Ngo forth

In 2021, I weighed around 112 kg (about 246 lbs), living what I can only describe as a horrific lifestyle. I smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. I went to bed at 2 a.m.—sometimes even 5 a.m. I spent most of my time playing games or reading novels, basically hiding from reality.

A picture of me in 2021: “I hate taking pictures as I hate my face and my body. I don’t smile as I hate my teeth”.

My mind and body were both deteriorating.

That’s when the desire to change began to creep in.

I’ve struggled with self-love and my weight all my life. I’m not a typical Asian—I have a bigger bone structure. Even when I starved myself in high school, I was never that “lean Asian guy” everyone seemed to expect me to be. I was always told, “Why are you so big?” and it really took a toll on me.

But this time, I was truly done. I didn’t feel like I was living. What existed was just a shell of me. My journey of transformation didn’t begin with a dramatic turning point—it was the slow accumulation of thirty years of hiding from the world and never feeling comfortable in my skin.

Me in 2025, smiling and don’t care whether I weight around 80 kg (176 lbs) or still no abdominal muscle.

Now that you know where I started, let me share how I lost 30 kg.

First of all, it didn’t happen in a few months. This wasn’t some influencer timeline where you drop 14 kg in 3 months. I lost 30 kg gradually over two years, from 2022 to 2024, and it started with a single motto:

As long as you move forward, you’re doing great.

Diet:

I paid attention to what I ate—but I didn’t force myself to completely give up any kind of food. Food is meant to nurture the soul. If it makes you happy, don’t cut it out entirely. Just ask yourself: does this bring benefit to my body?

Don’t ever have fried food? Why not? Eat and be happy! Mind you I don’t eat it all the time though haha

A bite here and there won’t hurt you. I started by eating what made me happy and didn’t leave me bloated. Simple as that. After a couple of weeks, I began learning about nutrition—what foods were good for me and how much energy I actually needed for the day.

Eventually, I could gauge how much food I needed and what kind gave me the most energy. And I learned the importance of sugar. Sugar is tricky. It gets used first, so your body never touches your fat reserves. Plus, it makes you hungrier. Once I understood that, everything changed.

Exercise:

Exercise was probably the hardest part. Just like diet, I started small. I didn’t care what fitness gurus said. I started with five minutes a day. That was it. I just wanted to feel a little better in my body. Then slowly, I increased the time—10 minutes, 15 minutes, every two weeks or so. Eventually, I built a habit of working out for 30 to 45 minutes, 3 to 4 times a week.

20 dollars for these and that’s all I need. No hassle of going to the gym and I can start whenever.

Over those two years, I noticed my mind getting clearer. My daily routine improved. As I lost weight, my body started to work better. I fell into a healthier sleep cycle, woke up earlier, and felt more refreshed.

I even quit smoking — simply because it made my body feel overheated and my mind constantly tired. Surprisingly, I also started enjoying fruits, which I used to dislike. I guess my taste buds changed along with my mindset.

I feel happier now—truly. I still have stretch marks, and they will always be there. But I don’t mind anymore.

So this post will be the first of many attempts to put myself out there, to let the world know: I did something for myself. I took back my body, my health, and my life.

My name is Huu Tien, which means “always moving forward.” And in a way, I think I’ve finally found my rhythm to keep going.