Written in Mar 2019, but never published until now. I wanted to take more pictures so it's less wordy, and I wasn't sure if I could continue to upkeep a blog like I used to, but heck, it's 2021, and I have gotten so many questions I think it's only fair that I share my journey when I first started. "Done is better than perfect" is my mantra for this year. This is my experience, so do understand that everyone's journey is going to be different because we're all unique. Here goes:
As I'm sitting here in my office at 5am, thinking about the last 10 months that have whizzed by, I can't help but feel like "Whoa what happened??" 10 months ago I was not exactly in a very good place - I was chubby, I was at a stage where I wasn't sure if I cared enough to do anything about it anymore without feeling that it was too much work, I woke up feeling like I wasn't sure what to do with myself, I wondered about my existence and what working was for, and also, because Tanglin was ending, I was wondering what's going to happen next for me.
For the clueless, I am an actor based in Singapore, and was working on a local soap drama called "Tanglin" which lasted 3 years. I was comfortable, and didn't really need to "find work", so to speak, as I was secured a contract for a role which was a permanent character in the TV series. I sing a couple times a week at bars, but that wasn't enough for me to live the life of dreams.
That is, if I had dreams. Problem was, I was at a point when I really didn't care. I didn't know why I didn't care, but I wasn't motivated. I was wondering if I still liked acting. I think I did, but there was something that was missing in me - some kind of spark, this passion which I had when I was still in school, an eagerness to go out there and do this and accomplish that and be great. At that time, as much as I hate to admit it, I was just being and not living.
I found some excitement in pole-dancing and exotic dancing, but you know, in class we wore little. I was okay because no one was really judging, I think, except for myself. And you know, that's usually the worst, because we are usually the most critical judges of ourselves. The mirror and the phone that I used to take videos of what were taught in classes were just looking at me like "meh, not really pretty nor perfect, but you're fine I suppose". I got chubbier as I progressed, even though I got stronger. It was okay. I ate when I'm hungry. After all, I worked hard on the pole. I comforted myself, and tried to embrace my body and loved it for what it can allow me to do.
Still, at the end of the day, I was just living day to day, wondering what the hell was I doing here, and what happened to those dreams I once had.
I was also spending a long time preparing to get out of the house - clothes no longer fit nor looked good, and I had to keep changing before I settled on something that didn't make me look fat. So at the end of the day, there would always be a pile that looked like this after I'm done preparing to leave the house:
Then came one fateful day when I was attending a wedding lunch of one of our assistant directors, and I bumped into Nat, who became like 2 sizes smaller since I last saw him just about 2 weeks prior? He told me he was on ketones, and when I heard it was a supplement, I immediately fizzled out a bit, to be honest. I have never been a fan of supplements, and although I would always be ambitious and buy them after knowing the benefits, they would always end up still sitting on the shelf/desk/drawer 2 years later, unfinished. Maybe I would take them for a week, or a few times a week if I remembered, then it wouldn't last a month lol.
So I just dug these out from my drawer, and erm...
Expired. I have more of these at home. Expired too. Probably more expired than the ones in my office.
Nevertheless, he sent me the links and I went to do some reading up on my own. Yes I am a reader and I love to find out what I'm taking if I'm going to be taking it. And after going through my research, I WAS SUPER EXCITED! I mean, I stayed up till the wee hours of the morning just reading and reading and it all seemed so mind-blowing! What do you mean I can still eat carbs and be in ketosis???? HOW????
I understood ketosis, because I've done the Atkins before (and failed cos I couldn't keep off my sauces), so knowing that drinking something would put me right back into ketosis was something that got my really excited.
Now, bear in mind that during this period of time I was super carb-dependent, and carb-intensive. I love mee hoon kway, wanton mee, maggi mee, ipoh hor fun, porridge, and the like. Basically, carbs. Not really a sweet-tooth person so desserts are not dangerous nor tempting to me. Nor are sweet drinks. But omg the savoury stuff - bread, rice, noodles...AND DURIAN rahhhh~~~
I knew there was a business opportunity aspect to this, but I just wanted to drink and lose my look-like-pregnant-but-actually-just-fat belly. And look good and fit into nice things again. I went to Nat's place, bought 2 sachets from him (he wanted to give me free but I know his stock is same price as customer stock so it's not cheap and I don't like to owe favours, thus I did what any considerate human would do), and proceeded to order what I like (raspberry).
First person I spoke to about this was Nelson (
Keytoketo.co). I didn't know he faced fat issues all his life and I always assumed he was just slim. It was only after I spoke to him, that I found out his fitness was because he worked his ass off for it. And he was keen to not have to work so hard anymore just to maintain his physique. Plus at the time he was also putting on weight despite still doing intermittent fasting for 4 years - apparently it gets less effective over time? Now Nelson was someone who was totally new to this idea of having to eat fats. He kept on asking if I was sure about this, because he was brought up to AVOID fats. Nevertheless, he was apprehensively excited, if there was even such a thing, and he egged me on to try. I told him I might want to do this as a business if it's really good, and being the good friend he was (and still is!) he told me he would be my first customer, and try it with me. I wish all my friends were like that!
So I tried it for a week. I took 2 sachets a day because that was the optimum dosage (and because I was kiasu), and I started swapping out my carby meals for fat meals. I didn't know what to eat at first, so my go-to was cai png no rice, KFC, mookata and steamboat. I bought bacon and pork belly to panfry/shabu at home. I understood the importance of greens so I ate low carb vegetables which are mainly the dark leafy vegetables.
I noticed in that first week I didn't nap much. I could actually function throughout the day and have good consistent energy. I was trying to get used to it so I was a little grumpy from not eating carbs, probably due to carb-withdrawals. Now, a word about carb withdrawals - many people call it the keto flu. Fact is 1. it is not contagious, and 2. it is not a disease or an illness, and 3. I honestly don't think keto has anything to do with it! It's the carbs yoooo. *rolls eyes*
Having said that, I had a cheat meal on my 3rd day simply because I couldn't resist cooking myself a packet of instant noodles. I felt super guilty after that but I got that craving out of the way. I felt this was important because nothing good ever came out of deprivation for me. Lol. Cravings left unattended would explode in my face weeks later. So yeah, I decided to do my instant noodles. Plus, that was why I took ketones! So that I can still have my occasional carbs and still get smaller! And then all was well until a good friend decided that we go eat chicken rice on Day 8. Hey I don't meet a good friend every day right??? So yeah, chicken rice it was then.
Of course, I started boiling shabu meat and bacon and eating mookata and eggs and KFC (with the chilli sauce of course! HELLO???). And Haidilao.
2 weeks went by, and to be honest I wasn't feeling like I lost a lot of weight. I weighed myself every single day just so I could keep records. I also took measurements, mainly of my chest, waist, belly, hips. To be honest I didn't feel like I lost much weight. The weighing machine just yoyo-ed on me up and down every single day, and I STILL FELT FAT. Nevertheless, I was at my 2 week mark and I decided I should take another picture (I wasn't taking pictures every day):
Diff: <1kg
And this was my result over 9 days. I didn't take my first 4 days' pictures because I was lazy, then remembered I should on Day 5 lol. Nope I did not suck in. This was not photoshopped nor liquified in any way. The first picture wasn't an after buffet picture and the second picture wasn't an after fasting picture. In fact I think I took the second picture after supper lol.
You must be going: NO WAY IS THIS LESS THAN 1KG!
Okay, maybe this picture might explain some things:
Exact same weight of fat vs muscle. Yup I know right??
And then I went about my days, drinking ketones, eating supposedly "sinful" foods that I have been taught all my life were bad and to avoid. I ate hotpot, steamboat, and I was pretty lazy so I bought shabu meat from the supermarket and threw them into water and sometimes that was a meal. I ate avocadoes and nuts, and I ate naked burgers and chicken nuggets. My birthday came around 3 weeks after I started keto and being the considerate host I was (ahem), I had "normal" foods as well. There were glass noodles (tang hoon) and fried rice, together with fried popiah and dessert. I didn't think I looked too bad.
Then came the 6-weeks mark, and I decided to take another picture:
Total weight lost across 6 weeks? Think it might be more than 10kg?
Nope, just 4kg.
Remember we spoke about how fats were a lot lighter than muscle? We want improved body composition so quite frankly, for once I wasn't bothered that the picture on the far right was 57/58kg given my frame (I'm 1.62m, or 5"3.)
Was the journey hard? I didn't think so. Was it hard to be on a diet? What diet? I gave myself carbs every now and then in moderation! I was more aware of the foods I was eating. My energy was great! I no longer felt the laziness and sluggishness I felt before I started, and I was productive! I no longer needed my afternoon naps, and I get to dig out my slim-time clothes! Like hello? I think that was easy enough.
I'm someone who has tried slimming pills, slimming teas, laxatives, medication that gave me heart palpitations, medication that gave me the runs (oily ones too), meal replacements, protein shakes, exercise, getting a gym membership, hiring a personal trainer, going for workout classes, running 4 times a week, cold wraps, hot wraps, slimming centre treatments, fat-freeze... I'm overwhelmed just thinking of everything I've tried omg. This is by far the easiest way I've lost any amount of fat and kept it off. It's been 10 months, and I only see myself getting better each day. Am I getting so skinny you can't see me anymore? No. Lol. I think I'm a good size. I don't workout although I should, and I can look like this. Without starving myself, or going on any kind of deprived diet. If I can do this, I don't see why anyone else can't. I'm such a believer of this product that I've even gone into this business full time. But more on that another time. =)
Now the reason why I'm sharing this is not to boast and show off my results. No this is not about me. I really, truly, and genuinely feel that I need to share this with you so that you get inspired and you can feel that hey, you can do this too. Maybe it's not the end. Maybe you were wrong that you were just meant to be fat and life was just "supposed to be just that". Whoever invited you to read this, reach out to them and ask them. If you got here because of me, I'm so glad you found me and you took time to read this. You can just check out the
link here, watch the video, and please reach out to me. I want to be able to help you, since the fact that you read till this point kinda shows me that you have some hope (or at least curiosity to find out more) to be better.
Will be updating more in the coming days and weeks (or months) ahead. (I feel really good that I finally got my ass down to writing this post and reviving my blog again. And I'm grateful that you're here reading!) The products may be confusing to a lot of you, so I will be doing one just to share about the products and what to expect, very very soon. Love you guys, and see you soon!
See those colours? Mmm mmm~~~
This was after 1 wash. The hair was in a much better condition than I expected. The ends weren't breaking off like crazy. You do have to blow dry immediately after your wash though, for it to look nice when it dries. The same goes for all hair actually. Unless you're into the whole bedhead look thing. Also, remember to apply some kind of hair treatment on your hair to help close up the hair shaft. Chances are they are all opened up and that could cause breakage. Applying treatment or some kind of hair oil will also help give it a nice sheen. 
