Weight Loss: Western Ways VS Asian Ways

queenpushycat · December 2011

Hello to all beautiful people of MFP,

I cannot stop watching Joy Fit Club on TodayShow.com on YouTubes, and yeah, some of us hate the host, but that's not my point. :P My point is the people who lost more than 100lbs of weight and their achievement! They lost so much based on logical ways like exercise and changing of eating lifestyle. Which makes me kinda sad that the way that Asian countries that inputting us (obese Asians) the wrong way of weight loss; spending more and more money.

Like the Americans on the show, they lost weight because of hard work and determination. And yet, in Asian countries, most of us are really thin (definitely not me), and yet weight loss are soooooooo very commercialize here. You can see Slimming Centers every where in every single mall (big or small), pills, pants and belts and etc. But yet, all of them cost thousands of dollars and weight just doesn't go down. It's just so depressing and so discouraging for me that I'm living in an Asian country that you see are so demoralizing at losing weight; the face they shown on their face when they walked past me looking at how gigantic my thighs are and thinking "thank God, I am not as fat as her." Salesperson in the mall will come up to you saying "hey, you wanna lose weight fast. You can easily shed 20 lbs in 5 weeks." And then they do hard selling and next thing you realized is that you've just spent 10k on just losing 4-5 lbs in that 5 weeks.

Worst thing? For example, if I search "How to lose 50lbs in 8 months" on Google.com, they give me great article about what kind of exercise and what type of food I should eat to lose that weight. If I search the SAME thing on Asian website, some of the results are really.... crappy. Like "Lose 50kg while sleeping by drinking this xx soup or xx drink."

Even though I am educated now on my food intake and took me 2 years to drop 22 lbs, I still have 40 lbs to lose. And I am not gonna give up and be lazy spending thousands of dollars on these useless gimmicks. But this is Asia....

Anyway, it's something I would like to share with everyone. I hope you guys have... opinions to share? Please don't be mean. I'm just another ordinary obese Asian girl with a pear shaped body.

lkm111 · December 2011

Well, congratulations on your hard work! It has taken me about two and a half years to lose 55 lbs., so I know how hard you have worked!

I think everyone is different no matter what their ancestry. You just have to find what works for you. It sounds like you are finding success - good for you!

terrigrace · December 2011

I never really thought about it before, how hard it would be to lose weight in other cultures and countries. that must be really difficult for you, to be bombarded with so many unhealthy " tricks" to lose weight and constantly be judged like that. here in the US it seems like there are far too many quick loss promises ( especially those late night infomercials) but on the positive side we are seeing more realistic size models on tv and in magazines, more restaurants are publishing calorie counts, and it seems there is more focus on healthy weight loss. ok, biggest loser may not be the greatest example, but at least the weight loss is through hard work, clean eating, and exercise. you are such a beautiful young woman, with a lovely spirit, it's too bad that society doesn't recognize that simply because you don't meet their idea of perfection .

michcruz · December 2011

Coming from an asian background, I can definitely sympathize with what you feel. Although, I don't live in an Asian country, I used to really get hounded by family and friends of the family saying how "healthy" I was, but that at least I was pretty. It is really tough to hear that because like you said, most asians are really thin.

Too bad you live in a society where they value looks that way, but regardless, at least you are doing your thing. It's taken me a little over 2 years to lose 66 pounds and i am damn proud of it because I put the hard work in and didn't do it the so called easy way. Keep up the great work. At the end of it all, you'll look at yourself and you'll see the achievements you have made and you can say you did it the way you wanted to.

koolcat686 · December 2011

i would have to agree with lkm111 do what works for you, and stick to it. everything takes time don't expect to lose it over night, and if you do lose a lot of weight real fast YOU will gain it back ( i've done it) back and forth up and down with weight over the years, but the past two years i've lost 73 lbs slowly but surely ...... so just stick with it and don't beat yourself up too much when you have a bad day and you'll make .......... good luck

JustLindaLou · December 2011

I believe the current statistic is 66% of Americans are overweight or obese. It is probably far more common to see heavy people here than it is in Asia. Yet our culture is just as laden with quick-fix gimmicks, which people grasp at desperately because they do not want to do the hard work for the long-term: eat a healthy portion-controlled balanced diet and get some exercise. We have entire aisles devoted to weight-loss supplements and "diet" foods, programs like Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers that cost money, quack diets like HCG (take these drops or shots and dont eat more than 500 calories/day), exercise videos, equipment, Spanx to hold you in, colon cleansing, fasting, blah blah blah..... Perhaps we would not be approached by a salesperson in a store and given the hard-sell on a weight loss gimmick, but there is definitely a huge industry out there making money off people's desire to lose weight.
Please stay on the path you have come to KNOW is the right one: portion control, healthy foods that nourish your body, and exercise. Save your money for the smaller clothes you will need to buy! Better to lose it slowly and permanently than quickly, in an unhealthy and short-term manner. All the best to you!

rml_16 · December 2011

We have all those gimicks here, too. There are a lot of gullible people and people who want an easy, painless, quick solution rather than having to do any actual work to lose.

fiberartist219 · December 2011

Out of curiosity, do other countries make companies put labels on the food with nutrition facts? I was just curious about that, because reading the ingredients, and knowing how many calories are in a food have helped me quite a bit.

I'm sorry that you are going through this. Western society is riddled with gimmicks too, but we don't get approached with this kind of thing, because it is considered rude to call someone fat. I have been overweight and obese for a few years now, and I've only gotten two or three comments about it the whole time. One of those comments was unintentional, because a coworker "heard somewhere" that I was pregnant, which wasn't true, so I took it as a jab about my weight, even though he didn't mean it like that. Other wise, my husband very delicately commented that I should exercise with him.... and my little brother, who is 7, downright called me fat. No one else has said a peep about my weight. Ok, maybe my doctor, but that's because I asked him first, what I can do to prevent diabetes... He certainly didn't bring up the topic.

So, in all that time, that is every single comment I've heard about being heavy, and I can tally up all those comments on one hand. 99 times out of a hundred, if someone comments about my appearance, they are telling me I look good.

Of course, I feel fat, but the lady that sits next to me at work is about 10lbs heavier than I am, so no one thinks I'm fat, since everyone around me is fatter.

I'm just glad you have an internet connection, so you can come talk to us when the salespeople make you mad. :flowerforyou:

queenpushycat · December 2011

Out of curiosity, do other countries make companies put labels on the food with nutrition facts? I was just curious about that, because reading the ingredients, and knowing how many calories are in a food have helped me quite a bit.

I'm sorry that you are going through this. Western society is riddled with gimmicks too, but we don't get approached with this kind of thing, because it is considered rude to call someone fat. I have been overweight and obese for a few years now, and I've only gotten two or three comments about it the whole time. One of those comments was unintentional, because a coworker "heard somewhere" that I was pregnant, which wasn't true, so I took it as a jab about my weight, even though he didn't mean it like that. Other wise, my husband very delicately commented that I should exercise with him.... and my little brother, who is 7, downright called me fat. No one else has said a peep about my weight. Ok, maybe my doctor, but that's because I asked him first, what I can do to prevent diabetes... He certainly didn't bring up the topic.

So, in all that time, that is every single comment I've heard about being heavy, and I can tally up all those comments on one hand. 99 times out of a hundred, if someone comments about my appearance, they are telling me I look good.

Of course, I feel fat, but the lady that sits next to me at work is about 10lbs heavier than I am, so no one thinks I'm fat, since everyone around me is fatter.

I'm just glad you have an internet connection, so you can come talk to us when the salespeople make you mad. :flowerforyou:

Hi, yeah... some of the package yes, but some didn't... and if i wanted to buy the one that didn't put on the labels, it just frustrates me that I can't even see the nutrition facts.

And, Asian countries... people ARE very very straightforward, you can see from their eyes. From strangers' eyes. that they condemned you for being fat.

That's why there are a lot of commercialized slimming methods and are quick fix...

sayorinaka · January 2014

Its true that people in asia are much more frank about appearances. From what I understand its like offensive to be "overweight". It also doesnt help that the asian beauty standard is so narrow. At least in america we have many different models in the media that exhibit different images of what is beauty. And they are all beautiful. Im sorry that you have to deal with that kind of constant criticism on a daily bases. And I hope you continue to lose however much weight YOU want (not what other people think you should) in a healthy manner. Weightloss is a slow processes and to keep it off means you cannot take short cuts. Best wishes to you=) and know that we are all here to support you^^

Weight Loss: Western Ways VS Asian Ways

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