I am never an exercise/workout kind of person because I perspire a lot. Generally, people start to perspire when their body temperature reach 37 degrees and my body temperature is slightly higher than normal. During the SARS period in 2003 (omg, ten years), I was sent to the school hall frequently because my body was always above 37 degrees. I got to rest at the school hall with other schoolmates until our body temperature goes down. I just sat there and enjoyed the rest time with all the fans blowing around the school hall. A natural good slacking excuse.
I perspire so much, my hair gets oily by the time half the day is gone and I hate my hair looking wet and flat. I drink plenty of water now so I'm pretty sure my body temperature is better than my secondary school days and my complexion is so much better. I had never lost my weight through exercising and I had never paid attention to my diet.
If you have been following my instagram, you should have seen this picture comparison:
Secondary School days (2003-2006)
I was around 80kg when I was 15? I did lose some weight from my school's TAF programme. My school used to have this crazy schedule for the overweight people when I was 13(secondary one):
Monday - 30 minutes morning slow jog around basketball court
Tuesday - 1 hour after-school aerobics
Wednesday - 1 hour after-school aerobics
Thursday - 30 minutes morning slow jog around basketball court
Friday - 30 minutes morning slow jog around basketball court
This schedule did work! I lost around 2 kg every week without any change in diet! However, I ended up with smelly sweaty clothes every day. I pity my mum!
I lost a total of 14kg!
Happy ending?
NO!
It was school holidays so this workout was not enforced. After my happy June holidays, I was back to the original weight. And probably because some parents find this schedule too tiring for their children, it was no longer carried out after that school holiday. I don't really know why actually.
My weight started to increase until my school introduced us to the School Health Service at Outram for diet counselling. During my 2004 December holidays (when I was 14), I went for 30 minutes morning jog daily and lost around 5kg after the school holidays. *Your body burns blood sugars for around 20 minutes before it starts burning your fats. Once you stop, the blood sugar replenishes fast. Recommended exercise is at 30 minutes or more.
Year 2005 when I was 15, my body ballooned. I still had confidence of myself because I had a boyfriend! It was just amazing how he tolerated my body size for almost a year before things didn't work out and we broke up. The other reason I was confident, was that I don't take my weight. Hahahaaa.
After 'O' levels (2007 - 2008)
I rejected my offered polytechnic course so I took up a Speech and Drama course and started working as a freelance teacher until my mum found me idling most of the time (since it occupies only 10 hours of my week) and wanted me to get a real part time job before I enroll to polytechnic the following year. Through my close friend, I got into the retail line. I ate without any worries all these while since I have cash. However, due to the nature of both industries, I drink plenty of water and take supper every night. For a full 12-hour shift, I could easily consume three bottles of 1.5L mineral water and went for many genuine toilet breaks.
On my first day of retail work, I had to obtain 2 sets of uniform from the sales floor. A part timer who was still a secondary school student, told me straight in the face, "No need to look at ladies jeans. You can't fit ladies jeans. Try unisex jeans 34." Unisex is just a better name for men-cut jeans. Ladies jeans' cutting is slimmer and the largest available size is 29.
After 2 months of serving customers, moving cartons, replenishing stocks and helping out in visual merchandising, I can fit a unisex jeans size 32. I was transferred to a few different outlets as a full timer after I missed the polytechnic enrollment. After around 4 more months, I request to switch to a teenager brand and I got into the nearest outlet from my house. I still couldn't fit into a ladies jeans.
This was when my body started to lose weight and my complexion started to improve.
My outlet went to crazy sales mode so often, work is tiring me out. I started consuming plenty of water and the girls in my outlet were water-lovers too! I remember we used to bring up all the 1.5L mineral water for the whole outlet with a NTUC trolley. Before I left the company for polytechnic, I could finally squeeze into a size 29 ladies jeans. My weight was around 60kg.
Polytechnic (2009-2011)
My weight maintained at 58kg for my three years in polytechnic. My polymates could tell you how huge my 200kg diet was. I could keep eating and eating, but I continue to drink plenty of water since water coolers were easily available. I even continued supper. I couldn't sleep without supper.
After diploma (2012)
I started to be a private tutor, in a way to figure out my next step of life. I once had 8 private students and a group of 2 students. My life, from Monday to Sunday, was all about tutoring, quick meals, rushing from one place to another and of course, drinking water. My weight was still 58kg.
Year 2013
This year, during Chinese New Year, I had a boil infection for a week and I had to keep to simple diet where there was no seafood, no chicken and no nuts for me. The following month, my grandfather passed away, I had no supper and during this 100-day period, my meals were mostly home-cooked. Bad thing was that we were provided with a lot of packet drinks. I saw my complexion getting worse. Pimples and blemishes all around my face. I started drinking water again and ta-dah! I'm 56kg now, improved complexion and I can fit into a Forever21 size 27 ladies jeans :D
However.. Some other points:
1. "Wet" diet
My body has a strong craving for carbo all the time so I love eating rice with soup or noodles with soup/sauce. My diet must be wet and inclusive of a beverage.
2. Low snacks intake
I do not snack often but I love chocolates (okay, who doesn't). I don't really like to waste my stomach space eating biscuits and chips.
3. I'm not a professional
Oh yes, don't assume this works for you too. It might not! I'm just sharing and not telling you that you should follow how I lost weight! Different people have different ways of losing weight. Some people are against the idea of drinking water during meals but I can't eat my meal dry.
4. Plain water
When I say I drink plenty of water, I meant mostly plain water. Soft drinks have high sugar content and they are more expensive than plain water :)
5. Green/Barley tea
My Korean student likes to offer me green tea or barley tea during tuition and they drink it like normal water. I meant those no sugar added, brewed with tea bags kind. It seems healthy and I drink these sometimes.
- - - - - - - - - -
Feel much slimmer now, I do want to try changing my diet to achieve a lighter weight since exercising is a chore for me (still as of now). My napfa was bronze every year and my last 2.4km timing was around 15 minutes. I did try going for night jog once for a 2.2km journey but my body cannot seem to accept after so many years of not-exercising. I want to start slow with my diet first.
I got ingredients to make pasta salad. I read that most recipes use vinegar and olive oil but I'm not familiar with the taste. In the end, I bought Preggo's Mushroom Carbonara sauce instead, after realising that bottle of Creamy Caesar Salad Dressing has 25% fat and 10% sodium content. The Carbonara sauce is much familiar to me and it is healthier as compared to the salad dressing. Rachel advised me that salad dressing sometimes ruins the purpose of a healthy salad meal. She also mentioned that using chicken breast meat is a better option than using hot-dogs. I tried a few times to get the right taste. My best attempt was when I diluted the Carbonara sauce with water at ratio 2:1.
* It is safe to use organic veggies for salad and the normal veggies might not be suitable for raw consumption (as heard from radio). Example: Some veggies might have snails in it before and you need to cook these veggies to kill whatever that will affect you if it is eaten raw! Organic veggies are produced for raw consumption :)
- - - - - - - - - -
I hope you found my entry insightful and if you are below 18, don't worry so much. Sometimes, your body will work the magic for you :) Xoxo.
