7 Diet and Weight Loss Mistakes You Make
Diet and Weight Loss Tips From “Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight” by Diwekar Rujuta
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If you’d like to read all of my notes on “Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight” by Diwekar Rujuta, you can do so here.
1. You think you need a quick fix or diet hack
Losing weight is incidental. It’s a by-product of following a common sense approach to eating — eating right.
There is no such thing as going ‘on’ or ‘off’ your diet. Eating correctly has to be a lifelong commitment, and the diet should be a reflection of this.
Oversimplification or generalisation has never worked.
Diet, or what you eat, should be planned according to your activity, lifestyle, fitness levels, likes, dislikes, genetics, etc. It should be part of our daily life, just as brushing our teeth is. For diets to work they have to be personalised.
The word ‘diet’ has become synonymous with drastic weight loss, health loss, energy loss, metabolic rate loss and most importantly loss of sanity!
Don’t go for diet plans which deprive you of food or make you eat only one type of food.
Just as everyone is different, everyone’s diets have to be different too. Don’t try someone else’s regime.
Get off it people, there is really NO magic drink, pill, potion, etc which will burn fat for you.
2. You think you need to starve yourself
It isn’t about starving but about eating well, eating right and eating regularly.
The secret to eating the right amount is to have more small and frequent meals like Siddharth.
Give the stomach a dose of what it needs. When it’s finished digesting, give it some more. You’re still giving your stomach plenty of food; you’re simply lengthening the process of feeding yourself.
Going hungry in the morning is a disaster for anybody who dreams of a sexy body. All it does is create a huge calorie deficit in the morning and then the body has no other option but to overeat later to make up for the deficit.
Eat real food within 10 to 15 minutes of waking up.
Eating first thing in the morning will lead to an increase in blood sugar and energy levels, which will lead to an increase in metabolic rate and fat burning, and a decrease in acidity and bloating, and will reduce chances of overeating later in the day, and stabilise blood sugar levels throughout the day, which means less chances of getting fat.
Eating frequent meals every 2 hours is not just better for our digestive system, but it keeps us from overeating.
Every time you eat your body has to work at breaking the food down, digesting it and absorbing it. This process is called DIT or Diet Induced Thermogenesis. In simple English, it means more calorie burning.
When our body gets a regular dose of a small number of calories often, through the day, it feels reassured and loved. Eating is a way of loving our body and providing it with nourishment.
When our body gets fewer calories at a time, they are utilised better and not stored as fat. Also, because the body is feeling reassured with a regular intake of calories and nutrients, it sees no reason to store body fat. The body loses fear of death due to starvation (which is instilled by a combination of prolonged gaps between meals and eating a lot at one time), and feels encouraged to let go of its fat stores (which it has been holding on to as its means of survival).
3. You think it needs to be hard
What is most important is that you feel good about yourself, treat yourself well, be committed to eating properly and exercising; and weight loss, rather fat loss, will just happen.
Punishing yourself by going on deprivation diets (liquid diets, low carb, high protein or any other fad diet) is never going to work. You will lose weight but at what cost? Not to mention that it will all come back, double of what you lost, in fact.
Fat loss, remember, just happens. Once you follow the easy to understand and (surprisingly) easy to practice principles, you will notice that you feel different in as little as two weeks. You will get much more intuitive towards food, sleep better and feel much more energetic. In about three months you will see visible changes and drop a couple of sizes in clothes. You will also find that you naturally won’t overeat, will understand how and when to eat that pastry, enjoy a sense of calm and peace and most importantly, stop worrying about how much you weigh.
Don’t be too critical of yourself. Losing fat is about making progress, not about achieving perfection.
4. You think it’s all about food
Any programme which discourages you from exercising is worthless. Being on a diet might help you lose weight, but without exercise we lose our muscles and bone density. And loss of bone density and muscle is ageing.
The human body is designed for continuous activity. The least we can do is give it 30 to 45 minutes of exercise for 3 days a week to keep it in good shape and condition.
Know that the higher the amount of lean body weight you carry, the greater your fat burning capacity.
You can keep the fire active through a disciplined lifestyle, regular exercise and optimistic attitude. Our basic problem today is that our digestive capacity (or fire) is diminishing and our consumption is increasing.
Good rest ensures that the body functions at its best and prevents frequent illnesses.
Exercise is not meant as punishment for the body. Not for getting fat or overeating or anything else. Exercise is a way to improve fitness, blood circulation, and to love the body. If it’s used for anything else, or if it’s abused, it stops working.
Keep up your favourite hobby, whatever it is; cricket, sitar, painting, acting, dancing or reading. Even an investment of as little as an hour a month makes life richer.
5. You think some foods are bad and must be avoided
There is really nothing like ‘safe food’ or ‘fattening food’. Everything that you eat judiciously, at the right time and in the right quantity, is good for you.
Overeating can be defined as eating more than the body’s ability to digest at that point of time.
The overeating threshold is a very very thin line. That gap between eating the right amount and overeating is crossed by just one mouthful, bite or spoonful. It’s crucial to be very aware of this threshold because once you cross this laxman rekha, then you can go on and on and on. Your senses go numb and you can eat up to 5 to 6 times your stomach’s capacity.
Tip: don’t store sweets or fried foods at home. You might be gifted mithai and the like at festival time. After completely enjoying 1 or 2 pieces, give these away to friends, family, share it at office, give it to your watchman, bai, etc.
Carbs aren’t bad. Carbohydrates help in the functioning of our brain cells and neurons. The body is able to carry out its functioning without carbohydrates but it cannot think without carbs.
Low carb diets lead to depletion of serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain responsible for feeling of well being, happiness, and satisfaction.
You can safely eat your brownie, gulab jamun, etc without getting fat. Two things: eat them not more than once a week (and that’s the most you’re allowed!) and don’t eat them with a meal.
No food is fattening. You have to just be smart enough to choose the right time to eat it.
When you are already feeling happy with yourself you can do away with ‘comfort food’.
The point is to not just eat a wholesome diet, but also to lead a wholesome life!
6. You don’t eat enough protein
Our protein requirement stands roughly at 1 gram per kilo of body weight.
Whey protein is easy on the system, has zero sugar, and is easy to digest. If you weight train regularly or run long distances, whey protein will become a necessity.
Whey protein is a powder made from milk which you mix with water to turn into a drink. It has the best biological value of protein; which means that almost every gram of whey you consume gets used for its intended purpose and is absorbed by the body. Whey isolate, made from whey protein is a boon for lactose intolerant vegetarians like me as it doesn’t irritate the stomach or the intestines.
7. You use food for entertainment
Eating food for entertainment is a sure shot way of getting fat. It’s a much better idea to take part in some activity that is comforting. Praying, exercising, painting, singing, anything that suits your temperament. It doesn’t just help you burn calories, it keeps you away from ingesting too many calories. Food is not for entertainment or to deal with boredom.
Too often we use food as a crutch to overcome boredom or as a distraction from our deep rooted fears or feelings. This is also what girly magazines call ‘comfort food’. Food, or the act of eating, is the most primitive form of comfort, but we need to understand that food is about providing nourishment to the body and not about overcoming boredom or stale relationships.
Thank you for reading. I hope you find these tips and mistakes helpful.
If you’d like to save this list, you can do so here.
If you’d like to read all of my notes on “Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight” by Diwekar Rujuta, you can do so here.
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