Happy 2015 guys!

My last post for 2014 was back in April, but I'm back to blogging again - thanks to my job status right now... Haha.

Here's a new layout (yes, 3 days of designing! *sweats*) to mark a new journey and to a better year ahead!

This year, I'm hoping to come back stronger, faster and fitter than the previous year as I've taken my health for granted and lost quite a lot of motivation the last quarter of the year.

(And yes, I want to be known as the fit chick! HAHA)


So far, I've logged in 10 DAYS OF WORKOUTS for this year so far! Today is the 11th so that leaves me only 1 rest day which was on Tuesday :P My workouts doesn't even include me going to my local fitness club's classes, I went for a Crossfit class too :)

So far, I'm liking where I am heading to this year!



Here are some tips that never fails to get me back on track to a healthier, happier, well-nourished mind and body:


1) Stay well hydrated

I cannot emphasize anymore on this. And by this, I don't mean coffee, juice, or tea! Just. Water.

Drink up if you're looking to shed the excess weight! Cold water helps to also raise your metabolism, which means you burn calories even when sitting down doing nothing ;)

I usually carry a 1-litre water with me everywhere I go - to work, to dinner, shopping, everywhere. I even have friends asking me, "Wah, you carry such a big bottle not heavy meh?" Well, the heavy load from the bottle is what motivates me to drink up.



The recommended intake is about 1.8 liters ~ 2 liters, so usually I'd make sure to finish drinking the my bottle after the 2nd refill by the end of the day.

2) Eliminate all junk and processed food from your house

Unless you're staying under the same roof as your parents like I am, THROW OUT all processed, junk food. Abort all mission trips to the nearest 7-11 to stock up on your potato chips.

When these unnatural food are so readily available and accessible, there's a huge tendency that we will turn to them when we're lazy to cook. Basically I'm living with my parents and brother, so I don't get to throw out much junk food - my dad love his chips. Sigh. But one thing I did throw - Pocky Chocolate Sticks! (It's my biggest weakness.. I can never resist them!)


What to do: Stock up on real, wholesome food such as fruits, vegetables and wholegrains instead! When I got hungry, I couldn't find my junk food (aka Pocky Chocolate sticks) so I had to snack on fruits like apples, blueberries, pears and grapefruits instead :)




3) Go on a detox diet for 3 days

By this, I don't mean a juice cleanse! (I'm gonna start my juice cleanse hopefully soon, so I can blog about it! I won't be buying the juices from others, but will be totally DIY at home 'cos I've got my Kuvings Juicer!)


What I mean by going on a detox diet is to eat CLEAN for just 3 days. Reset your body by eating healthily. Love your body enough to let it thrive on good, clean energy from wholesome food.

I usually also try to cut down on my intake of animal meat as much as possible, but I'd still have eggs,and white, lean meat such as turkey breast and chicken breast :)


Here are some meals I've had as my breakfast/lunch/dinner:


Breakfast


Lunch



Dinner 



To cleanse your body for the entire 3 days, here are some things you'd want to eliminate for that period:

• Dairy products
• Refined sugar
• White flour, white bread, white pasta, processed food
• Sugary drinks 
• Alcohol
• Red meat such as beef

This year, I'm so excited to be be sharing with you guys my healthy recipes that I've already even created a page for it! (see the navigation bar on top.. Heh)



4) Go WORKOUT or stay active

Go sign up at your nearest fitness club. Or hit the public gym. Sign up for yoga classes at your community club.  Join a dance class. Attend weekly bootcamp classes held around sunny Singapore. Anything to keep you active!

The thought of working out after a long day at work might be a turn-off for some, but believe in the process. If you want to see a positive change in your energy and body, the thing you have to change is your MINDSET.

Your body is willing, but is your mind willing to take up the challenge?


Typically, I don't go for any workout class other than the ones conducted by my own fitness club but this year, I decided to go for my first Crossfit class at Mobilus after much hesitation! Hopefully it won't be my last too :)




Totally didn't regret at all. In fact, I loved how the capability of my body surprises me at times! I lifted a lot heavier than I did in my entire life and my knees felt like giving way at one point of time. But I pushed on and it felt so amazing :)

I've also been hitting the gym that I signed up with at least 5 times a week, mainly doing circuit training, Bodycombat, spinning and Bodypump!

Feels definitely good to be staying active, working out and eating well!


Remember - The only thing that needs to change is your mindset. Nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it :)

To a fitabulous 2015!

Continuing from Part 1,  I will blog about Day 4-7 in this post in Bali :)

Day 4
The day after Valentine's Day, we rented a scooter from the street just right across our hotel. Intitially they quoted us 80k rupiah but we managed to bargain to 50k (SGD 5) woohoo! Before renting, remember to check that they have already filled up the petrol for you.

 After our buffet breakfast in our hotel, we took the scooter out for a ride and with our handy GPS, we decided to head straight up to Pandawa Beach, also known as Secret Beach to the locals. How did we find out about this beauty? All thanks to one of the locals working at a bread shop at a newly opened shopping mall just right next to our hotel! (Sorry can't remember the name of the shopping mall :()

It was a one hour journey ride here, with lots of narrow roads and we passed by lots of villages and took quite a lot of short cuts. The journey was rather tough, so if you're not an experienced rider, you may want to opt for taking a taxi here instead!




Anyway, there's no snorkeling offered here due to the nature of the water. It seemed to be that Bali's beaches have too much waves that makes it impossible for us to even swim in the sea -_-

That said, it doesn't mean we can't have fun!!





After our adventure at Pandawa Beach, (and thank goodness that we finished all our water activities), it started raining super duper heavily so we ran to the shops and had Bakso (pork soup noodles) for lunch while waiting for the rain to subside.. But sadly it continued raining even heavily so we ran to our scooter and rode in the pouring rain back to Kuta :( Not to forget our helmets were filled with water.. Freaking disgusting but what an experience! :P


Washed up and decided to venture to Legian/Seminyak for some awesome dinner!
According to our itinerary, we HAD to try the pork ribs from Naughty Nuri's so again, GPS led us to Naughty Nuri and there was a long queue forming outside already!

We had quite a hard time locating the place because GPS wasn't so accurate about the exact location. But in any case, ask for directions if you're lost! We went about for several rounds (and were sooo damn hungry) before finding Naughty Nuri's.


Because of the long queue, customers had to sit together in every table so we got to share our table with some other couples, all from different countries :) The aroma of the bbq-ed pork ribs were all over the restaurant... and luckily the food arrived really fast! (at least it came before we died from hunger lol)


We spotted many of the locals also there queuing up for the food! I thought it tasted quite like the sauces they use for Singapore's satay, just that the pork ribs were a lot more flavourful and the meat was tender and juicy. So so good!

Naughty Nuri is located at Jalan Batubelig, 41 and I think it's quite near Seminyak?
Check out their website here for more information :)


Day 5
Woke up at 7am for our breakfast buffet (HAHA yes.. we have the breakfast buffet every single day cos its damn good!) while waiting for our Gede tour driver to come pick us up at 8am.

He was a friendly and rather young man who came just right on the dot! We were still having breakfast and he waited patiently for us to finish. Also, he brought some refreshments in the car so we could have it while we're thirsty! Super thoughtful of him :)



First stop was a trip to Batubulan Village to catch the Barong and Keris dance


After the show, we bought a souvenir for them.. Not your ordinary keychains or what but a customised T-shirt with my bf and I on the shirt! And it cost only 90k rupiah :)



Next stop was a trip to the Art Village Batik and Silver Smith Village.

Indeed an eye opener and a different type of batik (see my Bali Part 1 trip to Lembongan) This time, they painted the batik by hand and the colours were so pretty!

In fact, I was quite tempted to buy some of the batiks there but they were so costly :( About 320k - 500k for one batik itself!







How the shops in Ubud Market looks like





Thanks to his tip about the cafe being located just opposite the clinic, we managed to find it. If not, it'd have been impossible to find the cafe since it's at the back alley and the signboard is barely striking enough for anyone to notice.

The moment we entered the cafe, the aroma of coffee immediately greeted us and the layout of the cafe was so damn pretty!! You wouldn't have expected it judging from the entrance of the cafe.. Hahaha that's why never judge a book by its cover!