How a 47-year-old misplaced weight with a calorie-tracking app with out giving up hawker meals , Way of life Information

SINGAPORE – Would somebody making an attempt to drop pounds eat nasi lemak with fried rooster, egg prata with curry and financial system rice recurrently? Tan Chin Hock did. Nor did he surrender McDonald’s breakfasts, pasta or biscuits.

Yet in two months, the 47-year-old says he misplaced 3.2kg and trimmed 3.8cm off his waistline. How did he do it with out exercising excessively, doing meal prep or giving up his favorite hawker dishes?

By monitoring the whole lot he ate and ensuring he burned extra energy than he consumed, he says.

From June 1 to July 31, the 1.68m-tall founding father of well being teaching app LeanerTogether used its nutrition-tracking characteristic to slim down from 64kg to 60.8kg. His waist shrank from 32 inches (81.3cm) to 30.5 inches (77.5cm).

An InBody scan on July 31 measured his physique fats at 11.9 per cent, down from 22 per cent when he launched into his weight-loss plan two months again.

“I feel very good about where I am today. I am at the leanest in my adult life, even leaner than when I was serving as a commando during national service. I feel strong, energetic and in control of my health,” says the daddy of three.

Tan, who works as an assistant supervisor in a hospital, started constructing LeanerTogether with agentic coding assistant Claude Code on June 1 as a facet hustle.

Claude Code got here up with a working net model by the tip of the day. For starters, he made positive his app scanner was capable of detect well-loved native dishes like rooster rice and laksa, that are in LeanerTogether’s database. 

These dishes are staples for many working adults right here, who shouldn’t have the posh of time or power to cook dinner their very own meals, he says.

He used AI to seek for publicly out there diet info and commonplace recipes, then structured the information into particular person native dishes with estimated parts, protein, carbohydrates and fat.

Tan, who has a bachelor’s diploma in enterprise administration from RMIT University, which he obtained at Singapore Institute of Management, determined to check the app on himself whereas refining it.

He acquired impressed after competing within the Natural Elite Championship 2025, organised by the World Natural Bodybuilding Federation’s Singapore chapter. He educated an hour thrice per week within the health club within the 9 months main as much as it.

He additionally went on a three-month food regimen earlier than the competition held in August 2025, however was not profitable, as he says he was unaware of the calorie depend of some meals. For instance, he mistook coleslaw as a wholesome selection however later discovered it was excessive in energy as a result of using mayonnaise.

He positioned fourth amongst 5 contestants in his class of Men’s Fit Model (First Timer) under 174cm. The expertise spurred him to show what he had learnt about balancing calorie consumption and output into an on a regular basis instrument for individuals identical to him, who eat out recurrently.

Not rocket science

It taught him {that a} more healthy way of life was inside attain.

“Losing weight and living more healthily is not rocket science. Most of us can become healthier by getting the basics right,” he says. It means transferring extra, consuming higher, getting sufficient sleep and doing all three constantly, he provides.

Over the previous two months, he has recorded all his meals and snacks. Tracking revealed how badly he had underestimated the calorie content material of some favorite meals. 

For instance, six ondeh ondeh balls contained greater than 300 energy, whereas a serve of kaya butter toast added as much as greater than 400.

“Before, I had the mentality that if I stayed active, I could eat whatever I wanted,” says Tan, who calls his former construct “skinny fat”. “I was always thin but carrying a layer of belly fat.”

He realised that not understanding what number of energy his meals contained was the principle impediment in his earlier makes an attempt to drop pounds.

As he and his spouse, an account govt, seldom cook dinner at house and haven’t any home helper, he eats out more often than not. So he started by altering his meal parts with out disrupting his day by day routine.

His normal weekday breakfast at house contains of a protein shake and Weet-Bix wholegrain cereal. He will get off the bus one cease early, then picks up a steamed purple bean bun from a espresso store on his stroll to work.

Once per week, he indulges in a second breakfast of 1 egg prata and one plain prata.

For his normal financial system rice lunch at work, he prioritises protein and greens, selecting two items of steamed fish, broccoli and both rooster curry with potato or candy and bitter pork, although he asks for much less gravy.

Once a fortnight, he treats himself to a hearty lunch of nasi lemak, full with a sunny-side-up egg, fried nuts, crispy ikan bilis and a deep-fried rooster leg, however with much less coconut rice.

Dinner at a meals courtroom close to his house might be fish soup with half a serving of rice, rooster rice with much less rice or wonton noodles. On days that he has nasi lemak for lunch, he opts for a dinner of rooster breast salad from the identical meals courtroom.

One Saturday a month, he has breakfast together with his children — who’re aged 10, 13 and 15 — at McDonald’s, and orders a Scrambled Egg Burger With Chicken and an apple pie.

On different Saturdays, the household tucks into buns from BreadTalk for his or her morning meal. Tan normally opts for a croissant and a tender bun with raisins and a cream cheese filling. Sunday breakfast is both bakery buns, or wholemeal bread with peanut butter.

Once a month, he indulges in a prata breakfast purchased by his father.

Lunch on weekends is normally at a foodcourt, the place he makes comparable meals selections as his weekday meals, with the occasional sushi meal. Weekend dinners are normally truffle cream pasta, rooster chop or a grilled saba bento at a close-by mall.

Before utilizing LeanerTogether, he was already lifting weights on the health club for as much as an hour, two or thrice per week, and making an attempt to clock 10,000 steps day by day. He maintains that routine, taking a 20-minute stroll after lunch and climbing as much as 4 storeys at work as an alternative of utilizing the elevate.

If he’s wanting his calorie-deficit goal, he alights from the bus three stops earlier on his approach house.

Staying motivated

He reckons monitoring his meals contributed 70 per cent to his weight reduction and train the remaining 30 per cent.

He says consuming much less left him feeling hungry through the first two weeks. But diligently monitoring his meals by way of the app revealed that he was not consuming sufficient protein. Increasing his protein consumption helped him really feel fuller for longer, as did chewing slower.

“I was not walking around starving. I was just eating a bit less and getting on with my day,” he says. “I realised I did not need six pieces of ondeh ondeh when two or three were enough to satisfy me.”

As his physique tailored, consuming much less got here naturally. “The hard part is shorter than you think. It is a couple of weeks, not forever,” he provides.

His fundamental motivation is to not “achieve a particular number on the scale”. “As I age, I want to stay strong, mobile and healthy for as long as I can,” he says. “I want to remain independent, enjoy a quality life and not be a burden to my children in my senior years.

“From my private expertise, I really consider that if we will make wholesome selections easier and simpler to maintain, extra of us can develop into more healthy, one small determination at a time.”

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This article was first printed in The Straits Times. Permission required for copy.