The Quest to Lose Weight

We have the fat genes; we are fat. Zzzzzzz.

The Lim family has embarked on a quest to lose weight and we are taking this very seriously. We have plenty of reasons to lose weight. Let's start with Daddy Lim.

Many months back, Daddy Lim decided that he wanted to lose some weight. He skipped lunch in exchange for some extra mins of eye shut during lunch break and consciously cut down on dinner. While it doesnt sound like a drastic move to me as I usually skip lunches for years, he dropped 10kg! HOW COME THE SAME NEVER HAPPEN TO ME?

Of course he basked in the compliments that he received from the weight and tummy loss and he looked so much healthier.....for a while. Then, holidays and festive seasons come and go. Weight is a sneaky guy; with each holiday and festive season, it crept a little back.. quietly.. slowly.. but surely. Many moons later, Daddy Lim has gotten 8 of the 10 kgs back and hello tummy. Hahaha.

I had been battling with my weight since I cant remember when. Many years back, with huge amount of determination, I managed to lose 4kg of pregnancy weight after I weaned Zaky. That also marked the start of my skipping lunch. Along the years, skipping lunches during weekdays had become a way of life but I found other bad habits like huge dinners in compensation and feasting during weekends - I would "diet" for 5 days and the weight loss comes piling back during weekend. Why like that?!!? Along with the drop in will power to eat properly and metabolism rate, the 4kgs had been finding ways and means to come back and they are definitely winning the battle. Sob. I need to lose weight... since a long time back.

Zaky used to be a scrawny boy. I have to surface this picture again. Lol.

Popo would fret over his lack of food intake. This worry, is definitely a thing of the past. This boy has bulked up so much, too much in my opinion. He is now all meat everywhere and is a strong contender to Daddy Lim for the "biggest tummy in the family" title. He is very active and I can only blame his diet; he has a sweet tooth like me.

While he is not obese, I wouldnt want to wait until that happens to take action. I had been nagging and nagging for the boy to control his diet but he is so in denial. Just last Sunday, after his TKD class, we were told that the upcoming sparring competition is not only categorised by age but also by weight. At the school, he weighs borderline at 35.5kg. He could either try to lose weight to go for the sub 35kg and get advantage for his size or go for the heavier category, cutting off at 39kg, which then puts him at a disadvantage. We had one day to decide and no changes allowed once decided. Zzzz.

The weighing in will take place before the competition with his uniform, which is a good freaking 0.5kg. Failing to hit sub 35kg will render him disqualified, wasting the months of hard work. After discussion with the boy, he has decided to join the diet to lose some weight and signed up for the sub 35kg category. Finally! As it is, the only person who didnt need to lose weight in the family is Lil Shauna - lucky her.

Diet for Daddy Lim comes in the form of lighter lunch and dinner. I had to gather the long lost will power to resist snacking during work hours and had been having some fanciful salads for dinner, along with home cooked soup. My salads are well decorated with raisins, tuna, ham, seeds and what not. Not boring at all.

Zaky just had to watch his snacking, removing the chocolates, ice cream, cookies, soft drinks. He had been doing really well, replacing sinful snacks with milo and meji plain crackers or yoghurt at times. We arent monsters and still give him a small piece of chocolate as reward infrequently.

It had been 5 days since the quest took off and we had been discipline. Even Zaky is doing great, resisting temptations. We are seeing results, slowly but surely. The test will come in the form of the weekend, where all hell breaks loose and all diet plans go haywire. Sob.

Mummy Lim