Health & Fitness - The Operation Thigh Gap

I have been requested to write about this new trend among female teenagers worldwide, and this is something that bothers me much. As I was googling to find out more, I discovered that there is even a pinterest topic called 'Operation Thigh Gap'! I briefly browsed through the photos and realised there are like-minded people like me who commented to say that this obsession is not healthy. Well, so what is this obsession over thigh gaps about?

Firstly, girls out there, please do not obsess over not being able to achieve a thigh gap, in other words, this should NOT be in your list of fitness goals. Why so?
1. Everybody's legs are shaped differently.

A. Straight - You are lucky to get this leg shape, straight and non-bandy.

B. O-shaped curvature - This is a congenital bone deformation where only your ankles touch in standing position, making your legs form a letter O.

C. X-shaped curvature - Another congenital bone deformation where your knees touch in standing position, making your legs form a letter X.

Looking at this, I'm sure you can identify what kind of leg shape you have. Very often when your legs are slightly O-shaped, your thigh gaps are larger. Vice versa for A. Straight and C. X-shaped. I'm no osteologist so I'm nobody to judge on the different types of leg shapes but I do have a slight X-shaped curvature (a little bothered!).

2. Whether you have thigh gaps or not will also be dependable on the size of your hips (of course and the leg shapes will then come into picture). You will only be able to reduce the fats around your hips, but unfortunately, unless you can cut the hip bones at the sides (sounds really silly), your hip size is rather fixed genetically.

Conclusion, do not think that just by losing weight (healthily or not), you will be able to achieve this because we are made differently! Instead, try focusing on your fitness goals to live healthily, exercising/working out regularly, eat well, having ample rest; having a healthy lifestyle will lead to longevity, which is much more worth it than obsessing over getting thigh gaps. 

If you have been following me on FB and Instagram, I think you might have already heard of Brandnewstart SG. Do check it out if you are looking for a personal trainer to kickstart a fitness regime, OR, if you know of somebody who needs such help! Our team of trainers are ever-ready to help! 

These are the 4 main programmes that Brandnewstart offers:

For ladies who are looking to burn fats and tone up!

For men out there who are looking to shed some flabs and that beer belly!

For men and women who are looking to gain some quality muscles!

Lastly, for men and women who are athletes or are looking to train up to be one!

Take your pick and simply email enquiry@brandnewstart.sg if you are already sure of what programme you are interested to sign up for, otherwise, feel free to look up www.brandnewstart.sg for more information!

I know I promised HEALTH TIPS! Coming up next! Have a great weekend ahead! 

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Hapa Fitness & Us

I'm sure some of you will have seen what Hapa Fitness (as mentioned in my previous post too) is all about on our instagram feeds. We are official now and very excited to reveal what we have to offer for all of you out there! We will be sharing about health tips, workout tips and tutorials, fashion receipes, beauty (girls will still be girls righttt?), yummy healthy food, and events in time to come! Stay tuned and follow us @hapa_fitness if you haven't done so! <3

This is our very first diet challenge for all of you! For everyone who is as excited as us that Christmas is coming and all the feasting and log cakes will be part of the holiday season, try this diet on your own and give it 30 days to let your body feel the change and transform!

It may seem difficult for some of you so we are going to share some of what we eat. Today, till now, this is how my meals look like.

Breakfast:

1/2 avocado (Fats)

1 tablespoon of Golden flaxseed meal (Fats)

150 ml of milk (Protein)

1 scoop of vanilla whey protein (Protein)

Everyday smoothie!

I headed to the gym to hit my shoulders and back after my smoothie, had 1 1/2 scoop of whey protein post workout and headed back for lunch.

Lunch:

Approx. 1/2 serving of pasta (Carbs)

Approx. 1/4 of red and yellow peppers each (Veggie, Carbs)

Approx. 100g of chicken breast (Protein)

Pinch of Olive oil (Fats)

Snacks:

1 cup coffee, unsweetened (Fats, Protein, Carbs - coffee addict, here I confess and am guilty)

Handful of nuts (Fats)

Feel free to post your meals on Instagram if you have and #hapa_fitness and #santarinadiet so we can learn and from one another! My meal plan may not be the best so do let us know if you have a more effective and efficient way of preparing your meals and creative way to spread your meals out during the Santarina Diet challenge! Good luck!

Last week had been an eventful week and here is a summary of last week in photos!

Tuesday: Trained with Jasmine at GYMM BOXX (XS) at Punggol CC and met the courtesy lion!

Wednesday: Those who know me well enough, THIS is one of my weaknesses. I just had to have this since it was one week off any diet! Teehee. I always order without butter though. 

Friday: Went for my haircut with @johnthamyuehan at Salon Vim, looking like sadako because it was a day after Halloweeen. HURHUR

Outfit of my haircut day, dress from Allyfashion and clutch from Epicurations.

It was Nic's actual birthday so we had dinner before adjourning for Nic's place, followed by Karaoke (phew that was a super long day!)

Say 'Hi' to Dazzle! Such a beauty!

Smiley Dazzle

Me looking tired, with super hyper Dazzle!

Saturday: Met Jasmine before our training to get some work done 

Super yummy bread HOMEMADE by Jasmine! So loved!

Ended our workout with a good stretch

Our FITFAM!

Sunday: outfit to church

Accessories from Tod's, BCBGMAXAZRIA, Forever21

I will be writing about some health tips next so stay tuned and have a great week ahead everyone! Be safe wherever you are! <3<3<3

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Nutrition Assistance After Surgery

Friday was my first appointment for my Sandostatin shot after my post-op visit last month.  It has been 5+ weeks post-surgery and I am still quite fatigued with not much of an appetite.  I don’t have much pain and have lost 15 pounds.  I’ve been pretty conservative with eating, sticking to a low fiber diet.  I’m not that hungry and not craving anything in particular so it has not been too hard to be on this boring diet.  I probably do not need to lose too much more weight but another 5 pounds would give me some good leeway when I do get my appetite back!  This is the first time I’ve been below the top of my body mass index (BMI) range for several years!  Dr. Chan suggested I meet with a nutritionist when I was in Boston for this appointment. I did and the session was very helpful. 

I don’t consider myself a nutritional expert at all. I don’t know all the technical terms or even the difference between vitamins and minerals.  I understand the food pyramid and used to eat a diet that I thought was pretty nutritious.

My basic issues from a nutritional standpoint are that I am losing weight at about a pound a week and have little appetite. I have had gas “issues” for about a week during the past month.  I had this gas problem prior to surgery, but it was minor, not occurring every month and only for about a day or two when it happened.  I think of this gas as “Sandostatin gas” because:

1)     I never had it prior to taking Sandostatin LAR

2)    It does not seem to have any relation to anything I’ve eaten and does not respond to over the counter medications like Gas-X

The Sandostatin gas seems worse since my surgery.  It’s only been 5 weeks and I’m hoping it gets better over time.

The nutritionist I met with was very nice and competent.  She gave me a list of foods that may cause gas that consisted of the following items:

·         Beverages:  beer, carbonated drinks, red wine

·         Dairy:  milk, cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, ice cream

·         Dried legumes:  baked beans, beans like kidney, pinto, garbanzos, lima and navy, split peas, lentils and soybeans

·         Fruits:  apples (raw), prunes

·         Vegetables:  asparagus, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, corn, cucumber, kohrabi, leeks, onions, peppers, radishes, sauerkraut and turnips

·         High fat foods:  fried foods, fatty meats, gravies, cream sauces and pastries

·         Other:  garlic, chewing gum, artificial sweeteners such as mannitol, maltitol, sorbitol or any other sugar alcohol.

Her suggestions were to do the following 3 things, but only one at a time.  She wanted to make sure that if something works, we would know which approach helped. She said to try each suggestion for 5-7 days and see what happens.  The suggestions were:

1.    Reduce the gassy foods and lactose (dairy foods)

2.    Try a probiotic supplement

3.    Try a digestive enzyme

She said that a lot of carcinoid patients have gas issues but did not go so far as to say it was from the Sandostatin, although she did not rule it out.

I know next to nothing about probiotics or digestive enzymes so I asked for advice on choices.  She said to try a probiotic product called Ultimate Flora in a dose of 30 billion.  She said it was available at the Vitamin Shoppe.  Good thing I asked because when I went in to the Vitamin Shoppe, there was a whole wall of probiotics – I would never have known which one to select.  I figured I’d start with the probiotic pill and see what transpires.

The nutritionist did not give me a recommendation on a digestive enzyme but other carcinoid patients have suggested papaya extract or a product called Digest Gold.  The Vitamin Shoppe stocks these products as well.  

I think I’ll save the low lactose diet for my last option because I like my yogurt and dairy so this will be bit harder for me.  Hopefully either the probiotic or digestive enzyme will work.

In addition to the above suggestions, she said I could branch out from peeled apples and pears to not peeling them and adding grapes or strawberries.  I can even eat the whole baked potato including the skin!  I should switch from Orgain as my protein shake to a no lactose product like Ensure or Boost when I do the low lactose week.  The nutritionist also recommended that I take an extra forkful of food, even if I feel full because my stomach has most likely shrunk since I have not been eating that much.  She also said I could drink white wine!  I’ll drink to that once I feel a bit better!

 

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Inspiration & Motivation: Something GREAT is brewing..

Very recently, I met up with Jasmine (@jasminedanker if you are not following her on IG yet), it came across to me like a calling when I had to download kik messenger just for her to retrieve my contact details. In the very same week (last week), I met her for the first time. She shared her dreams and passion with me, she told me what she had been wanting to do and could not find the right person to do with, so she decided to contact me.

We met up as soon as we could last week and had a great workout together (though she's much stronger and fitter than I am), we share a lot of similarities. We have the exact same weight, height, BFP, played netball when we were younger, both Roman Catholics, both mixed blood. Well, the major difference is that she studied sports science and had been in the fitness industry for 5 years, coaching, studying and training (and besides the fact that I'm married she's not yet). We clicked right away and started planning our execution plan.

We have great plans and I believe God brought us together for a reason; a mission to help people who needs help, who needs an extra motivation to stay healthy and fit. Our ideas are all over the place now but we will be revealing very soon, once we get everything organized and ready to go public!

Here are some sneaks! Our logo: Why Hapa fitness (@Hapa_fitness)? Stay tuned! :)

Some of the happenings over last week, celebrated Nic's birthday in advance last Friday too! Great Karaoke with the gang, they sing so well! Been awhile since we had such epic sessions, oh yes and that cake at 11.30pm ZOMG.

Happy Birthday Nic!

Some of my meals.

Met Jasmine to gym on Saturday at Gymm Boxx, really helps when there is somebody to spot, correct my form and constantly goes "RELAX YOUR NECK LIMARAN!" (LOL, reason why I have stiff neck ALL the time). We wore pink to train that day, so we remembered to take photos and hashtag #operationpink to do our part for Singapore Breast Cancer Foundation!

Jasmine paid a boy for this photo HAHA

Cooked when we got home and spent a quiet Saturday with baby. Here's our very own chili beef with tortilla chips! YUMMMMSS!

I will be eating all I want (okay not exactly ALL I WANT BUT..) for 4 days (since yesterday) and starting a new diet (which I'll be sharing soon) on November 1st, together with Jasmine. BECAUSE I have completed 10 weeks (11 to be exact, not counting week 0) of Intermittent fasting! Halfway through the diet I thought this didn't suit me, but I wanted to hang in there and complete the 10 weeks so here is the final look (LOL pls don't judge me!).

I started with this OKAY?! HAHA.

Have a great week ahead everyone! Remember to catch us (Jasmine and I) live with regular updates on our IG (@limaranagustina and @jasminedanker) and our new IG account for Hapa Fitness @hapa_fitness! Till the next!

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Health & Fitness - Arms Training

I usually do not train my arms on its own, I couple my arms training with deadlifts and sometimes I skip doing arms and ended up doing abs, or I'd go very easy on the arms training. Truth is, you are actually working on your arms during other body part trainings, particularly your biceps as they are needed in most workouts. Having said that, I know many ladies out there are very concerned about getting rid of their "bye-bye" arms and had requests to advise on the arms training that we do so here goes, some of the arms workouts that we do.

We need to work on both biceps and triceps so there will be no imbalance of strength on either muscle group. It doesn't really matter which you start with, as long you try your best to cover both muscles during your arms training, it should suffice.

I will usually start with triceps as my triceps are weaker. What Jason is doing in the video: Triceps rope pushdown.

Dumbbell overhead Triceps extensions (P.S: Apologies, I do not have a video or photo of us doing the other triceps workouts).

You can also try dips as well as bench dips.

Dips

Bench dips

Next to biceps, bicep curls and hammer curls, that simple!

Dumbbell bicep curls

Dumbbell Hammer curls

Hammer curls using Tricep bar/Hammer curl bar

Take your pick, and enjoy the videos! So sorry but I could not upsize the videos. We had the honour to attend Julien Fournie for Love, Bonito show last Saturday at FIDE Fashion Week. Thank you so much Love, Bonito for the invitation! It was such an amazing experience as we had never attended any fashion event, let alone fashion show. The Julien Fournie for Love, Bonito show marks the end of FIDE Fashion Week and was a perfect finale!

My outfit for the night

Have a great week ahead everyone!!

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Why We Make Bad Decisions

There is an interesting op-ed in today’s New York Times with this title.  It mostly concerns medical issues. The highlights are as follows:

1.    People are hesitant to challenge experts. They “simply cede their power to decide to the expert”.

2.      “Anxiety, stress and fear can distort our choices.  Stress makes us less likely to take in the information we need.  Anxiety makes us more risk-averse than we would regularly be and more deferential as well"

 

 

3.  “All of us show bias when it comes to what information we take in.  We typically focus on anything that agrees with the outcome we want”. 

 

4.  “We need to be aware of our natural born optimism, for that harms good decision-making too”. There is an interesting example of how people respond to probabilities that are higher or lower than their expectations in the article.

5.    “We need to acknowledge our tendency to incorrectly process challenging news and actively push ourselves to hear the bad as well as the good”.

I liked the graphic that accompanied the article – shown below:

 

The full article is in the link below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/opinion/sunday/why-we-make-bad-decisions.html?pagewanted=2&%2359&ref=opinion&%2359;_r=0

Over the past 3 years as I’ve done many consultations with doctors, I’ve seen examples of these decision-making traits in myself.  It was interesting to read a synopsis of these behaviors.

More about → Why We Make Bad Decisions