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 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.

First-impressions: Xiaomi Mi Band

Sometimes, cheap can be good...

I never gave Xiaomi products a second look.
Seems that one of China's fastest emerging tech companies is coming up with some really great stuff at value prices.
One of their goods that caught my attention was the Mi Band, a really cheap fitness tracker.
On the Malaysian Xiaomi website, these are sold at RM59 each. 
Out of the box, the Mi Band is packaged with a fitness tracker pod, black silicone band with a metal clasp and a charging stick.
There are no fancy paperwork that goes with the Mi Band, which kept it as a minimalist item.

The benchmark.

As far as "blind" fitness trackers (with no information window for steps and calories) are concerned, it will be hard to beat a Fitbit Flex.
But at a pricetag of RM350 a piece, the Flex is nowhere compared to the Mi Band.
Why? Here are a few simple points:

• Sleep mode is automatic.
• The band connects to your phone via Mi Fit app (from Google Play & Apple) and is capable of giving alerts for incoming calls and SMS messages.
• The tracker pod is robust and waterproof.
• Has a battery life of 30 days and beyond (some recorded 40 days from a single charge).
• Replacement bands (four colours) are sold at RM10 each. This is by far, cheaper than the Fitbit Flex and Garmin Vivofit replacement bands that cost more than RM130 for a pack of three.
• A fraction of the price compared the Fitbit Flex and Garmin Vivofit.

"Made in China", a stigma

There's always the argument about inferior products from the Motherland. Such, we can argue till the cows come home.

But, having seen the quality, fit and finish of the Mi Band, I would say that it's at par or even better than some of the more expensive fitness trackers.

Now, let's face the fact that most of these gadgets are "Made in China". Doesn't matter if they are "designed in the EU, USA", but the principle remains: it's manufactured in China.

Screenshots of the Mi Fit app and Mi Band integration

Usability and performance

The Mi Band is best optimized with it's application: the Mi Fit which you can download from Google Play for Android phones or Apple Itunes for IOS phones.

It's a very straight-forward app and can be hacked to integrate with the Mi Smart Scale (not officially available here in Malaysia, sold by third-party retailers).

I have used the Mi Band for more than a month (37 days) and logged in some 259.6km (walking).

Paired with the Mi Smart Scale, with an initial weigh-in at 101.0kg, I lost 5.8kg through exercise and controlled food intake.

So, as far as performance is concerned, the Mi Band is flawless. Even if it goes kaput, I won't be sore because it costs only RM70 from a third-party reseller.

The default Mi Fit app from Google Play does not support the Mi Scale, so, one would have to manually install the China-version of the Mi Fit app from Xiaomi's official website. During installation, the updated app will overwrite the current Mi Fit app on your smartphone.

Once paired, both the Mi Band and Mi Smart Scale is a formidable tool for weight management and your daily exercise.

Availability

The Mi Band retails at RM59 from Xiaomi's official website in Malaysia. But it's "out of stock" at the moment. You can get this from third-party resellers at RM70 at the lowest. The highest retail price is RM89 at the PJ Digital Mall. For the bargain-hunter, try Low Yat Plaza in Kuala Lumpur.