there are no bad foods

Just wanna give you a quick reminder that there are no such thing as bad foods.

For the average healthy individual, food is food. One bite of any type of food isn’t gonna drastically change your health or weight loss progress. Sure if you have medical conditions that needs a special diet, that’s a whole other conversation.

Generally speaking, there’s no good or bad foods.

There’s foods that is high in nutrients. There’s foods that’s low in nutrients. The nutritional value of food actually doesn’t have too much to do with your actual weight loss progress. You could totally lose weight eating mostly low nutrient foods. You could also gain weight eating mostly high nutrient foods.

For weight it’s not about a food’s nutritional value, it’s about the amount (calories) of it that you’re eating regularly.

So what about health?

Health indeed is all about nutrients.

But being healthy doesn’t mean you gotta eat 100% foods high in nutrients. A good 70-80% is plenty for you to be in tip top shape. Which means you can absolutely 20-30% of the time enjoy foods low in nutrients regularly.

Why is this important?

Cos by understanding this you’ll realize that you don’t have to avoid any foods to reach your goals. You don’t need to suffer unnecessarily and make the journey harder than it needs to be. There are no evil foods out there that have some kind of magic where you take one bite and suddenly your belly grows an inch. There’s also no foods where you take a nibble and your fats start to melt away.

Staying away from over restriction and leaning in towards enjoying foods you love regularly is pretty key to reaching your weight goals as it gives you the best chance to make it a lifestyle which then means consistency becomes a non-issue and when you get that down it becomes just a matter of time before you reach your goals.

Don’t fear foods. Understand them, and learn how to fit each food you love into your life regularly.

That’ll make your weight loss journey much much easier.

quick tip to be more consistent

One of the questions I get pretty often is:

“Do I need to eat the same meals everyday to lose weight?”

And of course the answer is no, it’s not a necessity at all to be eating the same foods day in day out to lose weight. You’re gonna lose weight if you’re consistently in a calorie deficit regardless of the different types of foods you’re eating.

But…

Eating similar meals on a regular basis does have its perks. It can help with consistency if you’re struggling with it.

How?

Eating similar things everyday takes away impulsive meal decisions which then gives you a higher chance of staying on track.

Say you usually eat with your friends at work, everyday can be slightly different depending on what you all agree on versus you bringing your own lunch from home and joining them wherever they go. Your home lunch guarantees you’re on track for that one meal.

It’s easy to go through life and put meals and diet in the backseat then wonder why you’re not making any progress. It’s easy to decide to grab the quickest thing from McDonalds or KFC when you’re low on time, which you could have avoided if you just prepared your own lunch beforehand.

Not that McDonalds and KFC will completely screw up your diet, but your chances of overeating become a lot higher. Especially if you’re you’re not tracking thoroughly.

Don’t look at this as a all or nothing.

Eating similar meals regularly doesn’t mean 100% of the time. Just 70-80% of the time will already be massively helpful. 

Having a plan in place gives you a default to fall back to when there’s nothing special going on. When there is something special going on then of course go ahead and make the adjustments you need to make.

Flipping a coin on a daily basis on what to eat for your meals can work, but also has a higher chance of messing up compared to having it planned out before hand. 

If you watch my stories on IG where I share my meals here and there you’ll see that it’s actually quite the same stuff. Those are my “normal” days. Occasionally you’ll see me post foods outside of the norm and that’s usually when there’s a special event, or I got bored of the similar stuff and wanted a change for a bit.

I’ve found eating similar stuff regularly saves me a lot of time. I don’t have to constantly think about what I’m gonna have for my next meal, and I’ve already pre-calculated portions and calories so I don’t have to measure meticulously every single day too.

Not something you must do, but a strategy to consider if you’re finding it hard to stick to your diet.

Hope this was helpful!

don't give yourself a deadline

Y’know the one thing I did different in my weight loss journey that helped me successfully lose over 50kg?

I didn’t give myself a deadline. 

I’ll fully admit it back then it was a stab in the dark and I got lucky, but now looking back I can see that it was absolutely the right choice.

Let me explain.

Recap of my backstory, I was the fat kid growing up. The majority of my life was trying to lose weight. I’ve tried basically every method under the sun, and it always failed. One commonality between all those diets I was on was that there would always be a time frame where I’d feel I wasn’t making enough progress and the deadline was coming up so it would feel like there was no point continuing so I’d quit.

I’m sure you’ve felt that many many times before too.

It’s a big misconception that we’ve been fed by the media. So many programs out there have some kind of time limit; 3 week abs, 5 day detox, 16 week cleanse, eat clean for 90 days. It made us believe that there was a start and finish point in every weight loss journey.

I believed it too.

I mean it does make sense for business. Promise your customers a certain amount of results within a certain amount of time, that’s good marketing and sales.

But in reality?

That’s not how a weight loss journey works.

It took me 1 year 10 months to lose over 50kg. From January 1st 2015 to October 2016. Why did it take that long? Cos in the beginning of my journey I told myself I was gonna keep going and not stop until I hit my goals (it was really a declaration of war with myself cos I was so fed up with constantly failing my diets, but you’ve likely heard that story before if you’re reading this letter so I won’t bored you with it here).

In between those years there were months were life happened and I had to put my journey on pause, then keep going afterwards when it was dealt with. Main thing was I never quit. There wasn’t a date I was looking forward to, I just planned to keep going no matter how long it took, whether it be two, three, or five years.

When’s the last time you saw a weight loss program that promised results in 2 years? Yep, none.

Why?

That’s just bad business.

It was after I hit my weight goal that I reflected back and realized that a lack of deadline was a big part of me being successful this time. I remember before this journey, all the previous diets I was on the deadline was always so stressful and usually the main reason I’d quit.

Say the diet I was on was for 8 weeks expecting to lose 8kgs in that time, if by week 2 I only lost 1kg I’d quit cos I’d think to myself “what’s the point?” there’s no way I could make it now.

But what I didn’t realize is even if I only lost 3kg after 8 weeks, that’s still progress, and as long as I don’t quit and keep going perhaps I’d lose 8kgs by week 16 or week 20. Why follow a meaningless deadline?

Deadlines are arbitrary. They have no meaning.

Those expectations are set by ourselves, and there’s no reason to be so strict with ourselves. Sure it’s totally fine to have a goal and try to aim towards it, but do remember to keep going even if you fall short. 

There is no true time limit.

You have all the time in the world to reach your weight goals. Progress is progress. Would you rather eventually reach your goals within a couple of months or years (all the while making progress) or would you rather quit at month 3 and just never reach your goals this lifetime?

That’s the thing about the weight loss journey, there is no deadline. It’s such a huge misconception that once you reach your weight goals you get to go back to your ‘normal’ habits. There’s no more ‘normal’ habits. The habits that helped you reach your goals is your new normal. After you hit your weight goals the challenge is now to keep up those habits to sustain the weight that you lost and not gain it back.

The journey is forever ongoing. Deadlines create false expectations.

However much weight you’re planning to lose, give yourself all the time in the world to reach it. There’s no time limit. Just promise yourself to keep going and not give up, no matter how long it takes. 

When you really digest that, really take it to heart that there is no deadline, reaching your weight goals really just become a mere matter of time…

… and that’s kinda exciting, isn’t it?

don’t eat back exercise calories

One of the biggest misconceptions when calorie counting is to be eating back the calories that you burned through exercise.

Y’know how if you walked on a treadmill for 30min and you see it tells you that you burned like 100kcal and then you decide to eat an extra 100kcal cos you think you earned it?

Yeah.. don’t do that.

See the thing with tracking exercise or workout burned calories is that it’s highly inaccurate. Studies have shown inaccuracies from exercise equipment or fitness trackers to range anywhere from 25-75%. That’s a a huge margin of error.

On top of that, working out actually doesn’t burn as much calories as yo think. 30min of brisk walking only burns roughly 100kcal. It’s much easier to not eat 100kcal vs burning it off.

So what’s the secret advice?

If your main goal is to lose fat, focus on achieving that goal solely through your diet. I mean workout all you want, but consider thos burned calories as a bonus instead of trying to eat back those extra calories.

This doesn’t mean working out is pointless.

Working out has many many many benefits to fat loss, it just isn’t the best tool for it. It’s way too easy to overeat and way too hard to over-exercise to burn off everything you ate to achieve a calorie deficit.

Your diet is priority when it comes to fat loss.

Everything else is a bonus.

focus on this one thing

When it comes to losing weight, there’s really only one thing you gotta focus on first before you worry about anything else. Just this one thing:

Your diet.

Your diet is the the driver in a car.

Everything else you’re worried about (workouts, sleep, types of food to eat) are mere passengers on the journey. Do they matter? Sure. But they’re not the ones that make the car move forward.

Until you’ve figured out your diet, don’t worry about all the other stuff first. Don’t worry about that ab exercise that promises you abs in 4 weeks. Don’t worry about your workout split. Don’t worry about how long you’re sleeping. If you haven’t figured out how to stick to a diet consistently for the long term, that needs to be your focus first.

Too many times I’ve seen people worry so much about sleep and workouts that they end up sacrificing their diet instead. It should be the other way around. In the beginning, sacrifice everything else and focus on diet first.

That’s your number one priority for fat loss.

After you’ve figured out your diet and can stick to it consistently for weeks and months without too much trouble at all, then start worry about sleep, about workouts, about all the other stuff that do help and could benefit the journey.

Worrying about all the other stuff other than diet is like trying to cook fried rice, getting all the ingredients ready, getting the perfect wok, the right oil, stir-frying the garlic and onions first for fragrance, and as you’re about to cook the rice you realized you don’t have any rice cos you were too focused on prepping all the other ingredients.

The only way to sustainably lose weight is to consistently eat less than your body expends. That comes from your diet primarily.

Remember this is just for a weight goal, if you got muscle goals or health goals there are of course other things to focus on as well. But when it comes to weight loss, weight gain, or weight maintenance, diet is king.

Focus on the right things and all the other stuff falls into place a lot easier. Don’t let all these shorts, tiktoks, IG reels, convince you otherwise. A lot of them have no idea what they’re talking about, and majority of them haven’t even been through the journey themselves.

Don’t get caught up on some “secret” or shortcut.

There isn’t one.

Patience and hard work is required no matter what.

—Po

do you really want it?

Have you ever really sat down and thought about why you want to lose weight? Like really get to the bottom of it?

I mean yes I get it, all of us that are overweight or have some weight to lose obviously have some desire to lose weight, but have you really dug in-depth to the why?

If you want to look good, who do you want to look good for? What’s the definition of looking good? For those bodies that you look up to do you understand what their lifestyle is like to achieve it? Is it worth it? Does looking good make you feel happy, or does looking good make you think it will make others like you more and that makes you happy? Does how you look to others really matter to you? What happens if you lose weight and to yourself you look great, but others don’t really notice, will that be worth the journey? 

Whatever your honest answer is to those questions is the right answer. There’s no right or wrong, but answering those harder questions helps you have a better understanding on how to pursue your weight loss journey.

If in the end you ask yourself all the hard questions and you realize you don’t really want to lose weight, you just feel the pressure of others to do so, and perhaps currently is not the best time to pursue it, that’s totally ok.

That’s much better than constantly getting frustrated cos you’re struggling on a journey which you don’t even really want yourself.

I gotta admit for the majority of my life I was obese and all the time I was on some kind of diet trying to lose weight, but none of those times I truly wanted to lose weight. I mean sure I wanted to look better to impress/attract others, I thought losing weight was the answer to that. I wanted to stop getting bullied cos of my weight, I wanted to stop the constant nagging I had to go through about my weight.

But if there was no nagging, no bullying, and people were already impressed/attracted to me I would have been happy being obese. For myself I really could care less about how I looked or how much I weighed.

I had no goal to be on the cover of GQ magazine.

What changed for me was in 2015 when I really sat down and asked myself the hard questions. I was frustrated in December of 2014 where I was making new year resolutions for 2015. Every year prior to that I had made resolutions to lose weight, but always ended up failing. I found it ultra frustrating that years later I’m at the same spot making the same resolution.

So I asked myself: do I really want it?

I allowed myself to say yes or no, but I promised myself to stick to the answer. I told myself it’s ok to not want to lose weight, cos if that’s how I really feel then I should just do it and stop letting people around me or society decide what my goals should be and live my life on my own terms.

But, if I truly wanted to lose weight I had to do it for myself and nobody else. I had to stop letting others get to me, and promise myself to get the job done no matter what.

I decided that I truly wanted to lose weight.

Mainly because I completely understood that at 123kg, that’s in the category of morbid obesity and as I didn’t have any major health complications back then, I knew there were a lot of potential risks. My 1st kiddo was just a year old, and I asked myself if I wanted to be there on her wedding day.

I did, I really did.

Then I thought to myself if I truly wanted to live longer, the first step is to lose weight into a normal BMI. So 2015 I took my first step towards this goal, and never turned back.

This was the one and only time I went on a diet successfully (I was 72kg at the end of 2016). I truly believe it’s cos I figured out my why. Understanding my why made it easier to push forward when things got hard. It was easier to be discipline cos the north star was clearly in sight.

I don’t think I ever had a north star before that, I just would go on diets constantly cos others and society made me believe that’s what I should be doing. It kept failing cos it always came a time where I’d say “well fk this, this isn’t worth it.”

Spend some time asking yourself the hard questions, being truly honest with yourself. When you are pursuing a goal that you truly want, the hardships along the journey get a little easier to deal with and giving up becomes near impossible.

And that’s the thing with this weight loss journey:

if you don’t give up, it’s just a matter of time before you reach your goals. 

—Po

get a food scale

I’m just gonna come out and say it.

If you’re on a weight loss journey I think you should go get a food scale if you don’t have one already. I’m not saying you have to count calories or weigh everything you eat, but I really do feel that the lessons you learn from weighing foods you eat here and there is priceless.

I didn’t get a food scale till after I was a year into my weight loss journey. I was at around 50% to my goal, had lost around 20kg and was calorie counting the whole time. I had gone from purely eyeballing & estimating calories, to using food labels as rough guides, to using measurement cups, and the final step was to get the food scale. Thinking back I should have just jumped straight into getting a food scale, but I was really reluctant back then cos I didn’t want to be “that guy.”

I know I know, in hindsight it was just goofy & silly of me to worry about such thing, but I thought getting a food scale and measuring all the foods I eat would make me that “obsessive guy” and I didn’t know if I want to join the dark side.

There’s no dark side.

I definitely read too much manga & watched too much TV growing up. Getting the food scale was one of the best additions to my weight loss journey.

The main thing a food scale teaches you is portions. If you’ve never weighed the foods you eat before, you really don’t have a realistic idea of how much certain portions are. I remember weighing cashews and almonds and was super surprised cos 100kcal worth of them was barely 5-7 nuts. I thought it would be closer to a handful.

I remember weighing weight rice to exactly 200g and thinking “wow, this is actually a pretty decent portion.” All these things I wouldn’t have been able to figure out if I didn’t have a food scale. As I weighed my foods everyday, I got more and more confident with my diet cos there was little to no guess work anymore.

I knew exactly how much I was eating.

It’s a freeing feeling.

So much of weight loss for the majority of my life was dealing with uncertainty. The food scale gave me certainty, it’s such a rare confidence booster.

Before, whenever people asked me whether they should get a food scale or not I’d say it’s not a necessity. Which is true, you don’t need one to progress towards your goals. But the more I thought about it over the years, the more I felt that it’s such a small investment for such valuable potential lessons learned.

You don’t need to get some fancy digital food scale. A manual food scale like the ones they use in wet markets will do just as well. Food scales are mostly quite cheap and basically last you a lifetime. They can also help you with measuring ingredients for baking if you ever get into that.

Play around with the food scale.

Measure the amount of rice you usually eat. Measure out what 30g of Cheetos looks like. Measure what 500g of watermelon looks like. Measure how many grams a tablespoon of oil is.

Knowledge is everything. Understanding is confidence. A lot of times the guilt we feel from the journey really just comes from uncertainty, and the food scale and help us break through that. 

Get a food scale.

If you have one already take some time to play around with it and measure foods and portions you usually eat. You don’t have to count calories, this is just an ultimate lesson of portion control.

—Po

are you in a calorie deficit?

Here’s the unfortunate truth:

If you haven’t lost any weight at all after 6-8 weeks, you’re not in a calorie deficit.

And by “any weight at all” I really mean any weight at all. If you’ve lost 0.1-0.2kg, that means you’ve lost weight and are in a calorie deficit and are making progress. Perhaps progress not as fast as you’d have hoped for which you can make adjustments to speed things up a little, but if you’re losing any weight at all, you are most certainly in a calorie deficit.

However…

…if you haven’t lost any weight for 6-8 weeks, it simply means you’re not in a calorie deficit even if you think you are.

And that’s ok, but it’s a truth you have to face.

There could be all kinds of reasons why you’re not in a consistent calorie deficit, it could be cos there’s some error in your calculations such as only tracking meals and not tracking nibbles, bites, sips you’re having throughout the day. It could be cos of your lack of consistency, you’re in calorie deficit for 3-4 days, then off track for another 3-4 days, and rinse and repeat for 6-8 weeks. It could simply be your calorie targets are too high and you gotta lower them a little. 

Whatever the reason is, that’s ok. There’s no need for frustration, but do take the time and focus to identify the problem, make the adjustments, and keep trying again.

There’s a huge difference between just seeing the number on the scale go down temporarily vs sustainably losing weight. Sustainable fat loss is fat you lose and never ever gain back again. And that’s our goal here, to lose weight forever.

In order for sustainable weight loss to occur, you need to be consistent with your diet. You need to be consistent, and you need to be patient too cos as much as we all want it asap, it takes time. It takes a lot of time. More time than you could imagine.

But that’s actually good news, cos yes it takes a lot of hard work, yes we have to wait for a long time, but good news is it’s far from impossible. What makes it impossible is when we quit.

When you quit, then restart some time later, then quit again, then restart again some time later, all you’re doing is just going around in a circle. Aim to not quit, no matter how slow progress seems. Even if you lose 1kg a year and keep going and not quit, that’s 1kg lighter you’ll never ever see again on the scale, and in 5 years that’s 5kg less than you are today.

Sounds slow but could you imagine 5yrs ago if you kept up with some habits consistently till this very day? I think your today would look a feel a little different.

It’s easy to say and think stuff like “but I’m in a calorie deficit, it’s just not working for me,” when in reality that’s really not the case at all. Losing weight isn’t some spiritual process where the chances of being blessed is random. Everyone can lose weight, we can all do it. The process isn’t fun, the process isn’t quick, but it’s 100% achievable.

If something’s not working for you, take some time to figure out what went wrong and try again. Don’t give up, cos fact is you can absolutely do it.

—Po

8 food tips for your diet

Here’s some quick tips specifically on food to help with your diet.

1) Most veggies are less than 30kcal per 100g. Spinach is 23kcal per 100g, cabbage is 25kcal per 100g, lettuce is 15kcal per 100g, kimchi is 23kcal per 100g, cucumber is 15kcal per 100g.

2) Most fruits are less than 70kcal per 100g. Watermelon is 30kcal per 100g, mango is 60kcal per 100g, apple is 52kcal per 100g, kiwi is 61kcal per 100g, papaya is 32kcal per 100g, pineapple is 50kcal per 100g, pumpkin is 26kcal per 100g.

What do these first two points mean?

It doesn’t mean you gotta only eat these low calorie foods in your diet, no no. You can eat whatever you want in your diet as long as you’re in a calorie deficit if your goal is to lose weight. However, if you’re struggling with hunger and seek feeling full, including more veggies and fruits in your diet will help you feel fuller and make it easier to deal with the hunger.

Not to mention of course all the added nutritional benefits you’ll get from the fruits and veggies cos each and every one is densely packed with nutrients.

3) All types of rice are roughly the same amount of calories (white, brown, red etc). The only way to eat less calories of rice is to eat a smaller portion of it. Switching the type but eating the same portions does very little for losing weight.

It’s true, most other types of rice have more nutritional value than white rice. But it doesn’t mean white rice is useless nutrient wise, it has its own set of nutritional value as well. The added nutritional value from brown/red rice vs white rice isn’t as significant as you think either. It’s totally possible to just stick to white rice and get the nutritional benefits of brown/red rice from other food sources instead.

There’s no need to give up white rice if that’s what you prefer.

4) Same goes for bread. White bread vs whole wheat bread both are basically the same calories when portions are equated. Choose the bread you prefer.

5) Every meat source has its cut that’s like chicken breast, in other words a cut that’s mostly lean meat with minimal fats. Chicken breast isn’t some superior source of protein, you can get similar calories and macros from pork loins, sirloin beef, or fish.

Chicken breast is the most popular source of protein just cos it’s cheap and easily available. There’s many other sources too, they all provide you with the same quality of protein. There’s no need to eat chicken breast if you don’t like it. It’s totally fine to eat cuts of meat that have a bit more fat in them as well, just make sure to account for the calories when you do.

8) Seafood is a great source of protein too (clams, scallops, prawn, squid etc.)

7) Whey is a natural ingredient made from the cheese making process.

8) Every food can be any calorie. Meaning it all comes down to portions. A big mac is 560kcal, but you could eat 280kcal of it if you just ate half. Just cos a full big mac is 560kcal doesn’t you have to eat the whole thing. Same with ice cream, typically a scoop of ice cream is 200kcal. You don’t always have to eat a full scoop. You could eat half for 100kcal, or even a quarter for 50kcal.

Every food can be portioned, which means you can fit all your favorite foods into your diet and still be in a calorie deficit. It all just comes down to the portions that you’re consuming. There are no foods you have to fully avoid to lose weight.

I hope these 8 points have been helpful, till the next one!

—Po

eat more filling meals to lose weight

Over the years I’ve noticed that one of the traps that a lot of us (me included) fall into in during a diet is having meals that are too small. Either too small as in too little calories, or too small in volume, or a little of both.

I mean I get it, when we’re trying to lose weight we’re afraid to eat more thinking it’s gonna go against our goals. But what actually happens when your meals are too small is that you have to deal with all kinds of hungers and cravings until your next meal which is usually when uncontrollable snacking occurs.

That’s the thing that’s most dangerous on a weight loss journey in my eyes, uncontrolled eating. It’s totally fine to eat more and be in control, but when you lose self control and give in to random snacks that doesn’t even really satisfy you but you eat anyway cos you’re so hungry, that’s troubling.

So how do you fix that?

Simple, stop fearing food and eat bigger meals.

Like if you’ve planned to eat 500kcal for a meal, spend the 500kcal fully. Don’t eat 200kcal and be like “ohh I’m kinda full, I can use this chance to eat even less and lose more fat.”

That’s almost guaranteed that it’s gonna back fire.

The goal of losing weight is to eat as much as possible while in a calorie deficit. Not try to starve yourself whenever you see the opportunity to. Those that say, “is it ok if I eat only 500kcal a day? I feel fine, I don’t feel hungry” are actually usually just straight up lying. I mean sure, maybe a day or two you feel fine, but it’s just a matter of time before the hunger and craving kicks in and you start eating uncontrollably and end up back in square one.

How am I so sure? 

Cos I’ve seen countless people go through it. Not only that, I’ve made those exact same claims myself and have it backfire in my face. 

Losing weight is a long long process where the goal is to be in a calorie deficit consistently for as long as possible. The quickest way to achieve that is to not eat less, but more while in a calorie deficit. If you planned to eat 500kcal for lunch, eat that full 500kcal. The fulfillment from that meal will likely last you till your next meal and make hunger and cravings little to non existent in between. 

You ever think to yourself “why am I always thinking about food?”

I did too.

Looking back I know exactly why now. I was just being way too restrictive. Back in my 123kg days diet meant suffering, diet meant trying to outlast hunger and starvation, which is probably the worst possible strategy for sustainable weight loss.

Look, hunger and cravings there’re gonna happen from time to time. That’s normal. But they’re not indicators of success or failures. The goal is to minimize hunger and cravings within the bounds of eating less than your body expends consistently. Not maximize them.

If you’re finding yourself having trouble dealing with hunger and cravings, or have a snacking habit you’re finding hard to quit, try having larger more filling meals. Larger meals may mean instead of 3 meals a day, you have 2 meals a day.

Remember feeling full does not mean you’re gaining fat, and feeling hungry doesn’t mean you’re losing fat. They’re not at all indicators of weight loss progress. Be less restrictive, let yourself feel full and fulfilled during your journey. Sometimes that’s really all it takes to help you be more consistent over time. 

And with that consistency well, results kinda become inevitable.

— Po

stop worrying about metabolism

Stop worrying about metabolism.

You don’t need to reset your metabolism (there’s no such thing), you don’t need to make your metabolism faster or slower, if you’re on a weight loss journey and you’re worrying about metabolism, you’re worrying about the wrong thing.

Your metabolism will increase and decrease based on your lifestyle.

Will your metabolism be lower while in a calorie deficit?

Yes, and that’s normal.

Your metabolism will raise back up once you’re back on maintenance or a surplus. There’s no special action you need to take to be in control of your metabolism. It’s taking care of itself.

Are there things you can do to raise your metabolism?

Of course.

Regular strength training and hitting your daily protein recommendations raises your metabolism a lot. So does sleeping well and including more whole foods in your diet and being more active in the day such as hitting 7000+ daily steps regularly. All these things help raise your metabolism.

But then if you take a step back and look at what all those things are, they’re just basically having good habits for general health. So instead of worrying about metabolism, worry about getting better sleep. Worry about getting some regular strength training in on a weekly basis. Worry about hitting your proteins on a daily basis. Worry about eating more veggies and fruits. Worry about hitting daily steps. All those things will translate to a higher metabolism.

Worrying about metabolism itself does nothing.

Regardless of where your metabolism is at, if you’re in a consistent calorie deficit you’re gonna lose weight. Regardless of where your metabolism is at, if you’re eating too many calories consistently you’re gonna gain weight. Metabolism isn’t the core reason whether you’re making progress or not in your weight loss journey. 

Diet is the key to losing weight.

Not Metabolism.

—Po

cheat days guide

Cheat days.

I’m really not a fan of the term, cos the word “cheat” kinda implies that you’re doing something wrong but it’s actually totally fine to have cheat days. I guess the more “correct” term would be a diet break. But then “cheat days” gets the message across faster so I end up still using the term. 

So, is it ok to have a cheat day?

Short answer, yes.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to take a day or a meal off from your regular diet. Chances are that one day or one meal off isn’t gonna affect your overall progress much assuming that after that you immediately get back on track. But it does get into more muddy territory if you’re starting to find yourself live and die by the cheat day, as in if you start finding yourself looking forward to the cheat day every week and that’s all you’re laser focused on. Could be fine for the first couple of weeks, but that’s low-key heading towards some form of eating disorder.

Is it possible that the one cheat day “ruins” your progress for the week?

One cheat day yes. One cheat meal very unlikely.

It comes down to the math. If you’re still in a weekly calorie deficit, you’re still gonna make progress. If you’re eating 200kcal less Monday to Saturday (so total 1200kcal less) and on Sunday you had a cheat meal and ate 800kcal more than usual, you’re still at a net 400kcal deficit which means you’re still in the direction of losing weight.

On the same example it’s way easier to eat more than 1200kcal excess on a full day of cheating since it’s 2-3 meals combined along with all the snacks in between, so the possibility of a cheat day exceeded your weekly deficit calories is definitely there 

But don’t read that in fear, realize that even if you messed up one week, you can get back on track the next week. It’s not a big deal if that cheat day “ruins” that week’s progress. Just adjust and get back on track the next week and keep going. Nothing is “ruined” if you keep getting back on track. True “ruin” is when you quit and stop trying.

What about an ideal cheat day?

Ideally, you should never need a cheat day.

Meaning, you can eat however much and whatever type of foods that you want if you just plan it into your diet. Ideally you’re so self aware with your eating habits and preferences that you are able to know and plan when to lean towards more enjoyment and when to lean towards more strict diet according to your goals because if you’re constantly aware of what and how much you’re eating, you’re technically never cheating.

That’s the ideal though, that’s something to work towards, I’m not saying that’s something you should be doing this very moment.

If you’re someone that needs to be more free on Sundays and eat foods that you love, plan that in. Take the time to do the math, adjust the portions accordingly to your goals and you could have a very enjoyable Sunday every week without it being a “cheat”. It’s just part of the plan.

Of course there will be days where you just really want a break, you don’t want to think about diet at all, you just wanna eat whatever you feel like eating and call it a day. Sure, no problem. Go do that. Take that break and get back on track the next day, nothing wrong with that either. Of course if you’re seeing yourself take these breaks every couple of days then maybe you wanna look a bit deeper and see what’s going on with your diet or life in general as there may be something else causing the frequent need of a break.

Oh, one thing I forgot to point out about cheat days is first defining the type of “cheat” you’re referring to.

Is “cheating” eating more calories than usual? Or is “cheating” eating processed foods? Or maybe both?

Cos if your definition of cheating is merely eating more processed foods, that’s technically not cheating on a weight loss journey. If instead of 200kcal of apples and bananas you decided you really wanted that vanilla ice cream that’s also 200kcal, you’re not cheating at all in terms of weight loss cos your end results will be similar. 200kcal is 200kcal.

If you define “cheating” as eating more calories and you wanna do it regularly, that’s fine too but then that’s when you’ll wanna do the math to make sure it still makes sense for your end goals.

Long story short, if you need a system like cheat days to consistently stick to your diet, go for it. That’s totally fine. If not, don’t chase cheat days and instead take more time into planning your diet.

Hope this helps!

cardio vs strength training

Let’s cut to the chase.

Cardio or strength training for fat loss?

As a necessity? None. You can 100% lose fat without doing any cardio or strength training (case in point, me. I lost over 50kg with zero cardio or training).

Ideally? Both. Cardio can help you burn more fat on a regular basis along with so much health benefits, and strength training helps build & preserve muscle while you’re on your fat loss journey.

So which should you choose?

The number one thing to worry about is your diet. If your main goal is to lose fat, you gotta figure out your diet first. If you haven’t figured out your diet, don’t bother with strength training or cardio for now. Diet is the number one driving factor to losing fat. Without your diet in check, no amount of cardio or strength training is gonna help you lose weight.

Once you’ve got your diet routine down, you’ve been able to keep it up for a couple of weeks without much issue, then you can start worrying about exercise. That’s when you decide, cardio or strength training. Or both if you really wanted to.

So which to choose?

Start with the one you enjoy most.

Like going on bike rides and hikes? Go do that first. Like the gym and lifting heavy stuff? Go do that. Whichever you choose it’s going to benefit your journey as a whole regardless. The goal is to choose one and aim to be consistent with it. Consistency with exercise doesn’t have to be on a daily basis, but more of a weekly basis.

Over time once it’s become routine, then consider picking up the other one you didn’t pick. If you picked strength training first, sprinkle in some cardio like a daily step count or bike rides. If you picked cardio first, sprinkle in some strength training. Could be simply body weight workouts like push ups, sit-ups, squats, lunges etc.

Remember, diet + cardio + strength training is an ideal scenario. Ideal is not a necessity. It’s simply a direction to aim for in the long term. And by long term I mean years, there’s no rush to do everything at once.

When fat loss is the primary goal, diet is key.

There’s no need to headache over cardio vs strength training for fat loss, just choose one and aim for consistency. There’s no “better” choice. The better choice is the one you can stick to the longest.

—Po

calorie cycling guide

Let’s talk about calorie cycling today.

So what is calorie cycling?

It’s when you alternate between eating high and low amount of calories in the days throughout the week. So for example let’s say a standard diet where you eat 1500kcal everyday, with calorie cycling you might eat 1200kcal on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday you eat 1800kcal. The amount of calories you end up eating at the end of the week stays the same, but you get some flexibility on the amounts of food you eat throughout the week.

It’s a common strategy for people that regularly workout as they might schedule to eat more during their workout days and eat less during non-workout days.

Are there extra fat loss benefits to calorie cycling?

Nope, none at all. It’s really just a convenience strategy. 

The way I look at it is if you understand the concept of calorie cycling, you can use it as a daily life strategy. Give yourself more calories on days where you might go out and hangout with friends, and eat less calories where it’s a normal boring day where you’re mostly on your own. It lets you enjoy life a little more without going off track at all with your weight goals.

It’s kinda like budgeting money.

Say you have a limit on how much to spend on weekly basis, you can definitely spend less on certain days of the week so you can spend more on others but still end up within the same weekly budget.

There are a lot of different ways to cycle calories. You could do alternate high/low calorie days. Or you eat less on week days, and more on weekends. Or you could save calories from certain days to spend on a big event day. There are countless variations to it. You don’t even have to follow the same variation week to week. Calorie cycling is simply a tool for you to use when you feel the need.

Personally I enjoy eating the same amount everyday more cos it’s just easier and more simple for me to track, but on weeks where there are special events that I know of in advance I’d use calorie cycling to make room for it without going over my weekly targets.

Calorie cycling also works on the same day.

You could totally skip breakfast and lunch for a huge dinner, or have a super huge breakfast and skip lunch and have a smaller dinner.

The one thing I want to point out is: use calorie cycling as a method to plan ahead, and NOT a method to punish yourself.

If you overate by accident, don’t use calorie cycling to make up for it. All that does is dig a deeper hole for you that eventually becomes irrecoverable. If you overate by accident, just move on to the next day as per normal. Accidents happen, it’s no big deal. Focus on the bigger picture. If the accident happens frequently, then there might be some changes you want to make to your diet as a whole cos that’s a sign that it’s not sustainable.

Do be careful with calorie cycling and make sure on your “low” days they’re not too low. I’d recommend 1200kcal would be the lowest for the low days cos going beyond that you may start risking nutrient deficiencies which seems like no big deal in the short term but in the long term cos be way more significant than you think.

Remember calorie cycling isn’t a necessity. It’s a tool. Use it if you feel there’s a need for it, if not that’s fine too.

I hope with a better understanding with calorie counting it opens more doors for your diet and makes hunger/cravings easier to deal with on a day to day basis.

That’s it for now, till the next one!

—Po

how to be more consistent

Consistency.

That one word in my eyes is the ultimate secret to losing weight. To a certain degree the secret to almost everything in life (but we’ll open that can of worms another time).

The thing about losing weight is that anything you do on a consistent basis no matter how small will help you make permanent progress. While anything you do that’s not consistent no matter how big or intense will always be temporary progress at best, meaning yes, the results will eventually disappear over time.

So what’s the trick to being more consistent?

It’s making your process as easy as possible.

The easier something is to do, the higher chance you’ll do it without fail and keep it up for a long time.

Dedicating 5 minutes to workout everyday in your bedroom is way easier than going to the gym 3 times a week. The chances of you keeping up to the 5min workout for 6 months to a year is a super high cause it’s just so easy. It’s at the comfort of home, it’s a very short amount of time, there’s very little excuse you have to not do it. I mean it gets to a point where if you really don’t do it you gotta question your priorities cos 5 mins isn’t asking for a lot at all.

On the other hand going to the gym 3 times a week there’s a million excuses you could make to skip it. Bad weather, transport problems, gym attire problems, not feeling 100%, gym’s closed, financial commitments etc. It’s a lot harder to keep up with something if you’re not loving it and there is a lot of room to make excuses for it.

5 min everyday for 365 days beats going to the gym 3x a week for 60 days then quitting. When you quit, all the benefits you gained from those 60 days slowly dissolves over time and you end up back at square one.

Consistency is easily achieved when you make your routine ridiculously easy, and I’d recommend that’s where you start. Make so easy that there’s no excuse to not do it. Once you’ve proven to yourself you can keep up with it, then start making it a little more intense and a little bit harder over time.

Just cos it’s easy doesn’t mean it’s pointless.

If you lost 0.01kg every single day for 365 days, that’s still 3.65kg lost in a year. The effort you need to lose 0.01kg daily? Very very minimal. 

I think a lot of times people struggle with consistency cos they’re just trying to juggle way to many things at once from the start. Trying to lose weight by changing your diet completely while committing to a 3-4x a week workout program is just too overwhelming.

When things get too overwhelming and you have unrealistic expectation on the results, the urge to give up is gonna be super strong. 

Consistency becomes easier when you slow it down, and take it one step at a time. Give yourself the time to adapt. When you’ve adapted to the small change, then add on a bit more. The beginning will seem like you’re doing very little, but over time it will add up to a lot, and those small changes added up together becomes significant changes, and that’s when results become inevitable.

Like with the 5min a day workout example, say by week 4 you’re finding it too easy. So how about try 10min daily from now on for the next 4 weeks. If you accomplish that and it feels easy keep adding 5 min every 4 weeks if you’re comfortable. Keep that up for 6 months and suddenly you have a 30min daily workout routine going and it still probably feels relatively easy.

But reaching that point took you going slow and adding on bit by bit for 6 months.

Try to do a 30min daily workout from day one you’re just asking for trouble and over time wondering why you’re struggling with consistency. Consistency takes time. It’s a slow build up.

It’s the same with diet.

You don’t need to completely change your diet inside out from day one. Start with something easy first. If your usual breakfast is a latte and a bagel, how bout just try switching the milk in the latte to low fat milk, and just having half a bagel instead. Stick to that for a couple of weeks then make further adjustments from there.

Consistency comes from slowing down and building over time.

Don’t aim for fast. Fast is always a dangerous route.

Fast results always requires extreme actions, and extreme actions aren’t sustainable which means results aren’t permanent. What’s the point of temporarily results when you worked so hard, and get to keep nothing.

Slow down, take it one step at a time. Aim for consistency rather than results. When you’re consistent, results have no choice but to start appearing over time.

—Po

everything about protein

Let’s talk everything protein today.

So why is protein important?

Well protein is the building block of muscle. The only one. Carbs and fats can’t help build muscle. Eating more protein helps you gain more muscle and gain less fat when you’re gaining weight, and when you’re losing weight it helps you lose more fat and lose less muscle.

With more muscle, means higher metabolism. Higher metabolism means your TDEE is higher, meaning you get to eat more calories just to maintain weight 

Protein also has the highest TEF (thermic effect of food) compared to carbs and fats. TEF is basically the amount of calories it takes for your body to digest food. The higher TEF a food is, the longer it takes for our body to process. Protein being on the higher end of TEF means it’ll help you feel fuller for longer compared to carbs & fats just simply due to the longer time it takes to be processed.

In other words adding more protein to your diet could help ease hunger and and cravings as compared to adding more fats or carbs into your diet when calories and macros are equated.

How much protein should you be aiming for?

Anywhere between 1.6g to 2g of protein per kg bodyweight daily.

So if you weigh 60kg, then it’s 1.6 x 60 = 96g

If you weigh 60kg, aim for at least 96g daily. More is fine. Less is also no big deal as I totally understand that someone who doesn’t currently have the habit of including more protein in their diet may find it super difficult to eat so much initially, but make it an aim. No need to make drastic changes immediately, add on 5-10g every week slowly until you reach the recommended levels more comfortably.

Is hitting your protein recommendations critical to weight loss?

Nope.

If you’re in a consistent calorie deficit, you’re gonna lose weight regardless of hitting your proteins or not. All proteins will do when you’re in a calorie deficit is effect the type of weight you lose. The more protein you’re eating (up to recommended levels) the less muscle and more fats you’ll lose as you’re losing weight.

What about protein and kidney damage?

Not an issue. There is currently no hard evidence that higher protein intakes harm kidneys for the average healthy individual. But, if you do have some kind of kidney disease, do consult a medical professional specializing in kidneys for their recommendations on how you should proceed.

Can protein make you fat?

No chance. The only way to gain weight is to consistently eat too many calories. That comes from all the foods you’re eating, not just protein alone.

Do types of protein matter?

Not really. Protein is protein, there’s no high or low quality issue to worry about. All meats, fish, seafood, beans, lentils etc are equally great. (yes, it doesn't have to be chicken breast)

What about whey vs casein protein?

Whey is fast digesting, casein is slow digesting. In terms of their functions as protein, they’re the same. It’s really only when you get to bodybuilder levels of specificity do you really need to worry about which to take and when. Otherwise for most of us that just wanna lose some fat, build some muscle, look good, be healthier, both whey and casein are totally fine.

I think that covers the bulk of what you need to know when it come to protein in terms of weight loss, muscle building and health. Anything else you want me to go over more detailed or other questions feel free to ask!

Hope this helps~

—Po

secret fat loss recipes

Here’s the thing about searching for “fat loss recipes” online, you’re not really getting a “fat loss” recipe. All you’re getting is a recipe that includes a lot of “healthy” (nutrient rich) whole foods. It’s totally possible to gain fat from these recipes too depending on the portions you eat. And the recipe is quite likely similar calories to a “non-fat loss recipe” when portions are equated.

Look, I’m gonna admit….

I know all this too well cos I fell for it back in my 123kg days. I used to look up all kinds of diet/fat loss recipes and would cook it and eat as much of it as I wanted. I didn’t understand calories back then, I didn’t understand that portions mattered. I thought a fat loss recipe meant I could eat double or triple the amounts and still lose weight.

Such a huge mistake.

So I’m gonna share a secret with you today.

Any recipe can be “fat loss” recipe.

It all comes down to the portions you eat. You could look up your favorite recipe, create it as it is with no modifications and still lose weight. The key is knowing and controlling the portions that you’re eating making sure that it still aligns with your diet goals.

A burger for example.

Let’s say you made a burger from scratch, your favorite recipe. The recipe comes out to 500kcal per burger. If 500kcal fits your rest of your diet and your goals, by all meals enjoy that one burger. If perhaps 500kcal is a little much for you, you could always eat 2/3, or 1/2. That cuts down calories to 250-300kcal.

Same recipe, same taste, different portions.

Oh, and another thing.

I do have some tips though to help you lower calories in recipes without altering the taste too much.

It really comes down to modifying the oil/butters and sugars.

It most dishes, you can get away with using 1/2 or even just 1/4 of the required oil/butter and have the end result taste 80-90% similar to its original. The thing about oil is it’s super caloric dense. So something that requires say 4tbsp of oil (480kcal), cutting that to 1tbsp (120kcal) is an immediate 360kcal cut from the dish.

Same goes for butter.

Sugar on the other hand, you could always use artificial sweeteners or stevia which cuts away all the calories from sugar but still gives you a sweet taste in your dish. Is it gonna taste different versus sugar? Yes, but in most of circumstances still very acceptable.

If you enjoy cooking at home and meal prepping, I highly urge you to play around and experiment with your favorite dishes. Little modifications here and there could make it lower in calories which means you could eat a bigger portion without exceeding your calorie goals.

But do remember these modifications aren’t a must either, you could eat a dish with its absolute original recipe and still make progress provided you’re tracking the portions that you’re eating.

Food isn’t scary at all if you take the time to understand it.

6pcs nuggets from McD is 270kcal.

Big Mac is 565kcal.

Filet-o-fish is 379kcal.

Large regular coke is 380kcal.

If I had 500-600kcal to spare for a meal, I could still enjoy McD by switching the regular coke to coke zero, and depending on how I feel either go with a fish burger plus nuggets or just a plain big mac. Decisions like this are only possible when you take the time to understand it first.

With knowledge you can make better decisions, and those decisions are what brings you closer and closer towards your goals.

Don’t waste time looking for fat loss recipes.

Look for your favorite recipes and learn their portions along with possible ways to modify them.

Losing weight is way more easier and exciting when you include foods you actually love.

All recipes can be fat loss recipes.

—Po

progress is progress

There was a phase early on in my journey where I lived and died by the scale.

I weighed myself every morning and my mood for the day would be dictated by that number. Back then I didn’t understand that weight fluctuations were normal yet. Every time I saw a number that was stuck or went in a direction I didn’t want I’d be upset and stressed for the day. I remember there were a lot of times where I felt clothes looser, or saw a slight change in myself in the mirror I’d go into the next morning’s weigh-ins with huge expectations.

Unfortunately those expectations were usually not met.

It’d feel like I did perfect in the day, but the scale says otherwise the next morning. I’d be hard on myself for it, thinking I must have screwed something up during the day in my diet.

Those days really sucked.

I’m not going into daily weight fluctuations today. There’s a previous letter that fully covers that.

Today I wanna talk about the different signs of progress.

The scale isn’t the only area to see progress. There are many other indicators as well. When you spot any indicators of progress, that means you’re on the right track. That means you’re doing well, and that all you gotta do is keep going. Don’t let the lack of scale progress make you believe that you’re not doing well or lagging behind.

Remember the scale is just a measurement of what you currently weigh.

It doesn’t measure your self worth.

Daily weight fluctuations are normal , and so the only number on the scale to take more seriously is your weekly averages, where by comparing weekly averages from a couple of week you get to see the general direction of where your weight is going.

That takes a lot of time to track.

In the mean time if you’re experiencing looser clothing, seeing slight changes of yourself in the mirror, noticing differences in before after pictures, those are all positive signs of progress and all just says one thing:

You’re doing great!

It’s totally possible to experience progress in one area but not another. Your weight can be stagnating for a week or two, but you also feel your pants to be looser. That’s super possible. What do you doin that scenario? Nothing.

You keep going.

Cos all progress is progress. If you’re making progress, you’re on the right track. If you’re on the right track, you keep going. You keep going, and more progress will be made.

Progress goes beyond the physical stuff too.

Been able to keep to your diet consistently for 7 days without much struggle? Progress! Been feeling more confident with yourself when dealing with food or self image? Progress! Feel stronger, groceries feel lighter and going up the stairs feel easier? Progress! Being able to stick to a 3x a week exercise for a full month? Progress!

Progress doesn’t all occur at the same time.

If you experience one and keep going, it’s likely you’ll experience another over time. You keep a chain of little progresses together overtime, that will eventually translate to show up on the scale.

Don’t let the scale be your end all be all.

Be kinder to yourself.

Identify that you’ve been putting the work, and there are little things to show for it.

Remember the journey is a super long one. It boils down to changing lifestyle and habits which require time. A lot of time. Short term are you gonna see some differences? Sure! But nothing significant. Kinda like saving money. Saving money for 3-4 weeks really isn’t gonna feel like much at all compared to saving for 3-4 months, or 3-4 years. Losing weight and keeping it off is a “years” game.

When you have realistic expectations on the timeline of this journey, you’ll stop constantly look for short term significant results. You’ll be kinder to yourself for little mess ups and not have your day ruined cos of it. You’ll start to see that your mess ups are really no big deal at all as long as in the long term you stay on track. When that happens then this journey just becomes a matter of time, and if this journey is just a matter of time that means it’s not a question of whether or not you’ll reach your goals. Reaching it is for sure, the unknown is just “when”.

Progress is progress, regardless of its shape or form. The scale is merely one place to see it, many many other places to identify it too. Look out for them. Acknowledge and accept them. No matter how small, progress is still progress. It one hundred percent adds up over time.

Keep it up, you know you can do this.

— Po

stop looking for motivation

January’s coming to its tail end, how are you doing?

I hope you’re still working hard towards your goals and haven’t given up. It’s usually around this time where motivation takes a hit. I’m sure for many of us motivation now is a lot lower than it was around January 1st. And that’s ok, that’s normal.

I’ll be super real with you, I’m feeling it too.

I’m definitely feeling less motivated than I was in the beginning of the year with my own goals. But don’t get me wrong though, less motivated doesn’t mean I’m working less hard or thinking about giving up. None of that. I’m still working just as hard as January 1st. It just everything definitely feels harder and needs a little more extra effort without the pump of motivation.

I know a lot of times we give up on our goals when motivation is all dried up. We’d quit, look to start over, and feel like we can’t start again till we find motivation again, then end up on some quest seeking motivation. I’m sure you’ve been through that cycle. I definitely have. Many many many times. My whole life was basically that cycle all the way up till 2015 when I started this last weight loss journey.

So today I wanna remind you to stop looking for motivation.

Motivation isn’t required for you to make progress. Motivation isn’t required for you to hit your goals.

It’s definitely nice to have when it’s around, but when it’s not around you gotta find it in you to keep doing the things you need to do to inch towards your goals. Whether that’s sticking to your diet when you really don’t feel like it, or getting a workout in when you’ve had a long day, or choosing to cook your own meals rather than getting convenient take out, you gotta keep choosing the thing that helps you move forward even when you least feel like it.

I’m not saying you gotta go all hardcore and don’t give yourself breaks, I’m saying that motivation comes and goes. If you genuinely need a break absolutely go and take it. It’s just you can’t bank on reaching your goals through pure motivation alone, it’s unrealistic. It’s unsustainable. You gotta recognize that in this journey of losing weight there are days that’s gonna suck in the short term, but putting the work in is what brings you closer to your goals long term.

Motivation is nice, but motivation is fleeting.

It comes and goes. It’s like the weather.

A day of perfect weather could brighten up your mood, and make your whole day feel smoother and easier to deal with. A day of complete shit weather can make a perfectly normal day feel heavy and harder than usual. But good or bad weather, you still gotta get to your job, you still gotta get to school, you still got responsibilities you gotta fulfill.

Motivation is similar.

With it or not, you still have responsibilities to fulfill if you’d like to reach your goals.

Remember the journey’s not about being perfect.

It’s about giving your best efforts every single day. Some days you might have had a hard day, your best is only 30%, and that’s totally fine. Some days you maybe extra motivated so you’re hitting beyond 100%, that’s great too. Doesn’t matter what the percentage is, as long as it’s above zero it means you’re moving forward, you’re making progress.

Chain up enough of these non-zero percent days together, you’ll start to see the results for yourself. There’s no rush. This isn’t a race to the finish line. There’s no bonus getting to the finish line faster, nor is there a penalty getting there later.

What matters is just getting there, and staying there.

Take it as slow as you need to.

You can do this.

—Po

there is no secret pill

I’m writing to you today to remind you that there’s no secret pill in losing weight. I’m not just talking about fat loss pills, those obviously don’t work at all.

I’m talking about any “pill”.

There’s no secret food you must eat or must avoid to lose weight. No such thing as eating more of a certain spice or exotic fruit to make fat loss faster. No such thing as a food that’s so bad that makes you hold on to fat forever.

There’s no supplement you must take. There is no such supplement where if you take it you can eat whatever you want and not gain weight. There’s no tea to drink so you’ll excrete more fats when you go to the toilet.

There’s no secret juice that helps fat loss. Your body doesn’t need no cleanse. There’s no need for any kind of reset.

All these “pills” are just myths that waste your time and money.

How do I know?

I’ve tried all those things above.

I was the fat kid growing up, I was overweight, obese for the majority of my life. I was desperate to lose weight too. I fell for all the myths.

None of the above will work no matter how hard you try if you don’t change your diet, your habits, your lifestyle.

Every single one of those things above will work if you change your diet, your habits, your lifestyle.

You might ask, “wait, so do you mean…?”

and I’d yell out, “YES!”

It means changing your diet, habits, and lifestyle alone will help you lose fat sustainability without all those nonsense “secret pills”.

The actual secret?

There’s no shortcut to this journey.

I get it, we’re all human, we’re all trying to find an easier way to reach our goals whenever possible. But here’s where I gotta put my foot down and tell you the truth. The fastest shortcut to your end goal is to stop giving all those “secret pills” a chance.

Those “secret pills” are just draining your wallet, wasting your time, and your emotions and patience.

The fastest way to your fat loss goals is to go as slow as possible. The fastest way to sustainably lose fat is to work on sustainable habits moving forward. You lose 0.5kg a month, that’s 6kg a year.

You might think 6kg sounds very little.

It’s not little at all if it’s permanent.

With a blink of an eye 2020 has gone by 3 years. If you lost 0.5kg every month consistently all this time you’d be 18kg lighter now. That’s not little at all. That’s the weight of a 7yr old child.

Stop looking for a secret when it’s right there in front of you. Put in the everyday work. Prioritize fixing your diet first, then slowly move on to work on exercise and sleep. In that order. Stop trying to go fast, go for slow and sustainable.

You can do this, you just gotta be patient with yourself.

— Po