My Story from “FAT” to “FIT”
Weight loss is something which goes on in parallel with everything else in one’s life if he/she is trying to lose some serious weight. For most people, it is stressful, not only because they feel ashamed to be around fit friends but also, they get mocked or joked at whenever they are socializing.
My story was a bit different, I can say I had really good friends and family who never really mocked, joked or insulted me for being fat. And maybe because of that, most of my life, I was fat, if not bulky. To top that, preparing for the toughest exam in India, IIT JEE, made me even fatter. This is because I had loving parents who would feed me even though my shape was changing from rectangle to a square. Their favorite dialogue to me was
Your brain needs nutrients, so you should eat more. ~ My parents
Thankfully, I qualified the JEE exam and got entrance into one of the top colleges of India, IIT Delhi. If you are getting bored reading all this now, the picture below will surely interest you to read about my journey.
Yes, that is me in the left picture, around 6years ago. And you are right, it’s the same me on the right in 2019. So how did I do that? Even I do not believe the picture, but I will share a few steps I followed which contributed to the transformation. Note that I am not saying that being a few extra pounds is insulting to one’s image, but honestly, being fit just feels better mentally and physically.
Get sweaty — regular exercise
Up until my 3rd year, I used to be a heck lot busy in my courses, projects, club work (being a secretary of the NSS wing of IIT Delhi), and everything a student can be busy at. I know that sounds like an excuse, and truly I found myself an excuse not to do any exercise. But as soon as I entered my final year, I suddenly got time in my hands, and I could not anymore excuse myself saying I was busy. Yes, I had a job search to do, I had PhD applications to be done, being General Secretary of a club, had lots of meetings at hand. But somehow I was not as mentally occupied and stressed as I was in my previous years due to the academic work. Here are a few things I decided to give a try.
- Walking — I stopped using the college bus and walked everyday to and fro from campus to hostel. I had good friends with whom I could walk and talk and reach my hostel without even getting to know that I walked 1.5 km.
- Jogging — Atleast 4 days a week, I woke up early in the morning and jogged for atleast 2.5 km, or about 30 minutes. No I did not give up my sleep, I used to come back to the dorm, take a shower and sleep like a monster. I loved sleeping.
- Yoga — This may help if you really can do it nicely, but for me I would hardly sweat, so it did not help me anyhow. So I would say, you can do Yoga if you want, but other high intensity exercises would really be your way forward from Fat -> Fit.
Serious cutdown on junk food
If you are fond of eating chips, packed cakes and other sort of processed foods, sorry but you have to give up on that.
That does not mean you cannot eat your favorite foods like dumplings (momos), curries, butter (which contains all kinds of good fats) etc. You can even eat food at your favorite restaurant (not fast food outlet), provided that the food is not deep fried in bad oil.
Green Tea (but at the right time)
Green tea was one of those items I added very reluctantly to my weight loss diet. I used to always think after seeing those celebrities endorse it on TV, that this is something which definitely is a gimmick which would not work. Anyhow I started drinking green tea, but realized one thing, it is important to take it at the right time.
Green tea, unlike coffee does not require sugar or milk. It is rich in anti-oxidants and a very important ingredient “caffeine”, which is also present in coffee. So, if you are planning to drink green tea with your breakfast or before going to sleep, do a thing for me please. Delete that plan from your brain right now.
Like coffee, green tea contains caffeine which helps in increasing the metabolic rate of your body. The only time this would help your weight loss diet is if you drink it 15–20 minutes before you are going to do some kind of physical exercise. It not only helps the body burn more fat, but also makes you more energetic to do your task.
Focus and dedication
You can never expect to succeed if you only put in work on the days you feel like it.
Keeping this in mind, I would highlight the last point by saying that you may not feel like doing all of this everyday, because it is not comforting immediately, requires efforts on part of you and does not magically give immediate results. But believe me, once you see the change in yourself, you will LOVE it and all of this will become a new norm and happiness of your new self.
Hope this article helps you in achieving your goal. I would end by putting in a few lines from a quote I read a few days ago in an environment related article.
The 3C’s in life,
Choice, Chance and Change.
You must make the CHOICE, to take the CHANCE, if you want anything to CHANGE in your life.
