EnergyOne & New workouts!

Hi Fluffies,

Submission for the current module is finally over! Last week, I've finally made my way back into the gym on Wednesday with my uni friends after a long hiatus. I can honestly say, I missed the squat rack. I miss gymming on sunday mornings. It was great being able to work out like this again! We headed to energyOne gym at Toa Payoh Safra. Frankly when I realised i had to pay the $8.85 entrance fee, I was taken aback. I was used to paying between the range of $4 to $5.50 for gym, anything over is pricey.

Photo evidence of our time at the gym KD

I started off my workout session with:

1. Running on treadmill: 1.2km
2. Lateral arm pulls: 4 sets of 12 reps, 18kg 
3. Regular squats on assisted squat machine: 4 sets of 12 reps, 20kg each side
4. Deadlifts: 4 sets of 12 reps, 20kg barbell with 5kg each side
5. Walking lunges: 3 sets of 12 reps, 20kg barbell with 5kg each side
6. Hamstring curls: 2 sets of 12 reps, 18kg
7. Quad extensions: 2 sets of 12 reps, 18kg
8. Talking and laughing: Alot
9. Fun: Alot

But in the end, I gotta say, it was worth it. I had a good butt workout in a clean and pristine environment. So much more hygienic than the gym that I used to frequent. The ultimate highlight was the hot shower and clean towels available. 

My Wednesday ended with a homemade version of Llao Llao and binging on the internet.

So for last week, I've tried 4 new cardio heavy HIIT workouts : 

1. Silent Bodyweight HIIT

As you know I've previously tried and reviewed a HIIT workout from Christine Salus. It was fabulously tiring so I decided to try other workouts from her channel. This Silent Bodyweight HIIT did not disappoint because it was by far one of the hardest silent HIITs that I've done. 

2. Full Body 45 Min Sweat-Fest | Burn 700 Calories | Cardio | Strength | Abs

This one was great. TIRING. But good old effective HIIT workout. I was floored again.

3. How To Get A Perky Butt (HIIT Workout)

This one was tiring and not too bad on the cardio side.  Good cardio and butt toning at the same time!

4. Interval Power Yoga Level 2 Intermediate Backbends Impact HIIT Cardio Weight Loss

In an attempt to replace my scheduled cardio workout and relaxation time, I tried a power yoga HIIT sequence. What??? LOL I have never come across such a combination so I had to try. My verdict? It is tough and not for beginners. It would be better if you have some background in practicing yoga. Or else you could hurt yourself.

And that's all for this week! I hope you have a wonderful, happy and healthy week ahead :)

Little India, Yolo food and workouts

Hi Fluffies!

This week, I tried 5 new workout videos! Haven't been this adventurous in a while so it was a pretty tiring week.. Physically and mentally straining. However, it was fun trying new workouts! In fact, one of the things that relaxes me most is actually a good workout. Somehow time always pass so quickly whenever I do my workouts.

Fat Burning and Abs Workout Level 1 | BeFit in 30 Extreme

Total Body Weight Loss Workout Level 1 (Calisthenics) | BeFit in 30 Extreme

I did this workout right after fat burning and abs workout. I wasn't expecting that from the trainer because he looks too pretty to be serious. But, alas do not judge a book by its cover. I can say this workout's a keeper.

500 Calorie Total Body HIIT workout (NO equipment needed) PLUS Bonus 8 minute AB CHALLENGE!

and then, there's THIS ONE. IT WAS SUPER HARD. For me at least. By the end of the workout session, I literally died on my mat because I was that tired. I do not know if its really a full 500 calories burnt but i felt as if my life was sucked out of me. This really isn't your everyday workout so I'd probably only want to do it once or twice a week if I have no other workouts to turn to.

Quick Ab Workout!

Quick abs by blogilates, nothing too crazy, just the usual sisterly pilates workout :)

Sexy Outer Thighs and Butt Lift Workout!

I tried this for a change. Not very effective compared to the other workouts that I've been doing. In fact, its pretty strange that the trainer seemed to be so tired while doing her own workouts when it didn't really tire my mom and I out. 

'YOLO' food of the week

This week, I made something pretty yolo for my mom and I.

3 EGG WHITES and 1 YOLK FRENCH TOASTS~! With strawberry and dark chocolate stuffings and a dash of sherry wine. ^^ I've always loved baguettes more than regular white bread so for this recipe I used baguettes! IMO, I really think that baguettes make better french toasts. 

I'll be making it again when strawberries are on sale again haha

My boyfriend and I had another YOLO and adventure day to Little India since Deepavali is coming really soon. As usual, the lights were really pretty and we had alot of fun shopping at Mustafa. ITS A SHOPPING PLAYGROUND hahaha. Everything is sooo cheap!!

As for YOLO food, well, I had 3 vege vadais, deep fried fritters of sorts. Was it worth my calories? Hell no. But, come dinner time at Komalas? Oh yes. 

We got tanned after a recent swimming session lol

This is what I'm talking about. KOMALAS. I love komalas, its like sin but vegan style. I don't know if I am the only one but the idea of it being vegetarian used to make me feel better just because there's no meat. But now that I know more about my food, they are really just plates of carbs, carbs, carbs and more carbs.

BUT, I cannot give this childhood sweetheart a miss and honestly, I felt alot more guilty about my 3 tiny vadais than polishing off most of the food on my plate. ( I left the rice out) These are calories well spent okay! I'd gladly come back any day for my Indian food fix. 

Oh did I mention, the plate of south indian set costs SGD$6.20. lol so cheap omgz. My boyfriend had the uhm... I can't remember the name of it but it's that triangle giant tortilla lookalike. That was about SGD$5.80? Super affordable. Super NAISE.

Anywaysssss, Happy Hari Raya Haji to everyone!

Gluten & Grain free cupcakes with honey-ed lavender & strawberry cashew cream

This week's new workouts that I tried :)

Train Insane HIIT Workout!

For some reason, I can't seem to embed blogilates' new video here. But it's ok, there's the link and judging from the title, you should know what it is. It is a HIIT workout. Not the toughest from her that I've done, but worked me up a sweat in no time.

And then there was:

Brazilian Booty Burn Workout: Burn to the Beat- Keaira LaShae

To feed my obessesion with building a bigger butt. It felt more like a regular dance cardio workout and I am thankful that I do most of my exercises in the comfort of my home because no one would want to watch me try to keep up with this lady and her dance moves. I'm terrible at keeping with dance cardios. This is one of the easiest ones that I've done. Although I love the idea of dance cardio, but my body just CANNOT COORDINATE FAST ENOUGH. 

The next cardio workout I tried was:

30 Day Fat Burn: Cardio Crush Workout by BeFit

I still prefer doing a set by set, rep by rep kind of workout. This one was pretty good. It was easy to follow, simple enough moves, worked me up a good sweat too. I'll probably fit this into days where I just have to work one part of my body. A little cardio to supplement spot toning!

I got these bright coloured cupcake liners recently. They make me want to bake all the time! I've always been a little skeptical about plastic products and heat but these babies can withstand up to 200deg celsius. Pretty cool huh? 

Spinach, tuna and cheese frittata that i made the other day, so prettyyy

Compared to regular paper liners, removing these plastic liners is like dream. It came off so easily my jaw dropped. So if you hate the annoying problem of food sticking to cupcake liners, this is a great option.

I was experimenting again and want to try to make some kidney bean cupcakes with lavender & strawberry cashew cream cheese. This time tweaking the recipe a little but replacing cocoa powder with 'coconut flour' (grinded from dessicated coconut). 

Little kidney bean cupcake babies in-the-baking.

These cashew nuts are gonna be soaked overnight, blended honey, lavender, and 4 microwaved strawberries to make lavender strawberry cashew cream .

Finally, the cupcake is born! 

The addition of 'coconut flour' did help to fluff up the batter a little so its starting to taste more like a regular cake, without all the nasties :)

Cheers to healthy cupcakes :D

CAVALIA & Food & New workout review!

Hi Fluffies, 

First things first, new workout review!

Cardio Butt Buster - Fat blasting cardio workout to lose belly fat by Fitness Blender:

I wanted to do something new today so I decided on something that would relate to my legs and butt.. Because BOOTY that's whyyy. This workout is not very hard to do. For me, Fitness blender's workouts have always been quite manageable.. I don't really feel like I am dying and severely out of breath after finishing their workouts. This was no exception, BUT their workouts are definitely effective. Add this to your workout for a little extra bit of cardio and butt work :)

Thanks to my boyfriend, we got to watch Cavalia at MBS today! The show was a great display of the horses and strangely casual and comical in a way. Both my boyfriend and I agreed that we would love to take the derp-iest horse home. I think we could feel the natural obedience from ethical domestication of the horses that we left the show feeling happy. 

My very awkward pose with the tickets because I'm really bad at posing.

Shopping arena selling plush toys horsies for crazy prices. 

Boyfriend posing with the awesome popcorn which we finished before the first quarter of the show haha (no he didn't gain weight, its just camera angle) 

Magical settings galore..

Yesterday, we tried Merely's ice cream for the first time. We ordered a scoop of pandan gula melaka and a scoop of chocolate stout. Ice cream wise, Merely's 1, Creamier 0. Waffle wise, Creamier wins handsdown. 

I really wanted to bake so did some experiments in the kitchen and made some gluten/grain free cupcakes! Since embarking on this journey to better health and weight management, I've realised that cutting out refined carbs and processed foods from daily diet is definitely the way to go. Very often I get asked 'What do you eat then?'. I do eat refined carbs and processed foods nearly everyday. But these constitute approximately 20% to 30% of my daily intake. Sometimes a little bit more, sometimes a little bit less. It's definitely hard for me to cut out carbs and sweets because I LOVE DESSERTS. So I try my best to healthify whatever I can while not compromising on getting my 'desserts'

Brownie cupcake and Vanilla cupcake with Strawberry cheese cream 

 These are gluten/grain free, high protein, zero added fat, and TASTY :P But I'm still working on making the vanilla cupcake less moist as it is a little too fudgy to feel like a regular cupcake. Hopefully I will figure out the best healthified cupcake :)

Metabolic booster workout and legs

Hello Fluffies, 

I haven't been updating much because it's been pretty much blogilates videos everyday. I didn't have time to think about what I really want to do to 'up' my workouts so I just did whatever's on the calendar. 

But for today, I decided to add 2 more workouts to my calendar routine. These are new and I've never done them before.

1. 30 Day Fat Burn: Metabolic Booster Workout:

This one was tiring.. Not as tiring as a full on kick boxing cardio or HIIT workout but still tiring nonetheless. 

2. 30 Day Fat Burn: Legs and Butt Shaper Workout:

This one was... okay? Compared to most blogilates booty workouts, I'd say this is pretty mild. So doable, I can't really feel the burn.

I didn't try the whole 30 day thing. In fact I've never followed any specific diet and exercise plans. I just can't bring myself to cut off all that ice cream and chocolates. My vices.. but they're good for my soul. That's why I've never had the motivation to follow through those 30 day plans, bikini body in 4 weeks kinda thing. I'd much rather take it slow and have no time limit. It's a lifestyle right? Yes. I said yes for you. You have to agree with me lol.

Maybe I'll update again soon after my literature review submission. Until then.. its blogilates videos alll the wayyyy as I drown in school work and my part time job :/

1000 SQUATS

Hi Fluffies,

It's been quite a busy week so far. Despite the hustle and bustle, I did not stop working out and I'm proud to say that I have accomplished the craziest fitness feat for myself so far. 

Absolutely one of my proudest moment.

THE THOUSAND SQUAT CHALLENGE.

I . PERSPIRED . LIKE . A . PIG .

Can I do a 1000 squats? Sure as hell you can. You can go through this 45mins of leg burning because its really not as hard it sounds. I chickened out when the video first came out. Now, I wouldn't mind doing it again.

The final set of 100 squats was the hardest because the rollover squat variation took a toll on my lower back for some reason. Otherwise, it was good.

The rest of the week would be a ton of blogilates videos according to the calendar which I urge you to check it out because it is sooo convenient to be able to just follow a regime for the whole week and not worry about which parts to work everyday!

Saturday Cardio & toning and Sunday GYM DAY WITH BOYFRIEND FOR THE FIRST TIME

Hello Fluffies,

Its a week of getting used to new things. For instance, the gym that I've been going to is going to close down soon. I'm gonna start my part time job next weekend which means :( no more gymming on sundays :( no more ice cream sundays :( 

Definitely a lot of planning and scheduling to be done. Oh and my first assignment is due Sept 12th. I think I'm gonna struggle with the 3000 word essay. 

Anyways, I hit the gym with my boyfriend for the first time today! It's leg day for the both of us and we did a few exercises. Not as much as usual but I was sweating ALOT more than usual.. which is quite disgusting coz a bead of my sweat actually dripped onto my boyfriend's lap >.<

What I did:
1. Running with 4 incline:
    1.2km
2. Squats with 15kg weights each side:
    3 sets of 10 reps 
3. Squats with 15kg weights each side with 20kg Barbell:
    3 sets of 8 reps 
4. Hamstring curls with 4kg weight:
    3 sets of 8 reps 
5. Standing kickbacks with 6kg weight:
    3 sets of 10 reps each leg 
6. Standing side swing with 5kg weight:
    2 sets of 10 reps each leg
7. Random punches:
    A few times
8. AB rollers:
    2 failed attempts

That was it for the day. Not alot of work done considering I would usually do dead lifts, walking lunges and quad extensions. But I felt more tired than usual :/

Last night, I went to Crystal jade at Holland Village for the XLB buffet with my friends. It was a buffet, I definitely had to 'prep' and workout before I head out to sin big time. So here's the workout for Saturday's Piggin' Out:

Fitness Blender's 1000 Calorie workout (I DID ONLY DID HIIT PORTION.)

8 minute abs

5 best muffintop melting moves:

Spring fling 1: Toning Workout

Playa Del Plank

Now for the fun bit, here's the food that we had yesterday: 

Gula Melaka Soft serve on Waffles from Sunday Folks

Here's us after Sunday folks because soft serve ain't got nothing on real scooped ice cream

Us at 10pm, feasting our lives away on XLBs...

 

Stacks of XLBs

This was supposed to be dessert after drinks at Wala but everyone was too stuffed so each of us took one home. These cupcakes from Plain Vanilla are awesome. I haven't had a good cupcake in a while!

I had the chocolate banana cupcake and it was dope :>

Handsome boiboiz90

I had the best pocky of my entire life yesterday, courtesy of my boyfriend. If you ever come across Matcha Chocolate pocky please do not let it slip away. Please BUY IT. It's worth the calories honey.

Sunday Gymless butt day & Monday Core day

Hi Fluffies,

On Sunday's I'm supposed to gym to build my butt. The sore throat and flu just wouldn't go away >.< 

However, I did some low impact butt workouts. Here's what I did:

1. Victoria's secret Angel booty:

2. Tracey mallet firm butt workout:

3. 5 Best Butt exercises to lift that booty: 

4. Thigh Trimmer & Butt Lifter:

You might have noticed that I've been trying to incorporate this video into my workouts. I have to say this is probably one of my top favourite videos from blogilates :)

Come monday, Still not that much better. But I did a set of core workouts which aren't too strenuous.. For me at least lol.

1. POP Pilates Body Slimming workout

2. WHOA WHOA!! Whole body Workout:

3. Beautiful Body Pilates workout:

4. The Ultimate Hot body workout:

5. Lean Body sculpt video, exclusive to the blogilates app. It was basically 4 main workout moves, targetting the triceps, glutes, a little bit of thighs and obliques. 

Monday Butt and Tuesday Core

Hello fluffies,

Beware, its BLOGILATES MANIAAAAA

I guess for most of this week, I will just stick to the blogilates calendar. Didn't want to think about what to do and actually, my butt is still feeling pretty sore from the gym session on Sunday. 

So for Monday I only did 2 workout videos, 

(plus a whole lotta walking with my boyfriend, shopping around town for his wardrobe ^^):

1. Perfect legs workout:

2. Thigh Trimmer & Butt Lifter:

3. SHOPPING IS GOOD CARDIO

4. Ice cream and waffles for my daily 20% cheat XD

For Tuesday's core day, it is good that I have to cram yesterday's leg work into today. I like working a bit of my lower everyday. Slow and steady wins the race right?

1. Sexy Legs Cocktail dress workout:

2. Legs on Fire:

3. Corset workout for slim waist:

4. Tough love handles workout:

5. 5 Best lower ab moves:

6. POP pilates abominable abdominals:

7. Uh Oh ultimate pilates workout:

Just so you know, yes Tuesday's workout is long and my waist area is hurting pretty bad now from all those core work. But in a good kind of sore way :)