I haven't written anything about my quest for living a healthier life in here, except for my birthday blog last year. The reason being is simply because it's hard to squeeze in some time to compose a blog post. I'm writing this at one in the morning cause I had a cup of coffee at 8pm that makes it hard to sleep. And too tired to do anything work related :-).

Anyway, my #FitNFab journey is rather long. Of course it has to be long. In fact, it shouldn't have an expiration date because that's how we should live, right?. It's not always smooth sailing of course. There were times when I failed and gave in to the hot and spicy bowl of Indomie and homemade tahu isi. There were also times when I didn't exercise for two weeks straight. But at least I'm proud to say that since October 2011,  I have somehow living a healthier lifestyle, introducing things bit by bit, trying out new things and making it a part of me. I even worked out during traveling to Bandung, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

So it started with running. I've run a little bit here and there but never enjoyed it. Then I realized I didn't wear proper shoes to at least save my feet from injury. The shoes were a pair of Diesel sneakers I got a few years back :p. So I went to Sports Station and got me Reebok Realflex that made all the difference. I still didn't like running but I knew it was something I had to do as I didn't have choice and didn't understand much about exercise. I would run once or twice a week and when I mean by run is probably 10 minutes on the treadmill. I couldn't run for 1k non stop, maybe not even half of it. In addition to steady run, I also did HIIT run and I thought I liked it better. But I was still intrigued with the steady run cause I felt that it something I've never liked and good at so it was just challenging.

In the beginning of 2012, Wulan started to get serious in #FitNFab and even committed to doing some very intensive home workout that lasted for weeks. And boy did it change her body! Of course I was inspired to take my exercise level up a notch. Coincidentally, not long after that..I got home from eating Mie Yamin Bakmie GM and that night I felt so bloated. I was feeling so full and couldn't stand the after taste that I threw up and swore that I would take better control of what goes on through my mouth. And the next day, I had my first red rice at Warung Tekko for lunch and starting to bring my own lunch, replaced the white rice with complex carbs, eat more vegetables and cut down snacks.

Then in April I decided to join Celebrity Fitness next to my office. I even hired a personal trainer because I knew I would be clueless in the gym. My personal trainer was good as he was the top trainer in the branch. I still maintained my diet although I did have occasional KFC and didn't understand much about nutrition either. Then I started to see a difference, I dropped 3 kilos, my clothes were looser, my energy level soared and I felt stronger. But then Ramadhan came so I stopped workout altogether. Once Ramadhan was over, I went for a family vacation to Melbourne and Sydney and didn't think much about what I ate. So that was like almost 2 months out of the program.

And then the most annoying thing was Celebrity Fitness moved further down the road in Kemang Raya. I couldn't walk there anymore, I couldn't just went there after lunch to do a quick workout then came back to the office. I either had to do it early in the morning before work or after. But my trainer didn't have slot before 10AM so it was impossible to find a time that match both of our schedule.

In October, I decided to switch personal trainer. One that was available in the morning. I trained with him for a few times although I had to admit I liked the first one better as he pushed me more. But well, I didn't have choice. I haven't finished the 12 session but then worked started to get even more crazier so the time between session was getting longer and longer until I didn't bother to contact the trainer anymore.

In January, WRP and Female Daily collaborated on a diet program where we were asked to drink only WRP Nutrition Drink for breakfast and dinner for six weeks. When I learned more about it, I knew it was something I wouldn't follow religiously as it just didn't sound sustainable to me, but it was a quick fix. I also loved the fact that they send us a body combat & Shbam instructor once a week. To top it off, we also collaborated with Master Bootcamp where they trained us twice a week in the office. That is something I couldn't resist :).

So in 6 weeks, I dropped 2 kilos, lost a bit of body fat and gained 2 kilos of muscle. Of course I was happy but I wasn't satisfied! I wanted to gain more muscles and not in the level of 'obese' in terms of body fat percentage. Once the program was over, I was even more strict to my food intake and studied more about clean eating and how to lose body fat. Around that time, I met Tiara, the fittest woman I know, who was about to introduce her Eat, Love, Lift program to the world. Three weeks ago, I decided to become her client and I'm now enjoying the journey so much. I'll continue with the story next time. All I can say is I live waayyy even more healthier now.

Anyway, during the past year, I still run pretty regularly and surprisingly began to like it. Turned out, I hated running on the treadmill as it bores the hell out of me. A morning run in GOR Saparua Bandung changed my perspective. I enjoyed the experience so much that I hit my first 5k with best personal record. Now it still surprises me that I can run 6k non-stop! And this is coming from a girl who couldn't run for 5 minutes straight a year ago. Now I run almost every week in Senayan area with Oki and the kids. But I know running has its negatives too and it won't take me to reach my goal so I won't be too crazy with it.

The past year, I have noticed what exercise and clean eating can do for me. First, I feel more healthy. I rarely get sick, I think I've only had 2 flu last year. I feel more energetic and rarely get tired. Of course, I feel stronger too and pretty proud of my fitness level. The session with the private trainer was really an investment to learn about the basic technique. I began to LOVE exercise that I tried everything from yoga, pilates, zumba, shbam, TRX, masterbootcamp, body combat, body pump, rpm, kick boxing. I enjoyed kick boxing A LOT and will sign up for a regular session next time. I learned a lot of new things too, both in exercise and nutrition department.

So far, it's been an interesting journey and it's time to crank it up to another level. Wish me luck.