Review: Cracking the code on weight loss — My journey during the pandemic
Hi, Weiyuan here from Big O(n) Development, covering another summary for an episode of “Small Talk”, where we touch on topics about developing your careers and yourself.
Following our last episode on National AI Strategy in Singapore, this week’s topic takes a twist on the topic of developing oneself towards physical wellness. Our speaker today, Hairizuan, has gone through his journey of seeking physical wellness through weight loss, from 130 kg to ~ 80 kg today, and shares his take on weight loss as a software engineer!
Disclaimer — This episode contains personal anecdotes on achieving weight loss, but does not constitute professional advice. Do seek out nutritionists and body trainers for more personalized advice. Thanks!
Podcast
Starting the podcast, we discussed why this was a relevant topic to folks in the tech industry. Simply put, with most roles in tech (i.e. engineering, product, design) being desk-bound by nature, the sedentary lifestyle is commonplace, making it a valid concern for long-term physical wellness outside of work.
Quoting a study as seen above, young adults today are prone to gain weight, an average of 3 kg, after starting work. While a substantial amount of people (33.4%) regularly took part in physical activity, a concerning 42.9% surveyed did not engage in physical activity actively, citing reasons like stress and fatigue from work.
Between the two of us in the podcast, we spoke about how education has been entwined with physical fitness since our youth, to the benefit and detriment in some ways, where it is more a weekly ritual (good for encouraging activeness) but not education (building habits and healthy lifestyles from young). Hairizuan relies more on eating in moderation, while Weiyuan relies on both an active lifestyle (e.g. walking to work) and some control of his diet.
Following the fitness topic, we move towards Hairizuan’s journey of weight loss from 130 kg to ~80 kg!
Hairizuan shared a few tips on how he managed this feat:
- He mostly attributes the success to intermittent fasting, consuming food only within an 8 to 12 hr period each day
- Intermittent fasting is also useful to encourage the body to burn through our fat stores for energy
- Always start with an attainable target— for him, it was cutting out breakfast, which he already skips sometimes if busy or not hungry
- Reflecting on his learnings as an engineer, setting metrics on body weight and measuring daily is key to understanding the results, whether positive or negative, to amend and improve the process
Ending this summary, I want to quote Hairizuan on motivating oneself using metrics — “…You can only determine if something is successful if you set and measure the metrics for success” 🙂
Watch the full episode here:
