I Wanna Get Rid of My Mommy Tummy

I normally receive email articles from shoppinglifesytle.com. Usually I just have a glance through and delete the email. This week something caught my eye. The article was 'What to eat for a slimmer tummy'. Ok, this is something I am interested in. Lately I feel rather concious of my mommy tummy. After giving birth to Maisarah, my tummy now has a bulge that seems to grow bigger. So, the article says that, apart from doing cardio and core strength  exercises, if we control what we eat, then the waistline should not grow bigger. The suggested diet for this slimmer tummy is:

1. Take more fibre, about 25 to 30 grams, each day from sources such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables and beans.
2. They suggest to eat five or six smaller meals instead of the three main meals. Don't wait to be hungry to eat. According to the article, hunger causes our body to produce stress hormones that encourages storage of fat in the body.
3. Reduce salt intake inlcuding food with high salt content such as procesed and canned foods. Salt causes the body to retain water and causes bloated stomach.
4. Eat less fast food.
5. Reduce intake of refined carbs (eg: sugar, white bread, white rice, white bread, pasta and cereals) and replace them with unrefined carbs (eg: wholemeal bread, whole wheat pasta, oats, veggies) and protein (lean meat).

Ok, increasing the fibre intake to get slim is something I believe and have seen for myself. A few months ago I got a real bad case of gastric. After recovering, I ate organic rolled oats for every day up to two months. I found that my weight dropped by 2 kgs and I swear my tummy was slimmer.

But, lately I have not been eating oats and my tummy is back to being poochy. So, I've got to start bringing oats to work every day. They don't take long to prepare. I normally mix about one cup of hot water with 3 to 4 table spoons of organic rolled oats and let them oats soak up the water. This normally takes about 15 minutes. Then I add 2 table spoons of honey, some raisins and sunflower seeds and we're good to go. This breakfast is enough to last me till lunch time. Then I'll have my rice as usual but I try to eat only half a bowl of rice with lauk. And same goes for dinner.

I just weighed myself on Monday and I have started my oat breakfast again. Yesterday I made a plan to start doing pilates every day when I get home from work. I also want to try eating the smaller but more frequent meals and see if it works. I'll report my progress one month from now and see if all these makes a difference to my weight.

Wordless Wednesday: My Little Mermaid

Operation Kindy and Move In

Picture from http://www.cic.net.my/

It's now confirmed that Maisarah will go to school starting 13th June. Shah and I have decided to enroll her in CIC at the Putrajaya Precint near our office instead of waiting for her to be moved up from the waiting list at Sri Ayesha. Alhamdulillah, both of us find that the kindy where Maisarah will be going looks clean and has nice teachers. We really hope Maisarah will like the kindy and we plan on bringing her to see the place one of these days. Our only concern now is that Maisarah still asks to wear the diaper when she wants to poop.

With Maisarah starting school in June, we also need to start moving our stuff to our own home, little by little. I've really got to dig into my mom's storeroom this weekend and find our boxes from the UK. I'm sure they are burried deep inside the store since the store would have accumulated more stuff (or is it junk?) over the last six years since we shoved in the boxes. So, I need to physically prepare for the tough work and put on proper clothing plus a mask while rummaging through the store. Or else, the dusts will upset my sinuses and make me sneeze non stop, cause my eyes to water and my skin to itch.

So, our mission in these next few weeks are -

Mission 1: to get Maisarah fully potty trained.

Mission 2: to mentally prepare Maisarah for school and being separated from my mom and Kak Som (my mom's maid).

Mission 3: to start packing and moving into our own home

With these missions laid out, let's now begin Operation Kindy and Move In!

Wordless Wednesday: Soon

Not long to go till we make full use of our own home, insyaAllah.

My Pilates Experience Thus Far

*Photo from Pilates.About.Com

I started out Pilates in January as a new resolutions to introduce some exercise to my weekly routine and keep fit. I was also hoping to improve my shoulder ache by the stretching exercises in Pilates. After taking the first class did I only know that the focus of Pilates is increasing the core strength which is the muscles that stabilise, align and move the trunk of the body, mostly the abdominals, muscles of the back and the glutes (i.e. buttocks). According to Anna, the instructor, these muscles will be used throughout our life so if these muscles stay strong then we will be able to maintain good posture even when we get older.

The priciples of Pilates are:

1. Concentration - we need to concentrate on what we are doing, i.e. the workout and the breathing.
2. Breathing - each exercise must be done in correct sequence with the correct breathing coordination. I turned out that the way I was breathign was wrong. When breathing in, the thorasic (chest area) should rise and the stomach should also rise to be filled with air. And when breathing out, the stomach should be squeezed to let out all the used air.
3. Centering - Concentrating on the centre of the body which is the powerhouse area between the lower ribs and pubic bone. Based on my experience, most pilates exercises require us to focus on the cente, i.e. core.
4. Control - during each exercise, we must control the movement of the muscles. Different exercises are done on different muscles such as abdominals, hamstrings, triceps ets.
5. Isolation or precision - since the exercises target certain muscles, we were told to ensure that the rest of the body stays as still as possible.
6. Isometrics or flow - all exercises are done in a flowing manner. Starting from stretching, to the supine (lying on the back) exercises, to side exercises, to prone (lying on the front exercises) and finally to the warming down. Fluidity, grace, and ease are goals applied to all exercises. The energy of an exercise connects all body parts and flows through the body in an even way.

The first 10 classes I attended provided me with the basic mat exercises of Pilates containing 20+ exercises that work most muscles in the body. I have finished the first 10 and am not on my 16th class where we improve on the basic exercises and are introduced to other intermediate exercises. Thus far, I think the most difficult exercises are The Hundred - we have to lift our upperbody and legs with a flat back and maintain this posture for 10 breaths, the single leg stretch and criss cross which must each be done 50 times (total 100) and the prone plank - must hold this posture for ideally 3 minutes but we've only gone up to 1 minute.

Actually, after the 10th class we can already start doing the exercises at home. I initially planned to do them every Tuesday and Thursday after work but sometimes I feel lazy or I need to entertain Maisarah. But at least I am doing it once a week during the class. Even when we move over to our house in Kajang, I think I will continue to go to the Pilates class in PJ because there are lots more to learn especially when we get on to using the ball. And if I'm good enough, I may even learn to become an instructor and open classes in Bangi.Kajang. Who knows? :)

Wordless Wednesday: Classes until 9pm!

Nope, I'm not going to stay until 9pm. I've already made un-official changes with the students.

For All Moms Out There

This was posted by Maryam in Facebook and I want to dedicate it to all mothers out there. And also for my daugther who will one day insyaAllah become a mother. Happy Mothers Day!

Before I Was A Mom – Author Unknown

Before I was a Mom I made and ate hot meals.
I had unstained clothing.
I had quiet conversations on the phone.

Before I was a Mom I slept as late as I wanted.
And never worried about how late I got into bed.
I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.

Before I was Mom I cleaned my house each day.
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to lullabies.

Before I was a Mom I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom I had never been puked on,
pooped on, spit on, peed on, or pinched by tiny fingers.
Before I was a Mom I had complete control of my mind,
my thoughts, my body and all my feelings.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom I never held down a screaming child
so that doctors could do tests or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a Mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important.

Before I was a Mom I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was OK.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love,
the heartache or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much
Before I was a Mom.



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Wordless Wednesday: Trainer Mode On

Gave a training today at a nearby research facility which I prepared last minute but went well. Alhamdulillah.


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