A couple of weekends ago, I was at the Health and You exhibition at Suntec and had my BMI measured. It was shocking to know that my BMI was in the moderate risk category, which means I’m at moderate risk of developing cardiovascular diseases (such as heart attack) and diabetes according to the HPB.
I was recommended to lose 8kg in order to be in the healthy BMI range. Yes, you heard it right, 8kg! I know that I needed to lose weight but I wasn’t aware that I had to lose that much weight.
Now with a target in mind, I’ve decided to be more diligent in the area of exercise and also make changes to my diet. As a working mum without any help, we usually eat out most of the times because honestly who has energy after a day’s work. And don’t forget the washing and cleaning to do after that. Of course, there’s no denying that I’m often guilty of making unhealthy food choices and am eating more than I should. Sometimes I wished I didn’t have so much fat genes in me, as I often joke that I get fat just from breathing!
But enough of excuses. Here’s a couple of things to get me started on my weight loss journey.
1. Set a goal to exercise 2-3 times a week.
For effective weight loss, I’m doing both cardiovascular exercise such as jogging, running and stairs climbing and also starting on weights. It’s often a misconception that ladies will bulk up if they start doing weights. But weights are one of the ways to keep your metabolism rate up and burns the fats throughout the day.
Home gym finally up
With the home gym finally up, I am determined to make it work for me better. Besides youtube videos to give me inspiration, another avenue I’ve turned for inspiration is surprise, surprise Pinterest!
Sure, Pinterest has lots of motivational posters and quotes. But what I really found useful are suggested exercise that I can do.
In fact, I’ve also created a few boards on Motivation and Fitness on my Pinterest to get me moving. Do follow my boards to get some inspiration too.
2. Get more sleep
In an average week, I only get about 5-6 hours of sleep. I know it’s way too little and the dark circles around my eye is proof that I’ve been sleep deprived, not uncommon for most mums. But one reason, I’m often up so late is because I’m on the computer, be it FB, web surfing or writing my blog.
Having insufficient sleep is one sure way to sabotage any weight loss plans since the body often craves for sugary food to keep awake. I know that on mornings when I don’t enough sleep, I end up being so hungry in the morning that I want to have a big breakfast and have way too much coffee. So now, I’m going to have a Cinderella rule and sleep no later than 12.
But at the end of the day, it’s not just about the weight as I really want to get healthier too. So in part two, I’m sharing how I’m making changes to my diet too.
Here’s a quote that I love and want to share with you. Remember, there are no short cuts and definitely no cheating when it comes to being healthy.
Do link up every Monday with my Motivational Mondays post. Don’t forget to grab my badge and include it in your post after you have linked up and leave me a comment too. I will be hosting Motivational Monday every week and I hope that you can join me every Monday. Have a great week ahead!
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Tagged: diet, exercise, health, healthy lifestyle
Yeah, my bmi is out too but I m not shocked. I need to lose 10kg.
My trainer has advised to start 150min exercise per week but I sill havent hit the target.
Awesome, Susan in regards to BMI I tend to stay away from it because it’s usually not that accurate. I would recommend body fat measurements using caliper to be more effective. It’s way better than measuring using BMI or even the scale. I had quit weighing myself and just goes with body fat percentage and measurements using the old measuring tape 🙂 You are doing awesome!
150mins us quite a lot for starts. How many times are you advised to exercise for Be Be? I’m targeting for 2-3 times for 15-30mins each.
Trainer said anything as long as total 150min per week. So I m doing brisk walking n gym for level 10 burn calories cycling. U can climb stairs or jog or anything as long as total 150min. I m planning to do 30min of brisk walking n gym cycling cos need the time to breakthrough to start burning my fats.
Last week only managed to do 115mins. 2 aerobic classes of 45mins each n a 25 mins gym cycling.
The program also invite nutritionist to teach all about healthy food. Susan, r u using iPhone or iPad? Install iDat. It will helps to calculate ur daily intake of calories. Very useful.
Thanks for the encouragement and the suggestions Maureen. It’s really inspiring to see you transform with your dedication to health and fitness.
That’s good Be Be 🙂 Not difficult to reach your target of 150mins soon.
Susan, I may reach my target of 150min but may not burn much fats cos I m suffering metabolism disorder. Just want to start exercising to hv a healthier heart. Doc already warned me I may not cut down my weight n it is still good to start exercising.
Yes, exercise is always good for us. To lose weight, 80% has to do with our diet too. So that’s an area I need to work on as I eat out often and don’t always eat the healthiest food. Let’s encourage one another on our journey to better health! Jia you!
Jia you!
Wishing you luck on your journey to a better health.
Losing 8kg is not a problem but I all i can say is losing it correctly and in the safest way possible. You dont need to be on a turbo charge to do that 150 minutes of workout in a week. Start slowly, let your body adapt to all the trainings, then you will eventually think 150 minutes a week is too little 🙂
and like what be be choo is saying, dont always trust the scale, best is to look at the mirror, if you are changing, thats improvement. and losing weight requires the balance of both workouts and diet (my diet means does not mean eat less, but eat better)
have a good one.
sorry, i think it was maurice who said dont always look at the scale 🙂 my bad
Thanks for leaving me a comment. Yes, the scales are not the most accurate and I will be mindful of that. Most of the time when I work out, I pay extra attention to what I put in my body as I don’t want all my efforts to go to waste. Will continue to keep it up 🙂