Kang Mina Lost 13kg for Her New Drama, and the First Thing She Cut Was Breakfast

Kang Mina lost 13kg, and the first casualty was breakfast.

At a wrap interview for tvN's office drama I'll Go to Work Tomorrow, the singer-actress broke down what actually changed. "I wanted to move away from my high school student image since this is an office drama," she said, "and there's also a surfing scene where I wear a swimsuit, so that was another reason."

The number she put on it: 13kg at the peak. She was clear that it didn't happen fast. "I lost the weight slowly over a long period of time," she explained, describing a gradual reduction in carb intake rather than any crash approach.

The specific habit she cut is the interesting part. Kang Mina had always started her mornings with rice soaked in soup, a deeply ingrained Korean breakfast staple, and she stopped. "I'm the type who absolutely had to have rice with soup poured over it in the morning," she said. "I went without that for a while."

The slow approach is worth noting. Gradual weight loss is generally easier to maintain than a crash diet, and when paired with enough protein and strength training, it minimizes muscle loss. Changing eating habits incrementally also makes those habits stick, and reduces the likelihood of rebound weight gain.

That said, cutting carbohydrates entirely carries its own risks. Going too low can cause fatigue, reduced focus, and lower exercise performance. The more sustainable move, nutritionists generally agree, is swapping refined carbs like white rice and processed bread for whole grains and fiber-rich options that digest more slowly and keep blood sugar steadier.

Kang Mina's approach seems to land somewhere in that middle ground: less rice, not zero rice, over a long enough timeline that her body adjusted without the worst of the trade-offs.