How to Get Started?

There is only one way to start on your battle again all the fats in your body.

To know your weight.




Sounds simple?

It's simple but yet 4 out of 5 of the people whom told me they want to lose weight don't have a weighing scale. And they don't measure their weight regularly.

Here's how to start:

1. Get yourself a weighing scale in your room.
2. Measure your weight every morning.
3. Record your weight measurement everyday in a book, or best, an excel spreadsheet.

Get yourself a weighing scale in your room.


Sorry for the lousy photo, I am too busy to take a decent one.

If you really want to slim down, get yourself a digital weighing machine. The kind that shows the decimal point. Other weighing scale gives optical illusion, and imho, just doesn't work.

(I got mine from NTUC, only $19.90. Saw one in Sheng Song, cost less than $25 I think. )

Measure your weight every morning.
This is important, as this would allow you to know exactly how heavy you weight, and if you overeat the previous day, it would be reflected immediately, and it will stop you from eating more.

For most of us, I think it requires a lot of courage to stand on to the weighing machine. We know we are fatter than before, but just don't want to see that horrifying number on the machine. That's why we pretend that we forget to measure our weight. But the real reason is... We don't want to know.

It's ok if you are skinny like my friend Mini. But if you are truly determined to lose weight, you should stop deceiving yourself.

Stop looking at the computer screen now, get up.
Get to the nearest weighing machine you can find and KNOW YOUR WEIGHT.

After feeling sad and angry with yourself. It's time to face the music, and start dieting.


Record your weight measurement everyday in a book, or best, an excel spreadsheet.

Next, start monitoring your weight.
You should record down your weight everyday. You can do it in a small exercise book or something. I find the best place to put down in records is in an excel spreedsheet. This way, you can do your sums and get excel to update for you how much far away you are from your ideal weight.

Weight Diary

17.05.2009: 71.7kg
24.05.2009: 70.8kg [Lately I have no appetite for anything. I think is post-exams blues. haha ]

Warning! - 粽子 Rice Dumplings

端午節 - 粽子 Rice Dumplings, originally uploaded by Jumbo Jack.

Hallo people. It'll be Dragon Boat Festival next Thursday.
We'll be seeing a lot of rice dumplings, Ba-Zhang coming our way.
Before eating, let me warn you that each rice dumpling is around 500-600kcal.
1 McSpicy from Mcdonalds is around 580kcal. Thus, 1 rice dumpling = 1 McSpicy.

Think twice before eating one!

Speed of Weight Loss

Another common question that was asked.

How long did I take to lose 20 kg?
Well, I took only 6 months to lose 20 kg. This is because I am very fat to begin with. The heavier you are, the more calories required each day. For a very heavy body like that I naturally have a high calorie count. Thus if you do your Maths, to reduce my calories intake to 1,350 daily, I got a bigger difference than someone who is only 60 kg.

Acc0rding to my GP, (I always bug him with a lot of questions regarding weight loss when I visit him.. heee.. Free professional advice) the weight loss should be no more than 0.5-1kg per week. Anything more than that will be unhealthy.

I was actually feeling quite weak during that period of time. I feel very dizzy and look pale all the time. It's really quite bad, affecting my work already. Cannot run around with the kids as I used to, and I don't even have enough energy for them. So I visited the doc. I thought I would be getting a scolding that I was too extreme in my dieting and all, but to my surprise he didn't. He told me that my speed of weight loss is still acceptable, and I am probably feeling unwell because I didn't have enough vitamins(need more variety in veggie..) and because my body is still trying to adjust to the loss of weight.


Thus, he prescribed me with multi-vitamins. They are like some miracle pills for me. After taking the multi-vitamins daily, I no longer feel dizzy or look pale. (I will, when I forget to eat them -__-) And it really helped me to pull through those 6 months.

Now, I no longer lose weight as fast, and I kinda stop eating them for a while. I don't feel weak or dizzy without them. I think my body has already adapted to my new weight. :)

However, I have started to eat them again, as I have started on my journey from size 10 to 8 now. So for precaution wise, I think it would be better to have some supplements. Anyway, they are supplements and not any dieting pills. No harm eating them la.

Low Calorie Goodie of the Week - Baked Cheese Fish Chips from Muji

I had wanted to post all the low calorie goodies I know in one long post. But I have too many outstanding posts to do.. So I thought it would be better if I could just update a "Low Calorie Goodie" weekly. It would be better than trying to push myself to try to compile a list.

Here's one for this week.



Baked Cheese Fish Chips from Muji
100kcals, $1.60
Cheese chips that leaves a strong aftertaste in your mouth. My brother and I loves this, but my colleagues think the taste is weird. The stranger thing about this Japanese invention is, you won't feel like popping one chip after another into your mouth. Which is a good thing. It satisfies your craving for something guilty, but won't make you eat too much.

How to Get Started?

Friends are always telling me they don't know how to start or can't find the motivation and determination to start dieting, even though they really wish to lose weight.

Actually I am guilty of that too. I guess I am a lazy pig by nature, and that's why I am always too lazy for anything, and that's why my weight ballooned to 93.4kg.

Next up, I will give you a suggestion that will definitely make you start losing weight. Again it's going to be super simple and I assure you, it will definitely make you start on your battle.

Stay tuned!

Muji Tom Yum Soup

Is expensive!! But it's tasty! I like!!
*but i am probably not going to buy it in future. There are other MUJI compressed soup that are lower in calories.




Soup base from Muji - 122kcal
3 fishballs - 21kcal
Enokitake (Golden Needle Mushroom) - 1.7kcal
Toufu - 24kcal

Total Calories - 168.7kcal

How to Lose Weight?

For the past few months, friends who saw me would exclaim "OMG, you lost so much weight!". After which, its the same question, "How did you do it?"



Finally the blog I been wanting to start is here..

I don't earn money telling you about this, and no, this is not another MLM. I am just trying to share. Because I know how hard it can be. I am not any doctor either. This is based on my own research, and whether you want to follow is really your choice.

Ok finally what you have all been waiting for.

How to Lose Weight?
Part 1: Calculating Calories
Part 2: Forming A Habit
Part 3: Low Calorie Snacks

Part 1: Calculating Calories

This photo was taken 2 years ago. I was about 90 kg already. But actually, I am still the happy fat girl then :)


The secret to my weight-loss is nothing complex. It's FREE, and is very very simple.

It's called Calories Calculation.

Calories calculation works on a very simple principal. Our body burn calories to give us energy to live, and there is a basic calorie intake for every individual. (It varies by your weight/age/sex/activity level)

calories intake - calories burnt = calories gained/lost.

So, if you eat less than what you burnt, then you will lose weight.

Very simple la. It's 1+1=2 kind of maths.

For me, when I was 93.4kg, my BASIC daily required calories intake is around 1715kcal.

But that is not really the calorie intake I required. The calorie intake will have to take into account my activity level.

Depending on my daily activity level, the final calorie intake varies.

If I stay at home and rot the whole day, the activity level is obviously low,
but if I very enthu, went jogging, hiking, or if I am a sales person and my job requires me to run around the island the entire day, then my activity level would be quite high.

• Rot at home= Low activity level = 2351 kcal
• Run around= High activity level = 2754 kcal

You can find your required calorie intake using the calculator from Health Promotion Board.

So basically, I calculate my calories intake religiously daily. I have a big appetite. In order to consume less calories, but still feel full, I eat a lot of veggie everyday. You don't have to be like me, you can choose something else (muesli bars, fruits, cereals..etc etc)to substitute if you don't like vegetables. You just have to consume something that has lesser calories.




I am very careful with what I eat. Before putting something into my mouth, I will do a mental calculation of the calories I still have for the day. I control my diet under 1350 kcal everyday.

When I first started, I am not sure of the calories too. Thus, I checked the "Nutrition Facts" of whatever I buy and do my Maths.


This is where you find relevant nutrition information. But be careful of the serving size. Some companies would use a very small serving size for their measurement of calories, giving consumers the illusion that their product is very low in calories.

For packed food that doesn't have a nutrition fact label, or cooked food from eateries, I use the very reliable Calories counter or HPB's online tool.

Now, I am more familiar with the calories level of whatever I eat. I can do an estimate of whatever I eat very quickly. But when I am uncertain, I will still check.

Calorie Calculation is not any new big concept or scientific breakthrough. Ask your GP and he will tell you it's common sense. It's simple but often ignored.

Before this, my dieting plans always failed. And that's because I don't really understand how to lose weight. I am just trying to slim down base on my instincts. I thought I would lose weight just by eating less. Not true.


Coke Zero. The "Zero" here means zero calories.

Eating less will not make you lose weight. You can eat a lot, feel very full but still consume less than your friend who eats very little and feels hungry all the time. The trick is to work your calories. It's not tough. People, we will have to work on our calories to win this.


This is my diet, let's do some simple calories calculation.....


*This is Part 1 of the 3 blog entries I will be posting on how to lose weight. Stay tuned!

What I wore - 17 May 2009

*super tribal and cool red bag from some secret alley
*denim skirt
*black top from Zara
*bangle from Accessorize
*gold earrings from Forever 21


That's a photo before my hair cut and dye.

Here's one after spending $124

My diet

This is supposed to be a longer entry. But I haven't finished the blog post yet and I can't stand looking at my hideous photos from my past now. (Ok I still love myself for who I am.. But it torturing for me to look at those photos..)

So here are pictures showing what I ate today:


For breakfast


For lunch


For dinner


For today, I ate a total of 724kcal + around 300kcal for my snacks.

Actually, I shouldn't consume less than 1000kcal a day. It's kinda unhealthy.
I ate lots of healthy snacks here and there, so it's definitely more than what you see here.

I will post pictures of those healthy and low calories snacks I am always munching on.
Stay tuned!

Before and After

*click for a bigger picture

This scary "Before and After" comparison pretty much sums up what happened to me. That was from June 2008 to about January 2009. That was me in all 3 pictures.


This was taken almost a year ago, 20June 2008. I was so fat! I think already 93.4kg. This is the first time I am sharing this photo with anyone. I felt so terrible when I saw this photo man. My mum said I looked as if I was pregnant.

No, no slimming centres, no gym package, no pills, no surgery, no black magic.

Only determination.

What you have to do is to find your lowest point. I call that the point of no return. And there will be no return. 永远不回头！


Bintan beach was great, but I look horrible! Look at those elephant legs!

I was a happy fat girl for 23 years of my life. But not anymore when I hit 93.4 on the weighing scale. That is like a big slap on my face. Better do something or die. And I am glad I did..!!

Sorry if I sound like Nike, but really, nothing is impossible.


This is me now.. Ok I don't look so slim most of the time, and I am still fat, overweight. Am still working towards the ideal weight..

I will share more on the most commonly asked question in the last 3 months or so.. "How did you do it?" in my next post.

Stay tuned!

Queen in 10.

The reason why I called this blog Queen in 10 is because I just bought a blouse from Dorothy Perkins that's in size 10. (Oh no, I sound so bimbo!!!!)

I know a lot of people are size 10 so there is nothing for me to be hao lian about. But hallo, Lao Niang was a size 18 last time ok!! So imagine how happy I was when I can fit into that size 10 blouse.

Actually that blouse is a bit too plain for its hefty price, so I didn't buy it when I first saw it. (See. I still got my 理智!)

Me in the fitting room, wearing the top for the first time.

But as with all girls, I just cannot forget that blouse, even when it's in my least favorite color, its expensive..etc etc. For the next few days the only thing on my mind was the blouse. It's my first size 10 you see! I went back to the shop again, tried on the same blouse, but decided that the economy is really bad, no more mid year bonus, maybe no more GST credit next year, so I didn't buy it again.

But the image of the dress kept coming back to me..

Finally, I gave in and called the shop in Bugis, using my lousy and broken Engrish to give a description of the top, and politely asked them to keep one SIZE TEN for me. Then I went back at my third trip the following weekend to own that very memorable top forever.

Haha!!

Ok I must admit that I haven't tried on any new tops after that one. (No time for shopping! Busy with work!) I know probably I am still not a size 10. Could be just happened that I can fit into that cut's 10. But I am still happy la.

In this economy crisis, I can still afford a top, and size 10 somemore leh! :P

Hello!

Hallo world!

This is my first blog post here.
I started this blog because I been answering a lot of questions lately as to how I lost so much weight. I am thinking if I have a blog, I can just give those people who came up to me this link, and they can just read.. (then I don't have to say the same thing over and over again la...)