One morning, I got this message from my mom; “Nabou hana danga febarr?” meaning “Nabou are you sick?” I answered “no” but still wondered why she asked. Then she surprisingly told me that I had lost so much weight. I started laughing but at the same time became proud of myself for the efforts I made. This incident has prompted me to talk about my weight loss experience in Taiwan.
Excess weight has reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than 1 billion adults being either overweight or obese in 2003. In 2013 this increased to more than 2 billion. This alarming increase on data has been observed across all age groups.
When we first arrived in Taiwan, our school arranged for us to undergo some medical tests for our Medical Insurance Cards. Two or three weeks later, I received my medical test results in a sealed envelope. The results indicated that I was in a good state of health. However, going by the report, two areas of concern were highlighted thus; my waist line which was supposed to read 80cm, incidentally was 89cm and my BMI estimation was highlighted as OBESITY. I didn’t take this information seriously because I had never considered my weight as an issue and had always felt very comfortable in it. I continued to eat whatever I chose to eat especially junk food and never did any physical exercise. In fact my sister always reminded me of the associated dangers of having too much weight without engaging in daily exercise but I never paid heed to her advice.
Four months later, my weight increased to 92.56kg. I was shocked and so disappointed with myself at that moment. I could not internalize why I was so careless not to watch my weight escalating. From that moment, I resolved that before I leave Taiwan at the end of my stay, I will knock down my weight to 60kg or about that. From that day I was determined to lose weight no matter what it takes.
I started going to the gym four days in the week, that is, Monday to Thursday after school. Added to this, I went for jogging at our school track field on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. I also performed dancing and some aerobics which I love so much. I also cut down my diet and observed positive developments regarding my weight. Thank God “Alhamdulillah” I realized after so many months of hard work, I had lost 11.14kg and I am even more determined to lose more.
I am determined to lose weight not because I want to be slim but indeed because I want to stay healthy. I urge everyone to do the same.
Thank you.
Sainabou is a civil engineer student at the National Taipei University of Technology in Taiwan.