You may not believe how much weight I lost during the MCO. It’s really ABSURD

Hey, everyone! How is everyone doing in the lockdown or movement control order (MCO) in your respective countries?

I hope y’all are doing fine.

Anyways, I know for a fact that some people feel indifferent towards the lockdown or MCO but to others who are struggling in this situation, you’re not alone (yea, I’m here for y’all).

During this period of time, we’ve came across articles upon articles upon ARTICLES (goddammit, there are so many of them!) about Covid-19 or what people are doing at home or TikTok trends and stuff like that. And I know some of y’all are praying, “God forbids this is another one of those articles (if you know what I mean).”

Well, good news is… it’s not! In fact, it’s far from it (I hope).

See, initially, I wanted to share my MCO diary cos I thought it’d be filled with interesting activities. But boi was my diary all…

…depresso. Image credit: Talksub

So, I decided to put my MCO post on hold until I find something else! Thankfully, I did and today I’d like to talk about… my WEIGHT!

And that’s because…

 

Surprisingly, I lost quite A LOT of weight during the MCO :-O

Growing up, I struggle with my weight. I can’t wear the word normal around me cos it hangs loose on me (read: I’ve been underweight my whole life).

But some of you are gonna ask…

What’s so wrong about it anyways considering how other people are struggling to lose weight?

And cos I just have to be grateful with how small I am, right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well, if we’re talking about looks then yes, maybe. But if we’re talking about health, then it’s a big…

Gif credit: Giphy

And guess what? Not even the mighty steroid can even help me with this problem. But, at least, when I was taking steroid (for medication ok), I saw an improvement in my appetite – I was eating a lot!

However, that didn’t last long cos my doctor put me off the medication and I am back to square one. Worse of all, with this global pandemic going on and how all of us are forced to stay at home, things haven’t really been going well with me.

Tbh, this is partly due to stress with almost a lot of things with life. And when this happens, I tend to lose appetite. But thanks to the MCO, I learnt that I’m not alone in this.

Just recently, I had the shock of my life when I weigh myself cos I found out that I am…

*drumroll*

…37kg! (In comparison, I weighed 45kg before the MCO. Do the math and you’ll understand how absurd this is.)

Yea, it’s worrying gais. Gif credit: Tenor

I could barely recognise myself in the mirror and tbfh, I was afraid to even show myself to the world.

But fret not, people. I have it entirely under control.

 

And that is by… COOKING?!

Before Ramadhan began, I sought advice from close friends (thank you girls! Mucho love) on how to combat the lost of appetite and I’ve received really, really good suggestions like…

• Keeping snacks near you when you work
• Eat in small portions regularly
• Sniffing food until you feel hungry (no, really. It works)
• Watching lotsa and lotsa mukbangs til you’re hungry

Despite these wonderful suggestions, it didn’t quite help that Ramadhan came just when I started trying these suggestions. #yikes

So, I had to work my way around – cos I can’t go snacking in the middle of the day or eat in small portions regularly or even randomly sniffing food – to try get my appetite back. And one way to do it is by… COOKING.

Some of the recipes I tried. Top l-r: Pad Kra Pao and Buttermilk Chicken. Bottom l-r: Kam Heong and Banana Bread. Images credit: thenarisab

Since my office has a four-day work policy during the MCO, I decided to try new recipes during my off days. So far I have cooked…

• Chicken Pad Kra Pao
• Buttermilk Chicken
• Kam Heong Chicken

…and even baked a banana bread! (I’ll post the recipes for these and put the links here in a bit)

And trust me, guys. It really works!

I’ve been slowly making progress with my appetite but I guess this journey goes a looooooonggggg way. Til then, let’s just hope nothing bad (like fainting or getting tubed #choi) would happen to me.

If you happen to have similar experience like mine (or the exact opposite) and you wanna talk it out, feel free to comment below! Or if you have other methods to gain more weight (and please don’t say “Eat je la. It’s not that hard pun.”), do leave them in the comment section below.

Aaaaandddd before I end this, I’d like to wish my Muslim readers a blessed Eid-ul-Fitr. I hope Ramadhan was a blessing for you.

For the rest of you, stay strong during this trying time.

Love,

NB

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Footnote: While I was recently struggling with my weight, I watched this movie called To The Bones on Netflix. It was a really good movie and made me realise a lot of things about not eating. Ofcos the movie tackles a different kind of problem (read: eating disorders) that I may not have (I have not been diagnosed with this yet) but the lesson I learnt from it is really meaningful.

Image credit: iMBD

PS: While this may be a good watch for me, please watch this at your own discretion.