I Was Fat! Part 1

The year is 2006. Here I was, a sceptic, standing in front of a HDB flat in Redhill. Beyond the doors is a supposedly accurate fortune teller. A colleague of mine has mentioned about coming to visit and he had asked me to accompany him. During lunch time we have made our way down to Redhill and here we are. I have told myself that whatever the fortune teller told me, I will take it with a pinch of salt. If she says good things, great! If she say bad things, I will take it as rubbish!

I was a team leader in a bank and have done sales and did relatively well for the past 6 years and I will not have somebody dodgy telling me otherwise! We walked into the flat, it was sparse. There was like a waiting room with stools and a curtain separating the living room. There was nobody in line and very quickly we were served.

She sat us down in front of her and mentioned in Mandarin: 'You guys are not happy with work and is coming to ask about your future career.' my sceptic self though 'Abuden! We wearing office attire, any idiot could have decipher that..' She helped my friend read his fortune first and she turned to me after.

She said '你会越老越有钱' .. (loosely translated: you will be richer as you get older) duh! Of course leh..

She continued reading my fortune, which was generally good, though I cannot remember exactly what she has said but there was 2 things she mentioned that stood out. Firstly, she mentioned '你这个人天不怕，地不怕，只怕你爸爸.' (translated literally: you this person, heaven not scared, hell not scared, scared only your father.) Somewhat true...

Second, '你现在的size以后会double' (My size will double in future). We paid like $20 in a red packet and went back to work.

In the following years, my size did double and by 2014 I was weighing in at 106kg. Accurate or what! Actually I would rather think it was something called a self fulfilling prophecy.

Though I have told myself to take what the fortune teller said with a pinch of salt.. I didn't. I was eating like there was no tomorrow, I visited buffets almost weekly. My friends will tell me to control myself but I will always jokingly tell them, never mind la, the fortune teller say my size will double. I use to be athletic in school but when I started working I stopped exercising. I have not as much output but my input has remained the same. With work, meals also tend to become irregular and when opportunity arises to eat, I eat a lot.

Being in sales and a team leader aggravated the situation. I had to meet clients almost daily and when we meet we eat or we drink (usually coffee). On days we weren't meeting clients, I was eating or drinking with my colleagues. I left the bank and started doing training in 2006. And in training, I train people to believe in themselves. I train people to not care what other people think as long as they know they have done their best. And it does not help that I practise what I preach. Yes, I was fat.. so who cares, I still am able to carry out my duties to the best of my abilities. Yes I eat a lot, and I don't care if you are gonna judge me cause I'm fat! I was confidently fat! My self esteem has not been dented even when I am fat, I know I am still handsome . (I apologise if you have just completed a meal and reading this). It did not matter even when my medical report came out to show I have fatty liver, slightly high blood sugar and minute traces of blood in my urine in 2008. Read about why I went for medical check up here.

To be continued. Stay tuned for part 2.