I love food literally. Even back in India, I would be very picky about the food I ate. Very spicy food, sweet food, junk food would make me salivate. When I came to US in 2007, the freedom and options were mind boggling. The first year I came back I had put on 22 pounds( 10 Kilos!). My mom was shocked. I wasn't fazed as such. I thought I would lose it eventually. And as I told myself, when I looked at myself in a certain angle in the mirror I didn't really look fat. It was just an illusion that I was and my mother exaggerated everything. Then I had an accident which left me unable to walk and the pounds kept piling. In the next 4 mths I put on 22 more pounds. By this time, health, a bad economy, boredom, depression about a lot of things would lead me to only one thing- Food! The more food I ate, the more I felt better about any situation even though I didn't like looking at myself in the mirror. It was the solution to all my problems so that I didn't even realize how big a problem it had become by itself. I had become an addict. A junkie. Yet, I couldn't stop. With every meal I would promise myself it was the last one and of course that was not to be. My pics would shock me and I would be embarrassed but it wouldn't make me stop. I even stopped cooking and junk became my best friend. Every attempt I made at weight loss lasted a few hours- maybe a couple of days. I would join gyms and never go, giving them literal free memberships. Guilt about my body was so ingrained that I had a membership only so I didn't feel guilty about not having a membership!As a result of all the above factors, laziness, and excuses, in the last 5 years I have gone from a pleasantly plump 62 to 89 Kilos! Severely Obese!The last check in was a wake-up call- literally- and I decided that I needed to do this for myself, not for anyone else. I could literally imagine me having lifestyle diseases in the next year or so. I needed to be healthy, I needed to lose weight and so on September 11th, 2013 at the age of 30(almost 31) I decided to cut out all the excuses and help myself in this journey to health. I stand 5 feet 2 inches tall and my ideal weight is between 109-136 pounds. My goal is to reach my ideal weight. The point of this blog is to record this journey so I do not forget what even brought me here in the first place. Like most addicts, I know it is going to be a long journey and I can only be in remission till then but taking responsibility for my own health is something that I have to do. No one else can step in and do it for me.
When I first sat down to decide my goals, the first thing I decided was that I would not focus on weight loss. Oh yes, you heard me right. Not weight loss, but health. I wanted to clean my body of junk and introduce it to real food, nutritious food. and re-learn to enjoy it. I knew it wouldn't happen overnight so I decided to start gradually and just wean myself off junk. When your body actually starts eating what it should, and you start enjoying it, you could then focus on weight loss. I knew from my past experience that there was no short cut to weight loss. There was no fad diet and there was no magic pill which cut fat. The most effective way of losing weight was to eat right. That was one of the first things I wrote down. EAT RIGHT. I knew that required patience, esp with my kind of addiction where even the smell of junk food was a trigger. I could go in and just get a Togo box thinking this is the only time I will cheat. I also decided to finally use the health club I was paying through my nose for.
The past week has been my most successful one in years. I went to the gym thrice, working out for 30 minutes, not a big leap but hey not bad at all. I didn't want to go in an work out for 2 hours at a stretch and crash for the next five days ( I have done it before!) . I also have started keeping a food diary. This first week I was around 25% healthier than the last 5 years. That is how bad I am. I decided to follow a 1200 cal chart and see how much I go above it. I made it a point to plan meals, whatever those meals may be! I was going to eat every 2 hours. That is right, every 2 hours! So if I was going to be out of the house for 10 hours, I would plan for around 5 meals so through the day I would have around 7-8 meals. I also realized I do not drink water at all. I shopped for fruits, veggies and salmon( I had it only once in the last 5 years and I didn't like it!). I also ended up loading my cart with tater tots, a big bag of lays, butter, waffles, and frozen food. I returned all of it but the bag of lays at the counter. Now , I started planning meals. Every morning I would make it a point to have one glass of warm water. I have heard it helps metabolism. I do not add lemon or honey to it as I have a lot of acid reflux and citrus in the morning wouldn't bode well. Having had that, I would have a fruit ( a banana this week) and leave for work. I have found out that just having something within 30-40 minutes of waking up helps you not to hoard at breakfast. My breakfast would then be around an hour later when I reached work. I had fruits/ oatmeal/ bagel/ bf burrito(i cut out the cheese and meat). I made it a point to write down whatever I was eating , the number of calories shocked me but I needed to know what I was eating. Around 11:30, I would have a handful of nuts. I got the Emerald 100 cal pack of almonds and walnut that I snack on. It is difficult since it is only a handful and has no salt or any kind of additives to it( can you imagine how addicted we get to salt and sugar thanks to junk!) . 1 pm was lunch time and that would be home cooked and seasoned rice/ chick-a-fille(yes I had it but after counting calories!)/ pad thai(with tofu)/ qdoba gumbo( kids size) and I would couple it with a fruit( pear or apple which is very filling) . Usually I am so full after this lunch that I found I was skipping my 3:30 meal... oh Well, I will work on it gradually. 5:30 I head to the gym and work out for 30-40 minutes. Once I am home by 6:30-6:45 I would have half a cup of Indian tea with 1% milk and 1 spoon of sugar. Since I am ravenous when I come back( my last meal is usually lunch at 1:30!) I couldn't get over my wanting-to-eat-junk mode. This is where my big bag of lays came handy. Oh don't worry I didn't sit with the bag. I found out how may calories I would add by eating around 1 oz of chips. For anyone interested 1 oz=17 chips=160 calories. I would have exactly 1 oz and then make dinner. I kept dinner light and healthy. It was home cooked through the week and included veggies, grilled asparagus, pan roasted salmon. I avoided rice completely. I would finish dinner by 8 and that would be the last meal of the day. I didn't make rapid changes but yes I have incorporated small changes and was successful in implementing them. My calorie chart would be around 1450 and I would expend around 190 calories and I would still be under 1300 calories. I also increased my water intake to 4 glasses( a feat for me!). I even managed to have a short skinny hot chocolate from Starbucks( i love hot chocolate!) because I had already estimated it to be around 130 calories. It is surprising how much you can actually control once you know how much goes into you with a simple count. It is embarrassing yes, but you know what, it is good for you and only you know!I know I still have too much junk but I plan to minimize it in the coming days, but slowly so I don't feel deprived and go back to it!
I am happy that I made progress on 2 fronts, one keeping track of my food intake and two I incorporated helpings of veggies and fuits along with protein rich food in my diet. I did have junk this week but it was in portions so managed to minimalise it even when I was having it. If I continue to stay on track I might be able to eliminate it completely.
TIPS:
I did a lot of reading everyday to see what I could include and not include in my food chart and how I should plan my meals. I found some pointers which might help anyone who is interested.
- Avoid having coffee// tea first thing in the morning. It slows down metabolism, increases ph in your body and makes you feel sluggish.
- Eat within 30-45 minutes of waking up. Your body has been fasting through the night. It needs real food. If like me, you are not a food person early in the morning, have a fruit or slice of it anyway.
- Do not skip breakfast. If you want to start off by eating junk do that but do not skip a mornnig meal.
- Do not keep yourself hungry for over 2 hours. You lose count of how much you eat in your next meal because you are hungry.
- Do not give up eating anything. That is a sure fire way of depriving yourself and going back to it. Have it , enjoy it and remember to portion!
I am obviously not perfect and my conclusions here are not my own or perfect either. Feel free to give me suggestions and be critical too ( constructive please ! :) ) ! I will more than welcome it. I plan to update this blog everyday so you guys can see how I am doing and as I go healthier and healthier , I will post recipes too. Oh BTW, I lost half a pound...
