Confession of a Sugar Addict...

Yup, I am addicted to sugar! And I am no ant. All carb eventually turned into sugar. And if I keep giving in to my sweet tooth, I might as well turn into one, a chubby ant.

Thesis writing only makes it worst. Sitting in front of the PC for hours and hours, stressing out one sentence after another, always makes me resort to unhealthy snacking for some sort of comfort. With winter fast approaching, I don’t think it’s going to get any better if I let it be. Having a husband who seems to be able to eat anything AND stay fit, is not very comforting. But then again, two reasons why my DH is fit at almost 40 years old, is it’s in his genes and he’s always, almost every day involved in some form of exercise activities.

So I seriously think that the time has come, I really need to lose some weight, get on an exercise plan and slimmed down. I have tried several times before, I think twice before I got married and after I gave birth to Uwais. In all those times, I did reduce a couple of kilos, especially after Uwais was born, but they started piling on again, because I got the wrong impressions that I can eat anything while breastfeeding and not gain weight. That, and the fact that I got lazy and I was offered to do my PhD ;-)

Hahhh…excuses…excuses…they seem to be everywhere. And most of the time, I just gave in. But I am not getting any younger, and I seriously want to try for baby no 4 at a lower weight than when I did with my other children. I almost did that when I was pregnant with Uwais. I found slimming down so easy, when I was lighter to begin with and I did not eventuallly reach that pregnancy weight whereby I need to drink all those sugary water for the gestational diabetes test. HATEABLE test!

I initially start jogging again. I loved to jog, but soon it;s going to be winter. A wintery jog regime would just freeze your face. Even DH can’t stand it. He cut his 4 km run into half when it’s cold. So in order to avoid weather affecting my fitness plan, I invested in an exercise bike in the middle of March. I got online and do some basic research on the do’s and dont’s of getting fit. It turns out that the trick to a successful fitness regime is very Islamic – you need to be ‘wasatiyah’ (moderate) and ‘istiqamah’ (consistent):-D

How so? The key to a healthy life is to eat healthier choice of food and to eat in moderation. No matter how many slimming products or programs you got into, it doesn’t matter, because if you eat more than your body need, you’ll gain weight. Simple. But the hard part is – how do you do that? How to eat in moderation when I am always thinking of what I need to eat next?! These are some of the things I learnt and have been and still struggling to implement on a daily basis:

1) 20 minutes rule

Your brain can only compute what you ate and decided that you have had enough – to survive ;-) – in 20 minutes. That means you’ll never feel full until after 20 minutes have passed since you first start eating. I seriously did know this fact before. I was thinking all this while, if I am still hungry when I start eating round 1, I should be continuing with round 2 soon enough, before the 20 minutes rule have kicked in. So now that I know, I ate less. Stopped at round 1 and waited 20 minutes. It actually worked! Almost all the time, after 20 minutes, I felt full.

2) Eat slowly

‘Fast-eating’ is a life-long bad habit of mine, made even worst in PhD mode, especially when I need to be multitasking at home. Who would have the time to enjoy food time, eating slowly, while running after the children and doing other chores? But it actually make sense to eat slowly, you’ll savour the food better, make the food more digestible and gave the 20 minute rule the chance to kick in, in time for you to stop taking in more food. So I tried this tips, even counting how many times I chewed on my food before swallowing them. Tedious isn’t it? Who said it was easy…

3) Eat every 3 hours

It makes no sense, isn’t it? If you are trying to lose weight, why must you actually eat every 3 hours? This is also something new I learnt. By eating here, I meant – snacking. Having something light, in between the major meals, would boost your metabolic rate and actually helps in weight management. It also avoids you from being over-hungry and has the tendency to eat more during major meals. But you must be careful with the choice of your snack. If you tend to eat all sugary stuff for your snack – it’s not really helpful in losing weight. So now, every time I ventured into the kitchen or fridge, thinking of what I can eat, I always try to reach for whatever available fruits in the fridge. Fruit snacking is the best choice.

Another key to a healthy lifestyle is exercise. It also helps clears your mind and reduces stress - what every PhD thesis writer needs! But as usual, how do you stick to it? How not to be distracted, lazy and making excuses? How to be consistent?

1) Start Small

The writer at ZENHabit suggests that we start small. For starters, 5 minutes a day is sufficient. He’s actually right, because if you aim for 30 minutes when you first start, you’ll find it hard and starting dragging your feet every time it’s exercising time. Further, 5 minutes of spare time is easier to find than 30 minutes, especially in my case, with my two boys being early birds – morning guys. To tell you the truth even at 5 minutes when I first start, I found it painful he..he..he.. 

2) Do it everyday

Another key to success in exercising suggested by ZENHabit, is to consistently do it EVERY DAY. You may increase the exercise time slowly from one week to another. But you must not break it for more than 2 days. So far I have not missed a day. After a while, I considered it as an everyday must to do thing, like brushing your teeth ;-) So the tendency to slumped back into my old lifestyle will be minimise, Insya Allah.

So far I have lost 2 kilos. I have about 5 more kilos to go up to the rest of the year. I may be reaching an exercise-plateau soon which will slow down the slimming down process. This means, I have to raise the bar of my exercise regime, with more intensity and time. I must admit, it is hard work! :-( But if it’s for the better, then I must keep on striving. Shows like the Biggest Loser and Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, are some of my biggest inspiration. Watching their shows, it’s no wonder why the world’s population are ballooning – 'the politics of sugar' – the culprit who are turning people into addict!