Now forty, I have come to a realisation that my body is no longer capable of shedding off weight easily. And that it wouldn’t be hard for me to put on either.
The last month of 2013 was not pretty. While on a 3-day conference at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, the organisers did not disappoint when it came to the buffet spread for the two daily breaks between presentations, and the lunches. Unlike boring and dry wraps, cold and uninspiring sandwiches and blah pastries you get when you attend conferences in Australia, the Malaysian university had daily smorgasbord of Asian delicacies, mostly fried and/or oily, laden with coconut milk and/or cream, spiced and spicy, and the sweetest of sweet traditional desserts – my kind of grub. I’d be the first to hit the buffet area and one of the last to leave.
In Singapore to visit family, I was constantly in a state of trying to digest food, particularly those that I missed while in Australia – satay, sting ray with sambal, char kuey teow, oyster omelette, nasi padang, kaya toast, hainanese chicken rice…These did not include my daily carb-loaded breakfast including nasi lemak and paratha with chicken curry, among others, bought lovingly by my father. And, mum’s amazing cooking which I would have two or three helpings at one go. As you can see, I love my food.
To cut the story short, over the course of two weeks of vaca-face-stuffing-tion in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, I put on close to 3kg. Now at home, while clearing and organising my show dresses, I found that many I could no longer fit, are too tight or would have unsightly folds around the midsection when previously they were not evident.
I want to be as slim as my (supermodel) daughter – but I know this not realistic nor remotely possible. I need adjust this expectation and work more towards aging healthily and maintain a reasonable body weight. I think I can manage this for 2014.
the not-so-drama diaries 