Don’t push it, watch your weight

Imagine when a South Asian is told that you can no longer eat chapati or rice and the evening cuppa has to be without milk and sugar! Yeah, it happened to me

Apicture is worth a thousand words indeed. Add to that a sprain in the neck. The two factors: that’s pretty much how my weight loss journey started.

It was a casual photo taken during a work assignment that my photographer colleague sent across to me that triggered the whole episode. Of course, he was doing me a favour but he didn’t realise that he had sent shock waves across with the photos.

All I could see was a bloated face with stretched facial features with no particular shape. You really couldn’t call that a nose or chin. And, yes, I did a double take on the double chin.

Probably it was the first time that I actually looked at myself that closely after ages.

In short, I was hopelessly obese and it was affecting my health in general and putting a strain on my neck — yes, neck — in particular. And why was my neck being affected by my weight? Well, my hectic lifestyle as a journalist and poor postures at work have given me a complicated and serious neck strain which, according to the doctor, is worsening because of the excess weight I carry around. The condition would improve once I lost weight, he said.

I haven’t struggled ever with weight loss per se because I have never seriously tried to lose the flab. I have always been comfortable with my body.

I mean, I did try to stay in shape and did the occasional gym session, built some muscle, went for heat therapy cures hoping to melt the fat away, but nothing ever worked because of hypothyroidism that makes losing weight a challenging task.

But when your weight starts weighing you down, it is time to think.

A friend then casually mentioned that a dietician could help. I grudgingly tottered to one.

I was immediately made to stand on a weighing scale that protested, groaned and creaked loudly under my weight. If the nutritionist noticed, he was good at hiding it or it must have all been in the course of a day’s work for him.

Am still not saying how much I weighed, and don’t even dare ask!

You are obese, he said with a facial expression as flat as a diet plate and handed me a chart that made my eyes pop out of my head. And I was immediately put on a six month diet to reach a target weight fit for my height and age.

But imagine when a South Asian is told that you can no longer eat chapati or rice and the evening cuppa has to be without milk and sugar! Yeah, that’s what happened to me.

The only allowed foods for that week were boiled eggs, grilled chicken, low fat yoghurt and cheese, green salad and lots and lots of water.

Only those who have treaded this path can know how the journey feels.

However tiring and lonely the journey was, my

Today, it’s been three months to the day since I started and I have lost a total of 11 kilos (woohoo!) of which six kilos is fat. I still have another three months to go to achieve my target weight. But, bring it on! I don’t mind, because though I have lost unwanted weight, I have gained a new lifestyle. destination seemed to be approaching.

Shortly thereafter, I went to meet my dietician. He was to examine the results after a machine scanned my body mass index, water retention and fat levels within a week’s time of starting the diet. Did I detect a sly smile of satisfaction on his face?

Yes, I had lost a whopping three kilos in the first week and that too only with light exercise. And significantly, of this, one kilo was fat. Yay!

This was motivation enough to keep me going for the next few weeks.

A new diet chart was floated and again there were boiled eggs, grilled meats, lots of green veggies, water and endless unsweetened green tea.

No sweets, no chocolates and definitely no cheating and the result was a smooth and steady reduction from that point onwards.

I lost another three kilos the following week and I was already feeling lighter, and healthier. I was still not allowed to eat fruits and all fruit juices were off limits.

I was allowed to eat rice after week four — about five tablespoons of it. That was practically what I used to eat just while sampling the biryani I was cooking to check if it met my standards!

More boiled eggs, grilled stuff, veggies and lots of water were on my menu chart for the following weeks, with one cheat day where I didn’t dare cheat lest I gained what I had lost.

Today, it’s been three months to the day since I started and I have lost a total of 11 kilos (woohoo!) of which six kilos is fat. I still have another three months to go to achieve my target weight. But, bring it on! I don’t mind, because though I have lost unwanted weight, I have gained a new lifestyle.

I am receiving all compliments with the required grace and have dropped two dress sizes and one shoe size, which had increased due to water retention and bloating.

And I am almost back to looking like what I used to be before I let myself go.

But to top it all, this is a healthier me. I feel lighter and more energetic, with less aches and pains. And yes, the neck pain is no longer noticeable though that is partly due to the amazing handiwork of the physiotherapist who is treating me.

In all, the tougher the goal, the sweeter the achievement and that’s all the sweet you will be allowed. Go for it.