I've become the kind of person I used to hate. Fussy, impractical and downright boring. As my quest for health, fitness and a six-pack continues, my social life has taken a dive. How has this happened?
Watch: Sofia's week 3 Bikini Fit testimony
Luckily the Bikini Fit coaches have prepared us for this, warning of the body's withdrawal-type symptoms as it gets used to a life without evil, delicious sugar. As I stubbornly press ahead with frequent meals of eggs, leafy green vegetables and protein-rich quinoa, my tiredness lifts, I start to feel more hopeful that this new healthy lifestyle could be a sustainable one, and am even able to tear my greedy eyes away from colleagues temptingly passing around chocolate and biscuits in the office. I turn down friends' invites to xiao long bao lunches and beer festivals, and my husband is genuinely torn between worrying that I am being too puritanical and delight that he is finally able to have all of his takeaway fries to himself.
But it's a lonely road. “I don't like you on this diet,” says my friend and noted South China Morning Post bon viveur Charley as I decline his kind offer of a Malay curry lunch. My friends soon start to regret politely asking me about my training, suddenly realising they have to be somewhere else after I eagerly launch into an explanation. Future dinner invites take on a military-style level of strategic planning of what I can and can't eat, and when I repeat the anecdote that one Bikini Fit girl has been known to sneak a can of tuna into a vegetarian restaurant to make sure she gets enough protein with her meal, my husband's look of horror tells me it's not as socially acceptable an idea as I thought.