Happy

It's day 6 in Bangladesh and things are going great. The first two days had me a bit alarmed because I had to visit family members who I hadn't seen in so long -- and the way we celebrate is through food.

Lots of food.

Rich food.

And to make it worse, delicious, delicious food. Our family has been blessed (cursed) with the talent of being amazing cooks.

I ate a lot more than I thought I would, but I also enjoyed the food a LOT more than I thought I would.

It felt like I was home.

However, after 2 days, I was done.

The Whole Life Challenge started, and I was determined to stay on track as much as possible. My mom has totally been my hero helping me stay on track -- cooking me separate food, making sure I have everything I need, and most importantly, having my back when it comes to defending my food choices. It's been a relief.

I'm on Day 3 of the challenge and it's all going well.

Putting the Plan into Action

I had good time this morning as I researched different yoga poses to do for the Make a Change challenge. I came across the website Yoga Journal and spent ages browsing through the links. The site is terrific. It breaks down the poses by type and then for each type it gives you a variety of exercises with their explanations. I knew of a lot of the poses, but seeing them on the screen really helped me put together a plan of different yoga poses that I want to practice while my wrist heals.

Having my list as well as the MMA drills that I wanted to practice (bjj, kajukenbo, and kickboxing skills) made it much easier for me to get on the mat and actually workout. I hope that this will be enough to get me through the next 2 weeks while I'm away.

I leave for the airport in 2 hours -- time to get everything else sorted!

Ciao!

Make a Change

I was reading Deb's blog and she mentioned a challenge hosted by Fitness, Health and Happiness called Make a Change Challenge. The challenge is to choose something you want to change and follow through with it for 21 days. A lot of the people who are doing the challenge are focusing on dietary changes (e.g. no dairy, no soda, no gluten etc.). However, since I'll be doing the Whole Life Challenge from Jan. 11, I decided to focus on something else.

Since October I feel like my fitness regime has not been going my way. I have yet to fully recover from my bout of bronchitis that started in the beginning of October. After that, I injured my wrist.

I was determined to make the best of the situation and do what I could. I thought - ok, since I can't do my usual yoga poses, I'll do ones that don't require me to use my hands; I may  not be able to grapple, but I can still do different drills related to my MMA training.

I haven't done either.

I still stretch and workout regularly (almost 100% cardio), but I haven't been doing the things that I wanted to focus on. I've just been lazy. It's easy to walk, but it's not easy to get myself on the jiujitsu mats and do drills on my own (especially since they're challenging). I need to stop this. I need to do the things that intimidate me and make me a bit uncomfortable. There's no point staying in my comfort zone!

So, for the next 21 days (Jan. 6 - Jan. 21), I'll be focusing on daily yoga stretching and specific MMA drills. I need to make a list of them - I'll do that in the morning - so that I have a checklist that I can follow each day. The good thing is that I should be able to do pretty much all these exercises while I'm away on vacation too.

I know that having a plan will help me feel better and stay focused.

Thinking About My Trip

I'm a bit stressed over my upcoming trip. I think it's partly because I'm not even close to getting over my jet lag from returning from the States. Being sleep deprived in out of sync from any type of routine has me in a funk. Add to that my car being in the garage, the gloomy weather with a downpour of rain, terrible crams, my cough, and my injured wrist - to say that I'm grumpy is an understatement!

Shopping in preparation to travel to Bangladesh is always a bit challenging. People have requests for things that they'd like me to bring. I don't mind, but I asked them to let me know 2 weeks ago. I know that I'll get requests until the last minute. I know I can only do so much, but there's always the risk of offending someone if you don't cater to their wishes.

All I want to do is spend time with my parents and my grandmother. I'll be seeing them after 18 months -- plus this is the first trip after my aunt passed away. There are so many emotions that I'm feeling in relation to that. The fact that she's not there still seems surreal to me. I don't fully believe it. I think that I'm afraid that going there and not seeing her around the house and not hearing her voice or seeing her smile will devastate me. I don't want to go through it. In this case, ignorance is bliss.

All these feelings and thoughts directly manifest themselves in once again having a negative self-image. I don't feel like myself. I don't feel like I look like myself. I just want to jump out of my skin. I'm trying hard not to spit out negative comments about myself when I look in the mirror. I'm trying to tell myself to get a grip; I've moved past this way of thinking; I know better.

Yet I feel part of myself spiraling out of control. I'm nitpicking on little things that annoy me -- why didn't X return my call? Why didn't Y respond to my email? Why did Z forget to do the one thing I asked to be done?

It's be cause I'm ---- insert whatever negative thought you can think of.

Aaarrrgh!

I'm driving myself crazy.

I guess the fact that the other half of myself is trying to reign it all in and stay calm and collected is a good thing. I'm not bingeing on foods; I'm not taking any self-destructive actions -- I'm slowly treading on. Bit by bit. Step by step.

Video Highlights

A few fitness highlights from 2013

Meeting and Training with MMA stars in 2013

Eating Out

I love to travel. I've been blessed with several opportunities to travel over the past several years and in particular over the past 2 years. In terms of that passion, ending 2013 and starting 2014 with travel sounded great to me.

However, travel is not always conducive to eating clean (or training dirty).

Over the past 2 years my eating while I'm abroad traveling has changed quite a lot. During most of my trips I have come back either maintaining or losing weight. Portion control, healthier substitutions, and regular exercise while being abroad have been my saving graces.

This past trip to Vegas was not as successful.

Even though I had an amazing time, going such a long way for such a short time was really tough to deal with in terms of general fatigue and insane jet lag. The lack of sleep 2-3 hours a night plus having a cold totally sucked. I found myself snacking more than eating proper meals.

Out of the 5 days that I was there, I hit the gym twice and walked 2-3 miles each day. Still, it wasn't enough to offset the food. While I don't feel like I've lost all control, I do feel unhealthy. I just don't feel as light and fit as before I left.

The only thing to do really is get right back on track, which I have no problem with.

However, in 4 days I'll be on a plane again. This time I'll be heading to Bangladesh to see my family. Bangladesh will be tricky because the eating style there is SO different. Plus there are family expectations (though I've learned how to say no - firmly). Right now the political situation is not good in the country. There are lots of strikes (sometimes violent), so movement around the country will not be easy or safe for that matter.

Joining a gym or having a wide selection of foods is not a luxury that I'll have on this trip. It'll be interesting to see how I cope.

Working out in Las Vegas

Hello 2014!

Happy New Year!!

The last few weeks of 2013 were really busy for me, as you can see from my lack of posting towards the end of the year. I just couldn't seem to find the time to sit down and write. On top of all that, I feel sick again and spent the last 2 weeks of 2013 with another bout of bronchitis (and it's still lingering).

I spent the end of the year in Las Vegas. D & I decided to fly out for UFC 168. Since we were there for UFC 162 this past summer, during which the outcome of the main event (Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman) was very surprising (Weidman won), we decided to go and watch the rematch. On top of that, Ronda Rousey, my favorite female fighter, was fighting (Rousey won, yay!!). The event was awesome, and although it was a very long way to go for such a short period of time, it was totally worth it!

A few highlights of my trip:

Meeting UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Valasquez

Meeting Jessamyn Duke - Contender on The Ultimate Fighter Season 18 (TUF 18)

Meeting Shayna Baszler - Contender on The Ultimate Fighter Season 18 (TUF 18)

I met Grand Master Janice Somera earlier this year when she came to Kuwait to give a Kajukenbo seminar. Meeting her was really special for me as she somehow unlocked something inside of me that helped me dig deep and push forward, not just with MMA training, but with my approach to life in general. I don't think words can describe the positive and powerful influence she had on me. It was an absolute miracle that she was in Las Vegas at the same time I was -- being able to spend a few hours with her was a wonderful way to end the year.

Me at UFC 168

Team Rousey on board! 

So here we are, Jan. 1, 2014 -- I went back to my post from Jan. 1st of last year to see what I had written as my goals/expectations for the year. It was strange to read the goals. I feel like I accomplished a lot, but when it comes to actually looking at the list and ticking things off, 2013 was not a successful year for me. There are so many things I did not achieve (e.g. I gave up on my burpee challenge; I didn't run my 10km etc.) Is it strange that I feel like 2013 was a very good year for me yet I didn't achieve those goals? Maybe I need to keep track of all the things I did achieve that were not on my list of resolutions/goals:

- I became a certified Fitness Nutritionist
- I became a certified Fitness/Personal trainer
- I successfully completed the Whole Life Challenge twice (coming in 7th place and tied first respectively)
- I continued to consistently lose weight (though I did not reach my goal weight)
- I've made a lot of progress with my MMA training
- I feel like living healthy really is part of my lifestyle and I'm no longer frantically searching for the 'right way' to lose weight; I'm still tweaking, but I feel confident in knowing what I need to do and doing it

After writing all that down, I don't feel so bad. Of course there were many circumstances that I had not planned on during the year (illness, injury, out of town visitors, travel), but despite those, I think I did a good job staying on track.

I have only one overarching goal for 2014: Be healthy and happy. 

Each month I'll still be keeping track of my progress. Setting small monthly goals also helps me keep on track and keep moving forward.

Jan. 2014 Goals: 
(I'm still recovering from my cold & struggling with my wrist injury, so I don't think my physical activity will be too ambitious this month)

1) Daily stretching (minimum 15 minutes)
2) Complete 20 workouts
3) Drink at least 3.5 L of water on a daily basis
4) Post 2 recipes
5) Complete 1 abstract & sort through File 1 of research articles