Pain is temporary,quitting is forever..... lets run

It has been a while since the last time i updated this blog. Who would have ever thought that it has been one year and 7 months that i have been away from my hometown in Taman Keramat . I have made a point to myself that when i pen this down, it requires sheer dedication and courage to share with anybody in this blog. As most of the writing entry in my blog has so far dedicated to fitness and nutrition, these two things will define and has defined my journey toward having better life quality in term of health and wellness. In the last two years I have been in the pursuit, I will not forget the time how it all started. My self journey started when I got a disturbing news that I was detected having a pre-diabetic during my pre-employment checkup. I could say it was the turning point in my life where the fear of suffering from diabetes later in my life struck me. Diabetes does not require  introduction to me as many of my family members had suffered and most has succumbed tragically to the deadly disease. Knowing that it is a reversible process, and with my family health background, I said to myself I need to change the way of my life.

The first time when I started this personal endeavor of getting my body healthy,  I didn't have a clue on how to achieve it. I would just do like all ordinary guys doing it by exercising aimlessly, with no consistency hoping that I kept the disease at bay by making my body sweat. I got all the information about it through reading and spending countless hours watching Biggest Loser Youtube video. Not only that, I did also spend money on various reading materials from the net with few purchase of  motivation books already in my book collection. The lack of motivation and drive to continuously to do it is the one that are missing in the puzzle. I reckoned that work load too may hampered my efforts.

Away from home and the food temptation that i had to endure here, may be the the turning point. It's like when you are in Miri, you attend a boot camp where everything can be done regimental and efficiently. All the tips that you know on how to lose weight can be executed here. I myself must decide to do all the tips that i have learned. The most important aspect is the time management. Here in Miri, I managed to go back home as what i have always plan to do.  Long gone the time that I have to endure almost two treacherous hours traffic when commuting daily from my workplace to home.In KL I could plan to complete my job by 3pm, but by the time i reached the jogging track, it was almost Maghrib and I was already exhausted . The only time that i could concentrate on my fitness was during weekend but, to get it done in 3-4 hours is near impossible and could not be repeated. Here in Miri, jobs can be completed or at least i am not in a constant pressure to meet any dateline. I am my own boss in a way. So i could to some extent run in a park almost every day.

As for the exercise, i did concentrate on elevating my fitness first by doing skipping at my own pace and at the comfort of my room. I have been skipping from the day that i thought it was the most effective and convenient exercise that I could do at home. However it is still not the best exercise to do due to its limitation. Few issues that I encountered was that the body take time to recover especially at the bottom part of your leg. I felt burning ache at the sheen, knee and posterior muscle of the legs most of the time and it just not go away. It dampens you when you want to push your body to do more repeats, but the mind keeps telling that I will not survived another minute as when I started to feel the pain. Thing became worst if you skipping bare footed just like i did . So i decided that I need to start jogging, but this time with proper attire - jogging shoes. My first thought that I must replicate the exercise that has shown  small success that I have achieved so far . I decided to switch to jogging because it has shown result previously. The only issue that i had with jogging is the same issue that i had with skipping. At first, i was concerned too much on my fitness because after running to 1km i will be running short of breath. When i am running out of breath, it will not look good. I have the thought that the longer you run without stop, the more calorie you burn. So this is the problem when you are setting expectation too much, you want to get immediate result by pushing hard but in the end you could not sustain.Given the vast amount of time that i have saved here, i strategized and plan my fitness training. I started the jogging at slower pace and covering less mileage. The first time around, i could only managed to complete about 800m without stopping. Later I learned the correct breathing techniques while running and put my focus on achieving certain mileage per week. I too allow sufficient time for my body to recuperate.  Once you achieve the smaller targets that been set weekly, it boost the confidence that i have been missing in me. Once the confidence kicks in, the pain was not much of an issue . Currently my routine is to run 1.6km to 2km non-stop, and to run 15km weekly

So basically now i have already master the technique that suit my body, and I will let you know the results in my later posting. And the mantra that have kept me moving, which I learned from the biggest Loser contestant "Pain Is Temporary, Quitting Is Forever" does help me especially during my running exercise. It seems that it removes the pain that you have been suffering as you push yourself to prevent  you to quit before you reached the goal that you have set. You must not trapped yourself into the old habit if you decide to quit early in every exercise that you made.


                                             

Tips on Weight Management during Ramadhan

It was another day in the SKO Office, but this time its Ramdhan month. Life in Miri during Ramadhan not much of a difference back in Keramat. People throng to Bazaar Ramadhan after office hour and at night muslim congregate to nearby mosque for Solat Terawih. It was a last day of the week and as usual my intention of coming to work on Friday was to publish many reports and update the boss on the inititaives.  Furtherore I'm heading back to Keramat that evening and I am doing necessary arrangement for my flight back home.

Over the SKO PA system, I heard announcement that a Session on Diet Rasulullah and how to lose 10-15kg during fasting month will be conducted in the morning. I took it just another in-house training course to occupy our time in the office. At first I was instigated by Fairuz, my fellow colleague to join the session and hesitantly I gave him lame excuse of meeting datelines for me to skip the session. But the fact is, I did not see any benefit of attending the session as I was already loosing my weight coming to the end of the first week of Ramadhan. I assumed that there will be nothing new coming from the words of the trainer and having worked in the Nestle before, I think i know everything related to nutrition at the back of my hand. So I just continued doing my work lazily, checking in on line, printing the boarding pass and planning the rest of the day ahead.

As time went by, I managed to get my jobs completed earlier than i expected, and I felt nothing else to do much. Then came Hidayah asking me to join him in the session. I thought, why don't I give it a try since Hidayah, having the size of me was very eager to go.There must be something special about this session, so I walked my way to Dining Hall where the venue of the event took place.

When we reached there, the session was already started with aerobics exercise . At that  time it was  a different scene from the one you could see in a gym or any aerobic class. I could see the exercise was being done with the participant sitting on the banquet chair. With energetic music and a lovely instructor, immediately I got into the mood and rhythm. I sat at the back of the room, joining with the rest. It was a very simple exercise to follow, you just have to do bench press, stretching your arms outwards, to the side and upwards while thumping your feet to the floor at the same time. And repeats that for a few rounds. Not bad for a novice like me as compared to the Poco - Poco dance I joined during the HSE Day. I can see that the exercise can be done anywhere especially in the office. We did a few rounds and after 10 minutes I could feel the difference. The good things was, I did not feel exhausted. Wow, it's gonna go into my routine exercise that I can do in  my room,but not in the office just yet.

The session become more interesting when the trainer move into discussing the topics. The first trainer, Ms Ayusandha, the training instructor gave some tips on exercise that can be done during Ramadhan especially before sahur. Simple yet effective, the exercise just focus at the thigh position. Ms Ayusandha (the alter ego name of the instructor) mentioned that we need to take coffee prior doing any exercise, as it will strip off the fat from your body if you practice it.

Then came the instructor, Benjamin Redza to further excited the audience. Having experience as the nutritionist for Kelantan Footbal Club and once served in Istana of Johor, he definitely a person you will took every advice that you hear from him, and he is also a cancer survivor He shared many interesting topics which very practicable to anybody. Below are some pointers and tips that I managed to put down in the interest of those who accidentally bump into my blog.

1.We must differentiate between hunger and appetite. In malay both mean lapar, and this switch your brain giving signal to the body that you are hungry. What we require is the use of word balance diet.

2.There are two ways our body giving the signal in relation to how much food the body want to consume. Control these two signals, you are one step closer in managing your body weight properly.

First signal is a signal from your stomach to the brain. When this signal being transmitted your become hungry instantly. This signal goes very fast as compared to signal the brain sent to the stomach when you are already full. Generally it will take 20-30 minutes for the second signal to be transmitted. He advised us to spend time less than 20 minutes for each meal. If you are taking more than 20 minutes, you are taking more than what your body needed. Chew your food 20-40 times to prolonged the time.

3.The type of blood determine the pattern of food intake. Me, a group B type, is people with less vulnerable to virus because we have better antibody system. We can do exercise like brisk walking, swimming to control our weight.

4. How to "service" your intestine by flushing. Take Nata de Coco(soluble fibre), 5-6 teasponful every day, and you will see the different in the stool after 3rd day. The intestine, after being flushed will ensure your digestive system work effectively. You will not become hungry easily, and the nutrient can be transported fast if your digestive system working well.

To complement this, take yakult

 5.Take Yakult, instead VaiTOGERN, as yakult has more bacteria count than the latter. Yakult works  better for the same quantity of serving.

6. Sign of toxin accumulation can be seen in the colour of your finger nails.

    Pink-you are in a pink of health

    Purple-you are in danger, that is the sign of toxin accumulation in the body.

7. Sign of high cholestrol - dark mark in the neck,around  armpit and thigh

8. Dates, honey, and raisin is the most effective source of carbohydrate/glucose. It will go into the blood stream faster than any other food source. The faster it turn into glucose, the faster your body energized.

9.Drink lot of plain water before and after sleeps. Gargle you drinks in the mouth before consuming. It will collect in the amylase enzyme in the  mouth that help in the digestive system.

10. Effective body weight Management, S.E.S

      S-Ah damn...I forgot what S stand for, something to do with food intake

      E-Exercise Regularly

      S-Sleep, get enough rest and sleep in between exercise

Memorable years in Nestle Shah Alam

The date 14th December 2011 is a day of remembrance for me. It was the last day that I after enduring 3 years 11 months and 14 days of fond memories with The People's Company, never had I thought I will be leaving the company with heavy hearts leaving behind all the familiar and friendly faces.

During the early year 2008, It was the time that I get myself familiar with the new working environment. A shift from working in a Japanese  company to a Swiss company and into the world's biggest food producers took me quite some time for me to acclimatized. From doing hands on job of operating Plating machine to managing a processing plant operation, it was the biggest change that I had gone through in my career. It required me to have a leap of faith knowing that the environment and system are different and far apart
The first Boss whom I reported to was Azmin Ahmad, the Production Manager who I would say the most smart guy I have ever worked with as a boss. Two years younger than me but showed great maturity in  managing almost 100 staff and a complex manufacturing operation . Heard from senior staff how good he was when doing troubleshooting in UHT plant and filling operations as he himself is a very technically competent. He was one of a few Nestle selected staff who was being groomed to take a management position later in their carreer.

This was a photo taken during our secret mini party to celebrate Azmin's 32nd birthday in the Daily Operation Review Meeting room. The party was carefully planned by Liza and Balan so not to allow the cake being "sniffed out" by Factory Manager. The FM set a ground rule not to bring any kind of food into plant and knowing how strict he was, we did manage to finish the cake together with some chilled MILO refreshment taken from production.
Looking at the cakes with admiring looks were Mustafa Kamaludin,fellow Line Manager, Aishah our lovely planner and Bathumalai the Plant Technician
I had the opportunity to work briefly with him  for 5 months when he announced abruptly that he would resigned from Nestle. The news came as a surprise to all of us knowing that we saw that he was indeed in the right direction career wise. None of us had expected that he was going to leave Nestle. His reputation was on high at that time, as RTD has been transformed into a high performing plant. Under his stewardship, RTD once were called Ready To Die plant, described by the FM, like a chicken running without head as a result of many operational issues, changed into the most efficient plant in Shah Alam complex. We produced the biggest volume with high filling machine efficiency. Our MSA was the best in the region, a feat which has never been repeated until these days.
Surely we had to accept the fact people with good credential will not stay long at the position and admittedly Azmin was indeed that person. For reasons known only to him, he left the company in June 2008 but definitely with his head held high.

Group photo taken in front of RTD plant to capture our last moment with Azmin Ahmad, the Prod Manager. Here Azmin standing next to Mutalib



I also had the opportunity to work with another outstanding person, Mustafa Kamaludin my fellow Line Manager.Just like Azmin, he showed potential to become a leader as he was always been asked by Azmin to deputize him, especially in his absence. 1 year elder than me, married to a Doctor he definitely the person I look to when i need advice. An avid Marathon runner, the only thing that I found it hard to follow. Just look at the photo how lean he was as compared to the guy next to him,me. In this shot, we were waiting nervously for incoming cable car in Langkawi
Just the same with Azmin, he resigned as Line Manager after working for 3 years in RTD, one month before Azmin tendered his resignation. He had accepted an offer that hard to resist by anybody, a work at MARS,chocolate making company in Dubai.
The departure of both these guys were greatly missed by us especially the Bumi staff as they were among the few outstanding bumiputra staffs who had showed potential to go further (as in MILO motto) up the ranks. At the time of the departure, A Non Dairy Creamer plant was in construction and both the guys were rumored to be involved in reorganization of Shah Alam Complex Management. Azmin would be promoted to move to the plant while Mustafa would be promoted to head RTD plant. Of course it did not happened as what have been planned by the FM.

4 years working in Nestle was indeed a joyful and interesting journey. We had a lot of activities and initiatives, I mean really a lot of activities . My time was well spent on endless training, countless show and tell session, vacationing during Departmental Goal alignment, meetings and many more meetings. I had also joined such trip organized by the operators themselves during plant shutdown. The first and only self-paid trip that I joined was a trip to Langkawi. I joined the trip in last minutes as I was very hesitant to go at first. Not that I am an introvert person, it was that time i was unable to fork out RM200 over for the flight and hundreds more ringgit to spend over there to buy cutlery sets, chocolates, minyak gamat and many more. But due to some pressure from Azmin, i finally listed my name for the trip and the rest as they said was history. At the end of the trip, it was money well spent because I got to improve my rapport with the staff and together with it, I managed to get their trust on me.







Boarding Fire Fly Turbo prop at Subang Airport. Langkawi here we come



Scenery around Airport runaway. First photo we shoot once arrived in Langkawi. We rented a van a took a round trip around the Island.
Next to me Boimen, Abang Ismail, Abang Huri
Seated from Left: Khardiaman, Apek and posing a la "Jeans model" Awe









Breathtaking view from top of Gunung Mat Chincang. Photo taken after a nervous 15 minutes trip in cable car to reach the top of the mountain

Yachts docking at Awana Porto Malai







Few of the guys taking some pictures. Mazlan, Tok Moh, Rohisha, Khardiaman (squatting)


As Line Manager, one of the tasks that I had to take was developing our staff by involving them into some small projects. They need to pick a project related to work improvement and presented the project in front of panel of jury consisting IP Managers
I was assigned by Azmin to coach one team to undertake a project in Process area. After carefully selecting team members, we came out with a project on improvement of lifting procedure in Tipping operation. The team was named DC - Double Care, DC is also an acronym for one of RTD product sku which is Milo Double Concentrated.
The project took more than one year to complete as the Project met with lot of roadblocks. All the proposed actions by team were neither feasible nor did it bring major benefits to the operators.
After bringing up the issue to Jeffrey Lawrence, our new Production Manager, he proposed the vacuum lifter method which he claimed being used in his previous plant in Chembong. With support from Jeffrey in getting the money from Engineering (costing us RM52000), the system was setup and operational in 1 month time






The improvement project of vacuum lifter - to automate lifting of raw materials bag during tipping. Mazlan going through training session with the supplier

To close the project the team had to present their project in SGIA Convention where they tip their project presentation skills against 2 other teams. The prize was great but the guys were very nervous as the preparation was done only 1 day before the presentation day. With lack of preparation, the DC team managed a runner up to Nescafe team due to some technical error done in underestimating the benefits of the project, and I had to admit that it was me to blame for the error. We should have won the competition as we have better project management and execution, but kudos to the team for completing the task and have the courage to present it.











Participating teams cheering in the last photo session

Makan time at Tanjung Pengharapan using the prize money we received as a runner up in the SGIA Convention. Awe, the Team leader and Apek(in photo) were joined together in the dinner with Shahila and Nora

Dinner, free lunch, refreshments was overly rich in Nestle. If one needs free lunch, he just needed to go to the canteen after 1 pm and look out for food spreads leftovers inside the dinning room. It was almost everyday that Shah Alam Complex hosting function and training for Nestle employee as we have a nice Conference room named Skyroom. The room has a nice location with window screen to the side of the room overlooking green surrounding of Nestle Complex. It also has a mini garden outside the room where you could have a feeling at home whenever you need to stretch your legs,  Most of the time the organizer cater outside foods for the participants and surely they have more than enough to serve the participants. It was then you could see scavengers "flying around" to take a bite on the leftovers, enough to make who came late to the cafeteria for lunch.

One of the Goal Alignment I attended where we have a brainstorming session to line out programmes covering area such people development, Quality, Process Improvement, Project execution among Plant Executives.
I had a discussion with Daphne, the QA Exec and being joined by Mohana(QA Exec) and Thamil(FLM)

Business Contingency Plan training with Syed, the instructor.









Together with soon to be the next batch of Competency Based Training Trainer. Yoong, my best buddy cracking his head in one of the activities. Looking on Bahau (Cereals FLM). Joelle and Nurul doing their business.Most relaxing and enjoyable training I have ever attended. We got to throw and kick balls around  anytime to anybody during the class
See that box of Cake. We pull simple birthday party for Koay, NDC FLM



Looking back at those years in Nestle, make me wonder whether I could get the chance to experience it again in the future. Those memories is still vivid, though I will forget some of the names,but i will never forget all the moments. It will remain in my mind and definitely in this blog entry as I opened a new chapter in my next career journey and life.Thanks Nestle for the good and everlasting memories.

                                         

Last group photo for Jeffrey and my farewell dinners.
Till we meet again

Day 33 and 34

It has been over a month after I had started my pursue and as I checked my entries I noticed that there is almost 2 weeks gap between now and the last entry that I last updated. This week, I got myself to a few visits to see doctors to have my medical checkup before a return visit to Klinik Kita next week. The most important thing that I need to check is my glucose level. First check this week at in-house clinic, my reading was 5.5 after 10 hrs fasting. Good results but unfortunately my blood pressure went up 140/90 which was at the borderline. The good Doctor advice me to watch out my cholesterol as I shared my details with the doctor. A also checked my weight and the was 96.5kg.
As for the exercise routine, I have step up my jumping rope repeats from 1000 to 1400. I also try a few variation skipping exercise for every skipping session. I have three type of skipping technique that I do and normally I completed these routine for every 300 repeats before every stop
1. Jumping with both feet up simultaneously(Basic Jump). I would normally started my routine by doing 40-60 repeats before I go to the next steps. This routine is quite exhaustive and you could feel the pain after completing the 60 repeats on your thigh
2.Jumping with 1 feet up intermittently.I did this for every 50 -100 repeats
3.Speed skipping which I use to imitate an actual running position where you push your feet higher and push forward your upper body while remain jumping at the same spot. I normally did 60 - 80 repeats. This routine is meant to work out my mid body and thigh and i usually do it in the last push of the skipping repeats.
I need to experiment with these routine for target workout. I remembered last time when I actively doing my skipping in 2005, I did have a few tricks that I had not started this time. I could do backward skipping and multi swing in one jump.
Just to share in this entry I include here a few skipping technique that I get from Wikipedia

Jumping rope techniques

Several simultaneous jumpers, jumping a single rope

Some of the techniques that can be used when jumping rope are:

Basic jump

This is where both feet are slightly apart and jump at the same time over the rope. Beginners should master this technique first before moving onto more advanced techniques.

Alternate foot jump (speed step)

This style consists of using alternate feet to jump off the ground. This technique can be used to effectively double the number of skips per minute as compared to the above technique. This step is used for speed events.

Criss-cross

This method is similar to the basic jump with the only difference being that while jumping, the left hand goes to the right part of the body and vice versa for the right hand, with arms crossing in front of the body.

Side Swing

This is a basic technique where the rope passes the side of the skipper's body, without jumping it. Usually the skipper performs a basic jump after a side swing, or a criss-cross.

EB(front-back cross)

This is similar to the criss-cross except one arm crosses behind the back.

Double under

To perform a double under, the participant needs to jump up higher than usual while swinging the rope twice under his feet. It is possible to have the rope swing three times under the feet (triple under). In competitive jump rope, triples, quadruples ("quads"), and quintuples ("quins") are common.

Toad

The toad is a more complicated trick where the jumper performs the "Cross" manoeuvre with one arm crossing under the opposite leg from the inside.

Crougar

The crougar is a trick where the jumper jumps in a normal open jump, but with one arm hooked under the same leg.

Awesome Annie

This is where the jumper alternates between a crougar and a toad without a jump in between.

Inverse toad

Similar to the toad, except the arm crosses the same leg from the outside (rather than the opposite leg from the inside).

Elephant

A cross between the inverse toad and the toad, where both arms cross under one leg, rather than one.

Frog/Donkey kick

This is a variation of a handstand, with a beginner version and an advanced version. In the beginner version, the jumper does a handstand, comes down and then pulls the rope under. In the advanced, the jumper pulls the rope while coming down from the handstand.

Combination jumps

There are many more difficult jump roping tricks that combine two or more of these techniques to make a single trick. These combinations can also be used in Chinese Wheel, Double Dutch, Egg Beater, triangle and Long Rope.

Other

Many other variations are possible, including: "skier", a side-to-side jump keeping the feet together; "bell", a front-and-back jump keeping the feet together; "scissors", a jump putting one foot forward and the other back, then switching back-and-forth; "jumping jack", a jump putting the feet apart and then together; and "can-can" a jump with one leg up and bent, followed by a jump with both feet on ground, followed by a jump kicking the foot out. The possibilities are endless, and many Grand National champions have routines consisting of tricks they made up.

Day 17 and 18

On day 17 not much of a difference in routine to share in this entry. I continue with my normal routine. I did again doing some calibration with my weigher by jumping onto the clinic's scale. The weight recorded on the 17 days was 97.5kg. I have been losing 2.5kg ever since i started 17 days back. Looking at the figure it was not encouraging though I found myself quite fit lately . So i need to step up my exercise. I could not do much by reducing my calorie intake due to too many temptations that i could not resist when at home. So at night I increase my skipping to 1100 repeats which equivalent to 30 minutes workout. I also started to work my upper body by doing weight lifting focusing on my arm and chest. I managed to complete 1 cycles of iron pumping (bicep, triceps,chest and back)
On day 18, I escaped from work and head myself to Wangsa Walk. I looked around the gadgets area and ask for the latest price of X Box kinect set with 4MB Memory. Back in the factory i have been promoting the Kinect set to Khaidir the Application Group Technician knowing that his is a slim fitness buff. Initially I never thought of him to take my recommendation seriously but after couple of times he failed to get the Kinect set by himself, I sure that he really means business. That day he complained to my office mate of me for not "lying" because he did not get the same price of the set that i got.Words spreads very fast to Liza, our production clerk and quickly she jumped to see me the minute I got myself to the office. Liza was very eager when she asked almost everything that I know about the X Box kinect set. She is also a fitness buff having a slim figure which is the envy of many chicks in my plant. Her slim figure could also make guy's jaw dropped when seeing her physically. I told her every single details that I know about the game set and she listen attentively to every single word that came out from my mouth. At last she decided to ask me to get for her a set of the X Box set and agree to pay the amount of RM1600 for the console set. Well I have closed a deal that I never thought of doing by promoting X Box set. It all seemed too easy to convince her to get the set. I think what make it easy that the fact that I have trimmed down my size as she could noticed it and that was enough to convince her to get the console set. And furthermore the back pays season for the Non Management is coming. By forking out RM1600 would not be an issue to her as she could take home 7k to 8k of her back pays she will be getting next month.

day 14

Today is another challenging day as it will be a Kenduri at Cik Jah's house. I got to know that Cik Daud was going to cook for the kenduri. What...Cik Daud cooking today. What a nightmare for me. Cik Daud is the Cooking Maestro of Parit Sulong. Mentioned his name and his cooking make you comparing him to Masterchef or Iron Chef. His specialty is Nasi Beriani Johor with signature dish of Daging masak Biftik...I am salivating just to describe them here. His cooking has made him travel around Malaysia. His cooking made famous as not only due to the words from mouth to mouth,he is also the entourage of Datuk Johan Jaafar, the Media Prima Chairman. He is a very very VVIP in Corporate Malaysia. He was once moderator on TV whose milestone achievement in moderating a Live debate on TV between Anwar Ibrahim and Shabery Cheek(Ex Sdarian) Looking at the situation, it will be really a tough job to avoid Cik Daud's cooking.I've decided to skip Cik Jah kenduri with hesitations instead head my way off to Shah Alam.

Paper clippings article Datok Johann Jaafar on Jom Heboh

We fetched Nisah who came back from Korea in KLIA. She would arrive that night at 10pm in Korean Air
Started in the morning with 5 minutes fat abs buster exercise I learned from Mike Chang. Manage to complete one round. Indeed it was very torchering exercise just to complete one cycle. I also look into the net on how to calculate the calories that i burn in every exercise. You must know how long you should exercise in order to bring down the calorie intake for the day. Or else you be exercising aimlessly and doing unnecessary exercise and you would not get the desired result fast. Got myself into the calorie burner calculator and checked things for every 30 minutes jumping rope session(1000 jumps).

Day 12 and 13

Day 12 and 13

It was Deepavali Holiday, it would be another day to put myself in check.
Morning 4oo repeats Night 400 repeats of jumping rope. In the evening I together, with my parents went to Kuala Selangor to look for a new seafood market spot. We were told that there is a place called Bagan Tengkorak which is more famous for its seafood freshness. We got ready our Polystyrene box and standby a few hundred ringgits before we took off. At first we thought that it was easy to find the place but we end up looking our way out from Kg Bagan Tengkorak for almost an hour. Most of the villagers over there did not have a clue of what we were looking for when asked about direction. Some gave direction to a Chinese Village and many did not know anything at all. After long thoughts we decided to make our way back home with our polystyrene box still empty.
On our way back home we came across a full house restaurant by a roadside which sells Mee Udang Banjir. As tempted as a kid being offered candies, we drop off and managed to get empty seats for ourselves. First impression was good when we see no empty seats and we saw people waiting for their orders. There are also ample car park for visitors as there are car park spaces at the backyard of the kampung shophouses . As we were seated, abah called up the waiters to clear the dishes leftover by the previous seaters. We order 3 sets of Mee Udang and drinks and take home another 3 sets. As we looked around while waiting for our orders we soon realized that not only us waiting for the orders to come, almost all the tables were empty, no food and no drinks. I also realized that that was a big dinning table with about 10 people still awaiting restlessly for their order to come. I look my watch every minutes whenever the order came out from the kitchen and when our order reached our table we have already waited for 1 hour. As the food reached our table I heard people at the back table rumbling to the waiter because they did not get even the drinks that they have ordered. Hearing it, it did our cut our appetite and we just could not enjoy the Mee udang banjir. To our dissatisfaction, the food was not that great. It just noodle served with tomato sauce in soup except that the dish was full of fresh prawns. Nothing more and nothing less. Within 10 minutes we did finished our food and after paying for the food together with tapaus we rush back home almost at 7pm. After all the mishap,that would be the last time we have our Mee udang there.
Day 13 go for break from exercise.
I was trying very had today to resist the cooking at home. So far I have managed to cut down my nasi intake during lunch at work for 1/2 of serving. But the problem come whenever I reached home. Today it was my dad turn to put a "temptation" test on me. Abah cooked mee goreng using Maggi instant noodle and when i further probed into the kitchen I found a pan full of lokan(or kepah) cooked in curry. No, I am not going to fall prey to these lokan and mee goreng. To psyche myself i did some mental calculation on how much my calories will shoot up today if i took a dip into them. Wow, it will be about 2 days of previous calories. After looking back and forth the cookings on the plates, I decided it would be a waste if you I did not have it and as long as you could make a promise to yourself that I could recover the next day by doing extra exercise to cut the calories.