Sunday, March 30, 2008

Battling the Bulge

Some 5 years ago when a friend called from the US asking for my waist size. I asked him why. and he said he wanted to get me a pair of Dockers. So I said "OK, that's nice of you; its 32."
"Huh! What...32?" he shot back in disbelieve. "Come on! Seriously, I'm at the store now!"
So I repeated it again, and he still did not believe me. A week later when he dropped over my place, he gave me the pair of Dockers...with a waist size of 36!

I'm on a diet now and have been so for the past 2 months. Oh, its not one of those regulated forced diets, just that I have been skipping dinner - rice, mainly - in hope to overcome some unwanted 'muscles' here and there. The worse part is the middle area where at times it protrudes like an overhang boulder and can be quite unsightly. No matter what I did in the past, I was never successful to tone it down to a more respectable...shall we say, view? But don't look at me with one eye closed - my physique has been this way since I was a kid.

Back during toddler days, I was the only one in the family who could never eat anything with chili, not even chili sauce! And a mere cutting of chili that would be adventurously stuffed in my mouth by my parents would send me searching for water. In fact, I use to even eat nasi lemak with tomato sauce! Over time and without my realising it, my battle against the bulge began, and have been going on for the life I have lived since. Though this battle has been seesawing between a bulge and not, I think I finally am making gains. Now, one may think that I'm just making some boastful statements here but I assure you I am not.

For the past 20 years, my eating habits have changed and I now even eat cili padi without having to resort to water to cool my tongue - a total opposite from much before; drinking while having food is not a good thing for the body, and I believe there is even a hadith about it, but one which I am unable to recall now. Looking back, I now wish that my parents had instilled such discipline within me. But, they are not to be blamed as outside influence did play a role too!

I remember watching movies or TV series where those actor policemen while on stakeout, would be eating burgers, fries, and at the same time drinking. The whole scene may have been only few seconds long but it imprinted an image in the mind of a kid who was left thinking "ooh! That looks delicious!", and later tried to emulate the very manner how the food was gulped down. In fact, writing this down I can just imagine holding a burger in one hand and a milkshake in the other! Hmm...not good for my diet. And most certainly not good in my preparation for a Physical Examination I - insyAllah - will be having maybe sometime in October or November this year.

Now, in preparation for this P.E., I have started doing my exercises. Nothing much currently, just some push-ups and sit-ups; would love to do chins but that would have my emak looking at me in total disbelief! We wouldn't want that now, do we?

To prove that I have made some gains on the main battleground, we now have to reflect back at the pair of Dockers mentioned above - even with a belt on, the pants slowly drops! That is encouraging already, wouldn't one agree? Thus by the time I go for the P.E., I guess I will be fit...and hopefully muscular. Now, this brings us back to my exercises.

As of early this morning, I had made quite a large progress since I started a month ago - I am now able to do 6 push-ups and sit-ups compared to 5 last week.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

hehe unwanted 'muscle' is also know as fat :)
mine is like 32-33 gak hehe

btw the msia nye costum utk makan memakan is wrong i believe, karena mereka makan mlm terlalu banyak

malahan kuotasi yang masyhur menyatakan

eat breakfast as a king
lunch as a citizen
and dinner as the beggar on the corner (atau pauper)

karena pada waktu malam itu kita dah tak guna tenaga, maka nanti tenaga/makanan yang tak digunakan tu (sbb da tido) akan diconvert kepada fat, maka masalah kegemukan

btw yeah, indeed it's not quite right to drink sambil makan lambang air akan mendilutekan the hcl acid and all, dan akan menyebabkan proses penghadaman terganggu

Allahu a3lam

Anonymous said...

*known

cakapaje said...

Salam baez,

True, I agree with you. Tapi fikirkan balik, lagi senang kita berpuasa ek? :)

Unknown said...

What 6 situps and pushups? That's my 1 year quota and you do it in a day? This is excessive man, this is indulgence.

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

boss, rice at night is a definite NO. but thats according to mom lah. yes, proudly managed to stay away for sometime now but when dining out, a plate or 3 of rice is mandatory. cant help it la, so much a rice-man.

*eh, bila nak ke Kayu?

cakapaje said...

Salam Cikgu,

Yes, it is indulgence! Terrible fella that cakapaje!

Lol! Seems you are the only who caught that :)

cakapaje said...

Salam kerpie,

A plate or 3? Goodness! Coming from you, I think that's your minimum :)

Anonymous said...

puasa mmg bagus demi kesihatan katanya, mlhn ibadah

yet org makan baaaaaaaanyak sgt tapi tak berisi2 lak, terus pasrah karena tak dapat membina muscle lol

Bergen said...

Take it slow, don't load the regimen which can only add the pressure for you to do it daily. Just stop when you think you've pushed yourself enough. Don't go beyond that because you may be discouraged to continue doing it. Remember, push ups can be a joy or a drag to do it daily. You've started with 5, which is good. (Although I'm not sure how much you weight, how strong your arms and shoulders are, how far down you bring your chest to the floor before going up with your arms straight etc.)

Maybe aim to increase two counts in a week and make sure you do this push-up correctly. Stop when you feel the pain, reduce the counts. And when the pain heals up, start over. You may want to take up swimming - it's relaxing, and can be quite strenous if do it competitively. I don't recommend cycling, unless you're in Putrajaya. It's not safe out there to cycle these days.

If you planning on improving your push up, don't worry about the set. Do a slow push-up to work up to build a stronger pair of arms. This way you'll be prepared to do more counts when you're ready.

Push-up can be addictive. I believe it's a good thing.

Good luck, and hey, don't give up.

puteri nad said...

cakap ajer..
trylah
sacred heart diet..

do some googling
hiks!

tokasid said...

Salam Shah:

What bulge?
Didn't you know that there are pregnant men in this world?

**Kayu at the curve sabtu ni amacam? MS dah balik.maybe for late lunch.
hang/kepr/MS aturkan and I'll come down.

cakapaje said...

baez,

Tu hang nya metabolism kuat sangat kut. Maka, kenalah hang makan lagi banyak :)

cakapaje said...

Salam bergen,

Hey bro, thanks for the encouragement. And I do know how addictive push-ups and other pain indusive exercise can for I was in the school military cadet :)

cakapaje said...

Salam PN,

Sacred heart diet? Lor...memula ingat heart jenis lain, rupanya heart betul betul! Thanks :)

cakapaje said...

Wa'alaikumusalam Doc,

Pregnant men? Where? lol! Takdak lah camtu sekali...den ni ha, masih...mengiurkan, kata orang la ni lol!

Kayu Nasi Kandar...ooorite! Lepeh tu, kita pekena Ayam Golek Halim lak, amacam? :)

Anonymous said...

salam shah,
lagi satu kan shah, kalau makan duduk bersila (ikut sunnah nabi s.a.w), kita tak rasa nak makan banyak. cepat rasa makanan turun.

cakapaje said...

Wa'alaikumusalam Accia,

InsyAllah, terima kasih. Tapi tu, bila dah berumahtangga sendiri senang lah sikit nak implement. La ni, emak solat pun cara duduk. Jadi den pun...faham je lah.

Anonymous said...

takkan lah nak makan sampai lima pinggan, itu memudaratkan kesihata gamaknye, terus pasrah dan akur akan hukum alam hehehe

moga lepas kawin nanti bertambah berat badan, baru bleh masuk gym heheh

btw kalo tak silap makan ikut sunnah adalah teknik lutut kanan dia naik dan kaki kiri teknik duduk di antara dua sujud

Mat Salo said...

Susah jadi orang Melayu (or any South or South-East Asians for that matter). Tak makan nasi rasa hidup ak sempurna. I have never been totally able to forgo nasi, that's why I've been fighting the Battle for decades...

Shah, kalau nak ikut cakap doktor, I need to lose at LEAST 15 KGs. Kalau boleh 20 KGs.

What? Hang boleh buat 6 push-ups? I can only manage 3... sedih, sedih...

Nak pi mintak tips kat Chegu... :)

cakapaje said...

baez,

Hang kena faham adat orang berkahwin:
kalau sebelum kahwin dia kurus, dah kahwin nanti bertambah berat.
Kalau belum kahwin dia berat, dah kahwin nanti dia kuruih! Apa taknya, jap jap kena dera kerja! lol!

Er...den gurau je ye. Don't eat chili padi raw :)

cakapaje said...

Salam MS,

Memang susah jadi Melayu, nasib baik den Jowo dan berpangkat Wak Kromo, ada gak exercise sikit :)

Weh bro, minggu ni naik 7 le :)

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

shah aka oleg,

you can temporarily halt your personal battle this saturday. 1pm @Kayu Mutiara Damansara. its ON.

cakapaje said...

Ahmad Kerpov,

I've just included you in the lastest entry :)

Anonymous said...

ahaha
i eat cili padi raw lah as ulam
i do bear the pedasness but my perot will resort to urm.. a protest :(