I've always associated aerobics and weight training with weight loss, yoga with flexibility and tai chi / qi gung with meditation. Probably totally incorrect and a major over generalisation! So I was pretty intrigued when my friend Colin (a Holistic Healer) mentioned that Qi Gong could be used for weight loss! He first mentioned this during our Chinese New Year dinner. A time of great gluttony & excess. So we were all ears!

A month later, we finally get round to organising a class! First class is scheduled for this Wednesday, from 7-8 pm at Divine MedSpa. It's my night off, but I'm tempted to stay back just to experience this for myself, especially since we've been missing our Wednesday afternoon yoga sessions for so many weeks now.

Fancy joining us? Just call 67325578 to reserve your place! See you there!

                  

Recently, after my return from Bangkok in early January, I decided that I had to lose weight. I'd gained 15kg since opening Simply Aesthetic and it was getting beyond a joke. Sometimes, I'd even be breathless going up a flight of stairs! Big change from the days where 3 hours of back to back gym classes was a breeze.

A friend of mine, once he found out I was planning on going on a detox diet, challenged me to a competition. One month, biggest loser wins. Obviously I wasn't going to refuse! We both planned to start exercising and eat healthily. I have all the best weight loss machines, he sells some of them. What a competition!

It all started well. I was on carrot sticks for the first few days & feeling miserable without my wine and coffee. By day 3, I felt better, and was really enjoying the taste of roasted root vegetables. I omitted chicken, pork, wheat and rice initially. Plus tomatoes and sweetcorn, being blood group B. I had all the fruits I fancied, plus nuts.

By week 3, I was starting to eat quite large amounts, with many meals out. I tried to srtick within the food groups as well as I could, but often had deep fried battered seafood. Not good. I didn't even dare weight myself as although the physical change was very fast initially, thingsseemed to have stabilised.

For machines, I got onto the Thermojet whenever I could. Which was about two to three times a week, some weeks none. Certainly not the daily (or even twice daily) treatments I'd planned.

Anyway, the month finally ended today. I jumped on the scales and despite all the indescretions, I'd lost 4k g! Pretty good loss of 1 kg per week. Healthy & right on target. Phew! (My other friends were getting really worried that I was planning on losing 15kg in one month, which obviously is unrealistic & dangerous to health).

My friend... he gained over 1kg! Blame it on stress at work.

He bought dinner and drinks as promised, but I have to say, he was a bit of a sore loser!

Anyway, I'll rub it in a bit more... I win! I win! I'm the biggest loser! Heehee! )

                  

After buying huge bags of nuts over the weekend, I now find that I'm to avoid peanuts, pistachios, cashews and sesame.

And I've been happily drinking pumpkin soup when out, perfecting the recipe at home, plus eating it roasted, only to find it's banned too!

The persimmons are so sweet and juicy and filling at the moment. Also banned!

No prawns, no crabs... But damn it! I'm going to have my favourite salted egg crabs for supper tomorrow night after our wine tasting at Rubicon.

Fortunately wine is ok. Love my grape juice! Phew!

No wheat (which I've largely avoided) but milk & other dairy products are ok. Not sure why ice cream is on the banned list though... But bagels, muffins, cornbread, regular pasta and all the things that smell nice in shopping centres are banned.

Even coconuts are out. The upcoming trip to Bangkok is gonna be hard. I'll just allow myself one coconut and the yummy coconut ice cream at Chatuchak market. (

Probably the most shocking poison of all: pepper!

This new twist is goning to take some getting used to. It seems that I'm allowed to eat less & less everyday! Or maybe I should just continue as is. If it works well, I might be the best-selling author of the next slimming secret book! ;o)

                  

Before I first opened Simply Aesthetic in 2006, I was exercising 14 hours a week, which means at least an hour most days. Sometimes, I even managed a session of Muay Thai with my personal trainer in the day time, then head to Planet Fitness at night for a double session of Body Combat & Body Pump! Those really were the days!

When we were testing out our body composition amalysis machine, it declared me under-weight! That's a first!

I had always planned to continue with my fitness regime. And I did to some extent initially. But as the stress of owing a bricks & mortar business increased, the time to spend on my self disappeared. So fit became fat...

It was very gradual. I managed to blind myself to the creeping weight with sessions of mesotherapy or other slimming machines. Even had liposuction to get rid of the excess blubber. But like all my patients who eat too much and exercise too little, the fat continued to get stored.

So I start 2010 some 15 kg heavier than my ideal weight. This was my ideal when I was toned and athletic. And we all know that fat is lighter than muscle. So I've put on more than 15kg of pure blubber! YUCK!!!

I ended 2009 meeting a couple of people who really turned their lives around by eating healthily. Don't get me wrong, I eat good food. Just too much of it! And I succumb to the temptation of Char Kway Teow, Chicken Rice, Roti Prata and all the other goodies loved by all Singaporeans.

Anyway, the first was Dr Scott Freeman, my Chiropractor. He's stopped all sugars & was following the Blood Type Diet. He'd lost a ton of weight in just a few weeks. He's a blood group B, like me, so I snuck a peak at his book. Chicken, pork, tomatoes, sweetcorn and soya sauce were poisonous for Blood Group Bs! No! That's like my staples!

Then an old patient turned up. I did the ALCAT test for Sze Lin 2 years ago. She was slim and athletic but had awful cellulite. She had one of the largest intolerance lists I've ever seen! And kudos to her, she stayed off all the banned foods! She was slimmer than before, her cellulite was almost gone and her lipid levels back to normal. What an inspiration! She related how she eats very pure foods only, and it's been a hard process, but worth it.

So I started 2010 determined to clean up my act & get back in shape. I was going to stop rice, wheat, milk, processed food, chicken, pork, sweetcorn, tomatoes and soy sauce. I'd survive on fruit, vegetables, nuts and seafood.

Fortunately, a friend came to my "rescue". He's on a diet too, so we made a pact to have our own "biggest loser" competition! Loser buys dinner and drinks on 5th February, which was a month after the competition start.

That's really helped keep me on the straight and narrow for the past few weeks. Except for the first 2 days when I had a detox headache, it's not been too bad at all. Going to places of big temptation, such as Paragon basement, is really hard. Tonight's dinner at home for Ffion and the dogs almost finished me off... Garlic Chicken with Rice... one of my absolute favourite dinners! I just savoured my miso salmon and salad and ran back to my room as quickly as I could!

So far, it seems like a 1kg per week loss for me. I do use Thermojet to help burn off a bit more fat when my schedule permits. Scott's losing at around that rate too. He's been sugar free for nearly two months now. I don't know if I can hold out for that long. But it's really nice to see my abs getting back in shape again, and the celulite getting less.

And I'm going to win! And if I can really sustain a 1kg/week loss, I'll be back to my ideal weight in 3 month's time!