preach for you to lose weight, it’s your choice whatever you want to do.

But, please do NOT presume to tell me that you know what is best for me. We are losing weight the right way, by eating right and by exercising. We are not starving ourselves, we still eat good food at every meal and at snack time and we are feeling fitter from the exercise.

What is wrong in that?

If I happen to look much older after the weight loss, so be it. I know I am old, there’s nothing I can do about it. I am not trying to stop the clock either. But I’m not trying to look like a skeleton either.

We are really happy with the way we are now. We feel lighter, fitter, healthier and happier.

It’s much better to be looking older but happier with our weights than looking young but unhappy with the body weight every single day. Being unhappy not only drags you down, but will drag other people around you down as well.

It’s not fun to be unhappy all the time .

And to show you guys that we do eat, I’ll tayang our dinner tonite.

I made thai green chicken curry (the low fat version) with stir fry veges, rice and keropok microwave .

I sejak dari baru kahwin dulu memang masak poppadom in the microwave but everytime I masak keropok ikan in the microwave, tekak I tak boleh nak telan sebab memang tak sedap langsung.

But since dah malas nak menggoreng2 sekarang ni, terpaksalah masak the keropok in the microwave again. But this time, I just spray it very lightly with olive oil spray and masak in microwave. Baru lah rasa dia a bit better (but still tak sesedap yang di goreng lah).

Siapa kata kalau makan nasi tak boleh lose weight, hehehe……

Gambar the 2 of us, finally

Today was our cheat day.

What’s a cheat day? I guess with us, it’s when we eat the whole day’s calorie allowance in 1 seating .

Nasib baik pagi tadi buat 45 minutes of cardio exercise so banyak lah jugak calories that are in our bank for us to splurge on, hehehehe.

We went out for lunch today to Hillary’s Boat Harbour and we had fisherman’s basket for lunch, which is basically a basket filled with fried stuff! Every seafood in that basket was fried and the fries obviously were fried too. Luckily ada banyak salad in the plate so tak lah rasa macam nak termuntah makan benda fried tadi.

It is quite funny sebab we all dah lama tak makan benda deep fried so bila makan tadi, my tekak and perut rasa lain macam aje. My brains pun rasa macam ‘sakit’ aje tengok all the deep-fried stuff. Patutlah the trainers on the Biggest Loser when they were forced to eat fatty food for a week terus termuntah2 aje.

I know I should have opted for the grilled stuff instead tapi biasalah kan, kadang2 mata lagi besar dari perut and when it’s a treat to go out once in a while, terus splurge macam tu, hikhikhik…..

Luckily with our kind of ‘diet’, we don’t beat ourselves senseless for eating those types of food. Because, we know that once in a while, we will over eat. So, when that happens, we will just increase our exercise in the next few days and go back to our normal low cal diets straight away. Easy solution kan!

And since dah keluar outing tadi, apa lagi, I pun suruhlah Miss 11 ambik gambar we all berdua tadi since we haven’t had any photos taken of both of us together bila dah selim melim ni kan .

I know, takdelah nampak selim mana kan.

Kalau nak tengok how selim we are, kenalah I pakai Cat Woman’s suit and The Other Half pakai Superman costume to really show off our slim bodies, which we will never do fortunately!

Hehehehehehehehe…..

How he did it and is still doing it

The Other Half is so chuffed that so many people can see the difference in him after 2 months of hard labour, hehehe.

He said thank you so much for all the encouragements and the compliments especially the resemblance to a certain actor bit, muahahahaha.

(he knows it’s only the baldness that resembles Bruce Willis the most tapi sekali sekala perasan takpe lah kan ).

But I know memang ramai yang terperanjat sangat2 bila tengok the 2 photos and maybe ramai jugak yang tak percaya when we say that we only use the exercise and calorie-control method to lose the weight.

Sure ada a few yang ingat we all guna other things that we are not telling kan?

Percayalah, memang takde guna any other things apart from hard exercise and watching what we eat.

We whole heartedly believe in calories in=calories out. Kalau calories in berlebih, you akan gain weight. Kalau calories out yang lebih, you will lose weight. Senang aje equation kitaorang ni, hehehe (but this is only for normal people without any medical problems that can cause abnormal weight gain or weight loss ok).

I’ll table down his typical weekly exercise and food regime below.

Since joining MyFitnessPal, we have been watching our calorie intake.

Bila you join this program, you kena key in your details and your weight loss goal. Then the program will calculate your daily calorie allowance based on the info you give.

For The Other Half, for him to lose weight gradually and slowly, he needs to cut down his calorie intake to 1800cals/day sahaja.Tak boleh lebih, tapi boleh kurang. If he follows this, tanpa buat any exercise, he will lose about 400-500g/week which is real slow lah.

But biasalah kan people, semua nak cepat . For him, that’s a bit too slow so he adds exercise to the regime to increase the calories he burns everyday so cepatlah dia lose all his weight.

Monday-Thursday:

-He rides to work at 6.30 in the morning which takes him 1 hour. He burns around 900cals riding in the morning. He normally only has coffee with milk which is around 90cals before the ride.

-He has breakfast at work. His daily breakfast is muesli with loads of oats in it with milk which is around 400cals. And he also has V8 juice for breakfast which is around 100cals.

-Then he has an apple for snack or other fruits. Fruits are not that high in calories anyway.

Then he has lunch which is usually leftover dinner. Depends on what it is, selalunya his lunch will be about 300+cals to less than 450cals.

-After work, he rides home again which takes him another hour and burns another 900cals.

-Then, we have a ‘big’ dinner which is our main meal at around 6-6.30 petang. Dinner yang I buat you all semua tahu lah kan since I tayang our dinners most night, hehehe.

I buat dinner seperti biasa cuma I grill or bake instead of goreng, I substitute all the high-fat stuff dengan low-fat stuff and I increase our vege and salad intake.

But we all still makan pasta, mee, roti, nasi and potato which are our main carbs.

For example, our dinner semalam.

We had chicken breast mince open faced burger and home-made wedges and salad. Wedges tu I buat guna olive oil spray aje so memang kurang lemak sgt2 lah.

The main difference this time is I will weigh/measure every single thing on our dinner plates. Kiranya weighing scale tu dah jadi kawan baik I lah hari2, hahaha.

I measure the home-made low-fat wedges at 150g, chicken breast burger tu I buat sendiri so I know what goes in it and how much it weighs and can calculate the calories, we all cuma guna sekeping roti aje. And plenty of salad on the plate to fill us up.

That burger+wedges meal is less than 370cals but sangat2 mengenyangkan!

-Then he has snack which is normally nuts and a piece of dark chocolate. All these are still within his daily calorie allowance ok.

Dulu2, we all bantai aje makan 2 senduk nasi, 4 keping roti, berlambak2 fries, berlonggok2 pasta. Tak kisah langsung pasal portion, we only wanted to satisfy our tastebuds!

The reason I measure sebab it makes it easier for us to calculate the calories we consume. Sebab we all kena log in every thing we eat on the MyFitnessPal calendar.

Kalau tak measure, macam mana nak tau kan berapa banyak calories yang kita makan.

This program makes us more accountable for our eating habits and also makes us better informed about our food choices.

No one forces us to eat until we gain weight so kalau nak kurus, kenalah become more accountable and take responsibility kan.

Friday:

-He catches the bus to work since nak Solat Jumaat and also nak jumpa we all at the swimming centre after school.

-So, since dia tak boleh ride in the morning, he and I will do a 30-45 minute upper body/core body exercise with Wii My Fitness Coach (Maya) program pagi2 buta before the girls wake up. Selalunya it will burn around 260cals.

-And then in the afternoon, he does 30 minutes lap swimming which burns 450cals while Miss 7 is having a swimming lesson.

-Meals are the same like Mon-Thursday.

Saturday:

-We do 45 minutes of cardio/upper body/core with Wii Maya in the morning. Kalau cardio, it will burn quite a lot jugak lah.

-Then petang sikit, lepas lunch, he will go on the elliptical/cross trainer and burns another 800cals.

Sunday:

-This is his ‘rest’ day. He only does 45 minutes of cardio exercise with Wii Maya with me in the morning. Sebab he needs his energy for the bike ride the next day .

So, if you tengok, you can see that he only consumes around 1500-1800cals/day while burning around 1800cals/day as well (when he rides to work).

He has a big calorie deficit which resulted in his reasonably fast weight loss.

There’s no magic formula or magic pill or magic juice or magic diet that made him lose that much weight in 2 months.

Kalau you all ikut cara dia, gerenti akan lose that much weight as well, hehehehehe.

The before and most of the way there update

Apasal sampai 2 entries in 1 day?

Sebab I tak sabar nak tunjuk kat satu donia gambar terbaru The Other Half.

Tapi, sebelum tu kena tunjuk before shot jugak kan masa dia tengah gum-gumuks tahun lepas.

I ambik gambar ni on Christmas Day which is 2 months ago lah kan. Memang masa ni he was at his heaviest which was really heavy lah. He was close to 100kgs masa ni!

And tonite, jeng….jeng…..jeng……

Lihatlah donia, betapa banyak nya lemak2 yang sudah hilang dari badan ku ini! Dalam masa 2 bulan, he’s lost about 15kg just by doing loads and loads of exercise every single day and controlling his calorie intake.

Sila berikan tepukan gemuruh ye Tuan2 dan Puan2   

He was wearing a size S top in this photo which he has not been able to wear for a very looooooonnnnng time due to his expanding tummy.

Baru lah nampak macam Bruce Willis kan Lily and Kak Nor! Hahahahahaha…..

I am so so very proud of his achievement .

Laporan Makcik Kebun :-D

Pendragon tanya I semalam, bila I nak buat laporan Makcik Kebun pulak sebab memang dah lama I tak tayang gambar kebun.

Makcik kebun sekarang still berkebun tapi dah tak serajin dulu sejak The Little Misses mula sekolah balik ni. Ye lah, sekarang tengah panas terik deng deng tu so kalau nak berkebun, kena pagi2 buta atau lepas dinner.

I tau lah I kadang2 terer buat multitasking ni tapi kadang2 tak sempat2 jugak pagi2 buta lepas bangun tidur n solat I nak tukar2 sekejap2 ‘hat’ makcik kantin ke makcik blogger tegar ke makcik cleaner ke makcik aerobics ke makcik kebun ni. Mengah weh!

Yang sempat buat pagi2 buta pun cuma menyiram pokok kat kebun aje. Nak belek2 bunga ros pun tak sempat. Bila dah siap semua kerja rumah and bershopping, dah tengah hari so memang tak kuasa lah I nak keluar beramah mesra dengan pokok when the temperature is 36°-38°C.

Dah lah memang sedia kala legam, ada lah yang makin legam karang. My forearms sekarang ni memang dah legam sebab hari2 drive in the sun. (Maybe I should start following some people pakai long white gloves in the car to avoid suntanned arms, hikhikhikh….).

All from different rose bushes. All in different shades of red.

Ini pulak memang kaler dia yellow with a tinge of pink. Bila dia in full bloom, memang kembang semangkuk.

Our no-dig vege patch with cucumber plants and tomatoes. Still kecik lagi .

A capsicum plants yang tersesat kat vege patch but doing wonderful, hehehe.

My kangkung yang setiap masa cuba menakluki the lawn. And The Other Half pun asik nag me to trim my kangkung so tak kacau his lawn, hahahahaha….

Some broccolinis.

The last 2 surviving apples on the tree selepas the ribut hari tu that made all the apples fall onto the ground.

And now, gambar makcik kebun tengah ‘siang’ kangkung, kahkahkahkah…..

Psst…ada yang nak pinjam topi I tu ke?

Laporan makcik kantin

Gambar di ambil oleh makcik kantin yang bertugas dari pukul 6.00-7.30 yang kemudiannya bertukar menjadi makcik supir pada pukul 8.00, hikhikhikhik.

Ini semua bekal Miss 7 to eat at recess and lunch for the past few days. Kadang2 she can finish all the food in there and kadang2 she will bring back a few things untouched.

Her recess is from 10.45-11.05 and lunch pulak from 12.15-1.00. Diaorang kena eat their food first baru lepas tu dibenarkan pergi main kat playground until the bell rings again.

Kalau Miss 7 teringin sangat2 nak main kat playground, dia akan makan her lunch cepat2 and then boleh main lama. But kadang2 dia tak larat nak main when the weather is too hot or too wet so dia akan makan sambil lepak2 and borak2 dengan kawan2 dia .

1 corn chip for me, 1 corn chip for my friend, 1 dried apricot for me and 1 dried apricot for my friend (when I’m feeling generous) .

She told me that her friend asked to taste her Just Juice and she said, “sorry, it’s for me.” Hehehehe. Takkan lah nak bagi that kawan drink from the same straw kan. I slalunya akan freeze the juice overnight so it is frozen when I put it in the lunch box. It will help keep the rest of their lunches cool. But by lunch time, it will be half frozen so just nice to drink. Kadang2 I letak frozen yoghurt.

Her snack changes all the time. Hari ni she wants to have roasted nori and dried apricots for snack.

I don’t think I will ever call The Little Misses lunch boxes bento. Sebab for me bento tu has to be so cute and well arranged and filled with cute veges and rice and meat cut or shaped into cute animals or stars or moons or flowers.

The Little Misses lunch boxes selalunya filled with whatever I can find in the pantry and takde kuasa I nak buat benda cute2 ni, hahahaha. A typical ‘aussie’ kid’s lunchbox .

A curse or a blessing?

Boleh katakan most of the girls on my maternal side of the family are ‘cursed’ with the Ijok Jawa genes (or is it a blessing in disguise?)

Doesn’t matter how thin we get, our thighs and calves remain large (in comparison to the rest of the body). And when we gain weight, that’s the first place all the annoying lemak2 will go to! So, kalau you all envious tengok we all kurus with flat tummies, cubalah tengok our legs then, mesti you all tak envious punya lepas tu, hahahaha.

Kalau tengah gemuk pulak, tak payah lah bayang kan the size, memang memberikan nightmare aje! Kalau kita berlari atau menari,  and then berhenti, peha tu still bergegar lagi after a few seconds, hikhikhik.

I remember Mak I cerita yang once upon a time, one of my aunts pergi jumpa doctor bila dia sprained her knee main netball. Doctor tu terkejut giler tengok the saiz of the ‘bengkak’ on her knee and terus bagi dia MC 4 hari. Pastu my Aunt katalah, “Itu baru tengok sebelah, kalau dia tengok lutut lagi satu, mau dia bagi MC seminggu terus!” Lutut dia tak bengkak pun, memang saiz dia macam tu, muahahahahaha…..

Bila ada baby perempuan lahir, one of the first things we all tengok will be the size of the calves, thighs and knees. Kalau the baby girl is ‘cursed’ with balak-sized thighs and calves, the mothers all will nod and sigh and sama2 geleng kepala and say, “poor her, the Ijok genes are too strong….” hikhikhikhik….

The girls yang terselamat dari the curse memang senyum memanjang aje bila ada get together but they are the minority definitely. Kiranya macam they are the ‘outsiders’ lah .

So, when The Other Half kata my thighs makin mengecut and my calves makin terbentuk, can you imagine betapa kembangnya vontot I ini? Heeeeeeeeeeeeeee……

But we are blessed with pinggang ramping. So, even when we are at our gemukest (bahasa baru ni ), we still have gorgeous waist, hehehe.

Tu yg kalau nak beli pants/jeans, tak boleh beli skinny jeans sebab memang tak kan lepas part betis and peha. Part pinggang lepas tapinya, hahaha. Kalau nak beli skinny jeans or pants, kena beli saiz ikut betis and peha so the pinggang will be a bit gedebeh lah and memerlukan khidmat tali pinggang. Tu yg kadang2 susah nak cari pants and jeans yang cantik for us. And kalau dah jumpa, pakai sampai koyak, hehehee.

So far, I tak tau whether Miss 11 ada genes ‘kaki besar’ or not. Kalau tengok dia masa baby, memang sebijik michelin tyre baby tapi bila dah besar ni, dia boleh pulak pakai skinny jeans. Miss 7 pulak memang dah sahih2 ikut sebelah I lah, skinny jeans and dia tak ngam langsung, hahahaha .

Now…if only some of the fat cells on the thighs and calves nak migrate pergi my chest region, kan ke best! hakhakhakhakhak…..

Maybe sebab ni kot I lagi suka makan peha ayam dari dada ayam, hehehehe….

And our lauk tonite is ayam again.

I made baked honey mustard plus a few other things chicken. Don’t ask for the recipe sebab I letak macam2 tadi mengikut citarasa I. I letak bawang, garlic, ginger, bay leaves, black n white peppercorns, mustard, honey, tomato paste, fresh orange juice, chicken stock, celery, carrot and button mushrooms!

Nasib baik menjadi and rasa dia sedap jugak. Kalau tak, tak berlauk we all makan dinner tadi, hahahaha.

Ayam tu pun nak posing dengan bunga rose jugak .

I think I overbaked it sampai all the flesh melts off the bones, hehehe.

I made crusty bread to mop up the sauce.

Ini pinggan The Other Half. He’s the only one yang suka breast. I cuma akan makan breast kalau dah takde part yang lain or kalau dah di crumbed .

Sunday night

Our bathroom scale has finally given up the ghost!

(I dont know why the saying is ‘give up the ghost’ kalau your barang2 have broken down or not working anymore.)

Maybe sebab we all stepped on it hari hari(kadang2 4-5 kali in one day, hikhikhik) or maybe sebab it’s 4-5 years old kot. Benda2 digital ni kadang2 jangka hayat dia tak lama sebab many more things that can break down.

Nasib baik we have another one in the other bathroom which we can use. Kalau tak, susah lah The Other Half nak keep track of his weight loss kan and susahlah dia nak ‘brag’ and go ‘woohoo’ everytime he steps on the scale, hehehe…

Masa dah habis Summer sale, masa tu lah dia nak break down pulaknya.

Sekarang ni, since I’m just trying to tone up my muscles, I’ve been doing weights and upper body and core body exercises.

I buat the exercises with The Other Half at home aje, on Friday morning and the weekend mornings masa The Little Misses tak bangun lagi. We normally do 30-45 minutes of exercise/morning.

My betis dulu yang saiz macam anak balak dah jadi macam ala2 bunting padi sikit lah, heeeee. And I can finally see the muscle definitions there.

The Other Half kata my thighs pun dah mengecut. My biceps and triceps are definitely showing their heads . My abs and my obliques pun are getting there. So seronok!

And now I’ve increased my daily calories allowance, lagi lah macam2 I boleh makan. My favourite treat at night time is the snack size Picnic bar! 100cals aje/bar . Only 10 minutes on the elliptical to burn that calories, hehehe.

And I can increase the carbs in my dinners as well.

Our dinner tonite, prawn fettucine with garlic and chilli.

Kaler dia kuning sebab I mixed grated carrot in it.

Our favourite pasta dish.