Bangkok can be tough on your body.
As part of my weight loss effort, on each of my days off I spend an hour or more walking. Usually I either carry a bottle of water with me or I’ll buy some at 7-11. Bottled water is cheap here.
Today I left my home aiming to go to the shopping center at Onnut and back again. I went out fairly early (around 9.15) and didn’t take a water bottle with me. As I do every morning, I stepped on the digital scale in my room and recorded my weight.
My goal for the trip was to buy a basketball. There is a court near my house, and I figured that shooting baskets in the morning might be a good alternative to walking all the time.
I got to Tesco-Lotus and found the basketballs. They were cheap at 175 baht. I went to the cashier and paid. I happened to have almost exactly the right amount of money in my pocket, and I left the store with my basketball and about 3 baht in coins.
Heading home I was happy, bouncing the ball on the sidewalk like a kid at Christmas. I reckon it’s been four years or more since I shot a basketball, or even dribbled one, and I was pleased that it felt comfortable in my hand.
It had taken about an hour from my house to Onnut. Walking back bouncing my new ball progress was a bit slower, and by the time I got close to Ekkamai BTS Station I was feeling a bit parched. Better stop into 7-11 for a bottle of water. I felt in my pocket and fished out my 3-baht. Water’s cheap, but not that cheap.
So I went to the ATM.
D’oh! I lost my ATM card sometime in the past week, and because of the New Year holiday I haven’t had any opportunity to get it replaced. No money, no water.
Well, it wasn’t the end of the world. I soldiered on, with my enthusiasm for the walk and my new ball only slightly dampened.
It wasn’t really too tough — after all, I was walking on (relatively) level sidewalks, mostly in the shade on a cool morning in mid-winter. Still, I was cutting a decent pace and sweating freely.
I got home about 2 hours and 15 minutes after I left… around 11:30. I stripped off my sweat soaked clothes, but before grabbing a bottle of water I wanted to check and see what the effect was. I was four and a half pounds lighter (about 2 kilos) than I had been at nine o’clock in the morning. I’d sweated out more than five pounds of water on a morning stroll in Bangkok’s cool season!
Imagine how much more brutal it is in the summer season here — especially in the middle of the day.
Dehydration is bad for your body. Personally I suffered from kidney stones twice in my life and the doctor advised me that one of the things I could do to avoid a third episode is to drink lots and lots of water.
Normally I do. In my work I travel around Bangkok daily. I am in and out of offices, trains and taxis. I carry a lot of thing with me in a heavy bag. I sweat all day. I don’t drink coffee or tea, but every chance I get I drink cold water or occasionally juice. At a guess, I’d say that in a typical workday I consume about ten litres of water between the time I leave home in the morning and the time I arrive back in the evening.
If you are visiting Bangkok for the first time — and especially if you are coming from a cooler climate — be prepared to dramatically increase your water consumption. When I lived in the US I remember being told that I should drink 8 glasses of water a day and it seemed challenging. I would suggest that I frequently drink 8 glasses of water in just an hour or two here in Bangkok.
It’s the cool season right now in Bangkok… I’m sleeping with a cover at night, and most nights I turn off the fan. I’ve even been closing the windows in the middle of the night because the room is too cold for me.
But summer is just around the corner. Ninety days from now the temperature will hover around 40 degrees Celsius or 100 Farenheit. I’m not sure how many times I’ve used the word ‘brutal’ in this post but I’ll use it again. In the summertime the heat in Bangkok is brutal. One of your best weapons to defend your body is water. Lots and lots of water.
The blog is about nothing other than common sense. I only wrote it because, stepping on the scale on my return to my room I expected to have lost a pound… maybe two. But 4 1/2 pounds in two hours shocked me. It reminded me how easy it is to over-extend my body.
Boy, now I’m thirsty again!
9 responses so far ↓
TeenageFC // Sunday, 4 January 2009 at 1:54 pm |
Just imagine how many kg’s you’ll shed shooting baskets?….or trying to shoot baskets.
That middle aged Thai lady who peeps at you from the sliver of a gap in her curtains will also be enjoying seeing a more slimmed down WW….haha
John Brown // Sunday, 4 January 2009 at 4:37 pm |
WW, you might want to throw in a little Gatorade from time to time… to replace electrolytes and sodium too. I know you’re not a triathlete or trying to be, but water alone can actually be harmful if replacing large amounts of lost sweat while exerting yourself.
Young Penfold // Sunday, 4 January 2009 at 5:33 pm |
Good call JB – Or if your caught short again with no cash, you can put some cordial/juice concentrate in water with a dash of salt aswell, to replace the suagars and natural salts you loose
My best friend in UK is a kickboxer, and hes given me some boxing plastics to bring back with me for jogging round and boxing in JJ park, which is a great way to cut water weight
nurseRon // Monday, 5 January 2009 at 2:41 am |
What are Boxing plastics? You don’t those plastic suits they use to cut weight through sweating? Why?
Young Penfold // Monday, 5 January 2009 at 3:29 am |
Yeh the plastics with really tight elastic around the cuffs and ankles.
Make syou look like an enourmous bellend when you wear them, so i usually throw on jogging bottoms and jumper over them
Personally I find it a good way to cut a few pounds quick, plus a 15minute blast in the plastics are the equivalent of 30-45minutes
gavinmac // Monday, 5 January 2009 at 4:38 am |
I think you should advise people who are visiting Bangkok for the first time to plan on using at least 2 pairs of underwear per day, with all the sweating and shitting and sex and falling into sewers and whatnot.
// Monday, 5 January 2009 at 7:31 am |
Two pair minimum.
Bangkok Mike // Tuesday, 6 January 2009 at 4:30 pm |
Hi WW,
Getting into the diet thing myself since I weigh in at 113 Kilos. Glad your doing it, as for me I like walking just like you. Cant stand sitting on a bike in the gym and working out. Love to walk around and find something new to discover. Today saw two seperate motorcycle accidents VS car. Motorcycles never seem to win. Look Right, Left, Right, then 360 for the one that never follows any rules.
Draken // Wednesday, 7 January 2009 at 11:13 pm |
When I came back from just a week in Bangkok I lost 6 lbs. What’s interesting is I ate good. Well most all of what was Thai food. I’m guessing it’s better for me than American food…