Data Shows That S’poreans Gain Weight After Starting Full-time Work

Last Updated on 2022-10-13 , 9:33 pm

If you realize the pants you bought for your first full-time job don’t seem to fit after a few months, don’t worry, you’re not alone: data from the Health Promotion Board (HPB) shows that it’s normal.

And it’s especially so for men.

In fact, there’s a number to it: for men, they typically gain 4 kg in the first ten years.

While there is no concrete evidence to prove that it’s due to work-related stress, it seems pretty explicit; except, well, if you’re a regular in uniform.

In the study that tracks obesity in Singapore, it turns out that if this goes on, the obesity rate might go up to 15% after seven years. Now, it is at 11%.

And just for reference, Malaysia has an obesity rate of 18% (maybe it’s true after all: that their food is better than ours?)

Being the foodie us, it turns out that in 1998, the average calories intake per person is 2,062, and in 2010, that number ballooned to 2,624.

The study that involved 60,000 people, which started from 1990, has provided something interesting, though: Singaporeans are exercising more, with 59.6% of people in third quarter of 2016 doing 150 minutes of exercise, compared to the 54.3% in 2014.

And here’s something more interesting: six out of ten of us exceeded our daily calorie intake. In other words, just look around your office: the majority eats more than they should.

But this isn’t a laughing matter, because let’s face it: I won’t need to list down the cons of overweight.

If you’re one of the people who has gained weight after entering the workforce, there’re many programmes to help you lose the weight and even get some incentive for doing so. You can join the Lose to Win programme by HPB, or simply join any of the free runs in various areas.

And if you’re a NSman, you can train up for your IPPT, or if you like to exercise with a group of people, join the IPT programme.

After all, all these are catered for working adults. The excuse of gaining weight due to long working hours won’t apply now, because everyone of them is a working adult: who doesn’t work long hours?

Featured Image: joyfull / Shutterstock.com