My 8 Week Challenge: Part 4

First of all, voting ends by Sunday 4th Nov 2012.

If you have NOT voted, please do. Every vote is a kind gesture to show your support in reinventing a person and achieving personal goals.

1) Go to www.eightweekchallenge.com.my or click HERE 
2) Click on 'Search User', type 'regina' and select 'Malaysia' for country, click on my name to vote.
3) Fill in details and click 'register my vote'!

If those 3 steps are too complicated for you and you need visual aid, view this BLOGPOST.

Okay, NEXT. 

Some of you asked me how much I've lost.


Chest/Bust (cm): -ve 7cm
Weight (Kg): -ve 6.1kg
Upper Arm (cm): -ve 1.5cm
Waist (cm): -ve 14cm
Hips (cm): -ve 9.5cm
Upper Thigh (cm): -ve 3cm
Pants size: From 30 down to 27/28.

7cm off my chest. That would include fat loss on my back and also on my boobs. It's ok. I still can fit in my bras. Thankful with whatever I have. If small boobs is what it takes to have smoother curves, then I'll take it.

Girls, our boobies are made of fat. So it will go away when we workout and diet. Guys with manboobs/moobs, your layer of fats will go away and your chest muscle will increase with the right diet and workouts. And yes. We ladies love guys with nice firm chest. Good for us to rest on ;)

As you can see, my weight did not drop significantly. 6kg drop is considered moderate in this challenge. However, I have lost 14cm (that's almost 4 inches) off my waist line, and 9.5cm off my hips. Go take your ruler and see how much that is. I've got friends commenting that they can't recognize me from the back anymore. I take that as a compliment.

The final product of the challenge (if you haven't seen it already)...

Front

 Side profile

And I could fit into a Herve Leger S-sized dress! 

I hope my transformation has somehow motivated you to better yourself. I am still working on getting a better physique and stronger body. It will always be a progressive improvement as long as we DO NOT GIVE UP. To those that told me I have motivated and inspired you, you have done the same for me. Thank YOU. 

Surround yourself with positive and encouraging people that you trust and enjoy the journey you have together. 

My 8 Week Challenge: Part 3

As promised, today I will talk about how I went around my diet, workouts, and time management.

I had a very clear goal in mind when I entered this challenge: To reinvent myself and change the way I look. Be fitter, stronger, faster, tougher, toner. And yes, I have achieved it in 8 weeks. However, like all things in life, there is always room for improvement.

1) Diet
What's the 'secret' to my diet? There is NO SECRET. It's very very simple. I'm pretty sure all of you have heard this a million times but somehow you refuse to believe that it works. Either that or you're feeding your body with the wrong kinds of food. But this is what I did for the past 8 weeks.

Eat 5-6 small meals a day. Which means you have to eat every 3-4 hours a day depending on how long your day is. Guzzle 1-2 tall glasses of water before each meal. Take less carbs, take wheat bread/wholemeal bread/brown rice/wholemeal pasta/shiratake noodles most of the time. Avoid carbs for dinner or supper. Avoid processed carbs (e.g. doughnuts, chips, cheesecakes, cupcakes). Eat fresh veggies (those frozen peas/carrots/corns you get in fried rice are cheapskate veggie and aren't nutritious), fresh fruits. But most importantly, eat lean and clean protein. Chicken, fish, salmon, turkey, beef, lean pork, egg whites are very very good sources of protein. Limit yourself to 2 egg yolks per day but bountiful of egg whites. With high protein diet, you will definitely get super smelly egg farts. But I'd rather this than getting carb farts. At least I know my body is digesting healthy protein. NEVER EVER eat only when you're hungry. Eat on time. Don't starve your body or else it will just store food.

In the past 8 weeks, I've substituted my processed sugar with sweeteners (e.g. Equal, Equal stevia, Splenda, and Tesco sweetener). Some of you health freaks might say "Oh! But sweeteners have aspartame! You'll get cancer and die!" Too much of anything is bad for your body. I was only taking those sweeteners for 8 weeks and I drank A LOT of water to drain whatever my body has to. So I really don't see the harm in it. Not like I've been taking aspartame for the past 8 years. The best sweetener that does NOT have aspartame is Equal Stevia. You can easily find it in local pharmacies like Guardian/Watsons/Caring. They all have it. This is how the tablet Stevia looks like. There are many variations so if you're really interested, go check it out.

The diet that I did (called Inferno diet) is very similar to a well established diet called Dukan diet. You can have a look at the diet here and they even provide recipe ideas. Very very useful website, I reckon. And absolutely free!

Invest in a very good cooking pan. If you have an oven and griller, even better! I've mastered the art of cooking with no oil, minimal salt and pepper, no sugar and just enjoy the taste that I invent in the kitchen. You'll be surprised how much you can really taste the original flavour without all the condiments masking your food.

To break it down...

Week 1-2: Purely protein. Eggs, chicken, fish, seafood, shiratake noodles were my bestfriend. My shopping list mainly consisted eggs, chicken fillets, prawns, squids, shiratake noodles, fat free cream cheese, chicken ham, fat free yoghurt, natural yoghurt with no sugar added, magnolia skim milk, low fat ricotta cheese, low fat sour cream, garlic, onions, flax seeds and herbs. Yes, I did have some constipation, but I didn't die. Flax seeds and water were really helpful in my bowel movement.

Halfway through the 1st phase, I really struggled. I hated the fact that my freedom was taken away from me. I didn't have the freedom to eat what I wanted whenever I wanted. I cried so like a child who lost her favourite toy. With every mention of the food I was craving for, 2 droplets of tears left my eyes rolling down my cheeks. It was really really tough. But when I was asked "So you want to stop the diet?" My immediate answer was "NO." Simply because I am not the type to give up. I always finish what I started. Even if I have to be slower than others, I will still finish it. 

At the end of week 2, we were allowed to have ONE cheat meal. I had banana leaf rice coz I was craving for white rice and veggie. Then I topped it off with TWO slices of cheesecakes.

Week 3-4: Veggie every other day. So one day full protein, the next day combine with veggie for ONE MEAL only. Still, very high in protein. So of course I went crazy with my veggie. Had ABC soup which tasted heavenly!

Another cheat meal at the end of week 4. I saved my cheat meal for my Tioman trip. I had to go to Tioman during the 8wc for my research presentation and man, was it tough! The cheat meal was really worth it though. Buffet at Berjaya Tioman Resort.

Week 5-6: One day veggie and protein, another day full protein.

End of week 6 I had another cheat meal. It was at Concorde Hotel. Had buffet. By then, my jeans were already falling off my butt. Each time I got up to get more food, I had to wiggle myself in my jeans before moving.

Week 7-8: Happier days! One day veggie and protein (with a bit of dark chocolate, wholemeal bread, brown rice, wild rice, and also one fruit) and another day full protein. Apples and oranges have never tasted so good! By this phase, my life was colourful again. hehe.

2) Workouts 
A diet without proper workout will only show minimal results. If you really REALLY want to see results and you want to see it QUICK, you HAVE to workout. Cardio goes without saying. We sometimes incorporate weight training during bootcamp sessions and other times we just use simple body weight workouts. We have a lot of High Intensity Interval Trainings (HIIT). A lot of the workouts combine cardio and strengthening so they're very very efficient for fat loss and muscle building.

Regarding weights... Girls, pls stop your stupid mentality of "Ew! I don't want to do weights because I don't want to bulk up and look manly!" *Bitch slap!* Naturally girls have less testosterone as compared to guys. Even some guys have a hard time bulking up! Girls that you see that are really really bulky are either injected with hormones/steroid/drugs. And very very special cases occur whereby girls will have higher male hormones than other girls causing them to have extra strength and extra bulk. You want to get rid of that stubborn bulge of fat? Then stop your whining and just do the damn weights! 

For optimum results, it was recommended to workout 5-6 days a week and rest on weekends. That was what I did. In the beginning, I was allowing my body to cope with the muscle soreness so I worked out just once a day, 5-6 days a week. By week 2-3, I started on doing twice a day of workouts on alternate days. By week 4-5, I tried doing twice a day, 6 days a week. Week 6 onwards, I was doing twice a day workouts for 6 days a week. Of course I had the exceptional days when uni workload was too heavy and I really needed the extra sleeping hours, I skipped one workout for the day. But basically, the rule remained. Workout 6 days a week, twice a day whenever possible. Very tiring but I knew I had to do it.

3) Time management
Here is an example on how I planned my weekly meals. On every Sunday, I would spend a few hours just to plan out what to buy from Jusco for the entire week. With all the things I had to juggle, time management was very crucial.

This was basically my schedule...

445am: Wake up and get ready to leave house.
5am: Get picked up (I don't have a car in KL so I am somewhat crippled. I gotta rely on whoever that's willing to transport me to workout. Very very thankful. Thank you.)
510am-640am: Transcribe interviews and work on my Honours thesis in the car while feeding mosquitoes
640am or 7am: Workout for 1 hour
830am: Breakfast (I usually pack my breakfast to make life easier. Others don't have to think of places that are safe for me to eat and they can eat whatever they want while I eat my own diet-safe food)
930am: Reach home. Cook. Prep food for the day. Shower. Go uni.
11am: Snack on whatever that's on my menu
1pm: Lunch 
330pm: Tea break
6pm: Light dinner
830pm: Workout for 1 hour
10pm: Supper (Yes, it is FINE to have supper as long as it's not fatty carbs. I had mostly chicken meat)
1045pm: Reach home, cook for the day after if I know I will not have time the next morning
1130pm: Shower
12am: Sleep

[REPEAT]

I don't have the luxury of having a partner or maid to prep my meals. I had to do everything on my own from the planning right down to the packing of food (like most other 8week-challengers anyway). The rest of them had work-related stress to deal with. I had a thesis to deal with. The emotional, mental, physical stress all of us had to go through was really tough and challenging. Still, we all pushed through because we knew why we were doing what we were doing.

I could go on and on about my 8 week challenge. A lot of you have been asking me to tell you EVERYTHING I did. Even if I did, NOTHING will happen if you just read my responses and then move on with life as if you knew it all. The change in YOUR BODY comes from YOURSELF. If you have other sources of motivation, good. Bonus.

Mind you, I never had any sports background. Those who knew me from school days would know that I was never able to do ANY sports and I have always been chubby. Not fat, just fleshy and flabby. But I still managed to push through in just 8 weeks and you saw the results.

8 weeks ago, this pair of shorts was tight. Now I can simply tug it down my hips and it would fall off. 

If I could do it, why can't you?! 

How to vote?

A lot of you girls (and probably guys) told me that my transformation has motivated you somehow. I'm pretty sure other 8 week challengers were told the same. We are all very honoured that we have sparked an interest for healthy lifestyle in you.

This challenge is to see who has the best transformation. So if you are my friend (or not, even better!) and you think that my 8 weeks of hardwork has really paid off, please vote for me!

Here's how.

Step 1: Go to www.eightweekchallenge.com.my or click here

Step 2: Click on 'Search User', type 'regina' and select 'Malaysia' for country, click on my name to vote. Refer to pictures below.

  

Step 3:  Fill in details and click register my vote!

TA-DA! Very easy. Do get your friends and family members to vote as well. Share! Share! Every single vote counts!

My 8 Week Challenge: Part 2

Yesterday I wrote about my decision to participate in 8WC. Today, I will start addressing questions given to me by friends and strangers. But before I do, I must say that 60kg might not be fat to most people. We all have different definition of fat and flabby. But for my health, height and frame, 60kg is borderline overweight. Whatever it may be, we all have our own ideal, our own goals. I hope you have yours in mind.

Here are the questions given and my responses based on my experiences.

Disclaimer: I am NOT a health dietician/professional/fitness instructor. All my knowledge came from leading a healthy lifestyle, hanging out with positive people who absolutely love health and fitness, reading up online, reading health magazines, and watching health-related youtube videos. 

1) How many kgs did u lose per week?
Each body is built differently. I only lost 6kg over 8weeks. I've got friends who lost 10kg in 8weeks. You have to understand this. Some retain more water, some more fat, some more muscle. If you're working out and eating healthy, please stop being obsessed with kg. It's just to give a rough estimation on how much you've lost. As the human body goes through intense amount of workout, it is only natural that the body builds muscle. Look at this comparison. Muscle is denser than fat, thus a person with less fat and more muscle will look smaller but can still weigh the same as a person with higher fat percentage. 

Now, I weigh between 56kg - 57kg but my clothes that I used to wear when I was 54kg is slightly loose on me. Reason: I've gained more muscle in these 8weeks (due to the nature of my workouts) which automatically made me toner than when I was 54kg.

2) With the diet, do they promote healthy meals or do they encourage skipping meals, pills and stuff like that?
Of course healthy meals! We do NOT believe in skipping meals/slimming pills/whatever nonsense products that are out there to burn your wallet. Always eat 5-6 small meals a day. But do not feed yourself with 5 meals of purely processed carbs. NO NO. Eat clean. What does that mean? Eating clean means to eat food that are natural and not processed. For example... spinach, almonds (unsalted if possible), salmon, chicken, lean beef, brocolli, etc. Yeah yeah, you can have your occasional McDonalds and KFC but if you want to really lose that stubborn fat, stay away as much as you can.

3) How did you do it?!?! Lose weight that is..
Eat healthy, eat clean, workout like mad. I worked out 6 days a week and sometimes morning and night. I wanted fast results and 8weeks is considered fast as compared to 8 months. I not only wanted to lose weight, I wanted to tone up, gain some lean muscle to support my weak lower back and bad flat foot. So that's what I did.

4) Btw I wanna ask u tips on how to remove bra bulge & back fat? mine's bad, and flabby and fugly. Any tips???
Healthy eating and exercise. What you're asking for is spot reduction. No, it will never happen unless you go for plastic surgery.
Our body burns fat as a whole which means when you lose fats, you will lose that double chin, the ass, the boobs, the belly, and of course your chicken wings and ugly bra bulges. If you look at my before and after picture, you will realize that I have lost all that I mentioned as a whole. Yeah, certain areas are more stubborn (could be due to genetics) but we can never just reduce fat in one spot and still have the rest. Not all are blessed with big boobs and tight asses.

This is Week 1 vs Week 4. Look at how my body lost the fat as a whole and not just in specific spot. Double chin, boobs, belly, bra bulge, flabby chicken wings were all significantly smaller. 

5)  How do u train?
Like a beast. A very good quote from Cassey Ho (blogilates fitness instructor) is this: Train Like a Beast to Look Like a Beauty. So very true. I've got friends who are more gung ho than me. They train harder than me and honestly, their results paid off.  Even I find it challenging all the time. There were days I wanted to quit. So I paused, took 5 seconds to breathe, and continued to push on. 
You want results? You've got to have what it takes in your head and heart to challenge yourself everytime.Train hard, make your fats cry.

6) I used to only drink water to lost weight without any food consume
No. Your body and brain needs good food to work. If you starve yourself with just water, it is very bad for you. But of course, if you eat healthy, train hard, and consume a lot of water, it will show in your body. I generally drink 2litres of water a day. Yeah, I go to toilet like CRAZY but hey! I'd rather have that than to have water retention and dehydration. So, eat smart, drink smart.

7) Do you mind sharing how you managed to lose that tummy?
It's really a combo of healthy eating and hard training my dear. That sugar coating that we all have is from all the fatty yummy stuff we feed our bodies with. Unless you are burning more than what you consume, cut.it.down. Having said that, I LOVE SUGAR and CARBS. So I really understand your pain and struggle. But it does not mean it's not achievable.

8) My boyfriend has been asking me to ask you what are your diet/exercise plan. (...) Just dieting alone I notice people tend to look haggard. 
Yeah, sometimes when people take the wrong diet or don't drink enough water they do look haggard. Or if they lose too fast, they will also look haggard. I honestly don't know why I don't look haggard this time after my weight loss. In terms of sleep, I only managed to get 4-6 hours of rest per night and I don't nap in the afternoons as I have a lot of things to do during the day. But I do drink a lot of water and I guess eating healthy nutritious food and working out really enhanced the blood flow in my system.
Again, my diet is very high in protein, I only take brown rice, wholemeal bread, low fat stuff and a lot of veggie. Exercises... a lot of cardio, it doesn't have to be super long because high intensity but short duration workouts are more effective and time efficient. We all want to save time!

Okay, now that I have addressed specific questions, tomorrow I will be going into more details about what I did for my diet, time management, and workouts. I don't think I can shrink 8 weeks worth of stuff into just 1 blog posting, but I will try to provide as much information as I can. 

On another note, voting just started today! I would really appreciate it if you girls/guys could head on over to https://www.facebook.com/OriginalBootcampHQ/app_217457068381267 and vote for me to get into semi-finals.

Step 1: Click on the website https://www.facebook.com/OriginalBootcampHQ/app_217457068381267

Step 2: Click on 'Search User', type 'Regina Ho' and select 'Malaysia' for country (OR you could go to page 19)
Step 3: Select my profile. You can also view my before and after stats and images

Step 4: Key in your details (i.e. Name, email, training location if applicable, whether you're a COBC recruit or not etc) on the right pane. Don't edit the vote part because once you've selected my name, it will automatically fill the number and that is to vote for me. 

Step 4: Click on 'REGISTER MY VOTE'

"Voting for ‘Overall Semi-Finalists’ (Australia & Malaysia) will be open to the general public as well as Recruits and Instructors . Votes from non-bootcampers will be worth one point. Votes from current Recruits will be worth four points. Votes from Instructors will be worth Six points."

Thank you xoxo