Before & After

Before & After














Before & After







I received an email last month from one of my silent reader and she signed her name off as Cat Ishak. I almost had the email deleted thinking it was a scam.

Hi Cat,

I've been following your blog about a year now. A silent reader at that. Your weight loss of 11kg really got to me. When I moved from KL to Kota Bharu about a year back, I've gained 11 kg. Now my berat is 67 kg. I wanted to lose the 11kg that I've gain sebab now my bp dah shoot up.

I need your help.....you look amazing with you slim figure. Can you give me some tips on how you slim down. Your menu , exercise...anything. How long does it take for you to reach your current weight? I know you wanted to feet into your 27 inch jeans. When I moved back to KB 29 inch jeans is not a prob...now I'm wearing a size 14 jeans and my height is only 152 cm.

Please help.

Thanks dear.

Cat Ishak

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Cat Ishak,

First of all, thank you for being one of my regular reader. As I said many times before, I love to hear from my silent reader.

Well, to be honest with you, I do not have any tips or secret on how to lose weight but I can tell you what I did to achieve my weight loss goal.

I really watch what I eat. I don't eat anything that are fried, limited all the starches, cut down my meats intake almost to non most of the times.

I have no specific diet recipes per se but here are a list of foods that I usually eat alternatively everyday.

1. A glass of fruit juice for breakfast. That's it. No nasi lemak, no BK, no nothing. Just a glass of juice and I like Ocean Spray Red Ruby (grapefruit juice). Awesome!

2. Cereal with milk for lunch (lots of them and I recommend Special K with Berries).

3. Yogurt, nuts, 100-calories snack bars for snack (Yoplait, to be specific... I hate other brand especially store brand)

4. I do sometime skip dinner but if I had one, it's usually something very light - an apple, a cup of grapes, or some stir-fried vegetables. I also like quick and easy frozen dinner (Smart One - Spicy Chicken Loh Mein) and Campbell Gumbo & Sausage Soup.

Here are some very important note that you must remember/follow:-

1. If you have additional specific dietary or medical needs, you may want to review the diet plan with a healthcare provider.

2. Drink at least 8 glasses (8 oz) of water. A glass every two hours.

3. Get enough sleep - at least 8 hours a night.

4. Eat lots of fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains. I've never met anyone who gained weight by eating too many carrots. Veggies and fruits are rich in slowly digested fiber, which keeps you feeling full. Also, munching on raw carrots take time to eat, so your brain has a chance to register that you've had enough. Go stock up your fridge with carrots and apples.

5. Close your kitchen after 8:00 pm. Load your pantry with lowfat and sugar free foods. Losing weight is all about cutting calories gradually so you burn more than you eat.

6. You must weigh yourself every morning, I repeat, EVERY MORNING (butt naked, if possible) to keep track of your weight. No exceptional.

7. Always keep in mind that if you didn't see any less of you this morning, you will see it on the scale tomorrow morning.

8. It's alright to reward yourself with your favourite food once a while (once every two weeks maybe), be it a McFlurry from McD, your favourite chocolate chips cookies, a good old plate of mee goreng, or even some durian. Think of the occasional dessert as preventive medicine. It keeps you from feeling deprived, so you don't eventually blow your diet on a binge. That said, there are tricks to indulging intelligently. The first to consider eating sweet treats only when you're out of the house, which makes it harder to go back for seconds. The second is portion control and know when to stop. And the third is compromise. Dessert isn't a freebie. You have to plan it into your calories budget by either taking out something else or squeezing in extra exercise.


Here are the food that aren't allowed:-

- Butter
- Whole milk
- Fatty cuts of meat
- French Fries
- Any deep-fried food - big NO NO to fried chicken.
- Skin on poultry
- High-fat baked goods and treats

Exercise? I don't do exercise. I hate it and have no time for that. With two growing up and highly demanding girls at home, I hardly had time for myself to relax and rest, let alone working out at the gym. But if you like and enjoy exercising, even better!

Anyway, to those of you who are trying to lose some weight and wanted to follow what I'm doing, I wish you good luck and all the best. Remember, with strong determination and will power, I guarantee you that you can do it. If I can do it, so can you.

Keep me posted how it goes.

Christmas, Weight Loss & Bowling

Christmas morning, we slept in till almost 8:00 am. The girls were so excited when they got up and couldn't wait to open their presents.

Santa was some kind generous this year.
Those two stockings were full of stuffers mainly small toys, candies and cookies.
Emma was still waking up...
.. and was surprised with all the presents.
This young lady didn't waste a minute at all.
And she was taking her own sweet time.
A room full of toys and two garbage bags of gift wrappers.
I guess she was the happiest girl on Christmas day.


What did Santa bring me for Christmas?









A cool 2GB MP3 Player with an expansion slot for more memory.
My new toy...
.. as tiny as a bottle of nail polish.
and of course loaded with some Faye Wong's songs.

MrR and I weren't in the mood for Chrismtas this year. I guess the girls wore us out with their toys and Christmas dinner was just a simple Turkey Breast, Mashed Potatoes, Peas and Corn.


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It's time to update my weight loss again.

Stepped on the scale this morning and my jaw almost dropped to the floor.

119.5 lbs that is 54.3 kg.
I have lost 29 lbs (13.1 kg) in 6 months.
I told MrR I have another 10 to 15 lbs to go.
He said I'm in my early stage of Anorexia. Whatever!


Anyway, here are some pictures of me before I lost all those weight.

I was at my heaviest 148.5 lbs.
Side view.
with big tummy.
I was wearing size 14 and now I'm wearing size 4 - 6.

A silent reader of mine in Kota Baru, Malaysia wrote me an email asking for tips and my secret of losing all those weight. Well Cat Ishak (as she signed her name), I do not have any tips or secret but I will post how I did it in my coming entry. Stay tuned.


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Today, we went bowling at Bowl America and had dinner there too.
It wasn't that cold at all (in the upper 60s) and the girls were all bundled up.
Yeah, he tagged along too. I told you MsA is like a magnet, didn't I..?
The kids were having a blast.
Aaaw, isn't she cute in this picture?
MrR and I each scored a 100 point.
We have pizza and burger for dinner and surprisingly, the pizza was one of the best in town.

Psssst, I had two slices of pizza and I'm feeling all guilty and yucky now! Perhaps what MrR said earlier was indeed very true.

The Eve

The eve of Christmas started with the morning spent wrapping Christmas presents for 2 hours while MrR and the girls out visiting a close friend.

I couldn't remember getting so tired from wrapping presents last year but I'm darn sure know I'm a year older and came to realised that it ain't an easy task anymore.

Doesn't look like a lot of presents but see pictures below.
Gift wrappers bought from last year during after Christmas sale at 75% off.
These are for Emma from Santa.
And these for Annabel.
This year, Santa isn't really generous to MrR.
Stockings full of stuffers for the girls. Oh by the way, these pair of stockings were hand-made and sewn by my beloved late mother-in-law when I first came to USA in 2000. She made it and had it shipped to us all the way from Canada. How sweet was that?

That was part of my morning gone and by the time I finished, it was almost 2:00 pm. Had a quick shower and ran out to the store to grab more stocking stuffers and dessert for dinner.

What was for dinner? It's the Txxxxxxx's family tradition to have Lasagna for dinner on Christmas Eve.

So, Lasagna we had for dinner tonight.
It was so good I almost lick the darn plate.
Christmas cupcakes for dessert.
And the girls finished them in less than a minute literally.



Oh, wanna know if we won 1st or 2nd place on Holiday House decoration in our neighborhood?






We DID it again this year!
Holiday House 2008 on Fxxxxxxx Dr.

Once again, may I present you the Txxxxxxx's Holiday House 2008.



And being kepoh me, I took the camera and walked over to our neighbor's house to snap the picture below. To be honest, I think our neighbor did a very good job and deserved to be in 1st place.

The picture doesn't justify at all but trust me, the neighbor's yard is really well decorated with lots of bright and colorful lights.


More cooking to do tomorrow which I'm so not looking forward to. On a brighter side, I can't wait to see what Santa bring me for Christmas this year!

Merry Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas

From Our Family

To Yours

Picture with Santa

Tuesday night, we went to the mall to have the girls picture taken with Santa.

There were no line at all and it pretty much summed up that time is indeed tight. We used to wait for an hour or so in line but this year, we were in and out the mall in less than 20 minutes.

Very well decorated mall....
with a 30-feet tall Christmas tree...
lots of candy canes and a big ginger bread house.
This was taken with my camera....
and this was theirs - $19.99 for one 5x7. Freaggin pretty expensive.

For slightly cheaper, MsE had this picture taken at school - 8x10 for $15.

And being kiasu me, MsA had this picture taken for FREE at Sam's club. Ha ha!


Which Santa do you like most?


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Every year during Christmas time, Papa (MrR's dad) would ordered a box of Grapefruits & Navel oranges and had it shipped to the girls.

This year, the box arrived on Saturday while we were away visiting friends. MrR ended up had to have the box picked up at the Post Office the following Monday. The fruits are very well packed individually wrapped with tissue paper.

With love from Sunshine Florida.
Inside the box, there are two trays of giant-sized Grapefruits and two trays of Navel Oranges.
These are Grapefruits.

The sweet and juicy Navel Orange which the girls love so much.
And I'm more to Grapefruit. Sprinkle some sugar onto the fruit and I'm sure you will ask for more.

The box came with a flyer explaining in details about the fruits and I'm surprised to know the Grapefruits will last for as long as 6 weeks under proper storage and temperature.

A million thanks to Papa and we love you. Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!


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Face painting can be very fun only if you are doing it right with a professional face painter. Or a great artist, I would rather say.

MsA had her face painted by one of the student's parent during a holiday party at school yesterday. And when she came home, MsE wanted hers painted too, so MrR rolled his sleeve up and worked on his art.

This was last night with the help of MrR. Not bad at all from a non-experienced face painter.

But guess what MsE did this morning while I was having a quick shower?

She got herself some paint from the utility room and worked her magic.

What really surprised me was she painted her feet as well.



For a hundred times I'm telling you that this little girl never failed to surprise me. Never! And I love her to death.