The Struggle Beyond Discipline
For many, staying disciplined with fitness is a significant achievement in itself. But what happens when physical effort doesn't lead to the desired outcomes? For one individual, the goal of losing weight is not about appearance but about alleviating stress on weak knee joints. Despite her dedication to a consistent exercise regime, she finds herself stuck, unable to meet her goal due to the challenge of aligning her nutrition with her health ambitions.
This story resonates with many in Singapore—a city where food is affordable, abundant, and often too convenient to resist. How do we bridge the gap between intention and action?
The Singaporean Dilemma: Convenience vs. Consciousness
Singapore's fast-paced lifestyle, combined with its vibrant food culture, makes sticking to a nutrition plan uniquely challenging. A few key hurdles stand out:
Cheap, Convenient Food: Hawker stalls and food courts provide quick and affordable meals, but often these are high in carbs, fats and sodium.
Limited Time for Meal Prep: Juggling work, family, and personal commitments leaves little energy for preparing meals at home.
Hidden Calories: Even seemingly healthy options, like salads or yong tau foo, can contain high-calorie dressings or deep-fried items.
Addressing the Challenge: Practical Strategies with Pragmatic Suggestions
Redefine Convenience
Convenience doesn't have to mean compromising health. The trick is to find options that are easy as takeaways but aligned with your goals.
Supermarket Meal Kits: NTUC Fairprice or Cold Storage now offer pre-portioned meal kits that can be prepared in under 20 minutes. These often include lean proteins and fresh vegetables.
Healthy Hawker Hacks: Opt for dishes like sliced fish soup (without noodles or rice) and request less oil or no fried toppings. Pair this with a side of steamed vegetables.
Ready-to-Eat Options: Brands like The Soup Spoon or saladstop! offer packaged meals that are balanced and easy to grab. Look for protein-heavy, fibre-rich choices.
Mindful Meal Selection
Even when eating out, you can make small changes that significantly impact your caloric and nutritional intake.
Hawker Centre Adjustments:
Choose chap chye png (mixed vegetable rice) but limit to one carb portion (brown rice if available) and two vegetable sides with a steamed protein.
Replace traditional fried chicken rice with soy sauce chicken and ask for a smaller rice portion or swap it with vegetables.
Coffee Shop Solutions:
Go for yong tau foo but skip fried items, opt for clear soup, and load up on tofu, leafy greens, and lean meats.
Select nasi padang but avoid the curry-heavy dishes. Ask for sambal kangkong, grilled fish and sayur lodeh (vegetables in light coconut gravy).
Time-Efficient Meal Prep
You don't need to spend hours in the kitchen to prep nutritious meals. Focus on batch cooking staples that can mix and match throughout the week.
Quick Protein Prep: Grill or pan-fry chicken breasts, salmon fillets, or tofu with simple seasoning (salt, pepper, paprika). Store them in individual portions for easy reheating.
Versatile Vegetables: Roast a mix of vegetables (e.g. carrots, zucchini, bell peppers) with olive oil and herbs. These work as sides or toppings for salads.
Ready-to-Go Breakfasts: Overnight oats with Greek yogurt, chia seeds and a handful of berries are quick to assemble and packed with nutrients
Rethinking Health: From Weight Loss to Health Gain
If you’ve tried to lose weight and felt disheartened by minimal or no results, it may be time to shift the focus. Instead of framing the journey around “weight loss,” consider approaching it as a path to “health gain.” This perspective reduces the pressure of chasing specific numbers on a scale while broadening the focus to include overall wellbeing—stronger joints, improved energy, and better mental clarity. Statistic: In a 2019 survey by the National Weight Control Registry, 87% of successful long-term weight managers reported focusing on health-enhancing behaviours, such as mindful eating and regular exercise, rather than fixating on calorie restriction or weight scales.
Why Past Attempts May Have Fallen Short
Weight-Centric Thinking Can Be Limiting: A fixation on shedding pounds can overshadow meaningful improvements, like increased stamina or reduced joint pain.
Reframe: Rather than asking, “How much weight have I lost?” Ask, “How much better do I feel, and what can I do now that I couldn’t before?”
Emotional and Behavioural Barriers: Emotional eating, stress, or ingrained habits can create roadblocks. Addressing these requires not just willpower but a mindset shift.
Statistic: Studies reveal that up to 45% of individuals who diet primarily for weight loss experience emotional eating cycles, compared to 15% who adopt a holistic health-first approach (Appetite Journal, 2021).
Overemphasis on Dieting: Diet plans alone often lead to yo-yo effects, where weight fluctuates. Sustainable change comes from building healthier routines and fostering a positive relationship with food.
Insight: A 2020 review in The International Journal of Obesity found that health-focused interventions were 3x more effective at promoting lasting physical activity and better nutrition compared to weight-centric approaches.
A Special Note to Women Navigating Menopause: Understanding Its Impact on Weight Management
Hormonal Changes
Estrogen Decline: Menopause leads to a decrease in estrogen, which affects fat distribution. Women may notice an increase in abdominal fat, shifting from the hips and thighs.
Metabolism Slowdown: Hormonal shifts contribute to a slower resting metabolic rate, meaning the body burns fewer calories at rest.
Muscles Loss (Sarcopenia)
Aging naturally leads to muscle loss, further reducing metabolic efficiency since muscle tissue burns more calories than fat.
Changes in Appetite Regulation
Hormones like leptin (which signals fullness) and ghrelin (which triggers hunger) can fluctuate, making appetite harder to regulate.
Lifestyle Factors
Sleep disturbances, common during menopause due to hot flashes or night sweats, can lead to fatigue, less motivation for physical activity, and increased cravings for high-calorie comfort foods.
Busy schedules or caregiving responsibilities may reduce focus on personal health goals.
Reason or Excuse?
While menopause presents physiological barriers, weight management is not impossible. It’s important to differentiate challenges from defeatist attitudes:
Challenges Are Real
Science shows that menopause introduces biological hurdles. Acknowledging these helps women approach weight loss with compassion and realism, setting achievable goals.
Not an Excuse
While harder, it's not impossible to manage weight post-menopause. Strategies like strength training, focusing on a protein-rich diet, managing stress, and prioritising sleep quality can help mitigate these effects.
Encouragement without Dismissing Struggles
Framing the discussion around health gain rather than weight loss may empower women to focus on strength, energy, and mobility rather than the scale alone. With persistence and the right approach, it’s possible to achieve results tailored to this natural stage in life.
From Grit to Guidance: The Science of Support
Research highlights that a health-gain approach, combined with professional support, leads to better outcomes:
Holistic Benefits: Focusing on improving strength, joint function, and energy levels often results in weight normalisation as a secondary benefit.
Behavioural Coaching: Professional guidance helps reframe goals, replacing restrictive diets with enriching lifestyle changes.
Statistic: A 2021 study in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine found that participants who shifted their goals from weight loss to health improvement maintained healthier habits 67% longer than those with weight-focused intentions.
How InsideOut Well Supports Health Gains
At InsideOut Well, we embrace a health-gain philosophy, recognising that success is about more than numbers on a scale. Here’s how we help:
Personalised Health Strategies: Our facilitators assess your unique challenges and craft a plan to boost your energy, strengthen your body, and nurture your mind.
Integrated Wellbeing Services: From yoga and fitness training to life coaching, our network supports every facet of health improvement.
Life Coaching: Reframe goals with our programs, shifting the focus to celebrating health milestones and fostering a positive outlook.
Simplified Logistics: Leave the coordination to us while you focus on enjoying the process of becoming your healthiest self.
Free Resource: Weekly Nutrition Template
This weekly nutrition template is a great starting point to help you balance your nutrition goals with a busy lifestyle. It covers key areas such as grocery shopping, meal prep, mindful dining, and flexibility for social or work-related meals. If you're looking for a more personalised strategy, we'd be happy to create a plan tailored to your unique needs—get in touch with us to learn more!
Monday: Start Simple
Breakfast: Overnight oats with Greek yogurt and a banana (prepped Sunday night).
Lunch: Pre-packed meal (e.g., grilled chicken breast, roasted vegetables, and quinoa).
Dinner: Sliced fish soup with vegetables (hawker center) – skip noodles/rice, add tofu.
Tip: Evaluate your fridge to identify leftovers or ingredients to consume first.
Tuesday: Work Lunch Day
Breakfast: A boiled egg and a handful of nuts with black coffee or tea.
Lunch: Corporate-catered food – focus on lean proteins, skip creamy dishes, and double vegetables.
Dinner: Stir-fried tofu with frozen broccoli (quick stovetop prep) paired with brown rice.
Tip: Keep healthy snacks like almonds or fruit handy to avoid indulging in sugary desserts.
Wednesday: Grocery Day & Eating Out
Breakfast: Toast with avocado and a boiled egg.
Lunch: Yong tau foo with clear soup – choose green vegetables and tofu.
Dinner: Restaurant dinner – pick grilled or steamed protein with a side of greens.
Evening Task: Shop for groceries: pick up meal kits or bulk items for prep (proteins, vegetables, grains).
Thursday: Meal Prep Focus
Breakfast: Smoothie with spinach, frozen berries, and almond milk.
Lunch: Sautéed chicken breast, roasted vegetables, and couscous (Sunday prep stash).
Dinner: Grilled soy sauce chicken with a side of kangkong (hawker stall).
Evening Task: Block 1.5 hours to batch cook and freeze 4–5 portions of staples like proteins, grains, and veggies.
Friday: Social Flexibility
Breakfast: Peanut butter toast with a side of milk or soy milk.
Lunch: Nasi padang with one meat and two vegetable dishes (hawker stall).
Dinner: Family dinner out – focus on grilled or steamed options.
Tip: Let go slightly but remain mindful of portion sizes.
Saturday: Plan-Free but Mindful
Breakfast: Pancakes made from oat flour, served with fruit.
Lunch: Meal prep portion – grilled salmon with roasted vegetables and brown rice.
Dinner: Attend a social gathering or restaurant event – balance indulgences with healthier choices earlier in the day.
Sunday: Prep and Reset
Breakfast: Protein-packed smoothie or eggs on whole-grain toast.
Lunch: Chicken or fish with a side of steamed vegetables (restaurant or hawker stall).
Dinner: Home-prepped lean protein with steamed vegetables and a whole grain.
Task: Block 2–3 hours for grocery shopping and meal prep.
Key Considerations
Flexible Dining Out: Allow for at least two hawker meals and one restaurant meal weekly to keep the routine practical.
Batch Cooking Basics: Prep staples once or twice weekly to reduce daily cooking time.
Snack Strategy: Stock up on healthy snacks like nuts, fruit, and yogurt to prevent unhealthy cravings.
Encouraging a Broader Perspective
It’s essential to recognise that weight loss and overall wellbeing are not always linear. Instead of obsessing over the number on the scale, shift focus to non-scale victories like improved energy, reduced joint pain, or better sleep quality. Building a sustainable approach to eating and fitness means being adaptable and forgiving when life gets hectic.
At InsideOut Well, we’re here to ensure that your journey is supportive, holistic, and rewarding. Let’s celebrate your health gains together!
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