In November last year, I shared my initial progress on reclaiming and optimizing my health.
I am not an inherently fat person, so some of my friends wonder why I seem obsessed with losing fats.
Losing fats is just part of the bigger picture, and fats are the results not the cause.
Several months ago, I discovered I wasn’t as fit as I thought or looked. For my height and stature, I was leaning towards higher body fat percentage (anything above 20% for men is high) and this is despite living a rather active lifestyle.
Blood test showed higher than normal cholesterol. I was considered pre-diabetic. I have high uric acid, and years of experiencing acid reflux proved that. It was what landed me in the hospital for the first time at this time last year. No thanks to stress, of course.
While I’m far from falling apart, if left unchecked I foresee having to deal with new health problems in my late 30’s or 40’s. (And as a guy, man I’d hate to have a bulging tummy!)
On a more serious note, I’ve been hearing and know of horror stories happening to good folks I know, some even gone too soon.
And I’m not keen on shopping for hospitals. I’d rather be shopping for investments but hey, health is wealth right? It’s either pay the price now or pay it later with interest.
I started small, following a food and supplements program for 3 months. I set myself an achievable goal but of course for as long as I inhibit this body it is an on-going project.
So it’s been a while and I know the photos below is slightly dated, but let’s talk results FIRST…
* I started out 23% (close to 24%) body fat in September. 3 months later I was below 16% for the first time! (of course, it can be a little skewed as at the time I just did Spartan Race and trained quite a bit leading up to it)
* Safe to say, I average around 17-18% body fat most of the time now
* I started out with 8 layers of visceral fat. Today it’s 6.0 layers, sometimes 6.5 still. Very stubborn indeed, this one is harder to lose compared to outer body fats. I’d still like to have this lowered to 5.0. But I couldn’t have arrive here without supplements; one can’t undo decades of past damage just eating healthy all of a sudden.
* Uric Acid – border line healthy on blood test inspection within 30 days. I ought to have this checked again to be sure. But it’s been months since I last felt nausea or the need to buy antacid or charcoal pills, so that’s a positive development 🙂
* Waist size – a total reduction of 4cm! I might need new clothes at this rate…
* Body Age – previously 37-38, for the first time 30-31… you can say I am acting my own age now, lol
Again it’s not about for the sake of losing fats (I don’t have a lot to lose compared to say, an obviously obese person), but having a healthier and better quality of life overall.
While I continue with my physical activities like gym, evening walks, and jungle hikes, the KEY factor is in…
1. FOOD
I was never one to pay attention to what I eat. For a long time, I ate almost nothing but outside food and I thought that by exercising and working out I then have the ‘license’ to put in anything into my stomach.
I couldn’t be more wrong.
For the first time, my eyes were opened to what was always there (but I was ignorant)
Like how greasy and oily our foods in Malaysia are… how ‘health foods’ weren’t actually healthy after all. And others, excessively covered in sugar!
For most of the time now, I steam my own food and when I’m outside, Subway is on the menu most of the time.
It was frustrating at first, but I learned to adapt 🙂 This is not to say I totally quit eating my favorite foods, it’s just that I minimize them drastically.
And I’ve not had a soda drink since Hari Merdeka last year…
2. SUPPLEMENTS
For all the switch to healthy eating, it doesn’t redeem me from my past ‘sins’…
It’s been exactly 10 years that I ate mostly outside food – especially since I left mom’s and stayed on my own.
So I’ve been taking various supplements to ‘reverse’ the body age and also ‘repair’ the internals, so to speak.
A little too technical, I might write about this in detail another time.
The long and short of it: It was the combination of supplements and careful intake of food that led to these positive results.
Sure exercise and workout are important, but on their own it’s not enough. I’d say Food is 70-80% success factor here.
So there you go, hope this helps with some insights — I’m by no means a health expert (in fact, I realize how little I know the more I learn)
But I know too many people who don’t care about their own health… until it was too late.
Talk to me anything about Health just a few months back and I probably wouldn’t have listened too.
Take care, health is wealth!