Journey Weight Loss (part 2)...2015 Onwards

In 2013 I shared the beginning of my never ending weight loss journey. Did I succeed last time? the answer is Yes and No. Yes, cause I lost 17 kg. No, cause I was only able to maintain it for 1.5 years. Looking back, I realized I was relying solely on exercise. I was on the gym 6-7 times a week with additional 1-2 sessions of running or after office hours cardio class. I was eating comfortably, meaning I would devour all kind of foods and do hard exercise the next morning as if I was punishing myself. I ate rice, bread, fried foods, cake, ice cream...you name it. The journey was short, I lost 17 kg within May through October. I thought I finally found the key of finally controlling my weight. Boy was I wrong..In April, I had to move to other job, which required more working hours and quite stressful. I couldn't maintain my workout sessions from 6-7 times a week. It was only 3 times a week. I had to et with my boss and she came from another country, so food was an adventure for her. We tried different restaurant and different foods, partly to entertain our miserable job (the job aint miserable but the pressure and how the management worked frustrated us). Then I had to work late almost every day for a few months. We ordered food in late at night around 9-10 PM and I had to come home around 11-12 AM. I was too exhausted to wake up the next morning and skipped my workout. Not very long, the weight gain was starting to show. I would buy new clothes cause the old one starting to snug. I would consider it as a shopping spree to compensate the misery but the truth it I was in denial. I GOT THIS, I CAN LOSE WEIGHT, I DID THAT BEFORE! This is just temporary! well, it wasn't temporary. I gained and I gained some more. I moved job again and this time it wasn't a miserable job. I was happier and I was committed to work harder to loose weight. I workout regularly, mostly in group exercise (I love spinning class--cycling class), I enjoyed it, really. But in terms of food, I kept sabotaging my diet. The thing was, this new job was in a mall and I had all the foods I craved, steps away. There were many restaurant to choose from and I met more people since I was working inside the mall and we would have meet ups downstairs to have coffee or desserts. Slowly but sure, I gained more weight. Fast forward to 2 years later, I suddenly felt I was prone to injury though I was doing the same thing over the years. My back was hurt (old problem), my knee was hurt (starting from 2012) and my foot sole was starting to hurt.. I had to go to the orthopedic doctor and check whats causing the pain. The doctor just gave me pain killer pills and ordered me to take it every time I felt discomfort. I wasn't satisfied. The pain prevent me from working out cause it hurt all over when I cycled. I went different treatment, I went to physioteraphist. it helped but it didn't cure whatever I was feeling.

One day when I opened instagram, I saw an ad of a new fitness place located in my old gym. They were having a promotion and I was curious to find out. I called them and set up an appointment. They had my weight and measurement taken. Holy crap, I gained all my weight that I lost throughout 2015 and some more kilos. It was almost like a wake up call. This new fitness place prepared a program where I can only workout 3 times a week,each for 40 minutes and there was food guidance. Thought I was experienced enough for doing it my own, I ignored the guide and the personal trainer soon asked me to follow the food guidance. It was basically a low carb diet where carbs are restricted. I didn't know what I was getting into but finally decided to follow it since I paid and I had nothing to loose. I underestimated the program at first but I was losing weight consistently, week after week. The workout was pretty basic: squat, dead lift, bench press, overhead press, bicep curl, crunch and a bit of TRX. Soon I realized, the workout only to complement the calories deficit I had from the diet. I became excited and I read books on low carbs diet and convinced that it worked from me. By 5 months I was losing 17 kg. I stopped my membership there and I joined personal training at my old gym (Golds Gym). This time my program focused on strength and agility besides weight loss. I would workout 4 times a week with the trainer and my workout was full body workout that combines circuit types training and weigh training. The trainer taught me to do push up, assisted pull ups, all kind of planks, be it spider planks, mountain climbers, side planks...you name it, even burpees, lunges, squat and various dead lift. All that hard exercise, you would think that I my preexisting symptoms af aching back, knees and foot would come back. Amazingly it didn't. Now, I believed that the symptoms was triggered by high blood sugar causing inflammation in my joints. Once i quit excessive sugars, my body starting to heal. Hopefully I will be pain free for good now I have watched my diet and exercise regularly.

It was a long story, but it proved my point that health and fitness is a continuous journey. I don't think I'm done. I'm far from done. My goals are evolving, depends on phases of my life...hope I can do my best!

Current look: January 2019

Back then: November 2017

Never Throw Any Paper When You Are Travelling---We Learned it The Hard Way

Ini sebenarnya postingan spin off dari Japan Day 3. Ingat kan waktu dibilang ada kejadian yang menghebohkan sewaktu di Kyoto? Nah ini kejadian lengkapnya. Ketika kita berangkat dari Osaka ke Kyoto, keretanya itu jam 08:10. Sepagi itu, kita mesti check out, geret koper, pesen tiket, beli sarapan trus berdiri manis di peron nunggu kereta. Kebetulan hari itu hari Sabtu, dimana kayaknya orang Osaka sekampung pada jalan-jalan ke Kyoto. Perjalanan kurleb 30 menit pun dihabiskan dengan berdiri. Sesampainya di stasiun Kyoto, mulai mencari loker besar yang katanya cuma ada di bagian peron Shinkansen. Setelah berputar beberapa kali akhirnya ketemu juga dengan loker super besar yang bisa muat 1 koper medium. Mr. B dan aku masing-masing 1 loker. Cara sewa loker sungguh canggih . jadi kita tinggal ke layar untuk pesan, nanti dikasih nomer lokernya yang tiba-tiba terbuka terus dikasih struk/barcode kertas yang berisi pin untuk buka loker. Buka-tutup hanya bisa satu kali loh. Jadi tolong jangan galau :). More info di link ini https://www.kyotostation.com/kyoto-station-lockers-luggage-storage/ Setelah koper tersimpan rapi, kita langsung menuju terminal bus untuk naik bus wisata, yang detailnya bisa dibaca di Japan Day 3.

Setelah selesai jalan-jalan, hari sudah malam, badan remuk dan lapar sekali. Rencananya adalah makan-ambil loker-hotel. Namun semua tempat makan di Kyoto Station yang gueeedeee itu sangat ramai. Karena malas antri, rencana berubah menjadi ambil loker-hotel-makan. Langsung menuju bagian Shinkansen untuk menuju loker. Karena faktor lelah, tempatnya gak ketemu aja dong! muter-muter di bagian yang sama, tempat loker yang dituju bener-bener ga ketemu. Aduh! ingat-ingat lagi, kalau si loker ini dekat restoran India, maka kita nyari informasi untuk tanya. Gak ketemu bagian informasinya. Di saat itu mental benar-benar drop karena berasa anak ilang di Kyoto. Akhirnya dengan penuh perjuangan, balik lagi ke jalan awal turun bus dan mulai nyusurin jalan yang dilewati sebelumnya. Akhirnya ketemu! Ternyata sang loker berada di sebelah Selatan sementara kita nyarinya di bagian Barat. Pantesan ga ketemu (saking gedenya Kyoto Station. Setelah sampai di loker ternyata struk barcode Mr. B ilang!! isi kantong celana dikeluarin semua. Isi ransel terburai. ga ketemu si kertas mini. Nengok kiri-kanan, ga ada yang bisa dimintain tolong. Jadi akhirnya keluar lagi ke arah peron masuk kereta untuk nanya petugas kereta. Dia pun ga bisa bantu karena si pengelola loker ini bukan si stasiun tapi pihak ke 3. Nah loh.... dia nyaranin supaya nelpon ke nomer yang tertera di struk aku (yang masih utuh). Oke, nelponnya bisa pakai hp? tentu gak bisa, karena kita pakainya wifi, ga bisa local call. Jadi mesti nyari telepon umum...yap, telpon umum? Kalo di Indo nemu kejadian gini, mati aja...mana ada telpon umum yang nyala? ngikutin petunjuk yang ada di stasiun, sampe lah ke telpon umum yang masih sangat amat berfungsi. "hallo?"langsung dijawab sama rekaman suara yang kayanya bilang " pencet extension yang anda tuju" (ngaranggggg ihh). Berbekal insting, pencet aja 0 yang biasanya "bantuan operator" (kalo di kantor-kantor kan gituuuu). Ga lama kemudian "moshi...moshi...bla bla bla"...dengan nada setengah panik "can you speak english please?", telpon diserahkan ke orang lain sepertinya...akhirnya dengan bahasa Inggris yang patah-patah ada yang bisa menjawab pertanyaan. Karena sudah lewat jam kerja, loker yang struknya hilang, gak bisa dibukain karena bukanya harus manual. Besok pagi jam 9 baru bisa dibuka katanya...Dueeeeeng! mateng deh. Akhirnya dengan berat hati, pergi tanpa membawa koper. Muka Mr. B sudah lesu...dan mulailah mulut cewek yang merepet ke sini sana ngomel2 tanpa henti. (Maaf ya Mr. B sudah sial, masih dimarahin pulak)..sebelum ke hotel, makan dulu di topscafe, resto yang kayak Yoshinoya. Very cheap la, rice bowl ama minum uda sepaket. Tapi boro-boro mau nikmatin makanan, rasanya cuma pengen rebahan aja. Kalo ada yang nanya soal baju tidur, mau info aja, rata-rata hotel di Jepang (kapsul or hotel biasa) kasi kimono tidur untuk baju bobok....so thougtful ya (curiganya orang Jepang banyak yang ngamar gak direncanain jadinya gak bawa baju ganti).

Keesokan paginya, bangun tidur langsung menuju telpon umum untuk nelpon ke perusahaan loker, dijawab oleh orang yang beda lagi, cuman dia bilang teknisi sudah menunggu di depan loker dari jam 9, gawat...ini udah 9.30! gegara stress tadi malam jadinya kesiangan. Apalagi hari ini mau explore Kyoto lagi, jadi mesti bebawaan beberapa barang. Dengan lari-lari kecil, sampai ke depan loker dan sudah ada Bapak setengah baya dengan seragam membawa kunci lagi nungguin kita, aduuuh Pak maaf ya kita ngaret. Bayar denda donk buat ngilangin kertas barcode itu yang dendanya lebih mahal daripada sewa loker....that money can be used for food, dude! bye bye money