i have been quite lazy to post anything in my blog. i keep my son’s blog updated, but have been slacking on this one. well, i had some news that was worthwhile posting. i lost something and losing something has never felt so good.
over the past 7 months, i managed to lose about 45 lbs!!! (almost close to 50). it really feels so nice to have lost all that weight.
i bought that trouser in jan 2008
here is a picture that explains how i feel. i bought the calvin klein trouser in january of this year for 30+ dollars. i donated it today evening along with a whole bunch of almost new clothes today in a local cloth donation box.
some of my friends asked me how i did it. so, i thought i would write about it here. there were only two major items that i had to do.
my part
1. stress
i think the thing that helped me the most was reducing stress. among other things i was kind of a little stressed out about the direction in which my career was headed. i do have a great job and work with a bunch of great folks. but there were some elements that used to stress me out. i have realized stress does a lot of bad things to you - it increases your cholesterol, it increases your blood sugar, it makes you overeat, it disturbs your sleep, it grays out your hair among other bad things. and i have noticed that all these little things just keeps piling on and plays a big role in putting on weight.
i am still kind of concerned about the many different things i have in my mind. i am just not worried about it. i am taking appropriate steps to alleviate the concerns without getting too caught up with thoughts in my mind. things are looking much better now and i am hoping they will turn out alright in the end. even if does not, i am not going to let the stress “kill” me.
2. balance
if you notice, i did not say anywhere that i “dieted” to lose the weight. because i really did not. with the exception of white rice, i have been eating all the things i used to eat all along. the only thing i altered is how much i ate and where i ate my food. i did not take any medication, pills or any weird stuff like that.
one of my friend’s father recently said “one should always have a positive bank balance and a negative calorie balance”. this is what exactly i have been doing these past 8 months - maintaining a delicate balance of food intake and exercise.
i started maintaining a very simple excel spreadsheet that tracked the food intake per day and the calories i burnt exercising. i used it to ensure that i ate a net of no more than 1200 calories per day. i exercised pretty vigorously to maintain the balance. it was a very tough job in the beginning, but now i feel quite comfortable maintaining the balance. i let it slip once in a while but try my best to get it back on track pretty quickly.
food
here is a random listing of all the changes i did with my eating habits to maintain the balance.
- heavy breakfast (500 calories), moderate lunch (300 calories) and light dinner (200 calories). last meal is done around 7 pm, 3 hours before sleep time. there are about 3-4 100 calorie snacks in between the meals.
- i still eat pizza, chocolate, burgers, dosas, icecream etc…., i eat them all in moderate quantities once or twice a week.
- more importantly i note down the calorie content of what i eat to ensure that i will not exceed my balance. we all assume that item X costs Y calories and the assumptions are way off almost all the time. i recommend browsing around to really calculate exact calories. always round off on the higher side.
- avoid foods with high glycemic load like white rice as much as possible. they do not fill you up, but add to your calorie count.
- snacks are usually comprised of fruits almost all the time. eat high protein content like edamame seeds to keep you full longer.
- lots of water to make you feel full. (at least 1 gallon a day)
- the most important thing i did was to reduce eating out. once you realize that a veggie burrito @ chipotle costs about 1100 calories, you would not be so tempted to eat there every week, a lunch entree of fettucine alfredo in olive garden costs close to 800 calories, a single slize of cheese pizza in costco costs 750 calories. heck, even the so called 6 inch subway veggie patty sandwich costs about 750 calories with cheese and some dressing.
exercise
here is what i did for my exercise routine. it was pretty rigorous at times. but nothing too drastic though. i mostly just run on the treadmill or play a racquetball game.
- equivalent of 4 miles (500 calories) at least 3-4 times a week. (40 minutes)
- equivalent of 6 miles (800 calories) every day of the weekend. (60 minutes)
i ran a charity 3 mile run a few weeks back and it has made me more interested in running. off late, i have been trying to run a total of 15 miles during the weekend. i can now run 8-10 miles in one stretch.
help from others
there were a whole bunch of other things that my wife and friends did to help me all along.
1. motivation
of course i could not have done any of this thing without motivation and support mainly from my wife and some friends. i started this weight loss initiative after a botched up medical test that produced some weird errors. even though i came to know that the test results were wrong, i still continued to work on my attempts to lose weight.
one thing that i observed is the plateaus that i hit. there will always be a steep weight loss phase, followed by a plateau and even a slight gain in weight. the most important thing to do is not to lose hope at this point. i have had 2 plateaus already and i am right now in my third plateau.
my wife and friends have been always encouraging me at all these plateaus and it was a big help. and oh btw, it is very important to buy a good weighing machine and weigh yourself every morning at the same time to note down progress. it is a really helpful thing to do.
2. change of lifestyle
my wife has changed her eating habits upside down to support me in this weight loss efforts. she is always used to eating rice, rasam and curry everyday. she changed her food habits along with me to eat light dinners, pack a salad for lunch and count calories on all the food she eats. she does not have to do any of that, but still decided to do it with me. it proved to be a great help for me. it has also helped her lose some extra weight.
it was the same with my friends. at work we always used to go out to eat lunch as a group every friday. we pack lunches on fridays now and have not gone outside in almost 3 months. i have noticed many situations where i have had friends make special low calorie food for me during potluck dinners and other get togethers.
next steps
i still have a long way to go. - i need to get my body fat down to a more reasonable level and lose about 5-10 more lbs. i need to lose a lot more stuff around my waist. i hope to make some progress in the next few months.
the biggest challenge i have ahead is way more difficult than the actual weight loss itself - keeping the weight off is a big challenge. especially for a obsessive eater like me who has no self control!!!. especially when i am going on vacation to india!!. my hope is not to add more than 5 lbs in the 3 week trip. lets see how that goes…..
