24 May 2012

Weight Loss Update 24 May 2012

I'm happy to report that I've lost another measely 1 kg - 1.5 kg. That means, in all, since I've consciously stated I wanted to make long term lifestyle changes (was it a month or two ago, maybe?) so that I can lose some weight, I've lost about 3 - 4kgs. It's probably not a lot for anyone else who's on some rigid diet or exercise regime but I have been too busy and distracted to exercise. I'm also not on any particular diet plan.

However, I've re-started taking my Omega 3 Fish Oil capsules. Hoping it helps re-sensitise my insulin receptors. Also, for some crazy reason, I've started drinking 2-in-1 coffee in the mornings! I stopped doing that for more than a decade in favour of plain water and only recently picked it up again. Not because I crave the caffein but because I had started out at first, just trying this 2-in-1 coffee packs we had purchased from the grocery store. It's just coffee and milk, no sugar. Hubs decided it was too bland and stuck to his 3-in-1. But I didn't want to waste it so I just continued drinking it. Then what happened was I realised, after drinking it, I actually could move my bowels more easily. If you recall, I had to have surgery slightly more than a year ago because of piles. I'm not really a coffee person. I am more into English tea. Usually at lunch time, I'll get my fix of Teh-O (tea with sugar, no milk). But I realised that this 2-in-1 coffee was so mild, that it didn't keep me awake in the night. So I guess they've won a new customer. After my colonoscopy and piles surgery, I had to drink my orange fibre mix every day. I've still got a year's supply (I get it prescribed by the doc and buy the whole lot from the hospital - it's much cheaper that way) and I'll probably drink it off and on but not on a daily basis anymore. Anyway, the doc at the last colon review appointment had advised me to try to not be too dependent on it.

OK, back to my measely weight loss. I'm just writing my thoughts aloud. As I haven't been exercising, I was wondering why I was still losing weight. One reason could be that although I've not been consciously dieting, I've just lost my 'greediness' for rice. As part of my long term lifestyle change plan, where there is a choice, I'd probably pick a soupy 'noodle' meal as opposed to one that is with a rice base. Unless of course I'm eating a meal where it's necessary to eat the rice, like Hainanese Chicken Rice or Fried Rice. Frankly, unless you're just drinking soup without the noodles, I feel that 'noodly' meals can also be a carb-filled meal but I don't feel so uncomfortable after a noodle meal so I'm guessing the noodles are easier to digest than rice.

I feel less lethargic nowadays and getting up in the mornings is getting easier. Not because I'm lighter because I'm definitely not looking significantly thinner at all (although on a good day, my tummy seems to flatten slightly). But I think because I'm consuming less carbs. The important thing to note here is I'm not cutting carbs out of my life. That would be downright stupid. I wouldn't be able to take it or make it and I'm guessing it'd be worse to reach breaking point one day and have a surge of overkill with a mountain of pasta and pizza! Slow and steady lifestyle changes. Yep.

Ok, haven't uploaded any pics in a while. Thanks for reading all the way down here. Here's a pic of me in my new progressive glasses:


Me wearing entry level progressive Varilux + Crizal by Essilor lenses

I finally caved. Had to go make a pair of progressive even though they cost much more than ordinary short sighted glasses. Though I'm super duper young at heart, I also enjoy embracing my age. What's to deny? I love being my age. I'll be 44 this year. No hiding. I wanted my frames to be as reasonably priced as possible, to be of good quality, to be in silver, to not have fancy sides and to have big lenses. So I found my ideal pair for SGD$300 in total, including entry level Varilux + Crizal by Essilor lenses. I need these progressive lenses because I can no longer do my office work, with my eyes transitioning / refocusing too slowly from computer to my paperwork or paperwork to computer. I had to constantly peer over my normal specs (like how you see 'old' people do). I've also got my old normal pair for short-sightedness with Transitions lenses and they served me very well for the past 3 years or so. I did not know what had no idea they did to shielded me so well from the glare outside until I started using this pair without Transitions. Would have liked to add Transitions to this pair but the shop salesman told me the price would run into a four figure sum. Ha! Forget it! You'll never find me spending that much on glasses. I'd sooner put on my contact lenses and carry both reading and sunglasses with me. Lasik is out for me. I have floaters in my eyes and I don't know how Lasik would affect that or how the floaters would screw up the outcome. Thanks but I don't have the guts to play Russian Roulette with my eyes. Anyway, back to the new specs. The salesguy advised me to give myself a week to adjust to the new specs but my eyes took to them immediately. No headaches, no nothing. I don't find that progressives fixed my short and long-sightedness problems totally as I have to shift the position of my glasses in order to see clearer, depending on if I'm looking at the computer or my paperwork. But it's better than peering over my old specs.

Hey, by the way, my hair's a tad longer now, huh? But it's shorter than last Friday when I just had it cut. My last proper hair cut at the salon was last year! Then I had a digital perm in January of this year (without cutting) and in between, I trimmed it twice myself. I had followed hubs to have his hair cut at a new salon where 'cut and wash' was only S$6.80 for short hair and S$9.80 for long hair. Actually these low prices aren't such a big deal nowadays when everywhere in Singapore, you can find S$4 - S$10 hair cuts in the neighbourhood salons. But I must say, the salon was spanking new, big and clean.

I refused to cut (asking me to trust a hair stylist is like asking me to bungie jump -- tough!) and sat in the salon waiting until he had finished. In fact, I liked my hair the way it was. The length and the way the curls fell was just getting to be the way I like them to be. I sat there and tied my hair up into a french braid, feeling smug that I wasn't going to cave in to any stylist's pestering.

Then of course, the stylist who had cut Mike's hair had to continually bug me to just have a trim and hubs also urged me to try. She did a decent job on his hair (but really, as I always say to him, he's not fussy about his hair cuts because he has to cut his hair every month anyway!!!) See, this is how it usually goes. I figured I needed someone to trim my split ends anyway (damaged by last salon which had coloured my hair). I'll sit down, tell the stylist, just 'trim the ends' and 'I want to maintain the length' and 'do not thin my hair'. The stylist will nod as though promising full compliance and of course when I'm not looking, she will whip out her thinning shears, pick up my hair and start thinning it from the top of my head!!! Aaaaarrrrrrgh!!!!!! Which part of NOT THINNING do these stylists not understand??? I want to tell them I KNOW MY OWN HAIR!!! YOU CANNOT USE THINNING SHEARS ON THEM!!! THE SHORT STRANDS WILL RUN AMOK AND LOOK FRIZZY!!! IT'S MY HAIR, NOT YOURS, YOU MORON!!!

Ppppffffft!!!! Hubs says there will never be a hair stylist that I'll be happy with. That is probably TRUE! I hate them all!! By the way, why are MOST OF THEM only Chinese speaking?! If I struggle to get my message across, how do the other races do it? Can someone start a salon with a banner that says, 'English speaking stylists'???  Hubs says they call themselves professionals so how come I'm not happy with them? I told him even one who had graduated from a 3 day hair styling course will call him or herself a 'professional'. I went home, tried to tie my french braid and though I could, it was thinner and I was left with a tiny thinned out duck tail at the end. Did I say, that the stylist spent the entire time, telling me what crap shit condition my hair was in and that I should do this and that treatment? Oh please! Of course the ONLY product that would rescue my hair conditioner, was the ONLY treatment product she had on the shelves. The ONLY smoothing anti-frizz leave in conditioner that would help my hair was the ONLY smoothing anti-frizz leave in conditioner she had on the shelf. Not happy. Not happy at all. Looking at the bright side of things, I probably don't have to suffer such a torture again for another year! I think I should sign up for a hair styling course too and get myself certified as a 'professional' hair stylist. What a brilliant idea!



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