A Month Without Boba — How I Managed to Cut Calories but Also Not Die in the Process, Which Is Just as Amazing as Not Having Boba For a Month
The last time I had boba was October 14, 2018. It was at A Plus Tea House, a hidden boss boba shop in San Gabriel. A lot of people haven’t heard of it, but within my group of friends, we tend to agree that it is one of, if not the, best boba spot in SoCal.
To clarify, when I say “boba,” I’m referring to the tapioca balls. Pearls. 珍珠. If you’re reading this, you probably know me, and if you know me, you should know what they are already. And you should know that I love them.
I cut boba out of my diet for the past month because for the past month I’ve been cutting calories overall. On the one-month anniversary of my boba abstinence, I’d like to share with my friends and acquaintances why I’m cutting calories (“on a cut”), what’s special or not special about my situation, and share some of the things I’ve learned along the way, but not before disclaiming that I am not a certified trainer; I’m just a guy who’s really enthusiastic about fitness and have done a lot of reading in my spare time.
but y tho?
When friends find out I’m on a cut, it’s usually in the context of discussing or eating food. They tend to react with some sort of mixture of surprise and disgust, as though I just kicked a toddler across a soccer field, or said that I’m vegan. “Why are you cutting?”
I’m cutting for a few reasons, but they’re specific to me, my body, and my fitness goals. For one, I’ve never actually dieted before in my whole life. I’ve never had to try to eat less or exercise more because I’ve never been considered “fat.” Where you set the bar for “fat” is up to you, but I probably haven’t met it. At the same time, I’ve never been totally lean. I’ve had phases in my life where my body fat could be low enough to almost see abs if I were flexing and in the right lighting, but I’ve never been that lean.
Combine that with the fact that, just prior to this cut, which I began in mid-October, I had been trying to estimate calories and “bulk” up, I had the foresight of fear creep into my mind.
When you bulk, you increase your caloric intake with the intent of having enough energy to fuel high-intensity lifting sessions, as well as having surplus calories for your body to build muscle while recovering from those lifting sessions. But this tends to come at a slight trade-off: as you eat more and gain more strength, you also tend to put on some body fat with it. Day-to-day, the weight gain might not be apparent; you’re probably checking yourself out in the mirror daily before you shower, so marginal daily increases are hard to distinguish. But take a before and after picture, while also measuring your weight on a scale, and you will notice differences. You get “bigger” overall, but it’s not just pure muscle: it’s a mix of both muscle and fat (and water weight) contributing to your body’s volume.
As I was in this bulking phase, I also realized that I had never dieted before in my life. I drank boba daily, I would regularly get Tsujita at midnight, the 2 AM shift Jack-in-the-Box drive-thru employees could recognize me by my voice, and more. I had all these objectively unhealthy dietary habits. But my fear wasn’t that they would make me fat on their own. My fear was, combining these habits with an intentional caloric increase (bulking) and never having dieted before in my life would eventually make me put on a ton of body fat with no healthier habits to cut it down later!
Like, what if I just couldn’t stop getting boba every day? I’m a regular at four boba places, and that’s only counting West LA. What if I couldn’t order less than a double-double with fries from In-n-Out on weekends? My cousin/roommate Alan always goes for the drive-thru there, and you know I have to hit him with the “let me getuhhhhhhhhhhh” each time.
I’m mainly doing this cut now to prove to myself that I can do those things. That I can discipline myself and keep my cravings at bay. That, if I set my mind to it, I can decrease my caloric intake and really challenge myself to eat healthy.
ok but like how’d it go
And well, it’s been about a month! It’s going well. I started out hovering around 164 pounds, and now I’m around 156–157. Side note: when measuring your own weight, it’s helpful to remember two things. First, you should always have a fixed routine leading up to the weighing, to minimize variance resulting from having just eaten a huge meal, for example. In my case, I’ll get out of bed, use the bathroom, shower, and then weigh myself. Second, you should acknowledge that there will inevitably be variance in your measurements. Maybe you ate a big meal the night before, maybe you drank a lot of water, maybe you haven’t pooped in a while. There are plenty of reasons for your weight to fluctuate by 1–2 pounds. As long as the trend over several days or weeks looks directionally desirable, then you’re doing fine!
Anyway, back to the story of me. Turns out that I don’t really get super strong cravings. Yes, I would regularly eat fast food, but I don’t get hit by some overwhelming desire to order 20 chicken nuggets at McDonald’s regularly — it was just a [bad] habit. And I’ve always prioritized enjoying strong brewed tea when it came to pearl milk tea / boba, so ordering a hot jasmine milk tea with 25% sugar has kept me content so far.
And eating at work is this double-edged sword where the sharper side is the one facing away from me. We have cafeteria-style food served at work, for both lunch and dinner. The main challenge with cafeteria-style food is that it’s hard to visualize how many calories you’re putting on your plate whenever you reach for the tongs. My friends and I might eyeball it, ballpark something like “this looks like 300–400 calories,” and that’s the main challenge, especially if you’re trying to count your calories to three significant figures. (That’s a science joke. I’m a data scientist.) However, because I am cutting, I don’t mind being a little off with my estimates, as long as I’m erring on the side of eating a little less for some meals.
On the other hand — you also have the privilege of getting to taste something good without having to opt into it being your entire meal. A couple of weeks ago, we had buffalo wings for dinner at work. If I were eating out and I ordered buffalo wings, buffalo wings would be the only thing on my plate, and I’d have to eat only buffalo wings and fill myself up and likely exceed my caloric goals for the day, or eat just a couple and stay hungry. (Author’s note: buffalo wings are high in calories, despite not being too high in volume. I hope this is clear.) But at work, I could grab two wings, and then load the rest of my plate up with other foods to fill myself up. I got to enjoy wings while also getting the satisfaction of feeling full from eating lower calorie foods. I’ve recently learned that these foods are called “vegetables.”
It turns out that the lesson here is that I can achieve whatever goals I set my mind to as long as I work really hard, and that you should be happy for me because I discovered that about myself and am successful in achieving my dreams! Yay!
Just kidding, sort of. While I am proud of the progress that I’ve made so far as far as caloric intake, body weight, and body fat go, I do want to mention some other things I’ve learned along the way.
When I started my cut, I often fell back on some pretty simple “omg i’m so hungry lol” jokes. The novelty humor of the whole “guy being really hungry because he’s cutting calories” grew old quick, and I also realized that I was probably contributing to this social stigma of how hard dieting already is.
But I don’t want to contribute to this “dieting = suffering” mentality. For my friends and acquaintances and followers and readers — if you ever want to talk about dieting or fitness, feel free to hit me up. I’m not a trainer, I just read a lot. I don’t want to paint this picture of losing weight being an immense feat or superhuman challenge, because I do believe it is easier than society makes it seem.
I’ve since moved away from making such jokes, but I still share them with my close friends, who are aligned with me around the jokes and boundaries we set when roasting me for cutting calories. Their hilarious jokes at dinner about what they [don’t] see on my plate have made it easier for me to enjoy this cut while I’m still on it, so thanks. Y’all know who you are.
For those curious — I will be ending my cut in about a month. In mid-December, I will travel to Macau, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. If you didn’t know, Taiwan is the country my family is from. Also, my family is boba. Boba is from Taiwan. When I get there, I will be making up for the boba I’ve missed out on since October. So, don’t feel bad for me. Instead, feel empowered. Feel empowered to achieve your own fitness goals, because Kevin is achieving his. And Kevin sucks.
Thank you for reading my first Medium article.
