5 Reasons Why Malaysians are Obese

Towards the end of 2010, the Ministry of Health in Malaysia placed adverts in the local papers stating that 2 out of 5 Malaysians are obese.

Obesity advert in Malaysian newspapers

I know most Malaysians are obese, but I didn't realise the statistics were this high! Here is my take on why Malaysians have reached this point of no return:

Cannot stop eating
Malaysians live to eat rather than eat to live. One of the main culprits is because of the glorious food that is available 24 hours in most parts of Malaysia. Did you know that Malaysia has one of the best hawker food in the world? If you're not familiar with Malaysian food, click here.

All these eating and feasting is a good tourism boost for the country, but a detriment for its people.

Not enough exercise
How many Malaysians you know make exercise part of their lifestyle? The figure is very small. They would rather spend time at the shopping malls and at the mamak stalls.

Lazy lifestyle
Ask most Malaysians to walk a little bit further to reach their destination and they would complain incessantly. They would rather drive everywhere and that's why cars sell like hot cakes in Malaysia.

One of the most blatant forms of Malaysian laziness is at the parking lot in shopping malls or hypermarts. They would rather sit and wait in the car for somebody to vacate the spot right in front of the entrance rather than parking a little further away and walk the short distance.

Whenever anyone ask if they can join me on my travels, the first question I would ask them is whether they can walk for long distances because I don't take the cab unless I really have to. Most people can't do that and that's why I travel alone most of the time.

Late dinners
I read somewhere that a certain Malaysian supermodel takes her dinner before 6pm everyday. Well, there's a logical layperson's explanation for this. If you eat late dinners or supper and hit the sack immediately after eating, the food will stay in your stomach and the fat will get absorbed into your body making you a fat blob in the long run.

Poor eating habits / Pressure to follow the majority
I was having dinner with an acquaintance and he recommended I take the mango lassi. I decided not to cause I had already burst my calorie quota for the day and it was already dinner (read Point 4). And then he asked me, "Are you always this regimented?" That almost blew my top and I wanted to reply, "Cause I don't want to end up like a fat blob like you!"

So you see, Malaysians have poor eating habits, and sometimes when you don't eat or drink like they do, they will say you're regimented and all. It's not easy, but you have to hold your ground, and think of the benefits of having a healthy body and slim figure as a motivating factor.

7 Eating Habits to Lose Weight

I had wanted to lose weight since as long as I can remember. But living in Malaysia where nasi lemak, roti canai and char kuey teow are in abundance has made it an almost impossible task.

Don't get me wrong here. I'm not some bum who don't exercise and laze around all day. I go to the gym regularly and do cardio workouts on the treadmile. Apart from that I am active and walk almost everywhere as I don't have a car. However all efforts were futile - my weight remained the same because I have stubborn body fat.

There were times my weight went down a bit but then up it went again as I was on a yo-yo diet.

Moreover I put on weight easily. If I eat rice for lunch and dinner consistently for 1 week, I can put on something like 2kgs. So I have to really watch what I eat.

The turning point came a couple of months back when I was at Pavilion and saw a promotion by a certain slimming company. What attracted me to the booth was the free body fat analysis.

When the lady explained my readings, I was horrified as I didn't know my body had so much stubborn fat - almost double the percentage of a normal person.

I realised I must do something to address this problem. I figured that since I had been exercising all these while with no change in weight, it had to be the diet. After all, I had not taken my diet seriously all these while.

After 1 month of following these 7 tips diligently, I lost 2.5 kgs permanently. You might think it's a small figure, but it's a huge accomplishment for me since I have stubborn body fat and I put on weight easily.

Here are the 7 tips:

1) Stop eating when you're full. But please don't waste food by ordering only the minimum portion or share it with somebody else.

My ex-boss kept her slim figure by not finishing her food everytime she ate. I felt bad seeing her throw food away when there are millions in this world who go to bed hungry every night.

2) Always be a little bit hungry. This is difficult to do if you like to gorge yourelf at each meal and only be satisfied if you're full to the brim.

If the hunger pangs get worst, eat fruits. You don't want to end up having a gastric problem.

3) Avoid carbohydrates and fatty foods - eat whole meal bread instead. I found this the most difficult tip to follow. During the 1 month diet, I got up early to prepare lunch which consists of steamed carrots and long beans with oyster sauce and sesame oil. Sometimes I would add a hardboiled egg.

But if I'm too lazy I would buy 2 dishes from the vegetarian stall in my office foodcourt.

4) Eat a light meal for dinner - Soup and fruits are the best.

A light meal is important for dinner because you'll be hitting the sack soon and you don't want fat cells growing in your body as you sleep.

5) Keep a daily calorie quota. If I had eaten a nasi lemak for lunch, then I'll eat a salad for dinner because the nasi lemak would have taken a bulk of my calorie quota for the day. So if you want to have a nice meal all the time, you've got to ensure that all your meals have an equal low calorie count.

6) Weight yourself daily. By doing this you can gauge if your diet is working and learn more about your weight. If you see the scales tipping to the heavier side then you know your diet is not working and it's time to change it.

I used to weight myself in the morning and in the evening. I learned that I am lightest when I had just get up from sleep and I can weight up to 1kg heavier after a heavy meal.

7) Indulge yourself in a gorging escapade, once in a blue moon. You must do this to keep your sanity. Otherwise you would curse yourself for putting your body through so much torture.

Losing weight is never easy and I struggled in the first few days. But determination and will power did it.

Now my body feels light and I feel comfortable slipping into anything I wish to wear. The feeling is tremendous!

This Calls for Dieting Again

I just got back from the market near my office. I went there to buy lunch, apples and oranges.

About 2 months ago I subjected myself to a strict diet which I'll share with you later. As a result I had lost about 2kgs.

However during my trip to London recently I had put on a bit of weight because of the numerous types of cheese that was available cheaply there. I'm a cheese lover!

Now I need to do something about my weight before it reaches the point of no return. So it's time to go on a fruit diet again!

Getting Fat

Being fat is one of my biggest fears in life.

In my early 20s, I used to weigh 49kg. I could eat like a pig and still look like a stick. Even when donating blood they used to take less pints because of my weight.

As I grew older, I started putting on weight easily thanks to a low metabolism rate. But despite that, I still could eat whatever I wanted and still look slim.

In order to stay within my desired weight range, I put the threshold at 55kg. If I hit 55kg, I would start to diet and exercise more so that I won't reach the point of no return.

Just last week I weighted myself and to my horror, the scale hit 56kg!

That was it - drastic situations call for drastic measures.

I went on a diet that not many people could do. My daily meal intakes looked like this:

Breakfast
1 glass Nescafe
5 biscuits

Lunch
1 bowl noodles (yee mee to be exact)

Dinner
Nothing

If my stomach growled too loudly at dinner, I would make myself a cup of tea and use mind over matter to quell the hunger pangs.

I must admit that this diet is not easy to keep, especially for a person like me who loves to eat. But I know that no pain, no gain.

So after 2 weeks of subjecting myself to stomach and mental torture, I weighed myself and the scales showed: 54kg!

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Have you noticed that certain mirrors make you look fat?

I was at Parkson Pavilion yesterday trying on an Editor Pants (first time I've heard of such a pants). Like all natural woman trying on a pair of pants, turning to see if that piece of clothing will make my butt look fat is a must. It's a deciding factor whether I'll purchase it or not.

So I turned by butt to the mirror for that deciding factor moment. To my horror, my entire butt looked like it oozed fat and celulite, like I didn't go to the gym since days of yonder. Most pants usually don't make my butt look big, but this time it's not. Help me ... I'm becoming a pear !!!

Then I took a good look at my whole body in the mirror. This time my entire body looked fatter than usual. So it's not the pants after all ... Did my weight increase dramatically lately? Did I neglect exercise and diet till I've reached the point of no return? What happened to my hourglass figure that I worked so hard to maintain?

Right there and then I swore to go on a drastic diet and to increase my gym visits.

That evening in my office washroom, I took another look at my butt to see the horrible sight. This time my butt didn't look that fat anymore. I wonder why ...

At home I stood in all my glory before the mirror. This time I looked not too bad ...

So will the real slim mirror please stand up?