A dollop of motivation for the weight loss warriors
From the diary of someone waging the weight loss war for the last 2 decades. [Day 27 of my “One Day One Blog” ]
“Ladies, Gentlemen, people of any age group who think you are too fat, lend me your ears..”
We hate weekends. Those nasty Saturday evening parties… Despite having a cupboard full of clothes, we just cannot find that one piece of clothing that will be make us look a shade thinner and boost our morale, rt?
“Oh, that top looks great but when I sit it shows my tires”
“This shirt is awesome but my back….”
And in frustration we discard one dress after another, till we find that loose T-Shirt/Kurta which hides our “defects”…
We take one last look in the mirror with the promise that from this Monday onward, we will ditch rice for lunch, eat salads for dinner, walk more, get a gym membership…….
Life in a recursive loop
It is now the “next Saturday” . Did you do anything that you promised? If yes, Continue reading, else, go to the beginning and start again. Life is this recursive loop.
But you know what? You are in this loop because you chose to be. I am not reprimanding you for not following any of those grandiose plans. I am saying that you are the only one judging yourself.
Have you noticed how the world always says that fat people are nice and fun to be with? It’s because they don’t judge others. And that is because they are too busy judging themselves.
Let me just prove my point –
When was the first time you thought that you were fat? In my case, it was somewhere in my teens. I hated looking in the mirror. I looked at envy with all my friends who looked super slim. I promised myself that I too will be like them.
Then the twenties came and I missed the slim figure I had in my teens
Then the thirties came and I started looking at wonder in my wedding album at how much less fat I had in those days ( completely forgetting how much I tried to starve in the weeks preceding the wedding in an attempt to look thin)
****
My fellow comrades in this weight loss marathon,
What we all need is a reality check.
All of you who think you are fat, it is purely based on the fact that someone at home or the neighborhood commented on your body rt? Tell them to go to hell. Tell them ( preferably in front of 10 other people) that they are body shaming you and subjecting you to years of mental torture; Any depression that you face in your life would rest completely on their shoulders(ensure that you yell this out… just for fun 😛 )
I really don’t know what to tell these morons, who think it is their right to tell you within 5 to 10 minutes of meeting that you have put on weight. They suck at small talk and commenting on your weight is their go-to-option for conversation.
There are 2 kinds of people who are on the weight loss marathon — the first kind whose confidence is down in the dumps thanks to the above mentioned malicious & malignant elements in your life. If you are in this category, just ignore them and keep walking. ( I meant that literally… I will tell you why in a short while)
The other kind is those whose weight is creating medical issues. Here too, ignore the social critics and listen to your doctor.
If you are not sure where you fall into, go to a doctor and get a check up done.
This is what most of us will discover:
- You are not fat. But you can be much healthier ( do NOT read this as thin). How can you achieve this? By taking up some form of exercise
- You may be actually overweight to the extent that you are not able to lead an optimum life. Your weight is creating further health complications.
I have seen people in both the categories. I have been in both the categories. And 90% of the time, this is what we end up doing as a knee jerk reaction:
Ridiculous Diet Plan
> Remove all grains
>Remove all carbs
>remove all solid food
>Remove water
>Remove air
>Go die ( or something in that range)
Now, I have an in-house health nazi. Based on my observations of him and from visiting numerous doctors and health gurus in the last 6 months, I have come up with a system which seems to be working for me. I would like to share the same with you.
Week 1
- Get up and drink 4 glasses of water. It may be too much to start with 4 glasses right away. So start with 2 and gradually bring it upto 4
- Start walking . Walk fast. For 30 mins. I found this amazing APP called Sports tracker. It measures the time and distance covered.
Week 2
- Keep walking
- Ensure that you drink 3 litres of water a day. All of us think that we drink enough water. Trust me, we don’t. I have “water drink reminder” APP on my phone which reminds me every one hour to drink water. The day I switch off the reminder, I end up drinking less water than I should
- Start maintaining a food diary. Write everything that you eat. Don’t cheat because only you will see this. You will see how much refined sugar we consume and how much oily snacks goes in. See where all you can reduce and replace these with healthier options.
- Do this for a week. And keep your food diary intact
Week 3
- Keep with the walking and water intake
- Now look at the fried items that you are consuming. That piece of fish fry/chicken fry, burger. Don’t stop all of a sudden. But use the diary as a best friend and reduce the consumption to half of what you normally have in a week. Don’t get into a full “enthu” mode and cut off everything in one go. Just stick to cutting these items to 50%
Week 4
- Keep with the walking and water intake
- Visit a nutritionist. Find a good one. Most of them are are borderline ridiculous. So do your research before you zero in on one. They will create a food plan that meets your needs. Don’t go to a doctor for this as they will have neither the time nor the inclination to walk you through this
Week 5
- If you are seriously committed, and have stuck through week 5, you will notice that you have started feeling very good about yourself!
- But the temptations can still strike. Get a coach. Not really a personal trainer but a life coach. This can be a spouse or a good friend. These people will help you come on track if you get derailed once in a while
Week 6
- This is not mandatory but if you feel good about what you are doing, take up some form of sports or more rigorous physical activity.
- Be a part of a healthy community
- Help someone along this journey
Let me sign off with this:
- No one knows your body as well as you do. These guidelines are just that — guidelines. Customize to suit your needs.
- Do not hesitate to consult a doctor at any point
- All of us will have relapses. That is OK. Just get back onto track without the guilt dragging you down.
- Be Happy 🙂
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Friends, this is the Day 27 of my odyssey to write one blog EVERY DAY for the month of May 2017. “One Day, One Blog”
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