Muscles and Fats

My weighing scale broke down eons ago, and because of my recent pursuit in weight loss I was contemplating on buying one. I was having second thoughts because I don't have the money to spare (and I'm saving money because I'm going on a trip next month!!! ), and it's also a bit depressing to know your actual weight. When my waistline was 40", I remember my weight was yoyo-ing between 97-100 kilos. Now that my waist is over 40"...
Honestly I don't want to know how much past the 100 kilo mark my weight is. But I've read various fitness articles over the net that having a scale helps you in losing weight since you can monitor your weight better. If you slip a bit, you'll know and you'll get motivated to back on track. Then, after reading a few more articles and after googling various stuffs, I saw this picture

A side by side comparison: 5lb of fat vs 5lb of muscle

I'm not sure how accurate that representation is. I've 'googled' muscles vs fat earlier and from all the sites that I looked into that put up pictures of muscle and fat replica, none of them explained how they came across this picture and how accurate it is. If this is representation is accurate, this is something that's good to know. A lot of people use BMI to determine how much weight they need to be for their height. While knowing your BMI and the ideal BMI for your height can give you a good idea on what is a healthy weight, one should also measure their Body Fat Percentage. You can find a lot of body fat percentage calculators online (I used the one found in the Healthstatus.com site), but it's probably better to have a physician measure it for you. But here are my results:

I used the calculator and it said that my body fat percentage is 61.27% when using the U.S. Navy body fat formula, and 47.42% using the formula developed by the YMCA. Yikes for both results (note: I just gave a fair estimate of my weight on the calculator since I don't know my actual weight.). It also says that the average body fat percentage for U.S. females is 32% (the ideal for non athlete females between ages 20-40 is 19%-26%). I'm doing strength training, but I only do it once a week. After knowing my body fat percentage, I will to more strength training now

I recommend reading these articles to know more:

Muscle does not weigh more than fat (five pounds is five pounds), but it is much nicer to look at
Build muscle to lose fat - Fat vs Muscle diagram
Muscle vs Fat

Turbo Jam: How I punched, kicked and jammed my way into losing inches

I first saw an infomercial of Turbo Jam back when I was in high school and I've always wanted to try it, but never did (until this year). I know, I know, a lot of people who tried Turbo Jam have moved on to other workouts, and I don't really need to make another review but I really loved it so I will make a review anyway. (Note: I'm not affiliated to Beachbody in any way)

Turbo Jam is a cardio workout that incorporates kickboxing and dance which makes it so fun! At first, I find the setting and the feel too "80's", but once you get past that, it's pretty enjoyable. Chalene can be a bit goofy at times, but goofy is fun, and I actually smile/laugh at times while working out. The steps are pretty easy to follow(and I don't really dance), and by the 2nd-3rd time of doing a certain workout I know all the moves down the pat. The only thing I disliked was the ab floor exercises in Ab Jam (though, you can skip that part and do the standing ab workout instead). Overall, it's a nice workout program to start with, especially for a beginner like me.

Sitting can be dangerous

I was checking my other email when I came across this article that says sitting all day can be dangerous to your health. You'd probably laugh at me and tell me that's common knowledge already, but what's surprising is the article says that even if you are 'fit' (you eat well and you exercise regularly) and you have a job that requires you to sit most of the day, you're still at risk
One of the strategies to lower your health risk found in the article is taking two breaks (to walk) every hour. The minute I finished reading the article, I had the sudden urge to take a break from the computer, lol. To read more about it, you can click on the link above, but here's the link to the full article found on the Men's Health site: Is your office chair killing you?

Firsts are always awkward

I always find the first post in blogs awkward. It's like you're supposed to talk blindfolded on a stage, and you're not sure if there's an audience at all. I've started this blog a few days ago, and was actually avoiding the first post when I saw an article somewhere that I wanted to link on my blog, so I'm forced to write this first before making another post.
I'm Seina and I'm morbidly obese. I've been fat my whole life, but I went past the 50'' waistline mark around the last quarter of 2010, and I totally freaked out. I started exercising on February of this year and I successfully trimmed down my waist a bit (to 45''). I probably would have trimmed more inches if I made drastic changes to my diet but that's something I don't want to rush. Food is not just something we consume in order to live anymore, I believe it's one of the things that makes living worthwhile. Tasting a new dish, cooking delicious food, sharing a good meal with your loved ones, food is a very important aspect of life. Sure there are a lot of healthier, delicious options, but I don't want to be the person who denies herself of something that she truly wants. I really believe it's ok to eat anything you want (even junk food) with moderation, so that's the path I'm going to take. I'll lose weight with exercise and by slowly adjusting myself to the proper serving size of food
There are countless of blogs like this on the web, and mine may not certainly stand out among the rest. But I'll continue on scrawling my journey anyway