Lose your weight

I don't know how many people are interested in losing weight but I have been longing for it since forever it seems. I recently picked up the book "Don't lose your mind, lose your weight" by Rutuja Diwekar (Kareena's "size zero" is lot to do with her). In this book, she shatters many myths related to weight loss and I found the content quite crisp with adequate information to back it up.

She has very effectively communicated why things like extreme diets, detox diets or any other form of fad things don't work. She advises to eat a balanced meal and couple it with regular exercise.

The crux of her advice comes down to following four principle that one should incorporate it in lifestyle:
1. Eat something in first ten minutes of waking up but strictly avoid tea or coffee as the first thing in the day.
2. Eat every two to three hours in the day in smaller portions.
3. Eating habits should be in proportion to levels of activity.
4. Maintain a gap of at least two hours in your last meal and bed time.

The book has no literary value but it is high on knowledge which is expected from a fitness expert. I must add that the book startled me with some forthright expressions, also time and again she presents some analogies from completely unrelated domains that again surprisingly keep you intrigued. She has written down many of her client interactions which you definitely can relate to people around you and her sharp remarks, leave a chuckle on your face.

There is loads of more information available in the book on different kinds of food, nutrients needed by body. All in all it is a very educative yet fun to read, now I must follow it to see how effective it is :-).

1000 Rs/Kg

This is an account of last six months, wherein along with shedding pounds of fat, I learned few life lessons too. These days everyone who meets me after a long gap is wondering how have I managed to lose weight. Well, it has come after a lot of perspiration, determination, failures and frustrating times. But in the end if I could do it, you can do it better :-).

I have always been a "heavy person," and a soft target. After years of half-hearted attempts, this March I fired on all cylinders for one more attack on fat. Started with the "GM diet"; got more attention than actually reducing any weight. There lies the first lesson "Extreme diets and without any workout don't work."

I am 25 and in last quarter century I have heard / overheard as many weight-loss "tontkas" as in
1. Drinking warm water all day.
2. Taking Triphala Guggule (Aurvadic medicine) with warm water, thrice a day.
3. In morning, take honey with warm water.
4. Instead of honey use lemon juice.
But, not even grams were lost because of these. (Lesson 2: Make peace with yourself. Doesn't mean compromise with what you are but accept if this is not working for you something else will. Find it and do it.)

After all these failed experiments, I researched and got to know that weight loss is a game of calories in versus calories out. Thus, I started one more fling with gym. In the initial days my regularity was again in question. I promised myself if I go to gym for seven days without break, I will get new gym shoes. (Lesson 3: Appreciate, reward yourself and be wicked, gift gym shoes which would further compel to the cause). Later on I went on to workout for 30 days without break. :-)

After first three months passed, I became pretty regular and my diet was in line. But, my weight lost was mere 3Kg, so I got few tests done (Sugar, BP, Cholesterol and Thyroid) everything was just fine but 3 Kgs in 3 months wasn't enough. So I grew frustrated, on one such Sunday morning while working out a girl came upto me and told me, "Hey, you've slimmed down a lot since I first saw you around, you look a lot thinner now." After completing the conversation with her, I could not stop smiling. That was my first compliment and truly uplifting moment.

But, still the fact remained that I got to lose a lot more. So I got a personal trainer. He would be there monitoring me all time, scheduling my workout and giving diet tips.

My daily schedule is: In morning have a bowl of skimmed milk with Muesli before gym. After gym, one bread, one cup tea with very less sugar and couple of Marie biscuits. In lunch, 3 chapathis, one bowl each of sabji and daal but no rice. At 5 PM, some light snacks. For dinner very light mostly South Indian. But, it would be a good idea to mix-match the dinner with Soup, fruits and salads.

These six months have changed me a lot not only in physical appearance but my lifestyle as well whether it being incorporation of workout in daily schedule, eating food before bath and many other things. (Lesson 4: If situation demands, change yourself.)

It takes time to lose weight, one needs to be very patient, very regular and follow strict regim. 1 pound of fat is equivalent to 3500 Calories. So one needs to take at least 1000 calories per day and utilize them to burn in excess to lose weight. In the initial phase, as I wasn't losing any weight people around me hardly noticed any changes in me, some even told me that this is my body-type and I won't be able to lose weight, don't fight the one you can not defeat. But, I still didn't budge, I had decided if this wont work, I would take help from the slimming clinics. Apart from this, there was a brief period that required me to break my workout in two and make me visit gym twice a day. Other than this too, I had to battle out many other issues, but I overcame most of them. (Lesson 5: There are more solutions in this world than problems.)

Finally whats with the name of this post? Well I am Baniya, all I can do is calculations and think about profits. I have lost 12Kg in last six months and the rate applicable was 1000 Rs/Kg :-)