Endomondo's Earn Your Armour 4 Malaysia challenge

Basically, I am a slob...

The only time I have ever competed with other people was in secondary school.
I was in the athletics team and was never considered as a front-runner.
On the field, I sat mostly on the bench.
That said, I never took things seriously.
My achievement as a teenager was holding the 4x400 meters relay record for the under-13 category.
As the third-runner, I ran like a hell out of bat and passed the baton to Lazak Othman, the anchor runner who took us into the book of history. That was my claim to fame.
Most of my adult life, I was on the sideline, letting people pass so that they could win.

Me, on the far left, in my late teens

I don't see the need to compete because I was never driven by ego or the urge to succeed.
So, to sum it up, I led a sedentary lifestyle for more than 30 years.

In comes the challenge....

After 30 days, the results of the Under Armour Challenge was announced...

I used the Endomondo sports tracking app on my Xiaomi Mi4i smartphone to track my walks.
On the average, I walk about 10km a day.
To motivate myself, I participate in walking challenges. And at the end of 30 days, I managed to earn a decent ranking. 
Endomondo also notifies it's users on challenges with prizes and the fourth installment of the "Earn Your Armour" challenge has some really cool prizes. Under Armour vouchers, a goodie bag and a Jabra Sports Coach wireless headset was the ultimate prize.

Clocking-in the workout 

The person with the longest time in their daily workout wins.
All you need to do is to turn on the Endomondo app, track your workout and time.
I walked at least two hours a day and when I accepted the challenge, I was right on top of the list.
Initially, there were less than 300 people taking part. Nearly two-thirds were dormant participants.
My closest competitor was a 56-year-old dude by the name of Mr Yean.
The guy walks about 10km a day and when the competition entered it's 15th day, another guy overtook him.

Desperate people...

In the sporting world, people cheat.
They claim the prize and bask in the glory while the cheating lasts and live to regret it someday.
I find it funny that some meathead who came out of nowhere had overtaken the middle-aged dude and some guy with a funny Japanese name to chalk up the rank. 
He came in at number 2.
In my case, I walked regardless of the haze. For 29 days, I stayed on top. 

The last day

Mr meathead was determined to clinch the Jabra headset and Under Armour vouchers.
That didn't matter to me.
What's important was I didn't cheat. I clocked-in an honest day's work.
The rules clearly state that only GPS-tracked workouts are accepted.
The meathead entered "pilates", "yoga", "weight training" in his workouts to chalk in the extra hours.
I walked my last 5km to finish the challenge on the last day. In the last 30 days, I had fun and who would have thought a slob could beat 604 other people by merely walking?
When the results were out, I came in second. I lost to the "better" man by 20-minutes.

And finally, the truth prevails...

I accepted the results and concede to defeat.
For 30 days, I worked out and lost even more weight.
Then, an email arrived, and on the message, I was announced as the winner of the "Earn Your Armour 4" challenge.
I wasn't surprised at all. 
Mr meathead was forfeited for logging in fake workouts.
A couple of weeks later, I claimed my prize and shared it with my wife.

Hanging out at the Under Armour boutique in Mid Valley Megamall

The UA vouchers

With my loot

The challenge experience was very interesting.
Some people did the right thing by being honest.
The cheats, well, they will try again by any other means.
I was told by an Under Armour representative that most of the past winners were cyclists.
"You are the only person who clocked in so many hours just by walking," she said.
I guess she was also pretty surprised to see an average guy winning the challenge instead of the usual hulking meathead...

The 10-km challenge..

There is no "secret", only hard work...

I was filling up my water bottle at the pantry in the office and a co-worker walked past.
She paused and said: "I noticed you have lost a lot of weight. What is your secret?"
I told her that it's pure exercise and eating right.
When I last weighed-in on June 16, I was at 101.0kgs.
I never enjoyed stepping on weighing scale. 
My regular physician had advised me to lose weight or risk having a bypass.
He also referred me to a local hospital to get a stress-test.

And so, the journey begins..

I started walking around my neighbourhood. 
On the average, a loop is roughly around 1.17km.
During the initial days, I took small loops. Nothing more than 2.5km. As I progressed to be much fitter, the routine was increased to 5km and eventually, 10km.
To optimize the simple program, I split the workouts into two sessions.
Early in the morning, I will do a 5km loop with my dogs and continue with another later at night.
I used my Xiaomi Mi Band to track my steps and the Endomondo Sports App for Android to record my progress.
Based on statistics, I walk about 120km in July and 308km in August. These are recorded distances based on GPS-tracking.
Apart from that, I also entered a walking challenge on Endomondo and was ranked 54th out of 3,400 people who took part.

My progress on Endomondo

The ranking from the walking challenge

After 40 days of walking on my 10km/day program, I gradually lost weight.
From 101kgs, I weighed in at 95kgs and started to go down to 90kgs.
I can wear my old shirts that were tight.
Even my pants became loose.
Eventually, I broke the sub-90 barrier by weighing-in at 89kgs. 
From "Obese", my Body Mass Index (BMI) rating went down to "overweight".

Motivation..

I have to energetic working dogs. They need exercise. Having been a slob for years, I hardly walk them. I felt I have robbed them of their basic needs and embarked on a walking program with them.
My dogs motivate me and at 10 and 9 years of age, they are very fit.
At the very least, my sugar-levels are stable. My goal is to be free of medication.
I am setting my target at 78kg to reach "normal" BMI status.

Eating right...

Since June, I have limited my intake of rice.
That was the first step.
I only eat a small portion of white rice during lunch. I skipped tea if it's possible. 
As for the beers, I don't drink in excess as I used to.
My body is healing from within and I also included vegetables in my food intake.
Now that I am on a lean diet, I hardly patronize stalls for hawker food.

A lean and filling dinner

Samo's eating plan...

Breakfast - sandwich & black coffee.

Lunch - 1/4 portion rice with vegetables, meat such as chicken is taken alternately.

Dinner - grilled lean pork or chicken breast or fish. Salads and sandwich on rotation.

Toning the body..

I had signed-up with the company's gym and at RM20 a month, it's a damn good deal. 
There are trainers there and I told the guy what I want to do.
The workouts are alternated between days.
I would go after lunch and do reps of cardio exercise on the stationary bicycle trainer. 
The coach taught me some bicep curling exercises with dumb bells. 
I started with lighter weights and more repetitions.
The trainer also showed me how to tone the leg muscles.
I hope to get my belly toned after trimming another 10kgs of fat.

Feeling good..

With the extra flabs burned from walking and a good eating habit, I felt very fresh in the morning and happy to continue with my routine. 
I hope to keep this up until my weight is manageable.

The 10-km challenge

No pain, no gain..

Studies show that the recommended time for weight-loss exercise is half and hour of brisk walking.
If you do this every day, you will shed off some fat from your waist.
On the average, 30-minutes of walking is roughly about 2.7km.
With this, you burn about 382 calories. In one hour, that's about 5.10km and two hours of exercise yields about 10km.
Walking is a low-impact form of exercise and if you decide to change your lifestyle, you can schedule it into your daily life.
I started by walking 5km a day which is split into two sessions: morning and late at night.
Why? Mornings around my neighbourhood can be quiet and since I live in a gated and guarded community, safety is never an issue.
A loop around the neighbourhood is roughly around 1.7km. This is sustainable on a long-term basis.
I begin my walk at 7.30am and to complete 5km, it takes around one hour.

Endomondo is a free-app for fitness

Details of the workout

Google Fit utilizes the smartphone's G-sensors for step-count

My average steps

Total distance clocked

Technology helps..

To keep track of progress, I use Endomondo fitness tracker. This is complement with my Mi Fit app and Mi Band (which has been bricked).
The Endomondo app has a voice-enabled notification. Once you have activated the app, the first thing it does, is to acquire satellites for a fix on your position.
When you hit the "start" button, the apps begins to record progress. At the end of 1km, it gives your pace and distance.
My average pace per 1 km is between 10 - 12 minutes.
In addition to Endomondo, I had Google Fit installed on my Xiaomi Redmi 2 smartphone. This becomes a back-up solution for the Mi Band and records steps and calories.

Sir Naughty, my 10-year-old Siberian Husky is part of my exercise routine

The face of contentment after a good workout

Atomic Huskies

My highly-energetic pooch provides company during my routine 10km/day walk. I decided to bring them along as they are very active dogs. They need the exercise to expand their energy and walking them in two sessions to clock-in 10km in a day helps.
But, before I took them for the long walk, I got them conditioned for a 2.7km walk and increased the distance to 5.11km and eventually, 10km.
They are comfortable with the distance and also kept me company during the workout.

Pan-fried chicken breast with tomatoes and onions

Eating well

Managing weight-loss is a routine that comes in pairs.
First, you will have to eat right.
Since July 16, I have been going easy on my carbohydrates.
I began by reducing my rice intake.
For breakfast, it's a wholemeal sandwich followed by rice for lunch.
I've began to wean off rice by eating only meat and vegetables for dinner.
It took some getting used to, but I am slowly conditioning my body to accept this.

So far, so good

I weighed-in at 101.0kg in mid-June. I have been walking for a month and clocked-in more than 280km in total distance. My present weight is 92.7km with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 28.6 (anything above 28 is considered as "obese"). My target weight loss is at 85kgs and I will begin weight training to firm up my body.
So, is 10km difficult? Not so if you love to walk and split your workout into two sessions in a day. 
Commitment is very important in this case and there's really no excuse to be lazy.

The walk..

"These legs are made for walking.."

My health has gone to the dogs and of late, I have inherited my late father's lifestyle diseases.
High Cholesterol, Hypertension and Type II Diabetes: it's all in place.
That said, my dad lived up to 73 before he passed away.
On a routine trip to the clinic near the office, I was "forced" to take a blood test without fasting.
The results were simply devastating.
High-Cholesterol, and a glimpse into my blood-sugar levels indicated that something was not right.
The doctor said my kidneys were leaking protein.
Later, another test was made and the results weren't good either.
Glucose-levels in my blood and urine were high.
This was followed-up by another test that sealed my fate.
The doctor had diagnosed me with type II Diabetes.
There was a moment of self-denial and disbelief, but hey, dad had it, and it was in the late stages of his life.
I was put under medication and was told to go on a low-carb diet and eventually cease consumption of starchy food such as rice and noodles.

 Coping with the "unholy" trinity.

High-cholesterol, Hypertension and Diabetes can only mean one thing: Death.
There's risk of getting a heart-attack as plaque from extremely high cholesterol clogs up the main arteries in the heart.
Next, is stroke. And last but not least: kidney failure due to chronic diabetes.
Sounds scary, but it's true of such condition goes untreated.

Positive mental attitude and a change in lifestyle

The first thing I did, was to talk to Michelle, my wife.
A change in lifestyle is imminent. 
Being Asian and with my brains hotwired to consume rice, it will be hard to reduce intake of this grain, but what has to be done, has to be done.
Our first measure was to replace the polished rice with brown rice from Cambodia. Consumption is reduced to small portions.
This also means a change in eating habits. No more nasi lemak in the morning. My breakfast is now a piece of Canadian purple wheat sandwich. Fillers would be Japanese Soba or buckwheat noodles.
Natural "healers" like Okra and Bittergourd became my daily diet for the last 30 days. I love okra, so, there's never been an issue consuming this vegetable.
Eating well is one part, the other is exercise.
I don't need gym membership because I have working dogs.
They are my motivation and I have scheduled my time to accommodate their wellness by taking them for morning and night walks.
This is now my routine. 
We walk for 3.5km a session. It feels good to sweat it out and the kidz love it.

Our Siberian Huskies are getting the most of my exercise regime

My usual walking route

The longest distance I've done in a day

Don't stop.. Believing.. 

My buddy Bob Lew, a Diabetes sufferer also contacted me about my weight. At the time, I weighed-in in at 101.0kg.
He managed to shed 22kgs through a new diet regime and aims to hit 88kgs in the months to come.
Bob is a man determined and would not stop at anything to achieve his goals. I know this because we've been friends for 30 years.

Bob (3rd from left) with me back in 1988

At Broga Hill in 2010

So, having heard what he had to say, I took on a 90-day challenge. 
The aim, is to shed 10kgs.
With controlled food intake and adequate exercise, this can be achieved.
Since my last weigh-in on June 16 at 101.0kg, I have lost some 5.8kg and stand at 95.2kg. I strive to eat healthier and stay away from food that is heavily-laden with carbohydrates. Since I don't have a sweet tooth, sugar has never been an issue. I drink my coffee black without sweetening. 
I guess the straw that broke the camel's back was the high consumption of canned drinks like Coca-Cola and 100PLUS.
This contributed to the spike in sugar-levels and the blood test confirmed this.
To fight the bulge, I walk a minimum distance of 6km a day. This helps to burn the fat and get rid of excessive calories.


Never give up

I have never stopped my outdoor pursuits and this medical condition is by no means, a hindrance to by active lifestyle. Now that exercise is a daily routine, I need to head out even more.
So, the part where I find balance is very important. Spouse support helps a lot as I have nothing to hide from my significant half.

Living with Diabetes doesn't spell the end for outdoor pursuit such as angling

Sweating it out at the archery range

I've hit the middle-age and based on my life journey, I have little regrets if my life ends abruptly.
As a matter of fact, life has been excellent!
My only regret, if I die before my time: is not being able to grow old with Michelle, my wife.
Things happen for a reason and given the chance to make it right, I will do my level-best in controlling this lifestyle disease. So, there's no room for thoughts like giving up or throwing the towel. Life's worth living if you have people who care for you and you don't let them down by ignoring your own health and well-being.

Endomondo sports tracker

The programe console on a smartphone screen

IF you pack a smartphone, there are hundreds of fitness apps out there.
One of the most interesting Android OS apps that I've come across is the Endomondo sports tracker.
This software links your phone's GPS and a cellular network to track your sporting activity.
In my case, its cycling and I gave it a try on Sunday.
I found the accuracy to be amazing as it tracked my movement from Karak to Bentong - minute-by-minute.
The ride data is then uploaded onto Endomondo's website where the distance, elevation and calories burned are displayed.
You can then share this on Facebook or on a blog.
So, that said, its gonna be loads of fun with the Endomonodo on my LG Optimus 2X