The image in the mirror ( aka When will it be enough part 2)

Friday evening, tired and fatigued ( it was a looong day) Got dragged to the gym, for cardio and weights.Post two root canals, multiple scalings and fillings and an implant case, it felt good to use the new wave machine...my ass hurt big time and get back on the rower for some upper body work. We also decided to hit the weights. It was at the free weights, in front of the mirror that I caught my reflection and started thinking. The person in the mirror still had some shoulder muscles, some obvious upper body definition. Perhaps it was the weights, making the muscles appear pumped up or perhaps it was just my myopic imagination. But I wonder, do the muscles that we'd trained so hard to build disappear once we stop?

Muscle fibers are built based on demand, i.e, if we lift weights beyond what our existing muscles are comfortable with, the muscle "grows". Muscle is built either through hypertrophy, increase in muscle size or hyperplasia, increase in the number of fibers. But how fast it's built I guess depends on the person's metabolism, nutrient intake and I guess workout intensity. Similarly, I wonder about muscle atrophy, ie muscle degeneration. How fast that occurs and what happens then?

I figure that atrophy doesn't occur that quickly, the muscle built remains for a while. This might explain the image in the mirror. However, fat accumulates around said muscle, so you lose definition and gain a bulky appearance. Once you start working out again, the fibers become more apparent, as fat is lost. Well, this is what I'm hoping is the case for me la, must console myself a bit, since I put in a good few years of my life building said muscle.

Anyway, its time to put this theory to test. It took me about 4 and a half months to gain about 2 kilos of weight, thanks to Better half's extensive knowledge of good food and of course his TLC lah! Lets see how long it takes for me to lose said kilos and go back to what was before. This is of course provided Better half ( I still love you) does not sabotage efforts. Note: he came by to lunch with me at work yesterday, ice-cream in hand, walking into my clinic...my nurses were suckered, all had ice-cream after, hehehe.
Oh, BH, they really like you, plying them with food always works. Its not that I'm gonna go on some crazy diet of no carbs, no food etc, I'm not that stupid, just have to be more selective of foods and go back to doing my weights.

Feel really good about this now, there's something empowering about doing weight training and working out, it feels like taking control over one's own body, to make it stronger, better, fitter. BH is right, I have a life now, outside of the gym, and I haven't been this ecstatic ever! All in part thanks to him. But I realise, there's still a part of me that doesn't want to end up a couch potato, sluggish and fat. I guess he realised it too, cos he's the one who dragged me to the gym friday. Either because he's sick of hearing me saying "I feel fat" or he just decided it was time we both started working out again. What ever the reason, I'm glad I now have gained a training partner too and I can't wait to hit the gym today...FCI's class, then weights! So, lets see what happens to SC now...BH thinks a month of this will do, lets see if he's right, I sure hope he is.

When will it be enough?

I now wonder, when will gym-ing be enough. Apparently I gave gained a few pounds, all from about a month of slacking off. By that I mean I gave up on PT, I still go for classes, but instead of 4/5 times a week, I've cut it down to 2/3 times. But I have still maintained a relatively healthy lifestyle, occasionally indulging in some fast food and snack. But yet, the six pack and toned arms are dissipating. Which makes me wonder, what would happen if I were to quit altogether? Would I turn back to what I was before, a plumpish girl ( I wish lar, can still be called GIRL) or would I become a blimp?

Previously, at my fittest, I was doing weights with the PT, and like I said, 4 to 5 times a week of BC. But, I felt drained, and just fatigued. At every PT session, I'd dread going and after said session, be aching for a good two days. Food was sometimes just cereal, breakfast, lunch and dinner, which contributed to the fatigue. Yea, I was toned and the abs were there, but I wasn't quite happy. I looked good, except of course I lost some womanly curves.

So, I decided to discontinue PT and just do classes. I promised myself I'd do weights on my own, but somehow, without someone to push me, I haven't lifted a single dumbbell. Plus I'm a whole lot happier now, due in most part to better half and his amazing knowledge and resources when it comes to hunting for food! Needless to say, I have now regained my womanly curves, but to my dismay, my nurses have commented that my derriere is looking larger than before! Sigh. Now I'm paranoid again and thinking that if this keeps up this way, I'm gonna end up OBESE! But at the back of my mind, I'm thinking, Hey, I still work out, just less often and maybe less intense, but I'm healthy right? Shouldn't what I'm doing be enough?

If I were to kill my self again, back to a more intense programme, and finally achieve the results I want, how then would I maintain it, without spending a majority of my time in the gym? Does it mean that lifelong maintenance requires the same effort or more just to sustain the desired physical appearance? How mush is enough? My PT once told me,its a balance between what you consume and what you use. Can't seem to find that balance lah.

Seriously, I have a life, one that involves more than just BC, BS, BP and weights. I have a family, friends, a doggie and hobbies that I just can't live without. So I guess I can't sacrifice so much of my time anymore. I suppose I'll just have to accept my womanly curves. But I'll still try to lose just that little bit more.

A very busy weekend

Most of the time, my weekends are short...having to work Saturdays makes it only a Sunday off. Which means on Sundays, I sleep in late, have time to go gym, have a nap and have dinner with family. The last Sunday however, was a very busy one. One of better half's friends got married. And since I'd never been to a Chinese wedding ( dinner's don't count), I decided to tag along. Better Half was one of the "Heng Tai's", those guys who chaperone the groom to the bride's place and hence also bear the brunt of the abuses from the bride's "Chee Mui's".
So Sunday began bright and early...at 7.00 am. By the time I normally awake ( on working days), i.e 8 am, ( I start work at 10 mah), I was all dolled up and ready to go. Better Half only got to my place at 8.30 and we got to the grooms place by 9. Only 3 guys were present and "heng tais", so...only 3 cars. One to chauffeur the groom, one to chauffeur the roast oink and one more guy to tag along. Apparently a good looking groom and a nice looking roasted pig weren't enough to get into the bride's home. Her "chee mui's" had decided to lock the grilles, giving the impression that her home was more like a prison and they were the wardens. I guess this part of the wedding is supposed to depict the grooms heroism in rescuing his bride? Well, after some "tasks" which involved gastronomic injury, the guys were finally allowed in. Poor better half had to down a bitter gourd smoothie, sing a Hokkein song (kodok tetap kodok) and do some push ups. I never knew he could do push ups on toes, cos in class, he's always on his knees and can never finishes the set! Evil thoughts of lunges with 10 kilo plates flash in my mind...hehehe.
The groom of course had more tasks, involving money ( bribing the kids to get off the stairs) and of course answer some questions about his bride. Poor fella, can't remember the first date, when it happened...tsk,tsk. Money talks, and eventually the bride let him in. well, the rest was standard stuff, tea ceremony, back to groom's place, tea ceremony again, etc... We were done by 2pm, asleep by 3, only to wake up again at 6 to get ready for the dinner.
Dinner was standard wedding fair, but of course there were drinks. Needless to say, things got a lot more cheery after a few drinks. Better half was nice and red. As usual, the friends will attempt to get the groom drunk, in the process getting drunk themselves. it didn't take much to get the groom sloshed...two glasses of wine...and he was out. The drunken party made its way to the birdal suite, groom being propped up and helped along. Better half and I left not long after, but apparently the drinking continued a while. Bear in mind, this was Sunday night, i.e the next day is MONDAY!
Got home at 2, slept at 3 and began the next day very,very sleepy. Was supposed to be a busy day, with root canals and such, but thankfully a few patients cancelled and postponed...perhaps they too had attended wedding dinners the night before? After tis the season for wedded bliss, no?
For more details of said wedding, click on better half

J-Card Day @ Megamall

8.55 am...take train to work. Guy in the picture almost got his spare tire left behind. Visions of BMW(Bas Mini Wilayah) flash in my mind









Reason for train ride?
Jam in Mid Valley................







Reason for jam in Mid Valley? Jam in Jusco.........








Reason for nurses lepaking at work? Empty surgery..........











Reason for empty surgery? No Patients........












Reason for no patients? Jam, no parking..........











Reason for jam & no parking? J-CARD DAY..........


Reason for credit card debt? J-CARD DAY!!!

Thyphoid Mary/ Mat

Ever wonder what goes into your mouth? I'm not just talking about the food we cram down, but also what else is in it... Both better half and I have recently been given royal status, we've both been sitting on our throne's today, for a good part of the day. And it was all thanks to banana leaf cuisine courtesy of a well known restaurant in PJ yesterday. Anyway, the fact that this has happened to both of us recently and seems to occur with annoying frequency, prompts me to wonder...what is it the we are really eating? Does our food come with a side order of salmonella? Probably more frequently than not its some kind of Staph or other. But my point is, how clean is the food or drink that we consume?

The restaurant we went to is a favourite haunt for PJ folk, in fact many doctors in the nearby hospital frequent it. So why is it that although it seems clean, we still had trouble? Could it be the guy behind , in the kitchen didn't wash his hands thoroughly? Or maybe the waiter who served us was the one with the dirty hands? Or ....dare I say it, they recycle their curries from yesterday?

In fact, where I work, the standard of hygiene of the food court is deplorable. Why? Because not only can you see cockroaches running about at the stalls, a friend of mine had the unfortunate experience of almost gulping one down. How? It was in her nescafe. And of course, no one separates the hand that receives the money from the hand that serves the food and sometimes from the hand that prepares the food.

Dining in a more decent looking establishment doesn't necessarily mean that the food is cleaner. I've seen this at one of those Hong Kong styled snack outlets...the guy was sneezing, rubbing his hands on his nose and then lo and behold, makes a sandwich. And a popular fast food outlet, has a problem with rats, all in a mall.

I almost want to be as paranoid as Monk, with my hygienic wipes, my own utensils and such...but the reality is there is no one to check that the food we buy is safe. Yea sure, they had that restaurant grading thing a while ago...but I don't see any evidence of those plaques now. And besides, who cares about a plaque, when there's no one to actually inspect periodically? Perhaps its because we're asian, and more tolerant. Lets face it, we all forgot about the haze already, no? Or maybe we have more durable tummies and really don't think much about a bout of diarrhoea.

The sad truth is there isn't much we can do about it, other than chose not to eat at these places. The friend who complained about the roach? All she got was an explanation...it was in the ice, the delivery guy was dirty, etc, etc,etc. The truth may well be that the milk used is not stored properly and therefore attracts vermin.

Gosh, the throne beckons yet again...lets hope the next time I dine out, I'll be less unlucky.

Tales of the delusional

Have you ever met people whom you thought are downright delusional? For me, its usually people who are in denial about themselves, i.e they think they are someone whom they are definately not! A great example would be the delusional people I meet in the gym, most often in BC. You know the flers, la, the ones who seriously think they are Jackie Chan/ Bruce Lee? Who think they are major martial artist, who think they can punch and kick you out of the class? Well, I seem to attract these flers, like bees to nectar. Usually skinny, with no sense of timing what so ever and punching and kicking like there's no tomorrow, they always stand next to me. From the corner of my eye I can see arms and legs flailing about aimlessly and dangerously. Strangely its always a guy who is delusional in BC..I wonder why?
Anyway, these delusional flers also come with a side order of ego. Apparently the fact that a girl can outpunch them scares them enough to flail about harder. ( out of timing and sequence sometimes). I observed one fler today, there I was at track 3, happily doing my uppers with more power, when the guy next to me starts upping his intensity too. Not that I'm against that, its just that it was obvious the guy was trying to outdo me, cos he kept glancing over to my side la. If I punched hard, he'd punch harder. If I kicked high, he'd kick higher...and so it went all the way to the end. Unfortunately the fler had poor technique and lets face it, punched like a girl...well, worse than a girl. delusional or what? And being a GUY, I'm pretty sure Mr. Delusional here would never in a million years ask anyone, guy, girl or instructor, if what he was doing was correct. Sad to say, men, will never ask for directions and apparently, will never ask " Am I punching correctly?" Because apparently, if you are a GUY, you should know how to, instinctively....hmmm....
Oh, and of course there's no way in hell a GUY will let a GIRL outpunch him? No, that would be sacriledge! Delusional, no?

Shoulda Coulda Wouda

Recent circumstances have got me to thinking about what could have been and how life doesn't always work out the way we want or plan it to. Perhaps it was because of the conversation I had when KH passed me a wedding invite ( Oh boy..its wedding season again!) had stirred up some long forgotten thoughts about my own life. Who I am now, who I was before and where I'm headed now?
I always thought I'd be married by 24, but when 24 and the proposal came, I said no and moved out. Now, I wonder if I did take that path where would I be? Would I be busy, running after two kids off to the nursery instead of a facial? Would I be at home, cooking dinner instead of at the gym, working out? Would I still be plump, or God forbid obese because my gym life only began at 25. Would I have been happy with that very first of boyfriends? I have would have been saved the heartache and pain of the second, but then I wouldn't get lucky the third time and actually meet this wonderful man. I wonder.........
By now,if i had gotten married, like KH mentioned, my kids would probably be 3/4...and the first part of a family life dealt with. So by the time I'm 50, the kids would be educated, hopefully working and I could retire. But I didn't follow that path now did I? Does this mean that if I have kids now I'm not gonna be able to retire by 50? Or by 60?
This also got me to thinking...its this a set pathway of life? Grow up, get married, have kids, raise kids, retire then...keel over? And is there a set time limit after which your chances of doing any of the above expire? Though many believe there is not set pathway and we are free not to marry, not to have kids, etc..I think society still deems this as a norm and anyone who doesn't comply, isn't normal. As for the time frame, to me, its bollocks...after reading about a woman in her 60's giving birth...well..whos' to say anything, right? Life expectancy is increasing, so we are generally outliving our forefathers. But then again, heard about the 30 something who keeled over in the gym?
All said and done, the shoulda coulda wouda is still on my mind....I still wonder why back then I decided I didn't want the man, the kids, the whole shebang...was it because he was the wrong man, it was the wrong time? Or was it because it was the wrong me? The me then actually didn't want all those things. I'd like to believe it was the wrong me... I was and probably still am a bit too selfish, I want my space, and my freedom...I want my BC, my facials, my exorbitant expenses on cosmetics and skincare and clothes. And I still want to drill and fill and root canal people....but now, I'm starting to want the prams, the wailing, the cooking....I guess we can't always have what we want, not at the same time anyway.

The day I got gassed

Ok, so this post is a little late, cos I got gassed yesterday, but what the heck? Have to blog about it, cos it was an experience lah. The gas in question? Nitrous oxide. See, boss decided that he wanted to sedate some of our nervous / anxious patients ( the kind that trembel the moment they sit on the chair), so of course the best thing to do is to try it out first la. So who was the guinea oink? Hmm... no surprises there right?
The mask was vanilla scented, so after about 5 deep breaths, can feel that wonderful warming sensation of the extremities...you know, ater you'd had like 4/5 glasses of wine? Well, in SKR's case maybe one glass? ( I hope she never reads this!). Well, I felt really high, my fingers and hands really heavy and I felt like sleeping. Boss then decided to test the anaesthetic effect of it...now, we all know nitrous oxide has NO anaesthetic effect, but we wanted to see if my tolerance for pain would increase. So, Boss did a scale, extra pressure he said, and yeah, I felt it, but I just didn't wanna do anything about it. I guess my pain tolerance did increase.
All in all, I'm in favour of gas. The effects were totally reversed once the nitrous was stopped and I was back to normal in a few minutes...no hangover, nothing! I think I'm gonna start gassing the kids too...not in favour of wailing and screaming in the office. But what a minute...its the adults who do that!

The virgin post

This the my first time EVER blogging...yeay! After reading other people's whilst being bored waiting for patients, have finally decided to set up my very own blog. As the title implies, this is not about wanting other people to read, its not about sharing any kind of opinion, its just about documenting the things that make or break my day. So, if you're THAT bored and am reading this, please, be my guest. If I can entertain in any way...excellent! But if not, ...SO WHAT???
As for today, it pays to have friends, especially those who can come up with excellent titles for a blogspot and those who refer celebrity patients over. It can be a pain with the rich and famous, but thankfully this celeb, was downright down to earth and very, very nice....albeit her now famous role as a pontianak...no shrieking occured throughout the treatment. Its just one of those busy days with double bookings and chaos, but I survived! Well, almost, for the day isn't quite over, now is it?
As for friends with enough brains for titles ( and codes)....thanks babe! Now I'm officially off and blogging!