Sports Nutritionist James

Terry was told he couldn’t lose weight because of stress.

Well, he was right and wrong at the same time.

When Terry first started trying to lose weight, he thought stress caused his body to stop losing weight.

But in reality, stress changes how we eat and how our appetite behaves, which can therefore cause us to eat more.

We helped Terry to identify some of these behaviors and then helped him learn how to deal with them. Within 3 months, Terry lost 5kg.

If you read Terry’s story and are in a similar situation as him, I would love to help you get out of it. Simply DM me “Let’s go!” and I will reply you within 24 hours on how we can work together!

This is not a blanket statement, but more often than not holds true

Weight loss is a relatively lucrative market, because many of us may not want to stay fluffy. Problem is that this presents a huge opportunity to sell you solutions.

So why hormones, genetics, and other big words like these?

Because if you don’t understand how physiology works (and the chances are, you usually don’t have the full picture), these are places where you have the least amount of control, and “coaches” and create the largest amount of fear.

The result? Your wallet in exchange for a solution you hope to be both quick and true.

So are hormones and genetics a factor of weight loss?

For some of you, maybe.

But chances are that there are more logical reasons why you are not seeing your results, and they are usually controllable.

The fastest way to find out whether your hormones are not working though, is usually through a blood test by a doctor.

Point of this post is a PSA to help you sense BS when you are presented with one, so you can protect yourself.

Share this PSA if you find it helpful!

🌙Selamat Hari Raya to all my muslim friends!✨

As some of you prepare tor the festive occasion, my team and I have prepared a one page infographic to help you stay healthy during this season.

If you want it, simply head to my IG story to join my Facebook group, Modern Day Nutrition. You need to answer all the admin questions before they let you in though!

Aside from this resource, my team also regularly release helpful nutrition tips and resources to help you navigate nutrition as an Asian. Sometimes, we even run challenges so you might win prizes while improving your nutritional habits!

“I got no time to cook, let alone find protein”

Say no more.

Many of us have no time in the morning because of work and thus, have coffee for breakfast.

There’s no hard answer as to how right or wrong that is, but when it comes to getting more protein in, a huge trick is to start getting them into your body as early as possible.

Like you, I have no time so I thought these 6 protein breakfast ideas might be helpful to you although truth be told, I probably do the last one most 😅

Share these ideas with your friends!

If this doesn’t taste nice just add honey or nutella.

As a self proclaimed home cook, protein powder’s probably one of those ingredients I have experimented with more than the average person so trust me when I say I live by this 😂

The key thing to use for great protein pancakes is Casein protein. It’s generally thicker and curdy, which gives you the fluffy texture. Whey on the other hand might give you a harder texture which uh. Some clients said can be used to play frisbee with. you can consider if you ever need an edible one 😂

I specified .sg Casein here because it’s the only casein that has given me very good taste and texture. Cookies and Cream was great but they don’t have it anymore so Vanilla is my next best go-to

Try it, share it and then thank me after you tried it!

No promo code because not sponsored but I figure this recipe will help you eat more protein!

“I wish I can eat lesser without changing what I eat” yo I got you!

Okay fine. I can’t teach you how to burn 1000 extra calories while eating that extra thousand calories, but I can teach you how to eat in such a way where you can potentially reduce the total amount of food or calories you end up eating.

And so, this post shares with you six different ways to get that going. I don’t think they are perfect methods, and some of them might require certain mindset shifts, but it might be exactly what you need to learn in order to help you eat a bit better, even if you’re not going to change your mind about what you eat right now (and that’s fine, by the way).

So slide to the first point at the very least; people usually leave the best for last but I think you deserve the best early so you should at least read that. Point 1 is the game changer I promise you that.

Share this with your friends who don’t want to give up on their foodie life!

Swipe Left To Check Out My Recommendations!
Can’t seem to swipe? That’s because I don’t recommend weight loss supplements as the first thing to consider when you’re trying to lose weight.

I hear you. There’s things like fat burners, carb blockers, appetite regulators and whatnot which *may* be helpful to you and in all fairness, some do play a minor effect to your journey, but the general rules of weight loss doesn’t change; you need to be in a calorie deficit in order to see significant weight loss.

If you’re not doing building the foundations required to help you create the calorie deficit, then the supplements you take probably won’t add value to your weight loss journey, let alone create any sort of results for you.

So are three simple steps you can consider instead of jumping on supplements:
🥬 Focus on eating more vegetables for volume
🍖 Try to increase the amount of protein you have every meal
🍲 Eat enough calories to maintain your body’s energy level

Chances are, you probably prefer eating food over supplements anyway.

Share this with a person who eats more supplement than food!

Lunch time is coming and I know you're hungry so I'm just helping you get a balanced diet. Here's how you can get more vegetables while enjoying your food for lunch:

🫔 Stuff'd SG Burrito, all veggies & 2 scoop of chicken, smoky bbq sauce (1 squeeze)

🥗 Stuff'd SG Daily bowl, all veggies, 1 scoop chicken, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Edamame, Butter Corn, Black Beans, sweet thai sauce (1 squeeze)

🍔 McDonald's Grilled Chicken McWrap, Corn & Coke Zero

🍚 Cai Png: 1 fist size rice, 2 vegetables, 1 meat, non-fried

🥩 Astons: Char-Grilled Chicken, garden veggies & baked potato, sauce on side

🍕 Home Made Tortilla Pizza: Tortilla wrap, 1 tbsp teriyaki sauce, 1.5 palm size roasted chicken, baby spinach, handful of mozzarella cheese, baked in oven,
salad on the side.

What are you choosing for lunch today?

"I need to eat less so I can lose weight"

And you are right. Except there is a critical point when "less" becomes too little and it's important to understand when that would be the case.

In physiology, our body's primary function is really not about whether we look at or a model. Our body's primary function really is to keep us alive and when you are trying to lose weight, you're actually moving the body away from hemostasis (balance), which the body views as a threat.

So there is often a critical point where the body says "Okay that's too little food I need to start conserving energy", which is when it starts to reduce non-essential functions and if you are unaware of the signs, the only thing you'll notice is the scale showing slower to no weight loss while you're miserably eating your carrot stick (no hate here I love carrots).

It will therefore be really useful for you to learn the signs that causes these issues and figure what to do about it. Hope this helps you!

Ready to work on your nutrition with me? Type "eat" on the comments section below and I'll reply you within 24 hours and get you started 💪

Hi! Just a gentle reminder not to overcomplicate nutrition 🙂

Need a quick lunch idea? Grab a wrap, add some tuna (this is chili tuna), throw in some veggies, fold it in half, say a few magic words while the food cooks in the microwave/air fryer and tada! Carbs, protein and vegetables all in one plate.

Find ways to make nutrition and exercise enjoyable for you - that’s the general idea of how you get consistency going 😬

Hope this helps!

I was taught from young not to waste food, but some days this great advice backfires as an extra workout.

Don't get me wrong; you should order food wisely and do your best not to waste food. But there are moments in our lives where we'll head out to order food, and it just doesn't taste good, but yet, because money was spent and food is precious, we ate it anyway, thinking that we should not waste food.

Here's the issue: Eating an unworthy meal might mean adding on an extra 300 calories (or up to 1000 if it was supposed to be a sinful meal), which could mean anywhere between 30 to 90 minutes of extra exercise. And if you did it once, it will probably happen again.

If food taste good, that's probably fine - I mean the calorie was worth it, you had a great experience, and while you need to work it off, at least the taste made *some* sense. But if taste didn't taste good at all, then are you really wasting food if you didn't finish it in the first place? Just some uh. Food for thought (pun intended). Haha!

But my point is simple: If you don't like the food you're eating, and there are consequences (eg. long hours of exercise) for eating said food, you're probably not wasting food if you don't eat it because it's a lose-lose situation!

But what do you think?

Is processed food unhealthy?

Few years back I’d probably go with a resounding yes without a thought. But in recent years, food technology has grown and lots of advance has been made to not only make food convenient, but also healthy.

Processed food used to mean potato chips, nuggets, pizzas and all the unhealthy food but in today’s context, also includes protein supplements (bars, shakes), cultured meats, and plant based alternatives, all which are used to provide better health options to help you reach your full spectrum of nutrients.

One such option I’ve been using is to make this plate of pasta, a plant-based high quality protein alternative which can be used to help my plant based friends get their protein intake in while without the need to consume meat. This brand is by far the most impressive meat alternative I’ve seen on the market from a quality and clean-ingredient point of view.

As we move forward as a country, such innovations will not be uncommon. Speaking of which, what type of plant based meats do you like?

Thank you .sg for inviting me to share about nutrition and weight loss with the amazing people over at 🙂 All of you were amazing!

James I don’t cook but I wanna eat healthy at home but I DONT COOK AND I DONT WANNA BURN DOWN THE HOUSE DONT MAKE ME COOK okay chill man.

I got you.

Nutrition in the kitchen doesn’t always have to include cooking. In fact, a key portion of your kitchen should include what I like to call emergency foods.

Emergency food is a concept I coined for days when you need to eat for your goals but don’t want to cook. These food are always in your kitchen and can be made in 5 minutes or less.

And within my arsenal of emergency foods are skimmed milk and whole grain cereals. Sometimes high protein, sometimes low GI. Just to help fuel me with the protein and carbs I need so I can get on with my busy day.

So here’s a concept you can work with for your kitchen, so you can store the food that keeps you geared towards your goals without the stress of cooking in the kitchen 🙂

Don’t know about you, but I have a thing for pancakes.

It gets better knowing that these are made with protein powder, therefore…. Protein pancakes!

The only question now though, is what sauce should I use to enjoy these pancakes with? 🤤

Hey you, who has recently been fat-shamed. This message is meant for you (and me).

I just want to let you know that I know how you feel. I mean, I’m literally a fat sports nutritionist right now.

And I totally understand how incredibly frustrating it is, whether its the stress of going through life with a not so ideal body, the talks of people around you who noticed your change in size, or your love ones talking smack about you. I relate all that and more.

It gets worse when you try to do something about it, but all the negativity hits and suddenly your effort feels so meaningless, and that sucks.

But I also want to remind you that your size doesn’t discount how incredible you are, honestly. It doesn’t change the fact that you are a great colleague, or a nice person, a good partner, the best problem solver in your company, and a great father. Heck, sometimes you work harder than people around you!

Those naysayers talking smack about you? Perhaps they are right. We are pretty big right now, and obviously we are/were going through some bad s**t that caused us to look like this.

But chances are that they’re projecting their insecurities on you (notice how most of them don’t look that good themselves? 🙈), just to feel better about themselves, and their actions shouldn’t determine how you react, whether on how you project your feelings to them, or how you feel about yourself.

If you’re still going through stuff and need to stay in where you are, that’s fine; sometimes health temporarily do take a backseat for you to deal with other stuff.

If you’re doing something about your size, don’t give up; I’m on the same boat as you, and I know how incredibly slow and frustrating the process is, but I’m here with you and for you.

Either way, I just want to remind you about how great you are, no matter how you look, because you’re a good person, and you really shouldn’t let how you or others feel about your size, affect how you feel about yourself as a person.

You ARE an amazing person doing great things for yourself and the people around you, and that is big. Don’t discredit yourself for that.

What if going on a diet is like having steamboat daily?

Better yet, what if it’s basically just regular sessions of steamboat? After all, water, vegetables and proteins are all important nutrients that appear both in a healthy diet and in steamboats.

One way to enjoy a steamboat experience is to basically just build a mini soup base (I used sukiyaki) and add all the ingredients you need to meet your goals.

For me, it came in the likes of mushrooms and skinless chicken thigh today, really because the house didn’t have anymore vegetables left 😂

Oh! I intend to exercise, and wanted instant noodles, so I had purple instant noodle for carbs

And there you have it. A substantially high protein bowl mini steamboat without bursting your calories. Need ideas for other lower calorie steamboat base? You can get ready made miso and gochujang from most supermarkets 🙂

So uh. What’s your favorite soup base?

Hearsay you like healthy food cooked fast, especially on days when you don’t actually have cooked food available to help you meet your goals.

And to achieve that, you basically just need to look for healthier options that can quickly be cooked.

Personally, I find couscous to be that carbohydrate alternative for a lower GI option, so I can get the energy I need without spending hours in the kitchen.

All you literally need to do is
1️⃣Boil hot water
2️⃣Pour water to couscous
3️⃣Season couscous or add it to other ingredients
…And you’re done!

I have so many other near convenient tips on hand that I can’t wait to share, so I can help you stay healthy without letting nutrition hassles invade into your lifestyle, giving you more time to spend on other important things in life. If you want to know more, you know what to do!

P.S: Just in case you don’t, the answer is to follow me, so you’ll be first to know what’s good when I share it!

Mash potatoes without the calories?

If you’ve been with me long enough, you probably saw this dish on my Instagram more than once, and for good reason. Despite it’s unattractive outlook, this is possibly my favorite vegetable variation, and probably the most popular method used to entice people with a deep hatred to vegetables to uhm. Eat vegetables.

I mean. Cauliflower made to taste like mash potatoes! I know, you want the recipe too. So here’s what you do: steam a bunch of cauliflowers and throw them into a blender. Add pepper, butter, salt and mozzarella. Done.

That’s it! Yet, you get yourself a low calorie yummy packed with nutrients!

What’s your favorite way to enjoy vegetables?

You’ve been training hard 5 days a week and keeping your food to as healthy as possible.

But that new burger from the fast food joint came out and you just want to try it - and you do, along with 2 packets of fries and a cup of ice cream. After a split moment of joy, a cloud of regret seem to follow, getting you to wonder if you should have given in to your inner pleasure.

Here’s the thing - indulging in the food you like might be the key to success in your fitness goal 😳

The deal is, healthy food, while can taste nice overall brings a different feeling from things like burgers, pizzas and fries. And some days, the cravings will ask you to go for these adventures.

The truth is, going on these food adventures one in awhile (say… once a week?) can help you enjoy your fitness journey better as it satisfy your cravings, thus potentially preventing a “cravings explosion”.

And if you’re just bursting your calories by a meal? It usually makes up to 700-1000 calories surplus, which loosely translates to slightly over 100 grams. That sounds pretty fine, assuming you’re losing 250-500 kcal per day, or basically, almost 500 grams a week.

Is there really a time when indulging on sinful food’s bad for you? Yes. When the food taste bad. Cause that’s a waste of calories and should totally be frown upon 😂

Otherwise, give yourself a break!

I did not expect this to taste so good.

Okay i get it - these mushrooms don’t look very appetizing just on the plate itself.

But after separating them into individual mushroom, marinating them with kecap manis pedas and bathing them in the air fryer, these mushroom tasted like spicy beef jerky. Yes I know!

It was so good, we had two servings of them. You know what the best part is? 100 grams of these only cost you 22 calories. Yes I know!

So if you’re looking for a meaty alternative late at night, fire up your mushrooms in the air fryer like I did. You are welcome in advance

“I can’t stay in the kitchen for more than 15 minutes”

That’s literally what I hear from every busy working adult these days. And it’s a valid point. After all, for the bulk of us, fitness is not your career calling. You therefore need time to spend on more important things in life like your family, work and social events.

That said, you’re still conscious about the need to eat better and stay healthier for long term health and longevity. Yet, spending hours in the kitchen is not helping you. I get it, so here’s what you do.

Have 3~5 go-to recipes at hand

We all need variety when it comes to food we eat, so having 3 to 5 recipes that are quick, easy and simple to work with is important. Don’t have any idea of what to eat? No worries. Just scroll through my Instagram and you’ll find multiple inspiration to work with! Remember – these recipe has to meet your goals, be quick to prepare, and most importantly, taste like something you wouldn’t mind having at least once a week.

2. Prepare your ingredients in advance

If you’re reading this post, you’re probably someone who cooks. Chances are, you’ll prepare your ingredients anyway. The smart way to do it? Prepare more of your ingredients. You’ll spend maybe 20% more time for that meal, but save yourself easily 4-5 meals worth of preparation time. If you think about it, that’s almost 300% time saved! Now all you need to do is to cook your food before eating. How much easier can it get?!

3. Have emergency food at hand

Let’s be real: You don’t always have time to cook, and it’s those times that you’ll likely fall back on old habits. This is why the concept of emergency food is important. Some of these ingredients I would have at hand would be:
Yogurt, Canned Tuna and milk for protein
Cereal, Cous cous and bread for carbs
Coleslaw or baby spinach for vegetables

After that, it’s just a matter of mixing and matching my emergency food to help me get a quick meal in. Using this strategy, I can prepare food with no cooking at all in 3 minutes top.

Does this help you? Share this with your friends and remember to tag me in your share so I can thank you properly!

There seems to be a lack of representation when it comes to asian healthy food.

When you think about healthy food, the available options often seems to be salad, grain bowls and such, all belonging to ideas from the west, as it should be since most nutrition knowledge comes from the west; the bulk of mine included.

Healthy eating can also be done in an asian centric manner. For example, brown and basmati rice have relatively low GI, cabbage is used in many asian cultures, and chicken is found basically in every non-vegan/vegetarian cuisine possible. By making these small substitutes, we can quickly find healthy options across all cuisine types, allowing us to match relevance in culture with what they need to stay healthy. After all, we often call grain bowls the expensive version of cai png.

So, what’s your favorite healthy asian dish?

"My weight moves fast. I'm 70kg today and 2 days later I can easily drop to 68kg. But wait, I'm 72kg suddenly. Whut?"

Following that statement, Karen felt into emotional depression and decided to eat her feelings off, believing that she will never lose weight ever again.

Here's a few missing blocks about the weight story we might not understand.

Your body weight is never really an absolute number at any point in the day. In fact, within 24 hours, your weight can fluctuate as much as +/- 2kg.

In reality, the main changes that occurs to move your body's weight is often cellular activities and water weight.

What you eat and drink will controllably change your weight, especially if you had a large carbohydrate and salt filled meal like buffets or steamboat, or if you had a lot of water without p*eing too much.

On the cellular activity front, a lot of these movements happen around the gut or in cell transportation, which are largely uncontrollable by us.

With that said, is depending on body weight alone unreliable? Yes - if you are using absolute numbers to decide if you're losing weight.

Here's what you should consider instead; take your weight on a daily basis, preferably after you wake up and p*e, as this is the time when it's the easiest to get similar measurements of your body composition.

Instead of comparing your weight by absolutes, compare it as a trend, finding out your highest and lowest weight, and see if the weight trend between weeks is showing a downward movement. This gives you a better idea and pattern of whether your body is actually changing, therefore providing you with better insights of your body composition.

Does this help you? Save the post, share it out, tell your friends about your new found knowledge. Until next time!

Hey I’m a little confused - why did food taste better as a leftover compared to when I had it at your restaurant?

If you read my IG story recently, you would know that I invested quite a bit to dine at BSK very recently, and had Beef Wellington and Fish & Chips may not be happy about 🙈 and customer service were unfortunately not attentive to us either.

Nevertheless, there were countless great reviews on google about BSK so perhaps it was really just an unfortunate fluke for us to receive said poor experience; once that is enough to guarantee that we won’t be back 😅

Where would you go for great steaks, or even better, great beef welly?

You probably seen this before. Well, that’s because it’s a throwback photo of my prawn fried cauliflower rice 🤤

Truth is, consistency in fitness is very simple and boring. It’s nothing sexy nor fancy to show off online but it’s also because of the simplicity that makes it easy to execute, follow and continue moving forward with.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying my food don’t taste good - it does and it should! But it’s kept so plain and simple that the varieties aren’t that many, but enough for you to have fun and enjoy.

Now I’m curious - what’s your go-to recipe?

Let me tell you a secret: I hate studying.

I hate it so much that I scored consistent Fs through primary and secondary school, slept through classes, and ran away from the books as much as I can.

The reason? Because studying is too complicated.

That all changed in 2010 when I found my passion in exercise science. The situation didn't change; studying is still complicated, I still hated studying, and honestly, if you have studied topics like biochemistry, anatomy or physiology, you would know that they are not easy topics.

One thing did change: I didn't like nor want to study, but I wanted to learn about exercise science. So to help me learn better, I simply simplified everything I can in the textbooks. Instead of seeing the heart as four valves, I saw them as 4 squares. Instead of reading metabolism, I simply read it as "how the body uses energy".

Right, so how does this relate to you? The thing is, fitness, nutrition, mental health, self care, these are all difficult topics you may not have explored much about, and so it can be very complicated, difficult even, so like me, you might avoid it altogether.

But what about simplifying it? Instead of considering what type of exercise, whether you should focus on the eccentric or concentric, how about just starting out with getting 3 days of exercise in a week? And when it comes to nutrition, instead of starting off with the kitchen where you may accidentally trigger the smoke alarm, or cause an entire village to burn (I mean, I might...), how about just ordering meal prep services while working with recipes that requires no cooking at all?

The truth is that difficult and complicated terms are really made up of many simple. So if you can simplify things for you, you basically reverse engineered difficult.

So perhaps today, you can look at what's difficult, consider a step that is easier for you, and act on it as your first step. What do you think?

If you can cook instant noodles, you can make healthy food.

That is realistically, the standard you should be aiming for as far as food is concerned.

Unfortunately, our educated brains along with our need for modern aesthetics often complicate things, nutrition and fitness included.

But the deal is simple: You lead a 8am-6pm job, perhaps have a family, want to hang out with friends, might need to work overtime, need to make time for self care, and really, just don't have time to spend forever in the kitchen.

And that is why it is important to build your skillset to be able to make food that taste good and helps you feel good while saving precious time. And to me, the benchmark is the instant noodle.

Instant noodles are easy to cook, nice to eat, and very convenient. In fact, instant noodles are almost asia's top list of go-to supper or snack food. That's why, if you can work with recipes you can make with as much cooking and cleaning time as instant noodles, yet taste just as awesome, you are more likely to actually enjoy and succeed in living a healthy lifestyle.

Alright, enough rambling from me. Here's my take on egg rolls, except in in the form of a taco.

Beat 2 eggs, pop it on a heated pan, flop a wrap on top of it. When the base is cooked, flip the egg like an omelette, heat it up a little more. Take it out, throw some veggies, add some meat for protein, and the taco's ready.

The only question now is... will you eat this? 😋