That Was a cute boy. What Happened to the Cute Boy?

 How a Cute Boy turned into an Obese Middle Aged Man  

Ended up clearing up the flat and in the process of clearing up the flat, I ended up locating a photo of a time when I had hair, wore glasses and considered being 75 kg an instant membership to Weight Watchers. I was, if memory serves, 17 at the time and I turned this into a TikTok video. A lady friend whom I sent this to replied, “That was a cute boy. What happened to the cute boy?”

https://www.tiktok.com/@tang.li0/photo/7391046086569299217?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7274292816955999746

 

Well, the answer is that the said “cute boy,” discovered that it was pretty easy to skip compulsory games lessons and since the said “cute boy” had access to a credit card paid for by Daddy and there was Waitrose nearby which sold Hagen Daz “Cookie Dough” ice cream, he’d spend his time hiding in the dorm eating a tub a week instead of running around.

With the exception of two and a half years of National Service and a few stints in remedial training, the said “cute boy” stopped cute and slowly but very surely, he became, what his loving mother could only describe as “Gross Looking.”

How did it happen? Well, I guess you could say that the transformation started when the “cute boy” realized that he had a precious commodity that very few “cute boys” had – Daddy’s credit card. So, instead of sticking to school food (not that it was particularly great), he became the favourite of the local Chinese restaurant. Add to that, there was cookie dough ice cream and that was just on the calories in side of the equation.

It helped that “cute boy” did Karate on a regular basis, which didn’t turn him into Bruce Lee but it was exercise and this was in addition to regular games session, where he did play rugby and hockey at house level. However, when the Karate Club closed down and he could avoid playing games, the said “cute boy” realized that, well, exercise was something the other sods did.

Whilst National Service stints did help maintain some “cuteness” for a while, the said “cute boy” rather enjoyed his food and drink. Somehow, he had the knack of finding himself invited to certain places where food was in abundance. Beer was also good to have too. Exercise was limited to the odd session of regular prancing in a club.

The eventually Middle-Aged Obese man believed that sleeping was for wimps. Thought it was cool to stay up at night drinking and then going for a meal (way past dinner) and then sleeping for a few hours before repeating the process of eating more.

So, it goes without saying that “cute boy” become “uncute man” and I guess you could say, it took a very fierce Vietnamese wife to push him into taking his health seriously enough. Better eating habits and regular walking helped reduce the obvious signs of obesity.

However, the killer for the now Obese Middle-Aged man was a visit to the doctor and being told that his sugars at unhealthy levels. The doctors offered a flurry of pills and so, the Middle-Aged Obese man realized that regular exercise (daily walking as well as sprint session and push ups on alternate nights) were no longer negotiable if he had any ideas of being employable in his later years. There was a mother in the background telling him “Won’t let you live off your siblings”

However, the most important part was enjoying having that bit more energy just to do things that have kept the Obese Middle-Aged man trying to test limits of physical endurance in his daily life.