Towards the end of 2022, I could see that i was forcing my pants on my butt and I couldn’t go one meal without letting my button fly towards the end. It was only when I couldn’t even enjoy the smallest hike like I know I could do before, I realised that I was feeling incapable of being in control of my own body.
The first thing I did was join a gym, telling myself that that’s what everyone does. A week later I could assure you I had never felt so miserable in my life. The weight that I gained from years of wrong lifestyle choices, I wanted off in a month. Maybe because that’s what was sold to us. The promise of transforming your body substantially within weeks if not months.
I endured like a donkey with a sack of rocks on his back. It was then when I realised that I didn’t have to prove anything to anyone! I didn’t necessarily have to loose 20kgs in a month. Working out more had only made me hungrier and I was not having a pleasant experience giving up my diet of years to a healthy low fat, fibre rich dinner. Something had to be done and soon.
After countless youtube videos on loosing weight from people with ribbed bodies, who could do 3 sets of 15 crunches as if it were an act of chewing a carrot. I started following people who led a more sustainable approach. Not that there’s anything wrong with the carrot chewers, I just couldn’t reach there yet, I had to start with something less taxing with a side of a little chocolate cake maybe?
I realised pretty soon that the main deal in shedding weight is not in working out like Rocky and eating six egg whites for breakfast. The game begins in your head. If you are anything like me, you need to win your first fight against that hunger man in your stomach. Yes, the one who constantly reminds you that you need to eat something or you will die of starvation. No, you will not die, you won’t even faint. Our bodies are made up to go without food for days.
This was the most difficult thing that I had to do, limiting my food consumption, the first few days the hunger man in my stomach was furious, throwing a tantrum to get that dose of midnight snack or to get that fast food delicia in the evenings or the empty chewing of a pack of chips but towards the end of week two I was doing great, i was feeling great too. I was eating three meals with a heavy lunch and a very light dinner. I was enjoying cooking with real food it not only made my stomach happy but also my heart. I forgot how many beautiful fruits and vegetables we have on our planet for us to feast on instead of processed feel-good-for-a-minute kind of foods. You could see the difference in my skin and not to mentions my morning lavatory run.
Once I had control over my food, I could work my way towards movement, I started with going to the gym and starting slow. I didn’t have to pick up the 20lbs weight, I did the 4lbs instead. Instead of going for an hour I moved my body for 20 minutes. I used my own body weight during exercises before adding additional weight. My gym has a sauna so I got consistent with that too. By day 30, I was feeling great about myself and I was comfortable in my own body. Don’t be mistaken I hadn’t lost any weight as such neither were my pants fitting me like before. But I did have a sense that I will get there eventually, in my own pace, I will not punish myself to look like the version of me in my head. When I reach there I will love that part of me and not have ill memories of how I reached there.
To think of what makes me motivated is this one quote that I read that said ‘there’s no such thing as motivation, it’s an excusable word people use to get away with not doing tasks they should do’. and I do not disagree because only I know how many times have I used the phrase ‘I have no motivation to do the said thing’ just to get away with lazying around. There was also a video that I came across where this lady keeps tearing sheets of off the toilet roll after the 10th sheet the roll still looked the same it was only when she kept going you could see noticeable changes in the roll. I guess that’s just how it is. There is no crazy science behind being healthy. It’s just you getting up from that couch, that’s it.
