Apple or pear? (Part 3 of 3)

Continue from Part 2...

For the past two years, my waist-to-hip ratios fluctuate between 0.88 and 0.91. By referring to the waist-to-hip ratio reference table below, I still have to continue to work hard.

Waist-to-Hip Ratio Reference Table

I do my measurement about once a month, sometime every two to three months once. I don't do this measurement too regularly like I do for my body fat and blood pressure. After all, we all know that it takes time for the body to make changes.

Apple or pear? (Part 2 of 3)

Continued from Part 1...

Research shows that people with "apple-shaped" bodies (with more weight around the waist) face more health risks than those with "pear-shaped" bodies who carry more weight around the hips. Hormone insulin has a much greater influence on fat cells in the waist and abdomen areas. For this reason people who metabolize insulin poorly and who develop insulin resistance are more likely to store abdominal fat and take on the shape of an apple. Since excess insulin strongly drives abdominal fat accumulation, anyone with an apple shaped, big-belly profile is likely experiencing insulin related metabolic problems and is at greater immediate risk for high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, high cholesterol, coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and early mortality. While still insulin related, fat that accumulates in the lower body is not as directly driven by an underlying insulin imbalance, plus fat distributed below the belt does not encroach on vital organs.

Below-the-belt fat accumulation, resulting in the pear shape, is not as immediately health threatening as above-the-belt fat accumulation. However, below-the-belt fat accumulation is still a problem, it’s just a problem with a longer fuse. Since fat cells throughout the entire body respond to insulin, if fat is accumulating anywhere, metabolically, excess insulin is causing it. With time, as insulin resistance worsens, people who store fat below the belt will start accumulating it above the belt too and they will start experiencing all of the more immediate health threatening problems their apple shaped friends likely experience right now.

The further our measurement is from 1.00 if we are male and from 0.80 if we are female, the higher our risk of developing a number of very nasty insulin related health problems.

As men generally store fat in the waist and abdominal areas that induce so many health-related problems, it is not surprising to learn that women live longer than men in general.

Life Expectancy at Birth
Department of Statistics, Malaysia

In a nutshell:
First, be a pear rather than an apple. (Do eat both fruits though!) Secondly, continue to watch our fat distribution even if we are a pear. Keeping the tummy flatter is always a good thing. Stay healthy!

Continue to Part 3...

Apple or pear? (Part 1 of 3)

Every person is shaped differently. Two people can be the same height and weight and yet be built in totally different ways. Our size, our shape, and how we carry our excess weight can increase or decrease our health risks due to obesity.

Where we carry our excess weight is a determinant of our overall health risk. Men or women who store fat around their stomach or middle portion of the body are at greater risk of complications than those who carry weight on their hips, thighs, or buttocks. This is largely because the fat accumulation around the vital bodily organs is more critical than those that accumulate around the legs and thighs. When fat accumulates in the abdomen and waist area it doesn’t just build up under the skin, it also builds up inside the entire upper torso and accumulates around the heart, liver, kidneys, and intestine and can even begin to grow inside these organs, thus restricting blood flow and interfering with function. Imagine our heart is wrapped by a thick layer of fat. Can it function well?

Often compared to the shape of an apple or a pear, body shapes are important in assessing future risk of obesity-related health concerns. We can determine where our fat accumulates and if we are shaped more like an apple or a pear by calculating our waist-to-hip ratio.

To determine if we have a healthy waist-to-hip ratio, use a measuring tape to measure our waist at the smaller circumference of our natural waist, usually about 3 cm just above the belly button. Then measure the circumference of our hips at the widest part of our buttocks. To ensure accuracy, measure the waist and the hips three (3) times each and get the average of the 3 measurements for both the waist and the hips. Make sure too we place the tape measure directly on our skin, do not measure over our clothes. Make the tape snug on our skin, but don't pinch the skin together.

To determine the ratio, divide the waist measurement by the hip measurement. For instance, if waist is 30 inches and hip is 34 inches, then the waist-to-hip ratio will be 30/34=0.88. If waist is 34 inches and hip is 30 inches, then the waist-to-hip ratio will be 34/30=1.13.

(Please note that the unit for measurement is immaterial in this case. What important is we keep using the same unit of measurement for both waist and hip. If we use inches to measure our waist, use inches for hip too. If we use centimeters, then use it for both waist and hip measurement. Many web sites suggest that you do the conversion from inches to centimeters, or vice versa. In Mathematics, the same quantitative measurement units will be cancelled off when we perform division and looking for a ratio. Remember: Use the same unit of measurement.)

FOR MEN: If the ratio is less than 1.00, a hip and leg fat storage pattern (pear shape) is indicated. If the ratio is 1.00 or greater, an abdominal storage pattern (apple shape) is indicated. A ratio of 1.00 or less is considered safe.

FOR WOMEN: If the ratio is 0.80 or less, a hip and leg pattern (pear shape) is indicated. If the ratio is greater than 0.80, an abdominal storage pattern (apple shape) is indicated. A ratio of 0.80 or less is considered safe.

Continue to Part 2...

Shower immediately after workout?

Sometimes it’s real uncomfortable to stay with the sweaty and sticky clothing after a heavy workout. Some of us simply run for the shower immediately after that. No doubt that doing so makes you feel refreshing, your health is on the other hand in hazard.

The blood circulation in our body is accelerating during our workout session. When we stop exercising, it takes sometime to decelerate and back to its normal state. If we take shower immediately, this increases the amount of blood circulating in our skin. As a result, our muscles continue to remain in stress and we feel even more tiring.

Furthermore, taking a hot shower immediately after workout also decreases the blood supply to our heart and brain, thus leaving our body lacking of oxygen supply. This induces mild unconsciousness or dizziness for light cases, and shock or coma for serious cases. In addition, it might even increase our chances to suffer from chronic diseases.

As a rule of thumb, try to take shower about 20 minutes after the workout. Our heart rate would have gone back to normal after this period of rest, and so does our blood circulation system. Remember to drink sufficient water too after the workout to rehydrate the body. Drink in small sips rather than drink like a fish or quench like a horse.

In a nutshell:
Don't rush for shower right after your workout. Take a water break. Relax your body. And let the heart rate recovers.

Who wants to be a Millionaire?

Theoretically, anyone of us will become a millionaire eventually. Even if we are just making RM1,000 a month without any increment, we will become a millionaire in approximately 83.33 years. Isn’t this great, Mr. or Miss Millionaire?

But we all know that this is not true in real life. Firstly, we don’t get to keep the full amount of what we earn. We have to pay for taxes and daily expenses. Secondly, sometimes we simply overspend. We earn RM1,000 but spend RM1,200. Thirdly, and most importantly, time is the crucial factor. Even if we got to keep the full amount of our earning, we don’t want to spend, or we don’t have, that much of time, to accumulate the asset.

So, we need about 83.33 years to accumulate RM1 million, if we can save RM1,000 per month consistently, right? Well, unless we’re keeping the money under our pillow, it actually takes lesser time to achieve our RM1 million goal.

Welcome to the world of Compounding Interest. In short, Compound Interest is the concept of adding accumulated interest back to the principal, so that interest is earned on interest from that moment on.

Let take a look at an example. Assuming we have RM100,000 of savings now. How fast can this RM100,000 turn into RM1 million is dependent on the financial vehicle that we choose. Every financial vehicle attracts different compound interest rate. The higher the compound interest rate, the shorter the time for the money to grow.

Annual Compound Interests vs. Number of Years

So, if we park and leave our money in a financial vehicle that offers 3.70% of compound interest annually (such as in the fixed deposit), our RM100,000 will grow to become RM1 million in about 65 years. If we park and leave our money in a financial vehicle that offers 5.80% of compound interest yearly (such as the dividend rate declared by EPF in year 2007), our RM100,000 will become RM1 million in about 40+ years.

Now, are we satisfied? Are we happy with that kind of return? Do we know how much compound interest are we getting now? Shall we have an option, will we want to get our RM1 million, or multi-million, or multi-billion, as soon as possible, or just let time do its work?

Question: Do you know where and how to get the financial vehicle that offers higher compound interest? If you don't know yet, stay tuned, as I'll show you the ways to enjoy optimized returns.

In a nutshell:

1. So long as we don’t mind to wait (factor out time issue), we’ll get what we want eventually.
2. How much we earn is not important. It’s how much we save that makes all the difference.
3. We must take actions if we want to make our money to work harder for us, rather than we work harder for the money.
   

How much calories can you burn?

One of the most popular questions that people like to ask when joining a fitness class is how much calories can the class help them to burn. Honestly speaking, although I would love to answer that question, I really can’t tell it off hand.

All of us are different individuals. We are different in terms of genetics, gender, age, height, weight, body fat, fitness level, metabolism rate, health condition, muscle mass, daily diet, to name just a few. If I tell you that you can burn X amount of calories after joining the class, I am just not painting you the whole picture. Unless you and I share all the same statistics, given the same period of workout time, we don’t burn the same amount of calories.

On the other hand, instead of knowing how much calories can the class help us to burn, maybe we should look into how much calories do we want to burn during our workout. The fact is, the harder we work, the more calories we burn. The question now is, how hard is hard?

To work harder is to work at higher intensity level. And one of the best indicators to know of the intensity level is by referring to our heart rate during the workout duration: More calories are expended, or burnt, at higher heart rate. The following table shows my personal average energy, or calories, expended at different heart rate zones:

My Current Energy Expenditure Table

Let say, for instance, I maintain my heart rate at 50-60% of my maximum during my workout. After one hour of exercise, I can burn about 499 Calories. If I raise my heart rate up to 70-80% of my maximum, then I can burn around 849 Calories for that hour. As you can deduce from the table above, at higher heart rate zone (HR zone), more calories are expended or burnt.

The bottom line is, if we want to burn more calories, we simply need to work at higher intensity level, or at higher HR zone. If we don't want to work too hard but still want to burn that much of calories, what we need to do then is to work for longer period of time. That is, in order to burn about 1,000 Calories, I need to exercise for nearly 2 hours while maintaining my heart rate at the 50-60% HR zone. If I want to burn the same amount of Calories within an hour, I’ll have to work myself harder at the 80-90% HR zone. Alternatively, I can also switch from one HR zone to another from time to time and make up the desired total energy expenditure. For example, I can workout in the 60-70% HR zone for an hour, and 23 minutes in the 70-80% HR zone. So, 674+[849*(23/60)]=999 kcal.

Note:

This Energy Expenditure table is that of my personal reference. It gives me an idea of how much energy, or calories, I’ll expend at each training intensity (in both kcal/min and kcal/hour). From there, I get to know how much to eat (energy intake) before/after the exercise session and find out my personal exercise intensities in HR%. The data in this table changes when I change my weight (in kg), HRmax (maximum heart rate, 220 minus current age) and VO₂max values. The higher the weight, the more calories can be expended. The higher the HRmax (or the younger the age), the more calories can be expended, The higher the VO₂max, the more calories can be expended too. Yours should be different from mine.

VO₂max (also maximal oxygen consumption, maximal oxygen uptake or aerobic capacity) is the maximum capacity of an individual's body to transport and utilize oxygen during exercise, which reflects the physical fitness of the individual. Higher the value, fitter is the person.

So this is how it begun…

I have always wanted to start a personal web site years ago. However, it was the contents of the web site that stalled my plan. I just couldn’t think of anything to put up! Nobody is interested to visit a web site that has no contents, right? So, the plan just kept procrastinating…

Then, blogging took place. Friends started to talk about their personal blogs. Mass media spent time and efforts to talk about blogging. At first I didn’t care much. But later, after following through some blogs frequently and faithfully, I started to realize its influence and power on me. Some of the blogs actually inspired my personal life. Some enhanced knowledge in area of my interest. Some opened my eyes and imparted new knowledge to areas that I might have overlooked in life. And some simply made my days!

Because of all these, the idea of having my personal web site came alive again. Why don’t I start a blog that relates to what I do daily too? Everyday I meet up with a lot of people. These people care about their family. These people care about their money. These people care about their health. What I do everyday is to minimize their degree of uneasiness in these areas and thus maximize their enjoyment in life. Since I am sharing various information with people everyday, why don’t I also put up this information on the web site so that more people can read about them, and perhaps benefit from them?

In this blog, you will find write-ups on risk management, investment, finance, health, exercise, and other topics that relate to what we do daily, and how we can do them better. By gaining more knowledge and enhancement in the areas of our money and health, as a result, we can be better off than what we were before.

Welcome to Eugene’s blog, a little slice of the well-being heaven.