14 days

.. and I don't have the energy to work out at the gym during Ramadhan. Fasting in this hot weather is very challenging for me. Although working in a fully air conditioned office, once I hit the road to travel to/from work the sun really drained my energy. The children's and my lips cracked and bleed yesterday. On some days, Shawqi looked rather dehydrated but continued fasting. He broke his fast at 6pm last week because he couldn't stand it. I'm not going to force him to complete his fast if his body cannot take it. He's only 8.

However, something is quite different this Ramadhan. I managed to control my hunger. At a certain hour of the day I could still feel the pang of hunger but it's manageable. Usually, my lips would turn really pale at 5pm and I'd start suffering from gastritis after the 4th day. I think I have to thank BLA for this improvement. I never practiced portion control or monitored calorie intake before. Now that I've learned the tricks, I'm consuming less food during iftar and lesser food during sahur. Drinking chilled fresh milk is a must after each meal. The dates are providing me instant energy after iftar, so I'm drinking less sweet juices. I don't take condensed milk at all this Ramadhan and so far I've only had a cup of Nescaffe and a tall iced caramel Macchiato.

The only disappointing fact is that my weight is still at that plateau. Perhaps if I fast and workout one hour at the gym, it will slowly go down. But I don't have the energy to workout in this weather, I couldn't even do Yoga or stretching. So now I have to wait after Syawal to re-start my regime. I know it's going to be tough after 1 month of not working out, but I'll make sure I'd go to the gym everyday and exercise for 1 hour. Let's pray that I won't be having late afternoon meetings. They could really ruin my life.

Ramadhan

Muslims are blessed with a very clear guideline on living a good and healthy life. Every year we have one month to give the digestion system a good rest during the day time. It’s the fasting month – our Ramadhan.

Usually I didn’t go to gym during Ramadhan, I always made a point to go to the front desk and requested for my membership to be frozen for the whole month. However, this year I totally forgotten about it.

So, in order to avoid feeling guilty for paying the gym for nothing this month, I’m going to try doing some light workout in the morning. This might sound quite ambitious, but I think I will have the energy in the morning to at least do brisk walking on the treadmill and then some cycling.

One of my colleagues plans to workout right before the break fast time, so that she could replenish everything soon after. I might do that too if I don’t have to go back early and prepare (or buy) meals for break fast.

The biggest culprit during Ramadhan is the bazaar. They can be found everywhere. It’s quite a challenge not to go to at least one during the fasting month. Last year, we had 3 Ramadhan bazaars in my neighbourhood. Choices of food were aplenty; I could spend 40 minutes there just to decide on what to have for break fast.

My biggest challenge during Ramadhan is sticking to the 1700 calorie intake. When we don’t eat/drink during day time, it’s easy to slack during breaking of fast. Dinner will be followed by heavy supper, with teh tarik and what not. Although I don’t usually eat a lot during ‘sahur’, the total calories consumed during dinner alone might be around 1000 calories. Yikes! I know, there’s just too much temptation on the dining table. When 6 people go to Ramadhan bazaar, you’ll have at least 6 types of kuih-muih. If you are familiar with Malay or Nyonya kuih, well they’re all sugar, oil and coconut cream laden. Not good… not good… at all.

So, my strategy this year is to break fast with 7 dates, followed by some plain water and then straight to the main menu. No appetizer, less kuih and less calories… hehe. Hope it’s a success! Yeay!