Kelvin's Healthy Journey
Kelvin's Healthy Journey
In Brief
Wedding photographer Kelvin Koh, 47, founder of Lightedpixels Photography, is committed to a journey that has taken him from yoyo diets to a consistent approach to staying in top form.
- Having shed more than 20kg over four years, the father of five — and a passionate foodie — now includes his children in his routines, seeing his dedication to a healthy lifestyle as an investment into their future wellbeing.
At Temasek, we're focused on catalysing positive change so every generation prospers. This article is part of Small Change, Big Impact – an ongoing series featuring individuals who are embracing a bigger and better tomorrow by making small lifestyle changes today.
It finally snapped in Japan – his watch strap, that is. Unable to take the pressure of its owner’s weeklong feasting through the country’s delights, it had popped open.
“On the plane the clasp just opened by itself! And I had difficulty putting it back on because it was just too tight,” recalls Kelvin Koh, founder of Lightedpixels Photography and award-winning wedding photographer.
It wasn’t just his watch strap that had had enough. Four years ago, at 43, and weighing 99.7kg, Kelvin himself was ready for change.
He did not want to hit 100kg. Plus, he’d had other worrying health issues: a doctor friend had noticed his sleep apnea, and he’d experienced increasing breathlessness during his shoots.
But his five biggest motivating factors were his children — Kyra, Nessya, Noah, Micah, Mikaela — currently, aged six to 16 years old. He wanted to be there for them, enjoy life with them, and impart good habits to them.
So he got to work on a sustainable plan.
Renewed energy to have fun with the kids: “I like the fact that I have more energy to spend active time with my kids,” said Kelvin Koh, 47. While he reckons that playing with children will always be tiring no matter how fit one is, the award-winning wedding photographer says he now finds it more fun, and therefore much easier, to get motivated to get out there when they’re around.
The uphill battle
Throughout his youth, Kelvin had always been fit.
In his teens and into his 20s, he was a school athlete, used to training at least four to five days a week. Over his years in Fairfield and Anglo-Chinese Junior College, he ran track, played tennis, football and rugby, and it was easy to carry these habits through his varsity years in the National University of Singapore too.
But as his career as a specialist photographer took off, that routine went pear-shaped.
In his first few years, he worked every day, shooting, editing, meeting couples and vendors. In addition to being surrounded by good food all the time, he often ate late; after wedding dinners, loading up on packaged meals such as nasi lemak. If he had a routine, it wasn’t exercise, but after-work suppers with friends.
Between the success of his 19-year career, banquet tables, overseas assignments, a decade of adapting to newborns arriving, as well as bad sleep quality, his fitness took a dive.
Bye bye late-night supper club: Working irregular hours as a wedding photographer, Kelvin wound up having frequent, after-work (usually heavy) suppers, which was one of several habits he’s had to reform into positive, healthy ones.
When his weight climbed to about 90kg, he tried to get in shape.
But he would spend about 10 years — the better part of his thirties — trying to get healthy and failing. He’d attempt fad diets from intermittent fasting to keto; going without sugar, other times completely avoiding fried foods.
He’d even gone on exercise binges, losing 10kg over four weeks, then putting it all right back on after he hit his targets. He tried any number of fitness apps too.
Happy, happy shake: Egg whites, protein and cocoa powder are just some ingredients that go into making one of Kelvin’s shakes, which he whips up when he’s hungry. “These are great, especially drunk cold, and through a straw!” — a reusable metal one, he clarifies. So often does he make it, he can tell if he has missed out any ingredients by its texture and sound of it mixing in the blender.
Some brides he’d shot even helpfully suggested he try wraps, he recalls with a chuckle: “Those treatments make you believe you’re doing something, but it’s all on the surface. It doesn’t tackle the root of the problem.”
“They all worked to a certain extent,” he notes. “But none of them were sustainable enough.”
Each time he backslid, he’d grow disheartened, and find the pounds creeping back before long.
Still, he refused to quit.
The Goldilocks Approach
To make things stick, he adopted his own “Goldilocks” strategy: something just right for him.
Setting up for a workout one day, he was drawn to the “Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast” by an online fitness company, Colossus Fitness, based in Canada. Its speakers introduced the idea of tracking nutrition, his weight, and his measurements. They also emphasised on the importance of finding sustainability in whatever approach one chose to undertake, so one could successfully keep the weight off after losing it.
In shaping up a plan, his first stop was to get a full-body scan to obtain comprehensive insights about his body composition, metabolism and fitness. He then weighed up the demands and expectations of his job, and how he wanted to eat (“very important for me”).
Moving away from short-term wins, he made incremental changes, beginning with what was on his plate. He slept longer, getting seven to eight hours every night. He started walking too.
Walk this way: By now, his children are familiar with the route to a park near their home, which is a 15-minute, “fun” stroll away. When it gets cooler in the evenings, he sells it to them this way: “We could drive to the park, but it's much nicer to just walk there.” In fact, walking is also a large part of his exercise regimen, as he tries to clock an hour of it daily.
Just don’t quit: Kelvin pushes himself at the gym, telling himself not to give up. His walks are at a casual to moderate pace, but his strength training sessions are anything but. His routine calls for a specific number of repetitions per weight exercise, and he never hesitates to push himself to do one or two extra, especially when he feels he still has a couple more in him.
His wife, Elizabeth Chang, 44, was cautiously supportive at first. After all, she’d seen his previous attempts unravel. “He's tried many, many types of diets and ways to lose weight… Most of them, though, he was never able to sustain for long. But on this current regimen he's on, I can see the difference.”
His medical reports, she adds, show that the changes are not just superficial too. “His fatty liver, and sleep, have improved a lot. I was really happy.” Best of all, she quips: “He was no longer snoring the house down!”
Kelvin said: “Eventually, what enabled me to succeed this time was to just be tenacious. And just wanting to not give up. That helped a lot.”
Getting results that reach across generations
This time, tenacity — together with strategy — would win the day.
Kelvin gradually began to shed weight. Before long, friends started to compliment him, and leave encouraging notes on his Instagram account. But their children observed these changes profoundly.
Kyra, the Kohs’ eldest daughter, soon found her siblings and herself going on walks with their father. About six months after he vowed to get healthier, the 16-year-old recalls: “We were all standing in the lift with him, and I realised, hmm, he looks a bit different. I know what happened… he lost weight.”
It isn’t what he says, so much as what he does that inspires them.
Gain for the pains: “Sometimes I think the pain keeps me motivated, by telling me that what I am doing is having an effect on me,” says Kelvin. He tends to work out alone in the gym, but follows a strict schedule, making it a must to time himself to ensure that he gets the maximum effect for his efforts. He makes his workout sessions a non-negotiable part of his day, parking them in between ferrying children to or from school.
“After seeing him do all his workouts and exercises, we were also inspired to try doing these sorts of things as well,” she said. “Gradually, all of us started to follow him and try, and engage in more exercises, mainly our weekly walks.”
Getting fit for the family: Family is a big motivator for Kelvin, and getting fit means having more energy to enjoy their company, on their terms. “Some of them are already at the point where it’s not cool to hang out with Dad, so I better try and spend as much time as possible with them before the rest of them get to that stage.”
Today, the Kohs approach their children’s fitness taking into account their diet, activity level and interests.
Nessya, 13, a Singapore Sports School student, is a wushu exponent and national youth athlete who is more active. So is Noah, 11, who in Primary Five is already in the school football team. Kyra gets involved in sports at school, while the two youngest, Micah, eight, and Mikaela, six, are motivated by fun.
They’re just as diverse when it comes to their palates. Mealtimes are necessarily a smorgasbord; smaller portions of a variety of dishes, with the one exception of the family staple: pork-loin chops (sliced thin, battered, dipped in egg and covered in panko bread crumbs before frying).
Homemade perennial favourites: It’s everybody-in when it comes to meal prep with the Kohs. Getting children involved in cooking makes them conscious of their choices, and appreciate the effort needed to make healthier versions of their favourites. Instead of reaching for processed or convenience foods, they batter and coat pork loins in egg and bread crumbs to prepare their perennial favourite: pork chops.
Otherwise, the home is stocked with wholesome snacks, from low-sugar granola to sugar-free chocolate. Smiling, mum Elizabeth notes: “With five children, you learn to pick your battles.”
Kelvin points out: “It's not always easy, but it's important for us as parents to pass on healthy habits to our children — the next generation.”
He reckons that introducing them to good habits while they are still young is ideal.
“It's good to get them thinking about their health and why taking care of themselves now can affect their wellbeing in the future."
The key? Have fun with it. “Ultimately it’s about finding what works for you and your family, even if it’s the smallest change. By being consistent with our efforts, we will see it grow into something sustainable and transforming.”
“All these small things add up to a big impact.”
Non-negotiable: Exercise has become a discipline for Kelvin. Whether it’s strength training at the gym or walking for cardio, he sets time aside to stay active every day. “It’s very easy to take an off day, and then another. Keeping active means making it a consistent part of my day.”
