I have already shared on this blog that I gained a lot of pandemic weight and  the struggle to lose it once we returned to regular 'programming' has continued. 

Exercise wasn't working and I am too much of a foodie to diet. 

So I joined the fasting trend!

"Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern during which you refrain from consuming any calories for an extended period of time. Usually, this period lasts between 12 and 40 hours ."

I decided to go straight into the 16:8 method which in hindsight may not have been the best approach; 16 hours of fasting and an eight hour window to eat. I should have eased into it. However I was surprised at how my body took to it. It wasn't always easy but it was less of challenge than I thought it would be.  My diet didn't change, though I did eat more fruits and vegetables.

Below are short diary exempts of my experience. 

Day 1 to 3: I think I can do this! I am surprised how am I functioning for the first three hours of the day!? 

Day 4 to 7: The last hour  before 11.00am is hell in my body and in my mind. I have to work on getting my brain to trust me and focus on everything else. On the weekends hungry creeps in at 9.45am; at work I can distract myself but at home I feel helpless. It affects my mood. The funny thing is when do I break my fast I eat very little and feel satisficed quickly. Why? I use the  early morning hours to get my daily intake of water that immediately get my stomach moving; this is good because less bloating. Hardly any in fact. 

Day 7 to 14: I am still hungry in the last hour. I feel better able to handle it this week. My mornings are not sluggish because I am awake by 6.00am. WIDE AWAKE. no sleep in sight. I think I will add exercise to my morning routine. I eat breakfast late so yogurt or a smoothie can work for me at lunch time. 

Day 14 to 21: This week the pangs made me hangry. I lost my temper a few days ago. On days when I am really busy I break my fast at 12.30pm and sometimes I break it as early it as early as 8.30am due to the fact that I will not eat again till I get home in the evening. My bloating is gone. My water intake has increased. I still struggle with sleep. Four hours and I am done ...my brain is charged. 

Day 21 to 30 : Is it strange that by the time I get to eat I don't want to eat anymore? I take three bites and if  I am exhausted from work I tend to eat less.  I can have cupcakes on my desk and chocolate and not be tempted to eat them. My body now waits for 11.00am. We have established trust...lol..

After 30 days there was  NO weight loss. I was sad but not sad. I still accomplished something.  I felt less bloated throughout the day. I was no longer tempted to eat just cause food was near me. I had more energy in the mornings despite not eating in the early hours. This totally changed my perception that you need coffee as a mood and energy boost in the morning. My body was fine with out coffee till 11.00am. . My sleeping habits are still odd but the hours wake are reducing. I watched some videos and heard that this was due to hunger, once I can regularly consume the right amount of food in the eight hour period it should get better. 

QUICK UPDATE: Four more weeks later and there is weight loss, I can tell from my clothes. I have not stepped on the scale in case I get disappointed. My hunger pangs have reduced drastically. My body is patient it knows it will eat eventually. I am heading home from Zambia for the holidays but I am going to keep going!

Feel free to comment below if you are on the journey, would love to hear your thoughts. 

These are videos that I found really helpful.

The Lovable Chosen Family

Ba Li and Ba Ling 

They are not a couple, but they  really  co-parent well. I enjoyed their dynamic and their understanding of each other's strengths which  helped them run the family well. The sequences when Dad Li is busy preparing breakfast or lunch are nicely done . A man making the home rather than a women; their conversations about how to handle different dilemmas with children💓💓💓 

Fantastic acting by both!

The Mother We All Hate 😠

We can all agree Chen Tong is the worst mother in the world. An emotionally manipulative  and abusive  self- centered woman who projects all her insecurities on her family.  Even her children don't want to be around her. This drama does a good job of portraying and an abusive home and the short and long term effects on children. 

First she abandons her family and then returns remarried and wealthy to create a relationship with her son. She is surprised that he doesn't want to be around her!?!?  He is happy with his chosen family; this makes her even more infuriated. Poor Ling Xiao is traumatized from being forced to become the primary caregiver of  his mother who abandoned him, then abuses him. 

Honorable Mention Goes to Tan Song Yun fashion 

I loved her casual fashion style, even her pyjamas were cool!

Friendships in your 20's 

As always I love how they showcase the importance of  Li Jian Jian' s friendships. They experience the growing pains together it was soooooo funny and nice to watch. 

Crushes and Awkward Love 

I wasn't so sure about the part where both brothers fall for Li Jian Jian. That was a bit much. right?  Honestly, I am surprised she didn't need a little therapy to process everything. 

However despite the love hiccups, the way the three of them love, support and stick up for each other throughout the drama is so endearing especially when they realize Ling Xiao is on medication for anxiety and depression or when He Zi Qiu's mother returns and his father continues trying to make  him abandon his chosen family.

Also I want to know how to eat a watermelon with chop sticks too!

These are dramas I started watching because of the online buzz around them. I was thrilled in the beginning but very disappointed in their endings...

Song of youth

Lovers of the Red Sky 

Royal Feast 

This is the first #kdrama  I watched in two days! Not two straight days. There were some breaks in between  but  I finished it quickly because all the episodes were available and they fitted my weekend flow. 

Staring Lee Min Ho, Kim Go-eun, Woo Do Hwan, Jung Eun Chae  and Kim Kyung Nam, this fantasy modern drama is set in a alternative universe which give us a dumbed down fictional depiction of what could have happened if South Korea remained a monarchy. Corea. The Kingdom of Corea. 

It's cute and simple, in that it understands exactly what will keep us intrigued but didn't get too complicated with this time-travel-mystery-thriller-stuff. 

I am late to this party, this was a popular drama back in 2020. 

       Truthfully this character is  the only reason that kept me going through each 72 minute episode.....

Here are my other favourite elements. 

The Friendships were more Powerful than the Love Story.

We had a leading good-looking couple and they played their role and gave us small small butterflies, but what stood out for me was the loyalty and commitment expressed  in the friendships and colleagues working together. 

In fact watching their relationships evolve was more interesting. Not a bad thing...just interesting that the couple was not an all consuming one.  A criticism would be that the detectives needed to do more than just chasing down criminals and fighting in the streets....

  Woo Do Hwan's Performance

 

Just the juxtaposition in the two characters ....wow...he really played his two roles with such serious talent and finesse.. They were complete opposites yet believable! Round of applause and standing ovation  Mr Woo! 

The Villain was Evil.

He was cold, frightening, calculative and elusive. He tried  to kill a child just so that he could control time. He run a life-swapping-world-swapping business.  He did his part, nothing new here in the #kdrama world. 

And now for what I didn't like...

Madam Prime Minister's Weak Character Arc

I don't know... but this character had so much promise and unfortunately was such a waste... 

I think she was meant to bring all the fashions, since our heroine was not interested but even in that area she never quite nailed it. 

Her entrance in the beginning was great, but after a while it becomes clear there really wasn't enough depth to her on so many levels. 

An ambitious and competitive woman controlling a country with the 4th largest GDP in the world and she let the Emperor Lee Gon slip out of her hands without even so much as a juicy piece of manipulation, extortion or scandal. I was disappointed...

You can watch it on Netflix