Help, I Haven't Pooped In a Week!

Sorry. This is kinda disgusting and straight to the point. But that is what happened to me a week ago.

Disgusting. Picture found on twitter.com/lottscat via http://weheartit.com

I haven't pooped for a week and it was getting uncomfortable. I felt horribly bloated and headaches. I felt my body is like a clogged pipe and I need vacuum cleaner pipe to suck it out. I am so desperate to cure it! My husband said, this constipation may be a result of using fiber supplement over a long period of time to aid weight loss. Long term use of fiber supplement can lead to dependency. At one point, one cannot have a bowel movement without such medicinal aides. I thought he was right after all. Low doses of this kind of laxatives does not work on me anymore. As a matter of fact, I am again tempted to drink another fiber supplement to relieve this constipation. But I am glad I didn't.

Have you experience constipation before, and how do you relieve it and get regular?

I drank lots of water because that is the only way I know that can help to relive constipation. Seems not work. Then my mom stop by at our house yesterday to see my son. My son has hand, foot and mouth disease. He get pretty bad rashes and blisters on his hands, foot and mouth. But that is another story. Mom brought gifts basket with bunch of banana in it. I stuffed myself eating banana all last night. Thank God, this morning I have my bowel movement, the first in over a week. But boy that turn to be not an easy business. I spend a long time on the loo just because it's a very "hard process". We're talking about "a-one-week-accumulative." Made me think to myself that giving birth is easier than this.

"Hard work": I was like this in the loo. I feel 'it' at the base there but can't pass it
out, no matter how much I strain. Photo Credit www.skepticalob.com 

If you suffer from frequent constipation, I thought this easy tips to relieve constipation from Natural Health Restored might be useful to you:

1. Drink enough water

Water help wash waste and toxins out of your body. Drink 10 to 20 ounces of pure water the first thing every morning. Add fresh lemon juice to your warm water for extra cleansing.

2. Dietary fiber
A plant based diet of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds is naturally full of fiber. Aim for at least 24 to 38 grams of fiber a day. Prunes are a natural laxative food. Figs are full of fiber. Add them to your diet to prevent constipation. Or, eat one or more fresh figs every day to relieve constipation. Greens and green drinks contain chlorophyll which helps to get rid of toxins and bad breath from constipation.

3. Exercise
Exercise at least 30 minutes a day can improve your digestion. And the physical activity will helps to keep things moving on the inside.

4. Lifestyle

Regular exercise can improve your mood, stamina and sex life. 
Photo Credit www.facebook.com/zairol.sham.5

• Let go of stress
• Avoid eating too much food at one meal. Eat smaller portion instead.
• Eliminate foods that cause constipation like junk foods, pastries, cheese, ice cream, whole milk, and processed foods. 
• Go to the bathroom when you get the urge. If you hold the urge often enough, your body will stop telling you when it needs to go. 

Now your turn...
Do you have anything to add to this list? I want to hear your story or opinion and how you cure/avoid constipation. 

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Weird but True: Laughing Too Much is Dangerous

You must have heard that laughing can help you burn calories. Scientist have discovered that laughing intensely for an hour can burn as many calories as lifting weight for 30 minutes. It's no secret anymore that the act of laughing can also keeps you young. But be warned, healthy habits can become a health risk. The old cliche, "I almost died laughing" is true. Laughing can kill you!

Laughter is not always the best medicine

How laughing can kill you?

When you laugh too much for hours, it can be difficult to take a deep breath. This causes a drop in blood pressure and decreases the amount of oxygen that reaches the brain, which can lead to fainting. According to Interesting Health Facts, this condition called laughter-induced syncope. This isn't usually fatal, but there’s the risk of injury during the faint. The good news, laughter-induced syncope is very rare.

It’s also possible that a person with advanced heart disease might experience a rapid drop in blood pressure during hard laughter that could be life-threatening, but there aren't a lot of cases of this in the literature.

Funny: Can you relate to this? Eat food in class when the teacher is not looking.
Image from memeblender.com

"Laugh to Death" Cases

• Alex Mitchell died after twenty-five minutes of continuous laughter while watching the "Kung Fu Kapers" episode of The Goodies On 24 March 1975. Cardiologists believe Mr Mitchell suffered from a rare heart rhythm disorder, Long QT syndrome, which can induce cardiac arrest when triggered by exertion or adrenaline.
• Ole Bentzen, a Danish audiologist, laugh himself to death while watching the film "A Fish Called Wanda" in 1989. The scene where Ken gets the chips up his nose remind him of his joke a few years earlier with his family during dinner, where he put a piece of cauliflower up his and every family members nose as a joke and made a bet with them on who could eat up their carrots without the cauliflower falling out. He laughed so hard thinking about the dinner-incident that his heart stopped. Bentzen's heart rate went between 250-500 beats per minute and he eventually succumbed to cardiac arrest.

Bottom Line 

Extremely strong emotional states, be it sadness or happiness can be harmful to the heart, on rare occasions causing an abnormal rhythm which can be life-threatening.

When's the last time you laughed so hard you couldn't catch your breath? What happened? Leave a comment and share to me about it.

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Non Scale Victory on a Bad Week

It's been a bad week for me. I gained weight on my diet and it's the worst feeling in the world. Now I'm taking Laurie comment into consideration, and trying to decide what day to weigh in. Monday might not be the best time to weigh-in because I’m most likely go off plan on the weekend. Weighing myself on Wednesday or Friday may gave me time to correct my eating if I'd slightly gone over at the weekend. However weigh-in on Monday morning might motivate me to eat and exercise better on the weekend knowing a weigh-in was in the near future.

What do you say, what is the best day to weigh in?

Though the number on the scale this week drive me mad, I still have a better reason to celebrate. If you read my previous post, you'll know that I'm kind of "addicted" to fiber supplement. Fiber supplements has a number of health benefits, including normalize bowel functions but I use it to 'undo' a splurge.

I certainly feel discourage after realize that I have eaten more than I planned on fun outing last weekend. I don't want to deny that it's really tempting to take another shot of fiber supplement. But I want to be less dependent on this laxative to lose weight. I haven't bought fiber supplement beginning this April, and I didn't either buy one when I tempted so this week. I simply go back to healthy eating. Victory!!!

I hope you guys are having a great week! This post is a link up to KTJ Weighing In.

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Non Scale Motivation to Lose Weight

This is a bit late. 

I renewed my weight loss commitment last week and promise to weigh myself every Monday to track my progress. So I already started to exercise everyday and watch what I eat. Sisterly outing last weekend was fun and I slipped my diet a bit but I make sure I didn't went too far.

However, it was so upsetting when I step on the scale last Monday. Though I didn't expect any loss, I wish that I would at least maintain my weight after a religious workouts all the previous week. And I get so frustrated to gained weight!

I just thought that a little cheat on the weekend will not ruin my weight loss effort. The weigh-in result pissed me off and I break my vow to not eat instant noodles and any fat food the whole month. Instead, I ate mindlessly the whole Monday. Now I come back to my sane. Dust myself off and back on track.

My motivation is starting to wane, but apart from the April weight loss goal and this 101 reason to lose weight, this few non-scale factor are what actually power me through to hopping back on the diet wagon.

1) New handphone

Pink Galaxy Note 2

My old handphone need a change. Even though the apps, email, and Internet access came in handy as a stay-at-home mom, but it’s the convenience that interest me. Calendar, phone book, Agenda, Calculator, camera, entertainment for myself and kids, research tool, GPS, iPod, run tracker, dictionary and phone all in one neat little package, you can fit it in any pocket or handbag! I like to takes pictures of my children and it only takes 2 seconds to whip out your phone to catch anything that wasn’t planned. The hubs promise to rewards me with a new handphone if only I reach the 50kg target. I am really eyeing on that smartphone and I want so much to lose weight to be able to claim my 'prize'.

2) Weight loss bet

If you still remember, I make a weight loss bet with my diet buddy. If any one of us fail to lose at least 3kg this month, she has to pay $25 to the winner. Though the amount is small, I still refuse to be the loser.

3) Old picture

I hate to publish my unphotoshopped picture online. I never feel comfortable to have old friends seeing how in bad shape I am now. I never feel good about myself after have gained a horrendous 20kg amount of weight the past 2 years. This non airbrushed picture is exclusively for Her Diary reader only LOL. Comparing myself now with my old self giving me a boost of motivation. I want to back to my old self and get my mojo back! Our 6th wedding anniversary is around the corner, it's on May. I want to take a wedding anniversary picture with a "wedding concept" and I want to look fabulous in every snap. That is another strong reason to lose weight.  

Back to you: This April, what is going to give you the burning drive to stick to your weight-loss plan? They should be something that will drive you to work harder.

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Blogger of 'Token Fat Girl' has Passed Away

It has come to my attention that Lorrie Fenn, the blogger behind the Token Fat Girl blog, has passed away.  I know the news from Black Girls Get Fit. This is such a sad news. I'm only a stranger to her blog who happens to be inspired by her strong spirit. Indeed, Lorrie's blog is one of the first weight loss blog I read. She put blogging on hold, and I have wondered about her since.


In her final blog post, she mention about taking a blog break:

It’s been a struggle for me to keep the blog up this past year, if not longer. To be frank, I’m bored with talking about fat, food, and fitness. I’m tired of reading about it as much as I am writing about it.

I’m not, however, tired of working towards being a healthier person. But, blogging about this, doesn’t feel healthy to me anymore. It feels degrading. I find myself waiting for others to tell me if what I ate looks healthy enough, or if my diet plan is to their standards, if I’m eating few enough calories, if I’m losing weight like they did, moving like they are, doing it their way. Congratulations and encouragement when they approve, silence when they don’t. I’m done waiting on approval and acceptance with my weight loss.

Lorrie unexpectedly passed away of cardiac arrest while exercising at the gym on March 15, after her 30th birthday. Her family believe it was connected to a heart condition she had to be hospitalized for when she was very young. Her husband, Josh set up a memorial page for Lorrie to honor her. This page has a link to the American Heart Association fundraising page to raise money for this good cause in hopes of saving someone else’s life.

Deepest condolences to family and friends.

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Why Diet Keep Failing: 3 Diet Destructors and Ways to Navigate the Danger Zone

I was supposed to spend the last weekend with my family at my in-laws. But we has postponed the out-of-town trip upon my sisters' unplanned visit. I had lots of fun with my single lady sisters, and my kids were having a splendid time with their aunts too. Although I enjoy the get-together time, it was not the same with my diet. Weekend is always a deadly diet destructors. It's not easy to make a good food choices in a zone like this. 

What strategy do you use to stick with your diet plan when you're in the similar surroundings?

Happy Hour: Some pictures from our weekend outing

1. Weekend and Happy Hour

Weekend is our happy hour. Since we have school off and hubs also has off Saturday and Sunday, it's just a perfect time to spend some quality family time together. Mall walking, or playground visit is tiring and I often end up breaking my diet rules.

Solution: When you enter this danger zone, Shape advice to drink water to hydrate yourself. Sometimes we are not drink enough water, so we often mistaken hunger for thirst. A proper planning before heading out for fun family outing is also helpful to avoid temptation to indulge to unhealthy choices. Plan ahead to select which restaurant to stop, and what foods to order there.

2. Vacation

As it was a school break, we choose to spent an Easter week at my parents' house. Like I always mention in my previous post, it was hard to stay committed to the diet plan when you were away from home. My parents have too many stock of foods at home. And when I have a gathering with my sisters, we love to try new recipes. So most of the activity of the week was cooking and eating.

Solution: According to Shape, it's still possible to enjoy your vacation without blowing your diet. One solution is to choose to treat yourself on even days and practice moderation on odd days. Or, if  you decide to enjoy whatever you want whenever you want it, include a plan for getting back on track as soon as you return home.

3. Long hour road travel

Boring: When you're bored on the road trip, eating seems like fun.

It took almost 2 hours drive to my in-law's house and over 2 hours drive to my parents. If my husband is not playing golf on Saturday, we usually either plan for a family outing or travel out of town to visit our parents. Snacking is one way to beat boredom on a road trip. But it's also happens to be my weight-gain culprit.

Solution: Prepare something at home an easy, healthy and portable snacks (such as nuts or some reduced-fat string cheese, or a few dried apricots, a piece of fresh fruit, or air-popped popcorn) to munch on the trip.

I want to hear from you...

• At what situation is your diet keeps failing? 
• How do you stick to your diet resolution when you're most likely to encounter the Diet Destructor in certain situation? 

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Are Your Love-Hate Relationship With Exercise Making You Fat? You Need These Reality Check!

Yay! I did full body workouts for 3 days in a row and plan to be consistent. For some people, this is nothing to brag about. I knew some people running up to 12K. But for me, this is consider big. I manage to drag my lazy fat butt to exercise. I eat pretty clean all this week but I'm still learning every day, trying to improve my diet. That two are my NSV this week.

Photo Credit lazy to exercise image by Jokeroo from weheartit.com

I am constantly blaming my love for food to not exercise. I think exercising will makes no difference if I keep eating. But a weight loss bet with my diet buddy is a motivation for me to do exercise. I am not too familiar with the DietBet game, but we do something similar to that. We are going to report our progress this end of April and we must lose at least 3kg or the loser will have to pay $25 to the winner. If we both reach the goal, then it will be 0-0 draw.

Do you make excuses for not exercising? I read Dave Nuku's points of view on Shape magazine on ways to beat those most common excuses once and for all, and glad to share with you. Dave Nuku is the regional fitness manager at Fitness First.

Excuse #1 - You love food very much. You thought, exercising will makes no difference if you keep eating.

Answer: Exercise always makes a huge difference to your health and elevate your mood immediately no matter your diet is bad or not. Balanced healthy diet and exercise is a winning combination, but even if you can do only one, it's worth doing.

Found on [ source ]

Excuse #2 - You really hate exercising.

Answer: No one is born loving exercise. Start small, and find activities that you like — cycling, walking the dog, or badminton. If you like doing something, you'll keep doing it. Give yourself a chance.

Excuse #3 - You're too tired to work out at the end of the day

Answer: It's normal to not workout all the time. The key to being a consistent exerciser is to turn up at the gym without expectation on yourself to work out hard. Some workouts will be just average, and some will be incredible. But if you are consistent, you will achieve your goals.

This post is link to KTJ Weighing In. Do you have a weight loss secret to share? Let me know and share your experiences with weight loss. 

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April Weight Loss Goal and Self-Challenge

I don't believe it's April, do you?

{ source }

I'm upset that I made no major weight loss accomplishment the past 3 months. I was like lost a bit, then gained it back. I feel like I'm back to square one after a couple of times of cheating.  But I'm not ready to give up on losing weight, yet. I recreate this April goal to make sure I'm heading in the right direction.

April Mini Goals
Weight loss goal - 47kg. My before-marriage-ideal weight.
Why? I want to lose weight...
1) so that I can prevent weight-related diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis
2) so that I can chase my children around without passing out
3) so that I can feel better and confident about my body
4) so that I can look the best I can in vacation photos, and not be afraid of looking fat in tagged pictures
5) so that I can helping other people lose weight so they can look like me :p

April Mini Strategy
1) Exercise at least 10 minutes (the more the better) everyday except Sunday
2) Avoid foods and drinks with hidden salt, sugar and fat!
3) Create a deficit of 1000 calories per day. The calorie deficit calculator, estimates that I eat 1,200 calorie per day to creates the deficit.
4) Stop greasy takeaways, fast food; cut out bread (my favorite), chocolates and ice cream
5) Weigh myself once a week, every Monday to track my progress.

April Challenge
1) Drink more water each day. I'm going for four 20-ounces bottle.
2) Lose 1 kg per week
3) No room for cheating the whole month
4) Eat more fruits and vegetables

source

What is your April goal? You may have assign your goals to different aspects of your life: financial, career, family and home? I'd love to hear from you.

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Kim Kardashian Maternity Fashion Disaster and March Blog Recap

Voluptuous: Kim Kardashian always knows how to dress her curvy body 

Curvaceous Kim Kardashian is no stranger to body hugging dress and tight clothing. Curvy is often mistaken for fat. That is why wearing well-fitting clothes is the most flattering styles to accentuates curvy body. Now pregnant and due to give birth in July, happy mom-to-be Kimmy proud of her changing shape. But she is not ready to make the fashion transition from short, tight dress to comfortable maternity clothes, just yet.

Terrible taste: Kim Kardashian is trying so hard to look pregnant in numbers of
tight and short clothes

Possibly, she is afraid that her pregnancy will makes her look heavy, and picks the style to highlight her curves. Or maybe she simply want to shows off her growing baby bump. There's no denying that Kim is seems struggling to dress her pregnant figure. And I can totally relate myself to her.

Made for pregnant mom: Kim Kardashian looks more comfortable in this roomy maternity-style wear.  

I felt very fat in my last pregnancy. I looked like I was 9 months pregnant by the time I was 7 months. I vow to lose all the baby weight before I get pregnant again. I want to started a pregnancy at what would be considered a very healthy weight. I want to look pregnant and not fat when I get pregnant again. I'm always on time with my period and this is why I was a little freaked out when I missed my period a week last month. I worry about weight gain during pregnancy because I am already overweight.  Hence, silly question came up: Can I lose weight during pregnancy?

Here are another recap from March:

MOTIVATION

• How to getting past a motivational plateau - We all stuck at a plateau at one time, and these are prescriptions from Dr. Phil on how to back on track.
• SWOT analysis for weight loss goal - strategic tools that I use to monitor my weight loss performance

DIET PLAN

• Juicing with blender - My attempts at a juice fast
• Confession: I resort to fiber supplement to lose weight 

WORKOUT IDEAS

• Tummy shrinking tips from expert - the no crunches flat belly trick
• 3 ways to make time for fitness - Some cool ideas to squeeze in exercise into your busy schedule
• Yoga and Christian - are they compatible?

Your turn now! Share to me your favorite post from last month. 

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