MY FIRST

Ok… this post has nothing to do with “you know what” or is this going to be a humorous post. I have never made any new year resolution cause I don’t think there’s any point in them just like going for motivation talks… most of the time, it only last between 2 weeks to 1 month and after that most people would revert back to their old self back (this statement is research backed). But this year, against what research has shown, I will make my first and my one and only NEW YEAR RESOLUTION!

MY NEW YEAR RESOLUTION

FOR 2013 IS………..

TO EAT HEALTHY!!!

I know my wife and my mum (who verbalizes this a lot) and dad (who doesn’t really verbalize this often but gives me the serious talk about eating healthy) are probably jumping for joy and my brother is probably going… “Why so difficult. Just take the pill and you can eat anything without any worry like me”.

My wife comes from a family where healthy food is served most of the time (no si ham, no skin, no oil, but lotsa natural nyonya santan – fruit k… so healthy :P) while my family as much as my mum propagates for us to eat healthy, there would be the frequent fei chu yok (fatty pork dish) that is served (and she serves them because she knows how much we love them). But to be fair, she has balanced the fatty pork dishes with saltless food, skinless chicken, brown rice, etc… but I still love the fatty pork.

So why this particular new year resolution?

Firstly, my cholesterol level is high (or what I would always tell myself… “A little bit high”), LDL level is off the roof (“A little bit high”) and sugar level is “kinda high” (but this can be constituted to the fact that I ate tones of lozenges the past few days before my test). Of course for the past years I have been breaking borders (slightly over the border/max limit) but have never gone into pills cause my trusted insurance agent tells me, the moment you take the pill, you’ll gotta declare it in your insurance and you’re gonna have to pay more. So unlike the Matrix, taking the blue/red pill here is definitely not an option. Gotta go flat out nude/all natural.

Secondly, today is the 21 December 2012 where the world is suppose to end and didn’t. So I’m stuck in this world for the next 50 years (as I am only 28) without any nearest doomsday prediction in sight. So, I’ve got to make sure I remain healthy and don’t have to pay for a bypass, dialysis etc. even though I think my company covers for such expenses.

In the past, I’ve successfully managed to reduce my weight significantly via my famous Banana Milkshake diet (from 90kg – 70kg in 2 months. Better than any slimming centre out there. Diet involved replacing dinner with banana milkshake drink) and recently through my going to be famous “Brink of Death (Sort of) Diet” when in 2 weeks I lost 2 kg (this also I didn’t follow strictly). Diet involves controlling calorie intake to less than 600 calories a day. So either lunch/dinner I would have tuna in a can (300 calories) and 1 cucumber while for the other meal is 2 x box milk and loads of coffee (black, no sugar, no milk) to suppress hunger. But through this 2 diet plans, I have also gained back significantly fast and now weigh about 79kg. So this time around, I’ve got to work out a more sustainable diet plan to lower cholesterol and maintain a reduced weight.

To make sure I am successfully in this, I have developed a new diet regime and hope this works better. This shall be called the “1200 Calorie Diet”. In the most simplistic way, for one if the meals in a day (I generally only have 2 – lunch and dinner. I don’t usually have breakfast), I’m going to have my usual food.. i.e  chap fan, chap fan, chap fan (which should be around the 800 calorie range) and for the other meal, I would ensure that my calorie intake does not exceed 400 calories and is mostly protein base (which is actually quite easy to achieve). So the 400 calorie meal can still be a very fulfilling meal for me cause lotsa protein means lotsa meat (just lean ones) and eggs (without yolk). Imagine, I can have like an Oven Baked Ribeye (406 calories @ 200g) and 4 hardboiled egg without yolk (68 calories) and it would still be a total calorie of 474! Or better still Oven Baked Pork Chop (285 calories/255g) with 4 hardboiled egg without yolk (68 calories) – Total calories of 353 only! That beats eating Pan Mee @ 474 calories. So at the looks of it, it’s not going to be really difficult. Just have to keep track of my calorie intake and to consciously increase protein and reduce carbs and fats in my diet. Still got a lot of good, delicious option for food.

FYI… Mc Donalds Big Mac Meal has a total calorie count of 1160!!! Burger@480 calories, large fries@455 calories and large coke@255 calories. Eating Bak Kut Teh (342 calories with rice(242 calories) (Total calorie@584) beats eating McDonalds.

Like I said, still got a lot of good alternative around. Of course BKT would have to be lean (non-fatty) meat (and I’m not saying everyday k… just when the craving to eat bad comes along… hopefully not too often). Other good low calorie food are wan ton (45 calories per), yong tau fu (80 calories per fried, 40 calories per non-fried), tandori chicken (260 calories) and fish ball noodle (330 calories).

The long and short of it all, 2013 would be the year I’m going to eat healthy and keep an eye on my calorie intake and taking special notice of carb and fat content.

Note: I wrote this article on the 21 December 2012 and am only publishing it now less my wife cancels all Christmas food plan after she finds out my numbers for my blood test results… she seems to have forgotten that I’ve done the test with all her year-end paper marking busyness (divine intervention)… :P Love you dear and I’m going to be around longer than you think… :D

4 IV FOUR EMPAT

4, IV, Four, Empat years ago, I married a beautiful lady at the tender age of 24. Of course getting married young, people had a lot of things to say…

4, IV, Four, Empat Things People Thought About My Decision:

                     i.         Why so early? Can wait sum more ma…

                   ii.         Ha…? Shotgun? (Had to make sure Ju Li maintained her weight (and me on diet just in case they see wrongly) less to create more suspicion… and now.. 4 years down… when I tell people I got married at 24, I have to make sure I also tell them, “I also have a daughter born 2 YEARS LATER”)

                  iii.         Gatal… Tak boleh tahan ar?

                 iv.         Still got so many choices ma…

But that decision to marry my college sweetheart, my one and only true love (any previous gf’s less than 1 yr not counted) has been one decision that I have not regretted and I am so glad we decided to get married then. In any case, by then, we have already been friends for 2 years and dated for 4 years… Wanna wait for what sum more? So why did I married JL (my wife)…

4, IV, Four, Empat Reason I Married JL:

                  i.            She loves KIDS as much as I did

                ii.            She was my anchor, my stabilizer, my Xanax and my island of solace

               iii.            She wasn’t a workaholic who spent more time in office than home (women I fear the most)

              iv.            She loved me

Through the 4, IV, Four Empat years together, we’ve gone through ups and downs but the best part of the journey to me has been always learning from each other. We definitely come from 2 very different family backgrounds and of course those shape who we are today. My family was very routine focused while hers was more laid back and bonding focused. So while my family always had everything planned out in advance, her family sits back and is able to converse with each other for hours. So when she married me, I was all about getting home, settle dinner, wash the plates, bath, watch TV and sleep and she was left feeling emptiness in the relationship and wondering – What happen to conversation? Dinner was just about finishing up. Sitting down in the couch was just about watching TV. Lying down on the bed was just about sleeping. To me, that was life. But to her, that was definitely not life. And through the years, I have to learn to converse with her more, which was something that didn’t come easy but refreshing in the end.

4, IV, Four, Empat Things I’ve Learned From JL:

               i.      There’s more to consider than being super duper PRE-punctual – I use to get irritated (and sometimes still do) when we’re like sharp sharp on time for something. But through the years, as much as PRE-punctuality is still important, I have to consider other aspects (i.e. if we reach super early for a wedding, baby would have to endure through the delay and in the end, nobody’s going to be happy, our own fatigue and there’s no point in reaching there early and not being able to enjoy ).

             ii.      “Put the sponge down and come spend time with us!” – Making sure the plates are washed immediately is not as important as spending the time to first bond with both baby and mummy. My schema of eating – bring the plates to the sink – wash it had to be reconstructed. I’m really glad that JL has brought about much more perspective to what is important. “Plates can wait. We can wash them later. Spending time now before she sleeps is more important.”

            iii.      My values are not always right. This is something that I have learned and have to be constantly remind myself.

           iv.      Eat fish. Eat healthy. My staple food before I met her was Maggie mee & fatty pork.

4, IV, Four, Empat Things JL Has Learned from Me (I think):

            i.         Expand food choices – she now loves Si Ham & have learned how to suck Balitong.

          ii.         Increase risk appetite – she can go on manageable roller coaster rides, drive a new car fresh from the showroom, snorkel and canoe far off to the ocean.

         iii.         Swim – even though she told me that she has a “crooked backbone” which causes her to not to be able to float in water (which was a lie but I took it as a fact and I have successfully thought her how to swim – so for swimming lesson (even if you’ve got a physical problem that causes you to sink in water), contact Master Swimmer Chan).

        iv.         Cleanliness is not everything. Sometimes can close one eye. So sometimes when I wash the rice 4x instead of 5x, can close one eye a bit  :P

Looking back at our differences and how we have adapted together really puts a smile on my face. That’s to me is the true meaning of love and being together. Sure she’s kind, loving, understanding and all… but with these new found maturity in our relationship to learn to understand where we come from and change and adapt… to me… that’s beauty. It was definitely not easy, a journey infused with arguments (as we’re both quite hard headed – 1^st child syndrome), nights where I just ignored and slept while she’s left still fuming over our conflict, but in the end, the journey has been worthwhile. A true value of a great sword is one which has been immerse in fire and tested in battles. Don’t get me wrong that our married life is only filled with conflict. Our married life definitely has more enjoyable moments than conflict but relationships will be tested and year after year as we mature together, I treasure and love her even more. The experiences that we’ve been through, both good and bad becomes the very foundation that we build our relationship on.

To my beloved wife, I love you very much and love you even more as the years go by. Sorry for the times I’ve hurt you with my insensitivities. Thank you for being the anchor that I can rely on. I look forward to both calm seas and rough tsunamis that we would go through and in which through each experience, we come out stronger in the love we have for each other. I love you very much!