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Monday, March 12, 2012

Brooks 21km Run Report

Stadium Bukit Jalil. I have not entered this stadium since it was built for Commonwealth Game in 1998. At most, drive through it, but never went inside. Yesterday, i had the privilege to not only enter the Stadium, but ran on the expensive rubber turf as well!

Myself, wifey and Phui Tin carpooled to Bukit Jalil and we reached there about 5am. Parking was easy at that hour as most people would had tried to park further away for easier exit. Myself not being familiar with the place just parked at the next place available. After all, we are there to run, so parking a bit away is not a big issue. But we found out we were parked right where it is nearest upon exiting! How is that for blessing?Oh ya, parking was free in Carpark C!

With 30minutes to gun off, the crowd started to swell and we bumped into many familiar faces. It is always nice to see running friends out on a Sunday morning for a run!

Reen. She got Norman, my childhood buddy to run! Power of love!

Training partner for me and wifey for the next 3 marathons

Caught Hadi!

The race gun off at 5:37, which was 7minutes off schedule. It took us 3minutes to clear the start line. The amount of people running 21km was massive. In fact, up till KM18, i was still running with the same group of people that was moving at the same pace as i am!
The organisation by the Bukit Jalil Running Club was fantastic. If there is one improvement to be made, it would be the litter bins at the water station. There were simply not enough of plastic bag around and cups were thrown everywhere on the road. Malaysian runners, though slightly more matured, has not embraced the spirit of cleanliness. Maybe the organiser should try emulating Hong Kong Ultra 100km by giving a disposable/foldable cup to each participant - no cup, no drink!
Apart from that, the route was good. There were actually more downhills than uphills. The climb were short and adequate enough to work the heart. The downhill allow for a long active recovery. It was a very comfortable to be holding a 6:00 pace for most of the way. Wifey was leading me most of the time. We even managed a cool 3:20 pace for about 1km on one stretch!

Run profile. The ascent was 705m and descent was 698m.

The given race vest was very see through and it doesn't absorb sweat at all. It will wick the sweat off almost immediately and this will cause the sweat to drip down on the shorts, run down the legs and subsequently, wet the shoes. While that is really not a complain, i must learn to wear full length socks and not the 3/4 type as there are too little material to absorb the sweat.

Looked like i will be maintining this haircut for some time. Note the running vest. So shiny! Thank you Doc Pui San for the pic!

The running route passes along mainroad, next to highway and even in housing area. The race started with the runner looping around Bukit Jalil Sports Complexes and passing through Astro and KL-Seremban highway. Apart from drivers that was just too impatient at the Astro-KLSeremban slip road, traffic control was good. However, there is a lot of room for improvement (such as placing marshals at correct places rather than they grouping together at one spot).
We then ran along or under the MEX highway, passing by IMU before turning into Taman Gembira (Happy Garden) and at the fringe of OUG and United Garden. That part of the run was almost downhill all the way and provided a lot of recovery opportunity. The route then brought us running parallel to the MEX highway and that was at KM17 that i lost wifey. I had some issue (no excuse given, as pain is temporary) and had to keep adjusting myself to lessen the discomfort of the Sciatica that made a sudden visit after so long. Carrying on the final 5km was pretty much a "ignore the pain" kinda thing.

The route then loop back to the same IMU route and towards the Bukit Jalil Golf&Country Club, runings pass those condominiums built (and now owned) for Commonwealth games. Weather was great and there was no complain. Along the way, i bumped into an amputee doing the 10km run. Immediately it reminded me of Bro Shariff from Singapore otherwise known as Singapore Blade Runner (SBR). This young man certainly showed those with two legs how to do it! Well done bro! I wish you well!

Inspiration! Photo from my Instagram

Eventually, the final 1km brought the runner back to the Bukit Jalil Stadium via entrance C.

I finished my race in 2:40(gun time) and i supposed my net time would be about 2:36. It wasn't the best timing, but under the circumstances that made me lost my momentum, i was pretty happy. More so when wifey scored another personal best for 21km. She came in at estimated 2:29(gun time) which might produce 2:25 net time. The total distance was actually more than 21km. I recorded 22.19km on my GPS and 22.4km on my Polar. So, wifey's actual PB is much lower! Well done!

Yay! Finished! Can you see how see through the running vest were? You can see the sithloutte of my manboobs and tummy...Thanks Pat Ee for the pic!

As we crossed the finish line, i noticed that runners were all jamming up at the counter that give up the finisher goody bag. It was pretty messy with (what i noticed) some runners taking more than their fair share. I guess the people manning the counter sort of give up when Malaysians forgot their manners again. I was made to understand that there were sufficient finisher goody bags for all! Suggestion would be for the bags/medal to be given once the runner cross the finishing line. That way, only real finisher gets them! Make the runner work for it!

Err...which way to go?

The goody bag has the finisher medal, bottle of Cool Rhino water and a shoe bag from BJRC. Got to be one of the most useful goody bag that was given in a long long time. best of all, no useless brochures! Thank you BJRC, Brooks and all sponsors!

Woohoo! For once, a useful Goodies Bag! Photo from my Instagram

Race Summary
Pros - Great route. Good organisation. Water station sufficient. Commendable traffic control. Great venue.
Cons - Insufficient litter bins for water stations. Ugly Malaysian drivers and runners. Chaotic finish goodies bag collection.
Better - Tau Foo Far at finish. OMG! It was super smooth and i had mine without sugar but with red bean dessert added in! Superb!
Personal Statistic - HRMax at 94% with HRave at 85%. Average pace was 7:15. Fastest pace was 3:20. The route was over distanced by about 1km to 1.2km. My GPS traced 22.19km in total. GOOD for personal mileage! Total kcal burnt to be estimated 1640kcal.
Do You Know That - The Malaysia Airline (MAS) CEO, AJ Yahya ran with you. He clocked an unofficial 2:17 over the 22km distance. Well done Boss Man!

Yummeh! Estimated to be 450kcal! Sorry...can't help it!

Post Update March 12, 2012 12:00
Official Results is out. Click here to check

Saturday 10km MaxHR Run

Was short for time and took every single opportunity to run and clock in some decent mileage. When time s a factor especially when you have a family, you do what you can and all you can to balance the time spent on training and time spent with family.
This morning, I ran from Taman Tun Dr. Ismail (TTDI) Park and it was supposed to be a 7km run up till Royal Selangor Club (RSC) and back to TTDI.
I pushed from the start at 64bpm (heart rate) and it climbed up to 164bpm by the time i touched the first 1.2km up the hill towards KLGCC (the road that runs parallel to the road up Kiara)

Sperm Loop

The HR maintained within the 90% effort as i hammered the route to KLGCC at 5:15-5:30pace. There was no letting up and my intention was to go as fast and as strong as i could. No doubt i can start to feel the saliva starting to accumulate that the lower part of my mouth and will spill out as i roll my head to the pounding of the feet on the ground.
With a lot of effort, i cleared the first 2.5km in 11minutes. That got to be the best feeling. 2.5km distance is up to the junction that turns down to RSC, or go straight towards Sime Darby Convention Centre (SDCC). I decided to see what is in store towards SDCC.

Instead of turning left for Sperm Loop, go STRAIGHT

What lies ahead is 300meters of uphill and 400meters of downhill until you reach the junction that joins with Sprint highway. took a breather there (count of 5) and push off back again. The 400m of uphill climb was torturous, but i ensure the pace did not dip below 7:15.
Quick check on my HRM and it shows 168bpm. Great! With a short downhill towards KLGCC entrance, it is time to pick the pace up again. 5:45 all the way.
I decided to run up Kiara Hill. A short 1.2km uphill. Decided to push as much and as strong as i could. It wasn't a pretty sight with the hyperventilating and effort being generated. Reached the top of the hill a the crossroad and noticed the HR to be coming down from 175bpm. At that stage, i was already at my 95%. WOW!
A quick breather (again to the count of 5) and i darted down the hill and back to the car at the TTDI park.
Came home, washed the HR strap and checked the watch. I managed to cover about 9.8km in 1:08. Big effort with the run as i thought it took me close to 1:30 due to the hills along the route. Elevation gain should be close to 280m over the 5km (one way route). And when i press to see my heart effort. I was shocked to see i busted the 200bpm mark at 203bpm and logged in a 110% effort.

WOW!

I never realised i have my youth of 17 years old again! Tomorrow is the Brooks 21km. I have been given the blessing by wifey to run as fast as i could tomorrow. I guess she found the excuse to leave me further behind and she follow some guys with tighter ass.

Running For Orang Asli : April 28,2012

The Orang Asli Trail Run is happy to announce that this year the trail run will be held on 28th April 2012. Again, organized with a charity purpose and a non-competitive event, the runners can once again give back to the society for this cause ie to assist the Orang Asli villages in the region of Jalan Bentong Lama, en route to Genting Sempah. Started with a bang last year, by the Running for Orang Asli support group, the trail run proved to be one of the first trail for 2011 and was a delight for runners who enjoyed the natural and the lush surrounding of the forest offered in the trail. The Orang Asli themselves scouted the trail for the runners to experience what it was like to run in the forest but proper markings were made for the runners.

It was also an event where the runners had an opportunity to interact with the Orang Asli/Asal. There are not many trail runs that will be offered throughout the year. So for this year, we have planned for a longer trail in the forest and more exciting program, to enable the runners to understand more the nature of the trail run and interaction with the Orang Asli. This year, we have also identified a sustainable project for the OA to continue and we would like to see that materialize maybe in a year or two. In addition, we have added a smaller route for children to experience a trail run too. All in all, its organized with a view for the runners to enjoy a morning in a trail run.

The event (not a race) will be held at Kampung 16, Jalan Bentong Lama (GPS coordinates : 3.325979, 101.754792) and will be organised by the Running for Orang Asli support group (Go LIKE it)

There will be two category which is the 12-15km route (RM35 and for adults only, and a 3km (RM10 for children >5 years and limited spaces for safety purposes)

Registration will be at The Marathon Shop and the organiser hope to get it up and running by Friday (i.e. today). Else, please continue to visit the website or come to this blog for update.

This year, the purpose of the run would be:

1. For Kg Batu 14, Jalan Bentong Lama, a piece of the OA land is being cultivated to be a showcase of OA houses and huts for community centers exemplifying the lifestyle and culture of OA. The intention for this center is to create an eco tourism business for the villagers as extra income whilst maintaining their heritage. This is a sustainable project that the Running for Orang Asli group would like to assist. Reasons to which why they are yet to a obtain government grants will be made known in the event.

2. For Kg Batu 16, Jalan Bentong Lama, this event is created to give an avenue for them to earn extra income by providing the venue for the run, volunteers as marshalls and guides, and for cooking some OA dishes. The OA too would prefer to work for their income rather than be always dependant on donations.

Click the photo, or right click and save as...the photo below for a full larger view of the flyer for the event. Come and support the event for a good cause. Get to know you neighbour and fellow Malaysians!

15 Easy Ways To Portion Healthily

I hope this article finds all of you in good health. This week's blog entry has been focusing on food portion and caloric values. While it is often easy to forget how much we are eating and end up eating way more than we should, steps or suggestion to lessen or normalise the portion has to be in place.

Below are some tips i picked up online and tried in real life that could possibly work (and it did for me). Remember, my motivation to do this is to just fuel the body with enough calorie per day as a sedentary lifestyle (sitting in office) with exercises on weekends doesn't warrant even a 2000kcal diet. Read the previous postings to know how easy it is to bust the 2000kcal in just two meals. Henceforth, here are the 15 Ways that you can experiment to see what works for you.

Easily done at home:

1. Use smaller dishes at meals - it allow the a subjective view on the size you are eating. Normal serving on big plate will look you took little and normal serving on a small plate will make them look full. We are all visual creatures.

2. Serve food in correct portions - read my entry here for guidance.

3. Keep leftovers in separated portion-controlled amounts - this is especially true if you overcooked your pastas or stew and do not want to dispose them off. By portioning them correctly, you will less likely to heat up the whole pot of leftover and eat them in one sitting. You take what is correctly portion, each time

4. Never eat out of the bag or packaging - love nibbling on those Potato chips? One serving is typically 15 chips (or 25grams) and oh boy, those drinks sure goes well with those chips!

5. Don't keep plates of food on the table as you will end up taking more - Same goes with sitting too long on the table. Case in point when Bandit and Aman came over to my home for coffee and the sate was just too good for me to resist...

Eating Out:

1. Ask for half or smaller portions - sound silly, but believe me when i actually ask for less noodles when i have my lunch outside. I pay the same price, but at least i do not need to run 5km to burn it off.

2. Portion your food when served - The typical western dinner will consist of a main meal (usually meat), with salad, corn and chips. They are usually enough for two servings. We sit down and gobble one down in one serving. After all, they are paid for. Bring along a container and put away some - or there is no reason to be shy to ask for a separate plate and request the restaurant to pack the other half away.

3.If you have starter or dessert, share! - Sharing is caring. You wouldn't want your partner to overeat, don't you?

4. Skip those drinks - and settle for plain ice water. A sweetened drink such as fruit juice (no fruit juice is as pure as those made at home) and bottomless cola packs calories without you realising. A can of cola sets you back 140kcal, that is two eggs down your system effortlessly!

5. Control those condiments - Those dressings and sauces sure look good and make your food taste better. Remember that each items you add on, including tomato ketchup or chili sauce, has oil and sugar added into the food. Some people are known to immerse their food into these sauces and swallow up to twice the calories than intended.

Grocery made easy

1. Always read the label - it contains all the needed information on nutrition, serving size and ingredient. No better place to start. If the items that make the food is more difficult to pronounce than Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, skip.

2. Beware of packaging that are smaller - Smaller serving sizes do not gives you the real portion you need. You will end up justifying that you only had THREE SMALL ones and that could had been equal to 2 large ones.

3. Ice Cream - Do not eat them out from the carton or container. You will finish them off. Remember, one BULB SIZE is a serving!

4. Choose lean meat - Meats such as beef and mutton are available as "weight watcher" lean meat in more expensive supermarket such as Jaya Grocer or Village Grocer. You will end up paying about 20% to 30% more than normal variant, but they are worth it. Remember, a gram of fat gives you 9kcal. Every gram you skim reduces 9kcal. Now, you can have that 3oz (or a deck card size) of meat without feeling too guilty!

5. Go green! - Vegetables of all sorts are very low in calories. The general indication calls for a tennis ball serving, which you can have at least two before your stomach tells you enough is enough. Eat your greens!

And here is an extra tips (i know i say 15 Easy ways, but this one has no portion pre-requisite in them) is to CHEW your food. Your brain takes up to 20minutes to register that you are full. Gobbling down your food will only lead to overeating. Chewing not only uses up more energy but they also will help your digestive system to process the food better. You will have less incidences of heartburn or indigestion, plus you get to taste that food in your mouth longer and enjoy it. If you are a big fan of soup, drink them slowly too. A bowl of Cream of Mushroom has more calories than a serving of meat. This is due to the ingredient used. Sipping slowly will surely allow your stomach to adjust to the "filling up" process and by the time you get to your main meal, that "small" serving (that is correctly proportion) doesn't look small anymore!

If you think these tips are good, please share them!

Herbs Infused Dory Fish With Hummus

There was two slices of Dory fillet left in the fridge and we were planning what to eat for dinner. It became an inevitable choice especially when eating out is not the main option nowadays. Dory fish is not an exotic fish. It is not expensive and they are often caught in big amount by fisherman. Dory fish are known to be deep sea fish and they are often sold filleted. Main reason is that they are ugly fish to see on the table.

Who would had wanted to eat this??? Photo from TripAdvisor.com

Dory fish is super low in calorie, being an almost fat free fish (it has a compressed flat profile) with 100gram scoring 100kcal only. The flesh is white and has little flavour - which explain why they are used mainly for commercial food such as those available in fast food such as fish burger or fish&chips.
Here is my suggested marinade to get a bit more flavour into the fish. People usually eat fish with Tar Tar sauce, but i decided on something slightly healthier and provide some carbs as well and made my own hummus (if it qualifies as such) from chickpeas.
What You Need:
Dory Fish and Marinate
Dory fillet - one slice per person. Typically about 6 inch long and about half inch thick. Roughly 100grams/slice.
1 tablespoon Olive oil
Approximately 1 teaspoon of black pepper (grinded), enough to sparingly coat the fish. More if you like spicier.
Herbs - dry such as rosemary, thyme. You can buy them cheap from baking shop.
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Leave the fish and the marinade for at least 4 hours in the fridge. The herbs and balsamic vinegar will be absorbed into the fish. Sadly, i deleted that photo i taken of the marinate and the fish.
Hummus
60grams or one handful of chickpea, drained
1 tablespoon of Olive oil
1 teaspoon of Mustard seeds (optional)
A dash or squeeze of lemon (i use lemon extract)

Chickpea or Kacang Kuda. One handful or the size of tennis ball is about 60grams

Before you grill or pan-sear the fish, i would suggest that you prepare the hummus first. The usual way of doing this would be using a food processor, which i decided to just use a fork as the amount i am making is enough for one serving. As the peas will be dry when you mash them up, i use a spoon of olive oil to moisten them up. For a bit of texture and pungent-ness, i throw in a teaspoon of whole mustard seeds. Lemon juice was optional. I put it in as the original hummus recipe actually calls for lemon juice (and tahini or sesame paste).

Hand powered food processor

Mix the hummus up really good to become a smooth paste. Leave it aside and start cooking the dory fillet. It will look like this with the mustard seed peeping out from the paste.

It is sweet, creamy, slightly sourish with mustard seed bursting into flavour as you bite into them.

Fish cooks faster than meat and care must be taken not to overcook fish or you will destroy the protein content in it. Dory fish, as per describe, has little fat and you might over dry the fish if you cooked it too long. Pan sear on medium heat or grill at low heat. I used the grill (non-stick) to prepare the fish.

Marinate sizzling on the hot pan

Let the fish cooked for 1 to 1.5 minutes on each side and flip over twice, for a total cooking time of 6 minutes. As the fillet are usually about 1/2 inch thick, it will cook fast. Avoid overcooking or it will flake.

Nicely done. Herbs and balsamic vinegar on the fillet. Hummus is at the back

So, what how much does this cost, calorie wise? With some learnt and experienced judgement, each serving (one fillet with half scope of hummus) works out to be about 300kcal. As olive oil was used pretty much, the majority of the calories will come from this good oil. A check with MyFitnessPal shows i was almost accurate.

Missed out mustard seed which sets back about another 15kcal.

At 550kcal for two serving, one slice with hummus would be about 250kcal! I would say this is certainly diet friendly! A serving will provide about 25grams of protein (21 from fish and balance from chickpea), 5grams carbohydrate (all from chickpea), 16gram fat (15g from olive oil, 1 from fish), 0.5gram sodium and about 2grams fiber (chickpea).

Juicy, savoury and healthy!

In fact, if you are hungry, two serving of this is just equivalent to a bowl of Curry Mee - definitely a healthier choice (The fish) for weight watcher!

Hope you enjoyed this!
Update: March 7, 2012 Afternoon
Be careful when buying Dory fish. They are mostly farmed fish in unsuitable condition for human consumption. Try buying Dory from Euro country (as they have stricter control on chemical usage). Dory is a generic name for a type of white fish. Dory in this region are widely farmed in Vietnam and they are often sold as fillet to fast food or fish restaurant. They are also sold as Ikan Pangas and widely available in hypermarket and also at wet market.

Ikan Pangas. Photo taken here

Back in 2008, there were concerns about how these were farmed. Lets just say that these fish, much like how the local farm cat fishes, receive the same treatment and food such as innards and waste to fatten them up. Do a search and be an informed consumer.
As for us at home, we will eat this sparingly. The above recipe can be used with Salmon and also Cod too. The variation of fishes is limitless.

Determining Your Food Portion

From the previous two entries on Food Calorie Here and Here, the next most important thing is to recognise what is meant as a serving of the food to prevent overeating and over-justification of what we put into our mouth. Serving size is relative and subjective. If you have been eating a large bowl or plate of rice and justify it as a serving, anything less than that would be half or less than a serving - but you could be already eating the equivalent of 2 servings with your half serving.
Here is an easy guide to help compare against every day's object.

Vegetables
A cup of vegetables is the size of a tennis ball
A cob of corn are usually compared against a typical length of a pencil (8 inches).
A serving of potato is the size of a computer mouse.
A serving of mash potato is the size of a light bulb
A cup of french fries is about a tennis ball (or roughly 10 sticks...)
Dairy Products
A serving of cheddar cheese should not be bigger than the typical 3x3 inches piece
A serving of Yogurts is the size of a tennis ball
Half cup of ice-cream or frozen yogurts is size of a light bulb
A cup of milk is 250ml or a typical mug
Grains
A cup of cereal is a tennis ball size
Half serving of rice is a light bulb size (now, how many light bulb you have on your plate today?)
A serving of pasta (including noodles, meehoon, pan mee, Italian pastas etc etc) is tennis ball size
A serving of pancake is one CD size
Meat and Protein
3oz of meat (beef, chicken, lamb, all lean cut) is size of a deck of card.
3oz of fish is a cheque book
1/4cup of nuts is about the size of a golf ball
A serving of tofu is about the size of a cassette tape (if you still remember how it looked like)
One serving of burger is a deck of card
One slice of pizza is a cheque book
Fruits
One apple/orange is a tennis ball size
Half cup of grapes, berries is a light bulb
One banana, pineapple, papaya and melon is a length of a 8 inch pencil
Fats & Oil
1 tablespoon of any oil and fat is equivalent to a Malaysian old 50sen coin (not the new one yah)
Treats
One slice of cake is a deck of card (yeap, you been taking two servings)
One brownie is the size of a dental floss box (those 50m type, not the 100m big box type ;-))
One serving of chocolate is also a dental floss box

So, there you have it. Look at your food portion today and be honest to yourself if you had overeaten. Bear in mind that the caloric values of the food posted in the previous two posting are based mostly on the serving sizes above.
Now do you see why you are putting on weight easily?
Next: How to still enjoy your food and not put on weight.

The Malaysian Food Caloric Guide Part 2

Follow up from Part 1 of the Caloric guide which focused mainly on raw food, here are more information that i managed to scour from MyFitnessPal. The Caloric content of the typical hawker food available in Malaysia and how you can use them as a rough estimate and guidance to your daily diet. From the look of it, it seems that the typical Malaysian meal would cost the eater about 500kcal/meal. Ain't a bad thing if you have enough discipline and selective to what you want to eat - but bad as the portion are often wrong and we tend to overeat (by ordering a LARGE serving).
Enjoy and be aware what you eat (click for full size viewing)

2 Pieces of Roti Canai at 800kcal. Wowzers! Isn't that what i see a lot of people eat for breakfast?

Mee Goreng Mamak+ Teh Tarik - another 800kcal kautim

128kcal for a Currypuff? Better off with 2 hardboiled eggs. Just saying.

Cocount Beef? Rendang is it?

Murtabak Ayam - 700kcal!

Char Kuey Teow - two variation with two different calories? Should be circa 500kcal with eggs.

Dragon Fruits at 53kcal. WIN!

Nasi Dagang - 500kcal :(

Briyani at 600kcal.

Kungfu Kuey Teow (Cantonese Fried) 350kcal.

Rojak Pasembor at 750kcal!

1 Sate is 24kcal. 10 sticks is 240. ONLY if it is LEAN meat. we all know Sate has more fat than anything else.

Telur Bistik - Innocent eggs gone wrong. 70kcal for an egg ends up 250kcal due to other items put inside.

Many Mat Salleh Selection. More processed food?

Eating out is difficult. The above are just the caloric content. If you want to know more about what is inside each of the food i.e. the fat, protein and carb content, head over to MyFitnessPal.com and sign up for a free account. You can start tracking what you eat and make better informed choices. Eating healthy is easy if you know what you can binge and what you should not.
Next entry will be on food serving portion. Many of us mis-portion our food and end up having double, but count it as a serving.

The Malaysian Food Caloric Guide Part 1

Following up on my posting on BMR and making it relevant to what we eat in Malaysia everyday, i want to share some paper cutting i kept a while ago that was published in The Star (i can't remember which day/date it was, but it was during the Chinese New Year season.) Credit is to The Star for today's sharing.

The food caloric value are mostly based on the offerings available during Chinese New Year, but it serves as a good guidance.
My 50sens thoughts follow suit after each photos and my comments will be in italic (if any). Click to enlarge each photos below.

The single most misleading fact is that Malaysian do not require 2460kcal/day (male) or 2180kcal/day (women). This is inflated assuming a moderately active person that exercises 3-5 times a day. Lets not kid ourselves, how many exercise more than 3 times a week to start with???

Irresistible barbecued meat, usually pork and chicken. If you must, go for the slice meat variety instead of the mince meat variety. When meat are minced, there are higher chances of other parts and fats included and hidden.

Also known as pucuk rebung, these are nice crunchy bits that goes well in stewed meat. High sodium content and should be eaten sparingly. Known to cause cramps at night if taken excessively.

Chicken keel is the best possible cut of a chicken. It has the least fat and the same caloric value as two eggs. Steam it for that protein intake. Take note that this is RAW meat, fried would add on easily another 200kcal.

Double the calorie of chicken keel and triple the fat content. There is a reason why the meat from drumstick is always moist - hidden fats in between the muscle/meat. Fry it and you will instantly add another 200kcal

If there is a bigger evil, it would be chicken wings. Not because of the fat content, but for the chemical and hormones usually deposit here. The caloric rating and fat rating in the paper looked suspiciously low. With more skin (fat) than meat, the total fat should at least be the same as the drumstick. Don't even fry it, just AVOID!

Fishes are low in calories when compared against the portion that you will be eating. Steam fishes is best and avoid deep fried fishes.

Why not? They are delicious and low in calories. Just watch the cholesterol. ;-)

The staple of Malaysians and Asians. No mean is complete without rice. Be aware that a bowl of rice is 160grams and that usually comes out to half a of a 6 inch plate. Most of us take more than we should and instantly hit the 500kcal mark in one sitting. Banana leave is notorious as the portion get out of hand as anything lesser than a mountain would look very little on the big leaf. I would recommend taking a maximum of ONE serving a day - meaning split your rice to half and half for lunch and dinner. Trust me, you won't die of hunger if you do that.

Apart from rice, Malaysians love noodles. While there are many variants the sample above shows homemade noodles or pasta. Yellow noodles usually used outside has 50% more calories and potentially more chemical as preservatives. Eat sparingly, especially those yellow type. Also, once these noodles are fried ala Mamak style, it will be at least 500kcal per serving.

The above focused mainly on raw food before preparation. Bear in mind anything cooked and fried would carry double the calorie value. It is easy to bust your daily caloric intake and end up eating more than you should - and put on weight.
Next entry will focus more on the estimated caloric values of other known Malaysian hawker's foods that can serve as a guideline if you are watching your weight or just plan to eat clean. Wait up for that next week.

Basal Metabolic Rate BMR

Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR (sometimes known as Resting Metabolic Rate or RMR) define your bare basic caloric need for the day. It is the theoretical number where it is the minimum you should consume to expand (or use) for vital body function such as the normal function of the heart, lung, kidneys, liver, gastrointestinal (GI) system, muscle, skin and reproductive organ.
Technicality and science/research aside, BMR are often used by doctors and nutritionists when determining an appropriate diet for overweight patients or people with illness.
With this understanding, BMR is the absolute minimal caloric need for a person if all they do is to sit down, do nothing but rest.
Caloric expenditure differs from person to person, with common denominator such as age, sex and your height. Ambient temperature of where the person is does effect the required BMR as well, with colder countries or condition generally requires additional caloric intake to maintain the body core temperature.
It is estimated that the hardest working vital organ in the body is the liver where it consumed up to 27% of the BMR. It also make sense as the liver singlehandedly processes all the chemical we take (alcohol, cigarettes, artificial flavouring, sugar, medicine etc). It is also no surprise that a person with damage liver typically will expire sooner than another person with vital organ illness such as damaged kidneys or palpitating heart.
The Harris-Benedict Study
Like mentioned in my previous entry, i made a lot of research myself back in 2003 and 2004 era and putting everything into Excel spreadsheet. Equations such as those from Harris-Benedict (1919) has been studied and read to understand the implication of the body physiological need versus the food we take. Harris-Benedict formula is the oldest longest formula ever derived for BMR and extensively used in many commercially (programmed) available weight scale and gym equipments.
You can propagate your own Excel sheet by using the formula below:
The Harris-Benedict equation for BMR:

For men: (13.75 x w) + (5 x h) - (6.76 x a) + 66

For women: (9.56 x w) + (1.85 x h) - (4.68 x a) + 655

Also, the Harris-Benedict method is at best estimation of Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) where it overestimated by about 5%. It does not take into consideration other items such as the thermic effect of food.

Thermic Effect of Food

By mean of that, if defines the eating (biting, chewing, swallowing) and processing (digestion, metabolism and storage) of the food we take. Protein requires up to 30% energy to be digested as compared to carbohydrate at about 15% and lipid at about 8%.

Extra note on lipid - if you take something that has a lot of fat, it requires less effort to be digested. Do bear in mind that a gram of fat has 9 calories - so, apart from requiring less energy to be digested, it provides more energy in return and will end up around your waistline faster!

On the average a figure of 10% is used to include this thermic food effect. Meaning, if you have a meal of 500kcal, 50kcal will be used to process the food. And if you want to replace that 300kcal burned running a fast 5km, you will need to take 330kcal to replenish that.

The Mufflin Study

To potentially make the BMR more accurate, the Mufflin study was done and it takes into consideration the effect of protein, carbohydrate and lipid on the body's BMR. It also used a list of suggested factor to multiple with the BMR to ensure sufficient energy for the average person and their daily activities. Mufflin study is what i based my BMR on and it is slightly more acceptable for me due to the other consideration that was put in such as the level of activities and also the "Thermic Effect of Food" factor.
The Mufflin equation for BMR:
For men: (10 x w) + (6.25 x h) - (5 x a) + 5
For women: (10 x w) + (6.25 x h) - (5 x a) - 161
The study logic is based on the potential of under eating that will effect metabolism and that is a bad thing to happen. A study subject on bare 800kcal to lose weight (possibly aneroxic) will have the metabolism lowered by 10% and potentially vital organ shutting down.
So, instead of only limiting yourself the BMR to let the body function, they put in correction factor to buffer up the perceived energy requirement that you will potentially need to carry out the day's activity - and that is assuming you are planning to stay at your current weight. Someone with higher body mass (muscle) could afford a bit more caloric intake as muscles will burn more energy. This is not to be confused with someone that is heavy justifying that their "muscle" requires more "food", which is typical of wannabe bodybuilders thinking packing on mass is about adding on weight.
Below is my Excel sheet propagation of the BMR per Harris-Benedict and Mufflin.

I am currently running on bare BMR of 1596kcal according to Mufflin. However, i am using 1510kcal as my basis as i am trying to lose up to 1lb/week That is easily achievable by cutting down my caloric intake by 500kcal/day. I will need about 2000kcal to maintain my current weight at my current sedentary lifestyle (of little or no exercise and only desk job, which i do 5 days a week).
The secret to losing and eating healthily is to be aware of what you put in your mouth, and knowing what works for you, and what don't.
Armed with these information, try coming out with your spreadsheet and enters the numbers and formula as shared above and you will be surprised just how much you really need to take everyday to survive.
And yes, that one serving of Banana Leave rice with a fried chicken easily runs up to 800kcal or half of your daily caloric intake. That beef burger you just ate at the fast food joint cost you 700kcal with or without the cheese (as it makes no different by then). Of course these food are enjoyable - but you will pay the price of overeating and adding on weight when you don't planned to!
Next up: General caloric guideline for typical Malaysian Food.

Heart Rate Training

I created some spreadsheet back in 2004 when i was obsessed with being ultra fit. Not that i was ever a strong athlete back in school or growing up, but i was very driven to change that. Some say we can't fight gene and the truth could not be more ironic. None of my family members - from both sides of the parents, were athletic. I intended to change that. I did a lot of reading and research myself. Back in 2004, the National Library and all those health and running books were my point of reference. While many things are more easily available with Internet now and Uncle Google would give you more information that you ever wanted, i believe in old school approach. When i was Bodybuilding back in late 90's, i stuck to basic moves for the whole two years - as i truly believe in the most traditional approach to making things work.
With my health and fitness condition improving, i saw every opportunity for myself to relive those days. And the trusty old spreadsheet i developed back in 2004 shall be my best friend again.

One of the many spreadsheet i developed. :)

Why Heart Rate Training?
It is often easy to just go and run and keep running. After all, those top runners from African countries never had these to help them with. Well, I do not have their gene to ends it with.
Many sedentary people has a resting heart rate between 72bpm and 80bpm. What this really meant is that your heart are pumping at that many beat every single minute. Your heart is working overtime compared to those people that exercises and pumps at 60bpm! If heart has an expiry "beat time", you are likely to "expire" by 16% faster if your heart runs at 72bpm vs 60bpm. How is that for comparison?
I was actively cycling back then as well - being my first love with endurance sports as i hated running. I was exposed to how professional cyclists has resting heart rate of insane sub-40bpm. That is 1 beat every 1.5seconds! That was the same reason why doping was banned in the cycling world because many cyclists died in their sleep - with ultra low heartbeat coupled with thick blood (due to the doping, to carry more oxygen, hence, higher muscular ability), it is accident waiting to happen.
I dream of a sub 60bpm heart rate. It took me almost a year to obtained it. My lowest was at 48bpm when i was at my peak for Ironman 2008 in Langkawi.
The reason for this obsession is with a lower heart rate, a person's athletic ability will be improved as well. My HR register a decent 50bpm when i am sitting down (like now) typing/doing non-stressful work. That is hardly 20% of effort. I still have close to 80% of heart working capability should a vicious dog were to show up suddenly and chase me down (just saying, for example).
The traditional method to determine your maximum heart rate is 220-your age. It is the single most basic way to calculate and serves as a good baseline for anyone picking up sports of any type and to monitor their heart condition.
The spreadsheet i develop took into account the resting heart rate and even some refined calculation using Miller et al Maximum Heart Rate calculation where i first read in one of the sports science book. It is documented in BrianMac webpage as well. Makes good reading if you are interested.
Having said all the above, my training effort for the past months has been riding on the high percentile of 85%-90% of my HRmax where i am pushing my lactate threshold (pardon the misspelling in the 2004 variation) and working on speed.
For endurance purposes, one must keep the HR between 60% to 70%. It is easier said than done. When one person does endurance sports like long distance cycling or running or swimming, the ability to maintain within the same range of heart rate without compromising the speed and performance will increase - which is the very reason why they train hard enough in a systematic way to make their body able to take the stress and demand of the sports.
I will discuss these more in future blog entries, so do come back to check for more. Meanwhile, keep moving forward and do consider to invest in a decent (price and technology) heart rate monitor to help you get started.