Health and Fitness

Three months ago, I started an experiment to lower my blood pressure and cholesterol by changing my diet and lifestyle.

What triggered me to start this experiment is because I am stubborn and I don’t want to take medications.  And I want to be proactive and take control of my own health.

Though losing weight is not my main objective, I got it as a side benefit from this little health experiment that I am going to share with you.

Let’s see what kind of changes that happened to me over the course of three months:

Weight loss: My starting weight was 75kg. I lost almost 5kg within the first month. Then it slowed down. Now I lost 10kg 3 months into my experiment. I am not saying losing weight is good as it depends on your body composition. For men, as you know, the most stubborn fat to lose is fat around your stomach and love handles. I am happy to say that I finally managed to lose the fat in those areas in more than 30 years! What a great side benefit to have!

Blood pressure: This is the main reason I started this experiment. The daily changes are minimal so I plot charts for my home BP readings to see if my BP is reducing or increasing over time. The charts are based on the readings I take every morning for the last 3 months. To see the trend of my BP even clearer, I bring out linear trend lines for the charts. As I can see from the chart, both trend lines of systolic and diastolic are trending down and within the healthy ranges.

Cholesterol: Triglycerides reduced from 1.8 to 0.77. HDL 1.44 to 1.58. LDL 5.7 to 4.97

Fasting blood sugar: 5.9 to 5.2

Curious how I got these results? Here’s what I did:

I do intermittent fasting by skipping breakfast. I fast for 16 hours, give and take. I used to think fasting is full of crap. Why fast when you have an abundance of foods around you. But not anymore.

I skip snacks between meals. I used to drink Milo, 3-in-1 coffee, teh tarik, and my goto snack was Ping Pong brand cream crackers. I reduce bread and cut out totally cakes, pastries and sugar. I reduce intake of fruits. If I am hungry between meals I will eat a handful of nuts and seeds. You don’t want to eat constantly but only eat for main meals.

My diet used to consist of about 80% of plant based foods but I reduced it to 50% during this experiment. On the other hand, I increased animal based foods which include pork, chicken, beef, fish, shellfish. The most important thing is to reduce your carbohydrates (especially refined carbs) and sugar.

I changed my cooking oils to lard, red palm oil, coconut oil, ghee and butter.

I don’t count calories. I eat until I am full.

Exercise: I stick to the same regimen. No changes made during this experiment. So any impact on my health has to come from my diet.

In fact many modern day health problems are interconnected. Once you solve one problem, many things will fall into place: nice BP, low blood sugar, nice cholesterol.

There you go, that’s all the secrets I have. Don’t take my word for it. Try it for yourself.

Ass-covering clause: The information here is only for educational purposes and should not  be used as medical advice. You have to seek professional advice from qualified medical practitioners.

After being idle for a few years, I made myself active again almost two years ago by picking up exercise. Here’s my story if you have not read it already: How I found time to exercise (And I achieved more than I thought)

Losing 5 kg in 6 months is not much and it’s not attractive compared to those over-hyped weight loss advertisements. However if you want a weight loss result that stays without taking the fun out of your life, you might want to take a look at my exercise routine. I am a living testimony to this and it works for me.

Before we go there let’s take a look at the record of my weight history:

• December 2017: 73.3 kg
• March 2018: 71.5 kg
• April 2018: 69.5 kg
• May 2018: 69.7 kg
• June 2018: 68.8 kg

Currently I weigh 68 kg. My weight is kind of stabilized ever since.

Below is what I do to reach the current state of weight. Let’s dive into it.

Exercise Routines

I have divided my exercise in 3 categories.

1. Cardiovascular exercise

This is the first exercise I began with. For cardio exercise, I choose running. When I first started, I couldn’t run even a kilometer without stopping. But after some time, stamina had improved. After a few weeks, significant difference was seen. I lost some weight. If I can’t run, I walk. On average I run 1.5 to 3 km in the neighborhood. Since the beginning of the year I changed to HIIT training. I sprint and jog in intervals. You think I am a fast runner? I am not. I run about 3 km in 25 minutes.

Occasionally I do some walking with my wife. Not a hectic walk. 3 km for 40 minutes.

2. Weight training

For weight training, when I first started I used only body weight exercise. Mainly focus on the abdominal area. Then I incorporated dumbbell after seeing one lying around collecting dust in my brother’s home. Ever since, I combine body weight training with dumbbell. To make it more time efficient, I bought another similar set of dumbbell. I work on my biceps, shoulders, triceps, and chest. For core, I combine body weight training and dumbbell. For other muscle groups I use only dumbbells.

3. Flexibility exercise

Flexibility exercise seems like a workout for sissies. Let me tell you it’s not. Flexibility is very important and it’s here to make sure that we don’t get injured or strained ourselves easily. Flexibility exercise is to make sure that our muscles are supple. Hence yoga and stretching exercise is part of my routine. I’ll do my best to cover all important muscle groups, if not all.

Equipment

In the beginning, I only used a yoga mat and bodyweight exercise. I did this for a year. Only at the start of this year, I used a dumbbell. After working for a few months, I bought another dumbbell. This is all I use right now: a yoga mat, 2 sets of dumbbells. Of course, a pair of sneakers for running. The workout plan that I follow is flexible and you can do it anywhere, without equipment or gym membership. The key here is to keep it simple and easy to follow.

Frequency

I run 3 times a week. I do yoga exercise on the same day as my run. On the days that I don’t run I do weight training. 2 to 3 times a week. On average, each workout lasts 25 – 40 minutes. I rest on Sundays.

Diet

Above all, I strongly believe that diet is the utmost important component of a healthy body and weight loss. I adopted a plant based diet about 7 years ago. Not entirely plant based but about 75 percent. Besides fruits and vegetables, I also do my best to consume other natural foods such as nuts and beans, oats, grains, olive oil, various types of vinegar and more.

I am not saying plant based diet is the way but you do what works for you.

Another significant lifestyle change I made was afternoon tea. I used to go for afternoon tea very often with my kids but after I found out I have high cholesterol and high blood pressure, I skip afternoon tea. I only consume 3 meals a day and no supper after dinner. With the exception if I am on vacation. I will forgo the rules and eat whatever I fancy. Weekends are sometimes my cheat days too.

Conclusion

This is what I do to lose weight, and maintain a lean, healthy body. This routine might not be suitable for your lifestyle and if so, feel free to adopt and adapt. As long as you exercise to cover cardiovascular, strength and flexibility, you’re good to go. If this seems overwhelming, try focus on one area first. I would recommend you to first do some cardiovascular exercise. And then strength/weight training. Start slow. Be persistent. And follow through. Don’t give up. You’ll be there one day.

As the saying goes, “It’s better to exercise than no exercise at all.”

Here’s another of my true story about weight loss. It happened a few years back when I changed my diet:

My True Story: How I Lost 10 kg Naturally In Two Months (or Less)