Book Review: Fight The Fat

Omastase shimashita! This is the Japanese phrase for "sorry to keep you waiting". I had problems creating post on the blog on my laptop that I resorted to use my wife's laptop. Well here's the book review as promised.

This is my first attempt at a book review. Please feel free to give me your comments or share it with your friends if you like it.

Book Review : Fight the Fat – What You Must Know and Do to Lose Weight
Author: Dr Ben Tan
Price: S$25.20
Available at all major book stores

Brutally honest! This is my first impression of Dr Ben Tan’s book on weight management. After going through the book, I find that this book is not only relevant for all people concerned about weight, but is also an excellent reference for exercise trainers.

The book advocates 3 pillars of dietary restriction, discretionary exercise and incidental daily activities as essential means to the end of weight loss. One would have to work towards a target of incurring an energy deficit of about 1,000 kcal per day. This works out to about a loss of 1.0 kg of body fat (7,700 kcal) per week, which is in line with the guidelines of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

1000 kcal per day means that you have to run 1 hour 25 minutes daily or brisk walk 2 hours 30 minutes. Wow! This is near impossible for someone who does not exercise regularly and he/she would have given up without even trying. Hence, the person trying to lose weight would not only have to exercise but also to reduce his / her food intake, and to increase his/her daily activities (which mean less lying on the couch or driving the car). Thus, the 3 pillars of diet, exercise and daily activities as mentioned above. There is no short cut, which is what I have been telling my clients.

The part I like most about this book is the chapter on separating facts from myths. The book rebutted many promotional gimmicks for slimming products and services used to trick consumers. One common trick is that the slimming product or service would claim that someone lost weight after taking the product or service. However, this claim would be given little weight in the scientific community as there is no mention of sample size and percentage of success, etc. One person could have lose weight after taking the product, 9 other persons may not! Similarly, slimming centres do not publish the number of clients who do not lose weight or gained weight after engaging their services.

The “Before and After” gimmick usually employed to capture consumer’s attention was also shot down in the book. A question was asked on how much fat this person (see picture) lost? The answer is of course “None”.
Why? Read the book for yourself, else I’ll be sued for copyright infringement.

Of course, it is not easy for a person trying to lose weight just by doing all the action plans written in the book by himself / herself. However, this book provides him/her a good understanding of the foundations, methods, reasons and obstacles regarding weight loss, and it addresses the motivational factor too. There are also some good templates and action plans provided by the book.

For the exercise trainer, these templates and action plans are very useful. The book also provides tables on the caloric values of selected local food items which would come as a handy reference. There is a section on exercise-related injuries which I think would interest trainers, since many obese individuals have weight-related musculoskeletal injuries.

On another note, Dr Tan advises that one would be better off focusing on cardiovascular exercise to lose fat as it is difficult to significantly increase resting metabolic rate by gaining enough muscle mass through weight training. Thus, the book does not have examples of weight training techniques or methods.

From a weight loss point of view, I would agree with him. But from a motivational point of view, I think it may be good to incorporate some weight training exercises such as wall push up or core work. Gain in strength is usually faster than weight loss (due to neuromuscular adaptation) and I think this could encourage the person to work harder or carry on the program since he/she can see some improvements of his/her fitness.

All-in-all, I have more positive comments for this book and I would recommend it for people who are trying to lose weight to get one. Wish you all the success in managing your weight!


Book Review Written by:



Koh Mui Tee
Diploma in Sport & Exercise Sciences
American College of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer
Singapore Sports Council Certified Fitness Instructor


P.S. If you are keen to lose weight or gain fitness or have any enquiries on exercise-related matters, please call Mui Tee at 9477 3180 or email at muitee@singnet.com.sg. Thank you.

Fight the Fat

Bought the book "Fight the Fat" written by our famous Dr Ben Tan, Asian Games gold medallist today.

Glanced a few pages and find that it is quite interesting, well written and relevant for all people concerned about weight and all exercise trainers.

I will finish the book fast and give you a book review by this weekend.

The Monk's Teachings

Someone taught me this. I think it is very interesting:

A teaching by a monk whereby he says; "If someone tells you your nose is crooked, why should you get angry? If it is the truth, why get angry with the truth? And if it is not true, why is there the need to be angry?"

Anger management, not that I need one.

5 away defeats!

The whole Liverpool team played crap football in tonight's loss to the Arse-nal. Bloooooddy pissed off! I am still up at 2.50 am! Can't believe they played so poorly away from home.

losses to bluenoses, bolton, chelski, manure and arse-nal. wah piang!

Title contenders, my foot!



P.S. I make no apologies for any offensive comments here, it is the Liverpool team that should apologise.

Fitness Improvements

Quite busy this week. Just a quick update to say that my NKF patients showed great improvements after 12 sessions of training.

Most of the patients walked about 500 metres in the 6-min walk tests in July but most of them managed more than 550 metres with some clipping 600 metres last weekend. Not only physically, they have also feedback to me that they benefitted psychologically and socially.

Very happy for them. Share my joy.

Know what you are doing

I had the last of my 12 sessions with the NKF patients last weekend. I will conduct a fitness assessment this weekend before getting in new patients for the next programme.

In the last session, I went through the safety aspects of exercise for the patients again as I did in my first session. For example, as many of the patients are hypertensive, I reminded them not to do strenuous exercise and not to hold their breath (valsalva maneuver) while exercising. It is imperative that patients with chronic diseases know what they are doing and what they cannot / should not do. For instance, hypertensive patients would have their blood pressure shot up if they hold their breath for sometime. This may lead to a stroke!

I always feel that educating my clients/patients is a very important part of my profession. This does not apply only to patients but also to the general public / athletes. I have come across athletes who do not stretch properly or do not know what muscles they are stretching. Also many of them have neglected stretching due to time constraints. This may have led to many tight hamstrings, calf muscles, ITB which could be the causes of injuries. Improved flexibility may also lead to better performance, although this is not guaranteed. But it would reduce the risk of injuries.

Similarly, for the general public, education about sports / fitness is very important. Many people have done crunches in order to reduce the abdominal fat. They do not recognise that crunches is a strength training exercise, not a cardiovascular exercise. Strength training exercises work primarily the muscles, not the fat. So crunches build your ab muscles. If your ab muscles are covered by a layer (or many layers) of fat, how could you show your ab muscles? You have to watch your diet, jog/swim/cycle/walk more to reduce this fat so you can get rid of your tummy. The formula is easy, take in less calories, expend more calories.

Many friends have also asked me about the various diet. The truth is that all diets work! This is because diet works on reducing calories. In the short term, you created a calorie deficit and lost weight. However, dieting is normally not sustainable as diets usually meant a shortage in certain food content, such as vitamins/minerals. This may lead to other problems as the diet is not balanced. ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) recommends a combination of both diet and exercise for effective weight management.

Thus, if you want to achieve your objective, you must know what you are doing and what you should not be doing. This concept is frequently applied in working life, but this applies to exercise too!