It's Not About Loosing Those 24 kgs

‘Aww you are so cute’ has never been a new compliment to me. Cute, chubby, roly-poly are some of the adjectives that I associated myself with as those were part of my growing years’ compliments.

But when this roly-poly?turned into a disastrously obese person, I and nobody around me realized.

I have been a performing arts person. Singing, dancing, dramatics, choreography have been my passion and also forte. I hated sports (except kabaddi and arm wrestling). So the badminton classes that I was forcefully sent for were short lived (obviously).

In my teens I soon became the victim of eve teasing and from victim I became a warrior by picking up a fight with any and every guy who would tease me for my size.

In situations like this, one either suffers in low self confidence or becomes too resilient. I chose to be the latter, which meant I decided to be the way I was..obese. I felt that being the way I am (aesthetically) is an answer to all the body shaming I was going through. Soon people started accepting me the way I was and also admired my confidence which further sealed my ‘don’t give a damn’ attitude.

I developed PCOS and that was only the beginning of many other medical challenges that my body gradually developed.

Having lived my life with that attitude for almost 39 years, and things changed when I realized,?I touched 80kgs and developed type 2 diabetes in the beginning of 2018. I made workout plans, created diet chart only to ditch it in a month or two and lost some 3 kgs (only) in two years.

In January 2020 as well, I took my new year resolution to get into a healthy lifestyle but this time for a change, the resolution saw the day’s light...I got my calling.

I could bring down my weight from 77kgs to 54 kgs in 13 months. Now the compliments also changed :-) Was it easy..nay but was not impossible. Sound cliché but true.

What did I do differently this time:

Changed my goal: As the process of loosing weight with PCOS is very slow and it can frustrate one so much that soon the person gives up. So my goal was not to loose weight, I didn’t have a desired number to achieve. My goal was to regain stamina. So no weighing machine at home. Everyday I felt and observed my body and my mind. I enjoyed the agility and the renewed energy that I was experiencing. I was loving myself for sticking to it for two continuous months and then more and more.

I by chance happened to check my weight for the first time at my neighbor's place after 7 months (when we started safely socializing a little after the lockdown). I was ecstatic that I lost 10 kgs by then. I was super charged. A different belief was built that even with PCOS and in late 30s, if one is consistent with a healthy lifestyle, one can shred kilos.

Sustainable plan: I was a foodie (I still am) and was also very lazy when it was to do with workouts. So I decided not to go with mono and fad diets. It can not only bore one but also is not wholesome and nutritious. I created my own diet plan which was not only healthy but also tasty. As I was enjoying my journey, I also started experimenting with recipes so that I look forward to eat. Took small step at a time like reducing my portion, early dinner by 8pm to 6:30 pm now. Now if you are thinking did I feel hungry by bed time, yes I used to during my initial days because my body was getting used to it. I used to pop in a date/small portion of raisin or jaggery or some seeds. Eventually I stopped feeling hungry. I told myself that my body needs to listen to me. It can’t be the other way around.

I played around with workouts. I love music, I love to dance so I created fusion of my workouts, I challenged my body with stamina, posture and I was so kicked by the fact that I could control my body.

Shutting up the subconscious mind: Mind is quite fascinating. Before sleeping off at night I will do a small rehearsal of the workout in my mind. Very powerful technique and I used to be so charged up to get up in the morning and start my day with sweating up my body however my subconscious mind will always tell me to sleep a little more, ditch it for that day etc. Even though my conscious mind is having a very different dialogue with my body. Our subconscious mind is way more powerful than conscious mind. It makes up around 95% of our brain power. But the most difficult part is that I really can’t share any technique how I let my conscious mind take charge of my subconscious mind...I just did.

This year I am planning to learn swimming which I tried learning in 2013 and could not pick up the skills in 45 days (1hr everyday). Usually an adult can learn it in 20 to 25 hours.

Apart from many that I tried, these are the most powerful ones that helped and are still helping in almost achieving all my goals.

I got a new me after loosing almost the whole of me.

• It’s not just pushing the mind but also tricking the mind, playing with it, taking charge of it and achieving what you want to achieve.
• It’s not just gaining more self confidence but also building a more powerful belief system that can manifest what I choose. Now I am more careful of what I think, what I say to myself. I know I can learn swimming this time.
• It’s not just loving myself but also respecting and valuing this transformed me as I inspire others now.
• It's not just about getting my vitals in place but also forming a powerful immune system that can protect, fight and recover my body much faster from diseases. I got into my light workouts of 20 mins on the 4th day after being tested +ve of Omicron.
• It’s not just being mindful of what I eat and how I feel but also being mindful of my surroundings. I am more attune and calm now

...so it’s just not about shredding a few kilos and inches, it’s much more than that.