F.A.Q.

1. How did you do it? How did you lose weight so fast?
It takes a blog to explain that, but in short, I changed the way I ate, what I ate, did an amazing detox program, and exercised to keep my metabolism up so that it keeps burning fat.

2. Was it hard? Did you suffer?
Not going to lie. Losing the 15kgs was hard on me emotionally and psychologically. Being an epicurious food blogger, there were moments I felt like life wasn’t worth living if I couldn’t eat my favorite foods at the portions I loved. Then my body started to shrink and people started to sensationalize when I said hello. It was so perplexing I forgot why I was so upset in the first place. That phenomenon happened every time I met someone who hasn’t seen me since May 2012 or so, and so I forgot all about why life sucks without my favorite foods.

The exercising bit was really hard when I weighed 85kg. I was heavy, and I would get annoyed with my lack of coordination and at tough moments end up crying mid-exercise because I felt like a clumsy elephant. Bear in mind that though I was big, I never saw myself as fat, so to have my body tell me that I was too fat for surfing or skipping gracefully was just depressing. But I’d finish the exercise routine crying till the end because that’s what I committed myself to, because the only thing worse than crying is giving up prematurely.

3. Are you suffering now?
Not at all. I can skip 200 times in a go now, and sit in front of people eating cake and bread and feel no inclination to ask for a bite. I’m still working on the pasta and pizza, though if I cave in it’s only to have one bite and that doesn’t really do the kind of harm that scarfing down a whole plate or pie does. Hey I’m only human!

It gets challenging at times with the workouts when I try to raise the bar a bit higher, but I stopped crying because I don’t feel like a clumsy elephant anymore.

4. What has been the most important factor to your weight loss success?
I’d have to say it’s psychological. I changed the way I think about food, and have a lot of silent dialogues in my head about why the piece of fluffy white bread (which I’ve eaten all my life) isn’t worth losing my pancreas over. I don’t need to have it anymore, though I can if I wanted to. I just don’t want to if that makes sense.

Instead of being angry with the fact I have to exercise to control my weight, I look forward to workout time because it’s the only time in the day when I get to zone out, do something good for myself, and give my brain a break. I get a similar effect with massages, but I can’t do that every day. Living in Kota Kinabalu also helps. Sunsets in the west coast of Borneo are blindingly beautiful at times, so I go out for walks and runs to catch a glimpse of the magic. I don’t even think I’m exercising when I am outside. It’s that awesome!

5. What motivates you now?
Lifebod.com motivates me. I also look at people who are overweight (not judging them of course), and have this urge to tell them my story. I get inspired by people who were bigger than me, who are now much fitter than me. I want to find out what they went through, listen to their stories!

6. What’s your advice to me if I want to embark on a weight loss program?
Firstly, get a medical checkup from your doctor and get clearance about what exercise program you should be doing. Find out your health profile so that you know what you’re trying to fix if there’s anything wrong. For example, if you’re anemic, you know you’ll need to amp up your iron intake and avoid inverted yoga poses. Or if you’ve got high cholesterol, you’d want to bump up the omega-3 intake, have oats, and minimize stress triggers in your life. So my advice is go to your doctor first before starting any program.

Secondly, do it naturally and gradually. Focus on changing your lifestyle. Don’t go on diet fads and take dangerous pills because they could mess up your kidneys like it has for some of my friends.

7. Will I lose weight doing what you’re doing?
Logically, for most people, yes. However, if you have a serious medical condition that prevents you from losing weight (metabolic disorder, hypothyroidism, etc) please talk to your doctor and find out what program you should be on! I’m not a doctor so I can’t tell you.

8. Do you do any coaching?
If you pay me enough to quit my day job, sure. (That means not yet, but maybe one day). 🙂

9. What exercises do you do?
Crossfit 3 times a week. The rest of the time I just move a lot. Bodyjam, Zumba, walking, running, cycling, rope-skipping, dancing like a nut in front of the mirror for one hour, you get the idea. Any kind of cardio for an hour, 5 times a week. I stretch and do some yoga poses on my own because I can’t handle the full-on classes yet. It doesn’t matter what flavor of exercise you like, as long as you make sure you do strength training and work in your cardio too.

10. Is a gym membership absolutely necessary for losing weight?
It depends on you. I don’t hit the gym every day, but the stuff I learn from the gym I use at home. I find that being a part of a fitness community who are passionate, knowledgeable, and supportive helps keep me on track, but ultimately, it’s up to you.

If your PT makes you work hard and you go eat 3 plates of pasta after, that’s just not going to get you where you want to be. Likewise, if you’re really disciplined and exercise outdoors on your own a lot, you could be more successful than a lot of people who have gym memberships.

I have a gym membership that I don’t make full use of, but it’s important for me to tap into workout techniques and to do it using the correct form so I don’t hurt myself. I want better and more effective results without injury, so having professional trainers around to teach me that is vital. Plus the group classes at my gym are awesome. I love them!