Workout Progress - Sept '07

September was a challenge as the fasting month started in the middle of it. Unlike most people, I tend to gain weight during the fasting month. I would like to think it was due to the lowered metabolism my body goes through during this period but to be truthful, it is possibly due to the amount of rich food that is more easily available during this period. This year, for a change, I’ve set a target to loose weight during the fasting month and much to my satisfaction I seemed to be on the right track of doing exactly that. I had to stick to a reduced calorie intake diet plan in order to achieve the continued weight loss even with the fasting that I had to do during the day.

I also have my workout sessions at the gym to thank for the weight loss during this fasting month. Once I got used to it, working out at the gym after breaking fast in the evenings were not that daunting. I did have to modify my workout routines to accommodate the reduced hours I was able to work out and had to cut out my Sunday workout sessions out altogether since the gym only opened till 10pm on Sundays. At first I had to take it slow and watch out for the moments when I felt a bit light headed but that passed quickly after the first few times working out after breaking fast.

I have just past my 1 month mark as an official gym card carrying member. I’m still in a gung-ho mode when it comes to going to the gym for my workout sessions and have not run into much problems with my current workout schedule. I guess the novelty might wear off later so I need to be mindful of that in the near future. Hopefully by then, the gym workouts sessions would already be entrenched into my daily activities that I don’t need things like the novelty factor to motivate me to go. I’m in for the long run and I have to keep myself motivated as well for the long run.

Diet plan in Sept (fasting month – non fasting days earlier in the month followed Aug plan) :

Break fast/Iftar (Sun down)
- 3 – 5 pieces of dried dates
- 3 – 6 pieces of kuih (usually more savory kuihs rather than sweet ones)
- 1 mug chilled Complan mix (about 250 calories per serving)

Post workout meal (12 am)
- 1 serving of plan fried noodles with a meat side dish
- 1 banana
- EAS Myoplex Deluxe Protein Shake

Sahur (4 am)
- 1 serving of chillled sweet black pulut rice or green bean porridge
- 1 banana
- 1 mug chilled Complan mix

Workout Days (M/W/Thurs/F: 8 – 10 pm)
Pre workout
- EAS Creatine Powder – 10mg
- 1 Banana

Post workout
- EAS Myoplex Deluxe Protein Shake
- something roughly less than 300kcal

Supplements :
EAS Creatine Powder – 10mg per day
EAS Myoplex Deluxe Protein Shake – ½ serving post workout
21st Century’s HerbalLipo Tea – 1 serving per week day
GNC MegaMen Dietary Supplement – 1 tablet per day

I’ve added carbo in the form of the fried noodles for the fasting month considering that I would be on an even reduced food intake than I was before the fasting month. I’m lucky to have found a place where I can buy the fried noodles cooked with less oil than most other places so I don’t have to worry so much about the it being fried. I’ve also dropped Balance Liquid L-Carnitine from my list of supplements as I’m already getting what I needed from the EAS Creatine Powder. The body would only process the excess creatine as waste if I continued to used both products. On the same note, I also dropped GNC L-Lysine from the list as I’m already getting it as part of the MegaMen supplement.

I’m looking forward to start working out with a personal trainer in October. They finally called me up this week to assign one to me after about a month of me starting at their gym. Good thing that they were willing to extend the personal training deadline to a later date so I don’t have to rush through the sessions. At the moment the plan is for me to train with a personal trainer 3 times a week. Hopefully I would be able to use this opportunity to learn how I can maximize my workouts to get even more gains than what I am already achieving. I might even try out the free weights area now that I know there is someone with me to guide me through the steps there.

This experiment is going well and what’s more, I’m having fun with it.