Man who shared transformation after spending four weeks at Chinese ‘fat camp’ issues weight loss update
A Swedish man who quit his job to attend a Chinese fat camp has revealed a valuable lesson that he's learned in the weeks after he finished the four-week course.
André Helgesen headed to Asia earlier this year in a final attempt to lose some weight, bucking the trend of the thousands of others who have turned to weight loss drugs in recent years.
HIs month in China was 'brutal' at times but he managed to drop down to eight stone, having already dropped from 21 stone to around 13 stone ahead of his trip.
The fat camp was one of his first pitstops as he sought to make more progress on his goals and after some incredible results, the former system technician worker has now provided an update on how things have gone since he left.
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Taking to his TikTok (@imhelgis), he said: "Long time no see. Well, it's been kind of hard for me to connect to TikTok with my e sim. It doesn't work.
"So I have to do some kind of backwards way with the Wi Fi. But anyway, that's not really the main reason I've been avoiding TikTok.
"Honestly, I've been ashamed. I fell into old habits and I've been binge eating.
"I've been eating candy, you name it. And I've been telling myself in my head, 'I'm disgusting and gross and all that stuff'.
"But yesterday. I went to an Onsen and stripped down and everything and weighed myself, and I gained one and a half kilos.
"So in my head, I've been talking so much about myself, but it's one and a half kilo.
"It's just so unnecessary. I don't have any evidence to support this misspoken thing in my head, but still, I do this to myself.
"It's so unnecessary and stupid, honestly."
After such an incredible journey in recent months, it's probably a good thing that André has learned that eating bad foods in moderation won't make a drastic change to his body, and that he needs to look after himself mentally as well as physically.
While you might expect that the fat camp has ingrained some strict methods into his eating habits, he previously admitted that he 'could have cheated' on every one of his meals.
"They laid out the schedule and the meals, but if I’d wanted to, I could have cheated on everything. It surprised me – realising that, just like at home, it all comes down to personal responsibility", he told The Mirror.
The hardest part of the camp, however, was the fasting schedule. Dinner was served at 5.00pm and breakfast was not until 8.00am the next day.
"It was brutal to not have anything to eat between those hours," André admitted. "I honestly didn't make it some days and had to buy an apple, not a big deal, but still, I didn't stick to the plan they had set up."
He also previously said that he 'can finally stop thinking of himself as overweight' and that all his 'self-consciousness vanished' as a result of his extreme weight loss, even if he did go down an alternate route to other people of today.
Certainly, eating well and exercising is the best way to lose weight, rather than taking drugs which can have all sorts of potential side effects.
The NHS states that ‘if you're overweight, losing weight can improve your health, give you more energy and help you feel better about yourself’.
“But losing weight is not always easy, and many things can affect your progress. Your eating habits, sleep, activity levels and how you feel can all play a part. If you have struggled with weight loss before, you are not alone,” the health service adds.
If you want to lose weight, the NHS advises trying out four things:
- Change what and how much you eat
- Change what and how much you drink
- Change how much you move
- Reflect on your sleep habits
Visit the NHS website for more information on weight loss.
Topics: Mental Health, Lifestyle
James Moorhouse