About Me

Wanna Know me?

Hello there!

Welcome to my site.

I'm Cecelia Yap, a Malaysian Chinese educated in the UK and US; single; an avid exerciser (but mind you, I'm not an exercise freak!); a food lover; a theater goer and a spa fanatic......

I'm currently working as a Research Manager in a Singaporean bank. An "interestingly boring" job, I must say.

The thing I hate most about my job is the traffic rush in the mornings and evenings in downtown KL (anybody knows where KL is??? It's the capital of Malaysia, for those who don't, that is.....). It drives me crazy!

I drive to work daily, 60 KM one way, Mon - Fri. And I literally have to fight traffic every morning in order to beat my path down to the office door, huffing and puffing (and looking like a mad girl too!), imagine, just to be on time for work!

Argh!

You'd wonder: "How would a research manager have anything to do with fitness and exercise?"

Well, I can show you there's a tight connection, in my case, that is.

Let's start from my teens.

I was quite a sickly teenage girl with many ailments. I would fall sick easily - flu, fever, long bouts of coughs, running nose, weak tummy; ulcers, skin rashes, cold hands and feet..........

I was hospitalized for very high fever when I was 13. I remembered running a temperature of 104; I almost died.....

And there were many more "sick" episodes, sometimes serious; sometimes mild.

And then as a teenager, I was "round" all over, like a pumpkin, if that helps you to imagine how round I was then....

I still vividly remembered that "fateful" day when a boy in my class called me "fat pumpkin" and made fun of my "round" shape. I was 15 then, you could say I was at a very sensitive and impressionable age.

It hurt me bad, real bad. And at the same time, it awoke in me something.....

How do I say? It's like as if a bulb in my brain suddenly "lighted"up and I saw things clearly.

In a flash of a moment when I realized I'd to make a decision to change - lifestyle, exercise, healthy diet, weight loss......even at that young age.

This and that hospitalization episode kick started my quest to be fit and healthy, to get out of my "roundness" and get into shape.

I began to exercise first. Eating healthy came very, very much later.

I would save and crimp on my pocket money just so that I could buy exercise videos, books, accessories and anything to do with exercise to satisfy my quest.

I then ferociously read, practised and used the information on my body. I got off first with running, walking and toning exercises.

I took up Yoga in my 20s. That helped me lots to keep in shape, plus I suppose I had high metabolism then.

I then switched to Pilates about 5 years back because I found that it's more dynamic and suitable for my needs (especially in flattening my abs!).

I can now say exercise flows in my blood - I can't do without it. It has become a part of me to do 1 hour of exercise 4 times a week: cardio & toning exercises, weights, Pilates, stretching. And I had since become fit and strong and stayed lean, without much hassle.

I must confess this - I hardly fall sick since I started exercising, not even the common flu or fever or cough......

The biggest stumbling block to my health and fitness though, was the food part. I think every one of us stumbled on this one, one way or another, so it's fair and square that I was not different.....

Don't think I was a super "controller" who could control my appetite when come to foods because I was not. Those days, I gobbled up anything that came to sight and ended up overeating most of the time.

Exercise helped, but I couldn't get rid of the fats in my thighs and butts; they stubbornly stayed there, no matter how much exercise I did.

I got so fed up and decided to get some help. That I did only about 5 years back. I hired an online personal trainer to customize a combo program of exercise and diet.

For the first time, I heard about bad carbs (processed white bread, pasta, noodles, rice), good natural carbs (potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, fruits, vegetables, oatmeal, brown rice....).

And the harm of saturated fats; the good of unsaturated fats; the killer glycermic index; the destructive sugars; the friendly fiber and the ever helping water (which I should take, plenty of it.....)

I incorporated the good foods every opportunity I've into every meal, every day.

Don't get me wrong here - you think may be I switched to eat healthier just like that? Of course not! I was struggling like mad to change my eating habit!

I threw in tons and tons of effort and discipline to get it going, to CHANGE!

Grrrrrrr.........It sucked! I wanna quit so many times.....

But the sheer determination to have a healthy body, not so much for vanity's sake (i.e. to look slim and slender), keep me going on.

Because I realized the way to a healthy body, besides exercise, is to eat healthily. No argument there.

So, happily, I exercise consistently and eat right most of the time (I must qualify this because I do slip into bad eating now and then....).

When I got the current job, I wasn't sure I could stick it out.

You see, prior to this job, I was doing sales and marketing, a very active and very "sociable" job that required me to visit and entertain clients most of the time.

I was enjoying the "highs" and "twirls" of that job but I had no life of my own. I practically sold my soul to the bank.

And deep down, I wanted to do something different; something I love to do; have more time for myself and family; to travel; to read more; to help those in need;......

I then hit the lowest point in my life. I developed an intense disgust for the marketing job. I dreaded going to work; I went in late; I didn't perform; I missed my targets (which were unheard of for me before this) and I couldn't care less anymore. I just wanted to get out of the job. I felt so suffocated.

I quit. Declared long holidays for myself, traveled around a bit and did some freelance writing for a local newspaper.

It's through the freelance writing that I've got the chance to experience a taste of research. And I love it!

The current job entails lots of research - economy, industry, business, stock market, money market, credit.....

Because of the research skill I've acquired, I started to do more and more research online and surprisingly find that I've a "natural talent" in this.

I would sit in front of the PC for hours at nights and on weekends, searching for information, whatever information I want but particularly those on fitness and exercise.

But to my disappointment, lots of the fitness-related information on the net aren't comprehensive and complete and most of them are tainted with commercial motive - to sell you something, either an exercise product or tool or some gimmicks or some useless formulas.

So I thought I could share on the net what I know on fitness and exercise, the whole works of it, to benefit others who want the information.

Besides sharing and helping people, my most urgent mission is this - I want to retire early and young in life, so that I can have control of my time and do what I want to do with my life.

I've never dreamed of working in the bank or in this job for that matter, until I drop dead or something.

Thus, armed with this mission, I start to look for an alternative source of income, an income that's substantial enough that can free me from my day-job, to pursue my dreams. And to retire YOUNG!

Online business is my first choice.

Oh, my goodness! A whole gamut of the get-rich-quick things attack my sense of "wisdom" when I search for this and I fall again and again into the traps of promise of earning "easy money".

I even join some "paid survey" and some nonsensical clicking programs (and looking like a stupid fool as well doing these 2), to earn money! Of course, I didn't earn any money, not even a dime.

As the story goes, a "prince charming" of a program comes into my life. Somehow, I stumbles upon SBI!, I don't even remember how it happens.

It says it can help me to build a website on any of my passion or skill or hobby or expertise I've and turn it into a viable online business!

(P/S: SBI!is short for Site Built It!)

I sure don't know how to build a website, let alone make money with it, writing on almost any topic!

Uh, Oh......Uh, Oh.... I go. This is getting more and more interesting!

As good as my desire is to share with people what I know about fitness and exercise, I don't know how to do it.

I've zero PC skill, no programming knowledge, and building a website? What's that? But every thing starts to happen when SBI! comes along.

I get excited and anxious at the same time. Excited because I'm about to fulfill my dream. Anxious because I fear this could be another scam!

However, my excitement flames on and my anxiety? I put it to rest the minute I get down to read and study the SBI! Action Guide.. It's a clear step-by-step guide that leads me along nicely from scratch to finish on how to build a website.

It helps me to find the perfect topic or niche for my site, build it, get traffic to it and make money with it.

You're now looking at a website I build from scratch, from me who have no PC & programming skills, no HTML, no web design knowledge and no product to sell either, all with the help of SBI!

I share further my experience using SBI! here. Perhaps you could resonate with what I've been going through with SBI! because it speaks to you too?.....

If I can do it, you can too. Just bring your willingness and motivation. SBI! does the rest of the work for you.

It provides all the tools you need in one package at an affordable price and teaches you step-by-step how to use everything.

Not even sure you've a topic to write on? I want to relieve you of this unsureness.

Here, have a look at hundreds of successful sites , built by people like you and me (with no PC & programming skills, no HTML, no web design knowledge, heck, I'm beginning to sound like a recording machine....) and yet the sites all rank in the top 1% of the most successful sites on the net.

Do you see these successful site owners writing on topics that are as wide ranging as your imagination can stretch? They've also turned their topics into profitable websites and businesses.

I started my website you're on right now in January 2006 (I bought my package in 2004 but due to time constraint, I hired a so-called webmaster to build the site, but he did a lousy job, charged me a hefty fee and left me stranded....I'm not ashamed to share this "piece" of crap I did back then!).

I began to make money 8 months down the road, mostly from Google's adsense. This is income from advertisements that Google place on my site; when visitors click on the ads, I earn the commission.

I earn money; do what I love to do and along the way, I help others to achieve fitness and health too.

Whoa! I'm looking to quit my day-job, not long from now! And retire young!

Y-A-A-H-O-O-O!

I hope you're not bored by this long letter....

I just want to say that I am no expert neither am I an exercise instructor but through years of practicing, I really can share with you a thing or two about what fitness and exercise are all about.

I walk the talk, so I know what I'm sharing with you is what I actually experience in my own fitness and exercise journey.

I hope you enjoy the information provided in this site.

If you have any comments, suggestions, request or feedback, I would appreciate you fill out the form below, type in your message in the message box and mail it to me.

I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Hey! Thanks for dropping-by.

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