If I Ever Look Like This....

And there is a reason why I don't look like this woman.....

I Wish

Focus Focus!

How can I focus when temptation is everywhere?

My weight has been fluctuating between 70.5kg to 71.9kg, early morning weight being 70.9kg.

That is an achievement, or so I'd like to think since I was at 71.5kg for the longest time.

Foodwise, I still refrain from rice and any kind of noodles.

I feel guilty having curry puffs, so I don't.

My main carbo take I guess would be my maid's cekodok sayur and the occasional murtabak.

I usually have plain water for Iftar. Actually, I don't think I eat much, just indulging my sweet tooth with my own made chocolate chip cookies.

My observation during this phase is :

If I eat late at night say 9pm onwards, for sure I will put on 500gms the next morning.

My knees are a bit wobbly with this weight loss. Is there calcium loss as well??

I don't feel fit, which makes the need to exercise a must.

At 71kg, I just need another 6kg to go. But oh! I need to load first in R2!!!

Unstable Stabilization

Morning weigh-in 71.4kg.

As of yesterday evening, I was 70.9kg.

Usually my end of day weight is 71.4kg.

Such excitement, NOT!

I think I am just fed-up with things. Not enough pages in this blog to tell my predicament. Need to simplify my life.

Stabilization - Not In the Mood

What's new about my weight? I seem to be maintaining at 71.5kg, lowest was 71.1kg and on a day when I had a late night 10pm it was chicken soup, I shot up to 72.4kg.

Well no more late night eating out then. Buka puasa is typically chicken or fish, salad and some form of kuih, my favorites are usually kuih lompang (or more commonly known as kuih kasui), kuih kelepung (or more commonly known as buah Melaka) and an occasional curry puff or popiah goreng. I believe the ACV has helped me tremendously in maintaining my new weight coupled with the fact that my sahur is usually an apple or just water and coffee with milk.

And yes, people, I have indulged in the much craved Nescafe Tarik. Now that I have had it, I don't want it anymore.

Last Saturday, MrM's brothers and families converged at our house for buka puasa. What a feast. I had two pieces of ayam percik, one cup of very sweet cendol Kuala Pilah, one ekor ikan senangin, one curry puff and a palmful of mee goreng. I had expected my weight to shoot up to 73kg for sure but turns out next morning I was 71.9kg before toilet business. Funny this diet.

MrM has been hovering between 81 to 82.5kg depending on what he ate. He has been rather liberal with his food intake compared to me. And he refuses to take ACV because he says the smell makes him want to puke. But I guess he has a faster metabolic rate compared to mine. After 4 kids, my challenge is to lose the pouch that came with the caesarean. He does not have a pouch and his stomach is as smooth and flat as Harith's cheeks. Ok ok I exaggerate but you get the drift.

I think fasting helps the weight maintenance. Another challenge will be after fasting month and normal eating resumes. By normal I mean the three meals a day normal. Not normal eating like I used to.

Work front I have been busy as usual. Tough when I have to work and not be a Tai Tai....I am so not in the mood now with work. But then that is a different entry. I have to drive myself more than driving my team towards results.

Nothing Much to Update

My morning weight has been fluctuating between 71.5kg to 71.7kg, depending on how much I eat, I guess, for buka puasa. Not disciplined as my friends are, and not exploring recipes that is health conscious. I have been so busy and today, almost lost my temper with one of my staff. Sometimes I wish I am a Madam Tai Tai, thinking of the next Tod's D Bag Bauletto I want to add to my collection instead of cracking my head on the risk insights that needed to accompany the company's performance reporting. I am getting all sorts of demands from every business and with two staff on maternity leave, I don't have enough hands to address everything.

I told MrM that some of the wives of pilots in RK seem to have it all. Big houses, fancy cars, time to make themselves beautiful, time with kids, while I have to slog this routine at work and make sacrifices. Not that I am ungrateful for the lot in my life but at times like this, the thought of having a Tai Tai life have crossed my mind more often than not.

And at times like this too I noticed that my diet goes awry. I thought of starting the diet again in the last week of September and this time, I want to get to 65kg minimum. Anything below that would be a bonus. That will bring me to my weight at 17 years old, starving in good ol' Texas surviving on soft batch cookies.

Stabilization Dayb3

Morning weigh in

Me : 71.9kg
MrM : 82.3kg

Breaking of fast indulgence :

Three pieces of murtabak Singapura
Buah melaka
One piece of chicken asam from yesterday
Small slices of cekodok
One boiled egg and cucumber mixed in kuah kacang (sugar laden for sure)

Two dose of ACV and rooibos tea two huge cups. And water, lots of it.

I am happy with my weight maintenance so far, but then again I need to lose another 7kg at least in R2. MrM says if I do, he may not recognize his wife anymore, ha ha!!!

Stabilization Day 2 - Suffering the Consequences

Morning weigh in
Me : 72kg. PS after major disposal I am 71.3kg.
MrM : 83kg

Let me tell you why.

After not eating rice for a good 40 days, I indulged two tablespoons of rice. And a small bowl of mee goreng. Two pieces of chicken from the asam pedas, two of my sister's telur itik masak lemak, three pieces of my kuih pandan bakar, two three pieces of cut pineapple, two tahu sumbat, what can I say? Macam loading instead of stabilization.

I noticed that having rice after so long of not having rice, my upper abdomen is the first to feel the effects i.e. Becomes thicker, of course.

I will refrain from rice. After all that dieting, I certainly can do without rice. Yesterday was an irrational exuberance, to borrow a term used by Alan Greenspan to describe the state of capital markets prior to the financial crisis.

In reading Arlin's, MDS, and Jai's blogs, they have been so disciplined with the Maintenance protocol, whereas I have been indulging liberally, just avoiding starch mainly and a bit too frequent indulgence of kuih kuih bazaar Ramadhan.

This is indeed a wake-up call to change my attitude towards food. Enough is enough.

Stabilization Day 1

Morning weigh-in

Me : 71.7kg
MrM : 82.3kg

Sahur was an apple. A small one at that. Resisted the fried chicken. Nescafe with low fat milk. Four glasses of water. One glass with ACV.

Today my eldest sister and kids will buka puasa at my place.

Planned menu:

Ayam masak asam pedas
Kerabu mangga
Sayur tak tahu lagi, but if I had it my way, salad mixed with cucumbers and tomatoes
Kuih pandan bakar
Apam balik

My sister plans to masak gulai tolo itik.....huhu!! What a feast. Willpower, willpower....where will you be when I need you this evening.....

Maintenance Day 21 - cont

My weight is 71.7kg.

MrM is 81.7kg

Maintenance Day 21

Woke upmat 5:20am this morning and didn't have time to even weigh myself. Had only an apple, coffee with low fat milk and water, water, water.

My best gauge of my weight today will be this evening before buka.

Last day of maintenance and I feel nervous. I think I will continue the no starch, no sugar diet and maintain greens and proteins. So far that has worked for me in maintaining, if not slightly losing weight.

MrM on the other hand is looking forward to his teh tarik. Me? Maybe just a bit but after being on this program, there is not a lot that I want to eat anymore.

Will update later on my weight.

Maintenance Day 20

Phew! Me 71.9kg, MrM 82.5kg this morning.

By evening I was 71.4kg.

Extra ACV before sleeping, another one before sahur. The wonders of ACV.

Breaking of fast today was boring. Two small fried chicken, a bit of fried fish, a bit of bubur. Sahur will be apple again.

Good Girls Lose Weight, Bad Girls?

I cheated.

And I cheated.

And cheated.

I couldn't contain myself.

Bubur cha cha and one piece of chocolate from Leonidas courtesy of VW. Oh such sweetness......

Breaking of fasting was innocent enough. Fish and spinach. A little bit of satay.

And then the bubur came. And MrM pointed out that Allison gave a box of chocs. And they just had to be Leonidas.

I will pay for this tomorrow and I bet you the price will be a hefty few hundred grams. But the rewards were well worth the risks.....

Maintenance Day 19

MrM : 82.3kg
Me : 71.9kg

Quite disciplined at buka puasa eating mostly chicken and salad. But the kuih cekodok my maid made I had a few small bite sizes.

Two more days of this pghase, what's next?

Maintenance Day 18

Damn my morning weight is 72kg again.

MrM is 83kg.

What can I say? All rules were broken.

No 1. No Sugar -- I had 4 bite sizes of home made apam balik.
No 2. I had two pieces of ikan masak cili api and two fried chicken.
No 3. And small pieces of tempeyek kacang.
No 4. No carbo -- I had one curry puff.

I was in the mood for eating. Eating all the wrong foods, the forbidden foods.

So I doubled my ACV dose, or was it tripled, and lucky I am only 72kg this morning.

Aaarghhhhh.....71kg seems so far away......

Maintenance Day 17

The weight verdict

Me : 71.8kg
MrM : 83.3 kg

MrM's diet gone awry. I think it is the rojak and cekodok sayur my maid made.

This is the first time my morning weight broke the 72kg resistance.

Roast Chicken Malay Style for Breakfasting 7 August Maintenance Day 16

Dinner will be roast chicken and salads, y'all.

Yes, the usual murtabak for kids, air soya for all, cekodok sayur bibik, but I have my roast chicken!!

Selamat Berbuka to all!

For Pyl

BAHAN-BAHANNYA :-)
2 cawan tepung gandum
3 biji telur gred A
600 ml pati santan dari 1 biji kelapa (atau guna santan kotak)
250 ml jus pandan (250 ml air kisar dengan 4-5 helai daun pandan tua)
1 cawan gula
1/4 camca teh pewarna hijau
1/4 camca teh garam
2 camca besar minyak sapi, cair dan sejukkan
Bijan secukupnya, untuk ditabur

CARA MEMBUATNYA :-)

1. Panaskan oven pada suhu 200C, lenser acuan berukuran 8 inci x 8 inci dengan mentega, alas dengan aluminium foil, biar lebih sedikit dari ukuran tin. Ketepikan.
2. Satukan semua bahan2 diatas kecuali bijan, kacau sebati dengan whisk atau masukkan ke dalam alat pengisar makanan. Tapis dan tuang dalam tin tadi.
3. Tabur bijan rata2 atasnya dan bakar selama 40 - 50 minit atau hingga masak. Untuk mendapat permukaan yang berkerak, tukar fungsi oven pada api grill dan bakar 5 minit lagi. Sejukkan kueh sebentar sebelum dikeluarkan dari tin.
4. Biar kueh betul2 sejuk sebelum dipotong. Untuk yang dalam gambar tu, mat buat malam dan pagi baru mat potong....

Taken from tiffinbiru.blogspot.com

Don't worry if the mix is very fluid or soft before baking.  It will cook and become like the picture.

Maintenance Day 15

I was 72kg yesterday morning.

And true to myself (I didn't get where I am today just yesterday, has been almost 45 years of senseless eating minus my baby to toddler days, I suppose), I had :

• 2 pieces of murtabak singapore
• 5 pieces of my own kuih pandan bakar (small ones but lethal to diets anyway)
• 2 pieces of curry chicken (1 small white meat and 1 big dark meat)
• 1 small apple
• and to top it off accompanied MrM in having a late night sup daging power in Senawang

I felt so guilty with that sup daging and let MrM finished my portion, which he happily did.

The verdict

MrM : 82.9kg
Me :72.1kg

I Made This Today - Kuih Pandan Bakar

I made this kuih this morning. A true and tested recipe from Mat Gebu of Dapur Tanpa Sempadan. I love his blog. He makes cooking seem so do-able to an amateur like me. Of course this is a big no-no for Maintenance Phase. Sugar, coconut milk, melted butter, flour are all the right ingredients that make the strictest of diet go awry.
But I made it anyway. MrM loves this kuih and so do my kids for anything that has screwpine leaves in it.
Will update on my test of discipline at breakfasting tonight and the consequences (if any) of straying.:D

Maintenance Day 12, 13 and 14

Weight verdict : I am now yo-yoing between 72.2 and 71.7kg.

The ultimate I thought was yesterday i.e. Friday when my early morning sahur was just one boiled egg, coffee with lowfat milk and lots and lots of water.  For most of the morning at work, I didn't really feel hungry but by the end of the day I was famished.  I texted Pyl and Arlin and told them I was hungry!!

Of course, all hell broke loose during breakfasting.  I began disciplined enough, one drumstick ayam percik and another piece of chicken baked by my maid.  The temptation was just too great with my maid's jemput2 sayur and I succumbed to a good one and a half piece of that.  Then there was rojak.  While I didn't take the tauhu and the kuih that came along with the rojak, preferring the cucumber and boiled eggs, the rojak sauce was the killer.  Laden with sugar I am sure.  But then again I also had spinach and a good helping of salad.  And plain water for drinks.

My late mother's maid, is good in making tempeyek and she made over the weekend about 10 huge plastic bottles worth of tempeyek kacang.  Oh the temptation to munch and munch away!  That was my snack before last night before I figured out that all I needed was an apple to satisfy my sweet craving.  Not that the tempeyek did the job but I needed to munch on something.  The apple was my saviour.  After the apple, I didn't feel like eating anymore, ha ha!

Therefore I am pleased to see that I am this morning at 72.2kg, a good 900 kg lighter from my weight at transition.  I think I need to be a bit more disciplined with my buka puasa food.  With the discipline, I think I should be able to reach 71kg sooner than I thought.  And who knows, I may even reach 70kg.

My sahur this morning is one piece of baked chicken, a sip of coffee with milk and water, water, water.  So far today I am doing good.

The days before i.e. 12 and 13 were pretty much the same, protein either in the form of rendang ayam with a lot of salad and cucumber.  And a tempeyek or two, he he.  Oh yes, I had a lot of oranges after breakfasting on Thursday, and that helped the motion bit a lot!

After two weeks of maintenance, I find that if I ate really a lot, like I did at the barbecue buffet dinner at Cyberview Lodge, provided that the food is protein and green veggies, I would put on about 500gms.  I have been disciplined in taking the ACV everynight before I go to sleep.

MrM is sufferring from diet fatigue syndrome.  He has been taking a bit of carbo, mostly in the form of rojak, and sugar.  He tells me his body needs a bit more food compared to mine.  I tell him I have reserves from the years of pregnancy and eating as I please.  MrM's BMI is now 24.5, a normal range.  Mine is still at 27, which means that I needed to lose another 6kg to be at a healthy BMI.

Pyl, if you are reading this, experiment with your maintenance phase.  I think you need to allow yourself to eat according to the maintenance protocol and weigh the next day to see the impact and then adjust.  That's what I did.  I remember Jai saying during lunch at Chinoz that you can even eat a whole chicken if you wanted to.  That was the first thing that I wanted to do after transition.  Eat a whole chicken.  But the barbecue buffet dinner compensated for that, ha ha!

Maintenance Day 10 and 11

I was sick yesterday, a culmination of what was originally just a runny nose that became a full- blown cough and asthma.

Nevertheless, I did go to work, had a conference call on a big matter related to how the strengthening of AUD would impact our project in Australia, forced my already throbbing head to think of what the team there was proposing to preserve project economics, and I was beat. I could not fast yesterday since I still had my period. By 4:45pm,I left office and thank God MrM drove today.

To cut the story short, buka puasa with the family was 2 sticks of satay, and salad with bits of chicken rendang from my father-in-law, and one very fatty slice of lemang. Yeah, I know no carbo but I figured I would rather takeba slice than binge on sebatang lemang. But after that one slice, I didn't feel like having anymore!

My wheezing got worse through the night, and I told MrM that he has to send me to the hospital since this is a full-blown asthma. I have not had asthma for the longest time!!! After a dose of nebulizer and prednisolone, we finally got home at 1am.

This morning, the VERDICT:

MrM yet to find out but as of yesterday evening he was 82kg.
Me : 72.4 kg, a loss of 900gms from yesterday. Even on the diet I have not loss that much. I hope to get to 71 kg by Raya.