Elaine Yap

Today, I registered a miserable loss of 200 g. But my consultant (Christine) found something to cheer about: my muscle mass went up. But most importantly, my visceral fat (fat around my internal organs) has gone down from 6% to 5%.

This seemed mighty important as that means my risk of getting heart disease and Type 2 Diabetes is reduced.

It seems that visceral fat is harder to lose and I am encouraged to aim for 4% then 3%. This visceral fat cannot be seen and is different from subcutaneous fat, which is deposited just under the skin.

Another result to cheer about is my hydration level. It started with about 48% and has now gone up to 50.2%. And the interesting thing is that my eye bags have also disappeared. I would not have noticed till a friend pointed it out to me. I must have drunk so little water throughout my life. My mom even told me that my eye bags are due to genetics.

I did a little research into hydration, having read somewhere that proper hydration is needed to lose weight. When we consume salt, we encourage the body to retain water. Salt is needed in metabolic processes to help the body absorb nutrients. But if we drink too little water, the salt does not get flushed out and the body is in this “retain water” mode leading to water retention. But if we drink lots of water, the body will learn to let go of water. Now I even carry a bottle of water whenever I go out and getting used to sipping water which I never did before.

I used to drink coffee as I learn in Biochemistry class that caffeine helps to mobilize fat, and of course it tastes great and is a necessary pick-me-up in the mornings. But caffeine is also a diuretic, meaning it causes us to pee more than we should and hence we don’t get hydrated well.  Now that I have switched to XNDO MCT coffee, which has less calories as it uses sucralose as a sweetener, and I believe it has less caffeine too, as you don’t get that much of a kick, I find that I can do without the regular coffee I used to have.

See more information on XNDO MCT Coffee