Reactivating

I have found a new obsession, I declared to the world and thin air for the hundredth time. This time it will be different. This time it will be for life. Or until I found another one.

If you were busy stalking my diary for the past couple of years, you'd have noticed that I was actively doing yoga and going to an all women circuit style gym. I stopped all that after I started dating my quarter. Well, it wasn't because of him that I stopped, there were other factors like timing and distance to those respective practises that I couldn't adhere to. So I stopped.

So for months and months I didn't break a sweat (not in the active manner) and I ended up feeling quite shitty. I put on weight, inches around my waist, went up a size or two. And it didn't help that I have a big frame (and appetite), a wide waist and broad shoulders for an Asian (I blame my mother's Semitic heritage for this, but that's another story).

Recently, I started using the gym at my condo. As there were no trainers and zero instructions, the only machine I could understand using was the treadmill. No wonderful machines that work out your entire body like my previous all women gym. Nonetheless, that was a start. 

But I got busy, with work, with life, and oh okay I got lazy. So the running sessions were few and far between. I don't have a weighing machine at home because I don't want to feel depressed but I could feel it. I mean, if you had to buy so many new pants that says a lot right? And no I didn't buy it because I'm a crazed shopaholic. It was an evil necessity.

And then the other day I decided to weigh myself. I almost died. I have put on so much weight (in my standards, more than 5kg is a lot). I am no longer maintaining that healthy weight and God knows how much body fat I have stored in those months of inactivity.

I decided to pick up running again. 2.5km at first, but because I grew up running, I felt that I could do more, and so I recently started my 5kms. It was so difficult, being a smoker, but I feel that I am slowly gaining that energy and stamina back. Yesterday I ran non stop, even sprinted towards the last couple hundred metres. That felt good.

Yes, I know I could do more and I could go further. I started running as a child, racing since I was 9 all the way til I finished high school. I was a sprinter, an all rounded athlete and I played handball so I know I have the willpower to run long distances and be active again. I just have to unlock that willpower.

I will have to smoke less, and take care of my diet now, as I'm no longer that teenager who could do 10 rounds of the school field everyday and go swimming to "gain more stamina and fix sore muscles" every weekend. But I would love to have that teenager's metabolism. The kind where you can eat an entire large pizza in one sitting and finish an entire pot of rice on your own and not gain an ounce of weight. 

I do need to speak to my mum's helper though. I feel that she still thinks of me as that teenager who eats like a fat guy and still prepares huge portions just for me alone. It's unfortunate that with age, diet is as important. I am now trying to eat more vegetables (ok salads as I hate cooked veges) and fruits. It sounds like a nightmare right?

My quarter wants to be fit and healthy too. Both of us need this as we want to be feel good and be healthy for our future. He has lost a considerable amount of weight since I met him, and lost a lot of that belly as well. He looks fantastic. :) 

And one activity we are currently doing together besides the running (I do more of this), is muay thai. He got a personal trainer just to train us twice a week, and we have gone through 2 sessions and let me tell you, muay thai is so awesome! So far we've learned the jabs, the crosses, the hooks, uppercuts and what seems to be my strength, the roundhouse kick. 

The trainer even said jokingly that my quarter will be in trouble while I was training my kicks. That was brilliant. I guess after many years my legs are still very strong. So that's great. That short stint with yoga helped too I suppose, as I have a stronger core now. I'm not sure if I am ready to part with money and spend more time to continue yoga practice again. My ex SIL recently opened a yoga studio and it's nearby, so I hope that place will still be around in case I want to pick it up again.

Currently, I'm thinking maybe a couple of times a week just doing sun salutations should suffice since I got that overpriced yoga mat from California some time back. I need to use it, right?

So yeah. There's my new addiction. Running and muay thai, and I will try desperately to stay active. And I hope I will stay out of injury and not get sick. Small steps, who knows, one day I will be able to run full marathons. And maybe even win them.