I don’t know how to start this post apart from just putting up this photo of my before and after. Honestly, I don.t even remember looking like the before photo because my husband tells me everyday that I look the same as the day he had met me. WHAT A LIAR. -_-

HOW DO I LOOK LIKE BEFORE WEIGHT LOSS

HOW I LOOK AFTER, IN THE SAME DRESS

Just for the sake of comparison, let me also, put up this photo of us which was taken a year after we were married.

Yup. Definitely…the same…NOT. Before you comment on how unbelievable it is that I am unaware that I look different, I am aware.

EIGHT SIZES DOWN: UK24 to UK16

I am aware that I no longer fit into my clothes and clearly, my hair is balding ever so much more visibly. I am also aware that my chins now have chins of their own. BUT, I was not aware that I looked…like that. It really is the fault of all the China/Korean selfie apps guys.

Now that we established what I looked like before, lets look at what I look like now. And just so you guys can be certain this is not the magic of a beautifying app, I will show you a video instead of photo. Cause…there isn’t an app available which can edit a fat person in a video slimmer…yet.

Yes, I dropped 8 dress sizes, UK24 to UK16, and look much healthier now. Of course the weight was not magically shed off in a few days via some magic drink, meal replacement shake or a fad diet. It took me about 1 year to gradually go down in size and I did not actually even realise it till my clothes started to look somewhat weird on me. For once, in many years, my clothes were sliding off my body, baggy, loose and not…tight.

Now lets get to the how, that is what you guys are here for right?

WHAT I TRIED TO LOSE FAT

Like I mentioned above, its not magic. One of the things I did was to find out how to lose fat, or rather, why am I not losing any fat. I have tried so many ways to lose weight. Let me list some of the methods I have tried before below:

1. Meal replacement shakes
2. Ketones drinks
3. Keto Diet
4. Intermittent Fasting
5. Starving
6. Detox cleanses
7. Exercising
8. Slimming Centres/Treatments

The one thing in common all the above methods have is that its not sustainable. Let me explain.

1. Meal Replacement Shake

Following a protein shake diet encourages weight loss by curbing appetite and reducing the total calories a person consumes in a day. Although these diets can be effective in the short term, healthcare professionals do not recommend going on meal replacement shakes for long-term.

2. Ketones Drink

The ketogenic or keto diet is a very low-carb, high-fat diet.

Being on the diet for several days puts your body into ketosis, a nutritional state characterized by raised blood ketones and weight loss. While the diet may provide benefits, it can also be difficult to follow consistently. Some suggest that ketone supplements can mimic ketosis and raise blood ketone levels without changing your diet. However, that’s not exactly how your body interprets it.

Infact, if what you need is fat-loss, once again, this method is probably not for you since it does show temporary weight-loss effects but what are you actually losing? You can read more about Exogenous Ketones <– here.

3. Keto Diet (or any other fad diets)

Research has shown a ketogenic diet can induce rapid weight loss, partly from water loss but also some fat loss. However, the “weight loss effect becomes similar to other dietary approaches after one year”, according to a 2019 review of low-carb diets. Taking in less energy than you burn will lead to weight loss. You can read more about it HERE or HERE because knowledge is key to a healthier you!

4. Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting seems to be the new trend swirling among society. Intermittent fasting is a predetermined period that an individual purposely doesn’t eat food. There are many different kinds of fasting techniques, just like there are many kinds of diets. From the 12-hour fast to the alternate day fasting, there are many kinds of fasts that are becoming increasingly popular. The thought behind intermittent fasting is that after the body is depleted of carbohydrates, it starts to burn fat around 12-24 hours after starvation so therefore starving the body of food for 12-24 hours will potentially lead to weight loss which can improve health. However, most of the studies done on this topic have been performed on animals over a short period and have measured glucose levels rather than long-term health outcomes. Many argue that intermittent fasting is not necessarily dangerous, but many also agree that intermittent fasting is not safe for everyone. So yes, it is possible to lose calories, fat and weight from this popular diet however it is also possible to just as quickly gain the weight back, develop low energy stores which can result in a depressed mood, problems sleeping and even organ damage if the fasting is extreme.

You can read up on intermittent fasting HERE.

5. Starving

This method is clearly not sustainable guys. This results in death. I dont even need to give you a reference link to read about this right? You will lose weight and your life along with it, so…scrap this kay?

6. Detox Cleanses

Detox diets are generally short-term dietary interventions designed to eliminate toxins from your body. A typical detox diet involves a period of fasting, followed by a strict diet of fruit, vegetables, fruit juices, and water. Sometimes a detox also includes herbs, teas, supplements, and colon cleanses or enemas. If your goal is weight loss, a detox diet might help you drop a few pounds, but you’ll likely just gain it back. In the end, you haven’t accomplished anything, and it’s certainly not a healthy approach. If your goal is to detox your system, don’t waste your time or money.

You can read more about DETOX DIETS HERE.

7. Exercising

Losing weight is a complicated process, but basically it comes down to creating an energy deficit — that is, burning more calories than you eat.

Many of us believe the path to that energy deficit is more exercise: making energy out higher than energy in. More hours running in the park. More hours on the exercise bike at the gym. More hours in the pool. Conventional wisdom dictates that, if you want to shed kilos, a punishing exercise regimen is the way to do it — but conventional wisdom is wrong. Exercising is effective for maintaining a healthier lifestyle and prevent storing of excess fat while you eat as you do normally. Excessive eating cant be remedied with just exercise. Yeah, exercise burns calories… the trouble is, it burns a lot less calories than most people think.

You can read more on this HERE or HERE.

8. Slimming Centres/Treatments

Firstly, most of these treatments dont work out if you are trying to lose fat. Yes, some people see results such as inches lost, a few kilos gone but spending thousands of dollars to take off a few inches or lose 5kg (probably water-weight) is not sustainable and very expensive. Not forgetting how time-consuming all these weight-loss treatments are! Unless you are a rich tai tai with nothing else to do apart from your nails, facial and lay under a heated blanket to sweat out the water in your body like a pig being boiled so you can see a drop on the weighing scale, this method is just not going to work out much for you. And if you actually are that rich porky with lots of time to spare and nothing to do, this method probably would not work out much for you too. Just saying..

Now that I’m done with my short explanation on the 8 methods I have tried over the years, lets move on to what all these methods have in common, which resulted in why it did not work for me and at the end of it, I was still a whopping 116kg.

I bolded the word WEIGHT LOSS because this is the word society is so obsessed with but for us who are really fat, what we really need to lose isn’t simply weight but FAT itself. Weight is a number that could be a contribution of a few things. Water-weight, muscle-mass, fats, bones etc.. So, when we see ads telling us it will help us with weight loss, what are we actually losing?! *gasp* And if I’m losing anything else but fat, is it even a good thing?

My goal, is to lose fat. I want FAT-LOSS and a healthier body that can hopefully fit into nicer clothes because the most depressing thing about being plus-size is honestly my wardrobe. The clothing available for plus-sized ladies in Asia is just…sad.

The key information i learned is that MUSCLES BURNS FAT most effectively. Clearly (and this is a fact I’m aware of), I don’t have any muscles. I know this because my stomach is literally split into half and I have suffered from DR (Diastasis recti is the partial or complete separation of the rectus abdominis, or “six-pack” muscles, which meet at the midline of your stomach. Diastasis recti is very common during and following pregnancy. This is because the uterus stretches the muscles in the abdomen to accommodate your growing baby) since the birth of my first.

WHAT IS DIASTASIS RECTI (DR)

If you didnt know what Diastasis recti is…you can read up on it here.

In most cases, recti diastasis usually heals on its own over a postpartum period of 6 weeks to 3 months. However, I think mine did not do any healing on its own since its been what? 288 weeks or 72 months? Either my stomach muscles did not get a memo or they are just practicing social-distancing because it predicted covid-19 6 years before the pandemic even hit us. Whatever the reasons, my stomach was the FATTEST part of my body. I literally had no more waist. I look like a freaking potato, and people often congratulated me on my pregnancy EVEN WHEN IM NOT PREGNANT. I often say “I’m just fat” so we can all be awkward together.

After understanding how to lose fat, I realize I needed to solve the problem of having no muscles, since I need it. How do I build muscles when I have none to begin with?

As fate would have it (yes, I’m aware of how cheesy this phrase is) , I have been doing my PicoSure Treatments (its laser for my face) at Artisan Clinic.

HOW IT IMPROVED MY DIASTASIS RECTI ISSUE

Back to my story -> Their sister-brand Artisan Wellness had launched a new treatment called Body Trinity with their new machines from Cynosure. It is a tailored combination of treatments (Stimsure & Sculpsure in my case) which promotes the stimulation of muscles, breaking down of fat to help work towards achieving sustainable fat-loss. It was actually recommended to me for my Diastasis Recti, not weight-loss/fat-loss or losses of any kind, and at that point, I was skeptical. How can a machine help me build/strengthen muscles. Then again, I also had no way (or time) to work on organically building muscles and getting 20K sit-ups done while laying on my back replying to my emails sounded so tempting, I was sucked in and bought a package of 10 sessions to try it out. They had a special launch-promotion going on and the aunty in me justified that I would still spend less than I have trying some of the methods before (listed above). If it didn’t work, I’d just add it to the list of methods that did not work. Yup. (at least I tried right? rather try than regret and wonder if it might work)

Click to read about the treatments in my package Stimsure & Sculpsure

Also, though I look like I’m peacefully asleep, I was not. I was trying to tolerate the discomfort and PAIN from the sculpsure treatment. I felt a little cheated by my friend (she works at the clinic) who insisted that it would not hurt. It HURT. Felt like….really serious cramps. However, I did manage to tolerate the treatment for a whole 45mins so, I guess it was bearable. Keep in mind that I have a -10 tolerance for pain.

Type of pain/discomfort: Dull and gradual like an upset stomach. To me, it feels like a bitching period cramp.

If you went to the links, you would notice that each session is about 20 to mins (as stated on the website) but it actually takes about 45mins to 1hour because they need to attach the machine to you and get you comfortable. So cater about an hour for the session to be safe.

COST OF ARTISAN’S BODY CONTOURING TREATMENT

Sculpture costs $400 per square

I used about 40 Squares till date and will be going through another 40 more Squares starting April 2022.

Keep in mind that I was really very fat so that is why I needed so many squares. Not everyone needs the same number of squares as it depends on your body.

Sculpsure sells by squares, like in the picture below.

Stimsure sells by the session.

Stimsure is $500 per session.

There is a special deal at Artisan Wellness now for a Sculpture and Stimsure package:

20 Squares of Sculpture at $250/square (originally was $400/square) and get 4 sessions of Stimsure (4 x $500 = $2000) complimentary! That is a savings of $5000!!!

You can get more details of their current deals HERE.

Did it help me achieve my fat-loss goal?

YES, it did. As evidently in all my recent Instagram photos, I am significantly healthier looking and wearing clothing sizes UK14 to UK16 as opposed to the UK24 I was wearing just about 1.5years ago.

Did I go on any diet after the body contouring treatments?

Nope. I eat everything and moderately. I did switch out my white rice to brown rice on the advice of Dr.Wong but honestly, I’m not strict on that. I still eat white rice outside.

Did I do any exercise?

Nope. I don’t have time. The only exercise I do is the 20K sit-ups I do at the clinic twice a week. If you have the time, walking is really good. I do walk quite abit during wedding set-ups so maybe that helped.

Did I cut out sugar?

Nope. I eat a bar of snickers almost everyday. lol. It helps with my stress. Somedays, I eat 2 bars. Probably not a good idea but, it really just calms me down.

The one thing I really liked about this whole experience was not just the results but the journey. I was not stressed out, suffering or constantly feeling hungry. Infact, I was eating normally. I drank lots of water as advised by Dr.Wong, a total opposite of what some other slimming centre specialist advised me because they said I had bad water-retention. Hence they told me to restrict my water in-take. I was constantly thirsty and with meal replacements, I was always craving for real food.

The best thing about this tailored treatments is that Dr.Wong customises it with every intention for the changes to be sustainable as I work towards my goals. He reviews me bi-weekly to determine what my next steps are and is always very encouraging.

Now, I’m aiming to fit into a UK12 dress by the end of this year, what are your body goals for this year?

xoxo,

Calista, your everyday mum who struggles with everything.