American Council on Exercise (ACE)

I will be taking up this exam for Personal Trainer to upgrade my knowledge. I do hope that I can help many of you out there to achieve the things that you want in life. Will keep you all update once I succeed.

No "wrong decision" so no regret

I am sorry that I have to deviate from my normal discussion on fitness. This is because recently I had many friends coming to me and complain about the "wrong decision" that they had made. They regret about it and so on. Anyway just to share my view on this matter regarding wrong decision. I think there is nothing called wrong decision. It is just a decision that do not produce your desired result. So do not waste your time regretting about it.

For me, I think I have never made a wrong decision my whole life. Therefore I never regret any decision that I had made although many a time the end result is not what I had expected. Why am I saying this is because we all made decision based on the data and information that we have at the time. So whatever decision that we made is all correct at the time when it is made and the decision is always a good one based on all the analysis that we had. Whatever result that happened is a different story altogether.

Why the end result is not what we have expected? I had come to realize that it is due to several factors:-

i. some important and relevant data or information is not available at the time of analysis (so the decision that we made without this information is still correct one. Not our fault if the additional information and data can change our earlier decision. The issue is, we do not have the info and data at the time )

ii. some problems might not have any solution at all or which we do not have to the capabilities to overcome. Whatever we do the result will not be what we expected. We just make decision to satisfy our conscience.

iii. Some changes in the nature of the problem after a decision has been taken. This definately is not our fault as we are not in control of the future.

So the question of wrong decision should not rise at all. I hope everyone out there will not regret their decision once they have made it, no matter if the end result is desirable or not. This will make the world a better place for you to live in.

Study: Low-Carb Diets More Effective Than Low-Fat Diets

I recently found an article regarding the myth about taking low fat food to lose weight. I for one subscribed to taking low carb diet to better in losing your body weight than taking low fat diet. Anyway I attached herewith an article which explain very well the science behind low carb diet and low fat diet. This article is written by Howard LeWine, M.D., Harvard Health Publications. Enjoy......

People lost more weight on low-carbohydrate and Mediterranean diets than on a low-fat diet. Low carbs also led to better cholesterol numbers, researchers found. These are the findings published in the July 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study included 322 people. They worked and ate lunch together. About 85 percent stuck to the diets. After two years, people on the low-carb diet had lost about 10.3 pounds. The average lost was 10 pounds with the Mediterranean diet and 6.5 with the low-fat diet.

What Is the Doctor's Reaction?

Finally, we have the winner of the long debate about which style of weight loss diet is best: They all win. But the surprise is that the low-carbohydrate, unrestricted calorie diet (the Atkins-style diet) actually was the most effective.

In this week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers report the findings of a very well-designed study. They compared three diets:

• Low-fat, restricted calories
• Mediterranean, restricted calories
• Low-carbohydrate, no specific restriction on calories

The people on the low-carbohydrate lost the most weight on average, 10.3 pounds. That compares with an average weight loss of 10 pounds for those on the Mediterranean diet. People assigned to the low-fat diet lost about 6.5 pounds.

The other big surprise was the changes in cholesterol. Low-fat diets have been promoted as the best way to lower blood cholesterol levels. But in this study, that was not the case. The higher fat, low-carbohydrate diet did much better than the low-fat diet in a key measurement.

This is the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol (the so-called good cholesterol).

In general, a lower ratio of total to HDL cholesterol is healthiest. The low-carbohydrate diet lowered this ratio the most. It did this mainly by raising HDL a lot more than the low-fat diet.

For women in the study, the Mediterranean diet tended to result in more weight loss than the other two diets. But there were fewer women in this study, so the results are less conclusive for women.

What Changes Can You Make Now?

You have three paths that can work to achieve weight loss.

The right choice for you depends primarily upon which one you are most likely to stick with. But this study did hint that some people might get more benefit from choosing a certain style. For example:

• Women seem to lose more weight on the Mediterranean-style diet. But this does require carefully controlling your calories.
• People with type 2 diabetes might be best served with a Mediterranean diet as well. In this study, people on this diet ended up with lower fasting blood sugar levels.
• People who hate counting calories probably would find the low-carbohydrate diet the most appealing.
A major reason that all the diets improved cholesterol levels was that everyone was advised about choosing the best sources of dietary fats, carbohydrates and protein.

All participants were urged to:

• Consume more monounsaturated oils such as olive oil.
• Avoid saturated fats and trans fats.
• Eat healthy sources of protein, such as nuts and vegetable proteins.
• Eat more whole grain carbohydrates.
• Load up on vegetables.
• Strictly limit sweets and high-fat snacks.

What Can You Expect Looking to the Future?

Research has always focused on how to make it easier for people to stick with a diet that is working for them. Now there should be less focus on which diet is best. Instead, it would be great to see a menu describing tips on behaviors to stick with, no matter which diet you choose.

The discussion continues..........................

As promised, please find attached herewith the 2nd part of my discussion with Camillia. I certainly hope that you will find more useful information here in you quest to be healthy and feel good. Talking about "feel good", I will write something about this topic later.

Here you go.

Dear Contender,

Sorry for very late reply...been really busy :(

Actually, dr said I need to lose weight coz my BMI is not good and my cholesterol is high...so need to do something about it before it's too late...so i need to lose my body fats as fast as I can...I need to lose at least 5 kilos to reach safe BMI...

So, I need to really lose fat...Of all the food that you tell me not to eat...actually I hardly eat any of it. I am a very poor eater. I hardly eat any of the stuff that you mention!!! I trying to run but 5km in the morning means I have to run at 4 am...which is pretty much impossible...so I will try to do a 40 mins workout at home (I found something that requires just me and an exercise mat.) So as to wanting to tone my arms and abs...that is where most of my fat is concentrated :(

If there is something you can share with me, it'd be great...I really need it.

Thank you so much for the compliment...but I still have to face the realities of an unhealthy lifestyle!

I checked out your blog...wow...it's really incredible that you have lost that must weight in only 7 months!!! How long did it take you to tone up to how you look now???

Cheers,
Camy (May 12, 2008)



Dear Camy,

I didn't know u r in that bad shape in health. To me you r Chilly Padi. Small, hot and very spicy. Haha.

It is good to know that you are putting ur effort to do something about it. For me, it all started when my dr advise me that I will not live beyond 40 years of age with my old weight and lifestyle. I had hypertension, hi cholesterol, high triglycerides and hi sugar content in blood. All that are history now. I am now in better shape than when i was in my teens and all it gave shock to my doctor ( a personal frens).

I can understand your situation and what u r trying to do. I have gone thru all that. Let me share something with you.

i. We are all created by The Almighty to have a balance feature in everything. You will not find a fat lady with a thin oval face, a thin lady with a big belly and definately not a fat lady with a 6 packs- no matter how many thousand times of crunches she did in a day. Our body are all made proportionately one another.

ii. I found out that cardio exercise is the best remedy for burning off excessive fat from our body. Cardio mean anything aerobic n u nid to have the excercise more than 45 minutes before it start to burn off fats from ur body. U can begin by cycling, cross training, step and progress to running. So by doing cardio u can have fat starting to burn off from every part of the body. Remember, you cannot isolate fat burning to a certain part only. U will not have fat arm and thin finger. Or u will look like a mutant.

iii. It is a myth that by doing thousand of crunches a day will get a 6 packs easily. Dun believe that advertisement on TV selling u all those equipment. This is wht happened. I noticed that many Indonesian construction workers has got six packs.I think u will agree. But do you think they have got the six packs by doing those many abs crunches a day. I dun think so. So i made some research myself. Even if u do thousand of crunches a day , you will have a strong abs. But that does not means u will have a six packs. All ur six packs will be covered by your abs fat. So to get ur six packs visible u nid to remove those fats in ur abs. SO what is the best way? CARDIO definitely!

You will lose ur enthusiasm soon with your mat and 40 min of exercise. Coz it will not do you any result. I think u shud think of joining the gym and get ur inspiration from all those lady with the body which u desired.

And also u need to focus on 1 thing at a time. Start by burning off fat. Then only u can do toning. For me there r 3 phases:-

1.- Burning fat
2.- Toning of body
3. -Sculpting of body

U shud have a focus of what u want oso. Mine is to have this type of body feature in the Louvre-Greek and Roman sculpture.In this way I know where i wan to end up.

Anyway good luck on ur endeavor. I can only guide and the rest is up to u.

Best regards,

Tony Goh (May 12, 2008)

Me? Contender Asia Contender?

I have had the greatest honour recently when someone really believe that I am vying for a place in the next season of Contender Asia. I never think I would look like somebody in the Contender Asia. Thank you Camillia for the compliment. You make my day.

Anyway we did have some discussion about how I did it. Thanks to her consent, I am posting here our discussion on the ways to be healthy and of course look good.

Dear Contender,

Me need a few tips on toning up the 6 pack and arms...I got really flabby belly and arms lar!!! Don't ask me to go to gym coz me phobic...got any D.I.Y.A.H. (Do-it-yourself-at-home) exercises that I can do???
Please advise.

Thank you...

Desperado,
Camy D (April 25, 2008)

Dear Camy,

u look absolutely fine. u possesed ur own special beauty. Trust me.

Anyway,if you would like to tone down coz of health reason you should begin by running 5km every morning. In addition to that you need to control ur food. Meaning no fried food, no carbo (rice, bread and noodle), no fat meat and no sugar. This means no nasi lemak, roti canai, teh tarik, wan tan mee, chicken drumstick, pizza, mutton curry and etc.

Only after u managed to do the above, I will teach u the next step. But if u can't do it, I still say u look great as it is. No worries.

Best regards,

Contender (April 25, 2008)


To be continued.................

It has been a while since I last update my blog. Has been quite busy lately with work. Anyway I am posting herewith a picture of myself taken during Chinese New Year 2008. I just finish descending from Kledang Hill in Menglembu on the first day of CNY. Quite sweaty thou.

The Great Metamorphosis - Pilot Episode

Top to bottom in only 7 months?
Impossible?
Who say?
It's SAME person.
No special effect.