Can you lose weight without giving up hawker food?

Not rocket science

It taught him that a healthier lifestyle was within reach.

“Losing weight and living more healthily is not rocket science. Most of us can become healthier by getting the basics right,” he says. It means moving more, eating better, getting enough sleep and doing all three consistently, he adds.

Over the past two months, he has recorded all his meals and snacks. Tracking revealed how badly he had underestimated the calorie content of some favourite foods. For example, six ondeh ondeh balls contained more than 300 calories, while a serve of kaya butter toast added up to more than 400.

“Before, I had the mentality that if I stayed active, I could eat whatever I wanted,” says Tan, who calls his former build “skinny fat”. “I was always thin but carrying a layer of belly fat.”

He realised that not knowing how many calories his food contained was the main obstacle in his previous attempts to lose weight.

As he and his wife, an account executive, seldom cook at home and have no domestic helper, he eats out most of the time. So he began by changing his meal portions without disrupting his daily routine.

His usual weekday breakfast at home comprises of a protein shake and Weet-Bix wholegrain cereal. He gets off the bus one stop early, then picks up a steamed red bean bun from a coffee shop on his walk to work.

Once a week, he indulges in a second breakfast of one egg prata and one plain prata.

For his usual economy rice lunch at work, he prioritises protein and vegetables, choosing two pieces of steamed fish, broccoli and either chicken curry with potato or sweet and sour pork, though he asks for less gravy.

Once a fortnight, he treats himself to a hearty lunch of nasi lemak, complete with a sunny-side-up egg, fried nuts, crispy ikan bilis and a deep-fried chicken leg, but with less coconut rice.

Dinner at a foodcourt near his home could be fish soup with half a serving of rice, chicken rice with less rice or wonton noodles. On days that he has nasi lemak for lunch, he opts for a dinner of chicken breast salad from the same foodcourt.

One Saturday a month, he has breakfast with his kids – who are aged 10, 13 and 15 – at McDonald’s, and orders a Scrambled Egg Burger With Chicken and an apple pie.

On other Saturdays, the family tucks into buns from BreadTalk for their morning meal. Tan usually opts for a croissant and a soft bun with raisins and a cream cheese filling. Sunday breakfast is either bakery buns, or wholemeal bread with peanut butter.

Once a month, he indulges in a prata breakfast bought by his father.

Lunch on weekends is usually at a foodcourt, where he makes similar food choices as his weekday meals, with the occasional sushi meal. Weekend dinners are usually truffle cream pasta, chicken chop or a grilled saba bento at a nearby mall.

Before using LeanerTogether, he was already lifting weights at the gym for up to an hour, two or three times a week, and trying to clock 10,000 steps daily. He maintains that routine, taking a 20-minute walk after lunch and climbing up to four storeys at work instead of using the lift.

If he is short of his calorie-deficit target, he alights from the bus three stops earlier on his way home.

Staying motivated

He reckons tracking his meals contributed 70 per cent to his weight loss and exercise the remaining 30 per cent.

He says eating less left him feeling hungry during the first two weeks. But diligently tracking his meals via the app revealed that he was not consuming enough protein. Increasing his protein intake helped him feel fuller for longer, as did chewing slower.

“I was not walking around starving. I was just eating a bit less and getting on with my day,” he says. “I realised I did not need six pieces of ondeh ondeh when two or three were enough to satisfy me.”

As his body adapted, eating less came naturally. “The hard part is shorter than you think. It is a couple of weeks, not forever,” he adds.

His main motivation is not to “achieve a particular number on the scale”. “As I age, I want to stay strong, mobile and healthy for as long as I can,” he says. “I want to remain independent, enjoy a quality life and not be a burden to my children in my senior years.

“From my personal experience, I truly believe that if we can make healthy choices simpler and easier to sustain, more of us can become healthier, one small decision at a time.”