Breaking the Convention

190lbs

The judging number flashed as I stepped on the weighing scale. That may not sound too bad for some people, but for someone who used to be skinny, it's shocking. How did I gain so much weight? Calorie surplus, right?

Not really.

I used to be skinny, and gaining weight was my life goal. But despite my tremendous appetite and massive calorie intake consisted of mainly carbohydrate, the scale just refused to budge. I was among the "blessed" one, I could eat like there's no tomorrow and still stay skinny, weighing at 110lbs in the frame of 5'5.

No, it wasn't a blessing, it was a curse.

I tried weight lifting, consuming dozens of eggs (white) and scoops of whey protein powder daily. That resulted in 10lbs weight gain after a year, I was over the moon, encouraged. But that was it, I hit the plateau. In fact, I lost the weight as I cut down the food intake and slackened the exercise regime.

I gave up.

My body weight stabilized at 110lbs for a few more years, until I hit early 20s. I started puffing up alarmingly, I gained 50lbs in 2 years. My once flat abs became inflated and my knees started aching as my body weight continued to rise. The sudden weight gain confused me. Even though I stopped exercising since my last attempt to gain weight, I did not alter my diet significantly. Perhaps it's because I was getting older, I thought.

My wife, then girlfriend warned that if I gained another pound, she would breakup with me.

I started restricting daily caloric intake to around 1500kcal and hitting the gym 5 days a week. The result was impressive, I lost 25lbs in 3 months. But maintaining the regime was impossible, I was constantly hungry and tired. I also noticed that I fell ill more frequently.

I was tired of counting calories and exercising like a mad man, so I reverted back to my old diet and lifestyle. Unsurprisingly, my body weight began to increase slowly but steadily over the subsequent years, until it crossed the 190lbs mark in my late-20s, I was officially obese.

It got worse, I developed pre-diabetic symptoms like acanthosis nigricans, skin tag, fatigue and borderline blood glucose level. Walking was a chore as my knees started giving away. My wife, then girlfriend warned that if I gained another pound, she would breakup with me.

Panic, I resorted to the caloric restriction regime. But this time, it didn't work as effectively as before. I managed to lose only 10lbs after 6 months. How could that be? I used the same method to drop more than twice the weight in half the time!

The ancient warriors would not have eaten 3 meals a day due to food scarcity and time constraint. And yet, they fought in prolonged warfare under extreme conditions.

Giving up at that time would not only cost my health, but also my relationship. Yet, my body was failing me, no matter how I controlled my calorie intake and exercised, the stubborn weight just kept hanging on. I was desperate.

There had to be a solution, a miracle fat burning pill or diet that could reverse the problem. And that's exactly what I did, I took dubious "fat burning" pills and ate vegetarian diet, increased my exercise intensity and frequency, even tried lemon juice cleansing. Nothing worked, my body weight stayed at 176lbs, and I was still hangry.

Well, at least I managed to save my relationship.

One day, while I was doing some random online readings about weight management, a name Ori Hofmekler caught my attention. He authored a diet book called "The Warrior Diet", in which he proposed that human could survive, and in fact, thrive, on one single meal a day.

Hofmekler posits that ancient warriors would not have eaten 3 meals a day due to food scarcity and time constraint. And yet, they fought in prolonged warfare under extreme conditions. It seemed to make sense, but skipping 2 meals a day? That's crazy! This idea goes against the conventional wisdom, it's too radical even for someone who's desperate.

I wanted to sweep the idea aside, the conventional wisdom has to be right, isn't it? 3-meals a day, breakfast is king? But wait, how do the Muslims survived the 1-month intermittent fasting during Ramadan? In fact, some have reported weight loss and general health improvement after the holy month. What if the convention is wrong?

I did more readings about fasting and found surprisingly abundant of science-based health benefits being associated with this practice, including weight loss, improvement of chronic diseases and anti-aging. The evidences are very compelling,

My girlfriend warned that if I were to lose another pound, she would break up with me.

I jumped right on board, no conditioning, no gradual adjustment as I should've done. The first few days were rough, my stomach was growling in protest, I felt extreme fatigue and angsty. But I plough on, drinking water to tame the hunger, committed to exercising despite mental and physical lethargy.

After 2 weeks, I noticed that the hunger was manageable and my energy was through the roof. No more brain fog and daytime sleepiness. I could go on forever with intensive workout after 24 hours fast, and my palate became significantly more sensitive.

I lost 26lbs in 3 months, and it showed no sign of slowing down.

Weighing at 150lbs, I dropped 2 cloth sizes and 7 inches off my waist. My knees didn't hurt anymore and my pre-diabetic symptoms vanished. I looked 10 years younger. My girlfriend warned that if I were to lose another pound, she would break up with me.

Since then, I have maintained my body weight at around 154lbs, still following the one meal a day regime, and working out intensively twice a week. In the last 5 years, I have learnt a great deal about the facts and myths about nutrition sciences, and become very passionate about health, fitness and wellness.

I learnt that the conventional wisdom cannot be accepted blindly, especially when there is little to no evidence supporting the claims. For instance, the calorie in calorie out (CICO) model is superficial and does not address the underlying mechanism of weight losing process. In fact, while this method promises short term weight loss, it almost guarantees weight regain in the long run. And there are scientific explanations for this phenomenon.

We are living in an era of abundance, myriad of resources are easily accessible. Yet, most of us still cling onto conventions that are being misinterpreted or downright erroneous without fact-checking the validity of the sources. Some of the "facts" have been proven wrong but are still being embraced by most. Check out the spinach myth to get the picture of how rumors can be spread and facts can be completely thrown off track.

What have I learnt from my fat loss journey? Question everything. Do not assume anything until we get all the facts. And take control of our life. I would have succumbed to full-blown diabetes and other problems by now if I didn't break the convention.

"Never accept ultimatums, conventional wisdom, or absolutes.

Christopher Reeve"