Best calf workout

The best calf workout is to walk up the stairs without skipping a step. I stay at the highest floor in hostel which is the 4th floor (G, 1, 2 ,3 4) and I feel my calves burning walking up the stairs. Another way to workout your calves is to walk fast to class. This also works out your calves. But going up the stairs a few times a day really makes my calves less flabby and it's hard. Haha. If you skip steps, you will workout your thighs, which is also a good thing and it saves time but I don't have that much energy to skip steps because I go fast and I will be out of breath.

Diet

To start, my diet is nothing like those fitness enthusiast. Malaysia has so many nice food and Malaysian food are actually quite healthy if you think of it. Not everything is deep fried. Most chinese food are stir fried anyway.

For many weeks in the past month or so, I haven't been feeling full. Of course my family will think that I'm eating so much and all. They will do their best to discourage me from working out and want me to gain weight so I look exactly like them. I know they can't stand the fact that I'm the slim one at home and the only one who workout to keep fit. So many people are jealous of me because I eat alot and still don't grow fat.

I told my friend that I haven't been feeling full. She gave me a really really good point. She said that means I'm not eating right. I'm not eating enough for lunch because I used to cut my portion so that I will lose weight. It doesn't work at all anyway. I have to eat more for lunch because after lunch I will have to go to class and after that rest then workout. I can eat less for dinner because I'm not going to workout after dinner. What she said was really a good point. I'll take her word because she used to be an athlete in school and her fitness advice are really useful.

My portion is quite big because I need the energy to workout ok. I will not have enough energy to workout if I eat too little. I also found out that I need meat and/or protein in my diet, especially lunch so that I will at least have enough energy to workout. If it's all carbs (such as pasta without meat), omg, I will feel full for a while and then super hungry later and in the endm I will not have enough energy to workout at all.

New Workout

During my internship, I gained some inches around my belly, arms and thighs. It's like generally my whole body because I never workout. I just had my dinner too early so I didn't workout right after work. I have my dinner right after work. Now, I'm staying in campus so I have all the time in the world to workout and of course study.

I totally changed my workout. I do not have a routine anymore because Routine is the Enemy. This is because if you keep on doing the same workout, you will build muscle and that workout is effortless. It also means that your body is used to that workout.

If can, do not repeat the same workout in two consecutive workout sessions. For example, today you do bicycle crunches. Don't do bicycle crunches for the next workout session. Do it for the subsequent one. Or even better, don't repeat for 1 week.

Last time I keep on using my dumbells until it doesn't feel heavy anymore. I then stopped using it for like 2 weeks and now the dumbells feel heavy. I can get  good workout with my dumbells now. 

Besides that, some workout are really simple. I haven't been pushing myself enough because I keep on doing simple workouts which are not high intensity. I remember when I was 14-15, I went for karate classes and the training is really high intensity and I had 2 packs from once a week, 2 hours karate lessons. 

After I stopped, the weight started to come. I was 45kg at 14-15 and I was 50kg at 16. I gained alot of weight and my clothes don't fit anymore because I gained weight and grew a little bigger. It's impossible that I'm the same size at 14 and 16. My mum obviously doesn't believe me because she believes that I'm fat and I didn't grow. 

Even at that time, my BMI was only 20. I wonder how's that near to fat. Many people just can't accept the fact that I eat so much and stay the same size. My biggest secret is that I workout now. 

I never workout when I was 16-18. When I was 18, I was the fattest in my life. I weigh 52kg at that time. So at 19, I started working out, doing alot of strength training which was wrong in getting 2 packs. It took me like a year to reduce my belly fat. 

I then found out that I had to do cardio in order to lose fat. Once I started jogging in order to lose my belly fat, wow, it took me only like 2 weeks. My weight didn't change because there's not that much fat in the first place. I still wear the same size clothing since I was like 18. 

I found this youtube channel called BodyRock.TV. and their website is http://www.bodyrock.tv . Their workout is really intense and the host, Zuzana is really muscular but not buff. Checkout her workout. It's a killer

I really like workouts these days, it looks so fun and new. I'm not really into old fashioned workouts such as sit ups. I never do sit ups. Many coaches will say it's bad for your back if you go all the way down. For more modern workout, you should visit this youtube channel called DietHealth and the host of DietHealth has her own channel called SarahsFabChannel . There's another youtuber called Cassey Ho and her youtube channel is called blogilates. She's famous for pop pilates. It's really tough abs training and she keeps a real poker face or it's effortless to her. I've tried doing her workout and I can't keep up.

If you find workout a hassle and think that it's so hard to maintain, then just don't workout and grow fat and go on diet in hoping that you will lose weight. Eating a less rice and have alot of junk food for snacks does not help you lose weight. Unfortunately, many people do that. To avoid snacking, think that you do not have enough money to buy snacks and snacks are a treat once in a while. 

Don't say contestants in the Biggest Loser now have to restrict their diet like mad and can never stop exercising. This is the life they chose, to never stop working out. I also chose the life to never stop working out so that I'm always fit and not fat . I always believe that Fitness = Ease of Movement. I remember I can move easily when I did karate, unlike now with my low intensity workout.

Nobody should ever stop working out. If not, why are there so many public service announcement saying that one should have regular exercise? Having regular exercise means that one should never stop workout.

Keeping fit, working out regularly and eating healthy is a maintenance. You should workout to maintain your body. Only idiots will only say that Biggest Loser contestants have to workout  for the rest of their life. Who doesn't? It's such a stupid statement. Even after the show, in order to keep their weight, they have to workout vigorously. That can be changed to suit their daily and working lifestyle. Control their diet, gain a little weight because of the lack of exercise then start losing the weight again and depend less on exercise. 

I know my family doesn't believe in my eating habits and think that my workout is unnecessary. I don't eat white bread because I will bloat and then my tummy will be so fat. So now I only eat wholemeal bread. When I was doing my Foundation, I never eat white bread or buy buns almost at all. My dad thinks that white bread n wholemeal bread is the same and don't believe me when I say that I will grow damn fat from eating white bread. If I eat white bread 3 times a week, my tummy will be fatter and it's obvious. 

Aloe Vera Face Mask

I tried aloe vera face mask yesterday. I got the aloe vera from my neighbour's garden. That neighbour migrated to Australia and left the house and car for my family to take care. 

I cut the aloe vera nearest to the root, because that was what I saw in youtube. You can store the aloe vera in a container and don't close and don't refrigerate it. 

I found a very easy way to apply this mask. Take the aloe vera and remove the outside (the green part) and take the gel and place it on your palms and mash it with your fist or with a fork. Then you will the very gooey gel. Rub the gel between your palms and apply it on your face and neck like as if you are washing your face.

Leave the mask on for around 1 hour or overnight. After washing off the face mask, your face will look like it has less scarring and your face will glow (on other words, shiny).

Egg White Face Mask

Egg white mask if good for cleaning your pores. You can use it on your entire face and neck or on selected areas. all you need is egg white, baby powder and facial tissues. You don't need to use the whole egg white for this.

To make this mask, just simple take the egg white and beat it until it's abit foamy and add a little baby powder. The baby powder will help the face mask to stick on your face better.

Next, take the tissue and separate the layers of tissue. You only need 1 ply. Cut the tissues into smaller pieces to it's easier to stick them on your face. You can also take the whole tissue and put it on your face and then cut holes  for your eyes, nose and mouth.

Take the egg and powder mixture and apply it on your face with a brush or your fingers or anything else. Then apply the tissue on your face. If the mask doesn't stick well, you may apply more egg white n powder mixture on top of the tissue.

Once you're done with putting tissue on your face, leave it to dry. This takes quite long so I recommend using hair dryer with cold air or a fan. Once the face mask is really, really dry, hard and stiff, you are ready to remove them.

For me, I did not see must pimples on the mask but my face feels smoother after that. Good luck trying!!!!!

PS: You can try the honey mask on your lips as a lip mask. You can try other edible stuff but I won't be responsible for them.

Homemade Face Mask

It's been a super long time since I've blogged. So here's my new post about homemade face masks. I will share with you the homemade face masks I've tried. I started using this because I wanted to try them and these ingredients are always forever in my home.

If you google all these homemade masks, the recipe is like 1 teaspoon of each ingredient. It's such a waste because your face is not that big. In total 1 teaspoon of face mask is all you need. You wouldn't want to keep your face mask in the fridge and then use it again.

By the way, it's not that hard to make face mask. It's somehow like making Milo, tea or coffee. Homemade face mask is also super cheap. You need like a quarter of a teaspoon of each ingredient for 1 application. You can just calculate yourself how cheap is it to make homemade face masks.

My mum always say to put face mask overnight. All my friends said it's really bad because the dirt that come out from your face will stick to the mask and if you leave it on for too long, the dirt will go back in. It's true. There's no such thing the longer the better. So I recommend to put face mask for 15-30 minutes.

My mum also teach me and my sis to never neglect the neck because if you age, you neck will not look nice. So put all your facial products on your neck as well.

For all these masks, you can try to use a plain sheet mask if you like but i personally don't like sheet mask, especially the packet mask because it's so messy.

Honey + Yogurt
I find this mask ok because I put more yogurt than honey. This mask makes my skin more moist and soft. It's really good if you want your face to be moist but it doesn't make your skin less bumpy.

Honey + Milk
For this mask,, use more of honey and just a tiny splash of milk. It's ok if the honey is cold and not runny because you are going to add milk and it will mix easily and can stay on your face. If you put too much milk, it will be too runny and it will start dripping from your face. If it drips, you can try using plain sheet mask for this, or just wipe off the dripping parts.

This is so far my favourite mask because your face will glow and become abit shinier. This mask does not leave your skin mat like clay mask. Now I like face masks that makes my skin shinier because I feel it makes my skin glow. Hehe.


Honey + Milk + Ground Rice
To make the ground rice, take the rice (I suggest use only a little to experiment) and put it in the blender grinder. The grinder actually works on small amount of rice because once it starts, the rice will fly everywhere in the grinder. I tried pounding it but the rice flew everywhere. You can use food processor or anything else for this. Grind the rice until it's like fine sand. I don't have the patience to grind it until like powder.

The grinder is the one on the left.

This is a scrub mask. Use more of honey and only a tiny bit of milk. Add as much ground rice as you want. Leave it on your skin for around 15-30 minutes and before washing them off, wet your fingers and gently massage your face. The ground rice works as a scrub or in a fancier term, exfoliator.

This scrub mask will leave your skin feeling smooth and shiny at the same time. Masks with honey cleanses your face and it also mositurizes your face.

Bedak Beras  + Water/ Milk
I used this mask and it is actually like a clay mask. This mask cleanses the skin and makes it mat (no shine), reduces bumps and tightens the skin. My friend told me once that rice starch tightens pores (not permenantly of course). Unfortunately, this contains fragrance and it is itchy and makes it red for a short while but the effect is good.

I will make this mask in a super thick paste so it will look like a clay mask. I also found out that this will only dissolve in water, not milk. So if you want to mix with milk, be sure to dissolve the mask in hot water (it's faster to dissolve in hot water and it's sterile) and add a tiny bit of milk. The milk actually has no effect so just use water.

My dad told me every woman will use and make bedak beras in the olden days. My mum said every household will have this. To make this, the ladies will soak the rice in water for months and change the water every few days. They cannot pour the water out, but scoop them out. I'll just do the shortcut and buy a bottle of it. It only cost RM4.80 for a bottle and it's a glass bottle. I bought this from Herbs and Food. I think it's available in those chinese medical shop or those really old fashioned shop.

Potato Mask
This is the most simple mask anyone can do. It's so easy. You don't need a whole potato for this. Take a potato and remove the skin for like half of it and wash it. Take a slice of potato (you can use the peeler for this) and rub all over your face. If the potato ran out of juice, just take another slice.

My sis saw this in Cleo Magazine last time and they suggester to cut half a potato and rub it on your face. It's really wasteful because you don't need half a potato for your face and you wouldn't want to eat the potato that has been rubbed on your face. My mum suggested to slice the potato and stick it on your face. Not very convenient because the potato will drop. Hahahah.

This is a real good face mask for clearing the skin and reducing bumps. Your face will feel soooooooo smooth after this. You can leave this mask for as long as you want because it's not visible. But don't leave it for 1 whole day and sweat all over your face. It's just dirty.

Rice Water Toner
My friend told me that her mum and aunt used to use rice water as toner. To get the rice water, put the rice in water and the water is then rice water. Tada!!!! If you eat rice everyday, take the water that is used to wash the rice.

Take the rice water and apply on a cotton pad and rub it all over your face and neck. The rice water feels soooooo smooth and it also makes your face sooooo smooth. It's really good!!!!!

 The disadvantage is that the rice water will stick after like one night. I once soaked the rice and kept the water as well, it stinked so badly on the second night. I bet it will stink without the rice. So. if you eat rice everyday, be sure to save some of the rice water. I stopped this after the rice stinked because the smell was badddddddddddddddddd so I used back my Clean n Clear toner.

Applying Toner and Moisturizer
There's actually a technique to apply toner and moisturizer. My aunt taught me. She taught me to apply toner on my face in an upward motion and from the middle of your face to our ears. And for moisturizer, apply in circular motion and massage the face as well. I never massage my face while applying moisturizer but it's important to because the moisturizer will work better.

I also watched Michelle Phan's video where she tap her face and gently slap her face so the products will work. It really does make the product work better and it's really good. One of my previous roomates also gently slap her face after applying toner so that the skin will absorb it faster. So, remember to tap and gently slap your face after applying toner, moisturizer and other facial products.



Last but not least, you have to sweat everyday so that the dirt from your face can be removed. During my internship, I spent most of my time in the air-cond room and never sweat much and it was really bad for my face. My face became bumpy and rough and dry. I also changed my products thats why.

Bon Odori (16.07.2011) and Floria 2011 (17.07.2011)

Me and my sister went to Bon Odori. It was held in Panasonic Stadium, Shah Alam. We went there to take some photos but there weren't that many photos to take. My dad dropped us there since it's like impossible to find parking. People actually parked in the round about. 

The gates were opened at 5pm but I went at around 4.30pm. There was like no crowd at 4.30. You can walk easily and freely at that time. But after 5pm, O_O it was soooooooo packed. We didn't stay long because the performance was so boring, to me. It was like the same dance but the Japanese obviously enjoyed it alot and some people danced along. Here's the link to the pictures.

Bon Odori

The next day, my dad suggested that we go to the Floria Festival in Putrajaya. We went at noon because that is the time where the sun is brightest and hottest!!!!! It was really nice to take photos there because there are just soooooo many flowers!! It would have been nicer if I have a macro lens!!!!! There are stalls that sells flowers, outdoor garden and indoor air-conditioned hall. It was obviously to be indoors since it's so damn hot. Here's the link for the Floria Festival photos. 

The best part after this was I had fever on the night of the Floria Festival because it was so damn hot!!!!! I already had cough the day before Bon Odori due to sick building syndrome. The office is air-conditioned, so it's cold and it also don't have good ventilation. My colleagues were sick so obviously I get sick as well. I had to skip one day of work. The bestest part is I am not entitled for any leaves, not even MC!!!!! 

Now I know why offices offer medical leaves for their staff, not only because they are unfit to work, but also  they contribute to sick building syndrome.

1st Guitar Song and 1st Month of Internship

My guitar teacher gave me a real hard song to play. 30 mins lesson is super short. I can't even go through the whole song. I learned how to hammer and read guitar tabs. It's quite hard to read because the font are so small. It's still not as hard as reading notes.

This week's song is 3 Doors Down - Landing in London. I never heard of this song before but it's ok. I have to youtube the song and how to play it. I think the teacher expect alot from me since I know how to play the piano. I requested James Blunt - High but my teacher didn't being that song.

I seriously feel so old there. When I enter the music school, it was all small children, like kindergarteners. I'm like the same age as my guitar teacher but he's obviously abit older. Damn, i feel old. It's so long ago since I was 18. I feel that I entered uni sooooooooo long ago. I used to be so young, 18 and now I'm 22.

I am so not ready for the working world. I am so determined to work in the music industry, which is teach piano. I have no hope in performing since I never memorize songs and I'm so not trained to perform. But I think I still need to work in office after grad because I don't want my degree to go to waste just like that. Plus I will get more exposure and better income. I plan to teach piano part time (if there is time!!!!)

I also want to open my own bikini business last time but now I don't really have the mood. If i start my own bikini business, I don't think i want to go retail. But in Malaysia, e-commerce is not so good and strong because people here still go retail. Malaysia is not even a big country. People from outside KL can just go KL to shop. It's not like damn far away.

I am seriously like so lost now. I seriously don't know what to work as after I grad. I know I'm like forced to get my Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) membership. But I'm ok if I don't take. If i want to take the membership, I have to work in audit firm and there is no time to even play the piano if I do audit. I will never work in tax because it's boring and sit in office whole day. I only intern in tax dept for 1 month and I hate it. It's boring and nothing to do. At least I'm paid to play games in office and do nothing.

At lease my office never block Facebook but they obviously block yahoo mail so that people can't send info out of the company. At least I still have a social life in office. At least I can still keep in touch with my friends who are still in uni. Plus, I can chat with my dear while in office. At least my dear is there to entertain me. Hehehe. My dear is soooo good to go online during working hours to chat with me. Muackssssssssssss dearrrrrrrrr

Internship and Guitar lessons

I know I haven't updated my blog recently because I was lazy. I was never busy except exam season. I went to Bangkok like 6 weeks ago and I didn't posted anything about it. I actually bought alottttt of clothes. They are so cheap and good quality, unlike those in Sg Wang. You can check out the Bangkok photos in my sis blog. She also has more updates. Hehe. I should discipline myself to blog more often.

I've started my internship on 1st March 2011 in Deloitte. The office is comfortable. I have nothing to do. I thought I only don't have anything to do on my 1st week but nooooooooo. I also thought as time goes by, I will have more work but nooooooo. I think I will have more work after a few months. My supervisor also said I might or will (can't remember) be transferred to another team. So far there's no news.

Since I have nothing to do in office besides reading the news, I started playing games. Thank god I can access yahoo games. Plus, facebook is not blocked. At least I still have social life while I intern.

Ever since I started interning, I haven't workout at all. I beat my own record, not working out for 3 whole months ever since I'm 19.

Since I am so free and no commitment in my job, I took guitar lessons near my house. There are alot of music centres near my office but I don't want to learn there because I have to bring my guitar to office (guitar cannot be kept in the car because of heat) and by the time I finish my guitar class, the traffic jam will start.

I started guitar class last week and I didn't learn much. The guitar teacher said I know quite some chords. It's really difficult to learn in youtube because there is no1 to comment on how you play. You wouldn't know if you play well or need improvement.

I even get to choose my own songs to learn, unlike piano class which is so formal. I also have to practice singing to sing along while playing guitar. OMG I'm so bad in singing. I used to practice singing like a year ago and I will become lazy to practice singing after I can sing well. So now I have motivation to sing and play guitar at the same time.

Opportunities

Lesson learnt from my friend Emma : If you miss an opportunity, next time try not to miss it again.
Then it struck me, I never miss any opportunities. I actually haven't find any opportunities yet because studying is such a huge obstacle for all my dreams.

My dreams are:
1. To go to USA
2. Become a flight attendant to travel and at the same time go to US
3. Work in music industry (piano teacher and if I'm super lucky, strike lottery kind of lucky, pianist)
4. Open my own bikini business. Will start as blogshop. This will come the soonest

Gastric Bypass Surgery

I was googling about gastric bypass surgery because I remember watching it on tv, they showed the animation where it bypass the stomach. They actually cut a small part of the stomach from your stomach and that small part will be your new stomach and the remaining of the stomach will be still there but does not have any food and is kept to release digestive juices.

The part where your stomach is connected to the small intestine, the part where the small intestine absorbs the most nutrients is cut off and sewn to the new stomach.

Now I understand it, the new stomach is damn small. Here's a video to make you understand better. I don't know if it's a lazy thing to do or not, like some people opt for gastric bypass instead of working out. I think gastric bypass is worse because you have to change your lifestyle forever.

There's another surgery where they call it stomach stapling where they cut a hole in the stomach to reduce in size. Just watch the video, hard to explain.

It's a life changing experience because they cannot eat much anymore and cannot eat many types of food. If they eat too much, they will throw up because the stomach is so small. They also have to take supplements because the intestine does not absorb as much nutrients anymore and this might cause problems associated with lack of nutrients.

I think gastric bypass is like a last resort if you cannot lose weight through working out and lifestyle change. Can workout be ineffective in losing weight? I always think that exercise and diet is the only non-surgical way to lose weight (don't count slimming centre, don't know what they do to u).

This is the video for gastric bypass surgery, it's not scary, its an animation:


I know that slimming center will give you a diet plan and a drink for you to drink so that you will not have appetite to eat the whole day. So dangerous and unhealthy. The slimming center will obviously work if they give a diet plan. How on earth can you actually lose weight with sauna and massage and stuff anyway. It will work if you keep on going to the slimming center and follow their diet but I bet most people will not maintain after the slimming centre.

I still think going to the gym is the best, not slimming center. I also hate their advertisment. I sometimes think it's not even the same person for before and after photo. It can be photoshop. The worst part is that they advertise "lose 31 inches around your body". Ya, lose 31 inches on my both arms, both forearms, bust, hips, butt, 3 parts of both thighs, calfs, waist, chest, neck, shoulder .......

Homemade Face masks

Now I'm so into homemade face masks. I just tried yogurt, honey and few drops of lemon juice face mask. I suggest 1 yogurt spoon of yogurt is enough for your whole face and like 2 drops of honey and no lemon. I used like 2 yogurt spoons of yogurt, 5 cents coin amount of honey and few drops of lemon. It's way tooooooo much, can use it for another like 5 times. The lemon dried up my skin but it lightens my skin. It didn't dry up that much. I also put it on my lips. My lips are quite soft after that.

Using homemade masks are much cheaper than those packet masks. I bought soooo many packet sheet mask and gel mask and haven't use them because I'm so into homemade masks now.

I know egg white mask with a little pearl powder of baby powder (powder to make the mask stick more to your face) is good in removing blackheads and white heads and in the same time, waxing your face, it dries up my skin alot. I think it's more suitable for teenagers.

Since natural face masks spoil easily and I always make too much because I don't know how to estimate, I keep it in the freezer but I haven't use those in the freezer yet. One tip I can give is that you don't need much ingredients to make natural face masks, a total of 1 teaspoon (1 tablespoon if your face is bigger) of face mask is enough for the face.

Home Face Masks

I was just googling about homemade face masks using natural ingredients. There was one that writes use parsley. Cut parsley into small pieces and add boiling water for 20-30 mins. Then use this 'tea' on your face. When Dori saw that, she said "hmm, parsley" then I said "we should try kangkung" and there goes my clay face mask. All cracked. I actually never use homemade face mask often. I only tried honey alone, not effective. Potato and honey is very good and potato alone is good.

My dad also said once that any vege and fruits we eat, we can put on face. I said no, we cannot put chilli. OMG, imagine that. I will so die of chilli burns. Do people put onion and garlic on their faces? Putting garlic face mask is really good in scaring off vampires and people. I think if you put garlic mask, your face will smell like garlic. 0_0 To eliminate smell, the best is to rub on stainless steel, like rub your hand on the sink or anything stainless steel to eliminate the smell. Imagine rubbing your face with a spoon? Haha

I also tried egg white mask few months ago and I am not seriously doing it again. My face got so damn dry. It must be because I'm old now. Teenager's skin are very strong, their skin can stand strong alcohol, strong cleanser, scrub..... I remember my skin when I was a teenager. Never before it became dry, flaky, irritated (my skin was never irritated before actually)

I also need a new toner. This Bio-Essence toner is so useless so I use it very often and alot to finish it up. The best is clearasil. It actually helps to reduce scars and cleanses the skin well. Dori said her aunts use rice water (water you get from washing rice) as toner. She said it makes their skin smooth. I read that in 1 website too.