My accidental weight loss journey, just by eating right.

I used to fit into this pair of pants just 4 months ago.
One of the biggest 'headache' of weight loss is having to buy an entire new wardrobe
​and I hate shopping!

BEFORE
I was a middle-aged overweight die-hard foodie medical doctor with an ever expanding waistline which I had complacently accepted as an inevitable consequence of aging.

AFTER
When I decided to not just teach and preach but actually walk the talk and practise eating right, I lost 17 kg. And when I looked at a picture I had taken with my wife soon after my weight loss, I realised that that I had gone back to my 'wedding-photo' weight, for the first time since we got married more than 20 years ago!

---

One of the most visible change that my friends saw in me, ever since I became an accidental full-time chef at my restaurant The Bento People and consequently an accidental health advocate as well, was my significant weight loss.

I was a skinny kid all through my school life, but like most people, became an slightly, or at least that was what I thought, overweight middle-aged doctor, with an insatiable die-hard foodie appetite and a ever expanding waistline. 

Those of you who had been following my blog know that my journey the last few years from a medical doctor to a full-time chef and health advocate had all been accidental, and it all started with how I accidentally started The Bento People >>  to read the post  on why and how I started The Bento People >> Click Here  

In short, the story was this - a middle-aged overweight die-hard foodie doctor finds himself having to stand in as a full-time chef in the restaurant he started --> He decided to do something worthwhile with the time, diving deep into the medical research literature on the relationship between food and health and using the restaurant as 'living classroom' to encourage and teach people to eat right for their health, he decided that he should lead by example and walk the talk and not just teach but also practise eating right as well, many months later, he found himself 17 kg lighter and back to his wedding photo weight and waist and a lot healthier than before he started.

Many friends,  especially those who had not been following my blog and my journey, on seeing my obvious weight loss,  had invariably asked me why I had embarked on a weight loss journey. Often I would be at a loss as to how to answer them, because I actually had not consciously embarked on a weight loss effort.

I was born a skinny boy and had gone through primary school with the disapproving School Health Service 'force feeding' the underweight me with free milk or some kind of protein powder. I grew up a slim young man and then became a not slim and not fat middle aged man. But like everyone else, with advancing middle age, I began to accumulate a 'little' more fat around the waist.

The reality was I had never really set out to lose weight in the first place, I had initially only embarked on a journey to eat healthy because I had to lead by example since I was preaching and teaching that at my restaurant The Bento People and the weight loss was an unexpected big bonus very early on. And once the weight, especially the belly fat, started to drop off, I was woken up enough from my complacency about my weight and I began to put in more effort to lose weight through being more mindful of what I ate.

But now having lost the weight that I did, I'm thankful that I did. My blood pressure, my blood cholesterol and blood sugar had also all become much better than when I was overweight, my body composition analysis test, my visceral fat level are all at a much healthier range, which I am sure it was not when I was overweight.

So should anyone now ask me why I had embarked on a weight loss journey, my reply would be this:

'I actually did not consciously embark on a weight loss journey but had instead only conscientiously made more effort to eat right consistently because I had to practise what I had been preaching and teaching at my restaurant The Bento People and along the way I lost some weight 'accidentally'. But now that I have lost weight and regained my health, on reflection, I realised that in the first place, I should not have allowed myself to become overweight in the past through complacency in the first place, however moderately or even just a heavy in the middle,  

So now, I shall continue to strive to keep to a healthy lifestyle to try to keep the excess weight and waist away always because:
(i) I love my wife and I want to keep in health for her
(ii) I love my kids and I want to keep in health for them
(iii) I want to walk the talk and be able to speak with authority and be able to teach, encourage and coach others about the power of the right lifestyle, especially dietary choices on the prevention and control of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and lifestyle-related conditions through:
- my medical clinic (http://drchantathon.com) and my practice as a medical doctor and to be able to be effectively help my patients through the specific prescription of lifestyle modification, especially dietary habits change to better manage their medical conditions such as diabetes and other lifestyle-related diseases.
- my restaurant where I am the owner-chef, The Bento People, so that I can effectively encourage my customers to eat right for their health. 

But most of all, I want to keep a healthy weight and waist and keep in health because I want to honour my God, my God who had given me this body, by treasuring my physical health as best as I could, starting with practising a healthy lifestyle to keep my weight and waist at an ideal level as best as I could.'

So to all men out there who are, like what I used to do, complacently 'laughing' off a slowly but surely expanding waistlines as 'love handles' or 'beer bellies', hope you do not mind my unsolicited 5 cents worth of advice and encouragement:
- the fat at the waist are the worst kind of fat anyone could have in terms of its adverse health implications, people may jokingly call it a 'love handle', but waist & visceral fats are really no joking matter nor is it a sign of 'love', it is anything BUT. In fact, if you love your wife, love your kids, love God, lose that fat around the waist. It would not be easy, but it has to be done and it can be done. Go for it!

Important Note:
Everyone's weight journey is different and personal.
No one has the right to judge another based on body weight. 

I shared this post because it is clear, from medical research, that there is a strong relationship between excess weight, waist and incidence of many chronic diseases. 

Our focus should therefore be on our own weight, waist and our own health and whether our current weight puts us at higher risks of the common chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. And if necessary, seek advice and support from doctors or other healthcare professionals in your journey towards a healthier weight and waist.