Believe me, everybody who is fat (ouch! for some reason this word hurts! But sorry, no euphemisms.) has tried losing weight. Several times. And failed. Several times. That is the law of life. It takes several attempts to figure out two things. The right ways to do things, and the way that's right for YOU.
Hopefully, this post will help you with both.
Let me tell you two stories.
One
Smitha was getting married. Like all brides, she wanted to lose weight for the wedding and look good. What will her Prince Charming think of her otherwise? So she religiously ran everyday for an hour, worked on many machines at the gym, threw in ab exercises and often walked several miles to and from work. Her D-day arrived in two months. Yes! She had lost about 15 pounds and was happy. What happened then? Soon the wedding celebrations were over and so were her reasons for losing weight. She could not keep up with all the running and walking. Newly-wedded bliss overshadowed the feeling of being fit and sure enough, she forgot all about it. The next time she checked, she had added 30 pounds.
Two - The Sequel
Set a year or so later. Smitha visited her folks and friends back home. They were exactly as she had left them and made her realize she had ballooned up a lot. But she was like Scarlett O'Hara, wasn't she? She knew she could do anything she could put her mind to and started swimming. She loved it and swam everyday, Monday to Sunday. She strictly restricted the types and amounts of food she ate and sure enough, the fat started leaving her. After a while, she was down by 20-25 pounds this time. What then, again? One day, a priority task came in and her attention got shifted. At first she skipped exercising a few days, then it soon became a habit. She thought she fell off the wagon anyway and forgot about eating right. Sure enough, all the weight and more crept back up and she started carrying an added 40-45 pounds around.
THE END.
Story-Reviews
Both the stories have disappointing endings. So did my stints at trying to eat raw foods for a meal, trying to eat only fruits and veggies for dinner, skipping eating rice etc. That's when it hit me. I was looking at an 'ending'. But what I had to actually aim for was a happy 'continuum'. I had to change my lifestyle so it included practicing healthy habits on a regular basis. When I reflected back on these two phases above, I could find so many things wrong. I have never tried to lose weight in an unhealthy way like starving myself or trying pills, but what I did was not something I could keep up doing for the rest of my life. While they were right things to do, they were not right for me.
Let me explain. I am a lazy person and deep down I do not enjoy strenuous exercise. So unless I got accustomed to it gradually and naturally, there was no way I was going to keep up with my strict gym/ swimming regimen. I hate eating cold raw foods. How long do you think I can stand shoving raw carrots and broccoli down my throat? I love rice and skipping it will only make me long for it more. I need to be in this for the long haul. I should never lose weight by doing something that I cannot continue doing for the rest of my life. The reasons why you want to lose weight are also very important. If it is tied to something other than your well being, it will only be temporary. Healthy permanent weightloss can only be brought about by a gradual change in your lifestyle and by doing things that you really enjoy. Once you replace 'losing weight' with 'having a healthy lifestyle', things will fall into perspective. So remove the deadline and focus on just building good daily habits, one at a time. You will have a rewarding lifestyle. And weight loss will be a happy by-product of it :)
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