Hong Kong reporter’s 20kg weight-loss journey opens conversation on body image
City desk reporter Oscar Liu shares his trials and triumphs in bringing down his weight from 98kg last September to 78kg in January
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One reporter’s weight-loss journey and what a ‘healthy body’ means to him
I remember the day in July of last year. The excitement of an approaching three-week European trip bubbled as I bought a pair of running shoes and put them on.
But, looking down, I could not see my new footwear. My tummy was in the way.
In Spain, weeks later, I was walking up a gentle ramp in Toledo when it began to feel like I was struggling up a mountain. My lungs burned, my heart pounded and I needed to stop.
I had to admit to myself that through my off-and-on attempts to keep fit over eight years, I was overweight, eating too much and not healthy.
I had ballooned to 98kg (216lbs), my heaviest ever and 23kg above the ideal weight of 75kg for a man of my height.
It was no consolation that I was among the majority in Hong Kong, where 54.6 per cent of the adult population is considered overweight or obese, according to the Department of Health’s 2020-2022 Population Health Survey.
Men rarely admit to feeling insecure over the shape they are in, but this struggle had been the story of my life.