2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003
A new and small drive through car wash opened up at the gas station near my house. It’s an Oula gas station at the end of 4th Ring Road towards Salmiya. What’s cool about the car wash is the fact you don’t leave your car while it’s getting washed. It’s more fun that way and the sound of the machines and water around the car makes the whole experience sound like a Nine Inch Nails song. Very cool!
I love power tools and I especially love Bosch power tools. The best place to get Bosch power tools from? Where else but the Bosch power tools dealer in Shuwaikh. I get all my power tools from the Bosch Power Tools dealer in Shuwaikh. It’s a small place connected to the Bosch car service center and also their warehouse. I’ve been going there for a few years now, It’s where I bought my cordless power drill from and my Dremel multitool. The staff are extremely friendly and I always end up leaving with a good deal.
There are a bunch of places around Kuwait that sell Bosch tools but as I mentioned above the reason I prefer getting it straight from the dealer is because you can haggle and in some cases get freebies. I bought an impact drill today and was able to get a nice discount and some free tool bits for example. They’re very easy to find, you exit the Sheraton round-about heading towards City Center, after City Center on your right you should see Kuwait Finance House, take the first right after it and keep going straight until you see the Bosch sign on the left. They’re open from 8AM to 5PM and their number is 24810844.
Back in 2001, I went on an amazing trip to Lebanon with the family that lasted 4 weeks. I remember going from one restaurant to the other, eating and splurging on mouthwatering Lebanese food. We ate lunch at a place in the mountains, then went down to Beirut where we were suggested to eat dessert at another; after that we looked for any café that served good fatty carby coffee. Our blood sugar levels would definitely drop after our marathon eating spree, so we translated that crash into “let’s go back to the apartment and rest; we didn’t get enough sleep.” We got more than 10 hours of sleep per night and we traveled in a mini-bus, so exhaustion was definitely not the problem. Whenever we went on long trips, we ate a lot of soft-serve ice cream in between huge meals; and for some reason there was a lot of soft-serve ice cream in Lebanon. Yes, we needed the energy to survive those agonizing trips that were spent seated in a mini-bus.
We went on for an entire month on that exact routine and it was amazing up until I got a welcome home message from my dad: “My God. You’re fat.” He said that when he first saw me arriving to Kuwait from the airport. I wanted to hug my dad after of a month of not seeing him, but all he could emphasize was my increase in size (particularly the lower area). It was bad and my dad annoyed me about it. I was already big to begin with since all I did before my trip to Lebanon was eat whatever was infront of me and spend 2-3 hours lifting the heaviest weights at the gym. I went from 100kg of fat and a bit of muscle to 130kg of fat and absolutely no muscle in a span of a month.
After my dad started emphasizing how fat I got (my love handles…my God), my family and friends noticed the difference and laughed it off. It literally took me a few seconds to do something about it. I had no knowledge of nutrition or training, so I just winged it and took my chances since I knew I could not get any lower than this (my God…the love handles). I ate 3 meals a day, consisting of Nestle Fitness Cereal and skimmed milk for breakfast, a chicken salad with a lot of ketchup for lunch, pineapple juice after a workout and a tuna salad with also a lot of ketchup for dinner. I did a minimum of 2 hours a day of cardio, abs and weight-lifting (in that order) 7 times a week and increased the time spent at the gym when results started to slow down. Obviously, I was a ketchup addict and used copious amounts of it; the training lasted forever too.
12 weeks and 60kg later, my weight went down to an all-time low of exactly 80kg. I stand 190cm, so 80kg is extremely skrawny for a guy my height. After that, I researched, experimented and practiced and lived happily ever after.
What differentiates me from other nutritionist/dietitians/gurus/doctors/professionals? The story above. I know how it feels to be fat and how to overcome that obstacle. I know how it feels to look at that molten chocolate from Chili’s and not the cute girl devouring it. I know how to psychologically deal with stress that might hinder my fitness goals. I also know when my bodies tells me that the current technique is no longer working. A health practitioner has to know all these things before preaching to clients. You can’t expect to take advice from an overweight professional who can’t seem to keep his life in order.
Middle English diete, from Old French, from Latin diaeta, way of living, diet, from Greek diaita, back-formation from diaitsthai, to live one’s life, middle voice of diaitn, to treat.
A dietitian provides you with a modified way of living based on your current lifestyle. Dietitians are supposed to:
1) Teach you how to psychologically deal with your life in order to eat, sleep, and exercise correctly.
2) Provide immediate solutions based on their own experiences and education in order to overcome a client’s obstacles and challenges.
3) Be in control of their lifestyles and know how to deal with stress, which clearly projects their presentable appearance.
4) Understand your body and how it reacts to certain factors, including stress, nutrient and exercise (this requires time).
5) Practice what they preach.
If your current dietitian does not have any of these characteristics then I’d suggest you take the time to look for another. The same rule applies to a trainer. You wouldn’t want to hire a person who doesn’t look the part. Moreover, look for a trainer that was born with bad genetics and excelled into something presentable. The genetically gifted ones have it easy since their bodies are prone to muscle growth and fat-loss no matter what they do.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t born with the best genetics at all; I had to work hard for what I achieved. I started out with a plan and a journal, and throughout the years I soon realized that I can’t force my body into a fixed routine. I had to use an instinctive approach and listen to my body; my workouts are literally planned once I set foot in the gym.
The point is, this whole process doesn’t take a few days or months; it takes years to understand. Once you think you’ve got it all together, some study comes out that falsifies the entire method, which makes it even more frustrating, confusing and agonizing. Then you try as hard as you can to muster up the patience to dig into more knowledge, causing more perplexity than an episode of Lost. Pat yourself on the back, because this is when you successfully know too much.
That was a brief introduction of myself and what you can expect in terms of knowledge and credibility.
Posted by Fahad AlYehya
Core Fitness – Kuwait
Picture by tachikoma
Thanks Henrik!
I am craving soft eggs which I don’t think I’ve had since the 80s. It’s all because I found this really cool guide on how to make the perfect soft eggs awhile back and since then I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. I should try making some tomorrow. [Link]
DHL for the third time now have changed the way they calculate your shipment. I spoke to them on the phone and they have now started charging based on volumetric weight which means they’re now MUCH MORE expensive than Aramex Shop & Ship. Even if you deduct taxes unless its something very expensive you’re much better off using Aramex. To give you an idea of how expensive DHL has become, a reader just paid KD31 for a package that weighs just 1.3KG!
Until they go back to calculating based on actual weight I will be using Aramex again. At least with Aramex they don’t change their pricing structure on a monthly basis….
Update: I just realized something. DHL didn’t email, sms or call anyone regarding their price changes. They just randomly came up with a new payment system and expects everyone just to abide by it. Lots of people ordered stuff to their DHL mailbox expecting to pay a certain price only to find out they now have to pay triple that. Is that fair?
Can anyone recommend a good crêpe place in Kuwait? Somewhere where I can have a Nutella and banana crêpe that looks like the picture below. I took this pictures in Lebanon on my last visit.
The first three directors are very cool (Tarantino, Lynch and Wes Anderson). The last directors I have no idea who they are. [Link]
This is why I love YouTube, you find completely random useless videos which you end up watching. This one is of a guy in Kuwait trying to break some sort of random record… eating 7 Ferrero Rocher chocolates in under a minute. Location: Gas Station! [YouTube]
PS: I can EASILY eat 7 Rochers in a minute!
Update: Just tried it. It is more difficult then I expected but I managed to eat 6 rochers in 46.97 seconds (just got two packs of 3). I unwrapped them all first since it’s a waste of time to unwrap with the clock ticking. The hardest part is the chewing. I think I could even swallow faster the next time i try this.
In case you want to replicate this test. Start the stop watch then grab the first Rocher. Stop the stop watch once you finish swallowing all the Rochers.
Last year after I found out I had an acid reflux problem I decided I wanted to post healthier lifestyle related posts on my blog. Since then I’ve done it maybe three times and the posts weren’t that great. Recently though when I posted about my new diet plan and gym membership with Core Fitness, both posts hit nearly 100 comments. Most of that had to do with the fact the owner of the gym was interacting with many of you, answering your questions.
Since it seems many of you are interested in a better and healthier lifestyle, I decided to invite Fahad the owner as a guest blogger here. He will be posting about healthier lifestyle related posts and he should be able to answer most of your questions. I’ve also created a new blog category called Healthier Lifestyle in which all these healthy lifestyle posts will be archived. His first post is located below and expect more to come.
Note: Also check the new blog I added to my blog list recently called Eat Like Mira which is also health related [Link]
A lot of doctors, nutritionists, specialists, professionals and gurus preach to people on what’s right and what’s wrong. Everyone has an opinion and everyone has their own methods of approach. My approach is to guide as much people as I possibly can to a healthier lifestyle.
The transition into this lifestyle will not be easy, but with practice comes perfection; and perfection in this specific case might take years. I have researched, practiced, experimented (on myself) and experienced all the methods that I will be providing this blog. Whatever I will be providing has taken me 7 years to accomplish. However, the more I know, the more complicated it gets, which is where you differentiate the men from the boys.
My posts will start from scratch in order to welcome all beginners into a healthier lifestyle. Blogs will provide anything and everything that has to do with the world of health and fitness. I’ll also be reviewing restaurants whilst giving recommendations on what to eat and what to avoid. Moreover, I’ll be reviewing nutritional supplements.
Lastly, free free to to ask questions in regards to health and fitness, which will be answered at a separate Q&A post.
Here is to a healthier lifestyle and a new beginning.
Posted by Fahad AlYehya
Core Fitness – Kuwait
I went back to Tamiya today to try out their crawling trail which is made for RC cars that are meant for rock climbing. The trail was made with a combination of plaster and wood and although challenging in some places I found it a bit tiny and too easy. It’s a great idea but too short a trail so I am hoping they have plans to extend it or make a larger one. For now will stick to Bnaider for crawling.
Someone forgot to pull the handbrakes… [YouTube]
One of my best friends bought a Tamiya car so we went over to the Tamiya track at the Tilal Complex in Shuwaikh to race our cars on their track. I wouldn’t call what we did racing since it was more like a destruction derby but it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.
It was my first time using their new outdoor track and it’s amazing. A lot of nice curves, a good long straight and best of all they have 4 charging stations for our batteries. That means if you have two batteries you could race with one while charging the other and keep swapping for unlimited fun. It costs KD1 to use their track but its really worth it. I later noticed they have a small trail for the Tamiya crawlers so I will pass by tomorrow to try that out. It also turns out tomorrow is an off-road day which means they turn the track into an off-road one with jumps and stuff. I will be taking my Tamiya Frog to try that out as well.
My car shell has taken a lot of abuse from me so I decided to pick one up on the way out. I picked up a Ford Escort Cosworth which is actually my 4th favorite car ever (the first is the Lancia Delta Integrale), Going to paint it this week and hopefully race it next Friday.