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.