Welcoming Myself Back!

I have to admit that I normally spend my Saturday afternoons with my wife and son. We would go out and have afternoon tea or just browse around. Basically spend the whole afternoon with my two most precious people.

Yet I found myself driving to The Law and Court Building (http://www.agc.gov.bn/) yesterday afternoon to attend an interesting public forum entitled "A Blogger's Rights and Responsibilities & Other Legal Issues on the Use of Social Media in Brunei Darussalam"

The talk was presented by @jefrirahman and Hjh Rahayu respectively. You may find more articles on here and here.

In light of this forum, I hope that their plans to do some more public awareness and have some kind of a roadshow to school can further educate our younger generation. The internet has become more and more accessible and even if they do not have PCs or laptops. They have access to social medias like msn and facebook via their mobile phones.

We all have our roles to play. Be it a blogger or twitter-holic, we are bounded by laws and regulations the moment we agreed to their terms and conditions. As mentioned by Ahmad Jefri, 'Do you read the terms & conditions before you agree?' Applause to those you have because it seems like such a daunting task to read the small fine print.

Honestly I do miss blogging even though I am more active on twitter and my tumblr. Blogging was always a good way to practice my writing and sharing thoughts and ideas.

Feels slightly weird but happy to be typing away.

My favourite Three & Just ME!

Browsing through the regular blogs that I like to visit, I always make it a point to take my time to read through three of my favourite blogs.

Firstly - Mr Adidarwish - A Biology teacher and an amazing runner. He blogs about his run and the goals he sets himself. Even his students stop by his blogsite to read up on extra school work. Way to go Sir! Now that is incorporating ICT in his teaching.

Secondly - Mr RezaFaizal - A runner as well and his was the first blog that I came across abot running. It was in his site that I stumbled upon Mr Adidarwish. He was and is still very helpful when it comes to running. It was like meeting an artist when I first met him on the treadmill.

Their helpful tips have helped me improve my runs on the treadmills. Eventhough I am nowhere near their runs but I think I have improved since the first time I got on the treadmill.

Lastly - Ms Murabiyyah - She is a teacher somewhere. Her blog is about keeping healthy and she also blogs about her runs.

Ms Murabiyyah's post today was about choosing the right food to eat. Losing weight does not mean one does not have to starve themselves. Thats not ideal. Eating is still essential in an attempt to shed the 'added baggage'. Only difference is what do you put in your mouth.

On her post she has some 'visual aids' to further clarify what I am trying to convey.

I as remembered she did a post last month about 'You are what you eat' and she also has some 'visual aids' to make it easier for others to understand.

Ever since I started to go to the gym. I have have become more conscious about my eating habits. I have three meals everyday. I usually make my own breakfast. A peanutbutter and jelly sandwich. I usually have my own packed food to bring to work. Sometimes my mother would boil some sausages or she would cook something for breakfast. If if buy fruits I would also bring some to work, preferably red apples or oranges or bananas. I have my sandwich in the morning at home and have my very early lunch around 10 whenever I plan to go to the gym right after work.

Lunch would be whatever I have left from breakfast because I do not eat as much as I used to.

Most afternoons are spent at the gym. I do alot of cardio and some weight lifting. I work on my biceps and triceps and also on my chest. I round off the work out with sit-up, a minimum of 100 situp, which is still not enough but it will have to do for now.

Back from the gym by 6. I will go directly to the kitchen to see what I can have for dinner. I used to be very fussy about what to eat, but nowadays I keep it simple.

When I eat out, there are only a few places I would like to dine in, notably Ideal and Dixie. Because they serve 'grilled' chicken. I do have the occasional Sushi outing and italian dinners but usually its either Ideal or Dixie for me. 'Hers' has been very supportive and I sometimes feel sorry for her because she misses eating 'fast food'. She loves her McD's and her KFC's and her Sugarbun's but she does not like dining there if I do not eat fast food. So I sometimes I give in to her request and accompany her to eat fast food but only at McD.

I do long to eat 'Mee Mamak', 'Mee Hoon Goreng', 'Nasi Goreng', Fried chicken and so many others that I had deserted since I commited myself to lose weight. The sacrifice. I know one day I will get to eat them again but until that day comes, I stick to my current food intake and carry on with my life.

I have not been blogging about my runs does not mean I have stopped running. I am still running but I keep a log of my runs on my phone. I will try to blog about my runs soon.

I leave you with a collage of random pictures of myself from when I realised I needed to change for the better to what I have accomplised today.

Another milestone + Thank you 'Hers'

Doing a Mr RezaFaizal post on Soulkoneshen.blogspot.com

On Saturday I only managed to do a 6.5 km run after 60 mins and finished at 6.8 km after 5 mins cooldown. My knees gave in at the 45th min mark and only finished my session with a 5.0 walk till the 60th minute.

Today I did not know what got to me and the above picture was the result after 65 mins which included a 5 min cool down.

I reached the 7 km mark at the 57th minute mark at a speed of 8.2

I stared with a 5 min walk at 5.0

At 5 to 20 mins at 8.2

21th min ran at 7.0 - 22 to 25th min walked at 5.0

At 25 - 40 mins ran at 8.2

41th min ran at 7.0 - 42-45th min walked at 5.0

At 45th - 47th min ran at 7.5

At 47 - 60th min ran at 8.2

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Today I also had the pleasure of introducing myself to Mr RezaFaizal. I did not really get a chance to see how his run went but I tell you he is a dedicated runner and very focused. Maybe I could pick up a few pointers about running from the man himself the next time I see him.

Today also my knee did not give in as I was afraid that it would and I am thankful. I dedicated my run today to my wife to be. There was a small family gathering on her side at her grandparent's crib today for lunch and I actually did not want to attend as I did not want to eat lunch and just head to the gym.

Not that I am totally neglecting food but we had a dim sum brunch at Emperor's Court with our close friends and I was already full.

She insisted I come to the small 'makan' and allowed me to go to the gym after that. She was so supportive and said to take as much time as I wanted to spend. I only helped myself to a small portion of vegetables and water and I went to the gym.

I would like to thank 'Hers' for her support and understanding
for allowing me to go to the gym and finishing rather late to pick her up from
her grandparent's crib. I am sorry and I love thee with al my heart. Trust me
this will all be worth it in the long run.

I feel great each day and each day I will always try to better
myself.

Running - Tribute to Him & Him

First I would like to make a SoulKonekShen Tribute to Two local Bloggers who blog about their 'Runs'. I have started running since last year. After making a promise to myself to shed the 'unwanted' pounds, I started looking after my food and drink and also making myself a running routine.

I am grateful to have come across Mr RezaFaizal [Link Here] and Mr Adidarwish [Link Here].

They both provide if not extensive and informative workout routines as well as educating others about a healthy diet. They also provide tips for beginners and I think its very useful if you are just about to start running.

This is the first time in 2 years since I have started to go back to the gym and I usually go for my runs at the Stadium . My favourite route is - I start from the Indoor stadium, make my way to the Commonwealth Drive and up the MOF road, pass the MOF building and out to the main road and downhill to the 4 way junction and turn left to go to the stadium (the road that passes the Islamic Dakwah Centre) and back to the Indoor Stadium. My best recorded time was 18 minutes flat.

I am fortunate to have a friend who is a 'work-out freak' and I mean it in a good way. He is a person who knows his body very well, in a year he can build up his physique like body builder and lose it in the same year. Its like a hobby for him. He knows exactly what to eat and he usually prepares his own meals. He has been doing this for a couple of years already and lucky for him his brothers are also into body building so he has people he can go to the gym with. I remembered when I was trining with him, I wanted to cry so badly because he pushed me and friend to the max but it was worth it. But silly me I gained back, but that was 2 years ago.

Last year I made a remarkable achievement by my standards and I want to try and lose some more before my 'BIG' day. Want to look good for the cameras you know. Hahahahahaha.

Today was my second day at the Gym and I did a 4.5 Km run for 40 minutes. I can't quite recall how I started and all but tomorrow I want to better it and follow Adidarwish's 5Km runs. Hope I can do it. For the past couple of days I have been running at a pace of 8.0 kmph but I feel like I could up the speed. So tomorrow I will try it out as I will head to the Gym a bit early as I have a Futsal match at half past 4. I won't push myself too hard or as Adidarwish mentions 'asking for an injury'.

Hope I can do it! If I can't I will not lose hope, remember, there is always the next day. Ciao Peeps.