I am now among those who are against only weight loss fads. I feel that weight loss should be a by-product of being healthy and not the other way round. With many diets popping up for weight loss and few highlight the point that there is no need to exercise to lose weight, and many people fall for them. I was no exception. Every diet comes with its own scientific explanation, and everything seems logical. Most importantly every diet also has its success and failure stories. But only the success stories are displayed which obviously seems to be tempting.
I tried many diets, right from juice diets to eating only salads to low carb to keto to a kind of intermittent fasting. But I couldn’t do anything for more than a few days to a few weeks or at a maximum of 3 months. I could see the results in a few diets, but were they lasting? Not really. And the worst part is I was so damn confused about what to eat and what not to eat. Every year a new diet comes in to trend and sometimes would be very contradicting to what I used to eat. In case if I wanted to eat or ate junk or any outside food, the guilt angle in me would immediately come into action. I used to explain and convince myself the reason behind eating the food that I see as a ghost. Though it cannot be seen, this process is very tiring and overwhelming. To add fuel to this, emotional eating would take its role and make me more guilty.
I wondered how I turned from a foodie to a binge-eater gradually. Finally, I decided I am going to eat, how my mom used to feed me. I felt like all the chains around me are broken and I am set out of prison. I don’t really think much about what people talk about my weight now. When I was normal, people used to ask me if I would ever gain weight. When I started gaining weight few of them talked about losing it. When I lost the weight again few said they liked me when I was chubby. So all I understood is, it is not important about what others think, but it is important how I feel.
Despite being at a normal weight, I used to feel very weak, my body used to ache badly (no not the normal ones, but sometimes it used to be very horrible that I wouldn’t even get up from the bed), knee pains, and whatnot. Though I lost weight then, I couldn’t do any exercise. I used to give up after doing a half set of Surya Namaskar or 2 seconds of plank. I have now gained weight but I make sure to exercise without fail. Now, I feel proud of myself that I can do up to 36 sets of Surya Namaskar and hold in plank for 40 seconds and 2 reps. I make sure to move my body every half an hour. Once in a while, I still feel lazy and just lie but not guilty this time 🙂
Also at the same time, I make sure to address my anxiety levels along with eating home-cooked food and working out. Now, I don’t mind if I eat out once in a while and if it serves a purpose, like social gatherings or fulfilling my cravings. I am perfectly okay till I don’t think about eating processed food just because they are meeting my calories. I understood that for example, 300 calories of fresh food is not equal to 300 calories of processed food. It might help with losing weight but cannot help with the nourishment of the body. At the same time, I consciously eat whatever I am eating, so I would know where and when to stop.
Oh yeah, when I started to eat homemade food, I used to think that I can eat how much ever I want because it is healthy. But, all thanks to Rujuta Diwekar, I understood the way to eat and that’s nothing but eating consciously. I don’t find it difficult to follow because that’s how we were taught during childhood, like sit down and eat or not to watch television while eating (though we hated it then).
I am happy now that I don’t have to do anything new, just going back to basics with 3 simple rules. 1) Know what I am eating. 2) Exercise for an hour in the morning and move my body for approx every half an hour rather than sitting like a couch potato and 3) and resting my body when it feels tired. I could see my results with these practices. For example my Thyroid levels dropped and hopefully I would stop my medication in the coming days. My appetite and sleep have become better.
That’s about me, my diets, and my ongoing journey towards being healthy 🙂