I’ve had irregular periods since young. At 13, it was so bad, I had to see a specialist at kkh and was diagnosed with PCOS.
(You may read more about it here: https://www.healthline.com/health/polycystic-ovary-disease#causes)
I got use to it. Irregular periods and obesity became part of me. Whether obesity caused pcos or pcos caused obesity, at this point i can’t differentiate anymore.
I didn’t know what was happening inside me.
Fast forward years later. At the age of 24, I was diagnose with endometrial hyperplasia, pre cancer stage 3. My world went upside down when the doctor told me that they might need to remove my womb if it gets worse. I thank God that it got sorted out. And i have been well since, or so i thought.
2 months ago, I decided to go for a pre pregnancy check up at KL Gleneagles after feeling bloated for the longest time. You know at this age, baby crazy. Why kl? Cause girl didn’t buy prulady. 😂
They found a 5 cm cyst under my fallopian tube. According to the doctor, it needs to remove as it might cause miscarriage if i get pregnant. He recommended lapraoscopy. Which he will remove the cyst, doing ovarian drilling for my pcos(with 60% chance recovery) and hysteroscopy to check for endometrial condition. Cost? About 20k rm.
Came back to Singapore and did extensive research for this procedure and decided to go ahead in kl. I was treated in kkh 4 years ago and it horrified me how i was treated there. Being a gov subsidized patient, my doctor changed everytime I got there and they ask me the same question everytime i was there. At one point the medicine that I was taking caused mild depression and I almost committed suicide. Thank God I got out of it with love and support from my love ones. Honestly, without insurance I can’t afford private in sg.
My doctor in gleneagles KL is Dr Andy Low. He was attentive, experienced and made sure I was ok physically and mentally well.
A month ago, I flew there with my sister and did the surgery. Removed my cyst, fallopian tube and did ovarian drilling. Total cost was 17k rm. Of cos not including all the previous consultation. In sg private hospital, it would cost about 22k sgd. You may pm me if you want more details.
I didn’t believe in insurance all my life, because growing up from a not so well to do family, we were use to going to the hospital with gov subsidized rates. I once thought that they were a waste of money. But I guess I just didn’t meet the right insurance agent.
In the future, I will start buying insurance for my child at a young age.
I’m writing this for people who are considering to get insurance or didn’t believe in insurance. I’ve since bought accident plan, hospital plan, critical illness and savings plan. With exclusion of cos. I am not selling insurance but if you need a agent, I’ll recommend Tony wong (98372503) from prudential. Call him and you’ll know why I recommend him.
I am also writing this to tell you not to give up under any circumstances you are in, god will not give you anything you can’t handle. I was depressed at some point and ask myself why is it me all the time. But after walking out of it, I became stronger.
2 months, I couldn’t exercise. I am eating way lot more then how i was eating previously. Good and bad of cos. I gained about 8kg and now, I am going to start running slowly, but surely.
We can rest, but we can’t stop.
Since my wounds have healed and I’m ready to face the world again, I am going to start eliminating tibits from my life. They have been my comfort food these 2 mths and probably why I gained 8kg so soon. Lol. Please, I want to at least look nice on cny. People in the office please control me. I will exercise self control too. It’s still in time for cny I hope! Hehe!
Ok bye. Going for my 5km walk.
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How i broke my plateau and lost 7kg in a month
Hi, by now you should know I am that girl who lost 62kg and standing tall at 1.81m. But today, I am going to share with you how I broke my plateau, lost the 7kg and reached my goal weight at 78kg. All this was possible with the help of the ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting. It’s really not as hard as you think.
What is a Ketogenic Diet?
It’s basically a high fat, low carbohydrate diet whereby you consume only about 20g – 50g of carbs a day. It uses fat to burn fats. Sounds like heaven i know. You may read more about it here - https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto
Google it, tons of information available on the web.
What is intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting is eating within a time frame and fasting for the rest of the day. For me, my window opens at 12pm and closes at 8pm. You may read more about it here - http://jamesclear.com/the-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting
Why Ketogenic Diet and intermittent fasting?
I first heard of this diet online and how intimidating it can be. I put it off for as long as I can remember, until my friend tried it and lost weight within 2 weeks without exercise. I decided to take the plunge after trips to KL, Cebu and Taiwan in March, which left me at a weight of 86kg. Yes, binging on lots food/potato chips has a price.
“Nothing worth having comes easy right? Bring it on KETO!”
I decided on this after extensive research and tried it out for a month. My weight has pretty much fluctuated within the range of 83-85kg since January this year and it can be quite frustrating. The day I started the diet I weighed in at 85kg. After a month, I weighed in at 78kg. YAY!
How did I do it?
For the first 2 weeks I did daily meal preps with my sisters. It was unsustainable to say the least. Usually, you psych yourself up during the first 2 weeks of starting a diet so much that you don’t mind trying anything just to achieve your goals. But towards the end of the two weeks, I found myself throwing away leftovers of unfinished meal preps, because eating the same food every day eventually takes its toll.
From the third week, I decided to do some research on Keto-approved foods that required minimal preparation effort.
Meals that I usually have on a keto diet:
Indonesian Grill ($6-$8) – I like going to the one at Plaza Singapura’s food court. I’ll just replace the rice with veggies. A tasty and fulfilling meal.
Subway’s Salad ($10-$14) – Typically with avocado, teriyaki chicken, egg mayo and ranch sauce. Tasty and can add up to around 600 calories. The cost depends on the kind of ingredients you put in. Essentially, it’s paying for the convenience instead of having to make the salad yourself.
Cold storage salad ($5.99) – Baby spinach base with eggs, 2x broccoli, cheese, honey ham with Caesar sauce.
Hard Rock cafe - Smokehouse salad (i had it when i was in KL, it was the best oh my god)
Roasted pork belly ($5 onwards) – now this is my favorite. I regularly visit this store at one of the hawker centers at Bugis.
Western food ($5 onwards) - Chicken chop, salmon steak. I replace the fries and coleslaw with broccoli, veggies or eggs, whichever they can offer me.
Economic Rice stores ($3 onwards) – Just choose any 3-4 ingredients without rice.
Fish soup ($4 onwards) – add fish, egg, or whatever you feel like. (this is one of the best i have eaten, from whampoa food centre)
Salmon sashimi ($3 onwards) - Awesome promo at standing sushi bar
Though I don’t do meal prep anyone, I still make my own food sometimes (http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-cauliflower-rice-couscous-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-203344)
I will make cauliflower fried rice with laksa sauce which you can easily find in NTUC. And grilled chicken thigh meat to go along with it.
Chicken Thigh with grilled broccoli
Cheese omelet with bacon
I get spinach from NTUC to make my own salad. Egg mayo, bacon, sliced avocado and Caesar sauce. YUM!
Fried egg with bacon- add cheese if you like to on anything. Just make sure your cheese is not processed.
Snacks I usually have:
Macadamia, cashew nuts
Cream cheese
Full cream milk
I cooked all my food with olive oil.
Tips while on Ketogenic Diet:
- Drink lots of water
- Have food that are high in sodium.
- Apple cider vinegar with lemon (disgusting I know but the benefits are endless)
- Take care of your skin if you are going to lose weight this fast you got to be hardworking for your skin too. Scrubs and lotions girls!
That’s about it, I pretty much lived on these foods for a month and have since lost 7kg. After being off the diet, and countless of cheat days, my weight has stabilized at 79kg.
Speaking of cheat days, I didn’t have any while I was on this diet. Not because I was torturing myself, but because I didn’t have any cravings. You may have a cheat day every week if you want, however it will kick you out of ketosis and you will need to start over the next day. I recommend a cheat day once every two weeks, also known as refuel days. You can have carbs on those days, but try to limit it as best you can.
What to avoid while on a Ketogenic Diet?
- Anything that contains sugar, whether artificial or not
- Fruits and vegetables that are high in sugar content. The only exceptions are raspberry and blueberry
- Rice, brown rice, noodles, quinoa anything that are high are carbs
You may refer to the image below for foods that are not Keto-approved.
(Credits: https://ketodietapp.com/Blog/post/2015/01/03/Keto-Diet-Food-List-What-to-Eat-and-Avoid)
It’s just 28 days. Not that hard right?
How was my experience overall?
First thought, it freaking works!
I was previously on a low carb diet before, but I didn’t realize that the amount of fruits I was having was way too much sugar going into my body. I’ll be honest with you, it wasn’t easy for me to give up fruits. After the first three days, my sister’s weight started dropping but mine didn’t. I was a little demoralized. A week later after keto flu, I have lost 2kg. I exercise regularly but my sisters didn’t. Their weight dropped anyway. Afterwards, I don’t feel hungry anymore. Maybe it was because of the high amount of fat intake that kept me full.
If you want to be successful doing keto diet, you have to get through the first seven days.
For me the real challenge came when I ate my first pack of chips after I reached my goal weight. I couldn’t stop! Carbs makes me crave for more carbs. Now, self-control is very important. I cleaned up my diet after a few days of binging and things got back to normal.
Was it sustainable?
For a month or two yes, after that you got to watch your food intake after you are off it. After all if you have an ice cream a day with 2500 calorie intake the weight is bound to come back. No diet like this is sustainable in the long run. Ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting is a lifestyle change and once you have gone through it, it will teach you things that you didn’t know about your body. From then on you can change to paleo diet or alternatively eat in moderation like i do now.
After thoughts
After having gone through many different kind of diets, the only effective diet is the one that you can sustain and stick to. Eat in moderation and be mindful of your macros and you are good to go.
The Ketogenic diet is good for those who wants to get slim within a short period of time. it’s amazing because you don’t need to be on any pills or meal replacement.
I will experiment is soon again to see if I can reach 75kg. I’ll update you guys!
PS: before you start any diet please please understand your body and do not go overboard with cutting calories, it will do more harm then good. stick to 1500 calories a day and within a month i am sure you will see results.
You didn’t gain the weight overnight, don’t expect to lose it over night. Give it time, be patient.
Till then!
xoxo,
Chloe
(Damn, that smile)
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