The Journey of Losing 20lbs (9kg) in 2 Months with No Exercise

One of the things we don’t often talk about is health issues. Aside from health concerns being a downer in a conversation, it’s usually not something you want to tell anyone out of nowhere. For us, it’s the same. But our experience has been great so far that we wanted to share the journey. One key part of it is losing weight.

How the issues started

To start this off, a few years ago, Dane found out he has hypertension and fatty liver. Something that I believe came from growing up in a household that ordered food for almost every meal because no one had time to cook. This led to a bunch of maintenance medicines he has to take to help maintain his condition and regular medical checkups and lab tests to make sure none of it is getting any worse.

I joined one of those appointments (Apr 2023) when we were finally married and because of his lab tests that were not getting any better, the doctor explicitly told us that he had to lay off fat and high-cholesterol food. That includes red meat, fried, dairy, and processed goods. No more fried chicken, or cheese, or even hotdogs and canned tuna. As the designated cook in our household, that was a bit difficult, because we all know that fat is flavor. But we had to manage. I wanted to have a husband for a long time, and so our entire diet changed after that appointment. Our grocery list would be comprised of only chicken, fish, fruits and vegetables.

Backsliding, oops

We were doing really well for 3 months, until gradually, our diet started to include the occasional dishes that were definitely not allowed. His lab tests (done every 3 months) went down from where we started during the first 6 months (Apr to Oct), but at some point, we fooled ourselves into thinking that the cheat meals weren’t that frequent. A lot of times, I also crave french fries or ice cream, and when that happens, Dane also eats. Then the Ber months came and reunions and celebrations became more frequent… and then we became too lax.

By around April 2024, Dane’s medical test results started to go up again. And I realized it was because of how lenient we’ve become. It’s like the effort for the past year went to nothing, despite us eating “mostly” the food from the allowed list… though in ways that shouldn’t be—fried. To be honest, I was scared. I want him to be healthy and I became too lenient as the one who cooks for us. I knew we had to get back on track even if it meant less of the “good food” we’ve been cheating with.

Consulting a nutritionist-dietician

So, when I coincidentally came across a Reddit post in one of the local subs about a licensed nutritionist-dietician offering her services, I decided to cough up the cash and do everything now the right way.

Her assessment basically concluded that on top of hypertension and fatty liver, he was also obese 1. It made sense. His BMI was about 30.8 at this point (healthy BMI for his height is 18.5 to 24.9). She prescribed that Dane has to lose weight. Apart from making sure he only eats from an exhaustive list of food that was allowed (lean meat and vegetables) and not allowed (fatty cuts of meat, dairy, salty and processed food), she also gave us the macro count for protein, carbs, and fat to which Dane has to adhere to. Her prescription is to improve his medical results and his mostly sedentary lifestyle. And I wanted to make sure it happens because we still have to grow up and grow old together, right?

Back to square one, but with more discipline

Now we’re armed and more determined than ever to do it right and even better than our first try.

We check nutritional facts all the time and keep to a strict buying list of ingredients. We’ve become stricter in adhering to the macros so we check nutritional facts whenever we shop. At this point, I realized how much sugar and sodium everything has and I have become more conscious about buying items from the grocery. Our protein is typically chicken breast, seafood, and fish. We eat lots of fruits and vegetables. We don’t buy any food that he isn’t allowed to eat so we can avoid the temptation (though I occasionally cook steak for myself but he’s served a different meal).

We portion control at the prescribed macros, doing a calorie deficit. Calorie deficit is eating less than the amount your body needs to burn. This is what we believe is the greatest contributor to his healthier body and weight loss. It involves weighing the food he eats until I can easily eyeball it. I usually adhere to the rule where half of his meal is veggies, a quarter is protein, and the other quarter is carbs usually rice (we’re Asians, so rice is a staple). When we become hungry from eating less, we snack on low-calorie food such as a handful of air-fried oyster mushrooms or potatoes cut into strips with no oil (but seasoned with herbs and spices) that we share together.

We also had a complete change in our eating habits. We no longer eat heavy meals during breakfast. We used to eat rice or sandwiches, but now we’ve become fond of overnight oats using almond milk and topping it with seed and nut varieties and fruits. I also no longer ask Dane to finish extra food that is too small of a serving to keep—one thing I was guilty of doing before. I mean no one wants to keep just a couple of bites of food in the fridge at a time when it’s not even enough for a person to eat the next day.

We eat significantly less cheat meals, or eat out in general. Cheat meals still happen, but it’s now at a much limited frequency. This includes beverages, especially sugary ones like cola, as those are the culprits for high-calorie consumption. We also eat out less as we don’t know what are the exact ingredients of meals we can buy outside (and from what I know, it usually includes lots of butter and salt….)

We’re also not depriving ourselves of delicious food. It’s a common misconception that healthy means bland

Given all that, Dane’s weight loss is extremely notable and visible. He lost 12lbs (5.4kg) in one month since the changes in our diet even with no exercise, and 20lbs (9kg) cumulatively in two months since. His wedding ring sometimes falls off his finger—one remark he loves to repeat since the weight loss began. His lab tests results have gone down and now our goal is to keep it that way.

My turn!

I was amazed at the result that I decided to get back to the nutritionist-dietician to have my own consultation for weight management. I don’t have any health issues but I’ve gained so much more weight since the pandemic started. Currently, I’m on the overweight side with BMI of 26.6 (healthy BMI for my height is 18.5 to 24.9) and I definitely want to lose the 20 lbs I’ve gained in the past four years!!

I eat the same food as Dane ever since, but I’ve never considered eating less. And for that reason, I continuously gained weight with no exercise, simply because I was eating more than the calories I was burning. So once I knew what my macros were, I also adjusted my serving size. So far I’ve lost 5 lbs in one month. It’s not as big as Dane (I tend to crave ice cream a lot….oops) but for someone who basically sits all day, this is a win.

We want to continue this healthier lifestyle to take care of our bodies, especially as we are getting older and older. It’s fortunate that I actually like cooking (and pretty decent at it, I believe). At first, it was difficult to find recipes and inspiration for good food that had no or very low fat, low in calories, low cholesterol, and low sodium. Typically you’ll maybe meet two out of those four criteria. But finding out what Dane can and can’t eat, a bit of experimentation, and some love for cooking, we still get to eat healthy but delicious food.

Given these restrictions and the lack of recipes that meet those requirements, we’re also leaning towards publishing healthy recipes (the ones that we eat too, of course!) that are fit for people with both hypertension and fatty liver so it maybe finds it way to others who may be in the same boat as us.

We’re excited with how the succeeding months are gonna go!