How I lost weight and fats

For the first time in my life 10 years ago, I went for a health check-up conducted by a former company I worked for and I was told that I was at borderline high cholesterol. Initially, I thought, it was my lifestyle I led for my entire 20s. It was of course. I gotta admit that I took advantage of being young, and being in the hotel industry for 2.5 years didn't help. On top of that, I ate whatever I felt like eating, I was also at the mamak during my college years and never will it cross my mind that, it wasn't just purely my lifestyle, it was in fact hereditary too. I was asked to reduce fast food and red meat intake, and I attempted by cutting down my fast food to a month once. Did that help? I maintained my lifestyle, but reduced my fast food intake and they came back the following year. Instead of showing improvement (but it's not possible by doing that nano step, I was too naive), the result came back with a jump from borderline to high cholesterol, skipping another level of slightly high. I was officially high risk at the age of 31.

I continue leading that unhealthy lifestyle. Reducing by that little in such a small scale will not make a difference (and without working out). Alcohol was a big chunk of my life too in my 20s. 

Fast forward to late 30s, I have the habit of eating when a really bad event befalls on my family to avoid family members worry. I shove food to my mouth just because I did not want others to be worried. 

Finally, I started meeting new people and making new connections. I have always been told I was too thin. Fact is, nobody knows that I am skinny-fat, a condition where I look thin on the outside but the fats are all hidden between all my organs as what people call as visceral fat. 

What did I do? I have to do something before I hit my 4th decade on Earth. I was in a lose fat program for 90 days. My lifestyle had 180 degrees change, with supplements and meal replacement. After going through that program, I now identified what food are considered unhealthy. People go for no carbs, no sugar, but is it sustainable? It's not. If low carbs and low sugar, it's do-able. The program was like this:

Low sugar

Low sodium

Low carbs

No processed food

No dairy

High protein

This means I was sacrificing all my desserts, switch my coffee from dairy to plant-based milk, vegetables, certain types of fruits, avoid deep-fried food with one cheat day. I'm a carb lover, so I would binge (but not to the extreme) on that day, sticking with 3 meals (binge on one).

The result after 90 days?

 

Nothing comes easy, no pain no gain. This was my pain, but also my gain. It was difficult kickstarting but if I wanna improve my overall health by 40, this was what I gotta do. That has been a very transformative journey as I have permanently changed my lifestyle

I weighed 56kgs when I first started, and 47 kgs when I completed the program with 3 visceral fat, reduced to 1. Body fats from 33% went down to 23%. Do I still munch and snack, and everything? Yes I do. Almost 2 years later, I am between 49 kgs to 50 kgs and have been this weight for the past 1 year. I have incorporated workout as part of my lifestyle. So, I would say, this is for the best.