Every time Pete and I watch The Biggest Loser on tv, we would both turn to each other and say,"That is not going to happen to us." We have been eating more during the cold, dark winter days and have not been doing our long walks. But I know that we would not allow ourselves to get too big and unhealthy.
Living here, it is not too tough to make healthy choices. Yes, there are lots of sweet, creamy treats and fatty, salty stuff. At the supermarkets, there are aisles upon aisles of cookies, biscuits, tarts, chips, chocolates and candies. But there are lots of stuff that are good for us too. Crispbreads, for instance, are packed full of whole grains. There are many kinds to choose from too. And it's great that we both love them. We have them for fika instead of cakes or cookies.
Bread is also a staple in the supermarkets here. There are rows and rows of them, both white and dark, wholegrain breads. Some of them are also packed with nuts and grains. I really, really love eyeing them since I love bread. We do buy bread some times but most of the time I make them myself. That way I could make them 100% wholewheat and I could add flax seeds and nuts to them. Nothing taste as good as freshly baked bread, just out of the oven. Wholewheat pasta is also widely available here.
I also love the cycling/jogging paths here. They are mostly away from the roads and traffic and the scenery is wonderful, especially during summer when everything is flourishing. They make our walks so enjoyable. Also, the low population density of this city means that the paths are not too crowded. However, saying that, we do often see other people walking their dogs or jogging. It's great that the paths are fully utilised. I guess that's why you don't often see very obese people here. I must say that the people I see here are mostly healthy looking. It is not hard to not be positively influenced by them.
We don't really enjoy going out in the cold, though, for now. Hence we do what we can at home. We are not aiming to lose so much weight too quickly. So, for now, our workouts are not too intense. Our aim is more for health than for vanity. For now, it is enough for us to be active and healthy, even though we may not be such big losers.
Showing posts with label work out. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work out. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Workouts in winter
One of the things I miss about being back home is the ease with which I could workout. Whenever I reached home late from work, I could simply change into my workout clothes, lace up my shoes and off I went on a run or walk or bike ride. I also used to go to the gym quite regularly after work. It was again, a breeze, since I don't need too many clothes or shoes to change into.
Here, the cold weather means that I have to be quite warmly bundled up in a few layers of clothes whenever I want to head outdoors. That makes changing into workout clothes quite tiresome. Not only do I have to peel off layers of clothes, I also have to change into indoor shoes before I can workout. Then, after changing into suitable gear, I have to lug my thick jacket and boots and bag out of the changing room and head to the badminton court.
Yeah. Pete and I tried our hand at badminton on Friday. There's a badminton hall just a couple of bus stops away so we decided to put that into our exercise regime. And yeah, another thing I miss is the cheap booking fee for badminton courts and cheap shuttlecocks. We paid SEK130 (about S$25) per hour during the off peak period. The Yonex shuttlecocks cost about S$30 for six plastic ones. The feather ones are much more expensive - more than S$50 for the big tub. According to the salesperson at the sporting goods store, people usually use the feather ones for tournaments and matches.
But, having said that, I still love being here. The cold weather means that we are very comfortable as we move around the court. Not too sweaty and I feel so good as I moved. And it wasn't like we were taking it easy. We did some drills, exercises and played a singles game at the end. We even jogged around the entire hall after the game. And yet, my t-shirt wasn't drenched in sweat. Back home, just a 5-minute jog would have me sweating from head to toe.
I just wish I can figure out how to dress properly for an outdoor jog in such cold weather. I have seen people here running in the snow and cold. Not as many as in summer or fall, but surprisingly more than I expected. Maybe I have to invest in good warm, running gear. But I don't really know where to start. I'm worried about being either too warmly dressed or not warm enough. This is when I miss being able to just head out and run whenever I want.
Ah well, this is an adjustment period for me. I guess I have to really get used to the long, cold winters here first and then slowly find my groove.
Here, the cold weather means that I have to be quite warmly bundled up in a few layers of clothes whenever I want to head outdoors. That makes changing into workout clothes quite tiresome. Not only do I have to peel off layers of clothes, I also have to change into indoor shoes before I can workout. Then, after changing into suitable gear, I have to lug my thick jacket and boots and bag out of the changing room and head to the badminton court.
Yeah. Pete and I tried our hand at badminton on Friday. There's a badminton hall just a couple of bus stops away so we decided to put that into our exercise regime. And yeah, another thing I miss is the cheap booking fee for badminton courts and cheap shuttlecocks. We paid SEK130 (about S$25) per hour during the off peak period. The Yonex shuttlecocks cost about S$30 for six plastic ones. The feather ones are much more expensive - more than S$50 for the big tub. According to the salesperson at the sporting goods store, people usually use the feather ones for tournaments and matches.
But, having said that, I still love being here. The cold weather means that we are very comfortable as we move around the court. Not too sweaty and I feel so good as I moved. And it wasn't like we were taking it easy. We did some drills, exercises and played a singles game at the end. We even jogged around the entire hall after the game. And yet, my t-shirt wasn't drenched in sweat. Back home, just a 5-minute jog would have me sweating from head to toe.
I just wish I can figure out how to dress properly for an outdoor jog in such cold weather. I have seen people here running in the snow and cold. Not as many as in summer or fall, but surprisingly more than I expected. Maybe I have to invest in good warm, running gear. But I don't really know where to start. I'm worried about being either too warmly dressed or not warm enough. This is when I miss being able to just head out and run whenever I want.
Ah well, this is an adjustment period for me. I guess I have to really get used to the long, cold winters here first and then slowly find my groove.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Sweat + Shape
I met my old friends today - pain and suffering. But I had another old pal to make it bearable - endorphins.
Since I got here, I have not really done any serious work outs. Pete has been asking me to train him as well but we have not done any exercise apart from our daily walks. The reasons are quite simple actually. I wanted to enjoy the first few days of Sweden, and you know how food plays a huge part in my enjoyment. I have been sampling the goodies here like their pastries and potato salads and I have been cooking more goodies at home for my darling Pete who has had to subsist on fish sticks and hamburgers before I got there. Also, I am afraid that if I were to start too soon, his bum leg would not be able to handle it.
But the daily walks have done some good to increase his fitness and also to get his legs more used to exercise. And I am ready to ditch those fattening foods. Ok, well, maybe not ditch., who am I kidding? That's too drastic and frankly, impossible. There are still lots of food I would love to eat more of but I know that I can pace myself. Should pace myself actually. And Pete is ready as well.
So today we decided to have our first work out. I downloaded an awesome app called Nike Training Club or NTC a few months ago. A friend of mine introduced me to it actually. It's awesomeness times 10 since it is totally free. What you get is a series of workouts designed to suit your fitness goal and level. For each goal, there are three fitness levels. And for each level, there are quite a few workouts to choose from.
The workouts range from 30 to 45 minutes and they are all circuit training style. Most of the workouts do not require the use of equipment and if they do, it's usually some basic exercise mat, skipping ropes, hand weights and medicine ball. And if you don't have any equipment, you can do without. The best part is that all exercises come with step-by-step instructions with pictures or if you're linguistically challenged or if you're a visual learner like me, there are videos too. How awesome is that?!
The workouts consist of a number of exercises which are to be done for a specific interval such as 15sec, 30sec, 1min or 2min. The most awesome part is that the timing is all done for you. A mechanical voice (she is the only un-awesome part of the app) will tell you what exercise to do, how long to do it for, how much time you have left for the exercise and occasionally, will give you some encouragement. This feature of the app is awesome, I must admit, but the way she speaks, it's a bit umm..mechanical. But it's still good.
So, my friends who are fitness freaks, or if you are thinking of starting a fitness routine and you are not a member of any gym like us, try this out. Oh yeah, you need to get an iPhone first. I'm not sure if you can get it on android but those with, you can give it a try.
So for our first work out, I decided to try out a Get Lean workout for beginners. The workout is called Sweat + Shape. It's supposed to start out with 5 minutes of warm up with light jogging for 2 mins, back pedalling for a minute and 2 mins of straight leg kicks. First off, we already have a problem. We live on the 3rd floor and so we do not wish to make too much noise, lest we cause some disturbances to our neighbours below. Imagine us, two heavyweights ´running and jumping about. I'm so sure we'd drive our neighbours mad with our thud, thudding.
We also do not have a lot of room to maneuver. We only had maybe 2m by 3m of space, so imagine how we had to squeeze by each other. Between moving about to get out of each other's way and trying to tip toe so as not to make too much noise, the 4th minute of the workout got us panting much harder than I expected.
I am so sure that if we were to get our attempts at the exercises on video, it would be a hit on Comedy Central. But we plodded on. The exercises, though labelled as for beginners, were not too easy. I have not been working out since my wedding back in March so I am out of shape and oh how I struggled! I had to do those all too familiar squats, lunges, push ups and planks but it's good cause muscle memory got my breathing and form correct and soon, after the initial struggle, I was feeling good. That was the endorphins talking. It was tiring, very tiring, and I was sweating and my muscles are aching, but I love that feeling.
Pete did good too. He has not been doing those exercises for a long time too, much longer than me, and coupled with his injury, he had to struggle even more to get through the workout. The accident impaired the mobility of his left knee and he had trouble with the lunges and squats. But he pressed on. He wanted to quit after just half of the workout but to his credit he took just a short breather and then continued, joining me for the rest of the workout.
I could see it in his face that he was really putting in a lot of effort. I have never seen his face getting that red nor his breathing so heavy but he really pushed himself. I am so proud of him, prouder still when he asked, "So we're doing this every day?"
My initial plan was to do circuit training 3 or 4 times a week on top of our daily walks. I think that would be a great start. We can increase the intensity if it gets too easy but I think I'll be happy if we can keep to the plan.
After the workout, or 'torture' is what Pete likes to call it, we drank a bit of water and then we were out the door on our usual walk. Our vegetable garden awaits.
Since I got here, I have not really done any serious work outs. Pete has been asking me to train him as well but we have not done any exercise apart from our daily walks. The reasons are quite simple actually. I wanted to enjoy the first few days of Sweden, and you know how food plays a huge part in my enjoyment. I have been sampling the goodies here like their pastries and potato salads and I have been cooking more goodies at home for my darling Pete who has had to subsist on fish sticks and hamburgers before I got there. Also, I am afraid that if I were to start too soon, his bum leg would not be able to handle it.
But the daily walks have done some good to increase his fitness and also to get his legs more used to exercise. And I am ready to ditch those fattening foods. Ok, well, maybe not ditch., who am I kidding? That's too drastic and frankly, impossible. There are still lots of food I would love to eat more of but I know that I can pace myself. Should pace myself actually. And Pete is ready as well.
So today we decided to have our first work out. I downloaded an awesome app called Nike Training Club or NTC a few months ago. A friend of mine introduced me to it actually. It's awesomeness times 10 since it is totally free. What you get is a series of workouts designed to suit your fitness goal and level. For each goal, there are three fitness levels. And for each level, there are quite a few workouts to choose from.
The workouts range from 30 to 45 minutes and they are all circuit training style. Most of the workouts do not require the use of equipment and if they do, it's usually some basic exercise mat, skipping ropes, hand weights and medicine ball. And if you don't have any equipment, you can do without. The best part is that all exercises come with step-by-step instructions with pictures or if you're linguistically challenged or if you're a visual learner like me, there are videos too. How awesome is that?!
The workouts consist of a number of exercises which are to be done for a specific interval such as 15sec, 30sec, 1min or 2min. The most awesome part is that the timing is all done for you. A mechanical voice (she is the only un-awesome part of the app) will tell you what exercise to do, how long to do it for, how much time you have left for the exercise and occasionally, will give you some encouragement. This feature of the app is awesome, I must admit, but the way she speaks, it's a bit umm..mechanical. But it's still good.
So, my friends who are fitness freaks, or if you are thinking of starting a fitness routine and you are not a member of any gym like us, try this out. Oh yeah, you need to get an iPhone first. I'm not sure if you can get it on android but those with, you can give it a try.
So for our first work out, I decided to try out a Get Lean workout for beginners. The workout is called Sweat + Shape. It's supposed to start out with 5 minutes of warm up with light jogging for 2 mins, back pedalling for a minute and 2 mins of straight leg kicks. First off, we already have a problem. We live on the 3rd floor and so we do not wish to make too much noise, lest we cause some disturbances to our neighbours below. Imagine us, two heavyweights ´running and jumping about. I'm so sure we'd drive our neighbours mad with our thud, thudding.
We also do not have a lot of room to maneuver. We only had maybe 2m by 3m of space, so imagine how we had to squeeze by each other. Between moving about to get out of each other's way and trying to tip toe so as not to make too much noise, the 4th minute of the workout got us panting much harder than I expected.
I am so sure that if we were to get our attempts at the exercises on video, it would be a hit on Comedy Central. But we plodded on. The exercises, though labelled as for beginners, were not too easy. I have not been working out since my wedding back in March so I am out of shape and oh how I struggled! I had to do those all too familiar squats, lunges, push ups and planks but it's good cause muscle memory got my breathing and form correct and soon, after the initial struggle, I was feeling good. That was the endorphins talking. It was tiring, very tiring, and I was sweating and my muscles are aching, but I love that feeling.
Pete did good too. He has not been doing those exercises for a long time too, much longer than me, and coupled with his injury, he had to struggle even more to get through the workout. The accident impaired the mobility of his left knee and he had trouble with the lunges and squats. But he pressed on. He wanted to quit after just half of the workout but to his credit he took just a short breather and then continued, joining me for the rest of the workout.
I could see it in his face that he was really putting in a lot of effort. I have never seen his face getting that red nor his breathing so heavy but he really pushed himself. I am so proud of him, prouder still when he asked, "So we're doing this every day?"
My initial plan was to do circuit training 3 or 4 times a week on top of our daily walks. I think that would be a great start. We can increase the intensity if it gets too easy but I think I'll be happy if we can keep to the plan.
After the workout, or 'torture' is what Pete likes to call it, we drank a bit of water and then we were out the door on our usual walk. Our vegetable garden awaits.
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