Are you a Camel?

Sometime ago in the Sgrunners' forum, some bloke posted how he was going to dump the main bulk of his water after crossing the start line at the forthcoming TNF 100 Challenge. Of course, most of us old birds were a bit shocked and some of the more kapo one, including old uncle me joined in with; I am sure most unwanted advices and warning on the danger of doing so and how he will suffer in the run if he does so.

I still remember vividly my experience last year. Carrying a full 1.5ltr of water + stopping at every water point, of which there were 3, I still ran out of water and suffered tremendously during the last 5 km! 

But on hindsight, maybe this guy knows what he is talking about. He could be right in that he don't need to carry water.After all, he is younger, fitter and faster and only doing the 25km. He claimed he has been running in trails and only need a small quantity of water each time. Come to think of it, if the route for the TNF100 is the same as last year, there will be at least 3 water points at roughly 10km, 12km and 18 km. Beside that, there is the ranger station which is approximately 4 km from the start and end point making a total of 5 water points along the entire route. That could be more than adequate in a 25km race if one is fit enough. Or  is it?

Coincidentally, I have a colleague who is going to take part in the 50km duo for the first time. So he has been diligently training in the trails over the course of the past few weekends. Of course, old uncle me again got to give his 2 cents worth of advice to carry water and of course, he being younger, said he sees no need for it. Beside, he finds the hydration bag troublesome and heavy. But he being the good boy that he is,  listens to old uncle here and diligently carried his water-bag. Yesterday, he came up to me and told me that to get use to the later start time for the 50km duo, he started his last weekend run at 10am. And he confessed, he had to refill his 1.5ltr waterbag twice! So in the end, he ended up drinking almost 3ltr of water.

The moral of the story? Uncle eat more salt than young people eat rice so unless you are born a camel, go without water at your own peril!

How to Lose Weight the Cheapo Way - Part 3

The average person needs about 2000 to 3000 calories a day depending on the type of activities. Generally, a office bound person needs less calories than an outside office worker or a sportsman. Weight loss is simply a matter of more calorie being burnt than taken in. There are various websites available to calculate how much calories required each day for each type of work but then living life around calorie is not going to be fun. How to calculate how much calorie each type of food contains? I rather eat smart and enjoy myself than obsessed myself with what to order each time I dine out.

Anyway here is a sample meal for a day.

Weekdays:

• Early morning - Breakfast - 2 slice of wholemeal bread sandwich. Spread with peanut butter or margarine or butter. Or tuna. Go easy on the mayo though. Add a cup of unsweetened coffee or tea.
• Mid morning - Snack.  A banana or a slice of papaya with a cup of unsweetened or reduced sugar soya drink.
• Lunch - Porridge or reduced rice with 2 - 3 side dishes. Avoid fried stuff like fried chicken, fried fish. Go for steam fish, tofu, vegetables and egg.
• Mid afternoon - Snack. More fruit or a fistful of nuts/grains or a salad (go easy on the toppings) or a low fat yogurt. 
• Dinner - Reduced rice with 2 - 3 side dishes. Or Pasta with reduced sauces. Or fish noodles. Do not go for the fried noodles.
• Night snack - Fruits or nuts.

Weekend:
Stick to a sensible meal plan as above but relax a bit and eat some nice but not so "healthy" food. As mentioned in the earlier post, eat drink and be merry and if you can't enjoy nice food, what is the point of living?

The trick to weight loss is not to lose too much too soon but gradually in small doses. Rather than starving oneself and going on a crash diet, do it sensibly. Eat in moderation and slowly and surely you will get there.

Happy weight loss!

Part 4 - Non food way to lose weight.
Part 1 and Part 2

How to Lose Weight the Cheapo Way - Part 2

So we now come to the exciting part. All ready to lose weight without spending excessive money? Read on.

1. Eliminate processed sugar from all your meal. Sugar is possibly the biggest single contributor to weight gain. Don't take any soft drinks. Not even those diet or low sugar drinks. Look at the labels on packaging. Don't take anything that in its ingredient's listing ends with a "ose" like fructose and sucrose. Don't take anything that the seller has to add sugar water like cold desserts, mixed drinks, soya drinks and bubble tea.   Be discipline about this. Go cold turkey without sugar for 3 months and I guarantee you see results. No sugar - drinks etc don't taste nice? Not true. Fruit juice, the type straight from the fruit and not in the carton taste much better. Smell the aroma of rich coffee without the sickening sweetness of sugar or condensed milk. Use natural raw honey if absolutely necessary.


2. Reduce carbohydrates from your meal. Now this one is a bit difficult seeing as in Asia, the main meal always revolves around rice or noodle. So the key word here is reduce not eliminate. Eat less rice, noodles and bread. Ask for less rice. Where possible, replace them with brown rice or wholemeal bread. Those who think they need the energy to run or sustain them throughout the week, there are alternatives that can provide energy - fruits, nuts, cheese etc.

3. Cut out snacking unhealthy one that is. That means no potato chips while watching tv, no biscuits to munch on during afternoon tea. Replace with fruits and nuts. Don't even think of those so called "healthy snacks" like brown rice rings, cereals or trans fat free biscuits. Most of them are fried and processed and have a lot of artificial ingredients added in.

Does all these sound very boring?  Not really. Nuts (the unsalted type) are great to eat and snack on. For variety, go for the mixed nuts containing almond, walnut, pistachio, brazil nut and cashew nut. Don't take peanut though. Most peanut sold are salted. For even more variations, add in seeds like chia seed, sunflower seeds and dried fruits like raisin, cranberries and blueberries. Eat all type of fruits. The great thing about Singapore is that we are at the cross road of the world and we get to eat all types of fruits. Don't just stick to apple, pear and orange. Go for the most brightly coloured fruits. Mixed and match and fruit eating will never be boring.

4. Eat frequently. Do I hear you go ??? Eat like a king at breakfast, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper? No no no. I don't believe in that. Eat small meal at frequent intervals so that the body has time to digest the smaller portion and use it up. The frequent eating will also keep you feeling full instead of overeating at a single meal. I eat at least 6 times a day and those who know me will know that I cannot be even remotely be described as fat although the belly is quivering most of the time nowadays but that is another story!

Just doing all the above should guarantee weight loss. So like promised - save money on sugar, save money from eating less carbs, save money on snacks and no need for any extreme diet plan or expensive slimming program. But how to execute it?

Next Part 3 - A sample daily meal.
Part 1 here

Some Whinings

This is one of those whining post so don't read on if you can't tahan this.

It has been 7 weeks since the injury and I was all hopeful when I visited the doc for a review. After all, there has been no pain in the foot for almost the whole month and I was walking normally without the Hellboy's shoe. Got the x-ray done. A callus was forming over the fracture but the crack could still be seen very clearly. So the doc said no running, not until the next review in early October. What a bummer! That means I will have to dns 2 more races including the TNF 100. Sighed. And I have signed up for so few races this year and now got to sit out 4 races. But that wasn't so bad. There will always be another race another time so it's no big deal.

But what is bad is that without any form of cardio, I am going to get fat, not just fat but fat fat! My 6 - 7 meals a day is still ongoing. Habit dies hard although I am trying to cut down on the portion but it's a nightmare at home during the holidays and weekends. There is always food on the table and every hour, somebody will utter "eat" and the eating can go on and on. The only real form of exercise I can do now is some strength exercise. No cycling, no swimming, nothing that can weight load the foot or stress it too much.  Luckily, following yesterday review, I am now given the go ahead to swim but swimming has never been my forte and I don't see myself swimming more than once a week even though the swimming pool is now just a 5  minutes walk away.

The other thing that pissed me off no end is people telling me not to run forever. I appreciate the well meaning concerns but would I be better off being a couch potato? After all, at my age, there isn't really much safe activities that I can do. Cycling? I think here in Sg more people get injured and die from cycling accidents than runners dropping dead. Swimming? How often can I swim anyway? 3 times a week? Is that going to be enough to compensate for all the calories that I consume? Racket sports? With my bad knee and now foot, any jumping up and now is definitely a no-no. Balls sports? I believe I know more people with ACL injuries from playing soccer than from running. So maybe table tennis or croquet? Or what about chess? So to my friends and relatives if you are reading this, if I choose to kill myself by running, so be it. I appreciate your concerns but please keep your advice to yourself unless you are a trained professional.