Are you a Malaysian wanting to lose weight weight? Do you think it is impossible to lose those extra pounds based on our local food? Think again.

1. It doesn’t happen overnight!

It took me few months before my close friends started telling me how much different I looked in terms of physical appearances when I started my weight loss journey. It is understandable that the ultimate aim is to see changes in your weighing scale and getting positive comments from your friends and relatives on your new look as fast as possible but you really have to understand that it is a life long journey that requires daily commitment and perseverance.

Malaysians really love to resort to quick alternatives like consuming diet pills or going to places that offers ‘easy and fast’ weight loss programme. I guess that’s why there have been an increase of varieties of products being sold in the pharmacies and emergence of new services around your area providing such promises of ‘fast weight loss’. I never consumed any diet pills or signed up on any ‘quick weight loss’ programme. I don’t think there are any reasons why you should let something that is ‘artificial’ meddle with your body natural function.

You can achieve it on your own without spending your hard earned money on something that you don’t really need.

2. An awesome strategy to achieve your goal

This is when you need to apply your brain and don’t simply embark on a diet programme without proper consultation with a doctor (regarding your medical status) or a qualified person. You need to know how to diet before dieting. No, diet does not mean willful refusal to consume food in order to lose weight.

A strategy is important to help you set a goal in your programme and allows you to stay committed in order to achieve it. Of course, you should be reasonable in your aim according to your current condition and level of discipline.

Kevin Zahri’s ebook helped me a lot in laying important foundations in achieving my objective. There, you can understand important terms but at the same time get a meal plan that you can apply in your daily life. I also learnt many valuable insights. You should get a copy of his ebook if you are still dieting for the sake of dieting at the moment.

3. Involves complete lifestyle changes

I have met with some people that told me that I want to lose weight but I don’t want to stop smoking or going to fast-food chain restaurants. Sadly, most of the time I always found out that their weight loss programme do not really lasts very long.

That is why when you embark on a weight loss journey, you are making a complete lifestyle changes. I was couch potato who is now preparing to run my first marathon very soon.I remembered talking to an athlete who told me that if you are love a particular sport, you will try to incorporate everything possible to make sure that your lifestyle is a healthy one. It can be swimming, cycling, running or anything that make you sweat!

I have seen people who stopped smoking after they started exercising. Perhaps this is when they experienced the first-hands reality of their past unhealthy habits. Knowing how fatigues you’ve become when you can’t even compete with a non-smoker (who even might be slightly overweight) may not be an interesting fact to some people. Don’t worry, even recent research have shown that you are most likely to be affiliated around healthy people if you’re looking for ways to become healthy!

4. Think about “sustainable” and “healthy” weight loss

Some people think that we can lose few kilos and then continue with our previous habits once we’ve achieved the goal. This may be true as you may have shed those kilos away from your hard earned exercises or dieting but do you really want to gain back those kilos simply because you are just not disciplined enough to continue to become healthier?

This is the reason why physicians generally agree that healthy weight loss should be around ½ to 1 kilo in a week. If you lose more than that it may not be healthy nor sustainable in long-term. You might even hit a “weight-loss plateau” in the process that will stagnant the process (read Kevin’s previous article about this)

Remember, it’s all about striking a balance in your daily routines throughout the day.

5. Eat good food!

Who says dieting means ‘no food’ at all? Malaysians in general have been infected with ‘mindless eating’ syndrome. We like to eat, and we eat a lot. We enjoy food during holidays, festivals, everyday in the year. No, I am not suggesting that we should replace ketupat with something else healthier but we should know when to stop eating them when our body is telling us that ‘Hey, I’m already full!”. The key is always MODERATION and knowing when to stop!

This is why once you learned about calorie and understand the food pyramid, your visit to your nearest mamak’s restaurant or buying groceries will never be the same again. You will become an informed and conscious person especially in choosing the type of food that you want to eat. Literally speaking, the food that you eat will shape the way you look in the long-term.

I sincerely think that the reason why many Malaysians are getting more overweight everyday is precisely because of our own willful ignorance to learn about our body and wanting to change our state. I still remembered the day when I found out that I was first staged obese, I knew I needed to do so something and that had made all the difference.

If you ask me when should you start, the answer is now.