Singapore Personal Trainer|The Fitness Truth

Dear readers, I’m finally back.

This time STRONGER as ever. If you’ve noticed. It has been so many weeks since I’ve blogged.

NO! I didn’t mean the headline literally. Life is too short to shoot myself dead. I am a fighter, always have been and always will be.

However it has been some trying months for me with Clinical Depression and negative energies surrounding my aura. I am not ashamed of sharing this with the entire world nor telling to seek sympathy.

My business acquaintances were afraid that sharing that I’ve Clinical Depression would question my credibility on my businesses. But really question what credibility?

So you’re telling me that people who make their own dough can’t get unwell?

That’s total BS!

I believe by sharing, I would heal better. I believe by sharing I would inspire others more towards a greater good for yourselves than others.

More hands are definitely better than ONE.

I am sharing to remind you once again that everyone is human, personal trainers do get unwell and everyone goes through some though times every now and then.

Now as my journeys for these couple of months are documented with fighting clinical depression, fighting insonmia and at times it got so bad that I end up not being able to sleep for 2 days, minor isolation (I seem to withdraw from the outside world. Everytime I step out of the house to a mall, I tremble. It’s better now. ), feel nauseous ALL the time I keep fighting all the above and Visualize that I am already a healed and better person.

I smiled all the time, I loved all the time and I always always tell myself to be as positive as possible. The people around me have been really great support. People like Han Ayden, Paul and Meithili, Saiful Rizal, Derek, Knut and Vivien. They have been there to remind me that I am not a bad person but a good person with a problem. They have never showed me pity but instead compassion.

The one person that has helped me a lot too is Mariah Carey. Well, not her in person though I wish to meet her someday!

It is through her songs that I healed day by day. I truly believe songs are great outlets of healing, building positive energies in your mind, body and soul and hope of a better tomorrow.

One song by Mariah Carey that has healed me and inspired me was Hero. And today, I want to share Hero to all of you. I promise you that you’ll feel so lifted, a sense of love and gratitude and would want to replay this song over and over again in your head.

May Peace Be Upon You.

I was at United World College (UWC) waiting for someone the other day.

Anyway I did not want to waste time so I decided to do some exercises at the basketball court at UWC. I blasted some music from my mp3 into my ears and did walking lunges, high kicks, knee high drills, butt kicks and danced away to the same two songs OVER and OVER again.

I was incredibly bored and I could have answered the tons of emails on my account or proof read my latest e-book I’ve been working on. However I decided that I just needed some time off work.

I had the urge to catch a movie though. Perhaps The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian but it was late. I turned to music which has always been my saviour.

Blast some catchy dancy music into your ears and you will intuitively dance, groove and move to the beat.

If you have more creativity, you’ll end up doing exercises that do not require much equipment but your own body weight, like jumping and kicking around.

The key here is to BE ACTIVE.

If I can have the discipline and responsibiliy to do something about my health and fitness, I believe YOU CAN too.

Lesson For The Day: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

P.S: I am releasing my book in a few days time and I am inviting you to be part of a life-changing experience. Stay tuned to this blog. Bookmark this blog if you have not done so.

Click on the poster above to lead you to the Sex And The City Movie official website.

The four main characters of Sex And The City - The Movie.

Alright, the second movie of the week has to be Sex And The City - The Movie. I have never watched Sex And The City series on HBO or whichever TV channel it was broadcasted on. I decided to watch it only because everyone I knew were making lots of hoo-ha about the Sex And The City series and I was curiuos to find out what’s all the kahuna about this celebrated series.

I must admit that my first impression of the movie read fashion couture, women gossips and bimbotic conversations which I am SERIOUSLY NOT FOND OF. No offence to ladies out there but I believe everyone should be true to themselves.

However after watching the entire movie, I am a Sex And The City Convert! I am so going to download the entire series from the start! Sex And The City is more than just a superficial show which would probably leave you brain dead. It is the kind of show which you would go; “Hey I am going through this too!….” This show relates to you in a way or another.

Sex And The City as what the movie projects, discusses issues which are VERY TRUE about women and life. For example emotional stress eating, the insatiable sexual appetite at middle age, fear-of-commitment couples, job takes over one’s life and sex life takes a dip, cheating in a relationship and the question of forgiveness, fairy-tale endings and much more life lessons.

Anyway the highlight of my post today is on Sarah Jessica Parker, the star from Sex And The City.

Look at those GORGEOUS outfits on super lean and toned Sarah Jessica Parker!

Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker’s exercise regime includes weight training, running, climbing stairs and yoga. She alternates her fitness sessions between karate, lifting weights, running, swimming, cycling and occasionally horse-riding.

Great to know celebrities are getting addicted to something illegal - Exercise.

However when do you draw the line? How much exercise is too much?

Look at Sarah Jessica Parker’s picture below.

Is this how toned you would want to be?

Do you want veins protuding on your arms?

Do you want muscles on your chest?

I do not know about you but I definitely do not want to exhibit intensely veiny hands and super pumped arms unless I am competing for a professional bodybuilding competition.

However there’s perfectly nothing wrong with looking like the picture above. The ideals of a beautiful body is up to one’s preference and it is subjective. In my personal ideals, being lean and toned with healthy curves caters to me more than any other body type.

My point is, it is second nature for women to go on extremes to get to their ideal physique. Unfortunately most of the time women believe that MORE is GOOD. I know a lot of you would spend hours on end doing punishing exercises to look good. Some of you even even do the wrong exercises to train towards that ideal physique.

What do you get at the end of the day by doing more???

1) Stay the body shape that you are 6 months ago and feel as demoralised as ever.

2) Gain more FATS.

3) Build scary bulging veins which would be a total TURN OFF to your lovers.

Do you know that to get a lean and toned body, you should not lift like a man? Yes you should lift weights but the type of weight lifting exercises would affect the kind of leaness and toned physique you would want to achieve.

Do you know that by running 1, 2 or 3 hours on the treadmill makes you fatter instead? Thus do High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), sprint, do moderate speed runs instead of slow time-wasting jogs.

A simple rule: Lift like a MAN, Look like a MAN. (Stay tuned to this blog to find out how you can lift weights to look as slim and sexy as ever and not look like a man with scary veins!)

HI GUYS I AM BACK!

I was sick for a few days with fever and terrible migraine. I was recuperating thus I had not blogged for a few days. I wanted to rest my mind as well. I feel that apart from being physically fit and well, our minds have to be clear and healthy.

My sincere apologies to all of you who were expecting updates.

However I still Twittered.

If you have not followed me on Twitter, FOLLOW ME NOW! Create an account if you do not have one and start Twittering away! It beats MSN-ing. It’s SUPER easy to create an account.

The big guys like ESPN sports channel uses Twitter to update the world on sports updates about Basketball, Boxing, Soccer e.t.c!

I use Twitter to update about Fitness Tips, Health and Fitness discussions and also glimpse of my daily life.

FOLLOW ME NOW! (Click On The Twitter Logo Below! Cute Bird right!!!)

Anyway, I decided to get out of my bed today to do some light exercise. Still having the residual fever and light-headedness though. However taking walks and being active would help you recover faster than lazing around and being a couch potato.

So, I decided to take a stroll at the park to take some fresh air and get my engine running for the next few days.

As I was strolling, I saw a black cat! It’s so SOOO CUTE!

I LOVE CATS!

I kept tickling, stroking, agitate and it became so irritated that it ran away!!! Gosh! Cats have a calming and therapeautic effect on me. After a stressful day, playing with cats would make you smile and for a moment, your troubles would seem so far away.

*Of course only if you’re not allegic to and are afraid of cats that is!

I was googling on Cats and Stress and found an aritcle on Health benefits of Pets which truly justifies the calming effect cats have on me.

Very briefly,

- Pets Can Improve Your Mood

- Pets Control Blood Pressure Better Than Drugs

- Pets Encourage You To Get Out And Exercise

- Pets Can Help With Social Support

- Pets Stave Off Loneliness and Provide Unconditional Love

- Pets Can Reduce Stress—Sometimes More Than People

Click here to read in more details about the points I have highlighted above and ways they can truly help you in your life.

More food for your mind and soul!

Lesson For The Day: Being ill DOES NOT give you an excuse to be a bummer!

Down with 38.2 Degress Fever.

I am hibernating now.

I rested today. My throat hurts so bad and the right side of my tongue is feeling so numb. I hope I am NOT going to get fever. Oh Gosh!

Anyway some people asked me today - “Di, so what do you eat for breakfast? How can you stomach eating breakfast? I can’t seem to eat breakfast…”

My Answer

My breakfast meal is usually typical each morning.

It has to be 1/2 cup of Rolled Oats, Flaxmeal and Biotest Low Carb Metabolic Drive protein shake. Personally I feel that my breakfast is convenient, fast to prepare (less than 5 minuites?) and YUMMY! I can never get bored of it. Or maybe perhaps it’s breakfast and all of us are still in semi-zombie mode thus we do not really care what goes into our mouth as long as it is something. HAHA!

That comes to the question…”How can you stomach eating breakfast? I can’t seem to eat breakfast…”

Well, I CAN because there are so many benefits eating breakfast!

A quick note: To get the highest metabolism possible for your body, your breakfast needs to be the biggest meal for the day. (For more nutrition tips, click here.)

A lot of people tend to over analyse when it comes to nutrition, and bother about what to eat, how much to eat and when to eat. If they don’t even consume breakfast, then they are not seeing the forest for the trees.

How important is breakfast? If it means having a plate of leftover meatball spaghetti or a slice of pizza from yesterday’s dinner, go ahead!. Yes it’s that crucial as opposed to starting the day with an empty stomach.

But of course, don’t ‘plan’ to have junk for breakfast everyday just because I said so! Naughty naughty! Everything needs planning and preparation.

So with that, why don’t you share with me what have you been having for breakfast and what are the challenges faced when trying to prepare a healthy one.

And also, if you have any questions or comments just leave it at the form below.

Happy eating!

I watched Made Of Honour at Great World City today.

(Click on the picture to know more.)

Mmm… an alright movie but I wanted to highlight the part where one of the bridesmaids was an obese women.

I cannot remember what the exact script was but it went somewhere along these lines;

“So what are your dress sizes?” bridesmade 2, Stephanie asked.

Bridesmaid 1, Melissa: I’m a 4

Bridesmaid 2, Stephanie: (I can’t remember. Sorry guys.)

Obese Bridesmaid 3, Hilary: I’m a size 8!

Made Of Honour, Tom: (He’s a man for God’s sake!)

So when Hilary said she was a Size 8 when she was apparently a Size 12, Melissa could not contain her amazement and choked on her drink!

Melissa and Stephanie then tried to reason out with Hilary to stick with size 12 but she refused! Instead Hilary took out a bottled water filled with brown water. She called it some diet drink which she had to consume the entire day. It looked so DISGUSTING.

The Made Of Honour, Tom acted by Patrick Dempsey said; “How about Food?” I must admit, I thought that was not only a valid question but a hilarious one! The way he said it with a crinch on his face… “How about FOOD?” Hahaha!

Throughout the movie, it was shown that Hilary had fainting spells apparently because she chose to survive on diet drink all day. On the day of Hannah’s (Acted by Michelle Monaghan) scottish royalty wedding, Hilary’s gown splitted on the left side as she sat down! She had to use pins to bring the fabric together! Not a pleasant sight!

Many of you reading this may laugh. However the above scenario is very real-life.

Many women out there would lie about their dress sizes and even buy clothes with a dress size uncomfortably smaller than their ideal size. Why do women do this?

The bitter truth is that women have unrealistic expectations on how they should look like in a short period of time. Most times, women would want to be smaller than what they are even though they may already look GREAT.

It is undeniably true that women lie about their dress sizes just to make themselves feel better.

Think: “The smaller the better…The skinnier the better…(yea…till they disappear in thin air? Gosh!)”

They are consumed with wishful thinking that by buying 1 or 2 dress size smaller and going on a crash diet like Hilary with the diet drink above, they would be able to fit in that smaller dress size.

Some even squeezed through the smaller dress size which inevitably made them look so suffocated.

If you think consuming diet drinks would make you lose weight fast! fast! fast! - I promise you that you’ll be utterly disappointed. Instead of losing weight, you will stay the same weight or even put on more weight. If this isn’t bad enough, you’ll feel lethargic and have fainting spells all the time!

Do YOU really want all these hassles?

Lesson for the day: Consume Diet drinks And Get Fatter. Eat FOOD And Get Slimmer!

My former couple clients from Saint Catherines, Canada emailed that the husband, Paul lwould be visiting Singapore.

I was thrilled and I am looking forward to meet Paul soon.

I am so happy to hear that they are still making good food choices and exercising regulary after migrating back to Canada. In fact Paul and Meithili told me that they shed off more pounds and built more muscles eversince.

I am truly satisfied with how far they have come. I personally trained them for about 1 year! Gosh! Time flies really fast!

Here’s The Before And After pictures of Meithili. A little about Meithili: She is a SUPER HOT mommy with 2 wonderful children and at 40 years old she is still so driven that she’s taking her Master’s degree now.

Here’s the Before picture of Paul with a big gut and Kyphotic posture (Hunched back). A little about Paul: Paul is an Associate Professor at the University.

The best thing is after training with Physique Makeover, he now walks with an upright posture which he never had since he was a child. It drove me to tears when he told me that his mother was tearing in joy when she saw Paul walking upright after 40 over years.

I must admit that it is that moment I told myself that I have to always keep updating myself with exercise and nutrition research and development. I promised myself that I will try my very best to help Physique Makeover clients and people around me to find a new confidence in life.

Paul had and I hope many of you will too.

As I’ve mentioned, I would be catching up with Paul next week and will definitely take a picture with him. I would definitely share with you!

Lessons for the day: Be Motivated Irregardless Of Your Age.

I trained Knut Estensen today and we were having converasation about self-image. With his new found weight loss and new muscles growing nicely at distributed parts of his body, my dear client has been spending time at Shopping malls!

He had bought new clothes from Dolce and Gabbana and Ed Hardy and looked easily 20 years younger than his age! He is turning 50 years old soon and hardly looks the least bit like 50 years old. Now with his new choices of trendy, fashionably unforgivable taste of clothes, Knut Estensen would defintely look ASTONISHING than he already is.

I would ask his permission to take pictures with his new style and post it on this blog. I’ll try alright! I hope he would be a motivation to all of you. See what a 50 year old can do with his life!

I can bet you with my life that Knut has found a new air of self-confidence and boosted self-esteem he never really had before. He can now perform Diamond push-ups which many half his age cannot even do!

Anyway after training Knut, I ran some errands and decided to do my usual observations. 2 days ago, I visited Fullerton Hotel and Singapore Art Cafe located at Esplanade but today I had no place in mind. I decided to put my car at home and safe petrol. I hate driving endlessly, wasting petrol and get nowhere. The Bus is a perfect cost effective tool for me. Thus I took bus number 65 and let it bring me to where ever it may go. It finally brought me to Vivocity and Harbourfront Centre!

I visited PageOne which is a replica of Borders and Kinokuniya bookstore. I wanted to go straight to the business section (My favourite reads)…

BUT I second glanced the Interior design section and saw this book! I stayed put at this section for quite some time. Interesting!

“Luxury Houses” book! Fantabulous houses by the seaside with articulate details of interior design! I was like “Oh My! Oh My! Oh My! Soooo NICE…”

Flipping throught the pages…

Something you should know about me is that I am quite different from the average female population. I am a little weird. I love shopping at the supermarket, my romantic idea of a date is walking at say District 9, 10 and 11 to look at HUGE houses. I love visualizing and love observing how the ambitious get to where they are. Whenever I take a walk to places with big landed properties, I would often asked myself “How did they do it?” “How can I achieve great things in life?” “What do I want in life?”.

Every single time I take a Walk of Visualization, it gives me an amplified boost of motivation all over again from my self-motivated self. Thus after the walk, I would be SUPER motivated!!!

More Books On Interior Designs Of Luxury Houses…

The reason I am sharing this with you is because this has helped me in losing weight. When I first started on my weight loss journey, I was TERRIBLE! I never thought I could ever lose weight. Everytime I said that I would exercise and eat right, I just never got to it and I gained more weight.

This walk of visualization has helped me find a concrete reason to be disciplined and committed to do anything that I want. The walk of visualization has given me hope to get my life straightened out and lose weight.

I kept telling myself that I wanted to lead not a luxurious life rich in materials but instead a life rich in good health. I strongly believe when you have health as your top priorities, you will naturally do well in other aspects of your life such as scoring good grades and making money.

Follow me here? Now, think about your walk of visualization and play it in your mind. Share with me on what makes you the most motivated. Find a reason, a concrete reason to reach out to your goals.

Share with me on Why Do You Want To Lose Weight…

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I love passing my time at the supermarket simply because I want the best for you and my clients. I am always reading food labels and discovering better food choices for you and my clients. For example the Fat-Burning Noodles I recommended to you on my last few posts on Shirataki Noodles has helped many people I know in sustaining and maintaining on their weight loss program.

I am now researching and working on alternatives to the asian staple rice and also vegetarian recipes for Shirataki Noodles as requested by some readers. Stay tuned to that blog post.

I just love the supermarket! It is colourful! It is my interest to observe people’s grocery buying habits and find a reason to blog about it and share better ways to improve your nutrition.

With that, I walked to Harbourfront Centre and noticed that there was…

YES! A Chocolate And Candy Fair at the 1st floor of Harbourfront Centre! No!!!

More Chocolate And Candy…

I trained a client at Namly Place last few days and was checking on her nutrition and advised her to make certain food choices. She’s seeing definitions on her tummy and it is getting flatter by the day. The results has made her motivated as ever to invest and dedicate her time to exercise and make better food choices.

However she shared that she is willing to do ANYTHING but chocolate is her GREATEST enemy! So I asked her next; “How often do you eat it?” She said “Nibs and pieces throughout the day…” My face was crumbling but I maintained my cool. Then she was quick to suggest that she’ll totally take chocolate out of her diet.

I STRONGLY protested! I told her not to do that.

I said; “You can have your chocolate. However have your chocolate only after training. Alternatively, eat “clean” (A fitness term I use with my clients on nutrition. It means eating good food choices.) 5 to 6 days out of 7 days and every weekend, induldge on your favourite food. In your case, it’ll be chocolate.”

You should see the smile on her face! I hate depriving anyone. As much as I know many professionals would disagree with me but to me what matters most is that my clients and you get RESULTS and look in your greatest shape ever and still having a life.

A life that allows you to make exceptions to indulge in sinful food every now and then.

I believe my method, will help you and has helped my clients to be more motivated to exercise and eat right. I have been using this method for 3 years as a fitness professional and it has shown marvelous results for Physique Makeover clients. All Physique Makeover clients aged between 30 years old to 60 years old has stayed with me for at least 1 year and the most is 2 years now and a few has booked Physique Makeover for the next 2 years of their lives.

I believe that if my clients can be motivated to look after their health, YOU CAN TOO!

I love this profession! I love it when people are more confident of themselves and develope healthier self-esteem.

This is the epitome of a fulfilling life - Helping others the best that I Can.

Updates 15:16PM

I walked from Fullerton Hotel to the Marina. Such a HOT DAY today. Gosh! Rested under the shade and took pictures. Nods, I went inside Fullerton Hotel in sports shoes, sports pants and an orange top with a white lacy cardigan.

Anyway, the Air-Con was so refreshing and I swear Han Ayden and I were the only odd one out there! Everyone and I mean EVERYONE were clad in power suits if not, nothing less than a collared shirt and pants for men. Not many ladies though except for the Hotel management. Hmm… Which reminds me of my father. He kept asking me to get more power suits and nice skirts for business meetings. Anyone wants to help me out? I am a SHOPPING KLUTZ. I can dress up but I just LOATHE shopping.

Who wants to go shopping with me!?

I observed what they were eating since it was lunch time. Gosh! I should have brought my business cards. I could tell that they thought that they were eating”healthier” food when they are actually NOT!!! For example most places serve brown wholemeal bread which are actually brown because of colouring and other chemical modifications.

They are not real wholemeal bread!

Singapore needs more development in Health, Fitness and nutrition. If they are taking their own sweet time to make changes and educate the masses, I will do it via this blog and other avenues. I will also educate the masses with the guide of many true Health, Fitness and nutrition experts out there to make myself more credible.

Anyway I decided to keep my mouth shut and walked away. I hope they stumble upon this blog and get motivated. If not, I do conduct seminars and talks for corporate companies and organisations. Hopefully one day, I see familiar faces at the offices I do talks for.

Now, I am sitting comfortably on the sofa here at the Singapore Art Cafe at Esplanade Library. I love this place. I am pretty sure I’ll chill at this place very often now. So if you see me at Esplanade library, come by and say Hi!

Caution: I may look serious and cocky but I am really not that bad. I’m very outgoing and loves meeting new people!

Prove that I am chilling at Esplanade. See I am on my laptop and Blogging away! I have been Twittering, YouTube-ing and MyBlogLog-ing too.

For those of you whom have never visited Singapore before, Esplanade is Singapore’s performing arts venue featuring local and international performances. You can click on any of the beautiful pictures of Esplanade below to visit their official website.

Sigh…such a beautiful place isn’t it?

Perhaps next week I will do some running around Marina Bay and Esplanade area. It’ll be nice to enjoy the night scenery with music blasting in your ears.

Want to start taking charge of your life and exercise? Want to join me for my run next week? Comment and let me know and I’ll organise a run together.

LET ME KNOW!

That’s my perfect life.