Where did it start?
Was it when I accidentally overheard a friend on the phone giving advice to one of his friends that he shouldn’t marry a girl of the same age coz they turn old and fat very quickly. (The BH and I have an age gap of just a few months). I was shocked and more than that it was like a part of my self confidence just plummeted. He was my friend. Is this what he thought about us? And this was before my pregnancy! Yes, I had put on a couple of kilos after college, but was I that fat and out of shape ???
Or was it the time I met an old classmate who looked at me and exclaimed with glee” You have become so fat. You don’t look beautiful at all now!” Here there was more of pity for her blatant rudeness. I was pregnant at that time. Apparently she didn’t even notice.
The final straw was very recently when I met a friend who had slimmed down to her pre-pregnancy weight in 9 months after her delivery and here I was blaming those extra kilos on a two and half year old Mowgli!!!
It was a very depressing phase. I hated shopping for clothes, because invariable none would fit. I hated having to heave myself into tight salwars daily. I hated looking at the mirror and finally one day I decided that I HAD TO DO SOMETHING. This was something that I had to be strong and DO IT. I had joined the gym a couple of times, but they all fizzled out pretty soon coz the weight scales refused to budge. I love to eat and absolutely despise being hungry, so all those strict diets- GM, Atkins, liquid etc were not for me. Then one day purely by chance browsing through random sites I came across a couple of reviews of Rujuta Diwekar’s book “Don’t Lose your Mind, Lose Your Weight!” Acting purely on a whim I ordered the book and promptly forgot about it.
The book came a week later and from the first page I was hooked. It was completely completely doable. As the book suggested I took a look at my eating habits and realized why with all the gymming the scales refused to inch. SWEETS. I used to have a sweet after every meal. Be it chocolates/cakes/pastries/ puddings what not. If there was nothing available I would buy a Diary Milk and have it. The BH and I would eat out regularly 4-5 times a week. If not actual dinner, then at least an ice cream or pastry. Visits to Corner House and Cake walk were like a weekly feature in our house( weekends not included!) . Yes, it didn’t help that both of us loved sweets. All in all I had put on a total of 10-12 kgs from my college days and the BH around 15-20 kgs! If we needed to get back in shape, the first thing that had to stop/ at least reduce was eating out and sweets.
So what did we do?
1. Totally cut down on tea and coffee. From 7-8 cups a day went down to 1 cup a day. And with that reduced my sugar intake- each cup had about 2 big tsps sugar.
2. Instead of morning tea, I had something solid like a glass of milk, oats, fruits, nutrichoice biscuits etc. The one cup of tea that I have is in the evenings when I majorly need that energy boost.
3. Started having small meals every 2 hrs. This needs some amount of planning and stocking up to be done. I have cheese slices/fruits/handful of peanuts/salads/sprouts etc for those in between meals. Have kept a dabba of peanuts in office permanently to munch on if I forget to get something from home.
4. Eating out only on weekends and that too mainly for lunch. I guess this is the biggest factor that helped. So no more cheese cakes/ice-creams at 10pm. We have a light dinner at home and fill up on fruits.
5. Exercising regularly. It could be an hour in the gym or some days just 20 minutes. But EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! There were days when I didn’t want to go. The only thing that kept me going were the voices of my so-called-friends. Their snide remarks. That was THE one thing that pushed me to go to the gym even if I was tired/didn’t feel like going. The factor that this time the extra kilos should go and stay away!
6. Having sweets as a meal and not as dessert after a meal. So I would cheat and have my laddoo the first thing in the morning rather than have it after my dinner because there were less chances of converting it into fat.
Discovered that even if we couldn’t eat out, I could very well try making different stuff at home. I used to find cooking very boring, but now with trying out new and different recipies most of which we have not had before cooking is fun now. It also helps that the BH is very enthu about what all I make and is not fussy about food. I’ve lost about 4-5 kgs in 3 months. Pretty slow mainly because I never totally went off sweets and other fattening things. I’ve just reduced my intake. But more than kgs lost, the inch loss was awesome. Lost my double chin, my bulging 5 month-looking –pregnant tummy is down to looking 3 months pregnant, my hips and legs have toned down. All in all I look far more slimmer than I did before. And the best part about all this I feel that it’s a lifestyle change that I’ve made and its more sustainable in the long run. There is no way I’m going to get off these changes that I’ve made in my eating habits. Hopefully they will and should last me throughout my life. I still have about 5 kgs to lose. I will get there maybe in another coupel of months. Slow and steady :-)
And to all of you looking to lose weight, if I could do it with my greed for good food, then anybody can do it :-)
For our monthly getaways the BH has started looking at places that allow dogs. And in the process we are discovering beautiful places. Homestays where the intent is not just to make money, but mainly to ensure that you have a good time. Where the people are nice and give a truly homely feeling.
They'll provide spare mattresses etc if you are going as a group. The balconies in the cottages were to die for. Two easy chairs and a view of their estate.
They have three dogs- a German Shepherd, a very friendly Rottweiler and a local breed. The dogs keep to themselves unlike the ones at Rappa. So even if you are scared of dogs don’t worry. They just sniff around and then go off to do their own thing. The best thing about such places are the total ease and comfortable feeling that you get. Cocoa gets to run around freely ( she is never chained) and she just enjoys these outings.
[The meadows next to the homestay- Ideal place to play ball or just laze around with a book]