Top Tips for Fat Loss in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is known around the world as Food City, and with good reason. With over 15,000 restaurants in the Special Administrative Region there is no shortage of choice, variety, and temptation.

However, this combined with long working hours, cramped living conditions, and a culture of eating out almost all the time poses a problem for those looking to lower body fat. I personally have dealt with clients who have moved from overseas and gained upwards of more than 10% of their bodyweight in under a year from eating out, socialising, and of course the odd junk.

Here are my recommendations for balancing out the inevitability of an active social life and restaurant visits.

You made not need to count calories, but calories always count

The issue with restaurant eating is that it is not the chef’s job to make your meal under 500kcal. It is their job to make it taste as good as possible, which often entails cooking methods that involve a lot of oils, butter, and sugar, meaning the calorie content of your meal jumps up exponentially. Combine that with a starter, breadbasket, dessert, and a glass of wine or two and you could easily blow past half of your daily requirements for calories in less than a couple of hours!

Even those that eat at traditional cafes and restaurants are not immune from this phenomenon. An examination of local dishes by the HK government found that even ordering the same 10 dishes at 10 different restaurants yielded vastly different calorie content of the meal. This means that even if you were to choose the healthiest option on the menu, you may be getting way more calories than you expect.

Being aware of this can help you to make better choices when eating out.

Try to avoid adding sugary drinks or lots of alcohol to a meal, which can add lots of calories without filling you up or offering much nutritional value. Similarly, skipping the breadbasket and dessert in favour of a light soup-based starter and steamed/grilled main course can help to drastically reduce the calorie load of the meal.

NEAT Up!

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (or NEAT for short) is an often-overlooked part of the energy balance equation but can sometimes be the difference between achieving body composition goals or not.

This is the energy that you expend from day-to-day activity that is not directly classed as exercise. Think walking as being a major part of this, which many people lament to do, especially in the summer.

However, aiming for 8,000 – 12,000 steps per day can have a drastic impact on your energy balance, not to mention all the additional benefits that come from not being sat down for 12 hours per day.

Being aware of this and making the most of it, for example, by taking the stairs instead of the escalator, getting out one MTR or bus stop earlier and walking the rest, or even walking on a treadmill at your gym during the summer months will add to this.

Think about walks or hikes that you might be able to on the weekends, especially while its cooler, as the weekends are typically times when calorie consumption goes up and calorie expenditure goes down.

Consider eating out less

This may not be a popular opinion, but I can say from personal experience that clients who choose to reduce restaurant eating and eat at home more tend to get much better results than those who resist doing this.

As mentioned before, even with the best intentions, it can be difficult to estimate the calorie content of the food you’re eating at restaurants. By taking your diet into your own hands you significantly increase your chances of success.

This may seem daunting at first, but with a little planning and forethought with the help of a coach, you can start to build a healthy, balanced, and calorie-controlled diet that you both enjoy and that helps you towards your goals.

Failing that, opt for eateries that publish the calorie information for their food, so that you can make more informed choices on a day-to-day basis.