It's been a bit of a slow week for me because about this time last week I decided to make some changes in my life. When I was traveling on my "hate-cation" about a month ago I was visiting a friend who was about the same size as me when we met. Now granted, that was 20 years ago so some allowances can be made but when I was visiting him it was impossible to not notice that I am significantly larger than he is. Also, his girlfriend is a pharmacist and at one of her shops they have a triple-beam scale to weigh people. These scales are never wrong and I found out that I weight 97kg now or nearly 215 pounds. Some of this is good weight but well, most of it isn't.
So when I got back from visiting him I decided to make a few changes to my life and re-introduce exercise and some level of diet into my routine.
One thing that was so surprising about the weight for me is that I do not own a scale, so I never weigh myself here. I got on Lazada (our Amazon in Asia) and ordered any reasonably priced scale that they have. I didn't pay much attention to anything else about the scale because a scale is a scale, right? Well, this is what arrived.
I found it quite funny that I didn't specify any sort of image that I wanted and this is just the one they decided to send. I'm not insulted, I think it is cute and perhaps even more motivation to stick with the program that I have established for myself.
I have mostly been trying to eat a lot better because when you basically live off of take away food like I do, it is really easy to fall into a trap of eating garbage food. So a friend of mine recommended a restaurant in town that just opened up called "Mesala" and they specialize in large salads.
I'm not even going to rotate that, you get the idea
These salads are very customizable and they are around $6 each. I realize that this is a lot to pay for a salad or at least it is over here but that is the price you pay for quality. The veggies are all organic and local and I suppose that is important. They also focus heavily on precise amounts of ingredients so you know exactly what you are getting in the form of calories and protein/carbohydrates.
The best part is that they are huge and therefore, unlike most other salads, quite filling. Most times when I have one I can't finish it or am struggling to do so. Nadi of course watches me through every bite as she does little "tippy taps" with her feet waiting for me to drop something on the floor. She always gets some of it, but not very much. She has a bit of a weight problem as well after all.
Some of the salads are mexican themed with sour cream and a bit of spicy sauce and that was pretty good.
The best news is that I actually really look forward to eating them because they are really good and while $6 is more than I would normally spend on a dinner, and that probably sounds crazy to any Americans out there but it is the truth. Just like anywhere else in the world, the worst food is the cheapest here in Vietnam and that will contribute to you getting bigger.
I have also cut out what is likely the largest contributor to my excessive weight overall.
This is a social city and the expat society does it even more. People meet for beers every day and every night and I think this is the major reason for most people's, especially men's, weight gain. I participated in this party almost every day for the past 5 years and well, it is no great mystery where the weight gain is coming from I guess. I would imagine that by simply not going to the pub every day I am skipping about 1000 calories or even more of fatness.
I also don't wake up feeling terrible every day. The only real downside is that my social life is taking a turn for the worse but here is another side of that: I was hanging out so much that I was becoming part of the furniture and it was expected that I would be at bars, daily. I also wasn't really enjoying the conversation anymore with the people that were there because well, we have already said everything that can be said to one another. I have also found that the people who are in the pub every day never have anything interesting to say because the only thing that any of them ever do is go to the pub. I was one of those people as well.
I have stuck with this program pretty religiously for about 10 days and this morning I stepped on my pig scale and discovered that I am down to just below 94kg already. Not a huge loss considering the rather major change I have made to my life, but hell, it's just the beginning.
I am not going to try, I am going to succeed. I am actually quite stubborn and very dedicated to something once I fully decide that I am going to do it. I refer to one of my favorite characters in movies whenever I am in a position like this.
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I don't consider weight loss all that complicated. It's kind of like weight gain: If you go down a certain path as far as what you are putting into your body is concerned, you are going to either go up or down. It isn't rocket science but the person doing it needs to stick with it and if you do have cheat days, then have them (I do!) but I'm not going to allow this new system of mine to become something I just do every now and then. My cheat day is going to be bowling day, and that is it. I suppose I could go to an event here and there as well but my plan - which I will accomplish- is to get down to 87kg. That's a lot of weight for a guy in his late 40's to accomplish.
I'm going to achieve it though, me and my pig scale are going all in on this.
Wow, back to healthy lifestyle and regimen. The image on the weighing scale means something but it's cute though. You get the vegetable part and Nadi gets to have the meat part of the salad. Hhehe, what a unique name for a beer but I guess many people like drinking it. I need to lose 2-3 kilos too huhu...
losing 2-3 kg is easy. You should do it. It's mostly what you eat, exercise isn't really that important for weight loss. I'm just exercising because I also want to be strong. When I run for more than an hour, i burn only 800 calories. This is just 5 beers or half a pizza. If I did NOTHING ELSE other than to stop drinking beer (which I have stopped doing) I would lose 2-3 kg in 2 weeks.
I'm glad to hear that I could easily lose my excess weight. I think you're right coz I mostly eat carbs, and we are also rice and bread eaters. Also, having sedentary lifestyle have affected mine. For physical activity, what I do is play badminton and go walking, but not regularly 😀
Indeed, the kind and amount of food plays a big role.
The pig scale is rather neat and had no idea they now go up to 180Kg's. The highest one I knew was 120Kg's and guess this 180kg piggie is for the American market. The people that should be eating salads don't tend to and I know I also need to eat healthier.
I hadn't even noticed that the weight limit was 180. That is really high! Since the top of this scale is made of glass I think someone that heavy would break it. Why would they make it of glass? So stupid!
Not sure but in y younger years I could not use a home scale due to 120kg maximum weight limit and I broke a few. I think I was around 128kg's at the peak of my playing rugby and there were guys still bigger.
Dang, I'd love to be 215 pounds! Especially given my height. I really need to step things up a bit, but I expect once summer rolls around I will be a bit more active. That looks like a cool restaurant. I can see why you would enjoy it. It kind of reminds me of a Mediterranean chain we have over here called CAVA. Best of luck to you on your continued journey!
what are you at now? In a way you were a bit of an inspiration to me back when you were talking about getting up at 4am. I don't think I have that in me at all. I do love my sleep. I will say this though, when I do wake up super early by accident since my employer doesn't hold me to a schedule, I do feel fantastic when I have accomplished so much before lunch.
Last I checked I was right around 260 I think. I still do the 4:00 AM thing at least four times per week. I injured my shoulder, so that kind of put me on the rails in terms of physical activity. I'm finally getting back to normal now. That being said, I recently opted to do a cardio stress test and I got a METS score of almost 10. 12 METS or more is exellect and 9 to 11 is considered good. Even if I am not seeing the results externally, I think it is definitely making a difference internally. Oh, I was also recently able to come off my high blood pressure meds that I had been on for several years now.
I have high blood pressure as well and this is part of my reasoning for making this change. I don't even understand what sort of negative impact that HBP has on you, but I know it isn't good.
I want to do a cardio stress test. I'll have to look into that. My cardio is not great as at a 140BPM heart rate, I can only maintain about an 8 min km.
Yeah, my buddy had a heart attack a while ago along with some other issues and that really got me started on the road to being healthier. Unless you have some kind of underlying condition you are likely going to be okay if I was able to score as high as I did. Funny thing is, I was thinking "this is going to be easy", I use the treadmill all the time. Turns out, it isn't anything close. They have you walking at an incline that most regular treadmills can't even achieve, then every 30 seconds or so they increase the speed. I was just a touch shy of making it 10 minutes and I was going something like 4.3 mph, but it was a lot more intense than it sounds. They don't tell you your time, they basically just want you to achieve a certain heartrate for a certain amount of time for the test to be valid. If I had known I was so close to hitting the 10 minute mark, I would have pushed harder. My legs were burning and I could barely catch my breath which is why I tapped out.
@gooddream You can do it, just have faith and add self-discipline. Eventually, you'll reach that weight of 87kg. Take it slow,you will reach that goal soon. I know you can do it,i like the scale it's cute.
both hilarious and brutally honest. You're making some solid changes, though. Cutting out the pub calories alone is really goof. Keep at it, Nadi’s probably cheering you on or just waiting for more snacks lol
I figure I would likely lose a lot of weight if I ONLY cut out the pub time. But I am impatient.
the results will show though lol 💪
Fighting you can do it. Consistency is the key, bowling day sounds perfect to keep things in balanced.
That looks like an extremely healthy lifestyle. Did you give a piece of that chicken to Nadi? Nice pink pig scale too 🤣
yeah, she got some of it. She always does. She is a patient beggar, doesn't move... just looks at you until you give in.
That is a delicious salad. Gotta have that too! And choosing healthy eating habits is a good choice. Good luck man continue doing that.
⋆ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ғᴏʀ sᴏᴜᴛʜᴇᴀsᴛ ᴀsɪᴀɴ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ᴏɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ
⋆ sᴜʙsᴄʀɪʙᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ
⋆ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʀᴀɪʟ
⋆ ᴅᴇʟᴇɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʟɪɴᴋs 25 ʜᴘ⇾50 ʜᴘ⇾100 ʜᴘ⇾500 ʜᴘ⇾1,000 ʜᴘ
Wow! thats a healthy food you have and fit so good to loss weight. Loss weight moderately and dont skip a meal.
the scale is pretty darn cute, isn't it?
the scales not being accurate are definitely an issue but the variations that I am seeing are very slight. Scales are not terribly complicated machines but if they are really cheap you can assume they are not going to be accurate. One of these days I would like to find a proper scale that costs a ton of money and just see what it says so I can know how "off" my scale is that I got for $4