Pineapple Juice Magic!

I used to be a regular milk drinker. I drink about 2 glasses of milk per day but I discovered a tastier milk alternative: Del Monte's Pineapple Juice! I love the unsweetened variant. I mix half glass full pineapple juice with water during breakfast. I always put on a teaspoon or 2 of Psyllium husk to increase my fiber requirement.

Our gym instructor learned about my latest drink discovery and advised me that it is better to take the pineapple juice at night rather than in the morning. A lot of people say that the pineapple is a great calorie (or was it fat?) burner. Taking it at night allows one to burn more calories.

I try go to the gym regularly at night. This habit allows me to burn a few extra calories while sleeping. I believe drinking pineapple juice complements my fitness efforts and even has an added bonus for me: in the morning, it makes me have a better bowel movement (even if I don't add Psyllium husk into my night drink).

I shared my latest habit with a colleague. She was quite hesitant to try it at first since she originally thought that drinking pineapple juice at night perks her up rather than calms her. Upon receiving lots of encouragement from her fitness instructor to try this habit, she noticed a no frills poop time from her end as well!

I did not entirely drop my dairy intake with this drink alternative as I am still a firm believer on the wonders dairy products can do for you. I drink Nesvita yoghurt drink or take a cup of Nesvita yoghurt as my morning snack to catch up on my daily dairy requirement.

First Belly Dancing Experience

I attended our belly dancing class in the office for the first time! I thought it was relatively easy but I was so wrong! My abdominal area truly felt those I've originally thought as simple shake and bump moves (I totally forgot what the steps were called)

I would personally classify belly dancing as a pretty intense workout for my sagging tummy! While paying attention to the different moves, I can’t help but admire my teacher’s belly wishing and hoping that it was mine.

This might be quite a long shot but I should never give up until I achieve my fitness dream of having a flat tummy. Regular attendance to our belly dancing class, familiarizing myself with the great moves and complementing it with a good cardio exercise would truly help me in accomplishing my fitness goal!

My Milo Marathon Story

For about 2 years now, my husband has been trying to convince me to join the Milo Marathon. I am not an athlete nor am I a health buff as I am the opposite. Last year, we signed up for the marathon but was not able to go since it was raining hard. This year, we decided that we participate in the Marathon whatever the weather may be. It was both our first time to join the Marathon but it was not my first time to witness one. My first Milo Marathon experience which was about 6 years ago was almost a forgettable one as I woke up late then and when I got to the event location, all the runners were in the different race paths.

I've managed to have a better Milo Marathon story since then. At around 5 o clock in the morning, we got up, got dressed and tried to reach the race area by car. There was a re-routing for vehicles on these times as runners were trying to assemble in the starting line. It took us about 30 minutes to reach Km 0 and the race just got started.

I was mesmerized by what I saw, I used to think that only ants can gather in such a number! There were a lot of participants all having their own Milo Marathon story to tell regardless of age, gender and socio-economic class. Rain poured heavily and a lot of participants did not mind the weather at all. We managed to walk first in the starting line as it was quite hard to run given the volume of race participants.

We managed to finish the 5Km race and was amazed to see that the participant of 42K already was about to go to the finish line with almost the same time as ours. My husband and I vowed to ourselves that we will make it a yearly ritual to participate in at least one Milo Marathon. If weather permits, we would bring our kids for them to experience such a glorious event while they are still young.

My Wellness Story

Late this March, I chose Wellness. I took part and enrolled in our company's Wellness Program for Employees. I'm quite thankful that our company puts highest importance on being a trusted and leading Nutrition Health and Wellness Company. We are quite lucky to have almost an entire floor in our building dedicated to a wellness center (aka gym). In addition, there are group classes being offered everyday for various health activities.

Upon program enrollment, we had nutrition counselling and initial measurements were done by certified/human kenetics graduates on the following: Height, Weight, BMI, waist circumference, hip circumference, waist:hip ratio and had initial physical assessments such as VO2 Max, Baseline Circumferences( arm, chest, waist, hip and thigh) Skinfolds (Chest, Triceps, SUbscapular, Thigh, Supraillac, Abdominal, Med Calf and had the sum of skinfold), isometric strength (push up, abdominal curl up, hamstring, quadriceps, hamstring:quadricep ratio) and flexibility.

I am very happy that I achieved my weight achievement for the past 2 months. I try to attend the group classes but never tried going to the wellness center yet. I hope to find time and be able to go to our gym someday. Currently, Im enjoying attending various cardio exercises at least once a week. I am trying to increase my group classes attendance to 2x a week and gradually increase it until I could attend it everyday!=)

Every month, we have nutrition counselling to track as well how well we've progressed and check if we met our month's target. I am hoping that by the end of the Wellness Program by December, I will achieve my desired weight with a flatter tummy! =)