REALIZING MY PROBLEM
Before Yoga Zone collapsed last year, I used to teach at least 15 yoga classes a week and I still managed to find time to work out at the gym (weights and Group-X classes) every alternate day, played futsal and rockclimbed every week. These regular and deemed challenging physical activities had made my eating time and habit very organized therefore I never really had problems with my weight back then.
Eversince Yoga Zone fiasco starting August 2008 worsened by the unnecessary publicized and politicized yoga ban in Malaysia, I have only been teaching (in average) two or three yoga classes a week and I feel that the sudden cut of my physical activities (teaching three yoga classes back-to-back can drain you to the core) had caused my eating habit to be disrupted. At times, I did not even feel the need to eat because I was simply not hungry.
ADMITTING MY PROBLEM
And THAT is an eating disorder I was not proud to admit.
Before I knew it, my weight dropped tremendously (for someone who always weighs 42kg to have lost 10% of her weight to 38kg in two months is a GREAT DEAL) and almost everyone around me expressed their concern that, I looked too skinny.
The thing is, all my life I have never been overweight and putting on weight has always been a major challenge not only to me, but to all my immediate family members.
So I thought,
it was about time I sought for professional help
when I still can and want to be saved
and before I started losing more weight.
WANTING TO GET BETTER
I have never believed in personal trainers for two main reasons;
1. A session with them is absurdly expensive (yes, yes, a personal session with The Yoga Instructor is not cheap either, talk to the hand) and you would have to sign-up for at least a dozen of sessions with them before you start seeing any changes
2. IMHO I look physically better and more defined than most female personal trainers I personally know
I have been following and been counting on a particular local fitness website whenever I have any fitness query and most of the time, before I even inquired, the website would have magically fed me with simplified yet very interesting findings.
I had the honour to meet up with the blog owner in early 2007 to exchange editorial materials and we became instant friends immediately after. We always met up to catch-up the latest happenings on local fitness news (and gossips) or new fitness products / inventions.
Having heard the news the person behind my favourite fitness website is now doing full-time personal training, I know I might have found just THE Personal Trainer for me.
SEEKING HELP
During our first meeting, we identified and agreed that
1. My problems are;
- I do not eat regularly when I don't work out as often
- I used to (or still) have respiratory problem (asthma) and it might (still) restrict me from doing certain cardiovascular activities
- I despise exercises that require me to run, jump or skip not because I hate sweating but more of because I have an injured right knee and that I have always been 'bustically' (is this even a word?) challenged
- I might have not been eating enough compared to my hectic physical and fitness routines
2. My goals are;
- to achieve my dream weight (47kg)
- to look my very best (if I can have a dream body, it would be SJP in SATC Season 3)
- to maintain my accomplished weight and achieved dream physique,
he carried a standard *Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q)
and conducted *Muscle Strength & Endurance, Flexibility and Cardiorespiratory Fitness test.
True enough, for someone who looks fit (self-claim),
my *Cardiorespiratory Fitness is BELOW AVERAGE than Healthy.
How's that!
But I felt really good (if not very fit) at the end of the grueling test as my *Muscle Strength & Endurance is classified EXCELLENT as I managed to do 34 push-ups in one go (*to grade upper-body strength). For half sit-ups (*to grade core strength), I managed to complete a perfect 25 in one-minute.
But heh heh, I just have to gloat about this next one, if you can excuse me;
for *Flexibility Trunk Flexion: Sit & Reach test,
I scored an OFF-THE-CHART 26 inches when the highest ever documented was 23 inches :)
(*standard initial personal training procedure)
And so we commenced our first personal training session two days after.
After only five sessions (conducted every alternate day),
I regained my appetite,
have actually gained 2 kilos and
received this e-mail from the man who knows everything fitness.
from Dailymuscle author@dailymuscle.com
to The Yoga Instructor ninie.ahmad@gmail.com
date 28 January 2009
Ninie,
Just thought I'd drop a note to say that you're doing really well with your program so far. You have exceeded my expectations on ALL of the past 5 sessions, so well done!
The initiative you've taken to do your food diary especially, really impressed me... and your determination and willpower while working out is very evident, and it amazes me.
I find it very inspiring to train you.
Looking forward to our next session - thurs noon okay with you?
Regards,
Dailymuscle
I have yet to reply to this heartwarming e-mail
but if I can reply with posting this entry
and by telling the world
- how I appreciate the way he LISTENS to me; of not forcing me to do things I don't feel good doing (i.e running),
- how effective it is for him to have constantly MOTIVATED me; by giving positive affirmations such as "You are stronger than you think you are" and "You have exceeded my expectation AGAIN",
- how I respect the way he RESPECTS me; by understanding that it might take longer for me to gain weight as I don't get protein from meat and chicken,
- how he always has the most logical ANSWER to my endless fitness and nutrition queries
- and how I adore how FLEXIBLE he is; in modifying our training on days my legs might have burned from hiking a hill the day before, of discounting our cardio when I told him I was going to play futsal the night later (although the planned futsal never happened, NOT MY FAULT!) and of how he even tried my yoga session just to estimate roughly how much does kilo calorie does one burn during a 90-minute Vinyasa yoga class. He is even patient enough to hear my constant babbling of everything yoga everytime we replenished ourselves with energizing drinks after almost every workout.
So if you asked me,
THE NEXT IMPORTANT THING
after realizing your problem, admitting it, wanting to get better and seeking help;
IS
to finding that someone who knows best and that YOU can personally relate to.
Personal Trainer wise,
if you have to ask,
the one I have, is the best one can have.
I can never thank you enough, Dailymuscle.
Couldn't have possibly done it without your help.
