My Dieting Attempts – Andy

Whether it’s to save for that new car or to sign up to the gym, the beginning of the New Year is often the time where we look to start new goals or review our existing goals.  This year I’m again looking to renew my dieting goals, which weren’t very successful in the past.  For anyone who knows me now wouldn’t believe it if I told them I weighed 63kgs and still standing at 180cms at the end of high school. I would be able to eat whatever I wanted and whenever I wanted, without having to be concerned about the consequences. I suppose many of us are in the same situation, whereby we find our metabolism slowing down as we get older.

Fast forward 12 years after high school, I now find myself married with a 3 year old son and weighing a lot more than the original 63kgs I was back in high school. I first noticed my weight during my regular visit to the scales at the gym. I would normally weigh myself just to ensure I was putting on muscle mass and not fat, but in reality it was a bit of both.  It was however a visit to mum and dad’s house that really made me think about getting my weight and health habits back on track. ‘Luckily’ for me I’m from an Asian family, which meant mum and dad’s very upfront and sometime blunt about what they tell me.  So one day, dad (purely from a visual observation) told me that I was getting really round on the edges. Well those weren’t the exact words he used, he was actually a lot more blunt. I didn’t take this to heart at all cause I know my parents meant well and frankly I’m used to the bluntness.

So with that in mind I decided to commence a diet, which consists of a stringent food and exercise regimes. This original plan initially worked well, as I noticed I was losing a little over 1 kg in the space of several weeks. Furthermore I noticed my muscles were becoming more defined, or it could’ve just been my ego, not sure now. Regardless it was working! I would only eat vegetables and greens along with a small portion of meat every day. All the soft drinks and junk food had completely dropped off from my diet. I have to admit the first week was really tough and having no junk food really made me crave for it even more. It was only after the 3rd week that I decided a chocolate bar wouldn’t hurt. It was also around this time that I caught a cold. I suppose it was only matter of time, before I caught a cold considering my now 3 year old son is constantly coughing in my face.  It’s ok though because he gives me a hug afterwards, so it’s all worth it.  After I caught the cold, all I could think about was getting better and the entire diet regime went out the window. In the space of 1 – 2 weeks, I had gone back to my old eating habits and completely forgotten about dieting. So it’s clear that a sudden strict diet doesn’t work as it shocks the system and can’t be sustained for long periods of time.

After several months have passed my determinations of losing weight have again re-surfaced.  This time I told myself I was going to plan my next attempt instead of blindly rushing into a new diet fad.  I kept in mind my overall goal which was to change my lifestyle with regards to food consumption and exercising.  So this time I’ve decided to put a plan in place. I was going to eat less with each meal and ensure each meal consists of more greens and fewer meat.  I also had days set out where I was allowed to have sweets and which days I wasn’t allowed to have sweets.  On the exercise side I’ve decided to do more endurance and cardio exercises as appose to heavy weight lifting, which I find puts on more body mass.  Again I’ve organised for myself to do cardio exercises on certain days and lift weights on other days.  It’s now been close to 8 months since I’ve put in place my new diet regime and I can’t say I’ve stuck to it 100% of the time, however the diet regime has changed the way I think about my health. I’m still losing weight, however at a slower rate.

So what have I learnt from all this? We all hear those crazy diet fads, which promise weight loss within months, weeks or even days.  I find that some of these fads do in fact work, however only in the short term because let’s face it, we all love fatty /junk food here and there. I found that depriving myself of these types of foods altogether doesn’t work, as it made me crave for it even more. So when I started to eat junk food again, I ate a lot more of it.  I now believe the best way to lose weight is to change my lifestyle in line with my dieting goals and just as important is to plan how I’m going to achieve those goals.  As we’ve just entered the New Year, I’m more motivated than ever to review my health goals, which hopefully will keep my waist line under control.