The Start Of My 30kg Diet Journey (And Why I’m Treating It Like Investing)

So… This Happened…

I’m starting a diet journey. Not the dramatic, new year new me kind, but the quiet, slightly nervous kind where you admit this is going to take a while and hope you actually stick with it.

This is the start of a very long journey. The goal is to lose 30kg by the end of 2026, which sounds both reasonable and terrifying when written down. No crash diets, no punishment mindset, and definitely no pretending this will be smooth all the way through.

There wasn’t a single big moment that triggered this. I’ve known for months that I have been out of shape and that I should really be cutting back on all that rich food. But I always end up saying “I’ll start tomorrow” or “Next week, I’ll really begin this diet”. But after spending a full 9 hours at work in a shirt that was slightly too uncomfortable for my liking, I’ve decided that it is now or never.

This is me showing up at the starting line, tying my shoelaces, and saying: let’s see if I can stick with it.

How I got Here

What caused my weight gain? Nothing dramatic, honestly. No single bad year, no life-altering event. Just the usual suspects, showing up quietly and consistently.

Plenty of rich, fatty foods. Dozens of trips to the convenience store and Mekdi a week — sometimes for a meal, sometimes just because it was there. Stress eating that didn’t feel like stress eating at the time, just “getting through the day.” Late nights that messed with my sleep and quietly cranked up ghrelin (The “I’m hungry” hormone), so I was tired and hungry more often than not.

And then there was the mindset. The familiar “I’ll start next week” loop. Not out of denial, but because next week always felt more realistic than today. Today was busy. Today was tiring. Today deserved a reward. Next week was when I’d be more disciplined, more motivated, more everything.

None of this felt excessive at the moment. Each decision, on its own, seemed harmless. One afastest. But stacked together, over months and years, they compounded. Slowly enough that I barely noticed. Until I did.

That’s how the weight crept up. Not suddenly. Not loudly. Just patiently, while I kept telling myself I’d deal with it later.

The Big Goal

I’ll be honest with you. I’m currently over 110kg. At 175cm tall, that puts me squarely in the obese category. On paper, a “healthy” weight for someone my height sits somewhere between 55kg and 75kg, but let’s walk before we run.

Right now, the target is 80kg by the end of 2026. Still technically a little overweight, but worlds healthier than where I am today. That means losing roughly 30kg over the next couple of years. It’s a big number, yes, but it’s not unreachable. 

So why the long timeline? Because I’m deliberately not going all-in. No crash diets. No punishment mindset. No pretending I can suddenly live like a fitness influencer who wakes up at 5am for cardio and meal preps chicken breast for the rest of their life. I’ve seen how those stories usually end — burnout, binge cycles, and a quiet return to old habits.

This Isn’t A Transformation Challenge. It’s A Progress Journal

My main strategy is simple: calorie deficit. Eat a little less, more consistently, over a long period of time. No extreme restrictions. No food groups being demonised. Just learning to control portions, make better choices more often, and accept that progress will be uneven.

That also means I won’t be obsessively tracking everything. I’ll weigh myself sometimes, but not religiously. More importantly, I’ll be paying attention to things that don’t show up on the scale: energy levels, sleep quality, how often I’m reaching for food out of habit instead of hunger. The goal is to change patterns, not just numbers.

And yes, setbacks will happen. There will be weeks where nothing moves. There will be days where I eat terribly and regret it slightly. I’m not pretending otherwise. This journal isn’t here to hide the mess, it’s here to document it.

If this all sounds familiar, it’s because the logic is exactly the same as personal finance. Sustainable weight loss works a lot like long-term investing. Slow progress compounds. Small, boring decisions matter more than dramatic ones. And just like money, you don’t blow up the entire plan because of one bad month.

I’m not trying to get rich overnight. I’m not trying to get fit overnight either.

I’m just trying to make better decisions often enough that future me feels the difference.

Why I’m Writing This Publicly

Writing this forces me to be honest with myself first. It’s easy to gloss over bad weeks when no one’s watching, but harder to pretend progress is linear when you’re documenting it in real time.

If even one person sees themselves in this: the slow starts, the setbacks, the quiet wins, then it’s worth sharing. At the very least, this will be a reminder to future me that change doesn’t happen in a straight line. It happens by showing up again, even after you slip.

So How Is It Going So Far?

I started this journey about four weeks ago. Since then, I’ve lost about 2kg. Nothing dramatic, but progress nonetheless.

On most days, I’ve been keeping my calorie intake under 1,800 kcal. Not aggressively low, but comfortably below what the average adult male would normally consume. It’s enough to create a deficit without making every day feel like a test of willpower.

To manage hunger, I’ve been leaning heavily on protein. Lots of grilled chicken and fish, and an honestly impressive number of eggs (Seriously, if you’re planning to eat in a calorie deficit, eggs will quickly become your best friend). In fact, protein has been especially important since I’ve cut back on most carbohydrates. Carbs are great for energy, but they’re also calorie-dense, and right now I’m prioritising fullness and sustainability.

The biggest challenge so far? Cost. To everyone’s (Or no one’s) surprise, eating “clean” can actually be more expensive than eating whatever you want. I haven’t started keeping track of the costs yet, but I know for a fact that I’ve been swiping the card for meals more often this past month. 

That said, this is partly on me. I’ve mostly been eating out while adjusting to this new routine. Starting February, I plan to cook more meals at home and actually track the food costs properly, so I can report back with real numbers in the next entry.

Hopefully, Lunar New Year doesn’t derail things too badly. Either way, I’ll be back next month with an update. Real progress, real numbers, and no pretending.

So long for now.