Weekly Update 2

Apology for the delay on updates.

So - this week - I bought the calorie counter book (by Allan Borushek). It's a really good guide book when I'm out and about deciding what I'm going to have.
My biggest problem at the moment? Dinner portion control! It's very difficult. As soon as I come home from work and sit and eat - I just can't quite control myself. I'm going to try to tackle it with having soup / salad as appetizer.

Mantra for the week? Remember, those 'FREE doughnuts' or 'feeling impolite to decline food' or 'just a little bit more to polish the plate' - they all count! They are all part of my calorie intake. It helps a lot :)

I didn't have coffee at all this week! Yay! :) I figure I could make better use of that 50 calorie rather than spend it on Skinny Cappucino :P Plus, I find when I drink coffee on the day that I do Bikram Yoga, it kills me during the practice.
I've now stashed low-er calorie food everywhere. My home, workplace, Shanon's home. :) LOL. It's quite fun really. It's a big change. The best thing about the calorie counting? I still get to eat whatever I want to. I just have to plan it into my daily intake.

On Friday, I tried to walk up the stairs at work. Gosh. Going from Ground level to the 8th floor only take 2 minutes but it definitely kills my breath.

Funny thing? I sometimes think about eating junk food "secretly" only to realise that it doesn't matter, I can't lie to myself - it still has to go into my food diary. :P *LOL*

I'm quite happy with the things that I learn this week. Interestingly, I just realised that actually already have the necessary skill to make this work. It's basically like counting money. I just need to learn to be more discipline about it and start looking at it the way I look at money.

Tips for others who are changing their food lifestyle too? Omit or replace stuffs (dressings or cheese) which are really high in calorie but you don't actually taste it that much. :) Choose better junk.

The best thing? I've really gotten a massive confidence boost from doing this. I feel great almost all the time, knowing that the situation is not hopeless, that I am in control, that it's my choice whether to eat excessively or not. The other good thing is that I don't think I could go back to ignore the fact that I know how big in excess calories I'm taking in. :) So - this most likely will work.

This week average: 1525 calories.

Check out Leo's post on 17 Tips to Help You Get Lean and Fit!

Note to self: Pssst... weight loss, there is nothing magical about it. It's just like saving money. You just have to be discipline and patient. You'll get there! :)

In my search for a travel blog...

I came across this advertisement that TOTALLY "speaks to me"!

The Longitude 131° in Uluru is calling me...

*LOL* I must be the queen of their target market!!!

Back to my Travel Blog quest, I found this very cool blog with kewl pictures! Very happy! Check it out, Everything Everywhere Travel Blog and Travel Photography!

Melbourne in Winter

Hmm.. I really really like these three pictures that I took recently when I was on the tram home from the Melbourne CBD with mom and Shelwin. I think they're very nice (even if I say so myself :P).

Tara Whitney Interview by Two Peas in a Bucket

I've been admiring Tara Whitney's work for a while. Well, ever since I was introduced to her from Pipi's blog. Her pictures are exactly as her motto, "perfectly imperfect".

Yesterday in her blog, she talked about the recent interview that Lisa McGarvey from Two Peas in a Bucket held with her. I was very excited to read all about her. :)

In the interview, she shared three amazing images that best represent her style (see sample below). Psst... check out the interview for the other two! :) She also talked about the photographer she was influenced by when she first started, Stacey Kane. Hihi. Wow! It feels like finding out about my God's God to me! *LOL* What I meant to say is that - it was kewl to find out that she was also influenced by someone else!

Anyway, I checked out Stacey Kane's blog and I really like the thumbnail-ish pictures that she did for jo + chris wedding (see below).
The colouring is amazing!

But - I still can't see how this relates to Tara's style... until I saw this post, "on location in Orlando...family #1". Loved the pictures!

Overheard n New York & Ripple

NYC - I really can't wait to be there! In the mean time, I find this website, Overheard in New York, pretty satisfying. :)

On another note, checkout this Ripple website. It says "save the world, one click at a time". Please set them as your home page here, instead of Google. It still comes with the Google search bar, but now at least you'll be donating, while Google-ing!

Apartment Therapy: Top 10 Organizing Tips From Chez Larsson

'Totally desirable' is the right phrase for these organized shoe racks and book shelf below!

Came across these settings in the Apartment Therapy's new post, "Top 10 Organizing Tips From Chez Larsson".

The tips are pretty good. Here's the ones that are very applicable to me:
6) Own what you love.
"Just because somebody you love gave you something doesn’t mean you have to display it or, in my case, even keep it if it’s not to your taste."
3) It’s only “stuff”.
"You probably won’t regret what you’ve edited out."
2) Let it go.
"I always keep a row of grocery bags in the garage designated for stuff I want to get rid of. One goes to the local charity shop, one goes to my son’s younger cousins, one goes to recycling. When one bag is full I bring it to wherever it’s intended. I love it when all the bags are gone!"

So far, I'm enjoying my decluttering cycle. It allows me to appreciate and love what I have MORE!

SFV3 Pictures by Robin Chan

More pictures here!

Weekly Update 1

Focusing on controlling my food intake has been very tricky for me. Well, no surprise really, seeing that this is the cause of my weight issue. I love to eat, but what a shame, I don't necessarily know how to enjoy what I eat. A lot of the time, I gulf down my food without thinking about it. So, the main thing that I learned this week is...
Write down everything that you eat. Everything! As close approximate to the portion as you can. It takes a lot of time and effort. Especially for Asian home cooked variety food cause they don't come with calorie information.

But - there's no other way! Write it down (along with the number of calories)!

I had to Google for approx. calorie for all food I choose to eat, which serves two purpose.
1. I choose not to nibble on things (cause it's a hassle to write down 2 roasted almonds, 3 mars balls, 2 dark choc with almonds, etc). It's true story! Yesterday, I wanted to eat peanut M&Ms but, the thought of counting the M&Ms and having to weigh them to know how much calorie they amount to, puts me off it. Instead, I had one corn flakes dark choc biscuit thing that my mom made, which I've already allocate # of calories to. *LOL*
2. I realise how much I take in. Seriously. Some of them are insanely overpriced (calorie wise).

If you need even more convincing proof, here... The author of ZenHabits, Leo Babauta, put up a new Training Blog in April 2008. He said, in his introductory post, OK, Here we go!, it is "To hold myself accountable, to allow the light to shine on my training plans, meal plans, and actual results. To motivate myself."

According to BMI/BMR calculation, to lose weight, I should start with deducting 15-20% from my maintenance calorie intake. At a sedentary lifestyle level, I calculated this to be ~1600 calories.

I've made that my primary goal this week. It's very very very difficult. Especially when I'm eating out quite a bit of the time. Grrr!!! I find it hard to watch what I eat when I'm nibbling on people's plates! But, I try, very hard. This week my calorie intake approx. at 1650 per day. (This might be not as accurate as I'd like them to be, as it was very tricky to count the calories at the BBQ and at the dinner :P)
I was doing really well during the weekdays and not well for the weekend. My excuse? My sister's birthday dinner, birthday BBQ and my craving for nachos.. :P But, I give it my best shot! No regrets. :) I'm sure I'll keep improving.
I'm also working on getting recipes that comes with calorie count. That will help a lot when my mom left and I have to start cooking. :) Plus, I'll find out more about how to count calories when you're eating out.

On the exercise side, I did three classes of Bikram Yoga this week. Very happy about it.

On the interior design side, I finished off my first part of Tutorial One. I might have to polish it a bit to make it looks prettier, but it's there. :)

Anyways - some useful links for weight loss help: NutritionData.com | 11 Practical Changes to Make Your Life Better | CalorieKing.com.au | The Truth About Counting Calories And Weight Loss.

Lesson of the week:
Awareness is key. Being aware of what I eat. Being aware of how much I eat. These things are vital. Working off as much calories as I can without knowing how much I take in is blindly ineffective.

Disillusioned with IT? -- Slashdot

Shanon GRS (Google Reader Shared) this particularly interesting (at least to me) discussion in Slashdot, Disillusioned with IT?.

cgh4be writes
"I have been working in the IT industry for about 12 years and have had various jobs as a consultant and systems engineer. Over that time I've had the chance to do a little bit of everything: programming, networking, SAN, Linux/AIX/UNIX, Windows, sales, support, and on and on. However, over the last couple of months I have become a little disillusioned with the IT industry as a whole. Occasionally, I will get interested in some new technology, but for the most part I'm starting to find it all very tedious, repetitive, and boring and I'm no longer really interested in the hands-on aspect of the business. I suppose going the management route is one option, but I would still be dealing with a lot of the same frustrating technology issues. The other route I had in mind was a complete career change; take something I really enjoy doing outside of work now and try to make a career out of it. The only problem is that I have a wife and kid to support and my current job pays very well. Have any of you been through this kind of career 'mid-life crisis?' What did you do to get out of the rut? Is making a complete career change at this point a bad idea?"

I'm on a similar boat - in terms of how I feel about IT at least. I don't really have a wife (well - husband - I should say) or kids to support though. :) I do however have a mortgage to pay. And it's just not easy to decide to make the switch. But I guess life is not meant to be easy. Well - I'm planning for it (slowly but surely) and I find some of the feedbacks from the above post very very useful... Especially the ones below:

• Re:Thats irrational and selfish by SleepingWaterBear (1152169):
  "...There is absolutely no reason to think that he can't raise his children to be at least as healthy and happy on a smaller income.
  Depending on what he goes into, he may end up with more time to devote to his family, which is worth more than money.
  I'm not saying money is irrelevant, but it is not nearly so important as some people make it out to be."


• well.. by thermian (1267986):
  "I have a wife and kid, and had a long term career that I was fundamentally bored with. I quit, went to back uni, and ten years later don't regret a thing.
  I say take the chance, or risk looking back in ten years and wondering where your life went, seriously."


• Re:well.. by terjeber (856226):
  "The best time of my life is in the future, and it always will be. Take chances, try new things, and that will always be the case. Don't listen to those who tell you to "be responsible" and "content with what you have". There is only one reason they are giving you this advice. They hate to see you on a new adventure. It reminds them of all the opportunities they passed up in their miserable lives. When you get successful some time in the future, and if you try hard enough you might be, they will tell you about all that they "could have done, only it was... [wife, kids, job, weather, house payments, sick mother - take your pick] that prevented them from becoming successful.
  Oh, and BTW, if you succeed, these people will resent you for it."


• Baskin Robbins by ohzero (525786):
  "You have what I like to call Baskin Robbins Syndrome. It's where you really really dig ice cream - UNTIL you get a job where you can eat a bunch of free ice cream. You now loathe ice cream.
  Unfortunately this cycle is perpetual. Baskin Robbins Syndrome applies to any profession. So even if you're immensely interested in what you do for a living, you will eventually grow to hate it. Don't you think Taco and crew have had mornings where they wake up and go "wow, fuck slashdot, im going to go be a hamster farmer..."
  I went through this a few years ago with IT security. I even tried going into gaming. Eventually I solved the problem by taking a year off of anything work related to travel and clear my brain. This isn't an option for a lot of people, but if you can do it, it will change your perspective in a huge way."


• I feel the same way - Here's what I did... by microTodd (240390):
  "... So here's some of the options as I saw them:
  -Complete career change: The problem here is that this is kind of the same solution as "rewrite all the code from scratch". Read this [joelonsoftware.com] to realize why this is a bad idea. You are throwing away *TONS* of sunk costs in experience and education.
  -Go back to school (maybe at night) and learn another trade, then transition to that. Safe, but slow. Initially expensive.
  -Get a hobby, part-time night job, or something that peaks your interest. I started teaching adult algebra classes at night and I love it! Yes, IT during the day still sucks but teaching at night makes it way more bearable.
  -One-off career change...can be difficult but doable. Maybe hire a professional career counselor or resume writer.
  The closest I've come to solving this dilemma is getting hobbies and part-time night jobs that scratch my itch. Also, I try to force some of the fun back into my day job. For example, once a week I'll take a few hours and just play with a new language or tool just for fun (although my boss would probably get mad if he found out I was on-the-clock). ..."


• Chase your passion by Unoti (731964):
  "1. Chase your passions. Work in a field that you can be passionate about. The best way for you to be happy and successful is to chase your passion. Crazy examples: maybe you want to create new content in Second Life. Maybe you'd be happier teaching troubled teens how to use woodworking tools. Maybe your dream is to be a park ranger. Figure it out.
  2. Don't worry about money. Restructure your life so that you can chase your passion. Figure out a way to live with half of your current salary if you have to. Live somewhere that you don't need a car. Hike with your groceries. Use public transportation. Work from home.
  3. If you don't know what you're passionate about, hurry up and find out now, before you're dead. You only have one life. Don't waste it as a slave, doing what you don't want to be doing.
  Consider this very seriously. Nobody is forcing you to do what you've been doing. Don't be a sheep, take control of your life, because if you don't there's plenty of other people who will."

Well - the list could go on and on and on... but I choose to stop here.
I definitely could use the inspirational boost I get from this discussion - so thanks to my darling. :)
Will post up my action plans (when I eventually come up with one - hopefully soon).

No one can make you happy...

... but yourself!

I'm having a very very good day. Why? For many reasons. But mainly attributed to "feeling slimmer" - yup, like most women out there. :P

I've decided to make good use of this great feeling, my clearer vision (more in thoughts than literally :D), my silly embarrassment, and my blog. What am I talking about? Well! Last week, suddenly this following quotes make overwhelming sense to me!
"Mind over matter."
It's like doh! How can I not think this way all this time? How can I don't read that sentence and totally applies it to all aspects of my life? Seriously!
This triggers my brain to try and find ways to apply the following...
"Our mind is a powerful thing, you can do anything that you set your mind to.
Let go of the things that you can't control, focus on those you can!"

So - what am I going to do with this?
I took a look at my life. A real good hard look.
In the past year, I feel that I (and my life) have improved a lot. It doesn't matter what other people say (to me - which is a great improvement on itself), I know I have. Seriously. I've made many decisions and changes that I'm VERY happy with.

• I love the person I'm with.
• I love my lovely and refined relationship with my family (refined is more so with my siblings).
• I (have always) love my friends. I enjoy my day to day routines (outside of work).
• I cleaned out my clutters (as much as I can).
• I detached myself from shopping (yup - also as much as I can :P).
• My financial state reflecting the changes in my spending.
• I am very proud me and Shanon's attempts to shop at the market and cook (of course - until my mom comes over and spoil me :P).
• My decision to choose Bikram Yoga over Fitness First gym. Totally attributed to my feeling great!
• Finding a good proper Tax Accountant (thanks to Sam!).
• My great dentist who scared me into flossing (and scrubbing my feet) before bed.
• I've also made the swap from Medibank to HBA (irrelevant).

Mmm.. I could go on listing things but then I'll never get to the point. In conclusion, I just feel that my adult life is at its peak at the moment. (Mmm.. I don't really want the word "peak" here, cause it implies that it won't get better - which I totally don't agree with, but I guess this will have to do. Will modify if I think of a better word. Anyone?)

Now, how does this relate to mind over matter?
I'm still trying to find the links.. *LOL* ;) Just (half) kidding. I'll try to explain.
Well, the happiness actually points out the things in my life that I really want to change. From within, my guilt, my insecurity. Worldly, my physical appearance (i.e. my weight issue) and my work life.
Right now, the internal stuffs are still blurry to me (in terms of what to do and how); but I've now made the decision to do something about my worldly issues. These two things will be my focus points for the coming months.
This is where the "mind over matter" takes place.

In the past, I've made decisions like these. Very good ones. But things happened, situations changed, and they have all fallen into the black hole (i.e. /dev/null). Now, I'm going to try a new approach, "make up my mind, then plan and do it", instead of just going along with the flow and pray for the best. Even better, I'm going to make myself account for this *new found* determination.
What's the plan?
Well - as of the 28th April 2008, for one full month (i.e. up to 28th May 2008), I will do the following (refer to Steve Pavlina's 30 Days to Success post for more information about the one full month trial thing):

• Controlled food intake. (1200 - 1600 calorie daily).
  For week days, I'm mainly relying on Ultra Slim, the meal replacement milk, along with fruit for brekky and sushi roll for lunch (which I don't generally have time to really enjoy anyway).
  For weekend, I'll let myself enjoy my meals - but will definitely still watch the amount of calorie that goes into my body.


• Increase calorie burnt through exercise.
  I will do Bikram Yoga (2-3x a week) and an hour fast walk in the park weekly.


• Interior design course.
  I vow to do at least one tutorial every 3 weeks. Geez - I enrol in this course 2 years ago!!! Better make good use of my money, and do it! I like looking at nice houses anyway! :)

I will provide weekly update on how I go, even if I'm the only one who's going to read this, I know that it's out there. It will embarrass me big time to swallow back my words. Psst... (I know it's too early but - ) so far it's WORKING!!! :)

Why am I boring you all about this?
As I said in the very beginning, I'm having a very very good day. I feel that I can think through things very clearly. I want this to last. I want to use this to pick me up in my bad days. Cause from my past experiences, I know that I don't feel good all the time. So, I'm sure that I will need this sometime later. An added bonus would be this post being (even at the slightest) useful for someone else.

Just to remind myself later, what is my motivation?
This "feeling good about myself" thing is my MAIN motivation. I want to make myself happy. I have realised and believed that only I can do things to make myself happy and I choose to act upon them.

Note to self: Stop using the word "Well" and "So" please!!!