Let's Get Fitter Together

I didn't bother embedding Donald's photos. Ha.
You can see them on the fb post itself.

We all try to do something notable to celebrate our 50th on this earth. Or not. Political analyst and behavioral economist and a good friend of mine, Donald Low, has chosen to mark his 50th with a fundraising campaign for mental health advocates Resilience Collective, an essay about his ageing vs health and weight loss journey, and an 800-meter fun run with friends in Singapore on 11 August. There'll be whisky at some point. Ha! 

At this age, we're all a little more aware of health and ageing. Well, we're living it. We see people around us die, we feel it, and we wonder, how best to die healthily. It's not about weight loss per se for aesthetics anymore; it's an effort to keep the heart less fatigued and the aneurysms at bay. Donald has chosen to make this public to of course raise funds, and to gather the friends and like-minded people together for a good cause. Of course I'm happy to support him in his endeavors, root for his good health and wish him a Happy 50th. 

Donald's essay on JOM is worth a read — 'How I nudged myself into losing 10kg in 10 months, as my doctor advised' published on June 30, 2023. (Yeah, JOM subscribers get the whole piece. If you're just passing by, you get a few paragraphs. :P) Private essays, social media posts and notes to friends are different. He doesn't publish thought essays and opinion pieces often in first person. Academics always are supposed to be neutral or take a side with a lot of proof to sustain a theory.  

He isn't a fitness professional or a trainer or an athlete. He wrote this piece from through the lens of a behavioral economist, and his personal experiences. He suggested 'nudges' are a sustainable way of altering behavior and counter one cognitive bias with another. Okaaaaay. I shall read it and silently compare it to mine. Hurhurhur.

I’ll describe my weight-loss journey through five behavioural insights: the use of a commitment device; the need to counter our (natural) tendency to be overconfident with objective measures and external accountability; the recognition that small changes, accumulated over time to develop into habits, are probably more effective than major overhauls of one’s diet; the benefit of starting with achievable near-term goals; and the value of a social approach to individual change (because humans are inherently social creatures).

This piece talks about our assumptions when using BMI as a gauge for health and calorie-counting as a dependable yardstick. Fair enough. I don't really care about counting calories. I'm not concerned about BMI but I still feel that it can be a warning to me to do something. If BMI picks up, I think my fat to muscle ratio would be wayyyy over and intervention is needed stat. Till today, I still don't own a 'fitness tracker' of any sort.

As many do, Donald faced setbacks in this weight loss journey. He didn't initially succeed in that weight loss even when he upped his exercises and be stricter about his physical activities and trained hard for a race. His blood pressure didn't go down, and his triglycerides count was still off the charts. He had to cut down on his phenomenal appetite for alcohol and his usual intake of carbs.

By race day in November, I had shed about 5kg from half a year ago. I completed the race in just over 23 minutes—quite respectable for a 49-year-old, I told myself. So I thought my weight loss journey was over: I had lost the 5-6kg I wanted to lose, I was race-fit again, and I had managed to do both without cutting down on eating or drinking significantly. 

In December last year, I did another health check to confirm what I had confidently assumed—that I was in good physical health. The results showed the opposite. My blood pressure had gone up, and I would now have to take medication for hypertension. My triglycerides had also not come down much despite all the running, swimming, and weight-lifting. Clearly, I had been overly optimistic that losing weight, and being able to run and swim (much) faster, would translate automatically into good health.

If exercise has never been part of your life, you need to incorporate it. Don't wait till you get a health scare to do so. Many of us have had a ton of activities filling our days as children. Loads of physical fun. We should keep this habit. I'm glad that many know the value of keeping up with a regular fitness regime. And no, walking isn't sufficient unless you're walking 100km a week or you have cardiopulmonary issues that prevent your heart rate from going up. 

For me, I’m not hot about exercising with friends per se. I'm perfectly fine doing it on my own. I'm not keen on group sports activities. Sure, it might be fun with friends — going to gym classes together where we do individual activities. I don't want to ‘run together’ or play badminton, tennis, the sorts. Those are very social group exercise, NO, thank you. If I exercise on a regular basis, I do what's fun for me, and what feels good. I don't need human motivation in that sense. I don't need another person to be present. I'm very happy going to classes on my own. 

If you're in my age group, then you'll totally feel and get what I'm saying. We should organize our medical insurance, estate and wills, and appoint our Lasting Power of Attorney. Let's all try to hit our 50th birthday fit and healthy. Good luck to us.