I shape me!!
Those three words are an incredible statement. I’m so excited to be a part of this blog and was pretty pumped and honored when Tricia invited me to do some writing, so I’ll do a little background “bio” per se for my first post.
I’m thirty-one years old, and am a full-time high school music teacher. On the side, my friends and family have always known me as a foodie – always looking for good places to eat in my travels, using my spare time to surf the web looking up new recipes, cooking, taking food pictures, all while running the Food Network channel 24/7 in the background. Throughout most of my life, I’ve always been able to eat what I wanted without gaining a single pound – I always attributed that to my Asian genetics! My friends would always joke that I had a hollow leg…that’s where I fit all of that food and still be skinny!
Well that was great and all…until the day I hit thirty! Literally. It was like it was as if my metabolism hit a wall as soon as I woke up that morning. Actually, perhaps it was REALIZATION that hit me…I suddenly noticed that I wasn’t as slender as I had been in years past. Don’t get me wrong, I never really got “fat” – but I definitely put on enough weight to show on my barely 4’10 petite frame. You know it’s bad when your parents start mentioning that you’re looking “a little round.” Chinese parents ALWAYS tell the truth. And it always sounds la little worse when they say it in Chinese!
Well, instead of fighting it, I decided to accept it…to be apathetic if you will. I just told myself that having some extra weight on me was a good thing – I know now that part of the reason that I was so skinny before was because of some serious bouts of stress and depression related to my job and relationships. I just have to interject that I am SO thankful for strong Christian parents who put up with my crap and my moods during this time. Anyways, I was a “sick” skinny…not a “healthy” skinny. My sister even went far enough to tell me that I was a skinny fat person. Skinny on the outside, but so unhealthy on the inside. And she was right – unhealthy in mind, spirit, and body.
So fast-forward a couple of years… I used that as an excuse – I took having extra weight meant that I must be happy. Happy and fat go together, right?
Uhh…not so much.
I didn’t like what I saw when I looked in the mirror. I didn’t FEEL any better than before. And most of all, what’s more depressing than having to buy new clothes when your old ones don’t fit?? I had to buy fat pants!
Last summer I decided to try Couch to 5K – a running app on my phone to get me somewhat active…I ended up being able to run 5 km, running three times a week. However, I didn’t shed a pound. My endurance was better, sure, but I thought that I’d be burning way more calories. I was even tracking what I ate on a calorie counter app. So one night I was lamenting about it while having dinner with my parents, and I had a conversation with my dad that went a little something like this:
“You know, you should really look into the after-burn effect.”
“Wazzat?” I replied.
“Short, high intensity workouts that make you burn more calories after you’ve worked out.”
Intriguing! So to make a long story short, I scoured the internet about this phenomenon, and read tons of articles and websites – it’s nothing really new, but it completely changed how I worked out. There are a lot of workout programs out there that are very similar in structure, and I settled on one called Turbulence Training and bought the e-book. Essentially you work out three days a week for about an hour each time – weight training and interval training, with light exercise on the “rest” days. The workouts are pretty intense – I feel like garbage afterwards! But that’s a good thing! The whole idea is that you want to throw your body into disarray so that it takes more time for it to recover – and it burns fat to do that! Hence burning calories even when you are sleeping!! In my opinion, if you feel energized after your workout, I don’t think that you’ve worked hard enough!
I can personally attest to this method of working out – I’ve lost about 10% of my body weight in the last eight months, and I look and feel better than ever. I am now a “healthy” skinny, and my body is toned. I’ve also just gotten into having green smoothies everyday and incorporating more raw foods into my diet, but that will be another blog post!
I’m excited to share how my journey is going – I’m at the point where I am maintaining my weight now, but I want to encourage you to start yours, too. To give you an idea of what part of my workout looks like, I usually do HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) after my weight training – this is something you can pretty much try right away if you’re nervous about going to the weight room where all the beef cakes are hanging out:
1. Choose a stationary bike or treadmill (I choose treadmill because I feel like I’m working harder). All treadmills are different, so I will be referring to intensity level on a scale of 1-10; 1 will be the lowest intensity, and 10 would be the highest. You set the speed to how you perceive that intensity.
2. Set the incline to 1.5, and walking speed of 3, and here we go! (Adapted from Turbulence Training For Fat Loss)
Minute by Minute Type Intensity Level
- 1 Warm-up 3 out of 10
- 2 Warm-up 3 out of 10
- 3 Warm-up 3 out of 10
- 4 Warm-up 5 out of 10
- 30 seconds Hard 8 out of 10
- 90 seconds Easy 3 out of 10
- 30 seconds Hard 8 out of 10
- 90 seconds Easy 3 out of 10
- 30 seconds Hard 8 out of 10
- 90 seconds Easy 3 out of 10
- 30 seconds Hard 8 out of 10
- 90 seconds Easy 3 out of 10
- 30 seconds Hard 8 out of 10
- 90 seconds Easy 3 out of 10
- 30 seconds Hard 8 out of 10
- 5 minutes Cool down 3 out of 10
You should feel like garbage after this! If you don’t, you need to up the intensity!
Also, Mike Chang of “Six Pack Shortcuts” has a great video explanation of the afterburn effect here: http://www.sixpackshortcuts.com/
Can’t wait to share with you more! Let me know how the interval training goes! 🙂
I shape me!!!
She Kills Apathy 