The Start Of My Weight Loss Journey

Yesterday was 8th of May 2016. It was Mother's Day and the day I officially declare as the start of my weight loss journey. I will be 50 next month and I weigh 155 pounds. My target is to lose 1 pound a week up to 20 pounds. I am writing this down publicly so that I will not waiver.

At 155 pounds and at 50, I feel the effects of my weight. A little of activity makes me sweat a lot. I am hot, tired, lethargic and my bones creak in the morning or when I sit in the same position for some time. I also have pulse, pant when I walk up the stairs and a wardrobe of clothes that no longer fit. When I go shopping, its hard to find clothes that fit. It seems that nice clothes are only made for thin people. So, I can only admire clothes, not wear them.

I have gone on a slow weight loss journey about 2 years after my second child, losing 10 pounds in 6 months. This time my target is higher. Well, you aim high so that if you fall short, you still lose. I will adjust it later if I find it too hard.

My weight seems to increase by 10 pounds for each decade. In my teens I was 105 pounds. In my 20s, I was 115 pounds, in my 30s, 125 pounds, in my 40s 135 pounds. In my early 40s, I went up to 145  pounds which was my highest at the time and it was 2 years after my second child. I managed to lose it and went down to 135 pounds and it stayed that way but now, I'm headed towards my 50s starting at 155 pounds. I have ballooned. It must be due to inactivity or sedentary lifestyle, lower metabolistic rate and menopause.

I remember during my previous diet, I felt hungry quite often. It was hard. This time, when I feel hungry, I may take small snacks of fruit, vegetables or a small cup of cereal. Otherwise it will be hard to keep up and not good for the body.

I often look around at the other women around me and I realize that many are a lot fitter and in better shape than me. I have gone over the edge to the other side.

I'm going to document my weight loss journey here as a reference for myself. I actually started 2-3 days before the 8th by watching and being mindful of everything I eat. One meal a day may be replaced by salads. No more eating the teas that I prepare for my family and eating less of everything else that I like. I will also increase my activity by doing more housework for a start. Instead of losing, I actually gained 2 pounds going from 153 to 155 pounds. I am not disheartened. I will just have to keep at it. Sometimes our weight fluctuates by 1 or 2 pounds due to water weight etc.

Strangely eating less makes the food more tasty and enjoyable. That's it for today. Pin It

She Has Uneven Waist And Scoliocis

My girl has an uneven waist. One of her hips appear to be higher than the other.

When we brought her to the orthopedic or spine doctor, he first asked her to bend forward to see if any part of her back protrudes out. Then he took an X-Ray of her back and legs too.

The X-Ray of the back was to see whether her spine was actually curved as those with scoliosis have. The X-Ray of the legs was to ensure that the legs are of equal length. The X-Ray revealed that her legs were the same length but her back was curved near the top.

The doctor said that she has scoliosis. You can go here to find out more about scoliosis of the spine with video and images including the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment options.

He measured the angle of curvature shown on the X-Ray. According to him, it was between 8 to 12 percent. He told us that we had to go back every 6 months to monitor whether the curve was getting worse.

However, when he heard that she had already got her menstruation or period for 2 years, he said that was good news as most of the growth spurt occurs within 2 years after puberty. So, he told us to go back once in a year instead of once every 6 months to have a check up.

When we asked him whether the condition was due to her carrying heavy bags to school, he said there are no proven studies to show that. However, he said we can buy her a trolley bag if we wish to lessen her load. Although he has said this, I still feel guilty as a parent watching her carrying loads to school during her growing up years.

He said we could get her to do some exercises like swimming to strengthen and make the back more flexible. I hope that all will be fine in a year's time when we bring her for a follow-up check up.




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Low Carb Diet What To Eat For Lunch And Dinner

My husband has requested for me to prepare him low carb or no carb food for his meals so this question of Low Carb Diet What To Eat For Lunch And Dinner or rather What To Cook For Lunch And Dinner is very much on my mind right now.

We're starting on this low carb diet today, for a week first to see how we feel. So for a start, I made chicken stew for lunch today served with coleslaw, plain water and half a mango. I love chicken stew or braised chicken or chicken caserole. They're so easy to prepare.

Today, I browned the chicken meat, then I added carrots, celery, baby corn, onions, garlic. For taste, I added a couple of bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves and cardamom seeds. This was left to stew over low fire for an hour. I served my husband the chicken with coleslaw. As for my son, he got to eat his stew with potatoes and pasta.

 For dinner, I will cook diced chicken with onions, baby corn, carrots and cashew nuts. I will serve this with stir fried broccoli and cauliflower. The kids will eat this with rice. We will forgo the rice.

Tomorrow... well, tomorrow is another day to crack my head over what to cook. Maybe this time I will arm myself with my camera to make this record more fun and memorable for ourselves. :) Pin It

Juicing With Beetroot

We drink green juices several times a week. Sometimes we like to add a little red in the form of beetroots or orange in the form of carrots in our juice. It gives it a nice touch of color. It is amazing how red the beetroot is. The taste is a bit strong so we don't put in more than one beetroot for 4 cups of juice.

This concoction has broccoli, celery, chinese flowering cabbage (choy sum) and beetroot. I love the wonderful colors of nature in our juice. It is also a good thing to eat or in this case drink vegetables with different colors. 

You can check out some of the benefits of beetroot here.

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Porridge With Marmite

We have been sick and eating nothing accept porridge for the past two weeks for each and every meal!

Luckily the kids don't complain.... that much. I try to make a variety of porridge so that they don't get too bored. Adding just a little of this and taking out just a little bit of that gives the porridge a whole new distinct flavor.

Hubby likes to have his porridge with marmite. I like it too but I find the taste so strong it kills off all of the other flavors within!

Hopefully we will all recover soon and go back to our regular diet. I must say that all that porridge for two whole weeks did one thing for sure. It helped us all lose weight! Pin It

Breast Cancer Research

My mum died of cancer. My aunt is a breast cancer survivor and my sister just completed chemotherapy and is at the moment undergoing radiation treatment for breast cancer. That makes me a high risk individual where cancer is concerned. Me and my other sister often talk about this. It is really quite scary.

That is why I am pleased to read about cureLauncher, an online community which raises funds for medical research and new breast cancer treatments. The community brings together donors, expert medical practitioners who are researching new treatments and cures including cancer survivors as well as those who are interested to enroll themselves for clinical trials for new breast cancer treatments. Currently, there are over 7,500 breast cancer trial locations across the U.S. 

At cureLauncher, over 90% of the funding received goes directly to new cancer treatments. There is a blog and a discussion area on the website. You can also read the FAQs to find out how to start a funding project to research a new treatment. There is also a live agent on hand to talk to you whether you are a patient or a donor. It is my  hope that with continuous funding and research, that one day we will find a cure for all kinds of cancers and make the world a better place.

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Chemotherapy and Radiology Treatment For Cancer

Previously I had thought that chemotherapy treatment was like doing an x-ray and you will have to stand and get rays shone on you or something. Quite unknowledgeable but that was the picture image I had in my mind of a chemotherapy treatment.

My mother had chemo treatment but that was years ago and I was a young child so I did not know how a chemo treatment was.

Now that my sister has breast cancer, I realize that chemo treatment is given intravenously. My sister has to go to hospital, lie down on the bed for several hours and get the chemo treatment intravenously. It makes her lose her hair and she feels weak normally around 3 days after the treatment before feeling better again around the 5th day.

Her last session is at the end of this month. I hope that this time will pass quickly for sis. She was told that her hair will probably grow back and be back to normal again around 6 months after the last treatment.


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