Saturday, 1 June 2013

How to Get Smaller Leaner Calves

If you've always been a little self conscious about the size of your calves and expensive slimming socks or slimming gels that claim to stimulate blood flow to reduce your calf size didn't work for you, read on! 

 MY PROGRESS:


37 cm                             35cm 

 I've lost 7kg over 2 years already thanks to diet and exercise, but I noticed my muscles (especially calves) were still really bulky and muscular. 
  1. I tried pilates (Blogilates) for 2 months and my calves got slightly leaner, but the bulkiness (the bulge you get behind your upper legs when you stand and tense) was definitely gone. 
  2. I joined the gym (Fitness First) for 3 months. I could see results within 7 days. Here was my routine - at least 30 min  on treadmill at 7.5km/hr - 2 - 3 sets of 15 leg presses (10kg)- 2 sets each of 15 lunges and 15 squats- I attended Body Combat/Body Attack classes when I could
  3. I no longer go to the gym, but my calves have not reverted back to their original size! Endurance training results are long term!
  • THE MAGICAL CALF SLIMMING METHOD: 
    Cardio Endurance Training 
Left: marathon runner              Right: sprinter

Left: marathon runner      Right: sprinter
  • Jog
    • for as long as you can at a moderate pace at least 4 times a week (you'll see results faster if you do it more consistently). It should be fast enough to get you panting and sweating after 10 min, depending on your fitness level.

    Not only will this decrease muscle size over time, but since it's cardio, it also burns fat efficiently too! And the effect is long  term.     Note: Do NOT run too fast. You will run out of oxygen and your body will use the anaerobic method of burning energy which is SLOWER and INEFFICIENT, and causes you to tire more quickly. You will find it easier to lose weight if you jog for 30 min a day than if you sprint)
  • Elliptical Machine
    • : 20 - 30 minutes at resistance of at least 3, power at least 70 watts, speed at least 100. I recently added this to my routine and do it straight after jogging. On days where you're too tired to jog, definitely do this! It really helps calf slimming.

  • Leg Presses:
    • If you go to a gym, you can use the leg press machine. Remember to put your legs at a 90 degree angle. Your knees should not bend over your ankles! Go at a moderate pace, don't try and do as many as you can as fast as you can.
  • Squats, Lunges and Pilates:
    • This will also help tone up and make your muscles leaner. I've been following Blogilates (Cassey Ho) for around 2 months now and I have noticed my muscles are definitely less bulky! :) It's like having your own personal trainer! Not to mention pilates helps burn some extra calories ;) 
** Disclaimer: All pictures in this post without a watermark were found on Google for education and demonstration purposes, they do NOT belong to me.  

Saturday, 12 January 2013

Restore 20/20 Vision without Glasses/Disposable Contact Lenses


Paragon CRT / Ortho-K Corneal Reshaping Therapy Lens Review

I was 13 when I first started wearing glasses. I didn't mind it, but it was a bit of an inconvenience especially when I wanted to go swimming, go to the bathroom at night or wanted to participate in a sport or activity that may break my glasses. 

 Corneal Reshaping Therapy lenses are not exactly a new thing, but many people have never heard of it. It was developed in the US by Paragon Vision Sciences. *Note: I was not paid or sponsored in any way to review this. 


What is it and how does it work? 

 Basically, it is a type of hard contact lens that you wear every night and it reshapes your cornea as you sleep, so that when you take them out in the morning, you have temporary corrected 20/20 vision. Vision is as clear as wearing regular prescription glasses or soft contact lenses, if not clearer, and a lot more comfortable and convenient. It sounds too good to be true right? Well that's what people said about colour television at first. 

 The effect lasts up to 24 hours without the lenses before your vision starts to go back to its original state again.

Where do I get them from?

 CRT lens are, as of yet, not available at all optometrists and need to be custom ordered. You will need to do a search for your nearest CRT qualified optometrist. 

 Can anyone wear them? 

 It is designed to fix myopia - short-sightedness. Your optometrist will need to do an assessment of your eyes to determine whether or not you can wear them since there are a select few cases where irregular curvature or other factors may prevent you from wearing them. Generally, CRT provides best results for prescriptions below -6.00 (That is between -0.25 and -6.00)




My review 

 I started wearing glasses when I was 13, and finally got CRT at 16. I have been wearing these lenses every night since and I've experienced no problems with my eyesight whatsoever. 



Cleaning Solution to wash, Saline Solution to rinse, Conditioning Solution to store.


The Good:
  • Is a comfortable and convenient means of vision correction (no need to worry about glasses getting fogged up, dirty, scratched or broken or contact lenses drying up during the day)
  • Easy to use, provides excellent results. These lenses actually corrected my vision better than my glasses
  • Act just like normal contact lenses ie. you can see clearly even with the lenses in your eyes
  • Significantly slows down the rate of vision deterioration ie. slows down prescription jumps. My prescription used to increase by -0.25 every 6 months, but after undergoing CRT for over a year, my vision has stabilised. This property was not an intended effect in the manufacture of these lenses, but an unexpected benefit. This has to be my second favourite property of these lenses. 

 The Bad:
  • Requires 5-10 minutes of meticulous hygenic care when you take them out in the morning. This is to avoid infection and keep your lenses clean. 
  • Expensive. These lenses last for 1 year (or 2 years max if you look after them well), but cost $600 a pair. Your first appointment for the consultation and lenses will cost around $1000 and you will need to replenish your cleaning supplies every few months. However, I think it's a worthwhile lifetime investment
  • A little uncomfortable. They are made of a hard plastic so you do feel them in your eyes and it is quite drying. It takes a few nights to get used to, but you usually can't feel them when you close your eyes. 
  • Extent of correction depends on how many hours you sleep with them in. Usually I need at least 6-8 hours to get full 20/20 vision. If you sleep late and only get 4 hours of sleep, then your vision will still be a bit blurry when you get up. 
Overall, I rate these lenses a 9/10. Hopefully the price will drop a little within the next few years, but I do highly recommend them.

People I do NOT recommend these people who cannot afford to spend $700 a year on these lenses and those who are not committed to spend 5-10 minutes of their day cleaning their lens with meticulous care, willing to put up with a little discomfort whilst sleeping and those who do not get at least 6 hours of sleep a night on a regular basis. Eye infections and blindness caused by genuine contact lens is rarely because the lens is defective - it is due to carelessness and neglect of hygenic practice. 

If you do decide to get them, your optometrist will give you a quick tutorial session on how to care for your lens as well as a few information booklets about how it works and how to care for it. Youtube also has a few tutorials. I hope this review was informative and helpful. 

Saturday, 3 November 2012

Geo Twins Lens Review - Aqua and Honey


Brand: Geo 
Models: YH-302 and YH-304
Diameter: 14mm
Water content: 38%

Prescription: Available
Colours available: Honey, Brown, Aqua, Blue, Green, Grey

I purchased these from: Shoppingnspree and Eyecandylens

I usually wear lens for cosplay, so vibrancy and colour are my main priorities in looking for coloured contact lenses to match the character I am cosplaying. I try to avoid the anime special lenses because it's much too unnatural, although I do own a pair of red ones for Enma Ai (Hell Girl). After vibrancy comes enlargement. I personally prefer 14.00-14.2mm lenses, anything larger makes my eyes look...scary. *envious of people who can pull off big lenses* xD


 Colour: Honey - 5/5 Aqua - 4/5
Both are very vibrant, you can clearly see the colour from a distance. 

Design: 4/5 for both. 
The design is three-toned, with the colour gradually fading to a honey-brown towards the centre/pupil hole, making it more natural looking. I do find the spike design a little too harsh towards the middle, you can't tell in photos. Overall, if you wanted a natural, but piercing look, these are perfect.

 Englargement: 2.5/5
Very little enlargement, but what enlargement it does give is perfect for cosplaying male characters, but for cosplaying female characters, I do prefer slightly bigger lenses. 
14mm size + small pupil hole = minimal enlargement
14mm size + large pupil hole = 14.5/15mm size + small pupil hole

 Comfort: 4/5
I wore these for 6 hours without discomfort, but needed some eye-drops afterwards.

Honey
Aqua

 Overall: 4.5/5
I really love these lenses! I only wish they came in bigger sizes and the design was more like the Geo Tri-colour series while retaining its vibrancy. Also, a wider range of colours would be nice eg. violet, red, pink 
             

Monday, 1 October 2012

Relief for Eczema Sufferers




Image source: http://www.naturesense.co.uk/naturesense/eczema-info/info_24.html

 Eczema is a relatively common chronic skin problem, especially in areas with dry climates ie. Melbourne. It is an autoimmune disease where your body overreacts (hypersensitivity) to harmless stimuli such as wind, dust, ect. and hence, makes efforts to protect itself by attacking its own cells. Redness, itchiness, dryness and flakiness are all symptoms of it. As you can see, many cells become damaged so our skin becomes more sensitive to irritants, and cannot retain natural oils and water very well.

I've had eczema since I was 2, it's not genetic because I'm the only one in my family history with it. Eczema is more common in babies and younger children since their immune system hasn't fully developed yet and for most, disappear by the time they reach 10 years of age. Unfortunately for some, it never goes away and it cannot be cured. However, it can be controlled. 

I used to have eczema all over my body, but by watching what I eat and using a variety of ointments and creams, I have now localised it to my mouth area and neck which now, cannot even be seen! The only good thing about my eczema is that my skin is so dry, I never get pimples/acne! The downside is that I have scars everywhere from scratching over the years and very uneven skin tone around my mouth. I know a lot of people have it much worse than me which is why I have created this post to help other eczema sufferers.

 First, you want to diagnose the agitators of your eczema, observe what causes your flare-ups. Mine is agitated by dry conditions, dust and foods with weak acids eg. tomato, orange, lemon, fish sauce and try to avoid it as much as possible or protect yourself against it. With acidic foods, I just take care when eating not it let it touch my skin.

 1. Drink lots of water, eat fruit, vegetables: have a healthy diet. Exercising helps. 

 2. Bio-Oil: The key ingredient is PurCellin Oil, which according to the packaging, is a type of oil designed to mimic and have very similar properties to the natural oils our body produces. Since we don't produce enough of it or our body can't retain it very well, we need to use external sources of this oil we lack. It does take a while to absorb into the skin, but with this, I don't even need moisturiser throughout the day anymore! It does not clog pores, so it's unlikely to cause breakouts.

3. Rosehip Oil: use this along with Bio-Oil - it helps moisturise and rejuvenate the skin, reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and has numerous other benefits. It is a highly raved about product featured on many blogs and even on the news. 



















3. Medication: use sparingly! I only used it when I had really bad flareups. 

- Advantan Fatty Ointment (requires prescription)
I had a flareup all over my neck, it was flaky and looked it had slits on it (gross I know) so I put this on and the next day it was all gone, my skin was smooth and wasn't itchy at all. Note: it is very strong so use small amount

- Sigmacort 1% Hydrocortisone Ointment 

4. Vitamin E Oil: (I used Invite E 100% Pure Vitamin E Oil) After months of suffering with redness, dryness and itchiness on my eyelids nothing could cure, the vitamin E oil relieved me in a day. It hasn't come back since! The only downside is that it looks very oily. 



5. Fish Oil: You can take this in the form of Omega 3 supplement capsules or fish meat

6. Don't touch, don't scratch. I know it's the most repetitive thing you hear, which is even more annoying when it comes from people without eczema and don't understand the unbearable itchiness, but they're right. Our hands are covered in bacteria and other impurities which can irritate the skin and cause breakouts for some people.

7. Take moisturisers around with you! QV, Cetaphil are both rich drugstore brands. I also use the Face Shop Rice Emulsion Moisturiser in the morning to brighten up the complexion.

So that's all from me, and I will update this post if I find anything else useful but I really hope some of you found this useful :)

Makeup And Skincare for Dry Skin

A constantly updated list of mostly drugstore / affordable makeup for people with dry skin! Many people around my age (15 - 25) have oily skin, so blog posts with help for people with dry skin like me are rather limited. 

Skincare 

1. Aveeno Skin Relief Moisturising Cream with cooling action
Pros: 
  • 24 hour lasting hydration (colloidal oatmeal and shea butter)
  • no heavy feeling on skin
  • very affordable and accessible 
  • relieves stubborn skin conditions such as eczema
  • menthol leaves a cooling, tingly feeling!
Cons:
  • not travel friendly - one size only
  • may leave sticky feeling for oily-normal skin 

3. Bonne Bell Active Outdoor SPF 30+ Lip Balm 
Pros: 

  • long lasting and super hydrating
  • SPF30+
  • affordable 

Makeup 

 1. Beauty Blender - great investment for anyone!
Pros: 

  • buildable coverage (light to full)
  • a heaven-send for DRY skin
  • gives flawless finish in minimal time 
Cons
  • pricey and hard to find in store 
  • hard to clean 

2.  Revlon Photoready Liquid Foundation - medium coverage, hydrating, long-lasting, photogenic 

 3. Skin79 VIP Gold BB Cream SPF 30+ - light-medium coverage, hydrating

 4. Skin79 Super Plus BB Cream SPF 50+ - medium-high coverage, hydrating

5. L'Oreal True Match Mineral Powder Foundation - only powder foundation I've used that isn't drying and gives medium-full coverage. 

 6. Shu Uemura Lightbulb Foundation - medium-high coverage, hydrating, photogenic

 7. Face of Australia 3-in-1 Face Primer - moisturiser, sunscreen and primer all in one! Highly recommended for dry skin as it creates a flawless canvas that hides dry patches. 

8. Rimmel Perfect Match Concealer - only concealer that doesn't accentuate dry patches, doesn't crease and covers my dark circles! 
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