Overweight? Know the Proven Ways Leading to My 10 KG Weight Loss

When I landed in Singapore, I weighed well over 80 kgs.

I was coming from France. The food in France added a few extra kilos. Before that, I was not maintaining a very healthy lifestyle.

In Singapore, I was not looking to lose weight. However, few things worked in my favor —

I Became More Physically Active

The Gym Above INSEAD

INSEAD had a gym within its compound. I felt maybe I should use that more often. In Fontainebleau, I didn’t use the gym that much as I was too occupied with other things. But in Singapore, I wanted to maintain a healthier lifestyle.

So, I took the gym membership.

Walking More in Singapore

I used my car quite a lot in France. But in Singapore, there was no such option. I’d use public transport quite a lot.

My place was 15 minutes walking distance from INSEAD. So every day I walked for 30 minutes at least. On top of that, if I needed to go anywhere, I’d take the MRT. That added up to a lot of walking. I was easily crossing 10,000 steps every day.

My Food Habit Changed

Start the Morning with a Couple of Eggs

In France or Bangladesh, I would eat large breakfasts.

Particularly in France, I stored some packaged croissants, cheese, milk, and sandwiches for my breakfast. I would rotate the items but cheese would always be part of my spread.

In Singapore, packaged foods didn’t seem as appealing. The cheese was way more expensive. However, the hawker centers in Singapore were just a class apart. They were clean, affordable, and offered a variety of food. They opened early in the morning so I could just have my breakfast there.

I would go there to have a couple of eggs, toast with Kaya and Butter, and a cup of milk tea. I had the same breakfast for months —

INSEAD Cafe Lunch

I used to have lunch in INSEAD Cafe.

The menu was never as diverse as the one in Fontainebleau.

There were a few options but they were not as good as the salad bar. So every day I chose a bowl of salad. It was economical too.

Dinner at Hawker Center

For dinner, I’d visit a hawker center. Usually, these centers would have a variety of stores. I chose whatever I wanted. Eventually, I was leaning more towards Indonesian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Malaysian, and Singapore food stalls.

Interestingly, the portion size in Singapore dishes is slightly smaller. So even though I was eating whatever I wanted for dinner, I was never overeating.

I was drinking a lot of soda but I switched to Coke Zero. They might not be healthy but they contained less sugar.

I enjoyed occasional burgers. In fact, my love for McDonald's took me there almost every week. But because I was maintaining a healthy lifestyle mostly, my body could absorb that.

Additionally, I started drinking more Chinese green tea. Those may have helped increase my metabolism and improve my digestion.

I Became More Routined Which Led to Weight Loss

All of these changes were kind of effortless. I imagine that most Singaporeans can follow these easily, except for the gym part.

Let’s have a look at my routine —

• I was waking up early every morning — at 5.30 AM
• I’d pray and then go to the gym
• At the gym, I would alternate between leg plus abdomen and sculpt days
• The hawker center opened at 7. I’d be one of their first customers
• Throughout the day, I’d walk around a lot more than usual

This systematic change started doing wonders.

To be honest, my intention was not to lose weight. But it started happening.

One day, my housemate said to me that I have become very thin.

I weighed myself and saw that I lost over 10 kgs in 2.5 months.

It wasn’t as effortless as this article makes it seem. I toiled in the gym for an hour — almost every day. I didn’t overeat. It was a near-ideal situation.

When I left INSEAD, I lost access to the gym and things started changing. Even though the rest of my lifestyle remained similar, I was no longer losing weight.

But that experience in 2017 gave me an idea about what I would need to do if I want to lose weight.

The first time I lost so much weight was in 2013.

The third time is now in 2021. But more on that later.

Now that I have done it multiple times, I know my body better. I know what environment I should have to function better. I feel that is one of the key learnings from these experiences.

This article was first published on Medium