2018-03-02

Journey to Healthier Me, Part 1

I remembered back in early 2016 when I stand on the weighting machine at someone’s house. I was about 210lbs (95kg). I was a bit shock. I knew I was gaining weight, but I thought I was still below 200lbs. This is quite a shock to me because, even with my weight back then, I considered myself quite active. I like to walk a lot, and I jog occasionally. I even participated in half marathon.

I am not concern too much about how I look, being significantly overweigh concert me for health reason. With my height about 5 feet 6 inches (168cm), it means I have BMI of about 33. Although I read that BMI does not tell us everything about our health, it shows me painful reality: I am too fat. In this BMI range, I am categorised as obese.

Starting in middle of 2016, I started to change my lifestyle and by end of 2017 I weighted about 165pound (about 75kg). I lost about 45lbs (20kg) in this 1.5 year as the result of my lifestyle change, and I felt great. In this post, I am going to share with you my journey for about 1.5 year to become healthier. As you can see, this is quite a long journey. I did not try to get we weight down as fast as I can, but it is about changing to a healthier and sustainable lifestyle.

The First 2 Months

I remembered around the beginning of my journey; although I do not remember the exact time; I get a weighing machine that can tell the body composition and BMI as well. I remembered the machine tells me that I have about 30% muscle, about 28% body fat and about 40lbs (18kg) visceral fat. Although this kind of weighing machine may not be very accurate in reporting body composition, I use it to track my progress by using it at the about the same time on the day each time.

As an Asian, rice has been my staple food for as long as I can remember. Without changing too much of my other lifestyle, I started to switch to brown rice instead and cut down on all sugary and starchy snacks and drinks. I still have some snacks during this time but I avoid the sweet and starchy snacks. I eat some nuts and peanuts when I was hungry in between meals. My activity level is mostly the same.

Another food I cut down a lot is one of my favourites: noodle. This has been the most challenging to me because I loved to eat noodle, especially the good ones. Before I started this, I could eat noodle between 2-3 times a week with occasional ‘special and big portion’ ones. Noodle lovers out there may know what I mean. J

Cutting back noodle means I commit to eat noodle only once a week maximum, and only get the standard portion, not the ‘big special’ portion. This is still one of my weekly ‘cheat’ I do even now after maintained healthier lifestyle, although I do not crave it that much anymore.

I notice that my energy level is increasing after making this small change, and I remembered losing a few pounds/kg of weight. In the beginning it was tough, but after a few weeks I feel less hungry in between meals and feel fresher. I can concentrate more on my work for longer time without craving for snacks or sugary drinks. This kind of feeling lead me to continue my journey to change my lifestyle; I like the way I feel about my own body.

After about 2 months, I notice my weight has plateaued, but I think I have lost about 15lbs (7kg) during this time. This leads me to make some other changes.

More Vegetables and Protein, Less Carbohydrate, more Work Out

After about 2 months, I feel that I am ready to make another shift in my lifestyle. During the first 2 months, I also read many advices about losing weight online, and decided to try a few changes in my lifestyle.

First, I gradually reduce the amount of carbohydrate I eat (I even reduce the brown rice I eat), and eat more protein to compensate with the calorie loss. I also try to not eating any snacks in between meals. Cutting the snack proves to be quite difficult, so during the transition, I try to eat vegetables and fruit instead. I also drink more water and tea. I found that drinking tea help me to suppress my appetite.

I also try to be more active during this time. I remembered from September until November 2016, I was training and conditioning myself for full Marathon in early December 2016. I continued to maintain my activities after the Marathon, although is not as intensive as when I was training. But due to the injury I got in February 2017, I have to limit my exercise for a few months.

After a few difficult months, as my body is adapting to the new lifestyle, I gradually get a hang of it. It is not so difficult to maintain the lifestyle, and I am getting used to the palate of eating plain vegetables, steam/boiled food instead of fried snacks. I feel like my body are getting used to burning fat as energy and I feel like I can concentrate in my work for longer period of time, better than the first period. I remember l loss another 11-13lbs (5-6kg), and my visceral fat is about 33lbs (~15kg) in this second period. However, I soon reach another plateau for a few months.

Low Carbohydrate and More Exercise

After a few months of plateau for a few months, I decided to go to the next level. Around May 2017, I began to recover from my injury back in Feb 2017. Until this point, I have been gradually reducing my carbohydrate intake. I feel that my body now can move on without having too much carbohydrate. So I decided to go for a low carbohydrate diet, and start increasing my activity level. I trained for half marathon in mid of 2017 and full marathon in December 2017. I estimated that less than 20% of my daily calories intake comes from carbohydrate, with the remaining comes from protein and fat. I do not really count my calories, this is just estimates. But I think my calories intake during this period is less than what I burn. I maintain eating more vegetables during the day, mostly in the form of vegetable smoothies. I choose to have vegetable smoothies mainly for practical reason; I can prepare in advance the smoothies for the next few days so that I do not need to spend too much time preparing the vegetables. Somehow this is the easiest way to get maintain my lifestyle as the food in eateries or restaurant in my area does not really fit for my lifestyle change; they have too much carbohydrate or sugar in them and too little vegetables.

By December 2017, I weighed about 164-165lbs (~75kg), I lost about 15-17lbs (7-8kg) in this period, and my visceral fat level is about 27lbs (~12kg). I was able to complete full marathon without taking any energy gel or any other energy supplement. I did hydrate myself with water and a small cup of isotonic drink every hour or so to prevent muscle cram. I also took about 2-3 bananas provided by the organiser during the race. The time I took for the marathon is not fantastic, but it is a big step for me. I did not notice any big difference in my weight before and after the race, but I did eat more protein rich food after the race for recovery.

Journey continues

Now few months after my full marathon race, my weight still around the same. I still weighted about 165lbs, which make BMI about 26.5. My fat level is about 25% and visceral fat about 27lbs. My weight did increase a bit during the festive season, but went back to this level as I resume my healthy lifestyle.

Although BMI does not tell us everything about our health, my BMI level indicates that I am still overweight. At the time of this writing, I am still trying small changes in my lifestyle to improve my health even further like different exercise or diet. I would be glad to share what I do in the upcoming post.