The Weight Loss Entry
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Bodycare, Food & Nosh
Aah so this is the entry everyone and their overweight uncles with beer bellies have been waiting for: How Ilyana Lost 25kg Without Losing Her Soul. Weight loss isn’t exactly rocket science but losing 25kg kinda makes me an unofficial expert in the field of calorie restriction so read this carefully and throw your Atkins Diet guidebooks in the bin cos weight loss tips like these don’t usually come for free.
Oh and because I don’t believe in going to extreme lengths for weight loss i.e starvation, this entry will be filled with yummeh food photos I illegally took at Carousel (photos aren’t allowed but they obviously don’t know who they’re dealing with, tsk) YES. A DIET ENTRY…WITH FOOD PHOTOS. I know, I know..I amaze myself sometimes.
I’ve always maintained a healthy weight since young, I don’t have skinny genes - I’m sorry it’s just not possible; I have boobs, an ass and I love my sushi too much to give it up for teeny tiny clothes. Everyone is probably going to expect some dramatic sob fest on the reasons behind my sudden 25kg weight gain but the answer is as easy and blunt as this: School sucks. I was really stressed up during my last year of school, we had our final project to complete and as I struggled with the many stipulated project deadlines, I turned to food for solace during the many long nights I had to stay awake to complete the project.
By the end of the final deadline, I was seriously overweight and I was living in grey sweats and giant sized tees…not a pretty sight. The worst thing was it didn’t register in my head that I had put on massive amounts of weight even though my thighs had grown to the size of a baby elephant, I was sadly living in denial until I asked my then-boyfriend, “Baby, do you think I’m fat?” and he couldn’t answer the question HAHAHHA SSSSHHHHHIIITTT.
When I first started out on a diet, I was really hard on myself. I was doing the Special K cereal thing where I ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast, a small meal for lunch and another bowl of cereal for dinner. I did that for two weeks straight and I’m still amazed that I actually had the determination to eat nothing but cereal *shudders* I lost a kilo after two weeks but I felt miserable despite the weight loss and told myself there was no way in heck I was gonna live on cereal for the rest of my life which brings me to the REAL dieting portion of this entry. The following “rules” are just an accumulation of what I’ve been doing so far, they work really well for me and hopefully they’ll do the same for you.
Rule 1: Eat breakfast for god’s sake!
I’m not saying you should be eating eggs benedict for breakfast every single day because it’s not quite healthy but not eating breakfast at all is much worse. They’ve been saying that breakfast is the most important meal for centuries now and with good reason, it kicks start your metabolism and gives you the energy you need to kick start the day bla bla bla you know this guys, you’ve heard it so many times before so EAT BREAKFAST, IT IS GOOD FOR CHU. Er if you’re curious about what I always have for breakfast…I usually have a traditional chinese breakfast back when I was still working: chee cheong fun minus the black sauce or 2 steamed chicken buns/baos.
Rule 2: Don’t go overboard with the salads.
Everyone assumes they should be eating a lot of salads when they’re on a diet, there really is nothing wrong with salads or vegetables but just don’t expect to eat a plain salad and fill full the rest of the day. You. will. die. It’s not healthy to be living on vegetables alone raw or not, you should always have some protein mixed in to make it a complete meal. I’m not fond of salads but I thought I should write a little paragraph about this because I know people who think they can live on vegetables alone…and they’re not vegetarians so that’s just crossing the line between trying to eat healthy and starving.
Rule 3: Focus on what you CAN eat and stock up on the soba.
If I could pick a certain type of food that would be the key to my weight loss, it would be the humble soba noodle. All of you should know by now I’m absolutely fanatical about Japanese food and I realized with great haste after my disastrous 2 week cereal diet that restricting myself to a certain type of food was just not my thing. Not all food is made equal but most of them are good for you, you just have to pick the ones you like and shut the supermarket down by buying an entire year’s supply like what I did with the soba.
I LOVE SOBA. I still find it remarkable that something so easy to put together (boil the noodles, drain and eat it with the dipping sauce) would taste so…GLORIOUS. All that buckwheat fills you up real fast and keeps you full until the next meal. There are other ways to serve soba too, my eternal goddess Nigella has a yummy soba salad recipe up on the internets.
Rule 4: Raw fish makes white rice less evil.
Ok white rice isn’t really evil but when you pair it with rich, oily dishes and deep fried stuff, it just gets ugly. The thing about us Asians is that we LOVE rice as much as we love our grandmothers and I’m not saying you should stop eating rice altogether and in a perfect world, I would be pairing rice with healthy dishes like steamed vegetables, oven-baked chicken etc but pfft who has the time?! If you do, then good on ye girlfriend but I am now a full-time uni student and that leaves me with barely enough time to make a sandwich. The solution: JAPANESE FOOD.
The Japanese eat a lot of rice but they pair it with raw fish slices and if the dish is cooked at all, it’s usually sauteed or broiled lightly with soy/teriyaki sauce. I don’t eat rice very often but when I do, it’s usually when I’m eating Japanese food or when my dear mother decides to cook something that doesn’t have a bucket full of coconut milk.
Rule 4: Drink lots of tea!
LOL I didn’t have a photo of the tea I drank in the restaurant so this photo of the amazing green tea mousse cake I had would just have to suffice. I’m not going to elaborate on the benefits of tea (I don’t want to start sounding like an infomercial kthx) so BREW IT. DRINK IT. LOVE IT.
Rule 5: A little chocolate won’t harm you.
The more you deprive yourself of a certain food, the more you’d want to gorge on it so whatever your diet vice is, chocolate, gummy bears, ice cream, whatever - you can eat them all but in MODERATE amounts people. Ideally, you should aim for one cheat meal at the end of each week. You can eat whatever you want during a cheat meal because you deserve it!
Rule 6: Stop hating yourself.
If you’re not overweight, chances are you’re fine the way you are. Nobody’s perfect and everyone was born with different bodies so it really gets to me when my friends who are impossibly skinny whine and complain about how “fat” they are. They don’t eat (except the occasional plate of vegetables) and resort to extreme means in order to lose weight. They’re on a constant crash diet and it gets to a point where they are so steeped in delusion that they actually THINK they’re eating healthy. The best thing is after all that starving, they haven’t lost a single pound >_>
It’s okay if you want to drop a few pounds and cultivate better eating habits but DON’T GET OBSESSIVE. I’m sorry but losing 5 pounds will not drastically change your life and make you a rockstar with the boys (or the girls, whatever catches your fancy) as much as you think it will. I know, I’ve been there, dropped 55lbs and lived to tell u guys that STARVING DOES NOT WORK PEOPLE. This self-hate has got to stop! Recognize that you are amazing in your own way and learn to love your body because IT’S THE ONLY ONE YOU’VE GOT.
Ok I hope that’s answered some of your questions on how I lost weight, it’s the best diet in the world I think lol. Oh and as for exercise - I have a Wii Fit and I used to exercise for half an hour every morning…until I got lazy erk. I make sure I walk a lot though, window shopping is the best form of exercise 8D
Remember to love thyself and eat the damn cake. I’d be happy to answer any diet-related questions, just ask in the comments! ;D
Oh and this entry is going to be littered with grammatical errors I’m sure and I’m too exhausted to check for them (plus this entry is so overdue!!) so I’m going to apologise in advance.
ANDDD BEFORE I FORGET I RUN A BEAUTY BLOG: Make-up for my Carousel lunch was kept really basic because I had a pretty strong lipcolor on lol (OCC lip tar in Indashio, LOVE LOVE LOVE OMFG), did a lil’ flick trick with the eyeliner and La Femme’s Nectar Peach blush ;D
LIFE UPDATE: Uni just started a couple of days ago, this is my third week in Melbourne and everything’s going crazy fast! I’m thinking of taking Japanese as my second major but I’ll see how that goes. We had our first class today and I got my ass kicked a couple of times during the character writing session LOL oh but what fun! I’ll write more about Melbourne in my next entry, I hope everyone’s doing fine. I’m slowly catching up on all your past entries so expect comments by this week!
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Tags: diet & health, nosh: Carousel
50 Responses to “The Weight Loss Entry”
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dejiki Says:
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:10 pmLove the photo in #6. SO SWEET (and hot, duh!)
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evie Says:
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:12 pmwoots you are back!!
congrats on your weight lost! and i Heart this post!! and you really cover all sides of the problem haha..and so true on the late night studying..i sometimes find that i’m hungry at midnight and had to prevent myself on gorging on useless snacks and try to eat other healthier choice of snacks hahaganbatte on your uni life!!! ^^
ilyana's reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 7:34 amI think we tend to snack a lot at night so we won’t feel so sleepy when we’re up studying or doing work, I totally blame my weight gain on the late night snacking!
Thank you!~
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[z:six] Says:
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:38 pmWelcome back! Hehe. I love this entry so much. I had a best friend who was obsessed with losing weight and went on crazy crash diets which resulted in temporary weight loss, but drove her to mad binges barely a week or two after that. Since she never ever listened to me, I wish I could show her this entry; I’m sure she’d listen to a gorgeous beauty blogger!
p/s: You totally rawked the red lips look!
ilyana's reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 8:09 amErk crash diets were never good on anyone, a person always ends up eating more than they’re supposed to when they get tired of crash dieting and they end up back at square 1!
God you’re making me blush woman! I have body issues like the next person but it’s important not to hate yourself for it, I hope your best friend realizes it! I got a lot of stares for that red lipstick in Carousel…Singaporeans hahaha.
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AtelierGal Says:
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:48 pmOMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!
The seafood is to drool for!! My appetite hasn’t been good but these food are making me drool!!!
You’re rockin’ the red lips, I agree with the rest
ilyana's reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 8:10 amhey I read on twitter you were invited to go for tea at Carousel? I hope you had a good time eating all the amazing food and desserts lol!
Thank you so much, it’s not an easy look to pull off and I’m glad you like it ;D
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Joey Says:
March 2nd, 2010 at 11:12 pmoh no!!!! ur photos….temptation!!!! hate u :p
ilyana's reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 8:41 pmhaha don’t hate me, I’m far far away from Singapore and its glorious foooddd!
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yeeling Says:
March 2nd, 2010 at 11:27 pmIlyana I heart this post! Probably wished you typed this sooner too! I think Im gonna try your tips out and if I do lose weight Im gonna treat you to nice sushi! CONFIRM! hahaha
ilyana's reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 8:44 pmHi Yeeling, it’s awesome to see u here lol. Thank you for reading! If you have any questions just ask me, good luck on your weight loss journey!
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Blair Says:
March 3rd, 2010 at 12:52 amWoman, I don’t see an ounce of fat on you!!!!!!!!!
Yah, I made salmon furikake according to the justbento recipe (which means it’s not halal). Thanks for introducing that site to us!
ilyana's reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 8:45 pmYou don’t see an ounce of fat because I don’t put full body shots on this blog for a reason lol. I’m happy with my current weight but I think a few inches off would be a dreammm!
Yay I’m so happy you tried making it (albeit not my version lol) was it tasty? ;D
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ashiebee Says:
March 3rd, 2010 at 1:35 ami loooveeeee japanese food too!!!! :))
and good luck with melbourne!
**hugs**
ilyana's reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 8:49 pmhi there, thank you so much for reading! Japanese cuisine is one of my top faves…if not my ONLY fave lol! Thanks for the well wishes <33
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Sue Says:
March 3rd, 2010 at 6:28 amDude if I haven’t mentioned enough during our lunch, you’re inspiring. I hope the next time I see you, it’ll be Sue minus the chubby tubtubs on me. I hope you’re settling down well in Melbourne! Lots of love from back at home <3
ilyana's reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 8:50 pmAww wow Sue, I’m just speechless. Thank you so much for that comment, really! You’re so sweet! Good luck with everything and I hope i’ll be able to show you around Melbourne soon ;D
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Catherine Says:
March 3rd, 2010 at 7:34 amOh yay you finally wrote it! I have to tell you girl, this post was so inspirational to read! I’m on the opposite side of the spectrum but you really hit everything so well!
And dude, totally love the soba noodles, sushi & tea.
ilyana's reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 8:52 pmDude I wish I was on the opposite end of the spectrum LOL, it would be so much easier to gain weight for me - i’d probably be gorging on everything I see.
JAPANESE FOOD IS MADE OF WIN.
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makeup morsels Says:
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:06 amdudeee ilyana so good to hear from you again
that sashimi picture is making me drool. I think you wrote this so well, especially the point about not hating yourself. I see a lot of my friends entering the I think I’m fat even though I’m a stick thus I diet phase and even though they call it ‘being healthy’, I know what it is when I see it cuz truthfully I’ve been there done that starved myself for a couple of years (yeah, I know hard to believe since half of my blog’s dedicated to food and all). Luckily I pulled myself out of it eventually. But life is really so much more enjoyable when you’re able to eat what you like and have a good relationship with your body at the same time.ilyana's reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 8:53 pmIt’s okay to make mistakes, I’m just glad you’ve realized that it’s not healthy and you’re happy with the way you are currently
Anyway I’m making myself drool too, doesn’t help that I’m a few thousand miles away from this particular restaurant. I hope you’re well!
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zahirah Says:
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:44 amwow babe! this is the flip of the coin to all the ‘EAT NO CARBS AND EXERCISE’ diet tips. how long did you take to lose 25kg? 25kg is about the right amount for me to lose too. hahaha.
take up the japanese language module! you’re alr versed in the culinary side of it.
good luck!
ilyana's reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 8:55 pmHAHA WELL I do exercise…just not as much as I used to. I took about say 2 years to lose it all? I actually lost 15kg in 6 months and then I stopped dieting because I was pretty happy with my weight then. I started again late last year and now I’m back to my original weight before poly lol.
I will!! Thanks
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Xuping Says:
March 3rd, 2010 at 1:37 pmThanks for the tips and i totally agree with you.. the most impt this is to have healthy diet and not starving yourselves..
great to hear that you doing well in uni life.
ilyana's reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 8:55 pmXuping you don’t need to lose any weight k! You’re skinny enough as it is lol ;D
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Sue Says:
March 3rd, 2010 at 4:49 pmgosh girl! your food pic makes me crave for buffet! tsk tsk!
but losing 25kg is really an achievement! OMG!! sifu~~ lol! but anyway, your lipcolor is really gorgeous! sexy! ilyana's reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 8:57 pmIt was tough but it’s definitely possible! I’m glad you enjoyed the food photos as much as I did lol, everything was so delicious! And thanks for the compliment on the lipcolor..I was kinda scared noone would like it!
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kristie Says:
March 4th, 2010 at 2:41 pmhey there^^ these pictures are making me drool and i just ate lol! you look so lovely
the lipstick is really pretty~ilyana's reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 8:59 pmLOL I’m so sorry and you just ate a meal too, oops! Well I’m glad they make you drool because it means I’m doing something right haha! Thank you, thank you - I don’t wear red very often but maybe I should start
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f a i z Says:
March 4th, 2010 at 4:09 pmHeyyy! yay ure blogging! anyways i loooove this entry so much becoz:
1. I love breakfast! Yes! best meal of the day!
2. I love tea!
3. & I love SOBA!hope ure doing well! (:
ilyana's reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 9:01 pmAww thank you faiz! You’re so sweet, I’m glad you agree with my diet “rules” because it’s astonishing really, the number of people who don’t eat breakfast! It amazes me how people can start their day without having a meal because if I did that, I’d just pass out on the floor by 11am.
I am, thank you for asking <3
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Dee Says:
March 5th, 2010 at 9:16 amI’ve missed reading your posts hun! I totally feel the same way about dieting. That green tea mousse cake looks so yummy. I really like your weight loss tips<3
ilyana's reply:
April 5th, 2010 at 9:23 pmAww Dee I’m so sorry I took so long to reply to your comment, thank you so much for reading this and yes that green tea mousse cake was lovely :3
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Jennifer H Says:
March 5th, 2010 at 11:26 pmomg i saw your stash post down there!! impressive collection of MAC and NARS lol!!!! i wish i have more e/s singles too!!!
ilyana's reply:
April 5th, 2010 at 9:25 pmThank you but er I think I honestly have waaaay too much lol - 17 eyeshadows is C.R.A.Z.Y
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huimin Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 10:18 amHey Ilyana! Hope you remember me, Nadz’s friend yea? =) OMG the pictures of the food are so nice! Makes me wanna go and eat it now… I’m a super duper fan of Japan too! and I’m taking Jap now at Bunka language school.. take up Jap kaye? I can guide you along =D
ilyana's reply:
April 5th, 2010 at 9:27 pmYES of course I remember you! Sorry I took so long to reply to this, I’ve been really busy. You’re taking Japanese at bunka? That’s great, it’s a really good school - aim for the JLPTs!
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amynaree Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 12:42 pmwhy did your diet post just make me super hungry? lol! I think I need to start eating a breakfast more, it did help curb my appetite for lunch but nowadays I’m so lazy. Also when I’m stressed out I tend to want to stuff my face :/
glad you found some time to blog, hope you are doing well! ^ ^
ilyana's reply:
April 5th, 2010 at 9:32 pmUrgh I know how you feel, I’m such an emotional eater - when I’m stressed, my diet goes down the drain because I eat anything I can get my hands down.
Thank you so much! Hope you’ve been well too ;D
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karin1981 Says:
March 10th, 2010 at 11:34 pmOMG your diet entry was so cool. I’m on a diet myself an can totally relate to this.
I got hungry just looking at the picturesilyana's reply:
April 5th, 2010 at 9:32 pmThank you Karin! Good luck with the diet and hopefully my entry has helped you out in some way ;D
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bean Says:
March 18th, 2010 at 3:49 pmhello! reader from singapore here. you are really pretty. and this weight loss post was interesting, i needed it.
ilyana's reply:
April 5th, 2010 at 9:35 pmHello bean!! Aww it’s so great to have a fellow Singaporean as a reader! And gosh, thank you for the compliment - I don’t see myself as pretty but thank you, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and I’m happy someone finds me nice to look at - you’re so sweet!
Good luck with the weight loss and let me know your progress.
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nadia Says:
March 21st, 2010 at 2:17 amhey! omg i miss you lah. i missed laughing to your posts! you should really be a journalist or sth man. i have always love your perspective! soo funnily awesome! write soooonzxzxz!
ilyana's reply:
April 5th, 2010 at 9:40 pmAww thank you Nadia! I try my best lol ;D I’m studying to be a journalist…well sorta. Wish me luck haha, it’s such a tough environment. I’ll try to write often, meanwhile thanks again <3333
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nlngstar Says:
March 22nd, 2010 at 6:50 amnice food. wow, 25kg is a lot. EXPERT
ilyana's reply:
April 5th, 2010 at 9:41 pmYes it is a LOT! Sometimes I think back and I don’t know how I could accomplish something like that lol.
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Black is the New Black Says:
July 1st, 2010 at 5:35 amtottaly off topic - but love your makeup here!
March 4th, 2010 at 7:20 am
Aww bb you’re so biased but thanks <33
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